2011 Maritime Author Series
Wednesday Evenings, January 26, March 2, March 23, April 27
Series Tickets to See All Four Authors

Meet the authors firsthand, hear the inside story of how they came to write their books and enjoy a wine and cheese reception. The lucky raffle winner at each event takes home a free copy of the author's book!

This program is co-sponsored by the Library Fellows of the G.W. Blunt Library at Mystic Seaport.

Jessica DuLong,
My River Chronicles
January 26

Jesica DuLong ditched her dot-com desk job for the diesel engines of a rusty antique fireboat, the John J. Harvey. The more time she spent toiling in the engine room, the more she wondered what Americans are losing in the shift away from hands-on work. These questions crystallized in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks when the FDNY called the retired fireboat back into service. Her story is a moving account of the discovery of her own roots -- and America's.

David Fisichella,
Seven-Tenths: Love, Piracy, and Science at Sea
March 2

David Fisichella manages Shipboard Scientific Services at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has also written a fascinating book about his and his wife's adventures at sea. He was the engineer. She was the oceanographer -- with dimming eyesight. He traveled with Amy on oceanographic research vessels to provide sighted assistance. He learned how scientists study ocean physics and why their research is so important, how people live for months on a crowded boat and what it means to be working for, and dating, the chief scientist. Together they faced life at sea with pirates off the coast of Somalia, exotic ports of calls and unforgettable characters. The story is told with humor, gritty details and a refreshing sense of wonder.

Roy R. Manstan & Frederic J. Frese,
Turtle
March 23

The authors researched the remarkable history of David Bushnell's revolutionary operational submarine during the American Revolution. There were no blueprints for this extraordinary craft, but with their backgrounds in diving, teaching and engineering, and by analyzing the historical records (including Bushnell's own handwritten letters), they were able to understand what the device might have looked like. Two centuries later, another Turtle was launched within sight of Bushnell's first forays with his vessel. Students at Connecticut's Old Saybrook High School created a working replica of the early submarine and then put the Turtle through a series of operational tests at Mystic Seaport, confirming what might have happened in the attack in New York Harbor in 1776.

Eric J. Dolin,
Fur, Fortune and Empire
April 27

Eric Dolin's latest book charts the astonishing development and impact of the fur trade from its inception in the early 17th century to the late 1880s. He believes that westward expansion was caused not so much by "manifest destiny" or a thirst for empire, but by a chase after animals and by those who sought wealth and a living in the pelts of fur-bearing animals. The story is full of heroism, greed, violence and political conflict, and leaves little doubt that while noble ideas led to the settling of America, the fur trade paid the bills

For more information please contact the Mystic Seaport Membership Office at 860-572-5339.

Members: $50 for the series
Non-members: $65 for the series