BOOK REVIEWS

Jeffrey G. Barlow. From Hot War to War origins lay in a sound appreciation of Cold: The U.S. Navy and National American requirements and capabilities. Security Affairs, 1945-1955. Palo Alto, Barlow, the author of an earlier CA: Stanford University Press, study of the Navy’s controversial struggle in www.sup.org, 2009. x+728 pp., notes, 1949 against an Air Force-dominated bibliography, index. US $65.00, cloth; strategic doctrine, was clearly compelled to ISBN-13: 978-0-80475-666-2. make difficult decisions to realize what could have been a much more expansive In a thickly researched narrative of the early study. The advent of the atomic age and national security state, Jeffrey Barlow perceived Soviet threat cast into doubt undertakes to explore the role played by the prospects for resuming a peacetime posture US Navy in strategic debates and the bitter after 1945, and Barlow is at his best in unification crisis of the immediate post- depicting the resulting scramble among the Second World War period, when defence services to conflate their operational pundits, former wartime joint commanders, capabilities and platforms with the national and policy-makers hoped to dissolve the interest. But one would have liked more disparate services into a single amalgam. light shed on the Navy’s stake in some key The title of the book misleads somewhat, as issues, especially Truman’s dismissal of Barlow begins his account in March 1942 MacArthur, which looms large over any with President Roosevelt’s decision to narrative of relations between the executive consolidate in one person the role of Chief and the military in this period. A deeper of Naval Operations and Fleet Commander. assessment, however speculative, of the The brilliant, ardently service-partisan Navy’s acquiescence in that muscular officer who filled that enormous profile, initiative would likewise have been Admiral Ernest King, worked to expand the welcome, as would a more detailed role of the service chief to subsume appreciation of the Navy’s response to virtually the entire Navy Department, while NSC-68 or the mission of then-retired skillfully leveraging the central importance General George Marshall to China. of the Navy in the Second World War for The book should prove especially the internecine bureaucratic struggle that he interesting to contemporary historians of shrewdly saw coming. The result was a strategy, who will find engrossing the service well-positioned to weather the initial Navy’s struggle to define its role in the setbacks of an Air Force offensive to claim uncertain new environment of the Cold War the country’s entire strategic future and to and the manner whereby senior officers rebound with a strong, multi-faceted, and negotiated a rapidly shifting set of sensible strategy comprising both bureaucratic challenges. Barlow, the son conventional and nuclear means. However and grandson of naval officers, chooses to conflicted on a range of issues the highlight, perhaps overly generously, the contemporary US Navy may seem, its Cold unusually capable and intelligent cadre of

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XX No. 2 (April 2010), 209-238 210 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord senior leaders who guided the Navy through (re)construction, many of us would like to this era, especially the five CNOs of this know what life was like back then, but period, whose varied backgrounds and actually living in that era would mean most generalist orientations are thought to have of us would be dead by now, or badly prepared them for the unique rigours of nurtured and suffering several diseases! So strategic command. More cynically, Barlow how far should the “authentic experience” points out that the bitter unification battles go? These replica ships create an in Congress and against the other services atmosphere and arouse a lot of interest in impressed upon them the need for the Navy our forebears and how they managed life at to “sell its mission competence to the larger sea and that is exactly the point of those. worlds of Congress and general public in The title of the present book is a bit order to maintain support in an arena where misleading if one is actually looking for the the other military services, particularly the magnificent 1986 book under the same title, U.S. Air Force, were effectively selling the edited by Crumlin-Pedersen & Vinner. In futurist orientation of their combatant the 2009 book, thirteen authors are brought forces.”(p.405) While striking in retrospect, together to tell about their experiences with the contemporary observer of military constructing and sailing wooden ship affairs cannot but lament the growth of replicas. Practical knowledge, true, service identities seemingly based as much sometimes anecdotal only, gives the readers on zero-sum marketing as on utility. some more feeling about how it could have been like to sail a Greek Trireme or a Marcus Jones Bezaisen, a Japanese coastal sailing trader. Annapolis, MD In some cases ships were constructed using one “specific” original ship as source, in Jenny Bennett (ed.). Sailing into the Past: other cases, a ship was built “representing” Replica Ships and Seamanship. Barnsley, a certain ship type, using all different S. Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing, sources the designers could lay their hands www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, 2009. 192 pp., on at that time. illustrations, bibliography, index. UK The book is very accessible, £25.