“Enrolled in NAP in 1979, following the Defence project in Maine, and a BA in Art History from Berkeley, I was passionate to learn about seafaring and how people around the world had decorated boats. George Bass guided my publishing in IJNA, nominated me for a Distinguished Graduate Student Award, and Fred van Doorninck and Dick Steffy were constant exemplars, as were classmates.

After my 1984 thesis on figureheads, I became the National Trust’s USS Monitor Project Associate in Wash DC and interacted with the Office of Technology Assessment. The resulting 1987 “Technologies for Underwater Archaeology & Maritime Preservation” was the first report ever to identify to all members of Congress major technical, legal, and financial needs in marine archaeology.

In my career with COMSAT satellite communications for ships, a shipping company president said “You have a background in nautical archaeology. How can you help with our modern fleet communications?” I said, “You know the ancient Greek ship models on your desk? I can tell you how the original vessels were built, where they were going, and what they were carrying. I’ll bring you the newest information about today’s satellite communications, but know I am well-grounded in how all this began.”

Carol Olsen’s book Pablo Neruda’s Ship Figureheads: A Poet-Collector’s Muses and Companions is out now through University of Alabama Press.