Sea story

A sea story is a work of fiction set largely at sea. The enclosed setting of life aboard a ship allows an author to portray a social world in miniature, with characters cut off from the outside world and forced to interact in cramped and stressful conditions.

The form has been popular from Homer's Odyssey onwards. Notable exponents of the sea story include:

Captain Frederick Marryat (1792–1848): Peter Simple
Herman Melville (1819–1891): Moby Dick
C. S. Forester (1899–1966): Horatio Hornblower series
Nicholas Monsarrat (1910–1979): The Cruel Sea
Patrick O'Brian (1914–2000): Aubrey–Maturin series