In 1775, just prior to the start of the American Revolution, the British schooner Halifax was wrecked off the Maine coast. The pilot of the vessel was a Colonial seaman who'd been impressed into the Royal Navy. Drawing on true events and real people, noted maritime author and historian Roger Duncan traces the fictional life of Halifax's pilot in this historical novel.

Roger Duncan recounts four hundred years of Maine's rich maritime history, from the early seafarers' discovery of its valuable resources and the families that settled the land, to Maine's role in the history of the US in peacetime and in war. He traces the changes in Maine's economy over the past century: the demise of the coastal trade; the burgeoning popularity of pleasure boating after World War II; the hardships that beset the fishing and lumber industries; and the rise of tourism. This anecdotal panorama of people, land, boats, and water will absorb historians, nautical enthusiasts, and New Englanders alike.

This is the story of Dorothy Elizabeth, a 28-foot schooner. Particularly, it is the story of why to build a traditional wooden sailing vessel that relies on age-old methods and materials, yet also embraces newfangled technologies. But mostly it is the story of the people—a score of craftsmen and craftswomen, friends, and family—who give their skill, advice, support, ingenuity, and time to turn the idea of Dorothy Elizabeth into a graceful, seaworthy reality. You will meet Ralph Stanley of Southwest Harbor, Maine, one of the world's great designers and builders of traditional wooden boats, and a disarmingly plainspoken master craftsman in the maritime Maine tradition. You will meet Mary Chandler Duncan, a poet and the author's wife, soul mate, and first mate. You will meet Nat Wilson, sail maker, who took time out from building topsails for the USS Constitution to build sails for Dorothy Elizabeth. You will meet Frank Luke, neighbor, boatyard owner, all-around helper, and the man who launched Dorothy Elizabeth. And you will meet many other singular people up and down the coast from Portland, Maine, to Lunnenberg, Nova Scotia, and beyond, drawn together by the building of a boat.