What’s New?
- Biographies: Jamaica Kincaid, Marilyn Nelson, Clifford Ashley, Sylvia Earle, and Phillis Wheatley
- Audio: Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Pearl of Orr’s Island
- Video: Derek Walcott reads "Sea Grapes"
- Featured Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Author Archives: Richard King
Wheatley, Phillis
by Jenny Liou and Claire Morgan (2022) WHEATLEY, PHILLIS (c. 1753-1784). Phillis Wheatley was the first African American, and one of the first women, to publish a book of poetry in the American colonies. As is the case with many Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Passenger Travel, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea
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Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens)
by John Samson (2000) [CLEMENS, SAMUEL LANGHORNE], “MARK TWAIN” (1835- 1910). Though more widely known for his writing on the Mississippi River, Samuel Clemens traveled extensively at sea, experiences that find their way into a number of the writings he Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Fiction, First-person narrative, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, Passenger Travel
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Trethewey, Natasha
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Ballou, Maturin Murray (“Lieut. Murray,” “Frank Forester”)
by Mary Malloy (2000) [BALLOU, MATURIN MURRAY], “LIEUT. MURRAY,” “FRANK FORESTER” (1820-1895). An influential publisher of American periodicals, Maturin Murray Ballou was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He traveled extensively and entered the literary world by writing descriptive letters of his Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Journalism, Nonfiction
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Murphy, Robert Cushman
by R. D. Madison (2000) MURPHY, ROBERT CUSHMAN (1887-1973). Born in Brooklyn, Robert Cushman Murphy graduated from Brown University in 1911. The following year he married Grace E. Barstow and embarked on the whaler Daisy for the South Atlantic. A naturalist Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Maritime History, Nonfiction, Pacific Ocean, Science/Nature, Whaling/Sealing
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Mulzac, Hugh
Interested in contributing to Hugh Mulzac’s biography? Click here for more information.
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Mowat, Farley
by Boyd Childress (2000) MOWAT, FARLEY [MCGILL] (1921-2014). Farley Mowat is one of Canada’s more popular and controversial writers. Born 12 May 1921, in Belleview, Ontario, Mowat graduated from the University of Toronto in 1949. He spent two years during Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Arctic, Children's Writing, Fiction, Maritime History, Nonfiction, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, Whaling/Sealing
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Mosley, Robert
Interested in contributing to Robert Mosley’s biography? Click here for more information.
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Pyle, Howard
by Peter H. McCracken (2000) PYLE, [JOHN] HOWARD (1853-1911). Howard Pyle was one of America’s foremost artists of children’s books, and he exerted a dramatic influence on generations of book illustrators. Pyle was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Until attending art school, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Children's Writing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Piracy
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Poyer, David
by Joseph Navratil (2000) POYER, DAVID [ANDREISSEN] (1949- ). David Poyer graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 and is a naval reserve captain, experienced sailor, and underwater diver. Poyer adapted his active-duty navy experiences to write best-selling sagas of Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Gulf of Mexico, Navy/Coast Guard, War
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Pound, Ezra
by Robert E. Kibler (2000) POUND, EZRA [LOOMIS] (1885-1972). Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho. As an expatriate living in Europe, Pound’s experiments with translation and poetic form resulted in his vivid translation of the eighth-century Anglo-Saxon poem “The Seafarer” Continue reading text links
Porter, Katherine Anne
by Jeraldine R. Kraver (2000) PORTER, KATHERINE ANNE (1890-1980). Callie Russell Porter was born in Indian Creek, Texas, into a poor family and died in Silver Spring, Maryland, early assuming her paternal grandmother’s name. Living in Mexico, New York, Paris, Germany, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Gulf of Mexico, Passenger Travel, Women Protagonists
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Porter, David
by Udo Nattermann (2000) PORTER, DAVID (1780-1843). The son of a veteran of the American Revolution, David Porter was born in Boston and grew up in Baltimore. He began his naval career as a midshipman in 1798 and became master commandant Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Poe, Edgar Allan
by Joan Tyler Mead (2000) POE, EDGAR ALLAN (1809-1849). Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his tales of Gothic horror, was a writer of poetry, short and long fiction, an unfinished drama, criticism, literary theory, essays, and a “cosmological prose poem.” Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Fiction, Merchant Marine, Passenger Travel, Poetry, Science Fiction, Short Story, Whaling/Sealing
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Plath, Sylvia
by Claire J. Keyes (2000) PLATH, SYLVIA (1932-1963). Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, and her family moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts, a seaside suburb, in 1936, where she lived until they moved inland to Wellesley in 1942. Her childhood by the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Poetry, Recreation, Women Protagonists
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Philbrick, Nathaniel
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Phelps, Elizabeth
by Mira Dock (2000) PHELPS ELIZABETH [STUART] (1844-1911). Growing up in Andover, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Phelps was a lifelong resident of New England and had a summer home in Gloucester. She was a staunch feminist who participated in causes that ranged from Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Fishing, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Women Protagonists
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Peterson, Charles Jacob (“J. Thornton Randolph” or “Harry Danforth”)
by Robert L. Gale (2000) [PETERSON, CHARLES JACOB], “HARRY DANFORTH,” “J. THORNTON RANDOLPH” (1819-1887). Charles Jacob Peterson was an editor, publisher, and historian, born in Philadelphia, where he worked all his life. Once he acquired an ample fortune, he and Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Journalism, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, War
