C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne

Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne (11 May 1866 – 10 March 1944) was an English novelist who was also known by the pen name Weatherby Chesney. He is perhaps best remembered as the author of The Lost Continent: The Story of Atlantis. He is also remembered for his Captain Kettle stories and for The Recipe for Diamonds.

Biography

Hyne was born 11 May 1866. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Haggas (died 1938). They had a son named Charles Godfrey Haggas Cutcliffe Hyne (1 December 1897 – 21 November 1916), who was wounded in the Battle of the Somme and died from his wounds. They also had a daughter, Nancy Mildred Cutcliffe Hyne (1902–1999).

Captain Kettle first appeared as a side character in the novel Honour of Thieves (1895). His first appearance as a main character was in the short story 'Stealing a President' in vol 1, issue 6 of Pearson's Magazine (1896). This initial short story was followed in 1897 by a series of twelve short stories again in Pearson's Magazine that were later collected and published as Adventures of Captain Kettle. Over the next four years two more sets of twelve stories were published in Pearson's Magazine and subsequently collected as Further Adventures of Captain Kettle ("A master of fortune" in the US) and Captain Kettle K.C.B. respectively.

The character of Captain Kettle was one of action and decision. He is said to be based on a South Shields sea captain, Davey Proffit, whose physical appearance closely matched the descriptions in the books, but Cutcliffe Hyne insisted emphatically that this was not the case. However, the most enduring image of Kettle was created by Stanley L. Wood, who provided the illustrations for Pearson's Magazine; they were reprinted in the first book compilations of the stories. He found 'the exact spit and image of our little sailor, pulling beer behind a bar' in a pub in north London. This is noteworthy because Wood's Captain Kettle bears a striking resemblance (particularly in his stance, the set of the head on the shoulders, his beard and the characteristic gaze) to the novelist Joseph Conrad, also a sailor. Among the people who saw this remarkable similarity was H. G. Wells, whose War of the Worlds appeared in Pearson's in instalments, alternating with the Captain Kettle stories. Conrad met Wells at just this time, read Pearson's, and borrowed whole phrases, key episodes, and images from the Kettle stories for Heart of Darkness.

Cutcliffe Hyne would probably have been forgotten but for the American science fiction fans such as Sprague de Camp. They republished The Lost Continent without permission, possible because of the then American copyright law, which led to the republishing of his other stories.