# Gordon Waterman Chaplin

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**Gordon Chaplin** (born 1945) is an American writer and conservationist.

## Early life and education

Chaplin was born in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) and graduated from [St. Paul's School](/source/St._Paul's_School_(Concord,_New_Hampshire)) in [Concord, New Hampshire](/source/Concord,_New_Hampshire). He holds a degree in English literature from [Boston University](/source/Boston_University) and an MA in American history from [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University), where he also attended the Stegner seminar in creative writing.

Chaplin grew up in [Nassau](/source/Nassau,_Bahamas), [Bahamas](/source/Bahamas), where his father, [Charles C. G. Chaplin](/source/Charles_C._G._Chaplin), worked as an ichthyologist and co-authored the taxonomic textbook *Fishes of the Bahamas and Adjacent Tropical Waters* (Livingston Press 1968:, University of Texas Press 1992).

## Career

Chaplin's first book, *Joyride* ([Coward, McCann & Geoghegan](/source/Coward,_McCann_%26_Geoghegan), 1982), is a novel stemming from his experiences in [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia) both as a reporter in [Newsweek](/source/Newsweek)'s [Saigon](/source/Saigon) bureau and as an editor on the *Bangkok World* in [Thailand](/source/Thailand). Its teenaged American protagonists, attending high school in Bangkok where their parents are based, embark on a motorcycle trip to Saigon, hoping to glimpse the war first-hand.[1] The novel was optioned by film director [Paul Mazursky](/source/Paul_Mazursky), and Chaplin wrote the screenplay for [MGM Studios](/source/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

After fifteen years as a journalist, the last period of which he spent as a staff writer for the *[Washington Post Magazine](/source/Washington_Post_Magazine)*, Chaplin moved to [Todos los Santos, Baja California Sur](/source/Todos_los_Santos,_Baja_California_Sur) where he worked as a trip leader, divemaster and publicist[2] for [Baja Expeditions](http://www.bajaex.com). There he became involved as a fundraiser and project consultant with the foundation Niparaja,[3] a non-profit group seeking to preserve the marine and coastal areas of the [Gulf of California](/source/Gulf_of_California) and the Pacific coast of Baja.

Next, he took to the sea himself in the *Lord Jim*, a 36-foot Dutch-built motorsailor, with his partner Susan Atkinson. His travel-essay book, *The Fever Coast Log: At Sea in Central America* (Simon & Schuster, 1991) is an account of their voyage down the coast of Central America from [Belize](/source/Belize) to [Panama](/source/Panama) in the final days of the [Sandinista regime](/source/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front#Sandinista_rule_(1979–1990)) and its American-backed opponents, the [Contras](/source/Contras).[4]

His memoir, *Dark Wind:: A Survivor’s Tale of Love and Loss (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999)* details the tragedy of their next voyage, which ended with Susan’s death in a typhoon in the [Marshall Islands](/source/Marshall_Islands), halfway across the Pacific.[5][6]

In addition to his journalism, he has contributed articles to *[Audubon Magazine](/source/Audubon_Magazine)*,[7] *Men’s Journal*,[8] *Esquire*,[9] and other publications.

In 2004 Chaplin was invited by a group of scientists from his father’s old institution, [The Academy of Natural Sciences](/source/The_Academy_of_Natural_Sciences) in Philadelphia, to participate in a 50-year retrospective study of the coral reef environment he’d frequented as a child, using his father's work as a baseline. His article "Return to the Reefs," [10] and his subsequent book *Full Fathom Five: Ocean Warming and a Father’s Legacy* (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013) [11] are accounts of this effort. As a research associate at the Academy, he is a co-author of two resulting scientific studies, "Assessing 50-year changes in Bahamian Reef Fish Assemblages: Evidence for Community Response to Recent Disturbances?"[12] and "Detection of Shifts in coral reef fish assemblages structures over 50 years at reefs of New Providence Island, the Bahamas, highlights the value of the Academy of Natural Sciences collections in a changing world".[13] In 2009 he established the Chaplin Fellowship at the [Academy of Natural Sciences](/source/Academy_of_Natural_Sciences), occupied by Dr. Katriina Ilves.[14]

Chaplin's most recent book is another novel, Paraíso (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016) set in Todos los Santos, about a gringo brother and sister who whose long estrangement ends in a spectacular rescue.

## Personal life

Chaplin lives in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) and [Hebron, New York](/source/Hebron,_New_York), with his wife Sarah Teale and daughter Rosie. In Hebron they run a grass-fed beef operation,[15] Rosie’s Beef, and are putting together a farmers co-operative for marketing farm to table production. Chaplin has two daughters from a previous marriage, Diana and Julia.

