Mystic Seaport's Maritime Authors Series Kicks Off Feb. 11

Post from Mystic Seaport:

Our 2015 Maritime Authors Series kicks off next Wednesday, Feb. 11, with Llewellyn Howland speaking about his new biography of W. Starling Burgess, “No Ordinary Being.”

Curious as to what made Burgess so extraordinary? Come hear the author’s talk and have him autograph your copy of his fine book.

• February 11 at 6 to 8 p.m.
• Hosted at the Collections Research Center Library
• Member $15/Non-member $20
• Please call 860-572-5331 for tickets

About the Book

Few 20th-century Americans led a more creative, eventful, and often conflicted life than Boston-born aviation pioneer and yacht designer W. Starling Burgess (1878-1947). Orphaned at 12, Burgess received his first patent at 19, left Harvard without graduating, and, following the suicide of the first of his five wives, published a book of poetry at 24. Among his children was the celebrated author-artist Tasha Tudor.

After launching a successful career as a yacht designer in 1901, Burgess in 1910 built the first airplane to fly in New England and five years later won the prestigious Collier Trophy “for the greatest progress in aviation.” His company was a primary supplier of both civilian and military aircraft before the main factory in Marblehead burned to the ground in 1918.

After World War I, Burgess returned to his first love, yacht design, drawing the lines for three successive Grand Banks schooners to compete against Canadian entries for the International Fishermen’s Trophy–and in 1924 introduced the staysail rig on the all-but-unbeatable schooner yacht Advance. He later designed three acclaimed America’s Cup winners: the J-Class sloops Enterprise, Rainbow, and Ranger. In 1933 he collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller on the design of the revolutionary Dymaxion automobile. Burgess enjoyed some of his most productive years as a naval architect and inventor doing top secret anti-submarine work for the Navy and Air Force in World War II.

Burgess was a man of enormous charm, physical courage, and energy. He was also, as his son lamented, “a child who will not face hard fact, but will hide from them and love the person who shields him from them.” The tension between his personal and professional life had consequences both disturbing and tragic.