The 90th Shellback year includes these presentations:
October 18th & 25th: Lawrence Rennie and Phil Dawson – Behind the Scenes on Cruise Ships. Laurie & Phil will share their experiences while sailing as crew on P&O and Princess Lines. They will relate the history of the two companies in Part 1. In Part 2 they will take us behind the scenes on the TSS Canberra.
November 1st: Marguerite Pyron will be joined by a few of the participants of the Broad Reach programme. She will give us a picture of the history of the programme and its current status. We will have an opportunity to hear first-hand of the experiences of a few of those who have benefited from the efforts of this charity under the direction of Executive Director Pyron.
November 8th: Time Team: The Boat on the Rhine, Utrecht. Time Team have been invited by Dutch archaeologists to help a rescue a 35-metre-long perfectly preserved Roman barge that once sailed the River Rhine in Utrecht, Netherlands. Their main interest is a previously excavated Roman ship. What starts as a routine investigation quickly develops into a dig that will forever change what we thought we knew of the Romans and the vessels in which they sailed.
November 15th: Melodie Schaffer joins us once again, this time with World Races. She embarked on the inaugural Globe 40 double handed race around the world in her Class 40 boat 'Whiskey Jack'. The race entailed 8 legs, around all three Capes. She sailed 35,000 miles in this adventure with 174 days on the ocean. From torn sails, to pirates, to no wind instruments or communication at times, the challenges were immense. Despite the challenges, she won leg 7, and set three race records including the overall one of 347 miles in a 24 hour period. She was the only female skipper for the entire race, and she will be sharing her stories and adventures with us.
November 22nd: Michael Cane brings us My Odyssey from the Log of The Lady Asta: A Cruise from Florida to Belize via Cuba and Mexico (May 11 to June 2, 1996). [Dianne Leggatt: I have done some cruising in the Caribbean over the years, but by far, the longest and most exciting cruise was in 1996 when we sailed from Ocean Reef, Florida to San Pedro in Belize. It so happened that our friends, Asta and Fred Evans owned a lovely yacht, a Bristol 41, called The Lady Asta. I had sailed a couple of times before with Fred and Asta on their previous yacht, along with the late Bob Purcell. That experience included a trip from BVI to Antigua. Fred was getting on in years and they both wanted to do a final long cruise before they sold the boat. They felt they needed a couple of strong, able seamen as crew. John Blackburn and I volunteered!]
November 29th: Brian Monrad & Cathie Macdonald will take us on an adventure Traversing the Trent-Severn Waterway in an all-electric sailboat in 2021 during COVID.
December 6th: Ray Peacock is currently building the Model, "Ontario". He will bring it with him and share the intricacies of building such a model.
TUESDAY, December 12th: Moosemilk, our annual holiday celebration and fundraiser (Naval Officers’ Association of Canada Scholarship Fund) will be held at Mimico Cruising Club. Yea!! Do join us for a few hours of fun!
January 10th: ON ZOOM ONLY - Magdalen: The Island of Shipwreck Survivors | Legends of Magdalen - a documentary film that tells a universal tale of the myths and legends of sunken treasure and shipwrecks surrounding the remote Magdalen Islands, the Quebec archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, North America's tempestuous inland saltwater sea.
JANUARY 17TH: Ron Jenkins - Sailing the Rideau Canal - In 2023 Ron, a sailor, decided to do a power boat thing, and travelled on the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottawa and back. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal was completed in 1832. It provided a military route between Lower Canada and Upper Canada without using the St. Lawrence River, which was under American control. Today the Rideau is a recreational waterway that threads through both the interesting history and beautiful geography of South Eastern Ontario. Ron will describe his experiences, show pictures, and offer suggestions to those wanting to explore this part of Ontario's waters.
JANUARY 24th: Lawrence Rennie and Phil Dawson – Behind the Scenes on Cruise Ships. Laurie & Phil will share their experiences while sailing as crew on P&O and Princess Lines. They related the history of the two companies in Part 1. In Part 2 they will take us behind the scenes on the TSS Canberra.
JANUARY 31st: Noel and Sally Lien will join us once again, this time to share their adventrues bringing Kalinka back to Canada and Mimico Cruising Club.
