Posts by Richard King
Catherwood, Mary Hartwell
by Kenneth A. Robb (2000) CATHERWOOD, MARY HARTWELL (1847-1902). Mary Hartwell Catherwood began her career with realistic stories of the midwest frontier but focused on stories of the French in early America after her novel The Romance of Dollard (1888). This interest merged with her love for Mackinac Island, where she spent her summers from 1892 to…
Read MoreCarlisle, Henry Coffin
by Dennis Berthold (2000) CARLISLE, HENRY COFFIN (1926-2011). Born in San Francisco, Henry Coffin Carlisle served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1944 to 1946, earned a B.A. and M.A. at Stanford University in 1950 and 1953, and entered the book trade as an editor in New York City. He now lives in San Francisco…
Read MoreCadwell, Clara Gertrude
by Robert Beasecker (2000) CADWELL, CLARA [GERTRUDE] (c.1856-l???). Other than the two facts that Clara Cadwell was born in Jefferson, Ohio, and later lived in Cleveland, almost nothing is known of her life. Her single published literary work, a novel titled De Barr’s Friends, or Number Seventeen; Trip to Lake Superior with a Romance (1881), may…
Read MoreByles, Mather
by John T. Shawcross BYLES, MATHER (1707-1788). Congregational minister, sermonizer, and poet, Mather Byles was the grandson of Increase Mather. Among his publications are two notable volumes, Poems on Several Occasions (1744) and Poems. The Conflagration. . . The God of Tempest and Earthquake (1755). The first collection includes his major piece, “Hymn at Sea,” which was set to…
Read MoreBurts, Robert
by Peter H. McCracken BURTS, ROBERT (17??-1839). Robert Burts was born in Maryland and entered the navy in 1833 as a midshipman. He sailed to the Mediterranean on the sloop Ontario, but upon return in 1836 he began a string of extended leaves. After fourteen months of continuous leave he was assigned to the Navy…
Read MoreBurland, Brian
by Richard J. King BURLAND, BRIAN [BERKELEY] (1931-2010). Born in Bermuda, educated in England and Canada, and living a good part of his life in the United States, Brian Burland has written several maritime novels. Son of a yacht builder, Burland went to sea when he was twelve aboard a vessel of the British merchant…
Read MoreBuntline, Ned (Edward Zane Carroll Judson)
Buckley, William F., Jr.
by Robert C. Foulke (2000) BUCKLEY, WILLIAM F[RANK]., Jr. (1925-2008). William F. Buckley Jr., prolific journalist, author, and editor of National Review, is also a passionate sailor. Those two worlds join in a trilogy of narratives about monthlong ocean cruises he has taken in yachts he either owned or chartered: Airborne: A Sentimental Journey (1970), Atlantic High: A…
Read MoreBryant, William Cullen
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN (1794-1878). William Cullen Bryant was born and raised in the back country of western Massachusetts, where an early talent for versifying displayed in religious, sentimental, and satiric poems culminated in the publication in the North American Review of his best-known poem, “Thanatopsis” (1817). Thereafter, editions of his poems appeared regularly,…
Read MoreBrowne, J. Ross
by Sally C. Hoople (2000) BROWNE, JOHN ROSS (1821-1875). Author of Etchings of a Whaling Cruise (1846), J. Ross Browne was born in Beggars Bush, Ireland, and emigrated to America when he was twelve years old. In 1838 Browne journeyed on a trading boat from Louisville to New Orleans. Lacking funds to take a grand European tour,…
Read MoreBrinkley, William Clark
by James F. Millinger (2000) BRINKLEY, WILLIAM CLARK (1917-1993). Two of William Clark Brinkley’s books, Don’t Go Near the Water (1956) and The Ninety and Nine (1966), are based on his four years of experience in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Don’t Go Near the Water is not a “sea” story exactly, but it is a navy story:…
Read MoreBriggs, Charles Frederick
by Gail H. Coffler (2000) BRIGGS, CHARLES FREDERICK (1804-1877). Born a Nantucket Yankee (his mother was a Coffin), Charles Frederick Briggs was a real sailor before he became a professional writer. Though he would later turn to the magazines to earn a living, Briggs began his career as a sea novelist. The Adventures of Harry Franco,…
Read MoreBridge, Horatio
by John B. Hattendorf (2000) BRIDGE, HORATIO (1806-1893). A naval officer, Horatio Bridge is most famous for his close friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, for whom he found a publisher for Twice-told Tales (1837) and to whom Hawthorne dedicated The Snow Image (1851). Born in Augusta, Maine, Bridge graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 with Hawthorne. Upon graduation, Bridge attended…
Read MoreBrewer, Lucy
by Margherita M. Desy (2000) “BREWER, LUCY.” Lucy Brewer is the pseudonym of either Nathaniel Coverly Jr. (1775?-1824), an early nineteenth-century Boston broadside and pamphlet publisher, or a writer in his employ, Nathaniel Hill Wright (1787-1824). Brewer’s The Adventures of Louisa Baker (1815) is purportedly a “true” tale of Brewer/Baker’s seduction, pregnancy, abandonment, life of prostitution,…
Read MoreBrady, Cyrus Townsend
by C. Herbert Gilliland (2000) BRADY, CYRUS [TOWNSEND] (1861-1920). Author of some seventy volumes of fiction and nonfiction, some having to do with seagoing or naval heroes, Cyrus Brady was born 20 December 1861 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1883, he resigned from the navy that October. Employed by…
Read MoreBradbury, Ray
by Jonathan R. Eller (2000) BRADBURY, RAY [DOUGLAS] (1920-2012). Ray Bradbury, prolific author of twenty story collections and eight novels evolving out of more than 340 published short stories, was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He has lived in Los Angeles since 1934. His work as a writer of fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and juvenile…
Read MoreBrackenridge, Henry Marie
by Philip Barnard (2000) BRACKENRIDGE, HENRY MARIE (1786-1871). Henry Marie Brackenridge, writer, lawyer, legislator, and diplomat, was born in Pittsburgh, the son of well-known writer and jurist Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Most of Brackenridge’s career was devoted to legal work and wide-ranging writings on US. political, territorial, and economic expansion into the trans-Appalachian South and West.…
Read MoreBoyer, Dwight
by David D. Anderson (2000) BOYER, DWIGHT (1912-1977). A journalist, photographer, and feature writer for the Toledo Blade, 1944-1954, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1954-1977, Dwight Boyer grew up and spent his professional life on the south shore of Lake Erie. He turned his personal and professional interest in the history, legends, and folklore of the Great…
Read MoreBowman, James F.
