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Robb White
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Robb White III (20 June 1909 – 24 November 1990) was an American writer of screenplays, television scripts, and adventure novels. Most of the latter had a maritime setting, often the Pacific Navy during World War II. White was best known for juvenile fiction, though he has proven popular with adults as well. Nearly all his books are out of print; nevertheless, White has a devoted following among baby boomers, many of whom were introduced to him through inexpensive paperbacks available in American schools in the mid-20th century.
Key Information
Schools and schooners
[edit]Robb White III was born to Episcopal missionaries, Placidia (Bridges) and Robb White, in Baguio, Luzon, in the Philippines.[1] At the time, White's father was working with the Igorots, though he later became an Army chaplain, and thus the young family—including Robb's brother and two sisters—traveled extensively before settling in Thomasville, Georgia.[2]
On a 1958 episode of the television show This Is Your Life, White's sister said that "young Bob was the proverbial minister's son, a rebel against all rules and full of deviltry"—as exemplified when the boy rolled eggs off the roof onto a Ladies' Auxiliary meeting on the front lawn.
White had no formal education before entering the Episcopal High School in New York City, New York. He later attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduated as an ensign in 1931, and then worked briefly as a draftsman and construction engineer for DuPont.
In his 1953 memoir, Our Virgin Island, White says that by 1937 he "had been halfway round the world and back" and "sailed a schooner around the Atlantic for six months."[3]
Their virgin island
[edit]In 1937, White married Rosalie "Rodie" Mason. The couple settled in Sea Cows Bay on the island of Tortola, where the insects were so severe that White put his typewriter in a boat and wrote in the middle of the bay each day. The pair spent weeks sailing daily throughout the islands in search of a more suitable home.
One afternoon, after landing on what they thought was large and better-known Great Camanoe, White walked off in one direction along the beach and Rodie in the other. Meeting less than half an hour later,[4] they realized they had landed on a tiny island, 8-acre (3.2 ha) Marina Cay, which they quickly purchased for $60.
The Whites spent three years on Marina, where they built a small house. These years are detailed in his memoirs, In Privateer's Bay (1939), Our Virgin Island (1953), and Two on the Isle (1985).
White served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was present at the Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944), which took place near his birthplace. He flew as a pilot in the war and earned eight medals. He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant commander after five years of service.
At the same time as White's recall, he and Rodie lost Marina Cay. The British government had never issued them a license to hold the land and now formally refused, stating that White's published writings had misrepresented conditions in the British Virgin Islands.
Today, the house Robb and Rodie built serves as the reading lounge for a modest-sized resort on the island.
"A writer's writer"
[edit]White was determined to be a writer from the age of 13. While working for DuPont, he returned home each day and wrote from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. In 1931, he quit DuPont after selling his first story to The American Boy for $100.
"A writer's writer, White truly lived his trade".[5] He produced numerous articles and stories for The Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and Boys' Life, as well as the United States Naval Institute's Proceedings and various risqué publications; as he told interviewer Tom Weaver, "I wrote as a woman for True Stories and got raped in a hayloft about once a month."[6]
White also wrote for television, including Men of Annapolis and The Silent Service (both 1957), plus episodes of Perry Mason (1961–1965). In the late 1950s and early 1960s he worked with director William Castle on five films: Macabre (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), 13 Ghosts (1960), and Homicidal (1961).
Despite all this, White is best known for his 24 novels. The early Run Masked (1938) was White's only effort at a work of adult-themed literature. Most of his books are adventure stories aimed at younger readers — including The Lion's Paw (1946), Deathwatch (1972), Up Periscope (1956) (filmed with James Garner in 1959), Flight Deck (1961), Torpedo Run (1962), and The Survivor (1964). The last four of these—and many others—are set in the same Pacific Theater where White served during World War II. Others—Lion's Paw, plus the rarer Sail Away (1948), Three Against the Sea (1940), and Smuggler's Sloop (1937)—feature youthful protagonists working together against the elements.
"White is on record saying that young people appreciate his work most. He attributed this to their good, decent and courageous nature, exactly the kind of people about whom he enjoyed writing. White confided to Something About the Author that he liked stories that dealt with ordinary people who survived in the face of terrible hardship ... White's work is typically hero-driven, a characteristic that emerges most clearly in Deathwatch, where the protagonist battles not only his human persecutor, but the impersonal harshness of the American desert ... "[5]
Several of his novels were popularized in the school-based Scholastic book sale program in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s; now out of print, these 50-cent paperbacks currently sell for up to $50 on the Internet; rarer White hardbacks can fetch ten times that amount.
