author
Felix Riesenberg
1879–1939
A seasoned mariner who turned hard-earned sea experience into vivid books, he wrote maritime history, practical seamanship guides, and fiction shaped by life aboard ship. His work captures the world of sailors at a moment when the age of sail was giving way to steam.
2 Audiobooks
The Men on Deck: Master, Mates and Crew, Their Duties and Responsibilities
by Felix Riesenberg
Under Sail
by Felix Riesenberg
About the author
Born in Milwaukee in 1879, Felix Riesenberg became known as an American maritime officer and writer whose books ranged across professional seamanship, history, memoir, and fiction. Reliable biographical sources agree that his writing grew directly out of years at sea, which gave his work a practical, lived-in quality.
Riesenberg is remembered as an important American writer of the sea in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to novels and historical writing, he produced nautical instruction, including Standard Seamanship for the Merchant Service, and later published the memoir Living Again.
He died in 1939. For readers drawn to nautical literature, his appeal lies in the mix of firsthand maritime knowledge and an ability to turn that experience into clear, engaging storytelling.