Page 6. MAINE COASTAL NEWS June 2014 Nautical Scribe - For Maritime Book Lovers
BELFAST – Ever since I was in high school I have been a book collector. Initially I col- lected medical books until I realized that was not my calling and then in 1980 I switched and began collecting nautical books. I also collect books I already have, sell them here and there, to support my habit. You will fi nd most book dealers, new or used, are readers and that is why they are in the business. It is an excuse to buy more and read more. It is also an interesting business now that many books are digital and the changes in the future may not appeal to the hardcore book lover.
Recently Joe Mosier and his wife Mary, opened a nautical bookstore, the Nautical Scribe in the heart of Belfast. When asked why, Joe explained, “Well, essentially I had a career in the Navy and a career working in museums, and I collected a pretty substantial library of books, many of them on nautical subjects. When my wife and I moved up to Belfast from Norfolk, Virginia, we moved from fi ve bedrooms to two. Essentially Mary said we have got to fi nd a better way to do this. We had stacks of books everywhere. Well we decided we’d sell them. Originally it was going to be on the Internet. I didn’t want to do it online because there is no contact with the buyers and sellers. I can pick my customers out because they are late middle age grey haired bearded people who obviously look like they have been to sea before and I love talking to those guys. Great stories and that is one of the reasons we have a brick and mortar store rather than an online store.”
As you read through the titles on the shelves you will fi nd books on all aspects of the maritime world. He added, “As you know, this area has a lot of retired merchant marine people. Whaling and fi shing is an obvious New England side of it so I just started broadening out into other areas. What Mary didn’t realize that when you own a bookstore you can buy as many books as you want with the expectation of passing them on to somebody else.
“I have had a couple of people in
the same situation as we were, moving to smaller residence,” continued Joe. “Of course I also sought them out through the online book resources. I have gotten a few discount books from some of the discount dealers. However, one of the things that I haven’t been able to do is get a good line of new books because there are only a limited number of wholesalers for new books and they have set it up to make it the most diffi - cult thing in the world.”
If you are looking for completed ship models they have them too. “Models were always a passion of mine,” stated Joe. “Al- though I am not exactly patient enough to do plank on frame modeling I really love. When I did models in the past, I use to quit once I got the hull done because that looked cool enough for me. There are a surprising number of people in the area who love mod- eling. So I found some builders who want to sell. We have a modeler from Vermont and a local guy, retired Coast Guard commander. I also get models from Premier Shipmodels in London and the good old standby Authentic Models USA.”
Joe and Mary opened the shop last year. During the winter it was pretty gloomy as Joe explained, “We took a stab in the heart during the winter, but everybody else did as well. People wouldn’t even go out of their house to buy a pizza it was so cold this last winter. We are doing well now. We are picking back up and month to month we are a head of last year.”
How have people found out about the store? Some by advertising, but of course mostly by word of mouth. This being their second summer in business, they are hoping for a lot more customers to wander in. Joe grew up originally in Michigan and later Florida. He joined the Army and when he was discharged he ended up in Maryland. He graduated from University of Maryland and joined the Navy. He added, “I was in an- ti-submarine warfare, an acoustic specialist. I specialized in the sounds of submarines. I started in P3 aircraft and I ended up on aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and
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Owner of the Nautical Scribe, Joe Mosier.
shore duty. It was fun, but it got to be less fun when they changed the Navy. I think it was around ’86. You remember the Zumwalt era that was when they said you can have a beard. Then the people, who had grown up under Zumwalt, disliked him intensely, took charge and said you can’t have beards anymore. I won’t say I was gleeful to have left but I think it was a good time to go.” After that was the skipper’s wife. Mary was still on active duty and she retired seven years after Joe did. “When she was CO I joined the offi cer’s wives club and that kind of stuff,” added Joe. “Then I got involved in museum business. I worked for the Decatur House in Washington DC and started doing research for naval historians. When we came back from Whidby Island, Washington to Norfolk again I worked as the archivist at a library, dealing principally with the papers of the Moses Myers family. Moses Meyers was a merchant ship owner. I did that for 12 years plus writing for the quarterly magazine of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, the “Day Book.” I wrote a couple of dozen articles on some aspect of the navy in the Norfolk area.”
Joe is still researching and writing. He said, “I have got a book that I hope will be out be September called “Norfolk’s Navy.” It is a compilation of the writing I did for the Day Book. Then I have got another one I am working on called “Norfolk Shipping in Trouble Times.” This looks at the merchant shipping out of Norfolk, Virginia during the period of 1787 to 1817, when merchants were faced with the embargo of 1807, than the non-intercourse acts, the War of 1812, and before that the crunch between the French and the British in what became the Napoleonic Wars.
Joe also does book reviews for the Naval Historical Society. Joe said, “I don’t enjoy writing I enjoy haven written. Some- one once said that writing was a process where you sit down in front of a typewriter and you stay there until blood comes out of your eyes.”
For those maritime book lovers this is a must visit bookstore. Joe and Mary have a great selection of books, something for everyone, and I am positive you will not be disappointed.
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I am sure that you can fi nd a great nautical book here.
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