The Curious Tale of Percy F. Westerman's Ripping Yarns

I have always been a follower of the Monty Python's Flying Circus series, and as with many other people of my generation, I can rattle off, verbatim, most of the classic sketch scripts when required... any excuse really.

Casting my mind back to Christmas 1971, among my presents, I received a copy of The Monty Python's Big Red Book (Methuen Press). It featured a spoof story titled 'Journey into Earl's Court' - A Raw Tale Of Bed-sitter Land by the Author of "Percy F. Westerman". What followed can only be described as pure Python. If you really want to read it, then follow this link. http://www.heretical.com/miscella/mpart.html

The link between Percy Westerman and the Python team appeared again, when the brilliant series 'Ripping Yarns' written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones came to the small screen. Was the inspiration for these wonderfully funny stories in anyway linked to the writer Percy F.Westerman? The booklet placed inside the DVD of Ripping Yarns explains that the idea for the first episode was prompted by a book called ‘Ripping Tales’. However, try as a might, I have been unable to trace a copy of this title, but would fascinated to know if anyone has a copy of this title that might be 'the book'.

Over the last few years there have been a number of debates with some very wise and knowledgeable people about this somewhat flimsy link, and we have discussed the connection at length, but there has not been a definite answer to the question...... until now.

The only way to settle this question was to ask the writer of Ripping Yarns, Mr Michael Palin, and here is the reply.
Thanks for your letter.

I'm afraid that as so often in Python the choice of name is completely arbitary! Percy F. Westerman was a name we were all brought up with, but his inclusion in the book was not meant to signify anything in particular. Nor was he in our minds when we started to write Ripping Yarns.

All best wishes

Michael Palin

So, there you have it. There was never a conscious decision to base any of the Ripping Yarns stories on anything by Percy F. Westerman. Still, some of the Westerman text does sound screen ready for the next series of Ripping Yarns, doesn't it?

The letter from Michael Palin appears with his kind permission.

The Pirate Submarine - A Possible Conclusion, by James Mackenzie

This excellent and very interesting article is a first for the Westerman Yarns weblog. It has been kindly contributed for publication on this site with the kind permission of the author, James Mackenzie.

James is the author of 'Another Country: A guide to the children's books of the Lake District and Cumbria'; an absolute must for your holiday reading on your next visit to the region. James also manages the specialist weblog http://www.childrensbooksofthenorth.blogspot.com/.

Thanks James


‘I must hand her over to the new owner before the end of the present month, Gerald,’ declared Rollo Vyse, owner of the thirty-five feet motor-yacht, Ibex, to his chum Gerald Broadmayne.

This is the opening sentence of Chapter VI of ‘The Pirate Submarine’ and is 65 pages in to the storyline of this unusual story. It seems an extraordinary long time for the reader to wait for the arrival on the scene of the two characters who seem destined to be the heroes of the tale.

Yet, all in this book is not quite what it seems.

The opening chapters tell of the doings of two of the biggest villains ever to grace the pages of this author. They are Tom Trevorrick and Paul Pengelly, the rogues who are about to bring disgrace to all Cornish mariners. We see how they pass from shady business dealings just on the right side of the law to a life of outright crime. Dismantling surplus ex-Royal Naval ships in order to sell them for scrap value is not a particularly unorthodox way for former sailors to make a living. When the value of brass falls to an uneconomic level they know that they must find another way to bring in the cash. Very soon they must answer to their shareholders who will demand a dividend for their risky investments. There are also the employees who need paying.

Trevorrick’s solution to the problem is both simple and startling. They will save a doomed ship, disguise it, sneak it out on to the Channel and turn it into a modern day pirate. The whole idea seems totally preposterous. Yet such is the application of the writer to his craft that Westerman starts devising a cunning account of how they can set about their nefarious scheme. He deals with the practical details of getting the discarded submarine ready for her voyage. The location of the small shipyard is a neglected creek not far from Falmouth. The rogues have the location and the facilities to prepare their chosen vessel. The workforce have been especially selected to be rootless and without close dependents. They are invited to join a salvage expedition which will remove gold bars from a sunken vessel. Secrecy is essential if rivals are not to discover the precious wreck and steal their prize. The local Inspector is a mere cipher more intent upon drawing his pay for very little work than checking what happens to the decommissioned men of war.



Trevorrick’s command of the human factor in his plan is never in doubt. The men commit themselves to one risky but not illegal exercise and find themselves ready for something more outrageous when these plans seem to go wrong. The Naval inspector is duped and then overpowered and kidnapped when he stumbles into the wrong place at the wrong time.The disguised submarine can only make progress on the surface (no underwater engines can be operated) but it can rise and submerge on the spot. Each problem that arises is overcome by Trevorrick’s sheer nerve and inventiveness. He soon has a Cornish crew committed to piracy and even has a local smuggler to transport and handle the stolen goods. He has also adopted his nomme de guerre Captain Cain.

