Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highlights nautical culture in these environments. The settings of nautical fiction vary greatly, including merchant ships, liners, naval ships, fishing vessels, life boats, etc., along with sea ports and fishing villages. When describing nautical fiction, scholars most frequently refer to novels, novellas, and short stories, sometimes under the name of sea novels or sea stories. These works are sometimes adapted for the theatre, film and television.
An illustration from a 1902 printing of Moby-Dick, one of the renowned American sea novels
J. M. W. Turner, The Battle of Trafalgar (circa. 1806). Turner's seascapes reflect the Romantic movement's new attitude to the sea
The original cover of Cooper's The Pilot, printed in 1823.
The Polish cover to Joseph Conrad's 1904 novel Lord Jim
James Fenimore Cooper was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonial and indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought him fame and fortune. He lived much of his boyhood and his last fifteen years in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William Cooper on property that he owned. Cooper became a member of the Episcopal Church shortly before his death and contributed generously to it. He attended Yale University for three years, where he was a member of the Linonian Society.
Photograph by Mathew Brady, 1850
Otsego Hall, Cooper's home
The young Cooper, in Midshipman's naval uniform
The Last of the Mohicans Illustration from 1896 edition, by J. T. Merrill