'The Untold Story of The Mayflower' & 'So Others May Live' at Coffin School
Nominated for two Primetime Emmy's, "Desperate Crossing" was the History Channel's mostwatched program of 2006.

Egan Foundation founder and award-winning maritime historian Nathanial Philbrick appeared in the show, which came on the heels of Philbrick's acclaimed 2006 release "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War," which is a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer prize in history.

Created by the same filmmakers who produced "With Hunut" and "Conquest of America," the threehour long film uses dramatic reenactments to illuminate the lesserknown side of America's founding history. Dialogue and scenes are taken from original source materials written by eyewitnesses and participants in the actual events of the early 1600s.

"Every American knows the story of the Pilgrims, their courageous voyage on the Mayflower and the first Happy Thanksgiving. But the homogenized and sanitized history learned as children and revisited every Thanksgiving holiday bears faint resemblance to the actual people and dramatic events of that desperate time," according to Philbrick.

Actress Erin Raftery, who starred in the film as Dorothy Bradford, will introduce the film along with Philbrick. Dorthy Bradford was the wife of the chronicler William Bradford (without whom the Plymouth colony may not have succeeded).

"From their self-imposed exile in Holland and perilous Atlantic crossing aboard the Mayflower to unimaginable hardships encountered in their new land, this is the definitive story of the Pilgrims and how they came to live in the harsh climate of an unfamiliar world," according to the Egan Foundation.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts also gave the filmmakers unheard-of assistance in filming the movie. The film also includes interviews with 15 leading American, Native American and British scholars, among them Nantucket's esteemed scholar

Nathaniel Philbrick. I
When: Tues., Aug. 21, 7 p.m.
Where: The Coffin School, 4
Winter Street
Cost: Free for Egan members;
General admission, $10
Martha LaGuardia-Kotite is the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves Commander and award-winning author of "So Others May Live: Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death."

The book narrates the heretofore untold story of the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer, via 12 stories of heroic maritime rescues attempted by Coast Guard aircrews since the program was started in 1985.

These feats, told through the eyes of the hero, reveal an understanding of how and why the rescuer, with flight crew assistance, risks his or her own life to reach out to save a stranger. The book covers diverse environments: oceans, hurricanes, oil rigs, caves, sinking vessels, floods, Niagara Falls and even Hurricane Katrina. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the author's book will be donated to the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer School.

The book has received the Excellence in Boating Journalism Award as well as an award from the Foundation for Coast Guard History for "Best book in the category of Coast Guard heritage," and was recently selected to be listed on the Commandant of the Coast Guard's recommended reading list for 2007- 08.

LaGuardia-Kotite is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a writer with hundreds of magazine articles to her credit. She has been awarded numerous medals for her leadership and performance in the U.S. Coast Guard. She is currently a Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves and has been assigned as an Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer for Federal Region II and as the Press Secretary for the Principal Federal Official for the Gulf Region. She lives in New York City and Northwest Florida with her husband Peter and their two children Aaron and John.

BMC Terrill J. Malvesti, of USCG Brant Point Station, will

introduce the author.

I
When: Thurs., Aug. 23, 8 p.m.
Where: The Coffin School, 4
Winter Street
Cost: Free for Egan members;
General admission, $5
- Compiled by MG