In October 2008, a facsimile edition of The Lion's Paw was published by White's widow and her daughter.[7]
Later life
[edit]According to a Central PA newspaper tribute to the author honoring the 100th anniversary of his birth, the widely traveled White was a member of a 1950 Harvard anthropological expedition to the Middle East; "he lived in California, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, the West Indies and the French Riviera."[8]
White died on November 22, 1990.[9]
His daughter Bailey is an author and a commentator on NPR. White's son, Robb IV (1941-2006), was a Georgia boat-builder who penned a 2003 memoir entitled How to Build a Tin Canoe; shorter writings were collected in 2009's Flotsam and Jetsam.[10]
Bibliography
[edit]- The Nub (1935)
- The Smuggler's Sloop (1937)
- Midshipman Lee (1938)
- Run Masked (a.k.a., Jungle Fury) (1938)
- In Privateer's Bay (nonfiction, 1939)
- Three Against the Sea (1940)
- Sailor in the Sun (1941)
- The Lion's Paw (1946)
- Secret Sea (1947)
- Sail Away (1948)
- Candy (1949)
- The Haunted Hound (a.k.a. A Dog for Jonathan) (1950)
- Deep Danger (1952)
- Our Virgin Island (memoir, 1953)
- Midshipman Lee of the Naval Academy (1954)
- Up Periscope (1956)
- Flight Deck (1961)
- Torpedo Run (1962)
- The Survivor (1964)
- Surrender (1966)
- Silent Ship, Silent Sea (1967)
- No Man's Land (1969)
- Deathwatch (1972)
- The Frogmen (1973)
- The Long Way Down (1977)
- Firestorm (1979)
- Two on the Isle (memoir, 1985)
Awards
[edit]- 1937 New York Herald Tribune prize for best older boys' book of the year, Smuggler's Sloop
- 1972 ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults, Deathwatch
- 1972 New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, Deathwatch
- 1973 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery of the Year, Deathwatch
Film adaptations
[edit]Some of White's works have been adapted to motion pictures.
- Our Virgin Island was filmed as Virgin Island in 1958; it starred John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, and Ruby Dee
- Up Periscope was directed by Gordon Douglas in 1959, with James Garner, Edmond O'Brien, Frank Gifford, and Edd Byrnes
- Deathwatch was made for television as Savages in 1974; it featured Andy Griffith as the villain
- The 2015 thriller Beyond the Reach, starring Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irvine and Ronny Cox, was a revamped and updated version of Deathwatch
White's original screenplays for House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts were both adapted for remakes.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ "StackPath". www.lib.usm.edu.
- ^ White, Robb, "The Most Unforgettable Character I've Met", Reader's Digest Magazine, July 1953, p. 102.
- ^ White, Robb, Our Virgin Island (New York: Doubleday, 1953), p. 15.
- ^ White 1953, p. 53.[incomplete short citation]
- ^ a b "Robb White Papers". de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. The University of Southern Mississippi. July 2001. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
- ^ Weaver, Tom, Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers of the 1940s through 1960s (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1991), p. 425.
- ^ Klinkenberg, Jeff, "The Lion's Paw" Archived 2012-01-19 at the Wayback Machine, St. Petersburg Times, November 9, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-10
- ^ PRWeb
- ^ "Robb White | Writer, Actor, Producer". IMDb.
- ^ "Family of Award Winning Novelist Robb White Celebrates His 100th Birthday By Announcing New Release Out Of Print Books". PRWeb. Archived from the original on July 29, 2009.
