The 88th Shellback year includes these presentations:
October 13th: Bruce MacDonald, Captain Emeritus of STV Pathfinder, will speak to us of the Sisters of the Ice (the true story of how St. Roch & North Star of Herschel Island protected Canadian Arctic sovereignty). MacDonald’s book is a biography of two British Columbian ships that performed legendary service in the Canadian Arctic. He owns and has restored the latter.
October 20th: Ron Jenkins returns as a Shellback presenter for the ninth time! He will take us to the Toronto Island Airport’s PastS, Present, and FutureS. The presentation will include the airlines, Billy Bishop history, plans that did not come to fruition, and future plans including the effects of Covid-19, climate change, and what happens when the Tripartite Agreement expires in 2033.
October 27th: Alex Preston, Antarctic Tour Guide, brings us an historic polar adventure, 6˚ of Fridtjof Nansen, probably the most important Polar Explorer since Captain James Cook. In many ways, he revolutionized polar travel and had a direct impact on all the explorers who followed. In addition to his accomplishments as an explorer, he also provided significant discoveries in science, was an important figure in Norwegian nationalism, and became an extraordinary diplomat and humanitarian affecting the lives of millions of people in war-torn Europe. He eventually won a Nobel Peace Prize, a truly once-in-a-generation mind.
November 3rd: Sally & Noel Lien return to bring us a video of the Mulberry Harbours, one of the most gigantic schemes of WWII. The remains of these artificial harbours can be seen off shore, at Arromanches, France. The site is classified ‘Most Secret’. These synthetic harbours were the keys to victory in Europe.
November 10th: Judith Roales returns with her presentation on The Lighthouses of the Delaware. A bad connection from Florida preempted her first attempt. She has written several delightful and informative books about these lighthouses and is longtime president of the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation.
November 17th: Jayne Finn & Mike Finn join us once more to share their unique experiences and adventures sailing Newfoundland’s South Coast.
November 24th: Peter Rowe, filmmaker, joins us for the fourth time, this time to present his film Shipwrecked on a Great Lake. The film is about the maritime attack on Toronto in 1813, the Lake Ontario storm that sank two American ships, and the discovery of the two shipwrecks off Port Dalhousie.
December 1st: Oralee O’Bryne, Executive Director of the Age of Sail Museum in Port Grenville, Nova Scotia, joins us to share her knowledge and insight about sailing, the family histories revealed from the area as seen in the history of the museum.
December 8th: Cheryl Cooper, author, will present 1812 and the Age of Sail. She covers her early amusing writing career and shares the inspiration behind writing a series of historical novels set upon the high seas during the War of 1812; aspects of that naval war, the hardships & conditions of life for the men who lived & fought on warships during the Age of Sail.
December 15th: Moosemilk has unfortunately been cancelled for this date. Details on alternative arrangements will follow later.
January 5th: A presentation of three videos on the recently-discovered lost ships of the ill-fated Franklin Arctic Expedition: the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror:
• HMS Erebus and HMS Terror (Parks Canada)
• Lost Explorers: The Archaeology of John Franklin’s Last Expedition (Dr. Robert Park, University of Waterloo)
• The Wreck of the Erebus (Parks Canada)
Three other videos on the topic are also available:
• The Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship: Discovering the Erebus (BBC Channel 4 documentary) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSno3quGH_U]
• History Buffs: The Terror [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTgmCf82s3U]
• Michael Palin: Tracking the HMS Erebus (TVO The Agenda with Steve Pakin) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsGrDcgfaOk]
January 12th: Cheryl Cooper returns to complete her December presentation 1812 and the Age of Sail, with an amusing look at Expressions Derived from the World of the Sea. Her presentation will be followed by Part III of The Royal Clipper, a look at the ship today with all its amenities.
January 19th: Ron Jenkins once again is our font of information about all things maritime in Toronto. He joins us for a tenth presentation, this time reviewing Waterfront Toronto's Marine Use Strategy Report. This report is an important outline of Waterfront Toronto’s vision for creating a more active, safe, and accessible waterfront. It highlights ways we can balance the diverse uses of Toronto’s harbour while exploring how we can create opportunities for people to access more easily and interact with the harbour, by water and by land.
January 26th: YouTube videos on Magellan
• Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery – Circumnavigation, Parts 1-4. The question remains: was Magellan really the first circumnavigator of the world? Today, that assertion is questioned.
