August 3, Thursday, 5:30pm     Norman Brouwer

                            “L.I. Sound Steamboats- 1800’s – 1945″.

Mr. Brouwer’s talk will cover the era of steamboats on Long Island Sound, from beginnings in the early 1800s to the final days around World War II.  The overnight steamboats on the Sound were some of the largest and grandest such boats the world has seen.  Local services will also be covered, including points on Long Island’s North Shore, cross Sound services, excursions, and efforts to establish rail and steamboat services between New York and Boston by way of Long Island.  Prominent individuals involved include Cornelius Vanderbilt, and “Admiral’ Jim Fisk.  This will be a power point presentation illustrated with historic photographs, prints and paintings.

Bio

Norman Brouwer is a freelance maritime historian living in Guilford, Connecticut.  A native of Michigan, he pursued a nautical career, serving in the Navy as an enlisted man, and in the Merchant Marine as a deck officer following graduation from the Maine Maritime Academy.  For over thirty years he was maritime historian and librarian of the South Street Seaport Museum in New York.  During that time, he also completed three editions of the International Register of Historic Ships, traveling throughout the world to visit and photograph these vessels, and led three expeditions to the Falkland Islands to record and stabilize the remains of 19^th century sailing ships surviving there.  Since moving to Connecticut in 2009 he has served as a volunteer in the Mystic Seaport Museum historic photo collections, and as a consultant on their marine painting collection.  A specialist in the story of both sailing vessels and steamboats of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, his latest book was the 2014 illustrated history Steamboats on Long Island Sound. 

Members: Free    Non Members: $5