- ^ "House on Haunted Hill (1999)". Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
Also, "13 Ghosts (2001)". Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
External links
[edit]
- Complete bibliography Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Robb White at IMDb
- Website for Robb White IV
- Photo of Marina Cay & info on Pusser's Archived 2010-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Official site for The Lion's Paw and other Robb White information
- Magazine stories [1] Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
Robb White
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Robb White (June 20, 1909 – November 24, 1990) was an American author, screenwriter, and television writer best known for his adventure novels targeted at young readers, as well as his contributions to suspense and horror films in collaboration with director William Castle.[1][2][3]
Born in Baguio, Luzon, in the Philippine Islands to Protestant missionary parents Robb White and Placidia Bridges White, he spent his early years abroad before returning to the United States and attending the U.S. Naval Academy from 1927 to 1931.[2][4] During World War II, White served as an ensign in the Pacific Theater, experiences that informed many of his maritime-themed stories.[1] After the war, he held diverse jobs including deckhand, draftsman, and construction engineer before establishing himself as a full-time writer, producing over 20 novels, numerous magazine articles for outlets like The Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest, and scripts for television series such as Perry Mason.[4][2]
White's literary career emphasized tales of ordinary individuals confronting extraordinary hardships, often set against nautical or survival backdrops, appealing especially to adolescent audiences.[4] His most acclaimed novel, Deathwatch (1972), a gripping story of a young man stalked in the desert, earned the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America, was named a New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, and appeared on the American Library Association's list of Best Books for Young Adults.[1] Other notable books include The Lion's Paw (1949), a children's adventure about runaways sailing Florida's coast; Up Periscope (1956), a World War II submarine thriller adapted into a film starring James Garner; and Silent Ship, Silent Sea (1967), featuring a yacht adrift in the Pacific.[1] In screenwriting, White partnered with William Castle on five gimmick-laden horror classics between 1958 and 1961, including House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Tingler (1959), both starring Vincent Price and noted for their innovative audience-participation effects.[5]
White married Rosalie Mason in 1937, with whom he had three children—Robb IV, Barbara, and June (known as Bailey White, an author and NPR commentator)—before their divorce in 1964; he later married Joan Gannon.[4][6] The family lived adventurously on islands like Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and Marina Cay, where White drew inspiration for semi-autobiographical works such as Our Virgin Island (1953).[7] He spent his later years in Thomasville, Georgia, maintaining a disciplined writing routine until his death in a car accident in Santa Barbara, California.[3]
Early Life
Birth and Family
Robb White was born on June 20, 1909, in Baguio, Luzon, in the Philippine Islands, to Episcopal missionaries Robb White and Placidia (Bridges) White.[2] His father served as a missionary among the Igorot people, providing White with an early immersion in diverse cultures during his infancy.[8] The family relocated to Tarboro, North Carolina, around 1915, just before White began elementary school, where he spent much of his childhood.[8] This move marked a shift from tropical missionary outposts to the rural American South, shaping his formative years in a setting that emphasized outdoor exploration. White grew up alongside one brother and two sisters, in a household that valued self-reliance amid frequent travels before eventual settlement.[2] The missionary background of his parents instilled in White a sense of adventure and adaptability, fostering family values centered on exploration and independence that influenced his lifelong pursuits, including an early interest in sailing.[8]Education and Early Influences
Robb White attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, beginning in 1925.[8] This preparatory education provided a foundation in discipline and outdoor pursuits, aligning with the exploratory values instilled by his family during childhood.[8] In 1927, White enrolled at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated as an ensign in 1931 but resigned from the Navy shortly thereafter to pursue his passions for sailing, adventure, and writing.[9][10][4] His time at the academy exposed him to rigorous training and nautical principles, though he later reflected that the academic demands left little room for creative pursuits like writing.[9] Following his resignation from the Navy, White took on various early jobs that further shaped his practical knowledge of the sea and survival, including roles as a book clerk, draftsman for DuPont, construction engineer, and deckhand on a vessel headed to the West Indies.[4] These experiences honed his understanding of maritime life and the challenges of seafaring, directly informing the authentic nautical elements in his later works.[4] White's narrative style was influenced by his missionary upbringing in the Philippines and subsequent life in the American South, particularly in Tarboro, North Carolina, where he spent his formative years absorbing tales of resilience amid hardship.[8][4] He drew inspiration from adventure literature featuring ordinary individuals enduring extreme conditions, crediting such stories—rather than formal training—for cultivating his disciplined approach to storytelling.[4] This blend of cultural and literary exposures fostered a focus on themes of survival and human endurance in his writing.Maritime Experiences
