At the heart of A Whaler at Twilight is the long-lost true story of an American whaler who embarked on a harrowing adventure in the South Pacific in the mid-nineteenth century in search of absolution and redemption. After the death of his parents, young Robert Armstrong lived with a successful uncle—a well-respected Methodist shopkeeper in bustling 1840s Baltimore—and had the opportunity to attend the nation’s first dental school. But Armstrong threw his future away, drinking himself into oblivion. 

 Armstrong’s gripping personal account is bookended by thoroughly researched contextual background compiled by his great-great-grandson, Alexander Brash, who discovered his ancestor’s manuscript among a collection of family mementos. A noted professional conservationist, Brash fills out Armstrong’s intimate and timeless tale by shedding further light on a turbulent historical period, whaling and its impacts, his ancestor’s religious milieu, and the importance of marine conservation today. A Whaler at Twilight is a fascinating dive into both human morality and American history.

Alex Brash was born and raised in NYC. An early love for birds evolved into a passion for quantitative community ecology and then a devotion to conservation. Along the way he worked on Great Gull Island and in the American Museum of Natural History, graduated from Yale School for the Environment, worked on a PhD at Rutgers University, and went on to be NYC’s Chief Park Ranger, Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association, and then President of the Connecticut Audubon Society.