Numereous North American families trace their roots to the hardy sea-dogs of the English shires of Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Cornwall and Somerset. Over a century before the Mayflower sailed, they risked annual crossings of the unforgiving North Atlantic in pursuit of the summer fishery. Future generations opted to emigrate with their families in tiny wooden ships most of us would not trust out of sight of land on a calm summer day. Broad prairies of hull-crushing ice, wind driven snow, sleet and freezing rain forced every able-bodied man and woman on deck and into the rigging, to chip away at the destabilizing ice buildup threatening to shift the ships center of gravity and send them to the bottom. Caught without warning by the fury of a hurricane; many ships, their crews and passengers simply disappeared. At the other end of the spectrum; the risk of running out of provisions while becalmed on a placid sea. A compiliation of the indomitable spirit, ingenuity and resilience of our pioneering ancestors, in the face of unimaginable hardships. Most did not leave a heavy footprint on this earth. For successive generations they lived, loved, struggled and died with the full realization that their lives, at best, were only marginally better than their parents. Yet, like all of us, they endured resolute in the belief that for their children life would be better.