James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea is a historical novel, first published in January 1824. Its subject is the life of a naval pilot during the American Revolution. The main character of the story leads the American Navy in dangerous raids on the English coast.