Robert Forrest Burgess (born November 30, 1927) is an American author of non-fiction adventure books, as well as sport fishing and scuba diving magazine articles. His photographs illustrate his material.

Life

Robert F. Burgess was born in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, on November 30, 1927. He built his first diving gear out of a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

gas mask, 50 feet of air hose, and an air compressor to explore a Michigan shipwreck in 1944. At the end of World War II, he served as a ski trooper with the 88th Infantry Division named the Blue Devils by the Germans, and took his GI Bill abroad, studying French first at the Berlitz Language School in Trieste, Italy, and later at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. During this time he skied the Alps as part of the University's athletic program. Returning to Trieste to sell his German Amphibious Jeep, he and a companion purchased an Italian Lambretta motor scooter and rode it back to Switzerland, crossing the Great St. Gothard Pass and two other major mountain ranges at night. For their summer vacation he and a companion moved to Italy's

Island of Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

for three months where they learned to skin dive. After studying abroad he returned to the U.S. to complete his education, majoring in Journalism at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. Then, moving to Florida he wrote and photographed features for every major U.S. outdoor magazine including several abroad. With his new bride, Burgess returned to Switzerland in 1956. In

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

they purchased an Italian Lambretta motor scooter that winter, riding it 700 miles, across the Rivieras to Spain, where they took a ferry to the Balearic Islands. They wintered on the island of

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, where he fished with Majorcan trawler fishermen, gathering material for a novel. That spring they ferried to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and motor scootered across Spain to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, where he and his wife lived for the next 3 years. While there Burgess wrote his first novel and numerous travel articles for periodicals in England, Spain and America. During that time, on assignment for "Argosy" Magazine, he and a companion crossed the Mediterranean aboard a freighter with the French Foreign Legion, then back-packed through

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

to find and climb Hill 609, a fortified German mountain fortress during World War II. Returning later to the U.S., he served as editor for the "Florida Outdoors Magazine" wrote free-lance features for sport diving and sport fishing magazines throughout the country, and for the last 20 years has contributed articles on these subjects as Editor-At-Large for the "Florida Sportsman Magazine". Over the years Burgess has written and published over twenty books on such subjects as sharks, shipwrecks, underwater archaeology, treasure diving, cave diving, travel, and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

(whom he met in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

during that author's last Pamplona fiesta). In January 1994,

Scuba Schools International Scuba Schools International (SSI) is a for-profit organization that teaches the skills involved in scuba diving and freediving, and supports dive businesses and resorts. SSI has over 2,500 authorized dealers, 35 regional centers, and offices all ...

awarded Robert Burgess their most prestigious award, given only to divers with verified log books who have met or exceeded all their requirements, including at least 5,000 dives, to achieve the elite SSI rating of Platinum Pro 5000 Diver. Robert F. Burgess lives in north

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where he continues to write magazine articles and books.

Fiction

*''The Mystery of Mound Key'' - 1966 *''A Time For Tigers'' - 1968 *''Where Condors Fly'' - 1968

Non-fiction

*''The International Diners Phrase Book'' - 1965 *''Sinkings, Salvages And Shipwrecks'' - 1970 *''The Sharks'' - 1970 *''Exploring A Coral Reef'' - 1972 *''Ships Beneath The Sea'' - 1975 *''The Cave Divers'' - 1976 (revised 1999) *''Gold, Galleons And Archaeology: The History Of The 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet And The True Story Of The Great Florida Treasure Find'' (with

Carl Clausen Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

) - 1976 *''They Found Treasure'' - 1977 *''The Man Who Rode Sharks'' (coauthored with

William R. Royal Lt. Col. William Robert Royal (March 16, 1905 – May 8, 1997) was an American scuba diver in the United States Air Force and amateur archeologist. In the late 1950s, he and other scuba divers found artifacts and human bones from at least seven ...

) - 1978 *''Man: 12,000 Years Under The Sea, A Story Of Underwater Archaeology'' - 1980 *''Secret Languages Of The Sea'' - 1981 *''Florida's Golden Galleons : The Search For The 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet'' - 1982 *''Handbook Of Trailer Sailing'' - 1984 *''Sunken Treasure: Six Who Found Fortunes'' - 1988 *''Diving Off The Beaten Track'' - 1995 *''Hemingway's Paris And Pamplona, Then And Now (A Memoir)'' - 2001 *''Moving To Majorca'' - 2001

Maps

* ''Snorkelers' And Divers' Guide To Old Shipwrecks Of Florida's Southeast Coast''

References

External links

Information about Robert F. Burgess, as well as a listing of his available works.

* ttps://www.amazon.com/Robert-F-Burgess/e/B002ZHF0PQ For more books by Robert F. Burgess {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Robert Forrest 1927 births Living people 20th-century American memoirists 20th-century American novelists American non-fiction outdoors writers American underwater divers University of Neuchâtel alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Novelists from Michigan American male novelists 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers