Silas Crockett — Mary Ellen Chase

Silas Crockett traces life on the Maine coast through four generations of a seafaring family. This is a one-hundred-year epic filled with vibrant descriptions of the sweeping cultural, economic, and philosophical changes that washed over Maine. Mary Ellen Chase weaves wonderful historical detail with engaging characters so readers understand what it was like for a young wife to join her husband on a months-long trade voyage in 1830, and for a man raised in the tradition of seafaring forced to choose between leaving home for a long voyage or undertaking a risky, but shorter and more lucrative one. Chase draws her characters sharply and provides a voice to the everyday concerns and cares of people who lived and died by the sea. Written in 1935, Silas Crockett remains an important piece of literature for anyone who wishes to understand the rich maritime history of Maine.