Friday, April 10, 2015
2015 Author Appearances
4/15/2015: 7AM, Heritage Caucus, USS Olympia presentation. Sherberg Bldg.
4/30/2015: Narration aboard schooner Adventuress. 5:30PM, Budd Inlet.
Cancellation: Panorama has cancelled the April 4-part series "Sailing the Wine Dark Sea."
5/2/2015: Local historian conference, Schmidt House.
9/12/2015: Centralia College, Writers Workshop Presentation
Thursday, August 14, 2014
2014 Author Appearances
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Review of The Pride of Pascagoula
An excellent review of The Pride of Pascagoula was published in the July edition of All Force Military. USA
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
2011 Appearance Schedule
June 25: Seattle Pioneer Association, “Confederates on the Northwest Coast.”
July 21: Secretary of State’s History Lunch, State Capitol, “Confederates on the Northwest Coast.”
Oct 2: South Sound Estuary Association Center cruise, 1-4 pm, narration on area explorations, including Wilkes, Vancouver, Puget, McMillan, and Bodega y Quadra.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Civil War Series Makes The Olympian Best Seller List

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Pride of Pascagoula:

The fourth novel in the Civil War at sea saga was released this week. The Pride of Pascagoula is available through this site and on Also available as e-books on Nook, and
Amazon Kindle.
The Pride of Pascagoula:
Leeward Coast Press has published Eldridge’s “The Pride of Pascagoula”. Tobias and Rory narrowly escape harm as their respective ships, USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama, clash in a duel to the death in the waters off Cherbourg, France. Then, Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory sends Rory and a cadre of Confederate naval officers across the Isthmus of Panama and north to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, to arm a Rebel Raider there. Tobias and Master’s Mate Kekoa Kalama, with their experience in Pacific whaling waters, are in hot pursuit, determined to defend the Union whaling fleet against destruction in the Bering Sea.
Four Dunbrody/StJohn Novels Available
For information about scheduling an author appearance or if you have difficulty obtaining the books through bookstores or the above referenced sites please contact:
Les Eldridge at: lmeldridge@earthlink.net
or or his publisher Leeward Coast Press at: leewardcoastpress@comcast.net
Please read the following posts for more information on each of the four novels.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
American Civil War At Sea Novels
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
About The Author

Les Eldridge is the author of four novels in a series on the American Civil War at sea. He also co-authored The Wilkes Expediton, Puget Sound and the Oregon Country, a history. He is a US Army veteran who taught maritime history periodically for 30 years in Washington colleges, and chaired the maritime committee of the Washington State Centennial Committee as well as holding appointments from five Washington State governors and the chief justice of the State Supreme Court.
He began his series after retiring from careers in university administration, elected office, and administrative law. He lives on Puget Sound and the island of O'ahu.
Series: Rory Dunbrody and Tobias St. John | ||||
Year | Book | Comment | ||
The Chesapeake Command | Dunbrody and St. John are thrust into armed confrontation with the British over possession of San Juan Island | |||
Gray Raiders, Green Seas | Confrontation on Chesapeake Bay, the Carolina coasts and the high seas | |||
The Wake of the Woonsocket The Pride of Pascagoula | Tobias, aboard USS Woonsocket, must sort through the conflicting expectations of Mexican President Benito Juarez
|
Dear Reader
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Chesapeake Command - 2nd Edition
The Chesapeake Command finds shipwreck, Indian raids and the threat of war with Great Britain confronting two U.S. Navy officers, one Irish, one black, in the Pacific Northwest on the eve of the American Civil War. Rory Dunbrody and Tobias St. John, sea officers and best friends, are thrust into armed confrontation with the British over possession of remote San Juan Island. Only deft diplomacy averts a shooting war. Then, these two comrades from the lowest social orders of the day are separated by the advent of civil war. Rory, now a Confederate lieutenant, and Tobias, a Union sailing master, struggle to maintain their friendship as they battle the enemy, and one another, in New Orleans, Chesapeake Bay and on the Carolina coasts.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Gray Raiders, Green Seas
In Gray Raiders, Green Seas,we learn of Rory Dunbrody, Confederate Navy lieutenant born in the South but raised in Ireland; bold, irreverent, his cynicism tempered with humor, and meet his best friend Tobias St. John, a Union sailing master born into slavery in the Caribbean; courageous, contemplative and careful not to expect too much from life. Endure their struggle to keep a friendship intact despite their separation by the Civil War. See these friends from the lowest social orders of the day overcome the disdain and bias of a few fellow officers and build their reputations for courage and resourcefulness. Meet their new shipmate Kekoa Kalama, former whaler and star navigator. Experience a ride with Confederate cavalryman John S. Mosby, a desperate assault on coast fortifications, dangerous espionage, the brilliant capture of a Confederate blockade-runner, a daring rescue of an infantry unit surrounded behind enemy lines and the pivotal 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads. Watch these sea officers face the challenges of storm and the enemy afloat and ashore.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Wake of the Woonsocket:
In the Wake of the Woonsocket, Tobias St John undertakes yet another espionage mission masterminded by Lincoln and his Secret Service Chief, Allen Pinkerton and meets Mexican President Benito Juarez. Together, they confound confederate blockade runners. In the process, Tobias barely escapes death at the hand of his nemesis, blockade runner Bertram Ludlow, off the mouth of the Rio Bravo! Next, Rory Dunbrody and Tobias are thrown together during the greatest race riot in history, as New York Irish and free Blacks clash while the Draft takes effect. They must stage a mock murder to keep the men in their commands alive in the chaos. And speaking of New York, Raphael Semmes in the CSS Alabama opted not to attack its harbor for lack of fuel, and Taylor Wood of the CSS Rappahannock cancelled a raid on the Brooklyn Navy Yard for want of a pilot. Is there no Rebel Navy raider who will rise to the challenge? Rory Dunbrody, now there’s the lad! He assaults New York with explosive results!