Hammond Innes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ralph Hammond Innes (July 15, 1914June 10, 1998) was an English author who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children's and travel books.

Hammond Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex. Educated at Cranbrook School in Kent, he left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941), the latter novel using Innes' experiences as an Anti-Aircraft Gunner during the Battle of Britain. After being demobbed, in 1946 he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes. His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow during the Berlin Airlift.

Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence of six months of travel and research and then six months of writing, with many of these works featuring the sea. His rate of work was reduced from the 1960s, but was still substantial, and he became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).

Four of his earlier novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948) from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957) from the book of the same name (1952) and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) also from the book of the same name (1956).

His great love and experience of the sea, as an experienced yachtsman, was reflected in many of his novels. This was also reflected in his leaving the bulk of his estate on his death to the Association of Sea Training Organisations, to gain training and experience in sailing the element he loved.

The Strange Land (1954), 1960 Pan paperback edition. 222 pages
The Strange Land (1954), 1960 Pan paperback edition. 222 pages
  • The Doppelganger (1937)
  • Air Disaster (1937)
  • Sabotage Broadcast (1938)
  • All Roads Lead to Friday (1939)
  • Wreckers Must Breathe (1940)
  • The Trojan Horse (1940)
  • Attack Alarm (1941)
  • Dead and Alive (1946)
  • Killer Mine (1947)
  • The Lonely Skier (1947)
  • The Blue Ice (1948)
  • Maddon’s Rock (1948)
  • The White South (1949)
  • The Angry Mountain (1950)
  • Air Bridge (1951)
  • Campbell’s Kingdom (1952)
  • The Strange Land (1954)
  • The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1956)
  • The Land God Gave to Cain' (1958)
  • The Doomed Oasis (1960)
  • Atlantic Fury (1962)
  • The Strode Venturer (1965)
  • Levkas Man (1971)
  • Golden Soak (1973)
  • North Star (1975)
  • The Big Footprints (1977)
  • Solomons Seal (1980)
  • The Black Tide (1982)
  • High Stand (1985)
  • Medusa (1988)
  • Isvik (1991)
  • Target Antarctica (1993)
  • Delta Connection (1996)
  • The Last Voyage: Captain Cook’s Lost Diary (fictional diary) (1978)
  • Some non-fiction, including Sea and Sky, and children's literature

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.