Maritime author James L. Nelson will tell the story of the pinnace Virginia, the first English ocean-going ship built in North America, in a live presentation at the Thomaston Public Library Thursday, February 8, at 6:30 p.m. The Cushing Public Library is cosponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.
 
The original Virginia was built over four hundred years ago at the short-lived Popham Colony near the mouth of the Kennebec River. When the colony disbanded in 1608, colonists sailed the small ship back to England, where it was sold to the struggling colony of Jamestown, crossing the Atlantic for a second time.
 
In 2011, volunteers in Bath, Maine, laid the keel for a reconstruction of Virginia. For 11 years the enthusiastic “crewe” in the City of Ships built the new Virginia in much the same way as the original was built.

Nelson, who was born and raised in Maine, and for six years worked on board traditional sailing ships before beginning his writing career, served as lead rigger on the project.

Virginia was launched June 4, 2022, and will serve as a floating classroom for students of all ages. Nelson’s talk will discuss the history of Popham Colony and the original Virginia, as well as the story of building and sailing the reproduction.
 
Nelson is the author of more than 30 works of maritime fiction and history. He is the winner of the American Library Association/William Young Boyd Award and the Naval Order’s Samuel Eliot Morison Award. Nelson has lectured throughout the country and appeared on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic and BookTV. Nelson currently lives in Harpswell with his former shipmate, now wife, Lisa.
 
For further information, contact Wendy Roberts at wrobertsmaine63@gmail.com