Captain Henry Gillespie (1857–1937), of Portland, Maine, went to sea as a young man of 17, serving as “able-bodied seaman” on a New Bedford whaler. Over the next 47 years he would advance to deck officer, then master of sailing and steam ships. He was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy during World War I, commanding vessels operating in the war zone. Following the war, he returned to merchant marine service until his retirement in 1921. Maritime historian Michael Jay Mjelde has chronicled the colorful life and career of this “down-east” man of the sea, mining available first-person accounts, interviews with family members, government records, and maritime archives on both coasts. The result is a narrative in clear, highly engaging prose that puts readers on the tilting decks and noisy wharfs frequented by Gillespie. Through Mjelde’s retelling of a remarkable life, the age of clipper ships, the Cape Horn trade, and oceangoing steamers comes into vivid relief, affording a richly embossed assessment of Captain Gillespie’s life and times. From Whaler to Clipper Ship adds a layer of full-bodied context to our understanding of this pivotal era in American maritime history. The wealth of detail will appeal to scholars, students, and maritime history enthusiasts.

Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska is one of the great commercial fisheries on earth. More than half of the world's sockeye salmon return to "The Bay" every year. Sailing for Salmon is a nostalgic look back, through photographs and recollections, on the "sailboat days," a time when these salmon were harvested from sailboats - a time still within living memory. These sailboats, called Bristol Bay double-enders, were well-crafted and beautiful, but obsolete for most of their history. The use of motorized fishing vessels was finally allowed in 1951. The Bristol Bay commercial fishery has changed much since then, but the sailboat remains the iconic image of a fishery born on the wind.

Nineteen peer-reviewed articles are included in the proceedings of the 2011 symposium, Fishing People of the North: Cultures, Economies, and Management Responding to Change. Authors present research in the disciplines of anthropology, biology, and economics on fishing communities in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Russia, Japan, and Norway. Among many topics, the papers cover cultural responses to climate change effects; transitions in fishing communities regarding permits, quotas, and target species; using local knowledge to preserve a fishery and to map subsistence patterns; and tribal involvement in fisheries management. Contributors share ways to address change and ensure that fishing remains a healthy, vibrant part of northern coastal communities