• How Magellan Circumnavigated the Globe (a TED-ED session with Ewandro Magalhaes)
• Nao Victoria – First Ship that Sailed Around the World (a look at a replica ship now on view in Malaga, Spain)
You may also wish to view Chile - In the wake of Magellan and the Cape Horners on board the Mare Australis [Stop Over videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlJfIOS8WI].
February 2nd: Four Masted Barque rounding Cape Horn, 1928 with Captain Irving Johnson. This is a Mystic Seaport Video – original filmed in 1928, remastered in 1998. (37 min) and The Endurance: A Legendary Story of Survival – Shackleton’s Captain – A Timeline video. Captain Frank Worsley signs on as Captain of the Endurance to navigate Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew to Antarctica. When the expedition ship is crushed, Worsley’s seamanship & navigations skills saves them all. (52 min)
February 9th: Wes Oleszewski will speak to us about the Great Lakes and World War II. He'll be looking at the subject from the point of Canada’s entering the war long before the US to matters of POWs. Along the way he'll explode a myth or two, the main one being the Uboat in the lakes nonsense. "When writing my first book on the subject I found that there were some interesting stories of POWs trying to escape to the US by crossing the St. Lawrence on the ice. In fact, only one succeeded in getting back into the war, but most were simply held and returned to Canadian custody. Many tried to stay in Canada after the war and many returned to wed Canadian girls and live out their lives in Canada. There are a lot of fun facts to explore.because there are some fun stories all the way around."
February 16th: One Newfoundlander’s obsessive quest to clean up coastal ocean floors and bring attention to an environmental crisis … Shawn Bath, a retired fisher and professional diver, decided in his retirement to take small steps to clean the NL harbour floors in this CBC Gem Documentary, Hell or Clean Water.
February 23rd: The America's Cup with Gary Jobson. Patrick O’Brien kindly contacted Gary for permission to show Patrick’s copy his video to our group. Thank you so much Patrick.
March 2nd: TBA
March 9th: The Mysterious Disappearance of A Sea Pioneer | Joshua Slocum Documentary | Timeline .
March 16th: TBA
March 23rd: TBA
March 30th: Dianne Leggatt will share the story of The Great Boat Lift, the rescue of folks on Manhattan Island after the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11.
April 6th: TBA
April 13th: Melody Shaffer, joins us once again to share her experiences in the race, Transat Jacques Vabre 2021. The race started in LeHavre, France to Forte de France in Martinique and back again. The route was not direct.
October 13th: Bruce MacDonald, Captain Emeritus of STV Pathfinder, will speak to us of the Sisters of the Ice (the true story of how St. Roch & North Star of Herschel Island protected Canadian Arctic sovereignty). MacDonald’s book is a biography of two British Columbian ships that performed legendary service in the Canadian Arctic. He owns and has restored the latter.
October 20th: Ron Jenkins returns as a Shellback presenter for the ninth time! He will take us to the Toronto Island Airport’s PastS, Present, and FutureS. The presentation will include the airlines, Billy Bishop history, plans that did not come to fruition, and future plans including the effects of Covid-19, climate change, and what happens when the Tripartite Agreement expires in 2033.
October 27th: Alex Preston, Antarctic Tour Guide, brings us an historic polar adventure, 6˚ of Fridtjof Nansen, probably the most important Polar Explorer since Captain James Cook. In many ways, he revolutionized polar travel and had a direct impact on all the explorers who followed. In addition to his accomplishments as an explorer, he also provided significant discoveries in science, was an important figure in Norwegian nationalism, and became an extraordinary diplomat and humanitarian affecting the lives of millions of people in war-torn Europe. He eventually won a Nobel Peace Prize, a truly once-in-a-generation mind.
November 3rd: Sally & Noel Lien return to bring us a video of the Mulberry Harbours, one of the most gigantic schemes of WWII. The remains of these artificial harbours can be seen off shore, at Arromanches, France. The site is classified ‘Most Secret’. These synthetic harbours were the keys to victory in Europe.
November 10th: Judith Roales returns with her presentation on The Lighthouses of the Delaware. A bad connection from Florida preempted her first attempt. She has written several delightful and informative books about these lighthouses and is longtime president of the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation.
November 17th: Jayne Finn & Mike Finn join us once more to share their unique experiences and adventures sailing Newfoundland’s South Coast.
November 24th: Peter Rowe, filmmaker, joins us for the fourth time, this time to present his film Shipwrecked on a Great Lake. The film is about the maritime attack on Toronto in 1813, the Lake Ontario storm that sank two American ships, and the discovery of the two shipwrecks off Port Dalhousie.
