Tall Ships And Trials At Sea: Captain Dan Parrott On Baltimore Clippers, April 1

Chestertown, MD, March 22, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Sultana Projects, Inc., as part of the Maritime Lecture Series, present “Baltimore Clippers: Then and Now,” a lecture by Daniel S. Parrott, former captain of the Pride of Baltimore II and author of Tall Ships Down, Thursday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. A booksigning will follow the lecture.

Parrott is a professional mariner with more than 20 years of experience sailing tall ships all over the world. Holding ocean masters licenses from the United States and Australia, Parrott has served as master for numerous vessels, including Pride of Baltimore II, Harvey Gamage, Bill of Rights and Tole Mour. He holds a master's degree in maritime affairs from the University of Rhode Island and is the author of the critically acclaimed book,Tall Ships Down, which chronicles the final, disastrous voyages of five contemporary tall ships: Pamir (1957), Albatross (1961),Marques (1984), Pride of Baltimore (1986) and Maria Asumpta(1995). Parrott's lecture will trace the evolution of the Baltimore Clipper design from its origins in the early 19th century to the reproductions in use today. In addition, he will discuss the human and technological challenges of building and sailing historical reproductions of tall ships and his view that recent tall ship tragedies at sea that have been deemed acts of god probably resulted from an ignorance or neglect of age-old practices of seamanship.

The Maritime Lecture Series is sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience—an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown—in partnership with Sultana Projects, Inc., an organization that provides unique, hands-on educational experiences in colonial history and environmental science on board its reproduction 18th century schooner, Sultana.

For more information on upcoming lectures and events at Washington College, visithttp://calendar.washcoll.edu.