Since 2006, Rich has been writing and illustrating the column "Animals in Sea History" in Sea History magazine, the quarterly publication of the National Maritime Historical Society. Mixing environmental history, literature, primary source research, and art history, these short articles introduce readers of all ages to the history of our relationship with ocean and coastal animals all around the world. Please feel free to download and use these in any way for classroom use, but not for commercial or nonprofit use without permission. They are also available at the Mystic Seaport for Educators and Sea History for Kids websites. Please continue to check back as new articles are added.
Birds
Black Skimmer (Audubon)
Blue-Eyed Shags (Cook, Shackleton)
Flightless Cormorant (Master and Commander)
Frigatebird (Columbus, Whitman, Melville)
Great Auk (Audubon)
Brown Pelican (Martha Field)
Spectacled Cormorant (Steller)
Storm Petrel (John James Audubon)
Tropic (Bosun) Bird (Ann Davison)
Goney Bird (Francis Allyn Olmsted)
Carrier Albatross
Fish
Chinook Salmon (Chinook First Peoples)
Dolphin Fish (Thor Heyerdahl)
Electric Ray (Eugenie Clark)
Halibut (Winslow Homer)
Marlin (Ernest Hemingway)
Sharks (Ernest Hemingway)
Ship-Sinking Swordfish (Herman Melville)
Swordfish Art (Matt Rigney, Herman Melville)
Whale Shark (Charles Thompson)
White Sturgeon (Ross Cox)
Pilot Fish (Herman Melville)
Invertebrates
Barnacles (Charles Darwin)
Bioluminescence (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
Dana Octopus Squid ("Cook's Calamari")
Electric Ray (Eugenie Clark)
Giant Squid (Moses Harvey)
Sea Jellies (Morton MacMichael)
Krill (Charles Darwin)
Louisiana Shrimp (Martha Field)
Paper Nautilus (Jeannette Villipreaux-Power)
Sea Cucumbers (Capt. Archer)
Sea Crawfish (Selkirk)
Ship Worms (Columbus)
Marine Mammals
Beluga Whale ("Sea Canary," 1878 The Graphic; Scoresby)
Caribbean Monk Seal ("Sea Wolf," Columbus)
Grampus (19th C women at sea)
New Zealand Sea Lion (Neville Peat)
Sea Otter (Scott O'Dell)
Southern Right Whale ("Bonnet," Herman Melville)
Sperm Whale: Do They Bite? (19th C whaling)
Sperm Whale: Do They Sink Ships? (Owen Chase; Herman Melville)
Sperm Whale: White Whale (Emerson, Reynolds, Melville)
Sea Cow (Steller)
Reptiles
Galápagos Tortoise (David Porter)
Sea Snakes (Coleridge)
Other
Kiore/Pacific Rat (Maori First Peoples)
Pigs (Eric Newby)