cover image Coastal Maine: A Maritime History

Coastal Maine: A Maritime History

Roger Duncan. W. W. Norton & Company, $39.95 (573pp) ISBN 978-0-393-03048-8

The first documented European visitor to the Maine coast was Giovanni Verrazano in 1524; subsequent explorers--Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Samuel de Champlain and John Smith--were then followed by fishermen and fishing settlements in succeeding centuries. By the 17th century, Maine was a hotbed of conflict among Indians, French and English. Duncan, coauthor of A Cruising Guide to the New England Coast, offers a sprightly history of maritime Maine through four centuries. Describing such vessels as pinnaces, shallops, clippers and schooners, he writes about privateers and pirates, shipbuilding and trade, fishermen and yachtsmen. He reports on the modern-day decline of the fishing industry and efforts at regulation and renewal, on fish farming and research on coastal ecology, concluding with the depiction of a summer day at the shore. Saltwater sailors and boat buffs, in addition to locals, will enjoy this history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Aug.)