Wake of the Perdido Star (57 page)

Authors: Gene Hackman

BOOK: Wake of the Perdido Star

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They swum 'neath the seas
As slick as you please
To fix their ship what was broken
They found shoes, guns, and knives
While riskin' their lives
The stuff all worked but was soakin'

When the Star's in their dreams
The Spanish don screams
The fat English lords
Fall on their swords
And even the bandit Chinese
Crawl away on their knees

But none fears them as much
As the damn bloody Dutch
Who thinks they're so smart and wily
They pray in their pews
And soil their fine wooden shoes
When they cross young Jack O'Reilly

Now their journey is done
Their battles are won
But their story is far from over
'Cause a promise was made
To fight the British blockade
From Maine to the White Cliffs of Dover

The preceding being a poetic account of the remarkable adventures during circumnavigation of the world by the men of the good ship
Star
. From the recollections of Hansumbob Burton, able-bodied seaman and official poet of the journey. This composed in the twilight of the year of our Lord 1810 and scribed for the author who hath not the gift of the pen, by his friend and shipmate, Lord Paul Le Maire, member of the Right Honourable Brotherhood of the Shipwrecked Men of the
Star
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors were helped and encouraged by many through the three years it took for this book to take form and substance. In order to recognize some we will risk inadvertant omission of others.

We thank our agent Noah Lukeman for believing in our book in its earliest and roughest stage of development and for guiding us skillfully through the publishing process. Thanks also go to Esther Margolis for gambling on authors new to fiction and devoting her energies and that of her staff at Newmarket Press to bringing our creation to completion as the handsome volume now in your hands.

Our editors included Dick Marek, who convinced us that “point of view” was more than an opinion. He along with John Cook at Newmarket Press helped us bring discipline to our storytelling that makes a rousing good tale into a marketable novel.

In no particular order, we want to name a few individuals who supported us along the way: Larry Murphy, Patricia Lenihan, Kit Duane.

We thank our wives, Betsy and Barbara, for much advice, counsel, and guidance in the obsession with Jack, Quince, and the lads.

Finally, both authors would like to offer special thanks to Betsy for the pivotal role she played beyond that just mentioned above in the execution of this work. Betsy served as facilitator and chief of operations in our joint writing effort, spending countless hours organizing clean drafts from Gene's scrawl and Dan's PC disks that used software dating back to the Manhattan Project. She was truly essential in making it happen.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

GENE HACKMAN's acting career has spanned forty years in theater and film. After a four-and-a-half-year stint in the Marines, he began his stage career in New York and on tour, then went on to star in such film hits as
Bonnie and Clyde
,
The French Connection
,
The Conversation
,
Crimson Tide
, and
Unforgiven
. He has received numerous honors for his work, including two Academy Awards
^Â®. His yearning to write started as a small boy, when he spent much of his free time in his grandfather's small newspaper office in Danville, Illinois, and accompanied his uncle, a reporter, on assignments. An avid reader with a passion for the sea and diving, Hackman joined with neighbor Daniel Lenihan to write this first novel, published in 1999. They went on to write two more novels, published by St. Martin's,
Justice for None
and
Escapte from Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War
. Hackman's solo novel,
Payback at Morning Peak,
was published by Pocket Books in 2011.

DANIEL LENIHAN has been diving for the U.S. National Park Service as a park ranger and archaeologist since 1972. In 1976, he created
the only underwater archaeological team in the federal government, and in 1980 was appointed the first chief of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (SCRU) of the National Park Service. He has taught diving for research, law enforcement, and rescue purposes. His work has been featured in documentaries on CBS, ABC, BBC, PBS, the Discovery channel, and
National Geographic
, and his writings have appeared in numerous publications, including
Natural History
,
American History
,
Naval Proceedings
,
Shipwreck Anthropology
, and the
NSS Cave Diving Manual
. Lenihan wrote
Submerged: Adventures of America's Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team,
published by Newmarket Press in 2002, about his twenty-five years with the National Park Service. He is also coauthor of the Fodor's guide
Underwater Wonders of the National Parks
, and served on the editorial board for the
Encyclopedia of Underwater Archaeology
published by the British Maritime Museum.

RAVE REVIEWS FOR

WAKE OF THE PERDIDO STAR

“A fascinating read you can't help but enjoyâ¦A swashbuckling sea story written like a sea story should be written.”