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Perry, Commodore Matthew
by Nathaniel T. Mott (2000) PERRY, COMMODORE MATTHEW [CALBRAITH] (1794-1858). Commodore Matthew Perry served a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Navy, which began in January 1809, when he was commissioned as a midshipman. Perry is best known for commanding Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction
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Percival, James Gates
by Bernard F. Engel (2000) PERCIVAL, JAMES GATES (1795-1856). Though he often mentioned the ocean in his poetry, James Gates Percival made little use of direct observation. As state geologist for Connecticut, he mapped the landforms along the Atlantic and Long Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Coastal Life, Poetry
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Paretsky, Sara
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) PARETSKY, SARA (1947- ). V. I. Warshawski, the protagonist in all of Sara Paretsky’s mysteries to date, is a private investigator in Chicago who pursues criminals. In some of her exploits, Warshawski traces them to Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Women Protagonists
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Paine, Ralph Delahaye
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Safina, Carl
by Rachel Earnhardt (2017) SAFINA, CARL (1955-). Carl Safina is a biologist, author, activist, and educator. Born on May 23, 1955, in Brooklyn, NY, Safina spent his childhood fishing, breeding pigeons, and playing music. In high school, he participated in Continue reading text links
Herbert, Frank
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Wouk, Herman
by Laurence W. Mazzeno (2000) WOUK, HERMAN (1915-2019). Herman Wouk, author of the best-selling sea novel The Caine Mutiny (1951) and other works about the navy in World War II, was born in New York City, eldest son of Russian Jewish Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Multimedia/Multimodal, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Ocean, Plays, War
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Woolson, Constance Fenimore
by Victoria Brehm (2000) WOOLSON, CONSTANCE FENIMORE (1840-1894). One of the first American realists, Constance Fenimore Woolson began her career writing about the Great Lakes, including an early story, “Margaret Morris” (1872), which is the first shipwreck fiction of the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Fiction, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Great Lakes, Island Life, Women Protagonists
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Wilson, Sloan
by Robert Shenk (2000) WILSON, SLOAN (1920-2003). Sloan Wilson was a Coast Guard officer before he became a novelist and a yachtsman before he gained a commission in the Coast Guard. He came to regard his Coast Guard experience as Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Ocean, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea
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Wilson, Gilbert
by Elizabeth Schultz (2000) WILSON, GILBERT [BROWN] (1907-1991). Having studied in the 1930s to be a muralist, from the 1940s through the 1960s Gilbert Wilson worked in diverse media to interpret Moby-Dick (1851) visually, with the intention of bringing Herman Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Multimedia/Multimodal, Whaling/Sealing
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Wilson, August
by Sarah Dohan (2016) WILSON, AUGUST (1945-2005). August Wilson, a prominent American playwright, was born Frederick August Kittel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1945 to Frederick Kittel, a German baker, and Daisy Wilson Kittel, an African American cleaning woman. Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Plays, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, video
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Williams, William Carlos
by Robert E. Kibler (2000) WILLIAMS, WILLIAM CARLOS (1883-1963). Although modern poet, novelist, and essayist William Carlos Williams once said that all of his art came out of the work-yard of his lifelong home in Rutherford, New Jersey, where he Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Passenger Travel, Poetry, Science/Nature
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Williams, Ben Ames
All the Brothers Were Valiant (1919) Continue reading text links
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Wilkes, Charles
by Jason Smith (2013) WILKES, CHARLES (1798-1877). Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, hydrographer, and writer. He commanded the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838 to 1842, wrote its five-volume Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (1844), edited the expedition’s Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Ocean, Science/Nature, Whaling/Sealing
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Whittier, John Greenleaf
by R. D. Madison (2000) WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF (1807-1892). A Quaker abolitionist and poet, John Greenleaf Whittier epitomizes the poet of rural life. With his New England contemporaries, however, he had little relish for straying far from the reach of the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Poetry, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea
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Whitman, Walt
by Philip A. Greasley (2000) WHITMAN, WALT[ER] (1819-1892). Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, near Huntington on northwestern Long Island. With almost two centuries of ancestral residence on the island and some seafaring tradition in his family, Whitman was naturally Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Class/Labor and the Sea, Fishing, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Ocean, Passenger Travel, Poetry, Recreation, Whaling/Sealing
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Wheatley, Phillis
This entry is currently under construction (August 2022). Click here for more information. by Jenny Liou and Claire Morgan (2022) WHEATLEY, PHILLIS (c. 1753-1784). Phillis Wheatley was the first African American, and one of the first women, to publish a book Continue reading text links
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Vukelich, George
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) VUKELICH, GEORGE (1927-1995). “[I]t was good to be on the Great Lakes,” wrote George Vukelich in 1955 to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal, after a spell as an ore boat deckhand. This sentiment pervades Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Journalism, Merchant Marine, Multimedia/Multimodal, Poetry, Science/Nature, Short Story
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Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.
