The small seacoast town of Marblehead, in eastern Massachusetts, was the first to answer the call to arms during both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Throughout World War I, Marblehead was affected, and the town influenced the outcome. Boasting of the fifth and final naval militia in history, the Tenth Deck Division, Marbleheads men stood on the front line as the first shots rang out, aimed at the Germans in 1917. It was a town that pulled together, rallied behind their own family and friends while they fought in the trenches of war and stood shoulder to shoulder in their diligent commitment. Historian Margery A. Armstrong delves into the past through articles and letters from those overseas that were first published in the Marblehead Messenger.

The true beauty and fury of the Atlantic Ocean are known only by the rugged individuals who have made their living from the sea. In the seventy-five years from the American Revolution to the middle of the nineteenth century, Marblehead, Massachusetts, experienced a golden age of fishing. For the next fifty years, the industry struggled, but from 1900 until the end of the twentieth century, one small anchorage made itself proud. From boat building to sail design, First Harbor produced creative men whose innovations helped shape marine history. Join Hugh Peabody Bishop and Brenda Bishop Booma as they reveal this story through the eyes of a Marblehead fisherman, drawn uncontrollably by his love for the sea.