James Seay Dean

James Seay Dean, writer, musician, mariner,lives near Annapolis, on the Chesapeake Bay. His books are TROPICS BOUND: ELIZABETH'S SEADOGS ON THE SPANISH MAIN (2010), and the next to be published is SEADOGS: ELIZABETHANS UNDER TROPIC SUNS, 1516-1644 (forthcoming, 2013). He has written two earlier books, THE ART OF DOUBLE BASS PLAYING, and SAILING A SQUARE-RIGGER.

As a musician and double bassist he has been principal or co-principal in orchestras in North and South America and in Europe for over fifty years, as well as adjunct professor of bass at several universities. He directs SOUNDINGS CHAMBER MUSIC, producing concerts for over thirty years.

As a mariner, he has worked as lecturer, crew, first mate, navigator, sailing master (honorary), or captain on vessels ranging from small yachts to brigantines and barquentines in the N. and S. Atlantic (transoceanic crossings), Mediterranean, N. Pacific, North Sea, Bay of Biscay, and English Channel. He has built two boats, and sails a small forty year-old Westerly sloop.