BATH

Author Fredric B. Hill will speak at The Mustard Seed Bookstore on Sept. 1 from 6-7:30 p.m. He will discuss his new book, “Ships, Swindlers and Scalded Hogs: The Rise and Fall of the Crooker Shipyard in Bath, Maine,” and books will be available for sale and signing. The event is free.

Hill is the great great grandson of William Donnell Crooker who, along with his brother Charles Crooker, was one of the most influential shipbuilders in Bath during the 1880s. The book gives a detailed history of their family, their shipbuilding company and the Bath’s contribution to early shipbuilding.

From 1965-1985, Hill was a reporter and then a foreign correspondent for The Baltimore Sun. He acted as bureau chief in Paris and London, covering Europe and Africa, before becoming an editorial writer for the Sun. From there, he went on to work for Senator Charles Mathias and then for the U.S. State Department from 1986-2006, and developed the Office of Special Programs.

Hill is also the co-editor of the new book, “The Life of Kings: The Baltimore Sun and the Golden Age of the American Newspaper.”

Hill is a graduate of Bowdoin College and serves on the board of Maine’s First Ship in Bath. He and his wife divide their time between Arrowsic and Baltimore, Maryland.

The Mustard Seed Bookstore is located at 74 Front St. in Bath. For more information, call (207) 389-4084.