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Nautical Fiction Index

Authors Pau - Pea

Paulsen, Gary (1939-2021)

The Voyage of the Frog. Orchard, 1989. 141 pages

When David goes out on his sailboat to scatter his recently deceased uncle's ashes to the wind, he is caught in a fierce storm and must survive many days on his own as he works out his feelings about life and his uncle. For young readers.

 

 

 

 

Paxton, S. H. [pseud. Ralph Smith]

The Dragon in New Albion. Little, Brown, 1953. 213 pages

Set in the San Francisco Bay area, with Francis Drake and the Miwok Indians

 

 

 

 

 

Paylin, Jolie, [pseud.Nancy Alice Judy Behrend] (1913-1993)

The Gill Netters. Hillsdale Educational, 1979. 146 pages

Commercial fishing in Wisconsin and Northern Michigan after the Civil War. The story of how the Danish Johannsen family emigrate to the shores of Lake Michigan, to build a new settlement and life as commercial fishermen.

 

 

 

 

Peacock, B. N.

A Tainted Dawn : The Great War (1792-1815). Fireship Press, 2012. 352 pages

England and Spain are on the brink of war. France, allied by treaty with Spain, readies her warships. Three youths - the son of an English carpenter, the son of a naval captain, and the son of a French court tailor - meet in London, a chance encounter that entwines their lives ever after. The English boys find themselves on the same frigate bound for the Caribbean. The Frenchman sails to Trinidad, where he meets an even more zealous Spanish revolutionary. As diplomats in Europe race to avoid conflict, war threatens to explode in the Caribbean, with the three youths pitted against each other. The planned sequels were never published.

 

 

Peacocke, Isabel M. [Maud] (1881-1973)

The Cruise of the Crazy Jane. Ward, Lock, 1932. 256 pages

With her family and friends, Vicky enjoys a summer of adventures on the boat the Crazy Jane

 

 

 

 

 

Pearce, Donn (1928-2017)

Pier Head Jump. Bobbs-Merrill, 1972. 208 pages

Slice of life aboard a post-war Liberty Ship. When the merchant mariners "rescue" a life-size female doll, hijinks ensue.

 

 

 

 

 

Peard, Frances Mary (1835-1923)

Scapegrace Dick. National Society's Depository, 1886. 288 pages

Admiral Blake vs. the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp during era of the English Commonwealth

 

 

 

 

 

Pearson, Ridley (1953- )

Blood of the Albatross. St. Martin's, 1986. 307 pages

A good old-fashioned page-turner of a mystery, set in Seattle, with enough plot twists and sleazy characters to keep things moving at an exhilarating pace. Jay Becker, sailing instructor by day, rock star by night, takes the beautiful German woman Marlene as a student and becomes involved in brutal deaths and treason that seem to stem from her shadowy employer, known only as the "Albatross".

 

 

 

Pease, Howard (1894-1974)

The Tattooed Man: a tale of strange adventures, befalling Tod Moran, mess boy of the tramp steamer ARABY, upon his first voyage from San Francisco to Genoa, via the Panama Canal. Doubleday, Page, 1926. 332 pages

Teenaged Tod goes in search of his missing older brother. He takes a job as a cabin boy, and later stoker on a freighter out of San Francisco bound for Genoa. An interesting story because of the vividly realistic portrayal of life aboard tramp freighters in the inter-war years. Also interesting is the treatment of drug addiction in the days when it wasn't so painfully common.


 

The Jinx Ship: the dark adventure that befell Tod Moran when he shipped as fireman aboard the tramp steamer CONGO, bound out of New York for Caribbean ports. Doubleday, Page, 1927. 324 pages

Tod Moran, stranded and jobless, signs onto the CONGO, a ship with a bad rep, and he's in the middle of several mysteries.


 

 

 

Shanghai Passage: being a tale of mystery and adventure on the high seas in which Stuart Ormsby is shanghaied aboard the tramp steamer NANKING bound for ports on the China coast. Doubleday, 1929. 301 pages


 

 

 

 

Secret Cargo: the story of Larry Matthews and his dog Sambo, forecastle mates on the tramp steamer CREOLE TRADER, New Orleans to the South Seas. Doubleday, Doran, 1931. 272 pages

What was that strange chest buried in the coal scuttle? What's being smuggled? Or who?


