Category Archives: sea

The SS Showboat Mayflower Nantasket

November 26, 2020 – 3:11 am

Throughout the early part of the 20th Century a fleet of side wheel steamers plied the waters of Boston harbor. The flotilla was reduced to one by a fire in 1919, but the Mayflower ran to Nantasket Beach until 1948. After its decommission its new owner hauled the white-hulled ship close to shore and opened […]

By Peter | Also posted in 60s, boston, cars, New England, semi-fiction, youth | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Day After Loy Krathong

November 1, 2020 – 6:12 am

Loy Krathong has long been Thailand’s most beautiful festival with candle-lit balloons rising into a night sky illuminated by a full November moon. Ten years ago I was in Pattaya. Few girls and women dressed in the traditional costume. The police banned fireworks and their marine patrols gathered the krathong offerings less than 20 meters […]

By Peter | Also posted in holiday, Thailand | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

THE WAY OF SAIL by Peter Nolan Smith

May 7, 2020 – 11:59 am

Once the world had traveled by sail. One side of my ancestors had arrived in America on the Mayflower. The trip lasted 66 days. My great-grandaunt Bert had circumnavigated the globe in the 1870s. Her father?s clipper ship had been powered by wind. Steam engines had replaced sail by the beginning of the 20th Century. […]

By Peter | Also posted in 2010s, boston, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Bark MAGGIE MOORE

January 30, 2020 – 10:29 pm

I found this photo of the bark MAGGIE MOORE dating back to approximately 1877. My great-grandfather Charles S. Smith was the captain and owner. I recall the photo from my grandmother Edith’s house in Westbrook, Maine, but not the written page attached to the back of the frame, which had been penned by my grandfather […]

By Peter | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC SLAPDOWN by Peter Nolan Smith

September 8, 2016 – 2:03 pm

Last Saturday afternoon the streets of Brooklyn sweltered in the sultry August heat and my landlord invited me to join a family excursion to the beach. I had only swam in the ocean twice all summer, so my answer was quick and to the point. “Gimme five minutes.” I ran upstairs and changed into my […]

By Peter | Also posted in brooklyn, family, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)