Posts Tagged ‘20th Century’
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 film adaptation that combined these two titles; it was directed by James Ivory and starred…
Read MoreColcord, 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 spent much of his first fourteen years aboard deepwater vessels, an experience that instilled in…
Read MoreColcord, Joanna Carver
by Mary Malloy (2000) COLCORD, JOANNA CARVER (1882-1960). Born aboard the Charlotte A. Littlefield, a vessel commanded by her father, Joanna Carver Colcord spent her first eighteen years at sea. She went ashore to attend the University of Maine and graduated in 1906 with a degree in chemistry. Colcord had a successful career as a social…
Read MoreClancy, 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 more focused on the sea than this popular author’s other novels. It is a tale…
Read MoreClampitt, 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: …
Read MoreCheever, 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 the sea possessing curative, erotic, and even redemptive powers. A belief in the spiritually curative…
Read MoreCarson, Rachel
by Betsy S. Hilbert (2000) CARSON, RACHEL [LOUISE] (1907-1964). Though Rachel Carson’s fame as an environmental writer rests on the warnings about pesticide pollution in her last book, Silent Spring (1962), her previous three books on the sea established her reputation. Under the Sea Wind: A Naturalist’s Picture of Ocean Life (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), and The Edge of…
Read MoreCarse, Robert
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) CARSE, ROBERT (1902-1971). A Great Lakes sailor at seventeen, Robert Carse later worked salt water, attaining the position of chief mate. He sailed most of the world and developed a reputation as an expert seaman and maritime historian. Carse claimed to have spent half of his life on water, and…
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 MoreCalvin, Jack
by Kenneth A. Robb (2000) CALVIN, JACK (1901-1985). Jack Calvin was well acquainted with the Pacific coast from Monterey north. His first two novels, Square-Rigged (1929) and Fisherman 28 (1930), are based on his experience sailing from San Francisco to the Bering Sea. After leaving his position as a writing instructor at Stanford University, he and his wife, Sasha…
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 MoreBuckley, 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 MoreBrooks, Kenneth F., Jr.
by Mira Dock (2000) BROOKS, KENNETH F., JR (1921-1962). Kenneth F. Brooks Jr., a decorated World War II pilot living near Washington, D.C., spent his childhood summers on his uncle’s sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay and continues to sail. In Run to the Lee (1965) Brooks recounts a voyage made by his great-uncle John Talbott in…
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 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 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 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 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 MoreBeston, Henry
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) BESTON [SHEAHAN], HENRY (1888-1968). Born Henry Boston Sheahan in Quincy, Massachusetts, Henry Beston is the author of about a dozen books, including The Outermost House. A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod (1928). In 1925 Beston built a two-room cottage on the dunes in Eastham about twenty feet from…
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 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 MoreBarth, John
by Julius Rowan Raper (2000) BARTH, JOHN [SUMMONS] (1930- ). There is a great deal of water in the fiction of John Barth, as one would expect of a writer who was born in Cambridge on the eastern shore of Maryland, was educated at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and lived and taught on the…
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 MoreBaldwin, Bates (John Edward Jennings, Jr.)
Ashley, 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 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, 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…
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