Sons of the Sea is an account of the origin of the Polynesians based on current theories and the Book of Mormon, an account of the European discovery of Polynesia and early Catholic missionary activity in Tahiti, (excerpts from W.T. Pritchard's Polynesian Reminiscences, 1866), and a history of the Reorganized Church's mission in Tahiti and the Tuamotu Archipelago from 1843 - 1952.

F. Edward Butterworth (born 1908) went to Tahiti in 1944 as a missionary of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints and later became historian of his church. He is the author of Adventures of a South Sea Missionary (Independence, 1961) and The Adventures of John Hawkins (Independence, 1963).