The Wrecking Master (Illustrated Edition)

Ralph Delahaye Paine (1871-1925) was an American journalist and author popular in the early 20th century who later held both elected and appointed government offices. At Yale he was on the football and rowing teams and covered athletics for a news syndicate. He graduated in 1894, after which he worked for the Philadelphia Press until 1901. He was involved in an escapade during the Cuban War of Independence which led to him being indited for piracy, necessitating his going into hiding for a month. Luckily, through the influence of a powerful sheriff, a co-owner of the boat concerned, all charges were dropped and he returned to his job with the Phildelphia Press. He reported on the Spanish-American War and in 1900 covered the Boxer Rebellion and was with forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Tientsin and Peking. In 1902 he joined the New York Herald, then became managing editor of the New York Telegraph, but in 1903 he left journalism to become a prolific writer of history and fiction on topics including piracy, merchant shipping, naval vessels, college life and sports. During WWI he worked for the Committee on Public Information and the US Department of the Navy, writing about Allied naval forces. Fom 1918-20 he represented Durham in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, then from 1919-21 he served on the New Hampshire Board of Education. This adventure novel involves the business of saving ships wrecked on the reefs along the Florida coast, one of the most dangerous and exciting jobs in the world. The two sons of rival wreckers, who are in a race to rescue a big steamer which has gone ashore in a peculiar manner on a Florida reef, have adventures as novel as they are exciting. There is a sharp contest of skill, courage, and stratagems, and thrilling fights with men and with storms. First published in 1911 with 8 full-page illustrations in black and white by George Varian.