The collection
First-hand accounts from mariners, their families, and the coastal communities that shaped them. Filtered by era, region, and type.
Era
Region
Type
6 stories
Thomas Aldridge · New England · 1940s–1980s
Thomas Aldridge shipped out of Gloucester at sixteen and didn't set foot on land for more than a month at a time until he was fifty-six. His daughter recorded his memories over three winter evenings in 1987.
Multiple narrators · Chesapeake Bay · 1920s–1960s
An oral history of the wives, mothers, and daughters of the Chesapeake Bay watermen — the shore-side community that held everything together.
Elias Correia · New Bedford, MA · 1950s–1970s
Shipwright Elias Correia recalls the final years of wooden boat construction in New Bedford, and the men who refused to let the craft die.
Harold Mäkinen · Great Lakes · 1960s–1980s
Harold Mäkinen grew up on the Finnish-American shore of Lake Superior and fished the ice every winter from age eight until he was sixty-three.
Rosa Tran · Gulf of Mexico · 1980s–2000s
Rosa Tran's family arrived in Louisiana in 1979 and built a shrimping operation from nothing. This is her account of those first years on the water.
James Clearwater · Pacific Coast · 1930s–1950s
James Clearwater reconstructs his grandfather's life as a salmon fisherman on the Columbia River, drawing on letters, photographs, and family memory.
Your story belongs here
We welcome oral histories, written accounts, and family records from maritime communities everywhere. Every voice matters.
