it was inspiring to look back at the accomplishments of so many whose impact on the maritime heritage has been profound and lasting. We relished the opportunity to pay tribute to all our former award recipients—more than 200 of them! Be sure to read about them on our website at www.seahistory.org/awards. For our new experiment in planning a virtual event, in addition to honoring the entire slate of past awardees, we asked a handful of them to join us on camera for a conversation about what they are working on now, or something meaningful they wanted to share about the experience that got them the award in the first place. We only had time to talk to a half dozen or so people one-on-one, followed by ship roll calls and award recipient shout-outs from across the nation, but they spoke well for their fellow NMHS awardees. You can see these conversations and Honorary dinner chairman George W. Carmany III interviews 2003 the full video of the event on our website. It is a proud NMHS Distinguished Service Award recipient Dr. Robert Ballard at representation of the wide range of topics that people in the the Ocean Exploration Trust headquarters in New London, Connecticut. maritime heritage field are engaged in, and the impressive accomplishment and diversity exhibited in so many areas—historic ship restoration, classic yacht racing, Navy, Coast Guard, merchant marine, and other sea services, artists, authors, teachers, sailors, historians, boat builders…and more.
(left) Sea History editor Deirdre O’Regan interviews former award recipients Nathaniel Philbrick and Quentin Snediker, whose work has been instrumental to the commemoration of Mayflower’s landing in America 400 years ago. (right) The volunteer crew of the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s 1863 Star of India (recipient of the 1996 Karl Kortum American Ship Trust Award) makes roll call for the 2020 NMHS Annual Awards show. Our video production was put together by NMHS vice chairman Richardo Lopes and his son, videographer Alessandro Lopes, of Voyage Digital Media. Rick is a long-time NMHS trustee and an award-winning documentarian. The Lopeses’ short biopics of the recipients are shown at NMHS’s awards dinners and are a highlight of the evening—our guests inevitably rave about how much they learned about the honorees and enjoyed the films. This year though, we turned the tide on Rick and asked him to step out from behind the camera and allow himself to be interviewed by fellow trustee Admiral Robert Papp Jr., USCG (Ret.). The outcome is a true gem, as are all the interviews and award recipient video clips. We would like to thank all who helped us put the virtual event together and to all who participated. We hope you have enjoyed these highlights from the evening, and that you watch the video in full at www.seahistory.org/AAD2020. —Burchenal Green, NMHS President NMHS vice chairman and documentarian Richardo Lopes, winner of the 2013 David A. O’Neil Sheet Anchor Award, with son and videographer Alessandro Lopes on location in Boothbay, Maine. SEA HISTORY 173, WINTER 2020–21 11