[1] In 1912 he sailed to China on a freighter, the Indrade, with opera singer, Mrs. Francis Hewitt Bowne: he was listed as purser and she was disguised as a cabin boy.

When World War One broke out, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was commissioned Major.

After the war, the couple moved to Santa Catalina Island, California where Lawrence wrote and became an early radio personality.

[4][5][6][7] His published works include Jules of the Great Heart: "free" trapper and outlaw in the Hudson Bay region in the early days (1905),[8] To the Credit of the Sea (1907),[9] The White Darkness, and other stories of the Great North-West (1907),[10] and Prairie, Snow and Sea (1910).

His love of the outdoor life led him to campaign for the conservation of wildlife and natural resources.