Maurice Drake was born Frederick Morris Drake in 1875 in Newton Abbot, Devon, and educated at Teignmouth Grammar School. An ardent amateur yachtsman, he wrote ground-breaking and thrilling novels inspired by his love for the sea. During WW1, Drake served both with the Infantry and the RAF. He was also a leading authority on glass painting and old stained glass, writing some of the leading books on the subject, an advisor to Exeter Cathedral and leading museums, and a renowned lecturer travelling widely in the UK, Europe and USA. In 1923 he died from pneumonia at the age of 48.