Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | L. Frank Baum (as "Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald") |
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| Illustrator | Howard Heath |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Adventure fiction young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
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Publication date
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1906 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 271 pp. |
Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea is a juvenile adventure novel written by L. Frank Baum, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz. The book was Baum's first effort at writing specifically for an audience of adolescent boys, a market he would pursue in the coming years of his career. The novel was first published in 1906, under the pen name "Capt. Hugh Fitzgerald," one of Baum's multiple pseudonyms.
Audiences and markets
In the years around the turn of the twentieth century (1897–1905), Baum had succeeded in establishing himself as a popular author of children's books, most notably with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). By the middle of the twentieth century's first decade, he was working diligently to branch out into other markets. In 1905 he released his first adult novel, The Fate of a Crown (as the work of "Schuyler Staunton"); in 1906 he issued his first books for adolescent girls, Annabel (as by "Suzanne Metcalf") and Aunt Jane's Nieces (by "Edith Van Dyne"), as well as his first book for boys. The 1906 Sam Steele title was the first book in a projected series; "Capt. Fitzgerald" followed up with Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama in 1907.
The story
Unusually for Baum, the tale of Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea is told in the first person, by the title character. Sam Steele "is a stereotyped ideal: a capable, brave, enterprising, likable, manly sixteen-year-old American." In 1897, Sam is informed that his father, a sea captain named Richard Steele, has been killed in a shipwreck, and Sam is quickly cheated of his inheritance. Now an orphan, he meets his maternal uncle, Naboth Perkins, another sea captain and ship-owner; together the two set sail in the Pacific trade.
From San Francisco, Sam and his uncle embark on Naboth's ship the Flipper, carrying provisions north to open a general store in the boomtowns of the Klondike Gold Rush (referred to half-accurately as "Alaska"). A storm casts them onto a remote island, occupied by stranded and desperate miners who have struck a rich goldfield. The crew of the Flipper reach an alliance with the miners, and have to cope with thieves and natural hazards before they can return with ample rewards for their trouble.
At home again, Sam and Naboth discover that Sam's father has survived his shipwreck, with only the loss of a leg. They win a legal battle to regain the lost patrimony.
Incidentally, the Flipper crew never reached Alaska. Oddly enough, despite the repeated references to the Klondike Gold Rush, there is no reference to its chief Canadian lawman Sam Steele.
Baum's plot was influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. A subplot contains an allusion to H. Rider Haggard's She. In turn, Baum borrowed elements from his first Sam Steele book when he came to write The Sea Fairies five years later. He turned his character Naboth Perkins into Cap'n Bill Weedles in the later book.
