Hammond Innes (1913-1998) was a compulsive writer and traveller. He wrote over 30 books – thrillers with sturdy, plain-speaking British heroes at the centre; ordinary men caught up in impossible events. Innes journeyed all over the world, working as a journalist, whaler, soldier, but primarily sailing the high seas and racing in his yacht the Mary Deare. He turned all of his adventures into stories, and many of them were bestsellers.