Just Announced 10th Annual Chicago Maritime Festival to teach knots, dirty sea shanties

Theoretically, winter will stick around a bit longer, keeping even some of the most dedicated of sea-lovers away from Lake Michigan for a couple more months.

But every year around the end of February, the Chicago History Museum floods with sea-enthusiasts. No, they will not be there to check out the first operating locomotive in Chicago, but to enjoy the 10th Annual Chicago Maritime Festival. This year’s Comic-Con for the maritime set docks Feb. 25 in a day-long affair that features events and classes focused on the mysteries and greatness of the deep. The day’s schedule is jam-packed with lectures and workshops on topics ranging from the local, “Shipwreck Tales of Chicago” and “Underwater Archeological Society of Chicago,” to the just plain helpful, “Life Raft Demonstration” and “The Art of Knots.”

The festival ends with performances of sea hymns and tunes from Serre l’Ecoute, Tom Lewis, Calico Jack, Jerry Bryant, and Old Town School of Folk Music teachers Tom and Chris Kastle.