Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation's leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America's seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to "inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience."

Andrew W. German is former director of Mystic Seaport Museum's Publications Department and coauthor of multiple Mystic/whaling-related books, including America and the Sea: A Maritime History and The Charles W. Morgan: A Picture History of an American Icon. He lives in Mystic, Connecticut.

Mary K. Bercaw Edwards is Professor of English and Director of Maritime Studies, University of Connecticut.