The New York Times of December 31st contained an obituary of Bill Doerflinger. Knowing that today is the actual end of the 20th Century, the timing is fitting. With Bill's passing, this truly is the end of an era for maritime music. Here is an extract:

DOERFLINGER – William M. Died on Saturday, December 23, 2000, at Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge, NJ. He was 90. Born in New York City, he was a longtime resident of Convent Station before moving to Fellowship Village in 1999. In World War II he served in North Africa and Italy in the Office of War Information. During a long career as an editor at MacMillan and E. P. Dutton, he edited hundred of books, including works by Woody Guthrie, Francois Sagan and Sir Edmund Hillary. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard, Mr. Doerflinger wrote Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman (1951), an important collection of folk songs collected mainly on New York's waterfront and in Nova Scotia… A memorial service will be held January 20, 2001 at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ at 11 AM.