Herbert J. Hanson, O.B.E., Scholar and Seaman has Missee Lee dedicated to him.
He was secretary of the Cruising Association, and a great friend of Ransomes according to Christina Hardyment.
He suggested to Arthur a stay in St Mawes in Cornwall. Arthur admired the 46-foot barge Industry which Hanson was having refitted, and nearly bought her (though she was far too big for a man so prone to sudden illness)
Instead he sailed on the Falmouth coast in Hanson’s yacht Iolanthe in 1933, and half-planned a story set in St Mawes with its creeks and pine-covered hills and gardens and palm trees (CFT pp110,111).
His photograph of a Dutch dog-drawn milk cart (CFT picture 39) was used for the illustration of the milk-cart that Titty and Roger get milk from in Flushing (WD23).