At page 65, by an unhappy accident ,the pirate submarine Alerte rises from the water and rescues Vyse and Broadmayne from the dinghy of their burnt out motor cruiser. At this point the pirates’ plans begin to unravel. The rest of the book recounts the adventures up to page 296 when the unlucky Alerte reaches its final resting place. You might expect that Vyse and Broadmayne find their own way of outwitting the pirate and undoing his schemes. Very soon, for example, Broadmayne manages to win the approval of some of the pirate crew by defeating their champion in improvised boxing match.

‘Tough,desperate ruffians they might be, but they were sportsmen, members of a race that produces the best winners and the best losers in the world.”

Captain Cain keeps his men in check by promising that they will never be called on to fire at an English ship. Somehow he also can’t bring himself to deal with the young heroes that may have been brutal but which would have been sensible. Somehow in return the youths feel a grudging respect for the man who has them prisoner. Later, however, they both play their part in trying to hunt him down. By the end of the book the rascally and cowardly Pengelly has gone to his fate in prison. Yet the sheer defiance and unnatural courage of Captain Cain stays with him to the end. In fact Broadmayne’s final reflections suggest something more. He ponders over what happened to Cain ?

‘It was to him a fascinating and yet unsolved mystery. Did Cain succeed in his last desperate attempt to escape ? Or did the bed of the land-locked Bahia Arenas hold the secret of the fate of the pirate submarine until the sea gives up its dead ?’

Now that I see the title ‘Captain Cain’ as Westerman’s next book for the same publisher in the following year I realise what the conclusion must be. You can’t keep a good (or a bad) man down.

James Mackenzie

The Mystery of the Flying Submarine

This is a brief look at some of the news items, technological development’s and influences that may have effected the creation a few of the ‘Westerman’ yarns that involve submarines and airships – after all, airships really do look like flying submarines, don’t they?

If you have an opinion or an observation you would like to contribute regarding this item please email me westermanyarns@gmail.com

The Submarines
The early 1900’s were exciting times in the development of new technological break-through’s. In 1870 the French novelist Jules Verne had captured the imagination of the public with his book ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ Over the next thirty years the real working submarines began to take shape and become viable tools of war.

Craft designed by Frederich Otto Vogel (German), Claude Goubet (French), Gustave Zede French), Josiah H.L Tuck (American) all contributed to the development of submarine development. For Britain however, one name became synonymous with the submarine – John Phillip Holland (Ireland). Holland (Pictured left) had been designing submarines in America since 1875, but it was one of his designs that was chosen and accepted by the British Navy as the first British submarine type.

Built at Barrow in Furnace, Holland 1 was launched on October 2, 1901 and was began service with the Royal Navy, Portsmouth in 1902.

Submarines, at this time were always newsworthy. In 1904 as part of a Royal Naval exercise with the First Fleet, five Holland submarines were assigned to defend Portsmouth and successfully torpedoed four warships. The same year saw the first major submarine accident when, close to the Nab Tower Lighthouse, Holland’s latest design, the A-1 was hit, whilst submerged, by the SS Berwick Castle (a passenger ship) with the tragic loss of all hands (Seven of the crew were from Portsmouth).

It is very likely that Percy would have read ‘Twenty thousand Leagues Beneath the Sea’ as he was growing up and this would have sparked his creative imagination, but during his time, working as a clerk in the Naval Dockyard these elements of technological fantasy were becoming fact. When the Holland 1 arrived in Portsmouth to be based at Fort Blockhouse, Gosport (HMS Dolphin), Percy was working in the Naval Base as a clerk. The 1904, A-1 accident off the Nab Tower was reported in the Portsmouth News, and the sad fact that seven of the crew were local men would have made this a talking point. Submariners were the astronauts of their time, and this was seen as a very risky area of development to be involved in. Only a few years later the A3 was also sunk with another loss of all hands following a collision off Bembridge, IOW with the ironically named, HMS Hazard.


The Airships
Progress in taking to the skies had been rapid since the first powered flight of a fixed wing aircraft by the Wright Brothers in 1903. Yet in 1900 the first airship had taken to the skies from a floating hanger on Lake Constance. The airship, the LZ1, designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, containing 400,000 cubic feet of potentially explosive hydrogen gas and measuring a massive 420 feet long with a 38 foot diameter, became the largest man-made object to take to the air.

