Under the Ocean to the South Pole; or, The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder

The Great Marvel #2

by Roy Rockwood

Roy Rockwood was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for boy's adventure books. The name is mostly well-remembered for the Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1926-1937) and Great Marvel series (1906- 1935). The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of series for children and adults including the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, and others. The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the creation of Edward Stratemeyer, whose ambition was to be a writer à la Horatio Alger. He succeeded in this ambition (eventually even writing eleven books under the pseudonym "Horatio Alger"), turning out inspirational, up-by-the-bootstraps tales. In Stratemeyer's view, it was not the promise of sex or violence that made such reading attractive to boys; it was the thrill of feeling "grown-up" and the desire for a series of stories, an "I want some more" syndrome. Works written under that name include: Five Thousand Miles Underground; or, The Mystery of the Centre of the Earth (1908), Jack North's Treasure Hunt (1907) and Lost on the Moon; or, In Quest of the Field of Diamonds (1911).

Genres: Science Fiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Roy Rockwood was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for boy's adventure books. The name is most well-remembered for the Bomba the Jungle Boy and Great Marvel series.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the second book in the Great Marvel series, a nine volume science fiction adventure books for boys series that appeared from the Cupples and Leon publishing house from 1906 - 1935. The series was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and most of them were written by Howard Garis, an amazingly prolific author of children's fiction now most remembered for creating Uncle Wiggly. The first book saw the adventurers go to the North Pole, and so in this one it was time to visit the literal polar opposite. The series features two pairs of men, brilliant professor/inventors and their young brave sidekicks. They take their Nautilus-like super submarine from their home in Maine, have many adventures and close calls along the way, encountering beats and savages and making scientific discoveries. The book was published in 1907, long before science fiction was a recognized genre, before the First World War, when Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House and just four years after the Wright Brothers flew for the first time. The book is quite racist, as was sadly standard for the time, and there are no female characters. On the plus side, it celebrates science and education and teaches the values of honesty and loyalty and hard work.

[Al Lock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book two in the series, and pretty much the same as the first book except that instead of an airship going North, they travel in a submarine going South. A constant set of challenges and mishaps until they reach their destination, and then they are able to sail home without challenge or mishap.

[Jennifer Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Mr j. Verne

I love adventure stories. This one is had a great line of a young man who was little like Tom swift