Rory Nugent (born 1952) is an American explorer and writer. He was based out of
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...
from 1988 to 2004.
Biography
Nugent was born in New York. After he graduated from
Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
in 1975, he went to sea aboard freighters and canvas-fliers. He sailed solo across the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
four times. His fifth crossing ended prematurely when the catamaran he was sailing capsized; he was rescued five days later.
In 1992, Nugent became a foreign correspondent, first for ''
Men's Journal
''Men's Journal'' is an American monthly men's lifestyle magazine focused on outdoor recreation and comprising editorials on the outdoors, environmental issues, health and fitness, style and fashion, and gear. It was founded in 1992 by Jann Wenne ...
'' and then as a staff member of ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
''. He left journalism in 2002 to work on his third book.
Cryptozoology
In the mid-1980s, Nugent mounted solo expeditions in search of the
pink-headed duck
The pink-headed duck (''Rhodonessa caryophyllacea'') is a large diving duck that was once found in parts of the Gangetic plains of India, parts of Maharashtra, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. ...
on the
Brahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
and
Mokele-mbembe
In cryptozoology, the Mokele-mbembe (also written as "Mokèlé-mbèmbé"), Lingala for "one who stops the flow of rivers", is a water-dwelling entity that supposedly lives in the Congo River Basin, sometimes described as a living creature, some ...
in the
Congo. It is alleged that he may have seen both, but his sightings remain unconfirmed. He wrote a non-fiction book about each expedition.
Nugent's alleged Mokele-mbembe photographs from 1985 have been criticized as unreliable. One was described as a distant snapshot of a log floating in a lake.
[Loxton, Daniel; Prothero, Donald (2013). ''Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids''. Columbia University Press. p. 284. ]
Bibliography
Books
*''The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1991)
*''Drums Along The Congo: On The Trail Of Mokele-Mbembe, the Last Living Dinosaur'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1993)
*''Down at the Docks'' (Pantheon Books, 2009)
Articles
*
MS ''Oasis of the Seas''
References
External links
Rory Nugent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, Rory
1952 births
Cryptozoologists
Living people
American explorers
American male journalists
American travel writers
Williams College alumni