Author Archives: hyperboreantom

Clio’s Armada: In the News

The town of Port Glasgow is embarking on a second replica of their claim to fame: the first commercially successful steamship. Built in 1812, Henry Bell’s Comet began taking passengers and changed the world of powered ships. For me, part of the interesting story here is that the new replica is not built to beContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: In the News”

Clio’s Armada: In the News

John MacFarlane and the Nauticapedia site were both a great help and inspiration for me when I started the Clio’s Armada project to study heritage boatbuilding projects. I’m very glad to hear that he and the BC Maritime Museum (who are also lovely people and very supportive) have taken steps to protect and continue theContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: In the News”

Mark Your Calendar: “An Imaginary Line” presented November 25, 2025 in Vancouver.

Tom will be presenting a version of one of his favourite recent presentations on November 25 at the University Women’s Club at Hycroft Manor in Vancouver, BC. Tickets are available. This is a part of their wonderful Heritage Hour programming. An Imaginary Line: the HBC, the US, and the Fight against the 49th Parallel Tuesday,Continue reading “Mark Your Calendar: “An Imaginary Line” presented November 25, 2025 in Vancouver.”

Clio’s Armada: In the News

Experimental archaeologists recently created and travelled in a Dugout canoe named Sugime from Taiwan to the Ryukyu islands south of Japan. According to Reuters, they “ simulated methods Paleolithic people would have used and employed replicas of tools from that prehistoric time period such as an axe and a cutting implement called an adze inContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: In the News”

Training Collection: Knowledge of the Audience & Visitor Engagement

We got an inquiry recently about what training modules we had available for visitor types and creating great guest experiences. Last year, North Wind put together an intensive week-long training course for a client with four 1hr modules dealing with how interpreters can best know the audience (“KA” in the Interpretive Equation). (KA + KR)Continue reading “Training Collection: Knowledge of the Audience & Visitor Engagement”

New training module: Interpreting Difficult History

One of our newest modules is also fast proving our most popular. In the past few months, several different museums and historic sites have contracted us to deliver a short session introducing some of the challenges of interpreting complex or difficult history, as well as providing tips and strategies for interpreters doing so. This isContinue reading “New training module: Interpreting Difficult History”

Clio’s Armada: In the News

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/san-juan-galeon-red-bay-replica-1.7260780 Efforts to rebuild a whaling Spanish galleon whaleship in Basque region and sail it to Labrador, where the original sank. Neat story! I’ll try to continue to follow it. Clio’s Armada is a blog series Tom is writing based on his passion for heritage boatbuildingh and examples he has seen or read of around theContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: In the News”

Clio’s Armada: Gli Gli and the Kalinago (Carib) Canoe Tradition

Tom Long, 2024 Dugout canoes continue to fascinate me, as do Indigenous voyages of reconnection. Thus the 1990s journey of the Gli Gli, an Indigenous gommier canoe, in the Caribbean caught my attention. Gli Gli was the brainchild of two artists, one of whom was Kalinago and the other a white Virgin Islander, and theContinue reading “Clio’s Armada: Gli Gli and the Kalinago (Carib) Canoe Tradition”