The Island Home; or, The Young Castaways (1853)
Read MoreBowditch, Nathaniel
by Daniel Finamore (2000) BOWDITCH, NATHANIEL (1773-1838). Mathematician, navigator, and astronomer, Nathaniel Bowditch authored the book that since 1802 has been the standard reference for celestial navigators worldwide. Schooled only to age ten, Bowditch taught himself mathematics and several foreign languages in the course of his academic pursuits. While on a voyage to Manila in…
Read MoreBishop, John Peale
by Boyd Childress (2000) BISHOP, JOHN PEALE (1892-1944). A colleague and friend of such literary giants as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmond Wilson, Ernest Hemingway, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Allen Tate, John Peale Bishop was a secondary figure in letters, writing essays, fiction, and poetry. He was a member of the Princeton circle that featured…
Read MoreBishop, Elizabeth
by Hugh Egan (2000) BISHOP, ELIZABETH (1911-1979). Elizabeth Bishop, American poet for whom the coastlines of North and South America served as powerful sources of inspiration, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father died when she was eight months old, and her mother, after suffering mental breakdowns, was permanently institutionalized by the time Bishop was…
Read MoreBird, Robert Montgomery
The Adventures of Robin Day (1877)
Read MoreBinns, Archie
by Matthew Evertson (2000) BINNS, ARCHIE [FRED] (1899-1971). Archie Binns, novelist and historian of the northwestern United States, is best known for his critically acclaimed novel Lightship (1934). Based partly on Binns’ own experiences at age eighteen aboard the Umatilla Reef Lightship off Cape Flattery, Washington, the story brings together the diverse lives of nine sailors as they struggle…
Read MoreBerryman, John
by Thomas R. Brooks (2000) BERRYMAN, JOHN (1914-1972). Born John Smith in Oklahoma, John Berryman assumed the name of his stepfather after his own father committed suicide. Berryman’s best-known work is the poetic sequence of 77 Dream Songs, published in 1964, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968) continued the Dream…
Read MoreBerry, Don
Interested in contributing Don Berry’s biography? Click here for more information.
Read MoreBenchley, Peter
by Dennis Berthold (2000) BENCHLEY, PETER [BRADFORD] (1940-2006). Born in New York City, Peter Benchley earned a B.A. at Harvard in 1961 and took up a career in travel writing, journalism, and government. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1962 to 1963 and as a White House aide from 1967 to 1969.…
Read MoreBehrman, S. N.
by David R. Pellegrini (2000) BEHRMAN, S[AMUEL]. N[ATHANIEL]. (1893-1973). The prolific playwright S. N. Behrman was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, into dire poverty; his entry into professional theatre was rapid, and by the mid-1920s he was already a notable literary figure. He remained a significant presence in the American theatre until the early 1960s; some…
Read MoreBeebe, William
by R. D. Madison (2000) BEEBE, WILLIAM [CHARLES] (1877-1962). William Beebe was born in Brooklyn and attended Columbia University, where he earned his B.S. in 1898. He led more than sixty scientific expeditions, many of them intentionally maritime. Influenced especially by the writings of Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, and H. G. Wells, he participated in…
Read MoreBeach, Edward Latimer Sr.
by C. Herbert Gilliland (2000) BEACH, EDWARD LATIMER, SR. (1867-1943). Edward Latimer Beach Sr., novelist, was born 30 June 1867 in Toledo, Ohio. Graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1888, he took part in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898 and in the capture of Manila 13 August 1898. Beach was…
Read MoreBeach, Edward Latimer Jr.
