author

Douglas Frazar

1836–1896

A sailor turned storyteller, he wrote practical guides to small-boat handling and lively adventure fiction shaped by real nautical experience. His best-known work blends survival, invention, and sea lore in a distinctly nineteenth-century style.

2 Audiobooks

Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century

Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century

by Douglas Frazar

Practical Boat-Sailing: A Concise and Simple Treatise

Practical Boat-Sailing: A Concise and Simple Treatise

by Douglas Frazar

About the author

Born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1836, Douglas Frazar built his writing around the world he knew best: ships, seamanship, and life at sea. Records of his work identify him as the author of books including Practical Boat-Sailing, Log of the Maryland, and Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century.

His nonfiction draws on hands-on maritime experience. An edition of Practical Boat-Sailing describes him as a former officer of the steamship Atlantic, a master of the bark Maryland, and commander of the yacht Fenimore Cooper in the waters of China and Japan. That background helps explain why his writing feels both instructional and adventurous.

Frazar also has a small place in early speculative fiction. Reference sources note that Perseverance Island mixes castaway adventure with inventive technology, including a one-man submarine and an advanced airship. He died in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1896.