Afloat and Ashore is a nautical fiction novel by James Fenimore Cooper first published in 1844.
Set in 1796–1804, the novel follows the maritime adventures of Miles Wallingford Jr., the son of wealthy New York landowners who chooses to go to sea after the death of his parents.
[1] The novel ends abruptly part way through, and is followed by what critic Harold D. Langely called a "necessary" sequel which resolves many thematic and plot elements.
[3] Critic Thomas Philbrick attributes Cooper's turn to autobiographical experience as inspiration, to a five-month visit by an old shipmate, Ned Myers, which led Cooper to create the biography Ned Myers; or, A Life before the Mast (1843)[2] However, despite Philbrick claiming that the novel is the most autobiographical of Cooper's novels, he notes that "those autobiographical materials in fact make up only a small proportion of the total fabric".
He describes the novel being much more realistic largely because of Coopers work on his History of the Navy, as compared to the earlier nautical fiction, like The Pilot (1824), The Red Rover (1827), and The Water-Witch (1830), which treat history and ocean with much more romantic and metaphorical, akin to other Romantic treatments of the sea.