In the early days of the First World War Germany launched a series of attacks from the air with their Zeppelin fleet. On the night of 25 September 1916 a Zeppelin attack on Portsmouth took place. The banks of search-lights in the Naval Base picked out the eerie shape of the Zeppelin as it delivered the towns ;first of many, aerial bombardments, as it moved slowly down the eastern side of the town , heading out to sea in the direction of the Isle of Wight. The town defences filled the air with sound of gunfire. It is not clear from my research, what the impact of the raid was, but a national report for that date, tells that on that night, a total of seven Zeppelin’s attacked British soil with 43 killed and 31 injured.

The pre titled Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps was formed in to the Royal Naval Air Service on 1st July 1914 where by only 198 men of all ranks were transferred under the command of Commander E A D Masterman. This was later known as the Airship Section. It was recognised that a sea-warfare advantage could be obtained with an eye in the sky, submarine spotting capability. Development of what became known as the Submarine Scout (SS) class airships. Introduced in 1915, these small craft could be launched from the deck of a ship; carry a crew of two; a wireless; have an arsenal of 160lbs of bombs; enough fuel for eight hours flying and a top speed of 50mph.

The British had been building airships since WW1 and the R-34 made the first East -West crossing of the Atlantic in 1919. The R-100 had her maiden flight on December 16, 1929. Built by a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong by a design team led by Barnes Wallis and assisted by Neville Shute Norway* (Senior Stress Engineer).

Percy had left Portsmouth before the Zeppelin incident of 1916, but his mother was still living in Campbel Road, Southsea just a few miles away from the centre of the raid so it would be safe to assume that he would have been concerned for her safety.

and so to finish...
In 1926 one of the famous Sexton Blake stories was titled ‘The Submarine that Sank Upwards’ published by Amalgamated Press (Author: Anon). On the Blakiania website (http://www.sextonblake.co.uk/) the story has been adapted and re-titled ‘The Case of the Flying Submarine’. How close is that to the Percy Westerman idea from the ‘The Mystery of the Flying Submarine’?

The fantasy of a vessel that can both fly and dive beneath the waves will capture the imagination of the reader, but put this into the context of the period when airships and submarines are still making the news. Strange but true, the frontpice image from 'The Mystery of the Flying Submarine' (top of the page) makes for a real stretch of the imagination, but a San Francisco based artist, Matt Hope in collaboration a China based inflatable company recently produced a one-third scale inflatable replica of a Russian submarine!!

The Books
Below is a list of books that feature submarine and airship influences – Please note that this is not a conclusive list. Please email any comments or corrections that will help in ensuring the accuracy of the list:-
‘The Flying Submarine’ (1912), Illustrator: John de Walton
‘Rival Submarines’ (1913), Illustrator: C. Fleming Williams
‘The Dreadnought of the air (1914)’, Illustrator: C. Fleming Williams
‘The Secret Battleplane’ (1916). Illustrator: Ernest Prater
‘The Submarine Hunters’ (1919), Illustrator: Edward S. Hodgson
‘A Sub and a Submarine’ (1919), Illustrator: Edward. S. Hodgson
‘The Airship “Golden Hind”’, (1920, Illustrator: C. Fleming Williams
‘The Pirate Submarine’ (1923), Illustrator Galli
‘The Black Hawk’,(1934), Illustrator: Rowland Hilder
‘The Phantom Submarine’ (1947), Illustrator: J. C. B. Knight

* In 1933 Neville Shute Norway moved his company Airspeed Ltd to the Portsmouth Airport site where he remained as Managing Director until 1938. One of his books Lanfall: A Channel Story uses Portsmouth and the region as the backdrop.


www.airships.net/
www.submarine-history.com/NOVAtwo.htm

www.sextonblake.co.uk

Redclyffe Remember Percy Westerman

Percy Westerman was the first Commodore of the Redclyffe Yacht Club.

The original clubhouse was built by Percy with help from his son John and recently the club celebrated their diamond anniversary (75 years) and have installed a plaque commemorating their founding in 1933. The club is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the west bank of the River Frome at Redclyffe, near Wareham, Dorset.