February 7th: Ross Noel, of Stonehooker Brewery in Mississauga, will share the tale of the Stonehookers of Port Credit. Beginning in the 1840s and lasting until just after the First World War, the Lake Ontario waterfront between the Credit River and Burlington Bay was busy with sailors engaged in mining the shallow waters for shale. The shale was loaded onto small sail-driven schooners known as stonehookers.
February 14th: ON ZOOM ONLY : Among the thankless tasks tackled by TONY ROBINSON this week are the work of the midshipman, lighthouse keeper, stoker and trimmer, the men of Britain’s first navy who survived on minimal rations, and the men who wore sacks on their heads on the luxury liners. Finally he experiences the dangerous occupation of the Victorian lifeboat man.
FEBRUARY 21st: TBA
FEBRUARY 28th: Wayne Parker was one of the organizers of the long distance race to Kingston. He will outline the challenges his team faced and the resulting tribulations . . . and they plan to do it again this summer!
MARCH 6th: TBA
March 13th: ON ZOOM ONLY - : Part-time Explorer brings us The Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC - Halifax, NS 1873 – the SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of SS La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898 and the greatest disaster for the White Star Line prior to the loss of Titanic in April 1912.
MARCH 20th: TBA
MARCH 27th: Jacqueline Gibbons on the Development of a Float Plane
APRIL 3rd: Dianne Leggatt, Noel & Sally Lien will look back at the 97 Flotilla from Toronto to Bonavista. On May 10th, 1997, seventy-five boats left under great fanfare from Ontario Place in Toronto to sail to Bonavista, NL to meet the Matthew, a replica ship of that sailed by John Cabot in 1497. The ship was welcomed to Bonavista by the crews of the 75 boats and the Queen on June 24th, 1997.
APRIL 10th: ON ZOOM ONLY - Timeline with Tony Robinson - Could You Handle These Horrid Seafaring Jobs From History? | Worst Jobs In History - Among the thankless tasks tackled by TONY ROBINSON this week are the work of the midshipman, lighthouse keeper, stoker and trimmer, the men of Britain’s first navy who survived on minimal rations, and the men who wore sacks on their heads on the luxury liners. Finally he experiences the dangerous occupation of the Victorian lifeboat man.
APRIL 17th: DIANNE LEGGATT & OTHERS – 90TH Celebration – Highlights & History of Shellbacks, Toronto, from 1934 to today.
October 18th & 25th: Lawrence Rennie and Phil Dawson – Behind the Scenes on Cruise Ships. Laurie & Phil will share their experiences while sailing as crew on P&O and Princess Lines. They will relate the history of the two companies in Part 1. In Part 2 they will take us behind the scenes on the TSS Canberra.
November 1st: Marguerite Pyron will be joined by a few of the participants of the Broad Reach programme. She will give us a picture of the history of the programme and its current status. We will have an opportunity to hear first-hand of the experiences of a few of those who have benefited from the efforts of this charity under the direction of Executive Director Pyron.
November 8th: Time Team: The Boat on the Rhine, Utrecht. Time Team have been invited by Dutch archaeologists to help a rescue a 35-metre-long perfectly preserved Roman barge that once sailed the River Rhine in Utrecht, Netherlands. Their main interest is a previously excavated Roman ship. What starts as a routine investigation quickly develops into a dig that will forever change what we thought we knew of the Romans and the vessels in which they sailed.
November 15th: Melodie Schaffer joins us once again, this time with World Races. She embarked on the inaugural Globe 40 double handed race around the world in her Class 40 boat 'Whiskey Jack'. The race entailed 8 legs, around all three Capes. She sailed 35,000 miles in this adventure with 174 days on the ocean. From torn sails, to pirates, to no wind instruments or communication at times, the challenges were immense. Despite the challenges, she won leg 7, and set three race records including the overall one of 347 miles in a 24 hour period. She was the only female skipper for the entire race, and she will be sharing her stories and adventures with us.
November 22nd: Michael Cane brings us My Odyssey from the Log of The Lady Asta: A Cruise from Florida to Belize via Cuba and Mexico (May 11 to June 2, 1996). [Dianne Leggatt: I have done some cruising in the Caribbean over the years, but by far, the longest and most exciting cruise was in 1996 when we sailed from Ocean Reef, Florida to San Pedro in Belize. It so happened that our friends, Asta and Fred Evans owned a lovely yacht, a Bristol 41, called The Lady Asta. I had sailed a couple of times before with Fred and Asta on their previous yacht, along with the late Bob Purcell. That experience included a trip from BVI to Antigua. Fred was getting on in years and they both wanted to do a final long cruise before they sold the boat. They felt they needed a couple of strong, able seamen as crew. John Blackburn and I volunteered!]
