Philbrick to Give Talk
Nantucket resident, Nathaniel Philbrick, nationally acclaimed author and finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History for his most recent work, Mayflower, will give a lecture on “Nantucket’s Alleged Smuggler, Kezia Coffin/Miriam Coffin”—Thursday, July 19 at 8:00 p.m.
Nathaniel Philbrick wrote the introduction to the 1995 edition of Joseph Hart's Miriam Coffin or The Whale Fisherman, published by the Mill Hill Press. Originally, the Nantucket novel was published in 1834, and it is known today that Herman Melville relied upon it as a primary source for information about Nantucket island while writing Moby Dick.
Philbrick will discuss the topic of “Nantucket’s Alleged Smuggler Kezia Coffin/Miriam Coffin.” He’ll be talking about Kezia Coffin (the fictional Miriam Coffin of the novel) and about the novel itself. According to Philbrick, “It’s a great, under-appreciated book about Nantucket that is the story of a “woman with an attitude,” but is also a fantastically detailed portrait of an island and its people during the early era of Pacific whaling.”
After moving to Nantucket in 1986 with his wife and two children, Philbrick became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and It’s People, 1602-1890 for Mill Hill Press in 1994. He followed its success with the international best-seller, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, for which he received the National Book Award. Later, Sea of Glory: The U. S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, was awarded the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize for maritime writing. His most recent work, Mayflower, about the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History. Mayflower is currently out in paperback.
Philbrick has degrees from Brown and Duke Universities and is a Research Fellow in History at the Nantucket Historical Association. A champion sailboat racer, Philbrick has also written extensively about sailing. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies in 1995, and he continues to guide the Egan Maritime Foundation as a member of the Board of Trustees.
The lecture is free to Egan Maritime Foundation members; admission for all others is $10. Seating is limited: call 508-228-2505 for tickets.
