“Do you remember my strong, old, rooted belief that I shall die by drowning? I don’t want that to come true though it is an easy death; but it occurs to me oddly, with these long chances in front. I cannot say why I like the sea; no man is more cynically and constantly alive to its perils; ...

Four months had passed since the Stevenson expedition came ashore on Oahu, bringing closure to their difficult voyage from Tahiti. Winds of change were blowing through the comfortable house they were using on their beautiful, unspoiled Waikiki Beach as the Arcadian lifestyle in which they ...

Nobody needs to be told that tourism is big in Hawaii, and people in the know know that Robert Louis Stevenson is good for tourism. Sir Edmund Gosse, author and scholar, had been a close friend of the famous invalid author from Scotland and had outlived him long enough to have become one of ...

Five years had passed since that dreadful morning when Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson — ‘Fanny’ — got a telegram while working in her garden near the village of Hyres, France, within sight of the Mediterranean Sea. It was in January, 1884. Against her better judgment, Fanny had silently ...

“I know a little about fame now; it is no good compared to a yacht; and anyway there is more fame in a yacht, more genuine fame; to cross the Atlantic and come to anchor in (say) Newport with the Union Jack, and go ashore for your letters and hang about the pier, among the holiday ...

“When the Queen gave a garden party at Iolani Palace, often for the benefit of some charity, I was always asked to tell fortunes. On the backs of my calling cards I had drawn and painted little symbols — a horseshoe for luck, a bee to signify work, a heart for love, etc. These cards were ...