Just over one hundred years ago, the United States invaded a small nation with the outward purpose of setting it free. The initial action was over in weeks, with the US clearly victorious. One Washington politician described it as "a splendid little war." Then began the long aftermath. To read about the Spanish-American War is to hear ringing in our ears the patriotic rallying cries and contrary shouts of dissent of today. Only the centuries and names are changed.

Quaker author and historian Margaret Bacon says:

For one who loves both sailing and the history of Quaker Philadelphia, Tunnell's Boys brings alive a time, a place, and a culture which I have lived in through my imagination. An exciting and absorbing human drama which kept me turning the pages.

Captain Michael J. Linton, President of the Pilots' Association for the Bay & River Delaware has this to say:

Reading Tunnell's Boys, I was on a ship's bridge for the first time again; only the persons' names had changed. The story catches the true spirit of piloting, picturing life aboard sailing pilot boats, incredible feats of seamanship, and vivid descriptions of the vessels themselves. Tony Junker captures the essence of a much overlooked part of our nation's maritime life and heritage.

In 1898, in the middle of the Spanish-American War, sea pilot Peter Long receives a mysterious request for his services. He is asked to guide a three-masted coasting schooner to the ocean's mouth. The ship's master is none other than Eben Soule, Long's old rival from their days as apprentices aboard the pilot schooner Tunnell. A pacifist Quaker sympathizer, Soule is ousted from the pilot service for his activist ways. Despite past rivalries, including competition for the love of the daughter of a wealthy Quaker ship owner, Soule secretly remains a hero for Long. The crew suspects Soule to be involved with aiding the enemy, and the schooner's true landfall to be Cuba. When Spanish voices are heard in a locked part of the hold, mutiny appears imminent. What unfolds is a story of friendship, competition, and conflict in which Long must look past old feelings and decide where his loyalties lie.

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Tony Junker, a Quaker, lives in Philadelphia where he practices architecture. He spends what time he can sailing his gaff-rigged wooden sloop, Friar Tuck, cruising the Maine coast.