The Book List

Book List

Percy. F. Westerman


1. A Lad of Grit - Blackie 1908
2. The Winning of Golden Spurs - Nisbet 1911
3. The Young Cavalier - Pearson 1911
4. The Quest of the Golden Hope - Blackie 1911
5. The Flying Submarine - Nisbet 1912
6. Captured at Tripoli - Blackie 1912
7. The Sea Monarch - A.C.Black 1912
8. The Scouts of Seal Island - A.C.Black 1913
9. The Rival Submarines - Partridge 1913
10. The Stolen Cruiser - Jarrolds 1913
11. When East Meets West - Blackie 1913
12. Under King Henry's Banners - Pilgrim Press 1913
13. The Sea-Girt Fortress - Blackie 1914
14. Sea Scouts of Petrel - A.C.Black 1914
15. The Log of a Snob - Chapman and Hall 1914
16. 'Gainst the Might of Spain - Pillgrim Press 1914
17. Building the Empire - Jarrolds 1914
18. The Dreadnought of the Air - Partridge 1914
19. The Dispatch-Riders - Blackie 1915
20. The Nameless Island - Pearson 1915
21. The Fight for Constantinople - Blackie 1915
22. A Sub. of the R.N.R. - Partridge 1915
23. Rounding up the Raider - Blackie 1916
24. The Secret Battleplane - Blackie 1916
25. The Treasures of the "San Philipo" Religious Tract Society *
26. A Watch-dog of the North Sea - Partridge 1916
27. Deeds of Pluck and Daring in the Great War - Blackie 1916
28. To the Fore with the Tanks! - Blackie 1917
29. Under the White Ensign - Blackie 1917
30. The Fritz-Strafers - Partridge 1917
(Keepers of the Narrow Seas)
31. Billy Barcroft R.N.A.S. - Partridge 1918
32. A Lively Bit of the Front - Blackie 1918
33. The Secret Channel and Other Stories - A.C.Black 1918
34. The Submarine Hunters - Blackie 1918
35. A Sub. and a Submarine Blackie 1918
36. With Beauty off Jutland - Blackie 1918
37. Whilmshurt of the Frontier Force - Partridge 1919
38. Winning his Wings - Blackie 1919
39. The Thick of the Frey at Zeebrugge - Blackie 1919 *
40. 'Midst Artic Perils - Pearson 1919
41. The Airship "Golden Hind" - Partridge 1919 *
42. The Mystery Ship - Partridge 1920
43. The Salving of the "Funi Yama" - Blackie 1920
44. Sea Scouts All - Blackie 1920
45. Sea Scouts Abroad - Blackie 1921
46. The Third Officer - Blackie 1921 *
47. Sea Scouts Up Channel - Blackie 1922
48. The Wireless Officer - Blackie 1922
49. The War of the Wireless Waves - Oxford University Press 1922
50. The Pirate Submarine - Nisbet 1923
51. A Cadet of the Mercantile Marine - Blackie 1923
52. Clipped Wings - Blackie 1923
53. The Mystery of Stockmere School - Partridge 1923
54. Sinclair's Luck - Partridge 1923
55. Captain Cane - Nisbet 1924
56. The Good Ship "Golden Effort" - Blackie 1924
57. The Treasure of the Sacred lake - Pearson 1924
58. Unconquered Wings - Blackie 1924
59. Clinton's Quest - Pearson 1925
60. East in the "Golden Gain" - Blackie 1925
61. The Boys of the "Puffin" - Partridge 1925
62. The Buccaneers of Boya - Blackie 1925
63. The Sea Scouts of the "Kestrel" - Seeley 1925
64. Annesley's Double - A.C.Black 1926
65. King of Kilba - Ward Lock 1926
66. The Luck of the "Golden Dawn" - Blackie 1926
67. The Riddle of the Air - Blackie 1926
68. Tireless Wings - Blackie 1926
69. The Terror of the Seas - Ward Lock 1927
70. Mystery Island - Oxford University Press 1927
71. Captain Blundell's Treasure - Blackie 1927
72. Chums of the "Golden Vanity" - Blackie 1927
73. In the Clutches of the Dyaks - Partridge 1927
74. The Junior Cadet - Blackie 1928
75. On the Wings of the Wind - Blackie 1928
76. A Shanghai Adventure - Blackie 1928
77. Pat Stobart in the "Golden Dawn"
78. Rivals of the Reef - Blackie 1929
79. Captain Starlight - Blackie 1929 *
80. Captain Sang - Blackie 1930
81. Leslie Dexter, Cadet - Blackie 1930
82. A Mystery of the Broads - Blackie 1930 *
83. The Secret of the Plateau - Blackie 1931
84. The Senior Cadet - Blackie 1931
85. In Defiance of the Ban - Blackie 1931
86. The Amir's Ruby - Blackie 1932
87. All Hands to the Boats - Blackie 1912
88. Captain Fosdyke's Gold - Blackie 1932
89. King for a Month - Blackie 1933
90. Rocks Ahead - Blackie 1933
91. The White Arab - Blackie 1933
92. The Disappearing Dhow - Blackie 1933 *
93. Chasing the Pleiad - Blackie 1933
94. Tales of the Sea (with others) - Blackie 1933
95. The Westow Talisman - Blackie 1934 *
96. Andy-All-Alone - Blackie 1934
97. The Black Hawk - Blackie 1934
98. Standish of the Air Police - Blackie 1935 *
99. Sleuths of the Air - Blackie 1935
100. On board the "Golden Effort" - Blackie1935
101. The Call of the Sea - Blackie 1935
102 The Red Pirate
103. Captain Flick - Blackie 1936 *
104. His First Ship - Blackie 1936
105. Midshipman Roxworthy - Blackie 1936
106. Ringed by Fire - Blackie 1936
107. Winged Might - Blackie 1937
108. Under Fire in Spain - Blackie 1937
109. The Last of the Buccaneers - Blackie 1937
110. Haunted Harbour - Blackie 1937
111. The Unfinished Voyage - Blackie 1937
112. Cadet Alan Carr - Blackie 1937
113. Midshipman Webb's Treasure - Blackie 1938
114. Standish Gets His Man - Blackie 1938
115. Sea Scouts Alert ! - Blackie 1939
116. Standish Looses his Man - Blackie 1939
117. In Eastern Seas - Blackie 1939
118. The Bulldog Breed - Blackie 1939
119. At Grips with the Swastika - Blackie 1940
120. Eagles' Talons - Blackie 1940
121. In Dangerous Waters - Blackie 1940
122. Standish Pulls it Off - Blackie 1940
123. When the Allies Swept the Seas - Blackie 1940 *
124. The War - and Alan Carr - Blackie 1940
125. War Cargo - Blackie 1941
126. Sea Scouts at Dunkirk - Blackie 1941
127. Standish Holds On - Blackie 1941
128. Fighting for Freedom - Blackie 1941
129. Alan Carr in the Near East - Blackie 1942
130. On Guard for England
131. Destroyer's Luck - Blackie 1942
132. Secret Flight - Blackie 1942
133. With the Commandos - Blackie 1943
134. Sub-Lieutenant John Cloche - Blackie 1943
135. Alan Carr in Command - Blackie 1943
136. Alan Carr in the Arctic - Blackie 1943
137. Combined Operation - Blackie 1944
138. Engaged the Enemy Closely - Blackie 1944
139. Secret Convoy - Blackie 1944
140. One of the Many - Blackie 1945
141. Operation Successfully Executed - Blackie 1945
142. By Luck and Pluck - Blackie 1946
143. Return to Base - Blackie 1946
144. Squadron Leader - Blackie 1946
145. Unfettered Might - Blackie 1947
146. Trapped in the Jungle - Blackie 1947
147. The Phantom Submarine - Blackie 1947
148. The "Golden Gleaner" - Blackie 1948
149. First Over - Blackie 1948
150. The Mystery of the Key - Blackie 1948
151. Missing, Believed Lost - Blackie 1949
152. Contraband - Blackie 1949
153. Beyond the Burma Road - Blackie 1949
154. Sarabinda Island - Blackie 1950
155. The Mystery of Nix Hall - Blackie 1950
156. By Sea and Air - Blackie 1950
157. Desolation Island - Balckie 1950
158. Held to Ransom - Balckie 1951
159. The Isle of Mystery - Blackie 1951
160. Working Their Passage - Blackie 1951
161. Sabotage ! - Blackie 1952
162. Round the World in the "Golden Gleaner" - 1952
163. Dangerous Cargo - Blackie 1952
164. Bob Strickland's Log - Blackie 1953
165. The Missing Diplomat - Blackie 1953
166. Rolling Down to Rio - Blackie 1953
167. Wrested from the Deep - Blackie 1954
168. A Midshipman of the Fleet - Blackie 1954
169. The Ju-Ju Hand - Blackie 1954
170. The Dark Secret 1955
171. Davantry's Quest - Blackie 1955
172. The Lure of the Lagoon - Blackie 1955
173. Held in the Frozen North - Blackie 1956
174. The Mystery of the Semiphone - Blackie 1957
175. Jack Craddock's Commission - Blackie 1958
176. Mistaken Identity - Blackie 1959