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-84832-013-0. background knowledge is not much anticipated. If you for example have never Replica ship building and sailing has never heard of the Skuldelev ships, those are been more popular than today. A brief properly introduced. After an introduction search will lead to dozens or even hundreds in four smaller articles the books is of such vessels across the globe, some of presented in two parts. The first part (four them primarily built for scientific purposes, papers) is dedicated to ancient and medieval but many of them for various other reasons ships, the second (six papers) to the Age of as well. Due to maritime restrictions, some Discovery 1600-1750. Obviously many can be sailed, others cannot. Generally, ships are left out, like for example the some were built ‘authentically’ and tested Kyrenia, but it is impossible to satisfy all. for scientific purposes, but in order to put to The vessels described in the book are sea, they needed modern adjustments; for similar to their historical / archaeological example, an engine. What we see today is a examples, but no one-to-one copies! ship which looks like the original (“visual Historical novelist Richard replica”), which might be constructed partly Woodman writes about the enchantment like the original (a “structural replica”) but many replica ships have and that is what the is not used like the original. But with any book is about: enthusing the readers for Book Reviews 211 replica sailing vessels. McGrail is setting and even in the list of contents (re)construction in perspective, explaining (“contributorts instead of “contributors”), the difference with for example showing the book might have been experimental archaeology in a very clear published in a hurry. The occasional picture manner. The spectrum of projects is large, could have been polished using Photoshop not even to speak about the spectrum of (for example the Lisa von Lübeck image on people and ambitions with such projects. pages 84-85) but those details may be The Sea Stallion of Glendalough, forgiven. built in Roskilde Denmark and described by The publisher and the editor have Rikke Johansen is a good example of a ship succeeded to turn the individual articles into serving several purposes. At Roskilde, over a complete and attractive narrative, a kind forty years of experience with Viking ship of nice series of examples, promoting replicas has culminated. Constructing the replica ship building and sailing. Most of Sea Stallion must have cost a fortune, just these articles read like adventure stories. like with the previous ships they built here. Present day sailors will be happy to read It was sailed to Dublin from Roskilde and this attractively designed book with a back in 2008-09 which raised a lot of multitude of pictures. For historians and attention, serving several purposes at once archaeologists, this is a nice introduction (research, tourism, nationalism, nostalgia to into the subject. A close reader will see not name just a few). Some see this ship and its only the good about ship replicas, but as travels as the finale, the crown on the work well the challenges this field faces. at Roskilde, either leading to a more slow phase in research and reconstruction (and a Roeland Paardekooper generation shift) or to an ending. It is Eindhoven, the Netherlands unclear what the future will bring, but it will surely involve building and sailing. John Blake. The Sea Chart: The Some examples of ship replicas are Illustrated History of Nautical Maps pretty old (like the 1987 trireme), but still and Navigational Charts. Annapolis, the authors and the graphic designer MD: Naval Institute Press, managed to make the articles live up to www.navalinstiute.org, 2009. 160 pp., modern standards. In many cases, the illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. authors were closely related to the ship US $39.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-59114- projects themselves, leading to relatively 782-4. optimistic stories with less detail to what could have been done better or to the Nautical charts provide a detailed context with other similar projects. But this representation of maritime regions and are book is about more than just the value of essential tools for the safe navigation of such ships to science alone. coastal waters. Depending on the scale, the The articles have a limited set of charts can offer mariners information on the references, good enough for those who want seabed (its depth, composition, and to learn more, but not turning the texts in channels), tides and currents, magnetic hard core scientific exposés. In general, a declination, harbour approaches, and few more links to on line information would navigational hazards. Throughout history have made the references more complete. A the charts have helped to open new waters few typographic errors could have been to mercantile shipping and have played a prevented, for example in topography key role in the development of maritime (“Limm fjord” instead of “Limfjord,” p. 67) trade. 212 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Within cartographic circles, among which are the wonderful archival nautical charts are, however, somewhat repositories of the British Admiralty, the neglected. Although their history extends United Kingdom’s Hydrographic Office, far into antiquity, and although their and London’s Royal Geographical Society. production has been taken up in many The illustrations provide a good overview western countries, researchers have of the nautical chart genre and have been generally not given them the same superbly reproduced. consideration as their terrestrial counterpart. The Sea Chart has some The Sea Chart helps to address some of this typographical errors, and regrettably, some imbalance. factual errors as well. Giovanni Francesco A former Lieutenant-Commander Camocio’s world map (p. 17), for example, in the Royal Navy and a Fellow of the does not use Mercator’s famous, precedent- Royal Institute of Navigation, John Blake is setting, projection. In fact, Camocio an ideal candidate for undertaking a history published his map nine years before of chart making. He has an intimate Mercator first introduced his projection to familiarity with the subject that would make the world in 1569. others very envious. It is a familiarity that Blake’s illustrated history is an he willingly shares, for example, through impressive legacy to