island, Marina Cay, which they quickly purchased for $60. The Whites spent three years on Marina, hacking a cistern out of the rough, rocky land and shipping in enough concrete to build a small, sturdy house. These adventurous years, during which the couple weathered a hurricane, fended off a Nazi skipper, aided Jewish refugees, and survived a surprise visit from White's mother-in-law, are detailed in his memoirs, In Privateer's Bay (1939), Our Virgin Island (1953), and Two on the Isle (1985). White was recalled to military duty when World War II broke out; he flew as a pilot, fought near his birthplace in the Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944), and served on battleships, submarines, and aircraft carriers. He earned eight medals and retired with the rank of lieutenant commander after five years of service. At the same time as White's recall, he and Rodie lost Marina Cay. The British government had never issued them a license to hold the land and now formally refused, stating that White's published writings had misrepresented conditions in the British Virgin Islands. Today, the house Robb and Rodie built serves as the reading lounge for a modest-sized resort on the island. "A writer's writer" White was determined to be a writer from the age of 13. While working for DuPont, he returned home each day and wrote from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. In 1931, he quit DuPont after selling his first story to The American Boy for $100. "A writer's writer, White truly lived his trade". He produced numerous articles and stories for The Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and Boys' Life, as well as the United States Naval Institute's Proceedings and various risqué publications; as he told interviewer Tom Weaver, "I wrote as a woman for True Stories and got raped in a hayloft about once a month." White also wrote for television, including Men of Annapolis and The Silent Service (both 1957), plus episodes of Perry Mason (1961–1965). In the late 1950s and early 1960s he teamed with horror film director William Castle, best known for gimmicks such as a free "ghost viewer" and a vibrating electrical device mounted beneath the theater seats. White and Castle turned out five films, Macabre, 13 Ghosts, Homicidal, The Tingler, and House on Haunted Hill—the last two featuring Vincent Price. Despite all this, White is best known for his 24 novels. The