Obituary - Percy F Westerman

The launch of this blog coincides with the 50th anniversary of the death of Percy Westerman who passed away on February 22, 1959

The Times
Obituary
Mr. Percy. F.Westerman


Adventure Tales for Boys

Mr. Percy. F. Westerman, a popular writer of books for boys, has died at the age of 82.

He was born in Portsmouth in 1876 and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School. The sea attracted him from his earliest days and by the age of 20 he had taken up a promising clerical appointment in Portsmouth Dockyard.

He married Florence Wager of Portsmouth in 1900 and though he had written briefly on nautical topics in his twenties his first book for boys entitled A Lad of Grit was not published until 1908. This was written under the stimulus of Scouting which Baden-Powell founded in the same year after an experimental camp at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in 1907. Westerman was greatly attracted to the idea of Scouting on the water and became keenly interested in Sea Scouting.

His early books, which stressed adventure and the open-air life both on land and sea, were so successful that Westerman resigned his Admiralty appointment in 1911 to devote himself to full time writing for boys. For many years he lived on board a houseboat on the River Frome at Wareham in Dorset, but a fall when he was 70 made him reluctantly, take to dry land.

In the First World War he was for a time employed on coastal duties with the Royal Navy, but later held a commission, like Captain W. E. Johns in the Royal Flying Corps and found flying as full of adventure as boating and sailing.

In the Second World War he did valuable work for the Home Guard in Dorset, while his nautical figure and peaked yachting cap made him a well-known personality in his spare time among the boys of the county.

Of his service in the two wars he once wrote to Blackie "neither appointment seriously interfered with my literary output".

His last book will be published in May by Blackie & Son who have been his publisher since Lad o' Grit appeared in 1908. He wrote in all 170 books and his total sales at death were 1,599,000. He had one book published in each of the last three years, and before then his output varied from tree to five books a year.

In post war years Percy Westerman became something of a recluse and was rarely, if ever seen in London. But his work never faltered and remained of a high quality. He never ceased to give his readers real life heroes who revelled in danger and high adventure, usually in the Services or Sea Scouting. His books had been translated into over half a dozen European languages and also into Braille.


The Times
Wednesday 25 February, 1959.

