BOOK MARKS, February 5, 2005

BEN STEELMAN

'On a Rising Tide' brings Civil War era back to life

An avid scuba diver and under­water photographer, Richard Triebe has dived on his share of shipwrecks. Now, he's brought a Confederate blockade runner back to life. Triebe's first novel, On a Rising Tide: A Tale of Running the Civil War Blockade, has been released by AuthorHouse ($19.99 paperback). He will sign copies noon to 3 p.m. Saturday in Waldenbooks at Westfield Independence mall.

"When I moved here in 1987, I saw how rich this area was in history," said Triebe, a Chicago native. "I thought, 'Wow! This would be a great backdrop, for a story.' "

On a Rising Tide follows the exploits of Capt. Wade McKay and his Clyde River steamer Atlantis in the latter days of the Civil War. Along with sailors and slaves, the novel's cast includes some real historical figures including General Braxton Bragg, Colonel William Lamb of Fort Fisher and his wife, Daisy.

Triebe researched the Civil War on the Lower Cape Fear extensively. (Rod Gragg's Confederate Goliath was a particular source, he said.)

While volunteering at the N.C. Underwater Archaeology Lab at Fort Fisher, he learned from director Richard Lawrence that blockade-running captains would sometimes throw bacon in their ships' boilers to super-charge the engines. That trick makes its way into On a Rising Tide. In one period newspaper, he found a note about the ladies of the Soldiers' Aid Society giving a banquet to the Fort Fisher garrison after the failure of the Union assault on Christmas Eve 1864. That gave him an idea to have his heroine, Brooke Snow, caught in the fort during the final attack two weeks later.

"I just had fun with it," he said.