Robert Michael Ballantyne (1825 - 1894) was principally a writer of fiction for young adults. He was was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and went to Canada aged 16, where he spent five years working for the Hudson's Bay Company. He traded with the local Native Americans for furs, which required him to travel by canoe and sleigh to the areas occupied by the modern-day provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, experiences that formed the basis of his novel Snowflakes and Sunbeams (1856).
In 1847 Ballantyne returned to Scotland to discover that his father had died. He published his first book the following year, Hudson's Bay: or, Life in the Wilds of North America, and for some time was employed by the publishers Messrs Constable. In 1856 he gave up business to focus on his literary career, and began the series of adventure stories for the young with which his name is popularly associated. He spent his later years in Harrow, London, before moving to Italy for the sake of his health. He died in Rome.
Among his many novels can be found some on life at sea including two which can be classed as historic naval fiction. Many of his novels are not copyright in many countries and some are available as free eBooks.