Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Kevin Duffus
- Award-winning filmmaker, researcher, author, and investigative journalist of historical events.
Monday, July 09, 2012
12:00 pm Noon
John Locke Foundation, 200 W. Morgan Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 Directions
Price: $10.00
During the formative but tumultuous years of the colony of North Carolina, Indian wars, economics, and political machinations triggered a series of events that have been overlooked by traditional historical accounts and which, by and large, may have created, and then destroyed, the notorious pirate Blackbeard and his "Carolina pirates." These men weren't necessarily working for themselves as history has depicted them--indeed, they very likely were marionettes, manipulated by others, steered by external forces, and suspended precariously by the threads of fate.
Kevin Duffus
At 17 years old in 1971, Kevin Duffus found, explored, and identified a sunken Confederate gunboat in a black water creek in eastern North Carolina.
Ever since, he has been hooked on solving historical mysteries. Many, many years later as an independent researcher, author and filmmaker, Kevin has published four books and produced four award-winning documentary films on North Carolina maritime history.
In 2002, Kevin solved the 140 year old mystery of the stolen 1854 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Fresnel lens. The historic, artifact, which is now exhibited at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, has been described as a national treasure and its amazing odyssey is revealed in Kevin's book, The Lost Light,A Civil War Mystery.
For his book, The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate, groundbreaking research produced surprising contradictions to traditional historical accounts about the pirate Blackbeard, the identity and fate of his most trusted crew members, and led to the discovery of the piratešs mythical treasure.
His most recent book, War Zone,World War II Off the North Carolina Coast, features the miraculous story of the baby born in a lifeboat off Cape Hatteras, the nearly disastrous engagements between U.S. warships and U-boats off Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout, and the true facts about German spies, saboteurs and sympathizers. For the most part, War Zone documents the experiences of everyday Americans and their allies who daily faced enormous challenges with perseverance, patriotism, and uncommon valor.
Kevin has also produced television documentaries in England, East Africa, Central America and the Philippines. His programs have received the George Foster Peabody Award, the World Hunger Media Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the National Education Association Award.
Shaftesbury Luncheon talks are free and open to the public. An optional lunch is available for purchase at the event, or participants may brown bag a lunch if they choose.
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