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
Fuller, Iola
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) FULLER [MCCOY], IOLA (1906-1993). Born in Marcellus, Michigan, Iola Fuller worked both as a librarian and a teacher at Ferris State College before engaging in writing full-time. She won an Avery Hopwood award at the Continue reading text links
Frost, Robert
by Haskell Springer (2000) FROST, ROBERT [LEE] (1874-1963). Though Robert Frost was not a nautical writer, he did treat the sea as a subject in several poems. Best known among these are “Once by the Pacific” (1926), “Neither Out Far Continue reading text links
Freneau, Philip
by Ted Olson (2000) FRENEAU, PHILIP [MORIN] (1752-1832). An “occasional” poet born in New York City, Philip Freneau during his long life wrote lyric and narrative poems on a wide range of subjects. Since he spent many years working on Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Caribbean, Fiction, Merchant Marine, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Poetry, War
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Fosdick, Charles
Frank on a Gunboat (1864) Continue reading text links
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Fitzgerald, F. Scott
by Donald Yannella (2000) FITZGERALD, F[RANCIS]. SCOTT (1896-1940). Although not an author of sea fiction, F. Scott Fitzgerald used water as a setting and employed water imagery and related symbolism in his most important work, The Great Gatsby (1925), and Continue reading text links
Ferrini, Vincent
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) FERRINI, VINCENT (1913-2007). Vincent Ferrini was born into a blue-collar, immigrant family struggling to earn a living in the shoe factories of Lynn, Massachusetts. His first volume of poems, No Smoke (1941), records the depression-era deprivations Continue reading text links
Faulkner, William
by Doreen Fowler (2000) FAULKNER, WILLIAM [CUTHBERT] (1897-1962). William Faulkner, who lived and wrote in the hills of north Mississippi, often visited the Gulf coast. From April to June 1925, he resided in New Orleans, frequently sailing on yachts and Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, cruise ships, Fiction, Recreation (beaches, small boat sailing, War
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Fanning, Edmund
by Michael P. Dyer (2000) FANNING, EDMUND (1769-1841). Captain Edmund Fanning of Stonington, Connecticut, was the younger brother of naval officer Nathaniel Fanning. In a memorial to the U.S. Congress in 1833, Edmund Fanning urged the legislature to support funding Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Whaling/Sealing
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Equiano, Olaudah
by Arnold Schmidt (2000, rev. 2021) EQUIANO, OLAUDAH (1745-1797). By the time he died at the end of the eighteenth century, mariner, author, and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano had likely become the wealthiest and most famous Black man in the Atlantic Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Caribbean, First-person narrative, Gulf of Mexico, Merchant Marine, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Navy/Coast Guard, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, video, War
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Ellsberg, Edward
by Robert Shenk (2000) ELLSBERG, EDWARD (1891-1983). Edward Ellsberg was a naval officer, diver, expert in ship salvage, and captivating storyteller. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1914, Ellsberg served as a naval officer until 1926, when he went into Continue reading text links
Ellms, Charles
by Boyd Childress (2000) ELLMS, CHARLES (1805-1851). The elusive Charles Ellms was a Boston stationer who, after 1830, turned to popular writing and compiling almanacs. Little is known of Ellms, his birth, education, or even his death. Before he turned Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Maritime History, Nonfiction, Piracy
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Ellis, Edward Sylvester
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) ELLIS, EDWARD SYLVESTER (1840-1916). A prolific, versatile author, Edward Sylvester Ellis was born in Geneva, Ohio, near Lake Erie. While young, he moved to New Jersey, only later to return to the Great Lakes in Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Nonfiction
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Eliot, T. S.
