Percy F. WestermanPercy Francis Westerman (1876 – 22 February 1959) was a prolific English author of children's literature. Many of his works are military and nautical adventure fiction. He was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1876, and attended Portsmouth Grammar Schol before beginning work as a clerk at Portsmouth Dockyard at the age of twenty. In 1900, he married Florence Wager of Portsmouth. They were always passionate sailors and spent a portion of their honeymoon sailing in the Solent. John F.C. Westerman, their son born in 1901, also created adventure tales for boys. He was forced to leave his houseboat for dry land at the age of 70 due to a fall, but he continued to write. He died in 1959 at the age of 82, and his final novel, Mistaken Identity, was published posthumously. His literary career is said to have begun with a sixpence bet with his wife that he could create a better novel than the one he was reading to his son, who was sick with chickenpox at the time. A Lad of Grit, his debut book for boys, was published in 1908 by Blackie & Son Limited. Read More Read Less