Notwithstanding my being, as I have mentioned, quite ready for a voyage, still I had some doubts of this voyage. Of course I knew, without being told, that there were peculiar difficulties and dangers in it, a long way over and above those which attend all voyages. It must not be supposed that I was afraid to face them; but, in my opinion a man has no manly motive or sustainment in his own breast for facing dangers—by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

"The Wreck of the Golden Mary" is the work of many hands but was originally started by Dickens. The story portrays an amazing voyage around Cape Horn, then north to the coast of California. The tale takes a stunning turn when the ship strikes an iceberg and passengers and crew languish in lifeboats. Dickens's subtlety of style and picturesque depiction keeps reader rapt till the very end.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812-9 June 1893) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity, and by the twentieth century he was widely seen as a literary genius by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.

William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824-23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. His best-known works are The Woman in White, The Moonstone, Armadale, and No Name.