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Sailing ship leaving the port of Le Havre, 1851, photograph by Louis-Cyrus Macaire
Source: Gallica, Bibliotheque Nationale de France
Used with permission
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I am fascinated by harbors.
Can we imagine all of that exciting moments that have happened there. All of the tender goodbye caresses. All of the ebullient welcome hugs and kisses. All of the life decisions that will be made by voyagers as a result of these voyages.
As for me, I love to imagine those life-events. In some cases, I need to search through my knowledge of past times, distant places. The picture above, from the mid 1800s, shows the Port of Le Havre, in northwest France.
Many Americans may not realize it, but their immigrant ancestors from several countries in western Europe may well have departed their homelands, headed for America, via Le Havre. These brave people boarded ships and, undoubtedly, gazed intently at the shoreline as they departed to a distant land. For many, they would never see these shores, or their continent of birth, again.
At the same time, the exhilaration of the adventure upon which they embarked must have helped to crowd out their wistfulness. A new world awaited them.
Each voyage, in essence, takes sailors and voyagers to new worlds. Embarking upon new ventures, testing new waters, setting sail for adventures to come -- writing a book and sending it into navigable, though uncharted, waters is similar.
And so, we begin. Alex Adam, Author.
Imagine that!
