US President Franklin Roosevelt proposed to build the world’s largest hydro-electric generating plant—in Maine—using the ocean tides as the source of power. Not only did he propose it—in 1935 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 5,000 employees began building it.

If that surprises you, then you will want to hear Mark Borton present the fascinating story of the “Quoddy Tidal Power Project,” a tale filled with intrigue and outrage, triumphs and failures. Now nearly forgotten, Quoddy was headline news in the 1930s, thanks to an international cast of famous protagonists, dirty money and politics, fake news, monopoly power and trust-busting, and surprising links to Europe and World War II.

Mark C. Borton was the creator of the Embassy Boating Guide series of books covering the east coast of the United States from Maine to Florida. Over 30 years, more than one quarter of a million copies have been sold. The New York Times said, “Embassy Guide is all that most skippers will want or need to know,” and Sail magazine called it, “The ultimate guide in copious content and style.” Borton also created the Maptech Waterproof Chart series, which now includes 90+ titles.

Borton’s entrepreneurial experience was key to his organizing the team that won the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s SC2 national competition for economic development plans for Connecticut—and a $560,000 unrestricted cash prize.

Combining his maritime and economic interests, Borton researched and wrote Moondoggle: Franklin Roosevelt and the Fight for Tidal-Electric Power at Passamaquoddy Bay, (Down East Books, 2023). “I can confirm it’s a fascinating book,”– Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Moondoggle was nominated for the John Lyman Book Award from the North American Society for Oceanic Research.

Borton is currently writing, The Tide-Watcher’s Guide to the Bay of Fundy and investigating a pair of 400-year-old archeology sites he discovered in Maine and Nova Scotia.