Richard Armstrong took adventure novels for boys, notably those taking place on the high seas, to new heights with his vivid details, captivating plots, and believable characters. Instructions and facts on navigation and life at sea, accentuated with the elements of his own positive life philosophy, reveal the dream that poverty and World War I took from him: to become a schoolteacher. Armstrong claimed his intention was to teach young readers "what the real world looks like to me and perhaps a little something of what life is all about." The result is not simply didactic; in fact, it serves to draw the reader into the story, for together the main character and the reader learn something about discipline, maturity, and making decisions, as well as the forging of steel and the sailing of ships.

Born 18 June 1903 near Northumberland in a village on Hadrian's Wall, located between the...