Rear-Admiral Ross had a distinguished naval career, becoming Chief of New Zealand's Naval Staff in 1965. He was also an accomplished writer of New Zealand nautical history, publishing several books on that subject. A particular interest of his was the charting of the New Zealand coast. Tied to this interest was an interest in trade to New Zealand during the pre-colonial period and the mariners who were active at the time. So, he began working on a comprehensive maritime history of pre-colonial New Zealand. It was never published, but a complete typescript of They Came by Sea was among the papers donated by his family to the National Library