Chatham Marconi Speaker Series

What Marconi Did Next and Beyond

via Zoom, Thursday, November 4 at 7:00 PM

Paul Hawkins, Author

“Point to Point – A History of International Radio Telecommunications”

For a substantial part of the 20th century the global telephone and telegraph services were carried through the medium of long wave and short-wave radio. This talk tells the story about the development of international telecommunications via radio. The technology involved minimal automation and a high degree of human intervention to manage the limitations of long-distance radio. The relative efficiency of point-to-point radio and the cost of replacement satellite installations resulted in radio playing a part in international telecommunications up to the 1980’s, giving the author direct experience of this fascinating medium.

Reservations

The War Offshore - Merchant Ships and the Men Who Sailed Them

via Zoom, Thursday, December 2 at 7:00 PM

Bill Geroux, Author

““The Mathews Men”

“The Ghost Ships of Archangel”

When America entered World War II, we were unprepared for the attack by German U-boats on vital shipping along our East Coast and Gulf Coast. The nation managed to find its footing only after a slaughter of near-defenseless merchant ships and the men who sailed them. Bill Geroux will discuss the vital and heroic role played by the U.S. Merchant Marines during WWII. These civilian sailors delivered hundreds of millions of tons of cargo across the globe during the war, on vulnerable, often unescorted ships, and their actions are largely overlooked in histories of the war.

Reservations