by Christopher Lee (2000) VONNEGUT, KURT, JR (1922-2007). Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis but soon moved east, eventually settling in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1951, where he lived for twenty years. His essay “Brief Encounters on the Inland Waterway” Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Fiction, Island Life, Multimedia/Multimodal, Recreation
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Vollmann, William T.
by Dana L. Peterson (2000) VOLLMANN, WILLIAM T[ANNER]. (1959- ). William T. Vollmann’s very ambitious project is a seven-novel series entitled Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes, which interweaves history, myth and legend, imagination, illustrations, and personal travel Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Science/Nature, Short Story
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Vidal, Gore
by Donald Yannella (2000) VIDAL, GORE [EUGENE LUTHER] (1925-2012). Gore Vidal was born in West Point, New York, attended Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and served in the army during World War II. A novelist, playwright, and essayist, he Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Nonfiction, Pacific Ocean, Plays
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Updike, John
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) UPDIKE, JOHN [HOYER] (1932-2009). John Updike is the author of over fifteen novels and an impressive body of shorter fiction, poetry, and criticism, much of which has been published in The New Yorker. Born in Pennsylvania, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story
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Thoreau, Henry David
by Capper Nichols (2000) THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (1817-1862). Henry David Thoreau is most often associated with his birthplace and home, Concord, Massachusetts, and the woods, ponds, and streams in the vicinity of the town. But he frequently made excursions to other Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Great Lakes, Science/Nature
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Thompson, John
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Thaxter, Celia Laighton
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) THAXTER, CELIA [LAIGHTON] (1835-1894). Celia Thaxter was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Thomas and Eliza Laighton, who moved to the Isles of Shoals, nine miles off the coast of New Hampshire, when Celia was five years Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, cruise ships, Immigration, Poetry, Recreation (beaches, Science/Nature, small boat sailing
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Taylor, James Bayard
by James L. Gray (2000) TAYLOR, JAMES BAYARD (1825-1878). James Bayard Taylor, born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, launched his career as a travel writer with Views Afoot (1846), an account of a walking tour of Europe, and soon became probably the Continue reading text links
Symmes, John Cleves, “Captain Adam Seaborn”
by Richard J. King [SYMMES, JOHN CLEVES], “CAPTAIN ADAM SEABORN” (1780-1829). Some scholars believe that “Captain Adam Seaborn,” the author of this fictional, first-person narrative, is the pseudonym of army officer and amateur geographer Captain John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829). Symmes Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction
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Stratemeyer, Edward L.
The Last Cruise of the Spitfire (1894) Continue reading text links
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Stowe, Harriet Beecher
by Margherita M. Desy (2000) STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER (1811-1896). Harriet Beecher Stowe is internationally famous for her antislavery best-seller Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). In the summer of 1852, still living in Brunswick, Maine, where she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe began Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Coastal Life, Fiction, Women Protagonists
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Stone, William Leete
by Boyd Childress (2000) STONE, WILLIAM LEETE (1792-1844). William Leete Stone was a journalist and writer whose career as a newspaperman largely overshadowed his work as a historian. Born in New Paltz, New York, Stone had little formal schooling in advance Continue reading text links
Stone, Robert
by Dennis Berthold (2000) STONE, ROBERT [ANTHONY] (1937-2015). A distinguished, award-winning novelist, Robert Stone turned to nautical fiction in his fifth book, Outerbridge Reach (1992). Born in New York to a family of tugboaters, he served from 1955 to 1958 as Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Atlantic Ocean, Fiction, Gulf of Mexico, Merchant Marine, Recreation
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Stoddard, Elizabeth
by Elizabeth Schultz (2000) STODDARD, ELIZABETH [DREW BARSTOW] (1823-1902). Iconoclastic novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet, Elizabeth Stoddard was born in the coastal town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, the daughter of its foremost shipbuilder and maritime merchant. Both the fluctuations of Continue reading text links