Captain Tellis Bethel, Acting Commander of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, and author of The Lucayan Sea, Birthplace of the Modern Americas (Outskirts Press.com) will sign books at Logos Bookstore, Harbour Bay Center, East Bay Street tomorrow, Saturday, November 28 from 11 am – 1 pm.

The book, available in bound copy ($16 with part proceeds to the RBDF Youth Rangers program) and online for Kindle, takes the reader on a 90-page journey from the time the Lucayans welcomed Christopher Columbus to the New World to the continuing absence of a name for either the territorial waters extending up to 12 miles or the exclusive economic zone that extends up to 200 miles offshore.

While the waters to the south of The Bahamas were named after the Carib Indians, the waters of The Bahamas have yet to be officially named and Captain Bethel believes naming the surrounding waters after the Lucayans not only pays tribute to the original inhabitants, but has the potential to provide Bahamians with a sense of identity linked to a peaceful people.

“Naming the waters the Lucayan Sea is not just a logical idea, but it is an idea that is intrinsically linked to the geography, history and culture of the Bahamian people,” said Captain Bethel.

Captain Bethel has held numerous positions during his 29-year tenure including Deputy Commander Defence Force, Captain of Coral Harbour Base, commanding officer of the Defence Force’s flagship HMBS Bahamas, and Chief Staff Officer at Defence Headquarters.

Captain Bethel was instrumental in developing plans for the modernization of the Defence Force, and is currently responsible for overseeing the Defence Force’s decentralization program. He is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon, England, as well as a graduate of the United States Naval Staff College at the U.S.

Naval War College in Providence, Rhode Island. He is also a Fellow of the Center for Hemispheric Defence Studies at the U.S. National Defense University in Washington, D.C. and holds a Master of Arts degree in Leading, Innovation and Change from York St. John University in York, England. Captain Bethel is the author of several books including his latest entitled, The Lucayan Sea: Birthplace of the Modern Americas.

In his spare time, Captain Bethel enjoys researching aspects of Bahamian heritage that speak to a national purpose and destiny for The Bahamas. He is also a certified scuba diver and private pilot and is married to Teri (née Knowles). The couple has two sons.