Biography
Born on Manhattan in 1970, Eric Tröels Wiberg is a citizen of Sweden and the US. The author of over 40 books on maritime, aviation and World War II history, he has published nearly 1,000 articles, addressed 60 audiences internationally, and appeared on film, TV, radio, and podcasts a dozen times for audiences in Spain, France, Norway, Bahamas, and the US. During 2022 his teams found ten WWII aircraft in Bahamas. In 2019 US Congress used his research to issue medals to ten US Navy aviators for sinking German U-boat U-84. He has found the graves of Norwegian, American, German, Italian, and Bahamian war dead and donated research to several national archives.
Eric patented a way to reduce drag behind trucks, and helped establish a test for the principal of uberimmae fidei in Reliance v. Hanover. He has founded companies in yacht delivery (24 years), publishing (14), research (MAR), recruiting, real estate, and trucking. He is licensed as a 100-ton captain since 1995, and in maritime law since 2005. Eric holds degrees or certificates from six institutions in the US, UK, and Portugal; BA, MA, JD, and in film. He left the Bahamas at 13 for boarding schools in New England, enrolling at Boston College in 1989. Hired at age 18 to race to Bermuda, he sailed as mate from Antigua to Europe to attend Oxford for the BC Honors Program in 1991. After self-publishing five collections of writing, he sailed from Panama to New Zealand, becoming captain in Galapagos of a 68’ wooden sailboat in 1994.
In 1995 Eric moved to Singapore for three years to commercially operate a fleet of tanker ships. There he dealt with the loss of four crew in separate incidents, from explosions to groundings, suicide, hijack, rocket and knife attacks. He returned to Newport to write off-season and deliver yachts to and from the Caribbean, with incidents including falling overboard in a storm, and losing a classic yacht to fire and sinking. After his fourth round-world trip, he accepted the Roger Williams School of Law Scholarship, concurrently earning a Masters in Marine Affairs degree from URI.
Eric’s travel mileage exceeds one million; 25% of them on the Earth’s surface. He has been aboard some 500 vessels to 250 islands, operated 120 vessels over 75,000 miles, and sailed to or from Bermuda over 30 times. He has crossed two oceans, been attacked by sharks in Atlantic and Polynesian islands, and malnourished.
Married in 2004, Eric became a father in 2007, after joining a board recruiting firm in Greenwich CT. Following the 2008 financial crash, he held maritime jobs in Baltimore, Manhattan, and Bahamas. In 2009 Eric began writing the first of a trilogy of history books on German U-boats. In 2010 he joined Norwegian shipping media leader Tradewinds, and from 2013 was marketing manager for McAllister Towing in Manhattan, his home until 2019.
Eric lives and writes in Boston, actively documenting the working waterfront as a captain, ship visitor and observer. His 4-million words in four languages are cited in 50 publications. During the pandemic, Eric completed 25 non-fiction books in 25 months. In 2023 he spent 30 days voyaging 1,200 miles through the Bahamas to locate six aircraft wrecks from World War II and 1930.
Travels