the courage and his explanations of the problems mariners perseverance of those who risked their lives faced when crossing the high seas and the over the centuries to offer mariners secure methods used by early surveyors in their passage across the high seas. He has efforts to plot coastlines. Such overviews delivered a visual and intellectual provide a well-grounded historical context masterpiece worthy of any public or private for the ten regional histories that are the library. focus of Blake’s presentation. The regional Jeffrey S. Murray histories chronicle the exploration and Burritt’s Rapids, Ontario mapping of coastal waters of the Mediterranean; northern Europe; the Arctic; Louis Blanchette. La Promenade des Africa; India and the Persia Gulf; the Capitaines. Parcours historiques du Vieux Pacific and East Indies; eastern America and Port de Matane. Sainte-Félicité-de-Matane, the Caribbean; western America; the QC: Histo-graff, blanchettelouis@globe Antarctic; and the Antipodes (Australia and trotter.net, 2009. 110 pp., illustrations, New Zealand). maps, appendix, bibliography. CDN $20.00, Content on Canadian waters is paper; ISBN 978-2-9802958-5-0. covered through the east coast surveys of Joseph F.W. des Barres (1777), James In 1603, Samuel de Champlain described Cook’s Newfoundland surveys (1762), the Matane during his first voyage to the New French charting of Acadia and the St. World: "About sixty leagues along the south Lawrence (1600-1750), George Vancouver’s shore [of the great River of Canada] there is west coast survey (1790-94), and various a small river called Matane that goes some British expeditions to the Arctic 18 leagues into the land; at its end, canoes Archipelago in search of a Northwest can be portaged about a league and will Passage. Throughout the book, Blake has enable one to reach [Lake Matapedia and] emphasized one-of-a-kind manuscript the Bay des Chaleurs from where Ile Percé charts, but not to the total exclusion of can be reached." Twenty-three years later, printed charts. His illustrations were La Rochelle merchants, Champlain's collected from a variety of institutions, ruthless rivals for the resources of Canada, Book Reviews 213 were occupying the river mouth to trade for to highlight four themes: forerunners, furs with the natives. Little changed over builders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. the next 150 years, with the exception of a The second pays homage to the spirit of seasonal fishery that appeared in the enterprise of the ship captains of the region. eighteenth century. But after The other two elements, sites along the Confederation, the first efforts to build a route, are dedicated to the La Rochelle wharf followed and the port of Matane was merchants of the early seventeenth century, legally defined. The Liberal government of who chose the mouth of the Matane River Alexander Mackenzie hoped Matane would as their trading place, and mark the become a harbour of refuge and a port of tercentenary of the Seigneurie of Matane, call where river traffic would meet ocean which is dedicated to the pioneers who ships and serve the lower St. Lawrence settled the region. The author recalls all this River. A light was installed. Timber gave in a charming book that contains a the port its first great stimulus to grow. collection of travelers' mentions of Matane, From 1861, when Price Brothers dammed some superb historic photographs and the the river and installed the first saw mill until texts of all the notices that may be found in the second quarter of the twentieth century the kiosks along the route. Many of the Matane grew along with Quebec's forest latter contain brief descriptions of the industry. The railway's reach into the Gaspé ferries, ships built, and brief biographies of encouraged colonization of the area, and local businessmen and ship captains who early in the century, a ferry service appeared struggled to grow the local economy. to serve the people and ports along the north Although intended to be a tourist guide and shore of the lower St. Lawrence where no souvenir of a trip to Matane, the text and the road exited beyond Baie Comeau for many photographs should attract anyone decades. Fishing and local shipbuilding interested in the rich maritime history of the grew up around the port. But life was never lower St. Lawrence River. easy. After the Second World War, the forest industry declined and trucking James Pritchard competed relentlessly with riverine Kingston, Ontario transport. Louis Blanchette is a local historian Leo Block. Aboard the Farragut Class and family genealogist who has written Destroyers: A History with First Person books on Matane's maritime history and the Accounts of Enlisted Men. Jefferson, NC: ferry-rail service between the south and McFarland & Co., www.mcfarland north shores of the St. Lawrence. This pub.com, 2009. 230 pp., illustrations, notes, latest book, designed to accompany an index, glossary; ISBN 978-0-7864-4222-5. historic walk in the old port of Matane, is very well done. Leo Block, ex-fireman and machinist mate The Town of Matane established aboard USS Macdonough of the Farragut the Captain's Walk (La Promenade des class of US Navy destroyers, offers a unique Capitaines) in 1992 to memorialize the approach to history that combines the town's maritime history. It forms a linear context of oral histories from the park stretching along the west side of the participants with the author’s account of the Matane River where it meets the St. operations of the vessels in the class. The Lawrence River, and contains four result is a story which sheds new light on elements. The first is a group of four small the life and times of the destroyer navy from interpretative kiosks along the way arranged 1932, when the USS Farragut was laid 214 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord down as the first ship of its class, to the stories of the ships and the people who ship’s decommissioning as the last survivor sailed in them. Each