Speakers' Bureau Topics

Famous sea battles and the men that fought them.

• Colossi in Combat
  An 11-point comparison of human traits of Napoleon Bonaparte and Vice Adm. Horatio Nelson. This topic carries the events and biographical study of each from birth to death.
  Presenter: John Croswaithe
   
• The Battle of Tsushaima - 1905
  Japanese expansionism in the early 20th century would lead them to a ground war in Manchuria. To be successful, the Japanese thought it necessary to neutralize the Russian naval power in the far east. The Battle of Tsushima (1905) was the major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. Tsushima was naval history’s only decisive sea battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets and the first in which wireless telegraphy played a critical role. 
  Presenter: John Croswaithe
  
  
• D-Day: What Went Wrong
  The June 6, 1944 Allied landings on Normandy, or “D-Day,” were a great success according to history. This presentation will discuss the numerous errors of judgment and bad luck on that day.
  Presenter: Richard Asaro
   
• Death of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff - 1945
  The Wilhelm Gustloff remains the largest loss of life resulting from the sinking of one vessel in maritime history. Used by the Germans as a hospital ship and floating barracks in the Baltic Sea during World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in 1945, resulting in the deaths of over 9,000 people.
  Presenter: John Croswaithe
   
• The Enigma Machine
  The Enigma Machine was used by the Germans during World War II to encipher and decipher messages. British codebreakers were able to decrypt a vast number of Enigma messages through their signals intelligence program “Ultra.” Winston Churchill would later remark that “It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war." This presentation reflects on the significance and mystique of the Enigma. The talk includes a brief history of cryptography. 
  Presenter: Courtland Bostic
   
• Hell Roarin' Mike Healy - Order in the North
  CAPT Mike Healy, US Revenue Cutter Service, was the first African-American to command a United States military vessel. Healy served much of his time along the Alaskan coast during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He proved to be the right man at the time, helping to keep order in a vast and unorganized territory recently opened to gold mining and development.
  Presenter: Richard Asaro
   
• Horatio Nelson: The Battle of the Nile
  Admiral Horatio Nelson’s inspirational leadership, superb grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics resulted in a number of decisive naval victories. Nelson was involved in four pivotal battles affecting the Napoleonic Wars. This presentation addresses Nelson’s victory at The Battle of the Nile and the foiling of Napoleon’s plans to invade India.
  Presenter: Richard Asaro
   
• The Kronprinz Wilhelm and the Little German Village
  This talk will explore the role of the former North German Lloyd passenger liner during World War I as a German commerce raider and its eventual internment at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. During its short but destructive career, the Kronprinz Wilhem terrorized allied merchant ships, sinking more than 58,000 tons of shipping. After internment at the Norfolk Navy Yard, crew from the ship and another interned German raider, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, constructed a fully-functional village on the grounds of the navy yard from scrap materials. Highlights of the lecture will include images from the George Warming Collection, which contains photographs, postcards, and other ephemera from a former crewmember of the Kronprinz Wilhelm.
  Presenter: Bill Edward-Bodmer
   
• The Nightmare before Christmas: The SS LéopoldvilleDisaster in the English Channel, 
  December 24, 1944
  The tragic story of the sinking of the Belgian transport ship SS Leopoldville, a passenger liner converted for use as a troopship, on Christmas Eve, 1944. As it ferried Allied forces across the English Channel, the ship was struck by a German torpedo, sinking within a few hours and with the loss of over 700 lives.
  Presenter: Ted Crossland
   
• Rickover—Controvert, Genius, and Benefactor
  Admiral Hyman George Rickover, truly the father of our nuclear Navy, left a legacy for all of us: “Excellence and hard work are inseparable.” A summary of the life of this extraordinary man and his times.
  Presenter: Vince Scott
  
  
  
