The May 12th lunch meeting speaker will be PAUL ESTRONZA La VIOLETTE.

SINK  Or BE SUNK
                   THE NAVAL BATTLE THAT PRECEDED THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
                                                            By
                                         PAUL ESTRONZA La VIOLETTE
 
PAUL ESTRONZA La VIOLETTE tells this true story from both the British and American perspectives using letters and documents from the participants to flesh out the almost fogotten action.  La Violette is well equipped to delve into history of what took place.  He has been a military oceanographer for more that forty years with the US Navy and Mississippi State University.  He has done his marine research in almost all of the world's oceans, spending most of his time in the Arctic Ocean,  Mediterranean Sea and, more recently, the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound.

His extensive research for the book included using side-scan sonar to map the debris field of the nearly two hundred year old battle.
 
His past publications have been oceanographic atlases, books and papers on the circulation of the world oceans and seas.  He has written three books containing non-fiction stories about the Gulf Coast, Views from a Front Porch, Waiting for the White Pelicans and Where the Blue Herons Dance.  In addition, he is a Sunday columnist for the Gulf Coast newspaper, The Sea Coast Echo.