7:00 pm
“Ships to Remember” is a collection of short essays about remarkable ships written by Rorke Bryan and illustrated with new, original paintings by Austin Dwyer. It is designed to increase general interest in maritime history. Some of the ships are famous but many are virtually unknown amongst general readers. All had interesting, dramatic, careers and were involved in major historical incidents which deserve to be more widely remembered. They have been selected from Europe and North America as representatives of many major ship categories. Collectively their careers cover much of the globe and span some fourteen hundred years of maritime history, including such events as the Battle of Copenhagen, Darwin’s epochal voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, and the pivotal World War II relief of Malta by the tanker, Ohio.
Illustrated by original paintings and maps and based on primary study and 172 books, many rather inaccessible, the book is primarily for general readers, but is technically and historically accurate for specialist needs. Each provides a detailed, succinct historical context for each ship’s career.
Raised in Ireland, Rorke Bryan is now a Canadian citizen and an emeritus professor of geography at the University of Toronto. Though maritime history is not his primary professional focus, the book reflects a lifelong passion for the sea. His father was a master in the Merchant Navy and served in the RNVR, his son is a naval architect, and his daughter is an academic oceanographer in New Zealand. They are all avid sailors, in Rorke’s case mainly on classic wooden yachts in the Baltic, though in 2012, he sailed from Antigua to Sweden on his son’s eighty-seven year old schooner built by John Alden in Maine. He has worked in many parts of the world, including three years as a meteorologist/glaciologist on Adelaide Island with the British Antarctic Survey and has published five academic books and more than a hundred scientific papers, including a major book on Antarctic shipping, “Ordeal by Ice: Ships of the Antarctic”, published in 2011. He has also delivered numerous public lectures about Antarctic ships and exploration.
Austin Dwyer was born and raised in Ireland but has resided in the United States for most of his career. A former member of the American merchant marine, he is a prominent marine artist who, as a director and charter member of the American Society of Maritime Artists, has exhibited widely throughout the United States and won many awards, most notably at the annual International Exhibition of Marine Art held at the Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. With the exception of the depiction of Shackleton’s James Caird arriving at South Georgia, which appeared in “Ordeal by Ice”, all the paintings included in this book were painted specifically for this volume.
For additional information:
Richard MacMichael
902-424-8897
richard.macmichael@novascotia.ca