Ted Falcon-Barker

Writer

  • Born: November 17, 1923
  • Birthplace: Juan-les-Pins, France
  • Died: 2000
  • Place of death: En route to Ibiza, Spain

Biography

Ted Falcon-Barker was born on November 17, 1923, in Juan-les-Pins, France. His father, Harold Barker, had been a diamond prospector in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and his mother was Isobel (Falcon) Barker, from Cuba. Falcon-Barker attended a private boarding school in England until the age of fifteen, when he ran away and traveled to Australia. He supported himself doing manual labor until World War II broke out, when he joined the army. He served in the Australian Imperial Forces from 1940 until 1945, working his way up to captain. Part of his service was with the Intelligence Corps, which sent him as a spy to Damascus and had him parachuted behind enemy lines in Japanese-controlled New Guinea.

He was twenty-one when the war ended, and he continued the unstructured and adventurous life he had embarked on at fifteen. He learned to fly planes, became a photographer, and started his own public relations firm. After a brief stint as an undercover agent spying on the Communist Party, he returned to England, bought a yacht, learned to dive, and set off to explore the world. He hiked through the Bulgarian Alps to photograph indigenous people. When his diving skills were solid enough, he moved to the Bahamas and became an underwater treasure hunter.

His first book, 1600 Years Under the Sea (1960), tells the story of his expedition to find Epidauros, a legendary lost city in the Adriatic Sea settled by Greek colonists. Falcon-Barker and his colleagues had been told that the legend had no bearing in fact, but their expedition proved the experts wrong. His third book was a memoir, The Reluctant Adventurer (1966). In Roman Galley Beneath the Sea (1964), Falcon-Barker addressed a young adult audience. This book was also based on his own explorations, this time off the coast of Africa, but he used the story of his discoveries as an example to present an overview of how underwater archeology is accomplished. Through the 1960’s, Falcon-Barker wrote two more young adult books about his expeditions, taking his readers to Haiti in search of gold and to the Red Sea to study sharks. He continued to explore, but after the 1960’s most of his writing appeared in the pages of boating magazines.

Falcon-Barker was a mysterious figure, even to those who knew him well. It was rumored that he was a part of the Australian secret service, and he was known to have a violent temper. Rumors also circulated about treasures he may or may not have found; he had periods of seeming unexplained wealth, followed by periods when he had little money. In 2000, he died in a car accident while driving to Ibiza, Spain. None of his books remain in print.