My First Encounter With a Square-Rigged Ship
Sometimes a parent exposes a child to art, literature, and music with no idea what impact it will have. As a young boy, my mom whisked me to the documentary movie, Windjammer, in 1958. It was a high adventure tale about the full-rigged Oslo training ship, the S.S. Christian Radich. The scenery and action was spellbinding as officers and boys voyaged […]
Coming to Gloucester – Beckoned by the Sea
I have a vivid memory of how my journey to Gloucester began in 1952 when I was just four. I was a scrawny kid, packed into a Plymouth with my parents, two older brothers and an older cousin. I’m hoping not to get picked on or beat up. Despite my brothers being pranksters, I knew I was loved. I’m glad nobody […]
Our Attraction to the Sea
My stories focus on change and transformation, by and on the sea. I have enjoyed great stories and research of maritime history, the age of sail, the golden age of piracy, nautical adventures, and especially the history of Gloucester, MA and Cape Ann, where it all comes alive. Let’s jump in together and talk about why sea stories have inspired […]
The Versatile Grand Banks Dory
Fishing schooners from the mid-1800s were like mother ships, with dories stacked like cups on deck and dispatched with one or two men each morning with hand lines, and bait, to catch and haul up to 1200 pounds of fish from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. With ten to twelve dories returning multiple times to the schooner, tons of fish […]
Addie’s Typewriter
My fascination with writing began during first grade when my mom Adelina, “Addie,” would read stories to me, and make me read others to her. Then she let me type nonsense on her depression era portable Remington typewriter. It wasn’t long before she demanded I make up one paragraph stories and type them. I hunted and pecked with my fingers […]