Fifty Five Years at Sea is the story of the author's great-great-grandfather, Captain William Sewall Nickels ((1836-1920). For fifty-five years, he had no fixed address. He was one of the hundreds of nineteenth century master mariners from Prospect, now Searsport, Maine. Captain Nickels spent fifty-five years of his life on merchant sailing vessels, forty-five of them as commander. His wife followed him to sea, and his daughters were raised on his ships.In words and pictures, it covers seven generations of Captain Nickels' family from the time his great-grandparents first settled on the shores of Penobscot Bay, before the American Revolution. It follows his early years on a farm in Prospect (now Searsport), Maine; his fifty-five years as a merchant mariner; his retirement to Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island, New York; the fates of his children and grandchildren, and the births of his great-grandchildren in the years before his death. It is a memorial to a simple man, an uncelebrated mariner, who lived long, worked hard, loved deeply, and spent fifty-five years at sea.

The Life and Work of James Bradley: The New Foundations of 18th Century Astronomy is the first major work on the life and achievements of James Bradley for 190 years. This book offers a new perspective and new interpretations of previously published materials, together with various insights about recently researched sources. This book is a complete account of the life and work of Bradley as discerned from surviving documents of his working archive, as well as other documents and records. In addition, it offers a new interpretation of Bradley's work as an astronomer, not merely from his observations of Jupiter and Saturn and their satellites and annual aberration and the nutation of the Earth's axis, but also his corroborative work with pendulums and other horological work with George Graham. It also explores the little amount documented about his private life including a degree of speculation about his personal relationships. This work on 18th century astronomy is intended for students of the history of science, astronomy and 18th century English society, and for scholars seeking new lines of inquiry. It contains an extensive bibliography and a detailed chronology, both of which offer support for further reading and research.