Les Eldridge

I am the author of four novels in a series on the American Civil War at sea: The Chesapeake Command (2005, 2008), Gray Raiders, Green Seas (2007), The Wake of the Woonsocket (2008), and The Pride of Pascagoula (Oct. 2010). I also co-authored The Wilkes Expedition, Puget Sound and the Oregon Country (1987), a history, and I frequently present my lecture series, Oceans of History, Seldom-told Tales of the Seven Seas, aboard several major cruise lines.

My latest novel, entitled "The Chilean Corvette" is due out in July, 2014.

I've taught maritime history for 30 years in Washington colleges, and chaired the maritime committee of the Washington State Centennial Commission. I am currently leading the effort by Washingtonians to help preserve the cruiser USS Olympia.

I began this series after retiring from careers in university administration, elected office, and administrative law. I've held appointments from six Washington State governors and the chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. I am a US Army veteran.

My wife and I live near Puget Sound.

Recent appearances include The Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA, the African-American Civil War Museum, Washington, D.C., The Undersea Warfare Museum, Keyport, WA, The Abraham Lincoln Exhibit at the Hawaii State Library, The Smithsonian's US Coast Survey Exhibit at the Washington State Capital Museum, the USS Bowfin Memorial and the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, and the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.

I am a lecturer aboard cruise ships delivering an entertaining and factual series entitled Oceans of History in which I share maritime historical events which have occurred in the path(s) of the ship.