ship and its history is in October 1945. portrayed and not always lovingly, such as Block’s style is direct and transmits the description of USS Worden approaching information clearly. The work is a history 30 knots as being “a floating siren.” of the class, both ships and crews, The author takes us inside the fire incorporating short accounts by the enlisted room during the apparently routine job of men arranged around major periods and escorting aircraft carriers. He translates for events, which formed the major focus of the the first time the process of changing speed ships’ lives. It is a mine of naval lore and and course rapidly. Because Block is an custom that marks a strong tradition and engineer, he gives the detail of lighting a esprit de corps. The work’s progression boiler in a seaway, setting fuses and follows chronologically within broad manually firing the 5-inch dual-purpose periods with explanatory chapter headings. gun, which was the major weapon carried The introduction is followed by chapters by the class. On a larger scale, he lays bare entitled “The Ships,” “The Ship’s the primary deficiencies of the class that Company,” and “The Dungaree Navy.” would result in the loss of at least one, and Then there are chapters on major periods of possibly all three vessels; namely, the single destroyer activity, “The Hawaiian engine room and lack of a diesel generator. Detachment,”” December 7, 1941,” “South The author is deeply proud of the Pacific,” “Aleutians,” “Central Pacific” and USN and its destroyer navy and claims to “The Typhoon of December 1944.” give a portrait of the system that produces Destroyers worked together as a flotilla self-reliant sailors. He also has a high during the pre-war period, but operated opinion of the class as a finishing school for within other groups during hostilities. Three knowledgeable, active sailors who are final chapters, “Liberty,” “The Uniform,” prepared for independent action, describing, and “Ship Histories” conclude the book. in detail, the destroyer as a classroom in A crisp picture emerges of the U.S. which sailors gained the knowledge to destroyer navy, the enlistees and junior secure advancement. The book contains officers, mostly ensigns. The Farragut class few mechanical errors, for which we are is deeply fascinating for many reasons. It grateful. There is peculiarly blunt language was the first class of destroyers built dealing with heretofore taboo subjects like following the First World War that sexuality and the role and problems of embodied the distilled experience of the alcohol at sea. The treatment of these intervening years, 1919 to 1932. Farrragut aspects of the sailor’s life, although class destroyers fought in all the major courageous and revealing, makes the book campaigns and battles of the Second World unsuitable for younger readers. War from the first part of the war when the Despite his generally careful work, outcome was uncertain to Pearl Harbor, and one of Block’s few comments on the were in the thick of the fighting throughout strategy of the war contains a serious error the war. Finally, four vessels of the class which requires clarification. He asserts that went through the crucible of the Great fifty of the preceding class of four-stack Typhoon of December 1944 with two destroyers “were given to the British before sinking as a result. our entry into the war” (p. 65). This is There were eight ships in all built incorrect on two counts. First, the vessels after 1932 and the author touches on each were traded in exchange for American bases one about equally in terms of recording the in Newfoundland and the West Indies. Book Reviews 215 Second, six of these vessels were operated John Bowen and Martin Robson (eds.). by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) where Shipwright 2010. London, UK: Anova they all saw very hard service in the six- Books, www.conwaypublishing.com, year Battle of the Atlantic. While we 2009. 208 pp., illustrations, notes, UK £ concede that the US was in Roosevelt’s 30.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-84486-108-8. words, “The Arsenal of Democracy,” it also did well economically-speaking, being the Model Shipwright began as a quarterly major creditor to all combatants, allied and publication in the autumn of 1972; its first axis. The author is on safer ground when he 20 issues were produced with hard covers, confines himself to his subject. switching to soft covers thereafter. The photographs are wonderful, Publication as a quarterly journal ended though small in scale. The drawings are with No.144, when it changed to the rudimentary but helpful, as are illustrations current large format, full colour, and of the boilers. A map of the Pacific theatre annual publication. While continuing the would have been helpful but both the index Model Shipwright traditions, the format and glossary are useful tools. change is designed to move the Can a work on a single class based publication forward to meet the on just the lower deck’s experience be successful? Yes, but more stories from requirements of today's modellers and commissioned ranks would have added to it, maritime historians. Recognizing that, although Block does include some the annual issue has been renamed to interviews from among the commissioned become the International Annual of ensign ranks. Maritime History and Ship Modelmaking. This work belongs in every library The new format is beautifully designed devoted to naval history to add to the with superbly printed photography; context of America’s naval heritage. It numerous plans and illustrations are would be a useful addition to the library of equally well reproduced benefiting from anyone interested in the history of the small the high quality paper employed in the ship navy, the history of technology, or oral publication. In addition, articles history. Practicing naval engineers and previously spread over a number of issues architects might learn ergonomics lessons are now contained in