Few men lead lives so full of adventure that they become legendary figures in their own lifetime. Johnny O'Brien, whose remarkable career as a man of the sea began when he was shanghaied at the age of sixteen, is one of those rare men. From his first voyage, which took him to the far corners of the world, until he retired from the Alaskan seas at the age of eighty, he was a true pioneer.

As a boy in Ireland, Johnny and his people suffered poverty and British oppression. Along with other youths who fought for freedom, he joined a raiding party and dynamited a jail in which Irish patriots were imprisoned. To avoid capture, he took passage on a ship sailing for America, hoping to return home when freedom was won. But the British captured him, and after a daring escape he fled to Alaska. This was a remote and wild country 1874, and he barely survived his first year there.

Johnny loved the sea. As captain of his own ship he welcomed the challenge of matching his courage and wits against the uncharted waters along the west coast, infested with dangerous reefs and shoals. He became expert at guiding his ship over the 1,500 mile journey to and from Alaska, carrying valuable cargoes of food, equipment and gold. Ships and lives were lost every year trying to make this voyage, but Johnny proved to be indestructible. Time and again he saved the lives of others shipwrecked in these waters, but he never lost a ship of his own.

Although Johnny O'Brien‘s achievements were great, his life was full of personal tragedy. On one of their voyages together, his oldest son was killed in a daring rescue attempt; another son died of an accident at sea. Often Johnny’s ships were barely seaworthy, and his navigation equipment sorely inadequate. But with tremendous courage and indomitable will, he surmounted all obstacles—from tin-horn gamblers to mighty storms.

Dynamite Johnny O'Brien dedicated his life to helping the people who were building civilization in a distant land and, in doing so, proved to be one of the greatest builders of them all.

From the book