Adventures at Sea

For Boston's first two hundred years, "a flown sheate, a faire winde, and a boune voyage" were wishes at the heart of the city's life and economy. Travel under sail was commonplace and central to the culture, across classes. Join us for ten memorable stories spanning that era, drawn from first-person accounts by Bostonians capturing the experience in letters, diaries, and memoirs.

Pirates, storms, sea battles, wanderlust, exotic lands, romance, and Revolutionary politics all come alive through the tales of these courageous individuals. More than good stories, though, these accounts walk through the dramatic development of the Town Cove and Boston's changing relationship with sea travel. In a broad stroke, they illustrate the influence of our port on the growth of the nation.