Eric Feldt was born in Ingham, Queensland. He entered the Royal Australian Navy as a midshipman in 1912 and retired from the Navy as a lieutenant in 1922. He settled in New Guinea, where he eventually became mining warden of the Wau goldfield. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was appointed staff officer (Intelligence) in Port Moresby and commander in charge of the Coast Watching Organization. He left the service as a lieutenant commander in 1945 and published The Coast Watchers in the following year. Penguin Books