The Last Great Australian Adventurer

Gordon Bass grew up in Texas but spent his childhood summers on excavations led by his father, George F. Bass. Living on remote parts of the Turkish Mediterranean coast sparked an early fascination with the intersection of adventure, history and technology.

Gordon later discovered that his father’s career had been influenced by meeting an extraordinary Australian adventurer named Ben Carlin when he was just 14 years old.

But who was Ben Carlin? In his first book, Gordon sets out to learn more about the Perth native who in 1948 embarked on an audacious attempt to circle the world in a surplus amphibious army jeep. Carlin achieved brief fame in the 1950s but was forgotten by the world long before his journey was over. Why did Ben vanish from the public eye? What happened next? And what was his connection to Gordon’s family?

For the past 20 years Gordon has worked as a writer, editor and creative director for magazines, media brands and companies ranging from Maxim, Men’s Journal and Wired to Amazon and Time Inc.

In 2013 he optioned a scripted television series to AMC. In addition to his work as a writer and editor, Gordon is an executive producer of the 2016 record Dirty Wonder by singer-songwriter K Phillips, who has toured in support of Counting Crows and Rob Thomas.

Gordon has served as a director and communications chair of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, which his father founded in 1975.

Along the way he has also bartended in Japan and taught English in Turkey.

He lives outside New York City with children’s book author Jennifer Vogel Bass and their two boys.

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