The New International Encyclopædia/Becke, George Louis

BECKE, (1848&mdash;). An Australian novelist. He was born at Port Macquarie, New South Wales. He was a trader in the South Sea Islands from 1870 to 1893, but afterwards removed to England. Becke, who belongs to the school of Stevenson and Conrad, has written, single-handed and in collaboration with Walter Jeffery, many stirring tales of adventure in the Pacific islands. Among them are: By Reef and Palm (1894); The Ebbing of the Tide (1896); Pacific Tales (1897); Wild Life in Southern Seas (1897); The Mutineer (1898); Ridan the Devil (1899); The South Sea Pearler (1900); Tom Wallis (1900); The Tapir and Other Stories (1901); By Rock and Pool (1901); and Breachley: Black Sheep (1902). See ../Australian literature.