Eric Takakjian is the master of an oceangoing tugboat (Vane Brothers) engaged in the coastwise petroleum transportation trade. He has been sailing ships and oceangoing tugboats to various corners of the world since 1978. A diver since 1972 and an avid shipwreck diver since 1975, Takakjian has been a National Fellow of the Explorers Club since 1997. He lives in Fairhaven, MA. Randall Peffer is the author of nine nonfiction books as well as nine crime/suspense novels. The son of a career naval officer, Peffer holds a 100-ton masters license and has logged over 100,000 miles at sea, mostly in traditional working vessels. After more than three decades teaching writing and literature at Phillips Academy, Andover, he has retired from teaching to work fulltime on his writing. He sails out of his home ports of Marion, MA, Great Guana Cay, Abaco, and Long Beach, CA. He lives in Marion, MA.