Percy Westerman - Book List

Book List

Percy. F. Westerman



1. A Lad of Grit - Blackie and Son Limited: 1908
2. The Winning of Golden Spurs - Nisbet 1911
3. The Young Cavalier - Pearson 1911
4. The Quest of the Golden Hope - Blackie and Son Limited: 1911
5. The Flying Submarine - Nisbet 1912
6. Captured at Tripoli - Blackie and Son Limited: 1912
7. The Sea Monarch - A.C.Black 1912
8. The Scouts of Seal Island - A.C.Black 1913
9. The Rival Submarines - Partridge 1913
10. The Stolen Cruiser - Jarrolds 1913
11. When East Meets West - Blackie and Son Limited: 1913
12. Under King Henry's Banners - Pilgrim Press 1913
13. The Sea-Girt Fortress - Blackie and Son Limited: 1914
14. Sea Scouts of Petrel - A.C.Black 1914
15. The Log of a Snob - Chapman and Hall 1914
16. 'Gainst the Might of Spain - Pillgrim Press 1914
17. Building the Empire - Jarrolds 1914
18. The Dreadnought of the Air - Partridge 1914
19. The Dispatch-Riders - Blackie and Son Limited: 1915
20. The Nameless Island - Pearson 1915
21. The Fight for Constantinople - Blackie and Son Limited: 1915
22. A Sub. of the R.N.R. - Partridge 1915
23. Rounding up the Raider - Blackie andSon Limited 1916
24. The Secret Battleplane - Blackie 1916
25. The Treasures of the "San Philipo" Religious Tract Society
26. A Watch-dog of the North Sea - Partridge 1916
27. Deeds of Pluck and Daring in the Great War - Blackie 1916
28. To the Fore with the Tanks! - Blackie 1917
29. Under the White Ensign - Blackie 1917
30. The Fritz-Strafers - Partridge 1917
(Keepers of the Narrow Seas)
31. Billy Barcroft R.N.A.S. - Partridge 1918
32. A Lively Bit of the Front - Blackie 1918
33. The Secret Channel and Other Stories - A.C.Black 1918
34. The Submarine Hunters - Blackie 1918
35. A Sub. and a Submarine Blackie 1918
36. With Beatty off Jutland - Blackie 1918
37. Wilmshurst of the Frontier Force - Partridge 1919
38. Winning his Wings - Blackie 1919
39. The Thick of the Frey at Zeebrugge - Blackie 1919
40. 'Midst Artic Perils - Pearson 1919
41. The Airship "Golden Hind" - Partridge 1919
42. The Mystery Ship - Partridge 1920
43. The Salving of the "Fusi Yama" - Blackie 1920
44. Sea Scouts All - Blackie 1920
45. Sea Scouts Abroad - Blackie 1921
46. The Third Officer - Blackie 1921
47. Sea Scouts Up Channel - Blackie 1922
48. The Wireless Officer - Blackie 1922
49. The War of the Wireless Waves - Oxford University Press 1922
50. The Pirate Submarine - Nisbet 1923
51. A Cadet of the Mercantile Marine - Blackie 1923
52. Clipped Wings - Blackie 1923
53. The Mystery of Stockmere School - Partridge 1923
54. Sinclair's Luck - Partridge 1923
55. Captain Cain - Nisbet 1924
56. The Good Ship "Golden Effort" - Blackie 1924
57. The Treasure of the Sacred lake - Pearson 1924
58. Unconquered Wings - Blackie 1924
59. Clinton's Quest - Pearson 1925
60. East in the "Golden Gain" - Blackie 1925
61. The Boys of the "Puffin" - Partridge 1925
62. The Buccaneers of Boya - Blackie 1925
63. The Sea Scouts of the "Kestrel" - Seeley 1925
64. Annesley's Double - A.C.Black 1926
65. King of Kilba - Ward Lock 1926
66. The Luck of the "Golden Dawn" - Blackie 1926
67. The Riddle of the Air - Blackie 1926
68. The Terror of the Seas - Ward Lock 1927
69. Mystery Island - Oxford University Press 1927
70. Captain Blundell's Treasure - Blackie 1927
71. Chums of the "Golden Vanity" - Blackie 1927
72. In the Clutches of the Dyaks - Partridge 1927
73. The Junior Cadet - Blackie 1928
74. On the Wings of the Wind - Blackie 1928
75. A Shanghai Adventure - Blackie 1928
76. Pat Stobart in the "Golden Dawn"
77. Rivals of the Reef - Blackie 1929
78. Captain Starlight - Blackie 1929
79. Captain Sang - Blackie 1930
80. Leslie Dexter, Cadet - Blackie 1930
81. A Mystery of the Broads - Blackie 1930
