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"Fearless Captain: The Adventures of John Smith" by Aleck Loker

Posted on January 17, 2006:
Aleck Loker has written a new book, Fearless Captain: The Adventures of John Smith, which will be available on April 1, 2006. "Fearless Captain: The Adventures of John Smith" is a biography of the man who held the English settlement together at Jamestown in the face of overwhelming adversity. On more than one occasion, Smith stood in the path of mutineers who planned to abandon the colony and return to England. But this book delves into Smith’s adventure-filled early life as well. It tells how John Smith became Captain, how he earned the status of gentleman with a coat of arms granted by the Prince of Transylvania, how he sailed with pirates, was captured, sold into slavery and made an incredible escape and trek across eastern Europe. And all that happened before he was twenty-four years old and before he joined the Virginia Company in London. The book corrects some of the erroneous stories of Captain John Smith contained in the Pocahontas cartoon and the recently released Hollywood movie about John Smith and Pocahontas. With the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas coming next year, this book will help put that important milestone into its historical perspective. The book will be available from Morgan Reynolds Publishing at www.morganreynolds.com, from Amazon.com, and from local bookstores. This hardcover book contains more than 180 pages and has 52 color illustrations, with a retail price is $26.95.

Other works by Aleck include "A Matter of Space", a novel that blends his love of science, engineering, history, and archaeology that readers young and old will enjoy, and “A Most Convenient Place”, informative and entertaining reading which captures a comprehensive history of Leonardtown between 1650 – 1950.

About the Author:
Aleck Loker is a ninth-generation St. Mary’s County native who knows and loves local history. After graduating from Ryken High School (now St. Mary’s Ryken) Aleck attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. Aleck returned to Leonardtown and began a thirty-three year career at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland. In his Navy career, Aleck achieved recognition for innovative work that was widely published. His collaboration with Naval test pilots and engineers spanned virtually every facet of the work at the Patuxent Navy base. Aleck served as the Executive Director of the Naval Air Station for his last three years with the Navy.

Along the way, Aleck studied local history and published numerous articles in magazines and in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, a publication of the St. Mary’s County Historical Society. Aleck’s last book-length work was the popular A Most Convenient Place, Leonardtown, Maryland 1650-1950.

Aleck and his wife Ann divide their time between Williamsburg, Virginia and Leonardtown, Maryland.


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