the one issue. from this synthesis of man and machines. Starting with issue nnumber 77 The author shows the versatility of the and continuing to the last quarterly issue, smallest vessel in the blue water fleet in a draught suitable for model building was convoying, army co-operation and included with each issue of the journal. bombardment, and screening capital ships. The draught was invariably accompanied As historians we found the by an article providing the vessel history, accounts of actions a wonderful contemporary photographs, a brief counterpoint for the official accounts of construction outline, and notes on the USN operations by canonical authors like colour scheme. While this facilitated the Samuel Morison. building of a good model, additional Kathy Crewdson and Ian Dew research could produce a very credible Thunder Bay, Ontario one. Draughts are not included in the annual issue but can be down-loaded through the Shipwright web site, www.shipwrightannual.com. Announced 216 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord concurrently with the new format, the site by John R. Haynes; “Two Yachting offers down-loadable large-scale plans of dioramas: Based on Plans from Fred W. the current draught along with additional Martin's 1901 Album of Design” by John draughts and Shipwright plans. While the Pocius; and “Prospector BA 25: individual titles make much of the content Modellers Draught” by J. Pottinger. self-evident and, therefore, in no need of There are three articles on tips or further comment, I have added notes in a techniques; “Deck Scoring Device: Deck few places to highlight some subjects. Planking Simulation” by Robert A. Wilson, An interview with Dr. Kevin FRSA; “Making Treenails (dowels) A Tool Fewster, Director of The National Maritime for their Production” by John Dodd; and Museum, Greenwich follows; he discusses “Marine Carving in Miniature: Creating his move from Australia where he directed a Intricate Figureheads and Frieze Work” by number of museums, including the Lloyd McCaffery. Note, McCaffery is a Australian National Maritime Museum and, magnificent wood sculptor; however this more importantly, his plans for the demonstration of his abilities using very continued growth of the National Maritime sophisticated tooling, coupled with his Museum, while balancing the needs of the ability to switch hemispheres of his brain at general viewing public with those of will, should be seen as a study of his maritime historians and researchers. absolutely spectacular results, not as a The book contains nineteen primer on wood carving. articles covering a wide range of interests, There are two restoration projects; including ‘The Mary Rose: An Artist's “Restoration of an Old Working Model View’ by Geoff Hunt, RSMA. Note: Fifie” by Bruce Buchanan and “Restoring a While Hunt was commissioned to Model of an Unnamed Brig” by David produce a new painting of the Mary Rose Mills. in 2007 using all the existing available History is well represented with information, he kindly draws attention to “Ships of the Wilkes Expedition: the work of the late Raymond Aker who, Antarctic Exploration 1838-42” by Rorke without benefit of the later research, Bryan; “Atlantic Transport Line: The produced his own painting in 1981. It is in Minnie Class of Baker's Celebrated accordance with Hunt's work and findings Passenger Service” by Jonathon Kinghorn in almost every significant respect, a and “SS Great Britain; Brunel's Famous wonderful testimony to the accuracy of Iron Ship” by John York. Aker's early work. Marine Archaeology has two There are seven articles on new pieces; “The Gunner's Table: Inves- construction discussing models of tigating the History of a Seventeenth- “Norman Court: Composite Tea Clipper” Century Artifact” by Richard Endsor; and by Robert A. Wilson, RSMA; “Nautilus “HMS Invincible (1747-58): Archaeology 1872-1891: Tasmanian barque” by John Provides 250-Year-Old Technical Laing; “HMS Teazer, 1801: Or The Details” by John M. Bingeman Misadventures of a Novice Modeller” by (Government Licensee, Invincible (1758) John Thompson; “Minnewaska 1909: Historic Wreck Site). Note, the second Construction of a 1:1200 Scale Model” by item presents photos of blocks, rack John Bowen, editor of the journal; “USS blocks, a medieval-style block, sheaves, Gearing, DD 710: Second War Destroyer” worn sheave pins, deadeyes, heart blocks Book Reviews 217 and a euphroe, all recovered from the site. the National Historic Ship Register, the In addition, there are Book News, book definitely covers the most relevant Shipwright Gallery and a piece entitled historic ships of the U.K. still existing “HMS Daring: The Portsmouth Flotilla today. Organized in eight Welcomes the Type 45 Destroyer to the chronological/thematic sections Fleet” by Lt. Cdr. F. Evans and Robert (beginning with the Sailing Navy and Fosterjohn. continuing with Merchant Sail and topics The editors have assembled a like The Transition from Sail to Steam varied, well-balanced, interesting and before ending with the Postwar Navy, the well-written range of articles for this first book provides individual chapters or issue. Under the guidance of John sections on a little more than seventy Bowen, a model builder, who has been ships. There is also an appendix listing with Model Shipwright since its inception other vessels of 60 feet or more that are (when he was its Deputy Editor), and a part of the core collection of the registry, member of the Royal Institution of Naval but have not been selected for an Architects, and Dr. Martin Robson, a independent chapter of the book. The naval and maritime historian who was a basic design of each chapter / section Caird Senior Research Fellow at the includes a table with the technical data, an National Maritime Museum and elaborated historical narrative and a good completed his Ph.D. at the Department of deal of historical and contemporary War Studies, King’s College London, it illustrations and/or additional source would appear that the annual journal is in materials on the particular vessel. sound hands. Altogether, the book definitely The book is highly recommended provides a good overview of the histories of to anyone interested in maritime history, a selection of relevant historic British ships model building or simply an informative that is well researched and well illustrated. read. There is also a bibliography and a link-list for recommended websites. While this N. Roger Cole might be enough for a very positive review Scarborough, Ontario for an average reader, whether it is a useful book for a scholarly audience is a little Paul Brown. Britain’s Historic Ships. trickier. London, UK: Anova Books, All points mentioned above also www.anovabooks.com, 2009. 