November 29th: Brian Monrad & Cathie Macdonald will take us on an adventure Traversing the Trent-Severn Waterway in an all-electric sailboat in 2021 during COVID.
December 6th: Ray Peacock is currently building the Model, "Ontario". He will bring it with him and share the intricacies of building such a model.
TUESDAY, December 12th: Moosemilk, our annual holiday celebration and fundraiser (Naval Officers’ Association of Canada Scholarship Fund) will be held at Mimico Cruising Club. Yea!! Do join us for a few hours of fun!
January 10th: ON ZOOM ONLY - Magdalen: The Island of Shipwreck Survivors | Legends of Magdalen - a documentary film that tells a universal tale of the myths and legends of sunken treasure and shipwrecks surrounding the remote Magdalen Islands, the Quebec archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, North America's tempestuous inland saltwater sea.
JANUARY 17TH: Ron Jenkins - Sailing the Rideau Canal - In 2023 Ron, a sailor, decided to do a power boat thing, and travelled on the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottawa and back. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal was completed in 1832. It provided a military route between Lower Canada and Upper Canada without using the St. Lawrence River, which was under American control. Today the Rideau is a recreational waterway that threads through both the interesting history and beautiful geography of South Eastern Ontario. Ron will describe his experiences, show pictures, and offer suggestions to those wanting to explore this part of Ontario's waters.
JANUARY 24th: Lawrence Rennie and Phil Dawson – Behind the Scenes on Cruise Ships. Laurie & Phil will share their experiences while sailing as crew on P&O and Princess Lines. They related the history of the two companies in Part 1. In Part 2 they will take us behind the scenes on the TSS Canberra.
JANUARY 31st: Noel and Sally Lien will join us once again, this time to share their adventrues bringing Kalinka back to Canada and Mimico Cruising Club.
February 7th: Ross Noel, of Stonehooker Brewery in Mississauga, will share the tale of the Stonehookers of Port Credit. Beginning in the 1840s and lasting until just after the First World War, the Lake Ontario waterfront between the Credit River and Burlington Bay was busy with sailors engaged in mining the shallow waters for shale. The shale was loaded onto small sail-driven schooners known as stonehookers.
February 14th: ON ZOOM ONLY : Among the thankless tasks tackled by TONY ROBINSON this week are the work of the midshipman, lighthouse keeper, stoker and trimmer, the men of Britain’s first navy who survived on minimal rations, and the men who wore sacks on their heads on the luxury liners. Finally he experiences the dangerous occupation of the Victorian lifeboat man.
FEBRUARY 21st: TBA
FEBRUARY 28th: Wayne Parker was one of the organizers of the long distance race to Kingston. He will outline the challenges his team faced and the resulting tribulations . . . and they plan to do it again this summer!
MARCH 6th: TBA
March 13th: ON ZOOM ONLY - : Part-time Explorer brings us The Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC - Halifax, NS 1873 – the SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of SS La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898 and the greatest disaster for the White Star Line prior to the loss of Titanic in April 1912.
MARCH 20th: TBA
MARCH 27th: Jacqueline Gibbons on the Development of a Float Plane
APRIL 3rd: Dianne Leggatt, Noel & Sally Lien will look back at the 97 Flotilla from Toronto to Bonavista. On May 10th, 1997, seventy-five boats left under great fanfare from Ontario Place in Toronto to sail to Bonavista, NL to meet the Matthew, a replica ship of that sailed by John Cabot in 1497. The ship was welcomed to Bonavista by the crews of the 75 boats and the Queen on June 24th, 1997.
APRIL 10th: ON ZOOM ONLY - Timeline with Tony Robinson - Could You Handle These Horrid Seafaring Jobs From History? | Worst Jobs In History - Among the thankless tasks tackled by TONY ROBINSON this week are the work of the midshipman, lighthouse keeper, stoker and trimmer, the men of Britain’s first navy who survived on minimal rations, and the men who wore sacks on their heads on the luxury liners. Finally he experiences the dangerous occupation of the Victorian lifeboat man.
APRIL 17th: DIANNE LEGGATT & OTHERS – 90TH Celebration – Highlights & History of Shellbacks, Toronto, from 1934 to today.
