“Hannah in Context: What Really Happened, and Why Did it Matter?” Lecture

Captain Michael Rutstein recounts the events leading to the battle between schooner Hannah and HMS Nautilus, Oct. 1775.

Join Captain Michael Rutstein as he covers the events leading up to the famous battle between the armed American schooner Hannah and HMS Nautilus in October 1775. He will walk us step by step through the engagement and wrap up with the repercussions of this event and its impact on the course of the Revolution here on the North Shore.

Michael Rutstein: After drafting and then reluctantly abandoning a business plan to create a replica of Hannah, Rutstein commissioned local boatbuilder Harold Burnham to build a representation of the 1812 Salem privateer FAME in 2003. For 23 seasons, FAME sailed out of Pickering Wharf in Salem to critical and popular acclaim. In April 2026, FAME was sold to the Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships in Boston.