Sailing and Schooners
Following his time at the U.S. Naval Academy, White pursued a career at sea, working as a deck hand on various vessels and embarking on extensive voyages that took him across oceans. By the mid-1930s, he had crewed on trading schooners in the Caribbean, navigating through challenging conditions including storms and the hazards of shipwrecks, which honed his resilience and seamanship. A notable achievement was his six-month circumnavigation of the Atlantic aboard a schooner, a journey that exemplified his growing expertise in long-distance sailing along the U.S. East Coast and beyond.[11] These experiences culminated in White's broad travels, which by 1937 encompassed halfway around the world and back, including a pivotal 1930s voyage from Florida to the Bahamas where he relied on self-taught survival techniques amid unpredictable weather and isolation. Through such adventures, he mastered essential nautical skills like celestial navigation, sail handling, and rudimentary boat repair, all of which deeply influenced his subsequent portrayals of maritime life in his writings.[11][8]Life in the Virgin Islands
In 1937, Robb White married Rosalie Mason, whom he affectionately called Rodie, and the couple sought escape from mainland life by relocating to the British Virgin Islands.[12] They first settled in Sea Cow Bay on Tortola before purchasing the uninhabited eight-acre island of Marina Cay for $60, drawn by its pristine isolation and natural beauty.[12][13] White's prior experience sailing schooners across the Atlantic proved invaluable in navigating the challenging waters and adapting to island conditions.[11] Upon arrival, the Whites lived initially in a rudimentary shed while constructing a more durable concrete home to withstand the frequent hurricanes that threatened the region.[12] White also established a small boat-building operation, crafting vessels from local materials to support their daily needs and explorations.[14] Their lifestyle emphasized self-sufficiency amid the lingering effects of the Great Depression, which amplified economic isolation in the pre-World War II Caribbean; with limited funds, they sustained themselves by cultivating limes, papayas, and oranges, hunting wild goats and pigeons, fishing in the surrounding reefs, and harvesting seafood.[12][13] The family expanded with the birth of their son Robb White IV on June 4, 1941, in Thomasville, Georgia, shortly after they were forced to leave the island. Family life revolved around rugged adventures, including deep-water fishing expeditions—such as retrieving lobster traps at 30 feet—and explorations of nearby cays, often contending with invasive mongooses and scorpions that infested their surroundings.[12] Hurricanes posed ongoing perils, prompting reinforced structures and vigilant preparations, though the Whites' resourcefulness allowed them to endure the storms' fury without displacement until external forces intervened.[12][14] From 1937 to 1941, this era represented a blend of idyllic seclusion and hardship, as the couple's minimalistic existence buffered them from global economic woes while fostering a profound connection to the land and sea.[12] The Whites were compelled to leave in 1941 upon White's recall to active U.S. Navy duty for World War II service, at which point British authorities denied their land license citing wartime regulations; the experience nonetheless shaped their resilient family dynamic.[4][13]Writing Career
Early Publications
Robb White's early publications emerged from his passion for maritime adventures, drawing directly from his personal experiences at sea. His debut novel, The Nub (1935), introduced themes of sailing and naval life, marking the start of a series of adventure stories centered on sailors navigating perilous waters. This was followed by The Smuggler's Sloop (1937), a tale of illicit maritime exploits that reflected White's own time aboard schooners.[8][15] In 1939, White shifted toward nonfiction with In Privateer's Bay, a memoir recounting his sailing voyage to the British Virgin Islands with his new wife, capturing the challenges and discoveries of island settlement. Published by Harper & Brothers, the book translated his personal journals from these exploratory years into formal prose, emphasizing domestic adjustments amid tropical isolation.[16][17] The following year, Three Against the Sea (1940) continued this vein, detailing a grueling open-sea journey from the Virgin Islands back to Florida with two companions, blending survival narrative with vivid accounts of ocean hardships.[15] White's transition from private journals to published works occurred during his formative island years on Tortola and Marina Cay, where daily life inspired reflective writing amid financial strains. Doubleday later became a key publisher for his expanding output, though early efforts faced rejections and limited recognition as White balanced authorship with engineering jobs. The onset of World War II in 1941 interrupted his momentum, as he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific Theater until 1945, curtailing further publications during this period.[8][2]Adventure Novels for Young Readers
