In Left for Dead, Eric Jay Dolin tells the true story of a wild and fateful encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig, and a British warship in the Falkland archipelago during the War of 1812.

The Mariners’ Heritage Collection of 35,000 objects is one of the most regarded in the United States, and worldwide. Forbes will give guests an in-depth view of the Museum’s Collection from his recent appearance at the International Congress of Maritime Museums in the Netherlands. This international look, combined with a personal perspective from his 24 years of work with the Collection, sets the stage for an exploration of what the future holds for access to the Collection. Gallery interpretation by the Mariners’ Curatorial Team will accompany this lecture.

The Ship that Held Up Wall Street tells the whole story of the discovery, excavation, and study of what came to be called the “Ronson ship site,” named for the site’s developer, Howard Ronson. Entombed for more than two hundred years, Princess Carolina proved to be the first major discovery of a colonial merchant ship.

Historian Jonathan W. White tells the riveting story of Appleton Oaksmith, a swashbuckling sea captain whose life intersected with crucial moments of the mid-19th century, most importantly the extraordinary lengths the Lincoln Administration went to destroy the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade.