George Blake was a Scottish writer notable for his books about Clydeside shipbuilders. He worked as a journalist and in a publishing house before becoming a full-time writer. His novels include Vagabond Papers (1922), The Shipbuilders (1935), David and Joanna (1936) and the semi-autobiographical work Down to the Sea (1937). In 1924 Blake moved to London, where he was appointed acting Editor of the magazine John o’ London’s Weekly, moving four years later to the Strand magazine which he was unable to restore to its former fortunes. In 1930 became a director of the publisher Faber and Faber. He was involved in running the Porpoise Press, Edinburgh (which published Neil M. Gunn’s Morning Tide in 1931) as a subsidiary of Faber. The Porpoise Press was established to stimulate and publish Scottish writing, interest in which was high at the time.