Following World War II, Robb White transitioned from nonfiction memoirs to writing adventure novels targeted at young readers, drawing heavily on his naval experiences to craft thrilling tales of survival and heroism at sea. His post-war pivot to this genre began with works such as The Lion's Paw (1946), a children's adventure about runaways sailing Florida's coast, and Secret Sea (1947), a tale of two boys hunting for sunken Spanish gold off Florida's coast amid shark-infested waters and rival divers. A later notable entry was Up Periscope (1956), a submarine thriller published by Doubleday that recounts the high-stakes mission of a young Navy lieutenant tasked with photographing Japanese code books during the war, blending tense underwater action with authentic depictions of submarine operations.[1][18][19] White's oeuvre in this genre includes over two dozen novels, many emphasizing nautical themes such as sailing perils, underwater exploration, and wartime exploits, with prominent examples like Deathwatch (1972), a gripping survival story where a college student guide becomes the hunted prey of a ruthless tycoon in the desert; and The Survivor (1964), which follows a Navy pilot's harrowing escape and endurance after being shot down in the Pacific. These works often explore moral dilemmas, such as loyalty under pressure or the ethics of survival, set against vivid backdrops of maritime danger that reflect White's lifelong passion for boats and the sea. Early memoirs like Three Against the Sea (1940) served as precursors, infusing his fiction with realistic portrayals of seafaring challenges.[15][20][21][22] White's writing style featured fast-paced, first-person narratives that immersed readers in the protagonist's immediate thoughts and perils, making complex adventures accessible and exhilarating without condescension. Aimed primarily at boys aged 10 to 16, his stories avoided "writing down" to the audience, instead delivering sophisticated tension and character development drawn from personal adventures, including his time building schooners and sailing in the Virgin Islands. Critics praised the authenticity of his nautical details, noting his encyclopedic knowledge of maritime life that elevated the genre's realism.[22] Published mainly by Doubleday, White's more than 20 adventure novels achieved commercial success through widespread reprints and adaptations into affordable paperbacks, appealing to generations of young readers with their blend of excitement and moral insight; Deathwatch, for instance, earned the 1973 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America. His contributions to juvenile literature were recognized for fostering a love of adventure while imparting lessons in resilience and seamanship.[1]Screenwriting and Television Work
In the late 1950s, Robb White relocated from the Virgin Islands to California to establish himself as a screenwriter in Hollywood.[23] This move marked a significant shift from his established career in adventure novels, allowing him to leverage his maritime and naval experiences into visual storytelling.[8] His screenwriting often drew on themes of suspense and isolation, reflecting the adventurous tone of his literary works, though he faced challenges in diversifying beyond genre constraints like horror and military dramas.[24] White's most notable film contributions came through his collaboration with director William Castle, producing a series of low-budget horror thrillers that capitalized on gimmick marketing and tense narratives.[25] He penned the screenplays for Macabre (1958), a tale of a child possibly buried alive; House on Haunted Hill (1959), featuring a millionaire's deadly party game; The Tingler (1959), involving a parasitic creature that feeds on fear; 13 Ghosts (1960), centered on a haunted mansion inheritance; and Homicidal (1961), a psychological thriller with identity twists.[25] These films, produced primarily by Allied Artists and Columbia Pictures, established White as a key figure in B-movie horror during the early 1960s, with his scripts emphasizing psychological tension over elaborate effects.[25] On television, White contributed scripts to anthology and drama series in the 1950s and 1960s, frequently incorporating nautical and military elements inspired by his U.S. Navy service.[10] He wrote episodes for Men of Annapolis (1957), a series depicting life at the U.S. Naval Academy, and The Silent Service (1957), which dramatized submarine operations during World War II.[25] Additionally, he scripted multiple installments of Perry Mason from 1961 to 1965, adapting his knack for intricate plots to the legal mystery format.[8] These television efforts, totaling around a dozen credited episodes, provided steady work amid Hollywood's competitive landscape but often reinforced his typecasting in adventure-oriented genres.[25] Despite the transition from solo novel writing to collaborative scripting, White's output peaked in this period, amassing over a dozen film and TV writing credits by the mid-1960s.[1]Later Life and Legacy
