BRUNSWICK — Nautical historian and musician Charlie Ipcar will speak about “Steamboating on the Sasanoa-Bath to Boothbay” on Tuesday at Curtis Memorial Library.

Ipcar’s free presentation is part of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) 15th annual Winter Speaker series.

“Even before Maine became ‘Vacationland,’ Boothbay Harbor was a place known for the restorative powers of its clean air and waters,” a FOMB release about the event states. “Each summer during the early 1900s, vacationers would arrive in Bath by train or steamer and perhaps eat breakfast while their trunks were loaded onto small island steamers that navigated down the Sasanoa, through the Hell Gates to Boothbay. In the early 20th century, small steamboats were the preferred way to travel in Midcoast Maine. The Bath- to- Boothbay route was developed by the Eastern Steamboat Co.”

Ipcar, of Richmond, “has deep Maine roots and knows its waters well,” the release states.

He researches nautical history and music, and since the early 1990s he has performed sea music with Roll & Go throughout Maine and the other New England states.

The free presentation, which begins at 7 p.m., will feature vintage photographs of the steamboats, their crews and their island stops along the coast. The program will be introduced with an original song that is a tribute to their history.

For more information on FOMB programs, visit www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org or contact Ed Friedman at 666-3372 or edfomb@comcast.net.

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