Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea

In the years around the turn of the twentieth century (1897–1905), Baum had succeeded in establishing himself as a popular author of children's books, most notably with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). By the middle of the twentieth century's first decade, he was working diligently to branch out into other markets. In 1905 he released his first adult novel, The Fate of a Crown (as the work of "Schuyler Staunton"); in 1906 he issued his first books for adolescent girls, Annabel (as by "Suzanne Metcalf") and Aunt Jane's Nieces (by "Edith Van Dyne"), as well as his first book for boys.[1] The 1906 Sam Steele title was the first book in a projected series; "Capt. Fitzgerald" followed up with Sam Steele's Adventures in Panama in 1907.

Unusually for Baum, the tale of Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea is told in the first person, by the title character. Sam Steele "is a stereotyped ideal: a capable, brave, enterprising, likable, manly sixteen-year-old American."[2] In 1897, Sam is informed that his father, a sea captain named Richard Steele, has been killed in a shipwreck, and Sam is quickly cheated of his inheritance. Now an orphan, he meets his maternal uncle, Naboth Perkins, another sea captain and ship-owner; together the two set sail in the Pacific trade.

From San Francisco, Sam and his uncle embark on Naboth's ship the Flipper, carrying provisions north to open a general store in the boomtowns of the Klondike Gold Rush (referred to half-accurately as "Alaska"). A storm casts them onto a remote island, occupied by stranded and desperate miners who have struck a rich goldfield. The crew of the Flipper reach an alliance with the miners, and have to cope with thieves and natural hazards before they can return with ample rewards for their trouble.

At home again, Sam and Naboth discover that Sam's father has survived his shipwreck, with only the loss of a leg. They win a legal battle to regain the lost patrimony.

Incidentally, the Flipper crew never reached Alaska. Oddly enough, despite the repeated references to the Klondike Gold Rush, there is no reference to its chief Canadian lawman Sam Steele.

Baum's plot was influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. A subplot contains an allusion to H. Rider Haggard's She.[3] In turn, Baum borrowed elements from his first Sam Steele book when he came to write The Sea Fairies five years later. He turned his character Naboth Perkins into Cap'n Bill Weedles in the later book.[4]

As with other traditional authors and their books (Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being probably the most famous example),[5] the role of racism and other prejudices in Baum's books has been a focus of attention from critics and readers. Baum repeatedly displays a resistance to, and rejection of, prejudice and xenophobia in his works – but he also exploits the stereotypes common in his era, usually for comic effect. (See: Sky Island; Daughters of Destiny; Father Goose: His Book; Father Goose's Year Book.)

Material in the first Sam Steele book bears upon this subject. Two key supporting characters are men from the Sulu Archipelago nicknamed "Nux" and "Bryonia;" the gruffer characters in the book refer to them as "niggers." The two become friends and companions of Sam Steele, and are presented as unflinchingly loyal, reliable, courageous, caring, strong, and resourceful. After one crisis in their adventures, Sam remarks, "I realized, with a grateful heart, that I owed all my good fortune and narrow escapes to the faithful Sulu men...;" Uncle Naboth expresses his satisfaction that the two men accompany Sam, for "Those men are as faithful and honest as any men on earth...."[6]

(For a comparable affirmative portrayal of South Sea islanders, see Baum's short story "The Tiger's Eye.")

The two Sam Steele books of 1906 and 1907 did not sell as well as their author and publisher had hoped they would. Reilly & Britton did not give up on the project, however; they re-issued both books with new titles in 1908, under yet another pen name, "Floyd Akers." (A possible derivation: "F. Akers" from "fakers.")[7] The first book, Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea, was re-titled The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska (though there is only one boy fortune hunter in it, and Alaska is not a setting); its sequel was re-titled The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama. Baum wrote a third volume in the series, The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt, also published in 1908; he added three more titles to the series in the next three years, with more boys, and of course more fortune hunting.[8]

Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea was reprinted in the first issue of the annual Oz-story Magazine in 1995.[9] There, Howard Heath's original illustrations were replaced with pictures culled from the large output of veteran Baum illustrator John R. Neill. That the Neill illustrations were not meant to serve this story is obvious from certain details, most notably the internal inconsistency of the likenesses for Naboth Perkins and other characters.