Joseph Everett Garland was born September 30, 1922 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He attended Roxbury Latin School and spent summers at Riverview, the family home on the Annisquam River. While a student at Harvard, Joe took a leave of absence from college and joined the United States Army. His service in the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 45th Infantry Division's 157th Regiment took him to both Italy and France - experiences that he relates in his twenty-fifth and final book Unknown Soldiers.

Following the war, he worked as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal. Due to his union-organizing, he found opportunities diminishing in this field, and turned to freelance work. By the late 1950s, he'd made Gloucester, Massachusetts his home, and began to write books. His biography of Howard Blackburn, Lone Voyager, appeared in 1963. Lone Voyager was followed by That Great Patillo, another tale of a larger-than-life Gloucesterman, and books covering the era of the fishing schooners.

Drawn to the sea himself, and having a connection to Howard Blackburn (his grandfather had operated on him after his fateful voyage), Joe restored Blackburn's own boats Great Republic and Cruising Club, and spent many days sailing them with family and friends. When, as part of the city's 350th anniversary celebration, a classic wooden boat race was held, Joe skippered his schooner, Bandit, with two local fishing captains as crew in a memorable escapade. Later, he was a leader in the successful effort to bring the schooner Adventure back to Gloucester.

In addition to authoring books, Joe involved himself in civic issues, many through his column in the Gloucester Times, "Beating To Windward." He became renowned, too, as a provocative public speaker in his role as Gloucester historian. When Garland died he was in the midst of an unfinished manuscript with the draft title Boats Who Have Messed Around with Me, a colorful log of his boating life. He had two daughters with his first wife, Rebecca Choate. His second wife, Helen, assisted him in getting Unknown Soldiers: Reliving WWII in Europe published in 2008. He died on August 30, 2011.