82. The Secret of the Plateau - Blackie 1931
83. The Senior Cadet - Blackie 1931
84. In Defiance of the Ban - Blackie 1931
85. The Amir's Ruby - Blackie 1932
86. All Hands to the Boats - Blackie 1912
87. Captain Fosdyke's Gold - Blackie 1932
88. King for a Month - Blackie 1933
89. Rocks Ahead - Blackie 1933
90. The White Arab - Blackie 1933
91. The Disappearing Dhow - Blackie 1933
92. Chasing the Pleiad - Blackie 1933
93. Tales of the Sea - Blackie 1933
94. The Westow Talisman - Blackie 1934
95. Andy-All-Alone - Blackie 1934
96. The Black Hawk - Blackie 1934
97. Standish of the Air Police - Blackie 1935
98. Sleuths of the Air - Blackie 1935
99. On board the "Golden Effort" - Blackie1935
100. The Call of the Sea - Blackie 1935
101. The Red Pirate - Blackie 1935
102. Captain Flick - Blackie 1936
103. His First Ship - Blackie 1936
104. Midshipman Raxworthy - Blackie 1936
105. Ringed by Fire - Blackie 1936
106. Tireless Wings - Blackie 1936
107. Winged Might - Blackie 1937
108. Under Fire in Spain - Blackie 1937
109. The Last of the Buccaneers - Blackie 1937
110. Haunted Harbour - Blackie 1937
111. The Unfinished Voyage - Blackie 1937
112. Cadet Alan Carr - Blackie 1937
113. Midshipman Webb's Treasure - Blackie 1938
114. Standish Gets His Man - Blackie 1938
115. Standish Looses his Man - Blackie 1939
116. In Eastern Seas - Blackie 1939
117. The Bulldog Breed - Blackie 1939
118. At Grips with the Swastika - Blackie 1940
119. Eagles' Talons - Blackie 1940
120. In Dangerous Waters - Blackie 1940
121. Standish Pulls it Off - Blackie 1940
122. When the Allies Swept the Seas - Blackie 1940
123. The War - and Alan Carr - Blackie 1940
124. War Cargo - Blackie 1941
125. Sea Scouts at Dunkirk - Blackie 1941
126. Standish Holds On - Blackie 1941
127. Fighting for Freedom - Blackie 1941
128. Alan Carr in the Near East - Blackie 1942
129. Destroyer's Luck - Blackie 1942
130. On Guard for England - Blackie 1942
131. Secret Flight - Blackie 1942
132. With the Commandos - Blackie 1943
133. Sub-Lieutenant John Cloche - Blackie 1943
134. Alan Carr in the Arctic - Blackie 1943
135. Combined Operation - Blackie 1944
136. Engaged the Enemy Closely - Blackie 1944
137. Secret Convoy - Blackie 1944
138. Alan Carr in Command - Blackie 1945
139. One of the Many - Blackie 1945
140. Operation Successfully Executed - Blackie 1945
141. By Luck and Pluck - Blackie 1946
142. Return to Base - Blackie 1946
143. Squadron Leader - Blackie 1946
144. Unfettered Might - Blackie 1947
145. Trapped in the Jungle - Blackie 1947
146. The Phantom Submarine - Blackie 1947
147. The "Golden Gleaner" - Blackie 1948
148. First Over - Blackie 1948
149. Mystery of the Key - Blackie 1948
150. Missing, Believed Lost - Blackie 1949
151. Contraband - Blackie 1949
152. Beyond the Burma Road - Blackie 1949
153. Sabarinda Island - Blackie 1950
154. Mystery of Nix Hall - Blackie 1950
155. By Sea and Air - Blackie 1950
156. Desolation Island - Balckie 1950
157. Held to Ransom - Balckie 1951
158. The Isle of Mystery - Blackie 1951
159. Working Their Passage - Blackie 1951
160. Sabotage ! - Blackie 1952
161. Round the World in the "Golden Gleaner" - 1952
162. Dangerous Cargo - Blackie 1952
163. Bob Strickland's Log - Blackie 1953
164. The Missing Diplomat - Blackie 1953
165. Rolling Down to Rio - Blackie 1953
166. Wrested from the Deep - Blackie 1954
167. A Midshipman of the Fleet - Blackie 1954
168. The Ju-Ju Hand - Blackie 1954
169. The Dark Secret 1955
170. Davantry's Quest - Blackie 1955
171. The Lure of the Lagoon - Blackie 1955
172. Sea Scouts Alert ! - Blackie 1955
173. Held in the Frozen North - Blackie 1956
174. The Mystery of the Sempione - Blackie 1957
175. Jack Craddock's Commission - Blackie 1958
176. Mistaken Identity - Blackie 1959

