B. S. Osbon was a "sailor of fortune" whose quest for action and adventure on the high seas took him around the world and led to a celebrated reporting career. A participant in events, he provided eyewitness accounts of important Civil War naval battles that secured his reputation as a daring reporter and the most famous naval correspondent of the war. He was imprisoned for allegedly giving information to the enemy, founded one of the first news syndicates, and established the first marine newspaper in the United States.

Bradley Sillick Osbon was born of "poor but Methodist" parents on 16 August 1827 in Rye, Westchester County, New York. A lackluster and unmanageable student, Osbon confessed to being "the worst boy in the village." His repeated delinquency chagrined his parents, especially his father, Abiathar Mann Osbon, an upright Methodist minister. He ran away from home when he was eleven to work...