Innes, Hammond

▪ 1999

      British writer (b. July 15, 1913, Horsham, Sussex, Eng.—d. June 10, 1998, Kersey, Suffolk, Eng.), cultivated his thrill for adventure and travel while conducting research for his popular novels, in which the Arctic Ocean and other exotic locales set the stage for epic battles between man and nature. His most famous novel, The Wreck of the "Mary Deare" (1956; filmed 1959), is a maritime thriller involving conspiracy and insurance fraud. Innes wrote his first novel, The Doppelgänger, at the age of 17. It was published four years later, by which time he had begun work as an industrial correspondent (1934-40) for the Financial News. He then wrote the novels The Trojan Horse (1940) and Wreckers Must Breathe (1940). His experience as a volunteer with the British Royal Artillery (1940-46) provided material for Attack Alarm (1941), written between air raids during the Battle of Britain, and other military works. After the war Innes became a full-time novelist and children's book author (writing under the pen name Ralph Hammond), and he began contributing regularly to Holiday magazine, which funded many of his travel adventures. Sailing on his own boat (aptly named the Mary Deare), Innes spent six months each year visiting sites in Europe and Asia that were later featured in books, notably Harvest of Journeys (1960). His passion for sea travel was matched only by his environmental consciousness. Novels such as The Blue Ice (1948) and The White South (1949), for which he spent some time living and working with Norwegian whalers, reflected his concern for the humane treatment of animals. A member of the Timber Growers Association, Innes planted an estimated 1,500,000 trees. He was made a C.B.E. in 1978.

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