by Tina McCloud
NORTHUMBERLAND—For those book lovers disappointed that last month’s Reedville Fishermen’s Museum authors’ event was postponed due to weather, there’s good news.
Three books, rather than two, will be featured at an event at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, at the Fairfields Volunteer Fire Department, 119 Main Street, Reedville.
The book Menhaden: A Biologist’s Thirty-Two Year Journey with the Fish and the Fishery by Joseph W. Smith was already scheduled to be featured on March 2.
Also at the event are book talks that had to be postponed: “War on the Inland Sea” by Thomas Briggs and “ABCs of Oystering on the Chesapeake Bay” by Susan Swift, author, and Heather Cockrell, illustrator.
The authors and illustrator will talk about their books and offer them for sale and signing. All those featured are members of the museum.
Smith worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service at the NOAA Beaufort Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C., for more than 30 years, studying the impact of fishing on the marine world. He has a bachelor’s in biology from St. Joseph’s University and a master’s in marine science from the College of William and Mary.
Menhaden, his first book, provides factual details about the life history of menhaden and the fisheries that harvest the fish schools. It includes details of the evolution and consolidation of the important players in the menhaden industry and Smith’s interactions and interviews with menhaden professionals, including those in Reedville, over the course of his career.
“It is somewhat of a memoir of my career working with the fishery,” said Smith. Omega Protein and the bait fisheries on the Northern Neck figure prominently, he added.
Published by Palmetto Publishing, the hardcover is $37.93 on Amazon.
Thomas Briggs’ first book, a historical novel set during the French and Indian War, is the saga of the conflict for control of the Great Lakes. Told from three perspectives—the French, British and Native American—the principal narrative follows the British attempts to build a fleet on Lake Ontario in 1755.
Briggs uses his extensive sailing knowledge, significant research and experience in Afghanistan to describe the realities of building and sailing vessels in the wilderness while engaged in war.
Briggs is a captain of the museum’s historic skipjack, Claud W. Somers. He is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The book, published by Vanguard Press, costs $14.99.
Susan Swift and Heather Cockrell will talk about their second collaboration. They take readers through each letter of the alphabet with fun facts and colorful illustrations.
Swift is librarian at Northumberland Elementary School. Cockrell is art teacher at Northumberland Middle School.
The educators’ first book, ABCs of Crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay, was published in 2024. They will have copies of both books at the event. They are published by Belle Isle Books, an imprint of Brandylane Publishers Inc. Each is $16 soft cover and $27 hard cover.
A third book, ABCs of Menhaden Fishing, is planned.
Tina McCloud is a public relations volunteer at Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.
