Robert Erskine Childers DSC (25 June 1870 – 24 November 1922), universally known as Erskine Childers, was the author of the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War. "The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service" is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. The book, which enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I, is an early example of the espionage novel and was extremely influential in the genre of spy fiction. It has been made into both a film and TV film. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)