Happy 4th of July to all. On July 4th, Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. Joseph Hewes was one of the lesser known signatories to the Declaration. He was born in New Jersey, prospered as a merchant in Philadelphia and then moved to North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress and in 1776 was appointed the chairman of the naval committee.
Americans have had a tendency throughout our history to glorify the “founding fathers,” often rewriting history in the process. Rather than viewing the founders as complex individuals with virtues and vices, they are often mythologized as all purpose role models. Joseph Hewes is either beneficiary or victim, depending on how you look at it, of this sort of mythologizing.
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Three weeks ago
While an international flotilla of naval vessels continues to play “catch and release” with pirates off the Horn of Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, the pirates themselves have become far more sophisticated. Where a few years ago, the typical pirate venture appeared to be three men in an open skiff with small arms, today the pirates are well funded, operate from wide ranging mother ships and and use high tech tracking to locate their prey.
New Jersey’s Official Tall Ship, the
If you hear a loud cracking sound today, it might another glass ceiling breaking. In the beginning of June, 
Last February we posted
What is harder than clawing to windward off a lee shore? I suspect that trying to raise funds, almost from scratch, to fund a new tall ship during a major recession can make a lee shore and a foul wind look like a minor problem. Nevertheless, the folks at 
Not quite a year ago, a tourist amphibious “duck boat”