Personal Challenges and Relocation
White's service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he served as an ensign in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945, informed many of his later maritime-themed stories.[8] This period of active duty, including involvement in key operations, marked a major personal and professional experience amid the global conflict.[4] In the mid-1960s, White encountered further personal difficulties with the dissolution of his first marriage to Rosalie Mason, whom he had wed in 1937 and with whom he shared three children: Robb IV, Barbara, and June.[8] The divorce in 1964 strained family dynamics and required White to navigate significant emotional and logistical adjustments as a father and individual.[4] Shortly after, he remarried Joan Gannon, a Beverly Hills stockbroker, a union that brought new stability but also integrated into his evolving family structure.[8] Following the divorce, White relocated from the Virgin Islands to California to advance his screenwriting career, settling in areas like Marina del Rey with his second wife.[26] This move to the West Coast in the mid-1960s facilitated his transition into Hollywood but represented a profound shift away from his island-based lifestyle. Despite these challenges, White maintained productivity, authoring several novels during this tumultuous period.[8] He divorced Gannon in 1982 and later married Alice White.Death and Recognition
In the late 1980s, following decades of contributions to literature and screenwriting, Robb White retired to Santa Barbara, California. He died on November 24, 1990, at age 81, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.[25][23] White received posthumous recognition as a "writer's writer," admired by fellow authors for crafting authentic adventure tales rooted in his own maritime and exploratory experiences.[4] His influence persists in young adult literature, where works like Deathwatch (1972) continue to be studied for their portrayal of resilience, moral fortitude, and human survival amid extreme adversity.[8] Several of White's novels remain in print, sustaining his legacy; for instance, Deathwatch has seen ongoing editions into the 2020s, serving as a seminal example in the survival fiction genre and inspiring contemporary stories of endurance and ethical confrontation in harsh environments.[20][27]Major Works
Bibliography
Robb White's bibliography encompasses over 25 published books, predominantly adventure novels for young readers featuring nautical and survival themes, alongside several memoirs detailing his life in the Virgin Islands; most were issued by publishers such as Doubleday and Harper & Brothers.[15] These works highlight his experiences as a sailor, naval officer, and island resident, blending fiction with autobiographical elements.[28] Posthumously, several titles have been reprinted in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats since the 1990s, including a 2008 edition of The Lion's Paw and audiobook adaptations like Deathwatch (2011). No newly discovered unpublished manuscripts have been reported as of 2025.1930s–1940s
White's early publications include nautical adventures and his first memoir, reflecting his youthful sailing exploits and initial time in the Virgin Islands.- The Nub (1935, adventure novel, Harper & Brothers)[29]
- The Smuggler's Sloop (1937, nautical adventure, Harper & Brothers)
- Midshipman Lee (1938, nautical adventure, Harper & Brothers)
- Run Masked (also published as Jungle Fury, 1938, adventure novel)
- In Privateer's Bay (1939, memoir, Harper & Brothers)[30]
- Three Against the Sea (1940, survival adventure, Bobbs-Merrill)
- Sailor in the Sun (1941, nautical memoir, Harper & Brothers)
- The Lion's Paw (1946, adventure novel for young readers, Doubleday)
- Sail Away (1948, nautical adventure, Doubleday)
- Candy (1949, adventure novel, Doubleday)[31]
1950s
This decade saw White's focus on underwater and naval-themed adventures, alongside a key memoir about settling in the Virgin Islands.- The Haunted Hound (also published as A Dog for Jonathan, 1950, adventure novel, Doubleday)
- Secret Sea (1951, underwater adventure, Doubleday)
- Deep Danger (1952, adventure novel, Doubleday)
- Our Virgin Island (1953, memoir, Doubleday)[11]
- Midshipman Lee of the Naval Academy (1954, nautical adventure, Random House; sequel to 1938 title)[32]
- Up Periscope (1956, submarine adventure, Doubleday)
1960s–1970s
White's mid-career output emphasized military and survival stories, often drawing from World War II naval experiences, with Doubleday as the primary publisher.- Flight Deck (1961, naval aviation adventure, Doubleday)
- Torpedo Run (1962, submarine adventure, Doubleday)
- Silent Ship, Silent Sea (1967, survival adventure, Doubleday)
- The Survivor (1964, survival novel, Doubleday)
- Surrender! (1966, war adventure, Doubleday)
- The Long Way Down (1977, adventure novel, Doubleday)
- No Man's Land (1969, adventure novel, Doubleday)
- Deathwatch (1972, survival thriller, Doubleday)[33]
- The Frogmen (1973, military adventure, Doubleday)
- Fire Storm (1979, survival adventure, Doubleday)
1980s
White's final original publication was a reflective memoir revisiting his early island life.- Two on the Isle: A Memory of Marina Cay (1985, memoir, W. W. Norton)[34]