H. Bedford-Jones’ ‘Ships and Men’

I have posted previously on the prolific H. Bedford-Jones (1887-1949), who is considered the “King of the Pulps,” having written over 800 short stories, 200 novels, and more.

While he had several series of works with single characters, many of his longest series were instead around certain themes. Kind of fictionalized histories or docu-dramas. Most of these were done for Blue Book, one of the “Big 4” of pulps.

The longest of these series was his “Ships and Men” series that ran for 34 parts from January 1937 to November 1939. This epic series tells in chronological order naval adventure and advancement, from the cave man era to closer to modern times.

For those who want to read this epic, Steeger Books put in all together in a deluxe hardback edition, titled Ships and Men. It has thumbnails of the issue covers on the back. The front cover is taken from the cover of Blue Book from July 1939.

We also get all the interior illustrations, which are done by an array of artists that include Alex Raymond, John Richard Flanagan, and Leyland R. Gustavson. In addition, we get an interview with Bedford-Jones that ran in Writer’s Digest in 1926.

You could read the series of stories in order, or jump around and read what seems interesting. Each story is great and quickly pulls you into the action. There are stories of cave men discovering how to build ships, of Romans, Egyptians, Phoencians, and others advancing the art of ships. We have stories of pirates and convict ships. We have tales that tell how the Chinese learned how to create ocean-going junks, who really designed the fast clipper ships, the man who got the British navy to convert from paddle wheels to propeller-driven, and more. All of these stories are fictional, but gripping. Not everyone triumphs, but we move forward.

Bedford-Jones wrote several other similar series. Just for Blue Book itself, this included “Armies and Men” (28 parts), “Warriors in Exile” (17 parts), “The World Was Their Stage” (17 parts), “Flags of Our Fathers” (15 parts), “Trumpets from Oblivion” (13 parts), and “Clippers and Men” (10 parts). So far only Warriors in Exile has been reprinted by Steeger Books. Hopefully the others will as well at some point. In the meantime, get this volume and just enjoy these stories.