208 pp., apply for a scholarly review, but a scholarly illustrations, appendix, bibliography, reader might have found it helpful to learn glossary, index. UK £30.00, cloth; ISBN more about the criteria for including certain 978-1-84486-093-7. vessels and not others or why only in the appendix. Moreover, some general Britain’s Historic Ships provides a register reflections on the role of these ships for the of historic ships in the U.K. (including history of the U.K. and/or their relevance some replicas) and claims with the within the context of public history would subtitle to be “A Complete Guide to the have been useful. In addition, the index and Ships that Shaped the Nation.” Of course, the bibliography are comparably short and every complete guide carries a certain unspecific for a book that claims to be a bias per se, but as the vessels included in complete guide, at least from a scholarly the book represent the core collection of point of view. 218 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Perhaps most importantly, screen. One reason, which should not be reviewing this book means commenting at underestimated, is that while the web- the same time on the relevance of printed based database might be the smarter books in the era of digital databases choice for the very small number of accessible via the Internet. The U.K.’s professional historians working within the National Historic Ship Register is field of historical vessels, such a database completely available online (www. will neither promote maritime history to a nationalhistoricships.org.uk) and, beside wider audience nor catch the attention of technical data and short histories of the historians dealing with maritime history vessels, the database includes a wide as a personal research topic. Finally, range of illustrations/photographs as well books like Britain’s Historic Ships and the as a statement of significance and a historic ships database should be seen as bibliography for each individual vessel. two sides of the same coin with each side One might question the general relevance needing the other. of such a book for scholarly purposes The book can be highly since more or less the same information recommended to the more occasional reader included in the book is also available of maritime history topics and is still a nice online. In particular, the search engine of read for the small group of specialists in the the web-based database provides a much field of historical vessels. more detailed access to the data than the Ingo Heidbrink index of the book and, of course, there are Norfolk, Virginia updates and the much larger number of vessels included in the electronic register. W. H. Bunting. Live Yankees. The Sewalls In addition, the electronic database and their Ships. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury provides the criteria for the selection of House Publishers and the Maine Maritime the vessels and many more details of Museum, www.tilburyhouse.com, 2009. scholarly relevance. Consequently, it is xvi + 496 pp., illustrations, appendices, difficult to understand why information index. US $30.00, cloth; ISBN 978-0- on how to access the database is only 88448-315-1. provided as a footnote to the appendix; In his introduction, author W. H. Bunting such a link would have directly answered asserts that the Sewalls were the family all critiques mentioned earlier. most intimately associated with the history In other words, for the professional of Bath, Maine, at a time when it was historian working with historical vessels on among the most productive shipbuilding a day-to-day basis, the electronic database is communities in the world. For nearly a much more relevant than the book, which is century, members of the family built and essentially excerpted from the database with managed a fleet of more than one hundred additional historical narratives on the merchant vessels, mostly deep-water vessels. square-riggers; invested in railroads and Nevertheless, even the other non-maritime securities and professional reader of the book/user of the speculations; and actively participated in database will occasionally prefer the state and national politics. At their pinnacle printed version of the register and not in 1887, the Sewalls had the largest fleet of only for the convenience of reading a real American-flag square-riggers sailing in book instead of sitting in front of the many of the world’s deep-water trades. Book Reviews 219 Beginning in the 1820s, the Sewalls concerns the business activities of the contributed to the emerging American shipbuilding and ship-owning firms of merchant fleet that provided markets for Clark and Sewall, ca.1827-66; E & A domestic goods, obtained foreign goods and Sewall, ca.1854-79; and Arthur Sewall & exchange, created wealth and spread Co., 1879-1932. American influence. Moving beyond the Live Yankees represents a selection traditional West Indies and Pacific trades, of the stories told, in many cases through the Sewalls, like other American the letters of those that lived them, that shipowners, helped pioneer the cotton trade illuminate the multi-dimensional dynamic from southern ports to Britain and Europe. that existed between the many generations Uncertainty in the traditional American of