âClive Cussler

“Intriguing coming-of-age adventure full of information about early nineteenth-century diving, salvage, and piracyâ¦ The authors do a fine job of blending historical and technical details into their narrativeâ¦including a wellconstructed, exciting ending.”

â
Publishers Weekly

“A robust seafaring yarn that is equal parts Jack London and Robert Louis Stevensonâwith a touch of Steven Spielberg thrown inâ¦ A fun-filled adventure that rarely takes a wrong turnâ¦ Complete with a slam-bang finale.”

â
Winston-Salem Journal

“An American swashbuckler with satisfying action and rousing derring-do.”â
Kirkus Reviews

“You'll be able to smell the salt air, feel the wet deck wood beneath your feet, even taste the rum. And, if you're a devoted reader of the seafaring tales of Patrick O'Brian, or count
Treasure Island
as one of your childhood favorites,
Wake of the Perdido Star
is well worth the effort. Chock full of pirates, sea battles, shipwrecks and adventureâ¦Brutally realistic as it paints a picture of an era and a lifestyle in which only the strong surviveâ¦ A fun, rousing tale.”

â
Providence Sunday Journal

“Hackman and Lenihan bring a fresh perspective and lots of gung-ho enthusiasm and energy to the historical maritime genre. The action throughout is fast-paced and exciting, some of it surprising, and all of it drenched in saltwater and realistic descriptions of the period's seamanship, underwater salvage operations and deep-sea diving.”

â
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“An adventure story that earns its place in the esteemed company of such seafaring sagas as
Moby Dick
and
Mutiny on the Bounty
.”

â
The San Diego Union-Tribune

“From Joseph Conrad to Patrick O'Brian, there has been no shortage of stories about shipwrecks and pirates. An unexpected addition to the genre comes from actor Hackman and underwater archaeologist Lenihanâ¦ always entertainingâ¦ The characterization is well done; Jack and his intellectual friend Paul are joined by an interesting, well-drawn cast of both friends and villains. Readers will absorb some arcane information [on] the 19th-century version of scuba diving. Recommended.”

âLibrary Journal

“A knockout of a first novel.”

âNevada Barr, bestselling author of
Deep South

“A swashbuckling sea yarn.”

â
San Francisco Chronicle

“Thrillingâ¦ A swashbuckling tale, full of actionâ¦ is sure to make readers clamor for more.”

â
Chattanooga Times

“Hackman and Lenihan have crafted an epic tale of honor and betrayal, of revenge and hope, and ultimately of justice and redemption.”

âTom Grace, author of
Spider Web

“A swashbuckling sea story of nautical derring-doâ¦ salted with plenty of action and some fine sea battles.”

âStephen Coonts,
Naval Institute Proceedings

“Propels the reader from the small-town snobbery of 1805 Connecticut to the aristocratic duplicity of Havana, from the pounding seas of Cape Horn and Palau to the ports of Manila, Java, South Africa, and on to the Dry Tortugas.”

âRichard Benke,
Associated Press

“A fun readâ¦ An entertaining yarn that offers readersâboth adults and adolescentsâa jolly good time along the way.”

â
The Log
(San Diego Edition)

“A rousing good taleâ¦ the action explodes off the pagesâ¦ It's rare to find good action backed by solid research and knowledge of the sea.”âJames P. Delgado, President,

Council of American Maritime Museums

“A stirring yarn, filled with heroes and villains who are larger than life, with a knowledge of the seamanship and the diving technology and physiology of the day that equals the great sea writers who have set the standard.”

âArthur J. Bachrach, historical diving expert and contributor to the
British Encyclopedia of

Underwater and Maritime Archaeology

“A stirring 19th-century coming-of-age adventure.”

â
Charleston Daily News

“An exciting sea sagaâ¦ [It] has literary sails filled with authenticity and high-spirited adventure.”

â
Modern Maturity

COPYRIGHT

First Newmarket Paperback Edition 2011

eISBN : 9781557049803

Version 09282012

This book is published in the United States of America.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Hackman, Gene.

Wake of the Perdido Star/Gene Hackman & Daniel Lenihan.

p. cm.

I. Lenihan, Daniel. II. Title.

PS3558.A3114W35 1999

813'.54âdc21 99-43287

CIP

Quantity Purchases Companies, professional groups, clubs, and other organizations may qualify for special terms when ordering quantities of this title. For information, email [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, Newmarket Press, 18 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017, call (212) 832-3575 ext. 19 or 1-800-669-3903), or fax (212) 832-3629.

www.newmarketpress.com

Manufactured in the United States of America.

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