Wake of the Perdido Star by Gene Hackman

Wake of the Perdido Star by Gene Hackman

"Written like a sea story should be written, with all the legendary action. A fascinating read." --Clive Cussler

Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman spins a cinematic tale of pirates, shipwrecks, and sea adventure. Co-written with Daniel Lenihan, one of America's leading authorities on shipwrecks and diving, Wake of the Perdido Star is a moving story of a young boy's coming of age on the high seas, full of authentic nautical and historical detail. Wake of the Perdido Star is a captivating tale about friendship, justice, and survival.

In 1805 seventeen-year-old Jack O'Reilly sets sail with his parents from Salem, Massachusetts, aboard the Perdido Star. Jack is full of high hopes at the prospect of a new life in his mother's homeland of Cuba, but shortly after the family arrives, tragedy strikes, and in a desperate escape, Jack rejoins the departing Star as a member of the crew.

For the next three years Jack encounters storms, shipwreck, hostile and friendly natives, and enemy vessels as he travels around Cape Horn to the South Sea islands, the Philippines, and around the Cape of Good Hope. But throughout his adventures, his obsession to return to Cuba for revenge dominates his life, and his daring actions become the talk of the men of other vessels.

This book ranks among those in the long tradition of classic sea adventure novels--full of authentic historical and nautical detail, including realistic descriptions of underwater diving and salvage operations of the early nineteenth century. Jack O'Reilly provides a moving portrait of an adolescent struggling toward adulthood as he learns the meaning of justice, friendship, and survival.

DANIEL LENIHAN, winner of the George Melendez Wright Award for Excellence in Submerged Resources Research, has been diving as a park ranger and archeologist for the National Park Service since 1972, and founded the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (SCRU) in 1976 before being appointed the first chief in 1980.

Over the last 25 years, Lenihan and the SCRU team have been the subject of national media stories and many TV documentaries on CBS, ABC, BBC, CNN, PBS, The Discovery and History Channels, and National Geographic. He has written frequently for Natural History and American History, and co-authored, with Gene Hackman, the well-received sea adventure novel Wake of the Perdido Star. A native New Yorker and former schoolteacher, he lives with his family in Santa Fe, New Mexico.