John Randolph Spears

John Randolph Spears (1850–1936) was an American journalist and historian. He worked for many years as a reporter for the New York Sun, traveling widely to write about the sea, the frontier and South America. His books include The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn, The Port of Missing Ships, a four-volume History of Our Navy, The American Slave-Trade and biographies of David G. Farragut and Anthony Wayne. Writing in a vivid and opinionated style for general readers, he helped popularize American naval and maritime history at the end of the nineteenth century.