Evening Lecture Series: David Haward Bain, author of Bitter Waters: America's Forgotten Mission to the Dead Sea

Come hear the fascinating tale about two Virginians, Lieutenant William Francis Lynch and his friend Matthew Fontaine Maury, from bestselling author David Haward Bain in his book, Bitter Waters. In 1848, an American exploring expedition was sent to the Holy Land to solve geographical puzzles and reply to ancient superstitions with modern scientific reasoning. Lynch, in command of USS Supply, led a small land party inland from the Mediterranean shore in Palestine, hauling two metal lifeboats for the sacred River Jordan and the Dead Sea, through often hostile Arab tribal lands.

The compelling story of Lynch’s exploits, and Maury’s parallel 19th-century journey, in helping to modernize the American Navy and perfecting the US National Observatory, “details one of the most hazardous, yet by now almost forgotten, attempts to roll back the veil of mystery and legend and reveal scientific truths,” as noted in the Roanoke Times.