R. E. McDer­mott is a mer­chant sea­man by trai­ning. After gra­dua­ti­on from the Mer­chant Mari­ne Aca­de­my, he sai­led for seve­ral years, and then spent thir­ty years as a mari­ne con­sul­tant. He has tra­ve­led wide­ly, seen inte­res­t­ing things, and lived in seve­ral count­ries. He has come to know more than a few inte­res­t­ing cha­rac­ters in his tra­vels, and bits and pie­ces of them popu­la­te his novels.