Wreck of the Portland

Wreck of the Portland         Thursday, September 5, at 7:00 pm Filmmaker David Conover will show and discuss his hour-long film documentaryWreck of the Portland. Known as the "Titanic of New England," the loss of the SS Portland is one of the greatest maritime disasters to occur off the Northeast coast of the United States. On Nov. 26, 1898, the passenger ship, SS Portland, on route from Boston to Portland, was caught in a fierce blizzard. Struggling through the night with raging seas and 90-mile-per hour winds, the Portland finally sank with all 190 passengers and crew on board. Little of the shipwreck and few victims were ever recovered, and the exact location of the tragedy was a mystery. During the summer of 2002, 104 years after her disappearance, an ROV was used to locate the wreck of the Portland. This film was produced for the Science Channel series "Science of the Deep." David Conover graduated from Bowdoin College. He worked for years as a professional seaman and crossed the Atlantic twice in small boats.  Conover's motion picture production company, Compass Light Productions, is located in Camden, Maine. This film will be shown at Penobscot Marine Museum's Stephen Phillips Memorial Library, 11 Church Street, Searsport. Tickets in advance $8 members, $10 non-members, or at the door $12 members, $15 non-members.   Buy tickets over the phone at 207-548-2529. www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org Garden History Lecture Series               Seed Saving Primer, and Genetic Engineering and Food Security    Monday, September 9, 7:00 pm   People have saved and propagated seed from plants in their gardens and from wild plants for over ten thousand years. Since the beginning of agriculture people traded or bartered seed. Selling seed commercially began at the beginning of the 19th Century and by the 1850s many commercial horticulture operations sold seeds.   Today, much of the world still saves seed as a necessity. Diana Chapin, ofThe Heirloom Garden of Maine, will offer practical seed saving tips for the home gardener, including information on which plants from which seed may be saved, as well as harvesting and storage advice.   Learn how the progressive technology of GMO threatens the ages-old practice of saving seed, how to protect yourself from the hidden health dangers of genetically modified food and how to protect your right to grow life-giving, nutritious food in your own garden. At PMM's Stephen Phillips Memorial Library, 11 Church Street, Searsport. Tickets in advance $8 members, $10 non-members, or at the door $12 members, $15 non-members.   Buy tickets online at http://garden04.eventbrite.comor call 207-548-2529.   www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org