the Sewall family; between a shipowner carrying trades created by the American and his shipbuilders and yard workers and Civil War in the 1860s saw the American between a shipowner and the masters of his merchant fleet greatly reduced, and by the vessels. It is in the latter relationship that war’s end, the Sewalls had disposed of their the book makes one of its most outstanding remaining fleet. When peace returned, contributions. The correspondence between young Edward and Arthur Sewall re- the Sewalls and their captains, adroitly emerged building ships and operating them placed in context by the author, reveals the around Cape Horn to engage in the San complex world of the sailing master in Francisco grain trade. During slumps in operating sailing vessels. Their letters are this trade in the 1870s, their vessels carried ripe with stories of surly crews, mutinies, Peruvian guano and coal around Cape Horn; plagues, shipwrecks, cannibal isles, case oil from Philadelphia and New York to destitute widows, questionable ship the far east; and later in the century, performances, bad weather, trouble in ports Hawaiian sugar. In the 1890s the Sewalls and lawsuits. All of this turmoil is set built four large wooden square-riggers against the backdrop of being nagged and before converting their yard to build steel- browbeaten by the Sewalls to practice strict hulled sailing vessels. Their shipyard was economy in all matters, particularly in light closed in 1903, and they sold their of declining profit margins toward the end remaining fleet during the First World War. of the sailing-ship era. It is the captains of Often overshadowed by their square-rigged the Sewall vessels who emerge as some of fleet, their coastal schooners were employed the most compelling characters in the book. in transporting southern hard pine, a vital The author deserves credit for his shipbuilding timber from the American “no holds barred” approach that southeast to Bath. They also sailed to the distinguishes it from the typical corporate or Caribbean, South America, and the family history. The book captures the Mediterranean. The Sewalls shunned the reality of the Sewall family business by transition to steamers, believing profitable including some excellent examples of the cargoes would always be available for hard bargaining and sometimes questionable sailing vessels in some long distance trades. practices. The Sewalls routinely falsified Live Yankees relies heavily upon ship’s registrations to place unsold vessel the 315 linear feet of documents in the property with certain out-of-state friends Sewall Family Papers housed at the Maine and relatives so as to avoid high Bath Maritime Museum, a vast collection of property taxes. No fleet experienced greater letters, bills, casualty reports, official infamy regarding alleged shipboard abuses documents, log books, telegrams in code, and brutality toward sailors, being cited on and so on. The heart of the collection numerous occasions in The Red Record, 220 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord published by the National Seaman’s Union standard-source status in their library. of America. Perhaps the most poignant Marven E. Moore example is their treatment of the widow and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia family of Captain John Williams, who was murdered aboard the ship Occidental in Chronique d'histoire maritime, no. 64, May 1887. The section entitled “You have juillet 2008. Paris, Fr: Société française defrauded a helpless woman” vividly d'histoire maritime, www.sfhm.asso.fr, illustrates their hard stance in dealing with a 2008. widow of one their captains left in destitute circumstances. This is one of two Chroniques published Live Yankees is not without some annually by the Canadian Nautical Research weaknesses. While the author used a Society’s French sister society, the Société variety of primary and secondary sources to Française d’Histoire Maritime (SFHM). create a context for the Sewall Both organizations represent their countries’ correspondence, the book would have interests on the International Commission of benefitted from more historical background Maritime History. In 2000, the French on American and international shipping Naval Historical Documents Committee considering its lengthy chronological span. merged with the French Commission of This would have been helpful to readers Maritime History to form the new French with a more general interest in the subject. Maritime History Society, whose President The separation of some stories about since 2005 has been Rear Admiral Jacques individuals or events in different locations Chatelle. Vice-President Raymonde within the book is frustrating because it Litalien, a former archivist with Library and often requires readers to return to an earlier Archives Canada, has edited this latest section to re-acquaint themselves with Chronique. It contains eight articles, important details. And finally, it is very several book reviews, obituaries and the unfortunate that non-Sewall ships and minutes of the Society’s 2008 annual individuals that appear in the book are general meeting. omitted from the index, thus reducing its The articles range from the very usefulness as a valuable resource for those specialized to the very general. Five deal researching contemporary individuals and with naval topics, including an analysis of a vessels. mysterious medieval wreck in the Live Yankees is a scholarly, yet Mediterranean Sea off Calvaire as well as a remarkably readable, book; a credit to its technical piece on developments in guided author, its publisher, the Sewall family, and missile technology since the Falklands War The Maine Maritime Museum. To that may affect future naval operations. paraphrase Arthur Sewall writing on another Also included is an interesting narrative matter, it does require “industry and paper by Jean Cecarelli on Allied efforts to perseverance” to fully navigate, but rewards secure the waters, including several the