by Matthew D. Childs (2000) ELIOT, T[HOMAS]. S[TEARNS]. (1888-1965). T. S. Eliot, perhaps the greatest poet of the twentieth century, was born on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. Educated at Harvard, the Sorbonne, and Oxford, Continue reading text links
Eberhart, Richard
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) EBERHART, RICHARD [GHORMLEY] (1904-2005). Richard Eberhart is the author of some twenty-six volumes of poetry, from A Bravery of Earth (1930), to Maine Poems (1989). Throughout his career he has utilized nautical images and themes, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, cruise ships, First-person narrative, Pacific Ocean, Poetry, Recreation (beaches, small boat sailing
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Earle, Sylvia
by Barbara Krystal (2020) EARLE, SYLVIA ALICE. (1935- ). Marine biologist, ocean conservationist, underwater explorer, and author Sylvia Earle wrote in The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One (2009): “Even if you never have the chance Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Gulf of Mexico, Indian Ocean, Nonfiction, Science/Nature
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Dunlap, William
by Robert Beasecker (2000) DUNLAP, WILLIAM (1766-1839). William Dunlap, born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, showed considerable artistic aptitude at an early age and in 1784 was sent to England to study painting under Benjamin West. There, however, he became Continue reading text links
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
by Fred M. Fetrow (2000) DUNBAR, PAUL LAURENCE (1872-1906). Best known for the dialect poetry suggested by the titles of his four published volumes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, the son of former slaves, also wrote a number of short stories and Continue reading text links
Dumas, Henry
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Drake, Samuel Adams
Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast (1875) Continue reading text links
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Douglass, Frederick
by Susan F. Beegel (2000) DOUGLASS, FREDERICK (1818-1895). Abolitionist, orator, social reformer, editor, author, and consul general to Haiti, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery as Frederick Augustus Bailey. He spent the early years of his childhood in Talbot County, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, First-person narrative, Journalism, Middle Passage and Enslavement
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Doty, Mark
by Cara Murray (2011) MARK DOTY (1953- ). From his birth in 1953 until age seventeen, when he left his parents’ home in Tucson, Arizona, Mark Doty moved frequently. In Firebird (1992), Doty’s memoir of childhood, he recalls living in Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, First-person narrative, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Poetry
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Doolittle, Hilda
by Gregg Allen Walker (2000) D[OOLITTLE]., H[ILDA]. (1886-1961). H. D., a poet, novelist, dramatist, and translator whose works often incorporate sea imagery, was born in Pennsylvania. Childhood visits to the seacoasts of Rhode Island and Maine first inspired H. D., Continue reading text links
Doner, Mary Frances
by Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2000) DONER, MARY FRANCES (1893-1985). Mary Frances Doner set many of her books near her birthplace, Port Huron, Michigan. She supplied around 250 short stories for pulp magazines early in her career and in the 1930s Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Passenger Travel, Short Story
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Disturnell, John
by David D. Anderson (2000) DISTURNELL, JOHN (1801-1877). A printer and book dealer, as well as librarian of the Cooper Union, John Disturnell, who lived most of his life in New York City when he was not traveling, was a Continue reading text links
Dickinson, Emily
by Jane Donahue Eberwein (2000) DICKINSON, EMILY [ELIZABETH] (1830-1886). Although the great American poet Emily Dickinson is frequently quoted as saying she “never saw the Sea” (P 1052), it seems probable that the reclusive native of Amherst, Massachusetts, may have Continue reading text links
Delano, Amasa
by James L. Gray (2000) DELANO, AMASA (1763-1823). Amasa Delano, whose Voyages and Travels (1817) was the source for Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” (1855), was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts. After serving briefly in the Continental army during the American Revolution, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Exploration, First-person narrative, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Davis, Richard Harding
by Linda Ledford-Miller (2000) DAVIS, RICHARD HARDING (1864-1916). Born in Philadelphia, Richard Harding Davis was the first child born to the journalist L. Clarke Davis and the fiction writer Rebecca Harding Davis. He soon followed in his parents’ footsteps as a Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Caribbean, Journalism, Passenger Travel, Plays, Short Story, War
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Davis, Rebecca Harding
by Daniel W. Lane (2000) DAVIS, REBECCA HARDING (1830-1910). Although best known for her gritty depiction of factory life in her story “Life in the Iron-Mills” (1861), Rebecca Harding Davis frequently used vivid sea imagery in her writings. Intimately familiar Continue reading text links
Danforth, Harry (Charles Jacob Peterson)
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Dana, Richard Henry, Sr.
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) DANA, RICHARD HENRY, SR. (1787-1879). Richard Henry Dana Sr. was born into a prominent Cambridge, Massachusetts, family. He was educated at Harvard, leaving without a degree in 1807. He studied law and passed the bar in 1811 Continue reading text links
Dana, Richard Henry, Jr.
by Hugh Egan (2000) DANA, RICHARD HENRY, JR. (1815-1882). Son of a genteel poet and member of a prominent Boston family, Richard Henry Dana Jr. gained literary fame by turning his back on his Brahmin upbringing, sailing aboard a merchant Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, audio, First-person narrative, Passenger Travel, Science/Nature, video
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Cussler, Clive
by R. D. Madison (2000) CUSSLER, CLIVE [ERIC] (1931-2020). As a boy Clive Cussler immersed himself in the literature of the American Civil War and the writings of C. S. Forester. Describing himself as “the kid that stared out the Continue reading text links
Curwood, James Oliver
by Ed Demerly (2000) CURWOOD, JAMES OLIVER (1878-1927). James Oliver Curwood, born in Owosso, Michigan, was a popular writer of nonfiction, romance and adventure fiction, and scripts for silent films. Although much of his fiction is set in the Canadian Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Great Lakes, Journalism, Multimedia/Multimodal, Nonfiction
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Cuffe, Paul
by Brad S. Born (2000) CUFFE, PAUL (1759-1817). Seaman, captain, shipowner, businessman, author, and African colonizer, Paul Cuffe was born 17 January 1759, on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, the seventh child of his African-born father and Ruth Slocum, a Wampanoag Indian. Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, First-person narrative, Merchant Marine
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Creeley, Robert
by Donald Yannella (2000) CREELEY, ROBERT [WHITE] (1926-2005). Robert Creeley’s most sustained and important piece of sea writing is his 1963 novel The Island. Although his work only infrequently focuses on the sea or even uses it as background, the center section Continue reading text links
Crane, Stephen
by Matthew Evertson (2000) CRANE, STEPHEN (1871-1900). Stephen Crane’s first extended trip at sea ended in a shipwreck less than thirty-five hours after he left the Florida coast, forcing Crane and three other crew members to struggle toward land for Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, First-person narrative, Journalism, Poetry
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Crane, Harold Hart
by Donald Yannella (2000) CRANE, [HAROLD] HART (1899-1932). Critical opinion remains divided about the quality of Hart Crane’s best-known and longest poem, The Bridge (1930), but it appears that it will continue to hold a solid place in the canon of American Continue reading text links
Coxe, Louis O.
