J. E. Macdonnell

James Edmond Macdonnell (1917-2002) was born in Mackay, Queensland and was Australia's greatest novelist of the sea, and his stories of naval warfare have since become classics of their type. As a boy, Macdonnell became determined to go to sea and read every seafaring book he could find. At age 13, while his family was still asleep, he took his brother’s bike and rode eighty miles from his home town to Brisbane in an attempt to see ships and the sea. Fortunately, he was found and returned to his family.

Eventually he served in the Royal Australian Navy for fourteen years, joining at age 17, advancing through all lower deck ranks and reaching the rank of commissioned gunnery officer. He began writing books while still in active service. His first book, Fleet Destroyer – a collection of stories about life on the small ships – was published by The Book Depot, Melbourne, in 1945. Macdonnell began writing full-time for Horwitz in 1956, writing an average of a dozen books a year.

Macdonnell’s naval stories feature several recurring characters – Captain “Dutchy” Holland, D.S.O., Captain Peter Bentley, V.C., Captain Bruce Sainsbury, V.C., Jim Brady, and Lieutenant Commander Robert Randall.

He was a prolific writer using a number of pseudonyms, James McNell, James Dark, James Edmond Macdonnell, James Macdonnell, J.E.M., Jim Macdonnell, J. Macdonnell, Macnell, Kerry Mitchell, Michael Owen.

There are 147 titles I have found in the series I will be working to add his books to the site and those I have found, not yet added, are listed at the bottom of the page. The series is currently being republished by Piccadilly Publishing at the rate of 1 book per month, and once I have caught up the rest may be added once republished.

Modern Era Naval Fiction