• The Sinking of the RMS/HMT Lancastria
  Overshadowed by the evacuation of Allied forces at Dunkirk, the loss of the British troop ship Lancastria in June 1940 is the worst loss of life in the sinking of a single British ship in history. A British Cunard liner prior to the war, the ship was commandeered by the government as a troopship. Two weeks after Dunkirk, the Lancastria was sunk near the French port of St. Nazaire where it was evacuating British nationals and troops. Its sinking claimed more lives than the combined losses of the Titanic and the Lusitania. 
  Presenter: John Croswaithe
  
  
• US Navy Integrated During Civil War
  Over 16 percent of the sailors in the Union Navy were African-Americans. This presentation details the ins-and-outs of this little known fact. At this time, black sailors were paid the same as white sailors, were able to hold many positions, including supervisory, on ships, and performed courageously in battle. Included are the stories of the eight black Medal of Honor recipients and two other acts of courage of which one ended with an integrated ship having an African-American Captain. Contributions by “contraband” freed slaves are also discussed as are some of the most important sea battles of the Civil War where the contribution of black sailors was critical. Unfortunately, this “integrated” civil war USN disappeared after 1870.
  Presenter: Russ Morrison
   
• USCG Barque Eagle and the Cadets Who Sail Her
  The Eagle is the sail training vessel used by the Coast Guard Academy for training cadets. This presentation will demonstrate how the cadets sail the barque and the safety problems of 19th Century technology in the 21st Century. 
  Presenter: Richard Asaro
   
• Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood Jr.: World War II Submarine Force Pacific Commander
  The life and times of “Uncle Charlie”, Navy submarine hero, and his distinguished Navy and writing careers.
  Presenter: Ted Crossland

• A Sailor's Life in the 17th Century 
  Life aboard a 17th century merchantman was exciting, challenging, and miserable. But, not much more miserable than life ashore, and the sailors got to travel more. Mostly humorous, this presentation by Docent Rich Asaro explores the fascinating side of the life of a sailor using the particulars of the three vessels traveling to Jamestown Settlement in 1606.
  Presenter: Rich Asaro

• Building the Wooden Warship
  Until the age of skyscrapers the great wooden sailing ships were among the largest man-made constructions on Earth. Displacing from 120 to 2000 tons plus with overall lengths of 150 to 300 feet, they were built to duplicate fortresses. This presentation explores the fascinating story behind the building of these floating wooden castles.
  Presenter: Ron Lewis

• Death of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff – 1945
  The Wilhelm Gustloff remains the largest loss of life resulting from the sinking of one vessel in maritime history. Used as a hospital ship and floating barracks in the Baltic Sea during World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in 1945, resulting in the deaths of nearly 9,400 people.
  Presenter: John Croswaithe

• Driven From the Seas: Oyster Pirates and a ‘Little Travesty’ on the Chesapeake Bay, 1882-1883
  The "Oyster Wars" of the lower Chesapeake Bay, waged by Virginia's Governor William E. Cameron from 1882 to 1883, were some of the more spectacular events in an ongoing war between the government of the Commonwealth and the "lawless" oyster dredgers of the Chesapeake Bay. Find out how a stowaway reporter, a satirical musical, and mistaken identity played a role in this story of political intrigue. 
  Presenter: Anna Holloway, PhD

• An Elite Veneer: The Ships and Sailors of the Royal Navy
  Arguably man’s greatest accomplishment: the creation of the ship. Our history is inextricably linked to our experience with the sea and this presentation explores how the great wooden warships came to be. You’ll also meet the men and boys who peopled the ships, commanded them, and fought them. You’ll see how they lived and learn of the codes and consequences that kept them in line.
  Presenter: Ron Lewis

• From Hammocks to Featherbeds: The Evolution of Transatlantic Steam Travel
  The compulsion, romance, desire to set sail for distant lands abides in us as almost genetic. Early man was daily faced with seemingly insurmountable barriers of water....and he learned to use those barriers as highways to speed him to new worlds. Now, in the twenty-first century we regard travel by ship as common and unremarkable. But how did we get to this point? To travel across the wide Atlantic Ocean, where no island existed as a refuge, surely took some degree of daring and confidence...and only the wealthy would embark with comfort assured. We'll discuss the early days of transatlantic steam travel and examine the many trials, failures and successes that brought us to the emergence of ships like the Titanic and all that it means to us today. 
  Presenter: Ron Lewis