Portsmouth Novelists (publication)

A publication in the Portsmouth Papers series titled 'Portsmouth Novelists (74) by David Francis contains a biographical entry on Percy Westerman as well as many other authors linked to Portsmouth including Arther Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Neville Shute.

The book can be purchased from Portsmouth City Museum and costs £3.75 inc. postage.

Follow the link below.

http://www.portsmouthmuseumsshop.co.uk/acatalog/74_Portsmouth_Novelists.html

John F C Westerman - Book List

Book List

John. F. C. Westerman

1. The Antarctic Treasure - Oxford University Press, London 1929
2. The Gold Consignment - Oxford University Press, London 1930
3. Bringing Down the Air Pirate - Ward, Lock & Co. 1930
4. A Mystery of the Air - Oxford University Press, London 1931
5. Peter Garner, Cadet - Ward, Lock & Co London & Melbourne 1931.
6. Fortune Island - Nisbet & Co. London 1932
7. King Solomon's Treasure - Oxford University Press, London 1932
8. The Looted Gold - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1932
9. Treasure Chest Island - Oxford University Press, London 1932
10. The Power Projector - Oxford University Press, London 1933
11. On Secret Service - Nisbet & Co. London 1933
12. Peter Garner's Luck - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1934
13. The Ocean Bandits - Oxford University Press, London 1934
14. The Aero-Contract - Oxford University Press, London 1935
15. The Terror of the Noiseless Sound - Ward, Lock and Co. London & Melbourne 1935
16. The Shanghaied Stowaway - Hutchinson & Co. London 1935
17. The Soten Monoplane - Oxford University Press, London 1936
18. The Secret Island - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1936
19. The Air Record Breakers - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1937
20. The Invisible Plane - Oxford University Press, London 1937
21. Battling Through - Ward, Lock & Co. London 1938
22. Menace from the Air - Oxford University Press, London 1938
23. John Wentley Takes Charge - Collins, London & Glasgow 1938
24. John Wentley Investigates - Collins, London & Glasgow 1939
25. Overdue - Oxford University Press, London 1939
26. The Northway's Quest - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1939
27. A Spot of Bother - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1940
28. John Wentley Wins Through - Collins, London & Glasgow 1940
29. The Counter-Stroke - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1946
30. Twelve Months to Win - Ward, Lock & Co. London & Melbourne 1953

Art at the Centre - Pete Codling (Artist)

These are images of a Portsmouth city centre redevelopment arts project (2003 -2005), The public arts instalation can be found in Arnudel Street, near Commercial Road, Portsmouth. Designed by the artist, Pete Codling, the work celebrates the literary heritage of Portsmouth and includes a line from 'The Young Cavilier' by Percy F Westerman.



"We lost no time in taking our departure for already my quick ear detected the sound of approahing horses along the distant Portsmouth road".


Please visit Pete Codlings web site to see some of the other brilliant arts projects he has delievered.

http://www.petecodling.co.uk/