The Age of Piracy presentation on October 26...

Steve with "George" the macaw

  Were pirates New England's first tourists? The great Age of Piracy of the 17th and 18th centuries had a major impact on New England. Steve Bunker will engage you with stories and many original artifacts from this fascinating era.

Presentation will be held on October 26, 2013 at the Town Office in Porter at 72 Main Street at 1:00 pm.  Short business meeting will follow and the winner of the quilt raffle will be drawn.

   

   Steve Bunker is an artist, craftsman, former seaman, and Vietnam war veteran. Some folks think he's a pirate, but he's not talking.

   Hailing from an old Maine seafaring family, he went to sea as the ship's boy with his father, who was chief engineer on a number of merchant ships. Later, Steve worked as a merchant mariner, and sailed on a number of historic sailing ships. For a time he was acting master of Boston's Tea Party ship. In the mid-1970s he became the city of Baltimore's maritime historian and captain of one of the city's historic vessels. 

   In 1978 he started his maritime antiques and salvage business, China Sea Marine Trading Company, on Baltimore's Fells Point waterfront. The colorful business has attracted so much attention over the years that countless articles in magazines, newspapers and blogs have been written about it. In 2012, a TV production company tried to turn China Sea into a reality show. 

   Today Steve and his wife, Sharon Bondroff, run China Sea from their barn in Gray. Two rambunctious macaws, George and Havana, share their home.

*** Please note that is talk is geared to older children and adults and is not appropriate for very young children. ***