Wake of the Perdido Star

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. A 19th-century sea adventure in the spirit of Patrick O'Brian, Wake of the Perdido Star is a captivating tale about friendship, justice, and survival.

Gene Hackman has always had a yearning to write. Growing up in Danville, Illinois, he spent time at his grandfather’s small newspaper office and accompanied his uncle, a reporter, on assignments. After service in the Marines, Gene began his acting career in the theater, then went on to star in such movies as Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, The Conversation, and Unforgiven. He is the winner of two Academy Awards®.

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.