## Works

- *The Best of the Post* ([Popular Library](/source/Popular_Library) 1979) Selected articles from the *[Washington Post Magazine](/source/Washington_Post_Magazine)*
- *Joyride* ([Coward, McCann & Geoghegan](/source/Coward,_McCann_%26_Geoghegan) 1982) ISBN 978-0-698-11185-1
- *The Fever Coast Log: At Sea in Central America* ([Simon & Schuster](/source/Simon_%26_Schuster) 1992) ISBN 978-0-671-76729-7
- *Dark Wind: A Survivor’s Tale of Love and Loss* ([Atlantic Monthly Press](/source/Atlantic_Monthly_Press) 1999) ISBN 978-0-7531-6552-2
- *Full Fathom Five: Ocean Warming and a Father’s Legacy* ([Skyhorse Publishing](/source/Skyhorse_Publishing) 2013) ISBN 978-1-61145-895-4
- *Paraíso* ([Skyhorse Publishing](/source/Skyhorse_Publishing) 2016) ISBN 978-1-62872-598-8

## References

1. Victoria Brownworth (Dec 23, 1982). "Joyride". [Philadelphia Inquirer](/source/Philadelphia_Inquirer)

1. *[Washington Post](/source/Washington_Post)*, April 25, 1982,"Of Men and Whales in the Baja"

1. [Niparaja](http://www.niparaja.org)

1. ["The Fever Coast Log"](http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gordon-chaplin/the-fever-coast-log/). [Kirkus Reviews](/source/Kirkus_Reviews). Dec 15, 1991.

1. ["Nonfiction review - Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love and Loss"](http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87113-743-2). [Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly). May 31, 1999.

1. Anthony Bailey (July 11, 1999). ["And I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee"](https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/11/reviews/990711.11baileyt.html). [New York Times Book Review](/source/New_York_Times_Book_Review)

1. Audubon Magazine,"El Tigre Hombre", April 1986 p. 41

1. Men's Journal,"Carl Hiaasen's Unbalanced Nature" August 1997 p.67

1. Esquire,"Stanley Marsh Plays with his Money" December 1974, p. 166

1. *[Smithsonian Magazine](/source/Smithsonian_Magazine)*, Feb. 2006

1. *Kirkus Reviews*, Aug. 2013

1. *[Bulletin of Marine Science](/source/Bulletin_of_Marine_Science)*, July 2011

1. *Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia*, March 2013. 162:61-87.

1. ["Ichthyology Staff & Affiliates"](http://www.ansp.org/research/biodiv/ichthyology/staff.php). [Academy of Natural Sciences](/source/Academy_of_Natural_Sciences)

1. ["Gordon Chaplin"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003642/http://www.gordonchaplin.com/). Archived from [the original](http://www.gordonchaplin.com/) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-16.

- Carey Winfrey, Editor’s Note, *Smithsonian Magazine*, Feb. 2006 p. 8
- Contemporary Authors: Biography, Gordon Chaplin—www.amazon.com/Biography-Chaplin-Gordon-Contemporary Authors
- *Academy of Natural Sciences* Website: www.ansp.org/research/biodiv/ichthyology/collections/php

## Reviews

- *Booklist*, Feb. 1, 1992, March 1, 1999. Alice Joyce, review of *The Fever Coast Log*, p. 1005. Denise Hoover, Review of *Dark Wind: A Survivor’s Tale of Love and Loss* p. 1100
- *Kirkus Reviews*, August 2013, review of *Full Fathom Five: Ocean Warming and a Father's Legacy*.
- *Library Journal*, June 15, 1999, Gini Kaiser, review of *Dark Wind, a Survivors Tale of Love and Loss*, p. 96
- *Los Angeles Times Book Review*, March 22, 1992, review of *The Fever Coast Log*, p. 6.
- *Nation*, Oct. 30, 1982. Arnold Klein, “Newsreel Novels,” p. 438
- *Newsweek*, Oct. 25, 1982, review of *Joyride*, p. 118. May 24, 1999, review of *Dark Wind, a Survivor’s Tale of Love and Loss*., p.&
- *Time International*, Sept. 6, 1999, Elisabeth Fitzhugh, “In Deep Water.”. p. 64
- *Washington Post Bookworld*, Sept 26, 1982, David Guy “Easy Riders on the Road to Saigon.:” p. 3. August 23, 1992, Merwyn Morris, “Islands in Flux: Rediscovering the Caribbean” p. 6.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gordon Waterman Chaplin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Waterman_Chaplin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Waterman_Chaplin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.