St. Mary’s City, MD – Join Historic St. Mary’s City for a free lecture June 16, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the HSMC Visitor Center (18751 Hogaboom Lane). Chuck Fithian, one of the region’s foremost experts on 18th and early-19th century British and American naval history, will be discussing his 28 year long research and conservation of an 18th century sloop of war discovered in 1984.
On May 25, 1798, while on convoy escort duty the British sloop of war DeBraak was struck by a sudden squall, capsized, and foundered on the Delaware coast. Discovered in 1984, the surviving hull remnant and its associated artifact collection represents a rare and unparalleled view into the material world of shipboard life aboard a Royal Navy vessel. This warship’s presence in American waters is an archaeological expression of important events that were affecting and linking the lives of diverse peoples living in the Atlantic world of the late eighteenth century.
The life of the sailor of the eighteenth century is frequently misunderstood, hidden by their distinctive lifestyle and longstanding popular mythology. Using information derived from the study of the DeBraak and its artifacts, Mr. Fithian will provide an alternate archaeological perspective on the world of the naval sailor. His talk will show the complexities of their “wooden world,” and place it into the wider context of maritime culture, naval warfare, and the historical events shaping the period.
Chuck Fithian was the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ curator of archaeology for 28 years, and now is a lecturer in anthropology at Washington College in Chestertown, Md.
