Raymond Sheppard and Way for a Sailor

Way for a Sailor - Cover by Raymond Sheppard

 Peter Dawlish, the pseudonym of James Lennox Kerr (1 July 1899 – 11 March 1963), was a Scottish socialist author whose fame rested on his sea stories for young boys. He also used the pseudonym Gavin Douglas for his adult works with his last work found being published close to his death. Some of the "Dauntless" series were reprinted by publisher John Goodchild (of Wendover) in the Eighties with new titles..

It appears Dr. Stephen Bigger is the champion of Kerr's stories as he has blogged about the writer and also started the Wikipedia page. If you search the afore-mentioned blog for Lennox Kerr or Dawlish you'll see many entries. You can also access his e-print (PDF) of 8 pages on University of Worcester's site including two photos of the author and a bibliography.

Way for a sailor - Frontispiece
showing the harbour where Ronald starts his new life

I'm concentrating, of course on Raymond Sheppard whose sole work for 'Dawlish' was Way for a Sailor.  The blurb on the dustjacket reads:

Young Ronald McKay ran and fought and shouted as a small boy in the back streets of a Scottish industrial town—a natural leader, who on the strength of one highly coloured sea story, picked up by chance, becomes obsessed with a passion for the sea that he has never seen, and ships that he has only dreamt about. Way for a Sailor is a story of determination. It closes with Ronald about to go to sea as a ship's boy, for a summer holiday apprenticeship on a Scottish coast¬ing vessel; and by the time that we reach the last page, we have shared the boy's passionate longing for the sea, his stratagems to earn enough money to buy a share in a leaky old rowing boat, his conflict with his father and mother, and the whole bewildering, exciting business of growing up with one overriding ambition—to be a sailor.
Peter Dawlish has a distinguished name among writers of sea stories for boys, and much of his own boyhood has gone into Way for a Sailor. There is an urgency and conviction in this latest book, which carries the reader with it : it will command the interest of any boy who has ever thought of going to sea.
For other books by Peter Dawlish see back flap and back of jacket
Ages 12 and up Price (in U.K. only) 9s 6d net

Christine Sheppard still has the two bromides - proof copies of the illustrations from this book. My photos of them are crude and show them out of order compared to the published version:

I love the image of the frontispiece above showing the steep decline to the harbour. I'd love to know if it's a real place. I thought Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire a steep drop, but this image gives me vertigo! Note also the many details Sheppard has drawn - to the hree seagulls on the roof. I have to say the row-boat in the harbour looks to be wrong in size to me.

Way for a sailor - p.1
Ronald & friends enact battles

Way for a sailor - p.21
Ronald visits a terrifying place - the Library!

Way for a sailor - p.39
Ronald meets Mr Paterson - and his boat for £1!

Way for a sailor - p. 57
Ronald works hard to earn the £1

Way for a sailor - p. 87
Ronald, his dad and Mr Paterson meet

Way for a sailor - p. 105
Ronald & Mr. Paterson go out to collect flotsam

Way for a sailor - p.118
Ronald shows where everyone must sit in his boat

Way for a sailor - p.139
Ronald runs away from the town to sea

Way for a sailor - p.146
Ronald hides and gets a lift to the coast

Way for a sailor - p.168
Ronald makes new friends on board the schooner

Way for a sailor - p.186
A dare goes wrong for Ronald

Way for a sailor - p.201
Ronald's new 'friend' hides him in the dirty hold

I found a review of the book - children's books had few places to be reviewed! - in the Boy's Own Paper of February 1956 (p.31) which gives a good account of the story, including the beginning which soon gets forgotten as we follow the child version of the Commodore!

Boy's Own Paper Feb 196, p.31