The National Maritime Historical Society to Honor Brian D'lsernia, Captain Bert Rogers, and Philip J. Webster at its 2017 Gala Annual Awards Dinner, 26 October, at the New York Yacht Club. by Julia Church
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he 2017 NMHS Annual Awards Dinner chairman, George Carmany III, and vice chairman, Christopher J. Culver, invite you to join us as we celebrate three illustrious members of the maritime community and their accomplishments on 26 October, at the New York Yacht Club in New York City. The National Maritime Historical Society is honored to recognize American shipbuilder and preservationist Brian D 'Isernia with the NMHS Distinguished Service Award. Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., 24th Commandant of the US
Coast Guard, will present the award. Captain Bert Rogers, Executive Director of Tall Ships America, will receive NMHS's Distinguished Service Award. Deirdre O 'Regan, editor of Sea History and a former crewmember under Captain Bert Rogers, will make the presentation. The Society is also pleased to recognize Philip J. Webster, NMHS overseer and the fo unding chairman of the National Maritime Awards Dinner, with the David A. O 'Neil Sheet Anchor Award. Richard du Moulin will serve as master of ceremonies for this gala event, and the talented US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale will perform under the direction of Dr. Robert Newton.
NMHS Chairman Ronald Oswald addresses the guests and awardees at last year's dinner in the spectacular Model Room ofthe New York Yacht Club. Each year, guests are captivated by the performance ofthe US Coast Guard Academy Cadet Chorale and enjoy getting to meet the up-and-coming leaders ofthe Coast Guard during the dinner.
Brian D'Isernia Brian D'Isernia, distinguished sailor, fisherman, shipbuilder, maritime industry innovator, and maritime heritage preservationist, is the owner and chief executive officer of Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Florida, which he founded in 1976. He started a career in law after graduating from Fordham University School of Law and passing the New York State Bar. In addition to his law degree, Mr. D 'Isernia also holds a degree in economics from Georgetown University. After a few years in law, he decided to change careers and opened a four-vessel commercial fishing enterprise out ofNew Bedford, Massachuserrs. He transitioned from commercial fishing to ship construction when he founded Eastern Shipbuilding Group, which remains his primary foc us today, boasting a portfolio of over 350 vessels. D 'Isernia undertook a lifelong dream to bring a significant piece of maritime history back to life by building a steel-hull replica of Columbia, the historic 141-foot Gloucester fishing schooner originally built at the A . D . Story Shipyard of Essex, Massachusetts, and designed by the innovative William Starling Burgess. D'Isernia located the original plans in the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. The 1923 original schooner was built for speed, and in the fall of her first season Columbia challenged the legendary schooner Bluenose in the International Fishermen's Cup Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although narrowly defeated, Columbia was one of the few American schooners to provide a challenge to Bluenose. Ninety-one years later, on 10
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