Black Ralph Or The Helmsman Of Hurlgate

Black Ralph, or The Helmsman of Hurlgate is a nautical tale by Joseph Holt Ingraham (1809-1860), the phenomenally prolific American author of antebellum cheap fiction. The story works the waters of Hell Gate, the dangerous tidal strait of the East River above New York, with its mysterious dark helmsman, smugglers, pursuits, and the romance plotting that Ingraham mass-produced for the story papers and pamphlet novel trade of the 1840s. Ingraham’s pirate and sea romances, including the best-selling Lafitte: The Pirate of the Gulf, made him the dominant supplier of American sensational fiction before the dime novel era, and Longfellow recorded meeting the author who wrote novels faster than readers could buy them. The book is a surviving specimen of that vanished industry. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.