Shipwrecked in Paradise

Presented by Potomac Community Village

Come join us for what promises to be a fascinating talk about a little known part of maritime history.

Our speaker is Paul Johnston, PhD, retired curator of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, author of Shipwrecked in Paradise: Cleopatra's Barge in Hawai'i, and leader of the archeology team that located and excavated the wreck. 
 
In 1816, the first oceangoing yacht built in the United States left on its maiden voyage from Salem, Massachusetts to the Mediterranean. The pleasure barge, called Cleopatra's Barge by its owner, and built at a cost of $50,000 to build and another $50,000 to fit out, was so extraordinary that up to 8,000 visitors a day went aboard. After that single voyage, owner George Crowninshield died. The boat was sold to Boston China traders, who sold it for a million pounds of sandalwood (then worth over $80,000) to Hawaiian King Kamehameha II, who used it as his private yacht. Kamehameha left for England in 1824 to meet British King George; while he was gone, a Native Hawaiian crew sailed the Barge to Kauai and lost it on a reef in Hanalei Bay.
 
Under the only underwater archaeology permits ever issued by the State of Hawaii, our speaker, Dr. Paul Johnston, then of the Smithsonian, was leader of the team that located, surveyed and excavated the wreck of the famous ship. His book about the project, Shipwrecked in Paradise: Cleopatra's Barge in Hawai'i, won the Smithsonian Secretary's Research Award.

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