Sea Yarns by John Arthur Barry is a collection of ocean-faring tales with real details based on Barry's sailing experiences off the east coast of Australia. Barry writes nautical tales about his dangerous life at sea and his exhilarating adventures as an English first mate.

A Son of the Sea by John Arthur Barry is a wild, shipwreck adventure following a young and lovable captain named Torre and written in an old literary style. Excerpt: "HIT him again, Torre! harder, oh harder, ever so much! Mind! he's got a stone! Oh, the great coward!" Thus shrilled a little girl as she danced, wild with excitement, around two boys, one considerably the stouter and heavier, who were doggedly pummelling each other in a secluded spot of the garden hidden from the house by a thick grove of laurels."