Much of my research for The Lost Hero of Cape Cod was performed using online databases of historical newspapers, in particular those published between 1815 and 1860. For US newspapers, my primary source was Newspapers.com, which has excellent coverage of the major papers in most towns and cities that were sizeable during the relevant period….

On November 26, 1846, two quite different ships were scheduled to depart from New York for Liverpool. One was the American sailing “packet” Roscius, the other the British steamship Great Western. Perhaps because that day was Thanksgiving*, the captain of the Roscius, Asa Eldridge, pushed back her departure until the following Monday. The British steamer,…

On this day in 1833, Asa Eldridge sailed out of Calcutta as captain of the ship America, bound for New York. He was returning to the US on the second leg of a round-trip whose outbound leg had been a major success, the first of two record-breaking voyages he made during his career. In late June he had arrived in Calcutta…

Vincent Miles, author of The Lost Hero of Cape Cod, will give a talk about the book at 2 pm on Sunday August 21, 2016 at the South Yarmouth Library, 312 Old Main Street, S. Yarmouth, MA 02664. Miles has been invited by the South Yarmouth Library Association to discuss his experiences writing the book and getting it published….

On August 1, 1840, the steamship Britannia sailed out of Boston for Liverpool. This was the return leg of her maiden voyage, which had commenced with her outbound departure from the English port on July 4. Her voyage marked the inauguration of transatlantic service by the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company. If that…

At 1.05 am on Saturday July 8, 1854, the steamship Baltic of the Collins Line arrived in New York from Liverpool just nine days, sixteen hours and fifty-two minutes after leaving the English port. This was a new record time for a westbound crossing on what was then the busiest and most important shipping route in the world. The Baltic…

The Lost Hero of Cape Cod is now available from multiple bookstores on the Cape. Why not head over to one of the stores listed on the “Buy” page so you can browse through a copy of the book?