Those were the days when boys in Geordie colliers or East Coast fishing smacks were often beaten to insanity and jumped overboard, or were done to death in truly savage fashion, and all that was necessary to account for their non returning was a line in the log to the effect that they had been washed or had fallen overboard.
He lectured extensively and was highly critical of Australasia's lack of defences against what he saw as imminent naval threats from Germany and Japan.
A son of Mr. F. R. Bullen, of Crewkerne, Dorset, he led a roving and adventurous life from quite an early age, and many of the most thrilling episodes in his books were records of his own experiences.
He was keenly interested in the bettering the condition and raising the moral tone of our merchant seamen, and many of his books were of a semi-religious character.
In his latter years he was known as a successful lecturer and a writer of miscellaneous stories and articles in addition to his books.