December 1st: Oralee O’Bryne, Executive Director of the Age of Sail Museum in Port Grenville, Nova Scotia, joins us to share her knowledge and insight about sailing, the family histories revealed from the area as seen in the history of the museum.
December 8th: Cheryl Cooper, author, will present 1812 and the Age of Sail. She covers her early amusing writing career and shares the inspiration behind writing a series of historical novels set upon the high seas during the War of 1812; aspects of that naval war, the hardships & conditions of life for the men who lived & fought on warships during the Age of Sail.
December 15th: Moosemilk has unfortunately been cancelled for this date. Details on alternative arrangements will follow later.
January 5th: A presentation of three videos on the recently-discovered lost ships of the ill-fated Franklin Arctic Expedition: the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror:
• HMS Erebus and HMS Terror (Parks Canada)
• Lost Explorers: The Archaeology of John Franklin’s Last Expedition (Dr. Robert Park, University of Waterloo)
• The Wreck of the Erebus (Parks Canada)
Three other videos on the topic are also available:
• The Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship: Discovering the Erebus (BBC Channel 4 documentary) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSno3quGH_U]
• History Buffs: The Terror [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTgmCf82s3U]
• Michael Palin: Tracking the HMS Erebus (TVO The Agenda with Steve Pakin) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsGrDcgfaOk]
January 12th: Cheryl Cooper returns to complete her December presentation 1812 and the Age of Sail, with an amusing look at Expressions Derived from the World of the Sea. Her presentation will be followed by Part III of The Royal Clipper, a look at the ship today with all its amenities.
January 19th: Ron Jenkins once again is our font of information about all things maritime in Toronto. He joins us for a tenth presentation, this time reviewing Waterfront Toronto's Marine Use Strategy Report. This report is an important outline of Waterfront Toronto’s vision for creating a more active, safe, and accessible waterfront. It highlights ways we can balance the diverse uses of Toronto’s harbour while exploring how we can create opportunities for people to access more easily and interact with the harbour, by water and by land.
January 26th: YouTube videos on Magellan
• Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery – Circumnavigation, Parts 1-4. The question remains: was Magellan really the first circumnavigator of the world? Today, that assertion is questioned.
• How Magellan Circumnavigated the Globe (a TED-ED session with Ewandro Magalhaes)
• Nao Victoria – First Ship that Sailed Around the World (a look at a replica ship now on view in Malaga, Spain)
You may also wish to view Chile - In the wake of Magellan and the Cape Horners on board the Mare Australis [Stop Over videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlJfIOS8WI].
February 2nd: Four Masted Barque rounding Cape Horn, 1928 with Captain Irving Johnson. This is a Mystic Seaport Video – original filmed in 1928, remastered in 1998. (37 min) and The Endurance: A Legendary Story of Survival – Shackleton’s Captain – A Timeline video. Captain Frank Worsley signs on as Captain of the Endurance to navigate Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew to Antarctica. When the expedition ship is crushed, Worsley’s seamanship & navigations skills saves them all. (52 min)
February 9th: Wes Oleszewski will speak to us about the Great Lakes and World War II. He'll be looking at the subject from the point of Canada’s entering the war long before the US to matters of POWs. Along the way he'll explode a myth or two, the main one being the Uboat in the lakes nonsense. "When writing my first book on the subject I found that there were some interesting stories of POWs trying to escape to the US by crossing the St. Lawrence on the ice. In fact, only one succeeded in getting back into the war, but most were simply held and returned to Canadian custody. Many tried to stay in Canada after the war and many returned to wed Canadian girls and live out their lives in Canada. There are a lot of fun facts to explore.because there are some fun stories all the way around."
February 16th: One Newfoundlander’s obsessive quest to clean up coastal ocean floors and bring attention to an environmental crisis … Shawn Bath, a retired fisher and professional diver, decided in his retirement to take small steps to clean the NL harbour floors in this CBC Gem Documentary, Hell or Clean Water.
February 23rd: The America's Cup with Gary Jobson. Patrick O’Brien kindly contacted Gary for permission to show Patrick’s copy his video to our group. Thank you so much Patrick.
March 2nd: TBA
March 9th: The Mysterious Disappearance of A Sea Pioneer | Joshua Slocum Documentary | Timeline .
March 16th: TBA
March 23rd: TBA
March 30th: Dianne Leggatt will share the story of The Great Boat Lift, the rescue of folks on Manhattan Island after the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11.
April 6th: TBA
April 13th: Melody Shaffer, joins us once again to share her experiences in the race, Transat Jacques Vabre 2021. The race started in LeHavre, France to Forte de France in Martinique and back again. The route was not direct.