by Robert Shenk (2000) COXE, LOUIS O[SBORNE]. (1918-1993). Louis O. Coxe was a student in Allen Tate’s Creative Arts program at Princeton when Pearl Harbor occurred. Having grown up in Salem, Massachusetts, Coxe joined the navy. He came to regard Continue reading text links
Cooper, James Fenimore
by Thomas Philbrick (2000) COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE (1789-1851). With The Pilot (1824) James Fenimore Cooper invented the sea novel, for the first time employing the dominant literary form of the nineteenth century as the vehicle for a fiction in which the Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Coastal Life, Fiction, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Whaling/Sealing
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Coomer, Joe
by Jeffrey Cass (2000) COOMER, JOE (1958- ). A transplanted Texan, Joe Coomer married into a boating family and has spent a great deal of time off the Maine coast becoming adept at sailing. In 1992 Coomer purchased a wooden Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Coastal Life, cruise ships, Fiction, First-person narrative, Recreation (beaches, small boat sailing
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Connell, Evan S., Jr.
by Jeffrey Cass (2000) CONNELL, EVAN S[HELBY]., JR (1924-2013). Born in Kansas City and educated at Dartmouth, Columbia, and Stanford, Evan S. Connell Jr. remains best known for his novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969). Connell wrote the screenplay of the 1990 Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Fiction, Multimedia/Multimodal, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Poetry, War
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Colcord, Lincoln Ross
by Parker Bishop Albee Jr. (2000) COLCORD, LINCOLN ROSS (1883-1947). Lincoln Ross Colcord, author of sea fiction and maritime historian, was born at sea aboard the bark Charlotte A. Littlefield, commanded by his father, Lincoln Alden Colcord of Searsport, Maine. Colcord Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Fiction, Journalism, Maritime History, Nonfiction, Poetry
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Codman, John (“Captain Ringbolt”)
by Lisa Franchetti (2000) [CODMAN, JOHN], “CAPTAIN RINGBOLT” (1814-1900). John Codman, a well-traveled sea captain and writer, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1814. A pastor’s son, he enjoyed listening to lengthy theological discussions with visiting clergymen, but he realized Continue reading text links
Clancy, Tom
by Donald Yannella (2000) CLANCY, TOM (1947-2013). The Hunt for Red October (1984) was Tom Clancy’s first published novel, catapulting him to celebrity. Fast-paced action, subtle character development, and accurate and abundant technical information make this a suspenseful and convincing story, one Continue reading text links
Clampitt, Amy
by Richard Dey (2014) AMY CLAMPITT (1920–1994). Born and raised on a small farm in Iowa, this poet, who was best known for her highly cultured work, wrote a few extraordinary sea poems. Here are lines from the first: Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Coastal Life, Passenger Travel, Poetry
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Chopin, Kate
by Elizabeth Schultz (2000)CHOPIN, KATE [O’FLAHERTY] (1850-1904). Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Kate Chopin had no experience of the sea until her three-month European honeymoon in 1870. On her return to the United States, she moved with her husband to Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, audio, Coastal Life, Fiction, Gender/Sexuality and the Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Recreation, Women Protagonists
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Cheever, John
by Robert Imes (2000) CHEEVER, JOHN (1912-1982). John Cheever, a writer of predominantly short fiction, uses seaside cottages and beaches as backgrounds for many of his stories. Sometimes Cheever’s depiction of the sea is more significant, however, with references to Continue reading text links
Cheever, Henry Theodore
by R. D. Madison (2000) CHEEVER, HENRY T[HEODORE]. (1814-1897). Editor of the New York Evangelist (1849-1852), Henry T. Cheever was born and educated in Maine. In the early 1840s he voyaged as a passenger on the whaleship Commodore Preble and in late 1849 or Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, First-person narrative, Passenger Travel, Whaling/Sealing
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Chase, Owen
by Thomas Farel Heffernan (2000) CHASE, OWEN (1796-1869). Author of Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, of Nantucket (1821), Owen Chase was first mate of the Essex when it was stove and sunk by a whale in the Pacific Ocean, 20 November 1820. The Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, First-person narrative, Pacific Ocean, Whaling/Sealing
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