Tales of the Seven Seas

Tales of the Seven Seas is a fascinating read about an incredibly colorful Captain, Johnny O'Brien, who seemed to have nine lives, each filled with fun, danger, and excitement. Author Dennis M. Power's meticulous research and fine writing brings to life a seafaring era from clipper ships to ocean liners, with Captain O'Brien at the helm guiding us on a voyage of adventure.

In Tales of the Seven Seas, Dennis Powers adds to his reputation as a raconteur of high-seas stories with this portrait of “Dynamite Johnny” O’Brien, a five-foot, five-inch seadog who was larger than life despite his diminutive size. Powers chronicles O’Brien’s adventures from the tropics to the rowdy gold fields of Alaska and California, with a brief side trip to the Wild West saloons of Fort Laramie. Along the way, O’Brien dispenses two-fisted justice to surly seamen, pilots his ships through deadly perils, and crosses paths with the likes of Jack London and Buster Keaton. Powers’ latest is a welcome find for anyone seeking a rollicking tale of maritime adventure.

This is a rare treasure indeed from Davy Jones' mythical locker: an authentic maritime narrative that reads like fiction but is fact. With clear, strong and highly descriptive writing, Powers has painstakingly recreated the exciting life and adventures of a great mariner and master, and the gritty, dangerous, and exciting times he lived in. Old salts and lubbers alike can take pleasure in the vivid descriptions, crisp dialogue, and frightening—and sometimes comical—adventures of his hero, O'Brien. Here is a portrait of a man and his age, for all their flaws and shortcomings. If modern communications, transportation, and maritime technology mean we can no longer recreate in life such iron men in their wooden ships, at least we can enjoy their brief literary resurrection in the pages of books by authors such as Powers.

...[a] fascinating portrait of a colorful captain in a last days of sail and the early days of steam. Very entertaining.

...[N]o author is more qualified or more skilled at telling a good seafaring tale. Once they set sail, readers will never forget crossing the seven seas with Captain Dynamite Johnny O’Brien.

Incredibly detailed and well researched....

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-nineteenth and early twentieth-century mariner.

Tales of the Seven Seas features a larger-than-life hero. Although Capt. O'Brien's exploits sound like fiction, maritime writer Dennis M. Powers has grounded the biography firmly in fact. Dennis Powers...writes with considerable skill.

History can be a difficult subject for writers to make interesting, but there is nothing dry about this thrilling tale of seafaring life. It’s true that the story of Johnny O’Brien is naturally interesting on its own, but Powers shows how, with skilled writing, historical research can be woven into a fascinating narrative. Stories like this are what turn people into legends, and Powers does so here, escalating the life of Captain Dynamite Johnny O’Brien to that status.