by Robert Shenk (2000) BEACH, EDWARD LATIMER [JR] (1918-2002). As his father had done, Edward L. Beach [Jr.] spent a career as a naval officer and wrote many books on naval topics. Three of these are excellent novels about submarines. Beach graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and then entered submarine school in New London,…
Read MoreBates, Martha E. Cram
by Robert Beasecker (2000) BATES, MARTHA E. CRAM (1839-1905). Scant biographical detail exists concerning M.E.C. Bates. She was born in Northville, Michigan, and attended the State Normal School, now Eastern Michigan University. It appears that she taught school for at least two years in the 1860s in Traverse City, Michigan, where she met and married…
Read MoreBates, Katharine Lee
“The Titanic” in The Retinue and Other Poems (1912)
Read MoreBassett, Wilbur
Wander-Ships: Folk Stories of the Sea with Notes upon Their Origin (1917)
Read MoreBarnes, James
by Richard J. Williamson (2000) BARNES, JAMES (1866-1936). Author of books about naval history and naval wartime campaigns, as well as juvenile works on naval leaders, Colonel James Barnes was a prolific writer, historian, journalist, and naval officer. His depiction of seafaring individuals is characterized by what he called “hard service” in peace and war. Born…
Read MoreBarker, Benjamin
by Dean DeFino (2000) BARKER, BENJAMIN (1817-18??). Beyond birth records in Salem, Massachusetts, the only documents that survive of Benjamin Barker are twenty short novels published under that name between 1845 and 1847 and one in 1855. Those with authors’ prefaces all indicate that he was living in Salem at the time of their composition.…
Read MoreBaldwin, Bates (John Edward Jennings, Jr.)
Averill, Charles
by Peter H. McCracken (2000) AVERILL, CHARLES (1825?-1868). Charles Averill wrote around a dozen adventure and romance novels between 1847 and 1850, about half of which take place wholly or mostly at sea. The Pirates of Cape Ann (1848) is representative. Here, “Paul Perril, the Pirate,” scourge of postcolonial Cape Ann, Massachusetts, is estranged from his family…
Read MoreAudubon, John James
by R.D Madison (2000) AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES (1785-1851). Born in Haiti and raised in France, John James Audubon became the world’s premier bird artist with the publication of The Birds of America (1827-1838). Audubon accompanied his life-size drawings with five volumes of text, the Ornithological Biography (1831-1839). In the first three of these volumes, Audubon varied his bird biographies…
Read MoreAshley, Clifford
By Nicole Williams (2020) CLIFFORD WARREN ASHLEY (1881-1947). Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1881, Ashley enjoyed a successful career as a maritime artist and historian of the American whaling industry. His work romanticized New England’s whaling past as the region rapidly industrialized in the early twentieth century. During his childhood, Ashley witnessed the decline…
Read MoreArgento, Dominick
by Jill B. Gidmark (2000) ARGENTO, DOMINICK (1927- 2019). Son of Sicilian immigrant parents, Dominick Argento won a Pulitzer Prize in music in 1975 for his mezzo-soprano song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. Argento has lived near water, and his works are inspired occasionally by the sea and frequently by literature. His chamber…
Read MoreAmes, Nathaniel
by Hugh Egan (2000) AMES, NATHANIEL (1805-1835). Son of the Federalist statesman Fisher Ames and grandson of a famous colonial almanac publisher, Nathaniel Ames was a blueblood who went to sea and later wrote about it. In this way he served as a literary forerunner of Richard Henry Dana Jr., Herman Melville and others. Like…
Read MoreAllen, Hervey
Anthony Adverse (1946)
Read MoreAldrich, Thomas Bailey
by Frank Rotsaert (2000) ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY (1836-1907). Thomas Bailey Aldrich, known chiefly as the author of The Story of a Bad Boy (1869), edited Every Saturday (1866-1874) and The Atlantic Monthly (1881-1890) and also wrote poems, short stories, and five novels. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Aldrich lived for brief periods in the seaports of New York and New Orleans,…
Read MoreAlbee, Edward
by David R. Pellegrini (2000) ALBEE, EDWARD (1928-2016). A leading contemporary playwright, Edward Albee made his early reputation writing spare, psychological dramas, of which his most acclaimed and widely known remains Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (first perf. 1962; pub. 1962). An early one-act, The Sandbox (first perf. 1960; pub. 1960), employing such stylistic conceits…
Read MoreAiken, Conrad
by John T. Shawcross (2000) [AIKEN, CONRAD POTTER], “SAMUEL JEAKE JR.” (1889-1973). A friend and contemporary of T. S. Eliot, Conrad Aiken divided his time between England and the United States before settling in Massachusetts in 1947. He used the pen name “Samuel Jeake Jr.” during 1934-1936 as the London correspondent for the New Yorker, although…
Read MoreAdams, William Taylor (“Oliver Optic”)
Adams, Bertram Martin
by Bert Bender (2000) ADAMS, BERTRAM MARTIN [BILL ADAMS] ( 1879-1953 ). Bill Adams was born in England to American parents. He left college to go to sea at age seventeen in a career that lasted four or five years and logged seven passages around Cape Horn. Before his sailing career was ended by ill…
Read MoreAckerman, Diane
Interested in contributing Diane Ackerman’s biography? Click here for more information.
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