Zwaanendael Maritime Celebration, A Sailor's Life for Me, set May 25-27

Adults and children alike will have an opportunity to experience seafaring lives of adventure, romance, excitement and hardships, and to honor mariners who made the ultimate sacrifice, during the Zwaanendael Museum's seventh annual Maritime Celebration, A Sailor's Life for Me, which will take place at a variety of downtown Lewes locations from Friday to Sunday, May 25 to 27. A preliminary schedule of events is included below. Except where indicated, admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 302-645-1148 or search on news.delaware.gov.

The celebration will begin with a Cape Henlopen cruise from 4:30 to 6 p.m., Friday, May 25. On the 220th anniversary of the sinking of His Majesty's Sloop DeBraak, enjoy a cruise on the waters off Cape Henlopen conducted by the Cape Water Taxi. Admission is $24 for adults, $23 for seniors and $17 for children 11 or younger. For reservations, go to https://bit.ly/2Has95K.

The Zwaanendael Museum, 102 Kings Highway, Lewes will host displays and demonstrations on local maritime history from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 26, and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., Sunday. They are presented by the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation, Lightship Overfalls/Overfalls Foundation, and the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute.

There will be a living-history encampment from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, at Canalfront Park, 211 Front St., Lewes, where historical re-enactors will portray sailors and mariners from throughout history. Activities include displays, demonstrations and military drills. Also in Canalfront Park, kayak rentals through Quest Adventures will be available at special rates from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday. Tours of the Lewes Life-Saving Station, 2 Shipcarpenter St., Lewes, will be offered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., conducted by interpreters from the Lewes Historical Society.

A lecture series at the life-saving station will begin at 11 a.m. with “Unsung Heroes and Heroines of the U.S. Life-Saving Service,” presented by the LHS. “Lightship History” presented by Wayne Kirklin of the Overfalls Foundation will be the topic at 1 p.m., and "Delaware's Maritime Heroes," at 3 p.m., will be presented by Bill Manthorpe.

The Lightship Overfalls, 219 Pilottown Road, Lewes, next to Canalfront Park, will host tours and sound-pipe demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Visitors can tour this National Historic Landmark that was the last lightship built by the United States Lighthouse Service and hear demonstrations on the use of sound pipes used by the Overfalls to produce powerfully audible warnings during the presence of thick fog or mist. The last tour begins at 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and children over 14.

The Ryves Holt House, 218 Second St., will be the starting point for Lewes walking tours at noon and 2 p.m., Saturday. Participants can tour the First Town in the First State with an interpreter from the Lewes Historical Society. Purchase tickets, $10 per person, at the Ryves Holt House.

A hull tour of His Majesty's Sloop DeBraak will be offered at noon, Sunday, May 27. Participants will meet at the Zwaanendael Museum and be transported by van to an offsite conservation facility for a guided tour of the surviving hull section of the DeBraak, which sank off the Delaware coast May 25, 1798. Admission is free, but due to limited seating, reservations must be made by calling 302-645-1148 no later than Friday, May 18. Tour limited to the first 12 people with reservations.

A wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of James Drew, captain of the DeBraak, will take place at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church cemetery, 211 Mulberry St. Accompanied by a bagpiper, participants will lay a wreath on Capt. Drew's grave, followed by a walk to the Zwaanendael Museum for a wreath-laying ceremony honoring other crew members of the DeBraak at about 3 p.m., Sunday, at the DeBraak Memorial on the museum grounds. The site is believed to contain the remains of several crew members who lost their lives in the sinking of the DeBraak.