• The Golden Age of Pirates
  Often romanticized, piracy and pirates were anything but “romantics.” This presentation will discuss the historical causes of piracy in the 1600’s and some of their more colorful exploits.
  Presenter: Rich Asaro

• Those in Peril on the Sea: The Sinking of the Andrea Doria
  A study in the causes, results, and litigation of the incident in 1957 between the MV Stockholm and the Italian liner, Andrea Doria. The disaster claimed 52 lives and was the Andrea Doria was the last major transatlantic passenger vessel to sink before aircraft became the preferred method of travel.
  Presenter: John Croswaithe

• Duty, the Stern Daughter of the Voice of God
  This presentation takes a critical view of the professional life of Edward John Smith, the Captain of the Titanic.
  Presenter: John Croswaithe 
  
  
• From Hammocks to Featherbeds: The Evolution of Transatlantic Steam Travel
  The compulsion, romance, desire to set sail for distant lands abides in us as almost genetic. Early man was daily faced with seemingly insurmountable barriers of water....and he learned to use those barriers as highways to speed him to new worlds. Now, in the twenty-first century we regard travel by ship as common and unremarkable. But how did we come to this point? To travel across the wide Atlantic Ocean, where no island existed as a refuge, surely took some degree of daring and confidence...and only the wealthy would embark with comfort assured. We'll discuss the early days of transatlantic steam travel and examine the many trials, failures and successes that brought us to the emergence of ships like the Titanic and all that it means to us today. 
  Presenter: Ron Lewis
   
• Titanic: Fortune & Fate
  The tragic story of the ill-fated liner, its passengers, and that ‘night to remember.’
  Presenter: Various Museum staff
   
• Titanic Technology: Stem to Stern
  The Titanic was a technological marvel of its time; a maritime masterpiece of art wrought in exotic woods, steel, sculpture, decoration and the culinary arts. The only failure, out of all its successes, was a failure of one of Naval Architecture’s primary principles----keep the water on the outside. This presentation will discuss its many successes, and the one failure, and how they came about.
  Presenter: Rich Asaro

• Conserving the “Cheesebox”: The Conservation Lab at The Mariners’ Museum
  The staff of the The Mariners’ Museum’s USS Monitor Center takes a closer look at the conservation, archaeology, history, and artifacts of the famed Civil War ironclad. This presentation can be tailored to fit your organization’s interests.
  Presenter: David Krop/Conservation Lab Staff
   
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Hollywood and the Civil War
  An illustrated lecture which examines Hollywood’s attempts to recreate the American Civil War. Historian Carson Hudson talks about what’s good and bad about their efforts. Please note: this presentation requires a minimum of 45 minutes.
  Presenter: Carson Hudson
   
• Life aboard Monitor -Class Ironclads during the Civil War
  The revolutionary Monitor-class ironclads were naval heroes of the Civil War. However, life aboard these revolutionary ships was difficult and dangerous during both combat and day-to-day operations. This presentation is based on letters from crewmembers and first-hand accounts of their operations during many combat operations. Crewmembers compared life aboard Monitors like living in the bottom of an iron-lined well: damp, hot, and rust under the surface of the water. We will discuss shipboard life, from the first combat with the CSS Virginia/Merrimac through the months of operations in support of McClellan’s peninsular campaign, the sinking of the original USS Monitor, and life aboard follow-on Monitors in the Battle of Mobile Bay, to the attacks on Fort Sumter and Fort Fisher.
  Presenter: Russ Morrison
   
