George H. (George Henry) Read

Born in 1843 and dying in 1924, George H. Read is best known as the author of The Last Cruise of the Saginaw, first published in 1912. The book presents a detailed account of the wreck of the USS Saginaw and the ordeal that followed, written with the close attention of someone deeply familiar with naval life.

The title page identifies him as a retired Pay Inspector in the U.S. Navy, which helps explain the book's practical, observant tone. Read writes less like a novelist than a witness and organizer of memory, combining adventure, hardship, and the everyday realities of service at sea.

There appears to be relatively little easily confirmed biographical information about him online beyond his dates and his naval connection. Even so, his surviving work has kept his name in circulation, especially among readers interested in maritime history, naval survival stories, and firsthand accounts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.