The X-Seamen’s Institute was an all-male quartet dedicated to maritime music that regularly performed at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. Pictured from left to right, the group consisted of John Townley, Dan Aguiar, leader Bernie Klay, and Frank Woerner.

On July 4th, 1976, they were the featured performers for the Bicentennial Tall Ships festival, entertaining an estimated 20,000 people. They performed up and down the East Coast, from Boston’s Old Ironsides to the New Bedford Seamen’s Bethel, Mystic Seaport, and the National Maritime Museum in Norfolk. Their albums are available through Smithsonian Folkways.