Charles Boardman Hawes facts for kids

Charles Boardman Hawes (January 24, 1889 – July 16, 1923) was an American writer. He was famous for his exciting sea stories and historical novels. He wrote about adventures on the ocean.

Hawes sadly passed away at age 34. Only two of his five books were published while he was alive. He was the first American-born writer to win the Newbery Medal. This award is given for the best American children's book each year. His third novel, The Dark Frigate (1923), won this honor. People often compared his adventure stories to those by famous writers like Robert Louis Stevenson, Richard Henry Dana Jr., and Herman Melville.

Charles Hawes' Early Life

Charles Boardman Hawes was born in Clifton Springs, New York. He grew up in Bangor, Maine. His parents were Charles Taylor Hawes and Martha Tibbetts Boardman.

Education and Early Career

Hawes went to Bowdoin College and graduated in 1911. He was the editor of the college magazine, The Quill. He also loved studying classic books. After college, he spent a year as a graduate student at Harvard University.

He worked for a magazine called The Youth's Companion until 1920. Later, he became an editor for The Open Road magazine. He worked there until he passed away in 1923.

Family Life

On June 1, 1916, Charles Hawes married Dorothea Cable. She was from Northampton, Massachusetts. Her father was the well-known novelist George Washington Cable. At that time, Charles lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Hawes' Books and Awards

Charles Hawes wrote exciting adventure stories. His books often took readers on journeys across the seas.

First Books Published

His first book was an adventure novel called The Mutineers. It was published in 1920. This story was about old days at sea and adventures in the Far East.

His second book, The Great Quest, came out in 1921. It was almost the winner of the first-ever Newbery Medal in 1922. This was the first major award for children's books in America.

A Sudden Loss

Charles Hawes died suddenly on July 16, 1923. He had pneumonic meningitis. This happened just two days before his book Gloucester, by Land and Sea was published. This book was about his home city of Gloucester, Massachusetts. He left behind his wife and two sons.

Winning the Newbery Medal

Before he passed away, Hawes had finished writing The Dark Frigate. This book was a 17th-century adventure story. It was set in England, Barbados, and on the high seas. It was published in October 1923.

Children's librarians chose The Dark Frigate as the best American children's book. It won the third annual Newbery Medal. This made Charles Hawes the first U.S.-born writer to win this important award.

Hawes had dedicated The Dark Frigate to his father-in-law, G. W. Cable. His wife accepted the Newbery Medal for him the next summer. People said that Hawes was very skilled at writing sea stories. They admired how he captured the feeling of the 18th century.

Remembering Charles Hawes

Even after his death, Charles Hawes's work continued to be recognized.

Posthumous Works

Two of his articles were published in The Atlantic Monthly after he died. His wife also finished another book he had started, called Whaling. It was published in 1924. In this book, Hawes wrote that "Time has given the business a glamour that would astound the luckless victims of its reality."

Hawes Memorial Prize Contest

In September 1923, a special writing contest was started. It was called the Hawes Memorial Prize Contest. The prize was $2000, plus money from book sales. Writers were asked to create an adventure story similar to Charles Boardman Hawes's books.

The winner was a novel called The Scarlet Cockerel by Clifford MacClellan Sublette. The publishers liked the stories so much that they also published two other books from the contest. These books were reviewed together as the Hawes Memorial Prize Contest books.

Charles Hawes' Published Works

Here are some of the books and articles Charles Boardman Hawes wrote:

• The Mutineers: a tale of old days at sea and of adventures in the Far East as Benjamin Lathrop set it down some sixty years ago (1920)
• The Great Quest; a romance of 1826, wherein are recorded the experiences of Josiah Woods of Topham, and of those others with whom he sailed for Cuba and the Gulf of Guinea (1921)
• Gloucester, by Land and Sea; the story of a New England seacoast town (July 1923)
• The Dark Frigate; wherein is told the story of Philip Marsham who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the King at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados in the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates (October 1923)
• "The Story of the Ship "Globe" of Nantucket", The Atlantic Monthly (December 1923)
• "A Boy Who Went Whaling", The Atlantic Monthly (June 1924)
• Whaling (1924) – This book was completed by his wife after his death.