• “So Ends This Day”: The Life and Times of the USS Monitor from 1861 to Yesterday
  Although the USS Monitor may have ended her career in a gale off Cape Hatteras in December 1862, her story does not end there. Discovered in 1973, and the subject of recovery operations by NOAA since then, the "cheesebox on a raft" still has stories to tell. This lively, illustrated presentation brings the Monitor to life by combining log entries, official correspondence, personal letters from officers and crew, and evidence found in the ship itself. 
  Presenter: Anna Holloway, PhD
   
• Up Pops the Monitor: The Battle of Hampton Roads in Pop Culture
  What do bubble gum cards, whiskey bottles, and refrigerators have to do with the Union ironclad Monitor? Everything! See how the iconic cheesebox on a raft has made her way into candy, booze, films, alternative music and major appliances in this whimsical presentation.
  Presenter: Anna Holloway, PhD
   
• What Are They Doing? A New Look at Old Civil War Photographs
  This is an illustrated lecture on how to look at Civil War Photographs and understand the moment. Historian Carson Hudson examines several interesting and unusual wartime photographs and tells the stories behind the photographic moment. Please note: this presentation requires a minimum of 45 minutes.
  Presenter: Carson Hudson

• Are We the Vikings?
  Sometime in the 4th century BC, Pytheas, Greek geographer and explorer (as well as mathematician, astronomer, navigator, and sailor) went sailing around the islands off the western coast of Europe. He reportedly visited Britain, the Orkneys, the Faroes, the Shetlands and the islands off Scandinavia. Pytheas’ original narrative of the journey is gone but his experience is recounted in the tales told by seafarers more than three centuries later. 
  Presenter: Ron Lewis
   
• The Great Maritime Revolution
  The Age of Discovery could not have happened without certain events falling into place. This presentation discusses the beginnings of those events and covers Prince Henry (the navigator) and the sailors and explorers who opened the world to trade, commerce, and conquest!
  Presenter: Ron Lewis
  
  
• Race to the South Pole
  The race to the South Pole was won by Roald Amundsen, the less skilled leader of the two men vying for the honor to be first. By many accounts, the better leader was Robert Falcon Scott, who died. Besides an exciting story, the presentation will also speak to the failure of Scott’s management skills.
  Presenter: Rich Asaro
   
• The Titanics of Caligula
  Sometime around 60- 70,000 years ago, man first ventured out from the Fertile Crescent on some sort of flotation device. A log, a pig’s stomach inflated to provide buoyancy? Who knows? But he did venture out and moved to Australia and, across the Bering Land Bridge, to the continent that became North America.
  Presenter: Ron Lewis
   
• The Voyages of Cristoforo Colon
  From his birth in Genoa to his death on Vallodolid, this comprehensive study reveals little-known incidents in the history of the man who made one of the greatest discoveries of all time. By accident! His early life and what led him to sail west against all odds is the stuff of movies but it’s all based on historical facts. 
  Presenter: Ron Lewis

• Driven From the Seas: Oyster Pirates and a ‘Little Travesty’ on the Chesapeake Bay, 1882-1883
  The "Oyster Wars" of the lower Chesapeake Bay, waged by Virginia's Governor William E. Cameron from 1882 to 1883, were some of the more spectacular events in an ongoing war between the government of the Commonwealth and the "lawless" oyster dredgers of the Chesapeake Bay. Find out how a stowaway reporter, a satirical musical, and mistaken identity played a role in this story of political intrigue. 
  Presenter: Anna Holloway, PhD
   
• The Kronprinz Wilhelm and the Little German Village
  This talk will explore the role of the former North German Lloyd passenger liner during World War I as a German commerce raider and its eventual internment at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. During its short but destructive career, the Kronprinz Wilhem terrorized allied merchant ships, sinking more than 58,000 tons of shipping. After internment at the Norfolk Navy Yard, crew from the ship and another interned German raider, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, constructed a fully-functional village on the grounds of the navy yard from scrap materials. Highlights of the lecture will include images from the George Warming Collection, which contains photographs, postcards, and other ephemera from a former crewmember of the Kronprinz Wilhelm.
  Presenter: Bill Edward-Bodmer
   
