In this episode of Preble Hall, author Paul Magid discusses his book Pursuing the Leviathan: The Heroic Life of New England Whaling Captain Benjamin Clough with Sondra Duplantis, the U. S. Naval Academy Museum's Education Specialist.

Set in the golden age of whaling in the nineteenth century, this book brings to life the adventures of Benjamin Clough, best known for single-handedly rescuing the ship Sharon from mutineers in 1842. Clough's heroism earned him a whaling command, which led to a whaling career that for a quarter-century took him into the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.

The United States Naval Academy Museum's Curator of Ship Models, Don Preul, and Education Specialist Sondra Duplantis discuss the museum's ship model collection, model shop volunteers, and a beloved colleague.

Captain James B. Bryant, USN (Ret.) and his Volunteer Research Team discuss Bryant's upcoming book Rush to Disaster: The Loss of USS Thresher with USNA Museum's Education Specialist, Sondra Duplantis. Rush to Disaster reexamines the 1963 loss of USS Thresher—the deadliest nuclear submarine disaster in history—using thousands of pages of newly declassified Naval Court of Inquiry (NCOI) records released through a landmark Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. Written by a former nuclear commander, the book reveals how Cold War urgency, flawed assumptions, and institutional pressure combined to produce a catastrophe that reshaped submarine safety.