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Finding Einstein’s Sailboat: Seminar with David Allen 27 February 2016

Please Join Us for

Finding Einstein’s Sailboat—Maritime College Students Develop Creative Approaches to Locating Lost Maritime Artifacts
with David Allen, of SUNY Maritime College

Saturday, 27 February 2016
 Hendrick Hudson Library – 25 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose, NY 10548


Albert Einstein
Many of the artifacts from some of America’s momentous maritime events are lost in plain sight and rusting, rotting or corroding away. Students from the State University of New York have been tracking down lost or mislaid historic maritime-related artifacts. And they have made some astonishing discoveries.

The students are using old photo albums, decades-old trucking receipts, and solid detective work to locate, and verify the provenance of, historically significant lifeboats (two from the Andréa Doria), forgotten naval cannons from momentous battles, parts from historic aircraft, a handwritten letter (with an original poem) from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and countless other maritime artifacts that might otherwise have been lost forever to scholars.

One team may have located three of the actual lifeboats from the RMS Lusitania. Two of the boats from the Andrea Doria and, quite possibly, one lifeboat boat from the 1934 tragedy of the Morro Castle fire have been located in back yards in suburban New Jersey. And, in another New Jersey neighborhood, a possible Titanic lifeboat (Lifeboat #1) may be rotting away under a crabapple tree. Students are also on the trail of Albert Einstein’s favorite sailboat, the Tinef. The famous physicist sailed this little around Eastern Long Island in the summers just before WWII. Two of our students have uncovered some good evidence that the little boat may be hidden under an old tarp in the back of a lakeside garage in upstate New York.

David Allen will discuss and illustrate some of the innovative and sometimes unorthodox methods used by humanities students at SUNY Maritime College to bring these important artifacts back into the public realm and make them available to researchers.

P1010002_4David Allen teaches history and research methods within the humanities department at SUNY Maritime College in New York City; his concentration is American history and American maritime history. He has taught in high schools, junior high, and college, as well as for a wagon train, aboard tall ships, in museums and for the National Maritime Historical Society.

He also serves as the assistant collections manager for the Museum of Merchant Shipping, situated within the historic Fort Schuyler, on the campus of the Maritime College in the Bronx, and serves on its board.

He has collaborated with groups such as NASA, the Naval Underwater Warfare Center, myriad museums and other non-profit educational institutions, as well as the History Channel, to bring maritime educational programs to life.

Continental breakfast is at 10:30 AM. Presentation is at 11:00 AM.

The public is invited. Please contact the National Maritime Historical Society at 914 737-7878, ext. 0, or email nmhs@seahistory.org if you plan to attend. A $5 to $10 donation is appreciated. If you would also like to join NMHS and the speaker for lunch following the presentation, it is $25 prepaid, with cash bar. Reservations required.

For more information on the complete lineup of seminars as it is finalized, please check back with the Charles Point Council page for ongoing updates.
 

 

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