
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.
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.
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
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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.
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.
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!