Biography
Born in New York in 1970, Eric Wiberg is a citizen of Sweden and the US. Since 1989 his career has been in the yachting and shipping industries. The author of a dozen books on maritime history, particularly in Bahamas, were he grew up, he has published over 100 articles, and spoken in multiple mediums 50 times. He has founded companies in five sectors; Echo Yacht Delivery is 20, Island Books 10 years, plus recruiting, real estate, trucking. Licensed by US Coast Guard as 100-ton captain in 1995, in maritime law in 2005.
Eric holds degrees or certificates from six institutions in three countries including New York Film Academy. He left the Bahamas at 13 for boarding schools in New England and enrolled at Boston College in 1989. That year he was hired to race to Bermuda, and in 1991 sailed as mate from Antigua to Belgium to attend Harris Manchester College, Oxford. In 1993 he self-published five collections of writing then set out on a voyage Panama to New Zealand on a 68' wooden boat, becoming captain in Galapagos. A year's travel was the basis of his coming-of-age memoir Round the World in the Wrong Season.
In 1995 Eric moved to Singapore to commercially operate a fleet of tanker ships, several of which grounded, blew up, were arrested, and sank, leading to four deaths. After three years he returned to Newport writing off-season and delivering yachts to and from the Caribbean spring to fall. After his fourth round-world trip, he enrolled at Roger Williams School of Law on half-scholarship, then earned a Masters in Marine Affairs degree from URI and passed the bar in 2005. He has operated 110 vessels over 75,000 miles, was knocked overboard in a snowstorm, lost Stiarna (1936) to fire, was attacked by sharks and malnourished. He sailed to or from Bermuda over 30 times.
In 2006 he joined executive recruiting legend Russ Reynolds at RSR Partners in Greenwich. After selling Ketch Recruiting in 2008 to join Boyden in Baltimore he joined the Connecticut Maritime Association. Stints with Titan Salvage and Overseas Salvage in Freeport, Bahamas followed. In 2010 he joined Tradewinds, the Norwegian shipping publication. Since end-2014 he is Marketing Manager at McAllister Towing in New York, promoting 60 tugs in a dozen US ports.
Eric lives in the West Village, NYC, and shares time with son, Felix. He sits on several boards: the New York Yacht Club library committee (since 2008), Eaglebrook School (decade chair, 2012), Steamship Historical Society of America (2014), India House (2017), and Portside NY (advisory, 2017). Per below, he has published some 1.4 million words.
