Publisher's Synopsis
The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1824 (the earliest edition is actually dated 1823). Its subject is the life of a naval pilot during the American Revolution. It is first nautical fiction written in American Literature.The Pilot was Cooper's fourth novel and his first sea tale. A sailor by profession, Cooper had undertaken to surpass Walter Scott's Pirate (1821) in seamanship.