The Historical Vagabond

The original Terrible Turk, Youssuf was lost at sea before the American public got enough, and they eagerly awaited his successor. Promoters and managers saw a good thing as well, and threw all sorts of terrible versions of “Turks” in the ring. However there was no denying the genuine article was different than fans had seen up to that point. Today these men would still be considered very large,…

One of the classic tropes of professional wrestling is the stereotypical evil foreigner. Hailing from some far away exotic land, wearing traditional garb, and the more remote the more heated the crowd would get. The world is a much smaller place and today it seems a little silly, especially in the silly world of modern “sports entertainment.” However, there was a time when the wresting was real…

Editor’s Preface: This is part three on how and why Gloucester, Massachusetts lost so many fishermen in the 19th century. Be sure to read parts one and two. Fishing schooner design had remained virtually unchanged since its 17th century origins. There was little need for change, since fishing methods remained mostly the same. With new fishing grounds, new fishing methods and new markets arriving…

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Editor’s Note: This is from my 1996 backpacking adventure. Names have been changed since I haven’t talked to these people in over 20 years. Vera and I got off the train in Verona, the city of Romeo & Juliet and our introduction to Italy. This was quite the change from the snows of Bavaria, even the air smelled warm and inviting. I would learn that Italians would not call this warm, and in early…

Small towns can produce some interesting people, and for my money, the town of Essex, Massachusetts has produced more than its fair share. This historic town, known to the world for its wooden ships and fried clams, has been home to the brilliant, the strange, the strangely brilliant, and the brilliantly strange. One of the town’s once-famous, now forgotten, eccentrics was an old woodworker named…

The story of former slave plantations in Suriname may seem off the beaten path, even for me. However, there was a time in the 19th century when my home port of Gloucester, Massachusetts held a virtual monopoly on trade with the Dutch colony of Surinam, the modern nation of Suriname. It is a foggy part of our local maritime history, that peeks out from the past in the form of Gloucester’s…

Just a quick announcement about this afternoon’s Mug Up with the schooner captains in our new Mug Up Room at Maritime Gloucester. Official post is below, but you don’t have to RSVP at this point. If you are in the Cape Ann area, come on down and introduce yourself! Join us on the Maritime Gloucester pier for a Gloucester Schooner Festival Mug Up. Meet with Historian Justin Demetri and local and…