Gary L. Mckay

I'm the lead researcher at Float Research UK, a dedicated geo-spatial engineering firm specializing in remote sensing and digital cartography and I'm a partner research scientist with Acartos UK.

On the academic "front", I'm also an Adjunct Professor with the Center for International Studies, Ga. Southern University (my undergraduate university!), a member of the US Naval Institute, the Navy Relief Society, the Navy League of the United States of America and the usual geographic societies.

I've had 17 years experience in the US Navy and US Army within the electronic intelligence, intelligence analysis and counterintelligence communities. Education? I've been to a few schools, colleges and universities...sigh... Hmmm, Georgia Southern University (BA), St. Cloud State University (M.Sc.) and Edinburgh University (Ph.D.). I've been an off-the-cuff researcher with the Oriental Institute of the Univ. of Chicago and others in the field of remote sensing archaeology (do YOU know where your Pharoah sleeps tonight?...) I've done the odd television/radio documentary with the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, and of course, the newspapers.

"James D. Bulloch: Secret Agent" is the second in my trilogy of books about three very important Confederate naval commanders that have been overlooked for far too long. The first book, "The Sea King: The Life of James Iredell Waddell" (Birlinn, 2009 - yup, its on Amazon, go look...)detailed the extraordinary life of the man who commanded the CSS Shenandoah, the only American Civil War vessel to circumnavigate the globe - and which then surrendered in England after discovering the Civil War had ended...months earlier.

"James D. Bulloch: Secret Agent" is a joint effort with a fellow shipmate (actually Walt would have been my boss..rank and all that!) about the most mysterious person of the American Civil War, either side. Bulloch, by fate, was an Uncle and hero to Teddy Roosevelt, but beyond that, an extraordinary US naval officer and commercial sea captain. The book details Bulloch's exploits and his effects on not only American but World history. There's everything from secret ship building to classic cloak and dagger adventures - and heavily footnoted for the aficianado!

What am I working on at the moment? The last book in the trilogy, but of course...entitled...its a s-e-c-r-e-t...but there's a ship and a man with a glint in his eye at the helm. I've also written a book about the Isle of Jura, Scotland, named "Jura: Language and Landscape" (House of Lochar, 2005) and "The Ferrymen" (Float Press), so I don't do just naval history projects.