Pirates & Privateers: Dennis M. Powers's Books

Born in Ireland in 1851, Johnny O’Brien went to sea as the sun began to set on the Age of Sail. Although he trained to become an architect and engineer, his destiny changed when he met a sea captain while returning from a visit home.

The wonderful stories he told of the sea and the prospect of some day being in command . . . impressed me so that I at once decided that a sailor’s life was the life for me. This was late in the year 1866. On our arrival in London, I went to the shipping office and the shipping mate was very kind. He told me to do my best as a “boy” – and that someday – I may sail up the Thames River in command of a ship. The day after arriving in London, I signed on the ship Marlborough. Twelve years later, I came to London from British Columbia with the first full cargo of salmon just that way – on the Alice Dickerman.

During his sixty-four years as a seaman and captain, his adventures took O'Brien around the world and made him legendary. Although his escapades unfold as if one reads a novel, they actually occurred and served to inspire at least one fictional character, Jack London’s Sea Wolf (based on one man who sailed with O’Brien).

In spite of his lack of formal education, O’Brien strove to better himself and to learn all he could about his chosen trade. He had the foresight to understand that steamships would become the principal means of transporting cargo and people, and studied these new aspects of sailing to easily transition from wooden sailing ships to those powered by steam.

While the events recounted here explore many facets and dangers of maritime life, one chapter involves pirates. After discharging cargo in Hong Kong in 1886 and setting sail with hardwood, teak, mahogany, raw silk, and medicinal opium aboard, O’Brien receives a crude warning that pirates intend to attack his ship. As the episode unfolds, readers “see” firsthand how the captain uses his wits and materials at hand to thwart this threat.

Powers writes in the preface:

I wrote this book to illustrate the world that O’Brien’s adventures reflect: sometimes violent, always risky, at times lawless, when shipping out was a feat of rugged individualism – before the judgmental filter that today’s world applies. O’Brien’s time was one that was raw and real in its underbelly – and he lived his way in an age when one could.

The eighteen chapters comprising this account certainly achieve this goal. Whether recounting O’Brien’s experiences sailing the South Pacific and the Atlantic, navigating the frigid waters of Alaska ferrying men to and from the gold fields, or encountering exotic princesses, shanghaiers, railroad magnates, and Hollywood stars, Powers enriches the tale with vivid imagery and astonishing factual accounts that bring this time period to life.

From first page to last, the book draws the reader into this foreign world and permits the reader to experience life as O’Brien does. Powers deftly shows that while steam eclipses sails, the mariner’s life doesn’t become less dangerous. From poignant moments, like the death of O’Brien’s son, to quotes from those who live during this period, Powers infuses the text with sadness, fear, love, and humor – as when an old sailor answers the question as to why tattoos decorate his entire body. “I was a damned fool for having it done, but being drunk at the time, I was in such a condition that anything suggested was just fine with me.” (14)

Tales of the Seven Seas leaves the reader feeling dumbfounded and rewarded at having survived alongside Dynamite Johnny as he “sailed dangerous waters, skirted treacherous reefs, crept through dense fogs, sailed through terrific storms with the hell of rock bound shores sounding in his ears.” (from an editorial in the 8 August 1931 edition of Marine Digest) This book is a true treasure that gives those who dare to navigate its perilous waters a satisfying, but secure, peek into the enthralling world of the mid-19th and early 20th-century mariner.