author
Frederic George Trayes
b. 1871
Captured at sea during World War I, this little-known English writer turned a remarkable ordeal into a vivid firsthand memoir. His best-known book follows months of uncertainty aboard the German raider Wolf and the long wait for release.
1 Audiobook
Five Months on a German Raider Being the Adventures of an Englishman Captured by the 'Wolf'
by Frederic George Trayes
About the author
Frederic George Trayes, born in 1871, is known for Five Months on a German Raider, a firsthand account of being captured during World War I. The book was published in 1919 and tells the story of his experience as an Englishman taken prisoner after the Japanese ship Hitachi Maru was intercepted by the German raider Wolf.
What makes Trayes interesting as a writer is the direct, personal way he records events. Rather than writing a distant history, he describes captivity, danger, and survival from the inside, giving readers a clear sense of what life felt like in an extraordinary wartime situation.
Little biographical information about him was easy to confirm beyond his birth year and authorship of this memoir. Even so, his book remains a valuable eyewitness narrative from the First World War and a compelling example of adventure writing grounded in real experience.