• Hampton Roads: Port of Embarkation
  The war came to America with the Japanese surprise attack on the United States Naval Fleet at Pearl
  Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Six months later, on June 15, 1942, the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation was reactivated under the command of the Army Chief of Transportation. A natural harbor, Hampton Roads had served the nation as a military port in the Spanish-American War and World War I. During World War II the port headquarters was established in Newport News. The presentation incorporates many photographs of Hampton Roads’ role in the war effort – a poignant visual diary of a nation in time of war.
  Presenter: Thomas Moore

• Conserving the “Cheesebox”: The Work of Monitor Center’s Conservation Lab
  The staff of the The Mariners’ Museum’s USS Monitor Center takes a closer look at the conservation,
  archaeology, history, and artifacts of the famed Civil War ironclad. This presentation can be tailored to
  fit your organization’s interests.
  Presenter: David Krop/Conservation Lab staff
   
• Galleries of The Mariners’ Museum
  This presentation covers a visual and oral introduction to the galleries of The Mariners’ Museum.
  Presenter: Various
   
• The Crabtree Collection of Miniature Ships
  These miniature ships relate the story of the evolution of ships from the raft to steam power. It is a story
  presented in not only 3-dimensions but also as an outstanding art form. The talk includes biographical
  information on the artist, August Crabtree.
  Presenter: Vince Scott
   
• Conservation of Art and Artifacts in The Mariners’ Museum Permanent Collection
  Over the past twenty years, the USS Monitor Conservation Project and its activities at TMM have been
  highly touted. However, many are unaware of other conservation work being done at the Museum that
  deals with the core, permanent collection. The ongoing development of a comprehensive conservation
  program for the permanent collection will be discussed in this presentation. Examples will be shown of
  various kinds of art and artifacts in the collection that have received conservation treatment during the
  recent past.
  Presenter: Frederick Wallace

• Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation: A Photographic History
  The war came to America with the Japanese surprise attack on the United States Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Six months later, on June 15, 1942, the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation was reactivated under the command of the Army Chief of Transportation. A natural harbor, Hampton Roads had served the nation as a military port in the Spanish-American War and World War I. During World War II the port headquarters was established in Newport News. The presentation incorporates many photographs of Hampton Roads’ role in the war effort – a poignant visual diary of a nation in time of war. 
  Presenter: Thomas Moore
   
• Conservation of Art and Artifacts in The Mariners’ Museum Permanent Collection
  Over the past twenty years, the USS Monitor Conservation Project and its activities at TMM have been highly touted. However, many are unaware of other conservation work being done at the Museum that deals with the core, permanent collection. The ongoing development of a comprehensive conservation program for the permanent collection will be discussed in this presentation. Examples will be shown of various kinds of art and artifacts in the collection that have received conservation treatment during the recent past.
  Presenter: Frederick Wallace
   
• The Profession of Art Conservation
  Art conservation will be defined as a methodology, practice and profession. A general overview of the regular responsibilities and activities of an art conservator will be included, as well as the various areas of conservation specialization. The presentation also will cover the education and training necessary to become a professional conservator and the typical avenues for employment.
  Presenter: Frederick Wallace
   
• Paintings Conservation: Basic Measures for Care and Preservation
  While the services of professionally trained conservators should be employed for the actual treatment of art and artifacts, the daily routine task of conservation is in the hands of those responsible for care of a collection at the site where it is maintained. Successful care and preservation of paintings that are in satisfactory physical condition can be effectively accomplished with a few, basic measures and practices. This program will discuss some of these procedures, and give suggestions for assessing the condition of paintings and establishing an environment that is conducive to their preservation.
  Presenter: Frederick Wallace
   
• What Are They Doing? A New Look at Old Civil War Photographs
  This is an illustrated lecture on how to look at Civil War Photographs and understand the moment. Historian Carson Hudson examines several interesting and unusual wartime photographs and tells the stories behind the photographic moment. Please note: this presentation requires a minimum of 45 minutes.
  Presenter: Carson Hudson