Adventures at Sea: Bostonians in the Age of Sail

For Boston's first 200 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 10 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.

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.