Blessing the Last Ship from Macau

The Hong Kong Anthropological Society is going to have another fascinating talk on Wednesday, 15th February at 7pm, location the Hong Kong Museum of History Lecture Theatre in Tsim Sha Tsui. The talk is entitled, "Blessing the Last Ship from Macau", by Dr. Bill Guthrie, who, among his many interesting qualifications, was once Editor of Soldier of Fortune magazine, and did some 'consulting' work in Afghanistan.

Here is the description of the talk::

One of the ancient names for a Chinese seagoing vessel is "the ship from Macau." But that run of perhaps three thousand years is suddenly almost over. Because of rising fuel prices and the destruction of fish stocks in the South China Sea, wooden fishing boats are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The lecture will show what is left of the shipbuilding industry, recap the reliance on tradition techniques using modern tools, survey the arsenal of skills each individual craftsman masters, and sketch the left-hand-right-hand combination of mechanical and spiritual techniques the last Macau ship builders and ship owners still regard as necessary to float a boat.

And his official bio:

Bill Guthrie is an Assistant Professor at the University of Macau. Before he washed up on the beach in Macau, Guthrie worked as an educational consultant and entrepreneur, and ran an archaeological field school; he edited Soldier of Fortune magazine, and consulted for Sea Kayaker magazine; he has a Ph.D in Medieval Studies, and may have been the last person ever to teach the course "The Bible as Literature" at the University of Colorado. At present, he corrdinates with the Macau Maritime Museum to document the last wooden fishing boat ever built in Macau.

Hope to see you there!