 

 

 

The Ship Without a Crew: the strange adventures of Tod Moran, third mate of the tramp steamer ARABY. Doubleday, Doran, 1934. 304 pages

Aboard ARABY in the South Pacific, Tod finds an unmanned schooner, loses it in a gale, and has to find answers in the Tahitian jungle.


 

 

 

Wind in the Rigging: an adventurous voyage of Tod Moran on the tramp steamer SUMATRA, New York to North Africa. Doubleday, Doran, 1935. 333 pages

Story based in part on a discusssion in the 1930s about whether munitions makers were a cause of war.


 

 

 

Hurricane Weather: how Stan Ridley met adventure on the trading schooner "Wind-rider". Doubleday, Doran, 1936. 296 pages

Who would think a simple vacation visit and short cruise with an old friend in the South Pacific would involve pirates, cannibals, a devastating cyclone?


 

 

 

Fog Horns: a story of the San Francisco water front. Doubleday, Doran, 1937. 295 pages

A young man buys a seaman's certificate to work on the Araby and is plunged into intrigue, with a strong working-man's point of view.


 

 

 

Jungle River. Doubleday, Doran, 1938. 295 pages

An American boy searches for his lost father in the New Guinea jungle; praos and dugouts, Papuans and, on the eve of war, Japanese.


 

 

 

Captain Binnacle. Dodd, Mead, 1938. 160 pages

Captain Binnacle sails his ancient river boat on dry land, stuck in a field near Stockton; repelling pirates and savages with the help of three children. For younger readers.


 

 

 

Long Wharf: A Story of Young San Francisco. Dodd, Mead, 1939. 219 pages

Following cabin boy Danny Mason of the barkentine "Niantic", a real ship left deserted in San Francisco Bay in 1850, complicated by gold fever; the Regulators vigilantes; Chinese; jail; cholera; fire.


 

 

 

The Black Tanker: the adventures of a landlubber on the ill-fated last voyage of the oil tank steamer "Zambora". Doubleday, Doran, 1941. 312 pages

A Stanford student gets word that his father, a doctor working in China, has been seriously injured in a Japanese bombing raid. The only way he can get to China is to sign on as an engine wiper on a tanker, whose mate is Tod Moran, carrying oil to the Japanese bases in China. There is a murder on board, a storm at sea, and some adventures with the Japanese and Chinese after they arrive. The book has an American neutrality political viewpoint, flavored with a strong distaste for Japanese imperialism.


 

Night Boat, and other Tod Moran mysteries. Doubleday, Doran, 1942. 267 pages

Contents: Night boat -- Passengers for Panama -- The trader of Noa Noa -- The ship bound North -- The silver outrigger -- Journey by night -- Toll bridge -- Black-out.


 

 

 

Heart of Danger: a tale of adventure on land and sea with Tod Moran, third mate of the tramp steamer ARABY. Doubleday, 1946. 336 pages

The chief figure is a brilliant young Jewish violinist, with a great career ahead, who gives it all up to become a spy in wartime Germany. Tod Moran, third mate of the tramp steamer ARABY is involved in helping smuggle the young spy into the continent, and somewhat in the difficulties of his decision.


 

 

Bound for Singapore: being a true and faithful account of the making of an adventurer. Doubleday, 1948. 243 pages

An autobiographical glimpse of Pease's beginnings: how young "Chet" (Howard himself) first became a writer, how he and friends selected his first stories, and why he first shipped out, bound for "Singapore" (Anywhere), to gain experience.


 

 

 

Captain of the Araby: the story of a voyage. Doubleday, 1953. 247 pages

This is also a Tod Moran book, and the captain of the title is a man he sails with in most of the books. He is the "Tattooed Man" as well.


 

 

 

Shipwreck: the strange adventures of Renny Mitchum, mess boy of the trading schooner SAMARANG. Doubleday, 1957. 257 pages

Renny ships out with no allies in a probably vain attempt to discover what has happened to his father, apparently shipwrecked and lost on a vague island in the least known part of the South Pacific. Pease deals with racism head-on, when Renny has to take instruction from a Filipino cook.

 

 

 


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