NORTHUMBERLAND—Two new books by members of the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum will be featured at a winter lecture event at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, at the Fairfields Volunteer Fire Department, 119 Main Street, Reedville. Admission is free. This event was previously scheduled for February 2.
The authors/illustrator will talk about their books and offer them for sale and signing.
War on the Inland Sea by Thomas Briggs is an historical novel set during the French and Indian War. It shares 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 has sailed as captain or crew on a variety of boats from New York Harbor to the Caribbean.
He has a 30-year career in higher education, the last 10 of which have been spent at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was deployed to Bahrain with the U.S. Navy in 2024, returning to VCU in March 2025 as their chief risk officer.
He retires from the U.S. Navy Reserve this year as a chief warrant officer, with 21 years of service. Despite completing several thousand miles under sail, he has never served on a naval vessel.
The book, published by Vanguard Press, costs $14.99.
ABCs of Oystering on the Chesapeake Bay is the second collaboration for author Susan Swift and illustrator Heather Cockrell. They will talk about their book which 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.
Cockrell and Swift have a deep appreciation for the heritage of watermen on the bay. Swift has lived in the Northern Neck for 36 years. Her husband, Keith, is a fourth-generation waterman. Cockrell’s husband, Nick, is engineer on one of Ocean Harvester’s fishing vessels. Both she and her husband were born and raised in the Northern Neck.
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 $17 soft cover and $26 hard cover.
Their third book will be ABCs of Menhaden Fishing on the Chesapeake Bay.
Tina McCloud is a public relations volunteer at Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.