reader with a remarkable insight into the steamships, around and within German commercial lives of an important American Cameroon in 1914. Fearing that the colony maritime family, and many of the engaging might become a base from which to attack individuals who worked with or for them. Allied shipping in the South Atlantic Ocean, For anyone interested in American merchant French and British forces undertook a shipping during the nineteenth and early- successful campaign to block any such twentieth centuries, this handsomely attempt. Three articles deal with economic produced volume will quickly assume and social topics. Of interest to North Book Reviews 221 American readers is Jacques Ducoin’s Terkel and other historians who rely heavily article on the role of Nantes ships in French on oral history, Tony Cope has written an emigration to California during the Gold attractive, if limited, account of the men and Rush, 1848-1854. He explains why as women who came to Savannah, Georgia, many as 25,000 Frenchmen, not normally between 1942 and 1945, to build Liberty known for emigrating, sailed to the ships. American west coast during the period The author is a native of Savannah, subsequently making up more than ten per where he taught and served as a school cent of San Francisco’s foreign population. administrator for more than thirty years. He Christiane Villain-Gandossi treats the world employs his detailed knowledge of place of maritime risk in a broadly brushed, well. He uses interviews and reflective article on a topic that she has correspondence with about forty former addressed before. Though focused on the employees of the Southeastern Shipbuilding Mediterranean world, she shows how risk Corporation with skill and sensitivity. has evolved since the Middle Ages from These and other interviews with Merchant being a matter of divine will, and thus Marine seamen, US Navy Armed Guard appeased by prayers and invocations, to a sailors, and launch sponsors and their more natural phenomenon to be assessed by families, along with articles from rational calculation and insurance. Her Savannah's newspapers and the shipyard's conclusion, however, reveals a new in-house journal, Sou'Easter, are the main awareness that social systems not only sources for his social history. Yet, anecdote, come under the effects of certain risks, but however well told, is no substitute for that they themselves are the source of other analysis. risks. While the sea continues to be a risk The book is organized into 18 to man, man has increasingly become a risk chapters of which ten—about 60 per cent of to the sea. the text—are devoted to the shipyard and shipbuilding. The Southeastern James Pritchard, Shipbuilding Corporation was the tenth and Kingston, Ontario. last of the new shipyards brought into existence by the US Maritime Commission Tony Cope. On the Swing Shift; Building between 1940 and 1942. It was initially Liberty Ships in Savannah. Annapolis, established as a privately- funded shipyard MD: Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org. without any firm shipbuilding contracts, but 2009. xiv + 235 pp., illustrations, the increasingly nervous Maritime appendices, notes, sources, index. US Commission condemned the first Savannah $26.95, cloth; ISBN 978-1-59114-123-5. shipyard, and, after awarding $1.4 million to the owners, brought in a new group of Sex in the work place was a part of wartime investors with extensive corporate living. Johnny Mercer, Savannah's most management and shipbuilding experience to famous lyricist/ composer/ singer, knew quickly create a new corporation. whereof he spoke when he wrote, "Life is Subsequent chapters deal with fine with my baby on the swing shift." building the shipyard, recruiting the Workers on the swing shift in American's unskilled labour, women and African- wartime shipyards normally earned a American workers, housing, training, premium over those employed on the day absenteeism, occupational safety, launching shift, though not as much as those on the the ships, and fitting them out. There is graveyard shift. In the tradition of Studs nothing very analytical in these chapters. 222 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord They are largely descriptive based on the uses interviews and correspondence from memories of interviewees. The one dealing survivors of the convoys, the chapters rely with trade unionism is weak. After twelve heavily on Martin Middlebrook, Convoy; years of Depression, most workers were in The Battles for SC. 122 and HX. 229 their first real job, cared little for unions and (London 1978). Moreover, this is a major viewed dues-collecting trade unions as digression from shipbuilding, and means being only after their money. They were that readers never do learn much about the right. President Roosevelt's Fair social and economic impact of the huge Employment Practice Commission played shipyard on the society and economy of no role in Georgia. The US Maritime Savannah and environs. Despite its Commission forced the FEPC to consult it limitations as social history, On the Swing before issuing any fair employment Shift is an effective tribute to the men and compliance orders to shipyards anywhere in women who laboured for victory in steamy the country. No attempt was made to Savannah nearby the Garden of Good and enforce workers' rights; for example, at Evil. Southeastern, African-Americans were James Pritchard employed only as labourers and helpers. To Kingston, Ontario circumvent the FEPC, other southern shipyards sometimes trained African- Americans as skilled workers before Roger Dingman. Deciphering the Rising assigning them jobs as labourers. Sun: Navy and Marine Corps Southeastern was a closed shop and all Codebreakers, Translators, and white workers had to join one of eleven Interpreters in the Pacific War. Annapolis, American Federation of Labor-affiliated MD: Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org, unions to keep their jobs. In return for 2009. xi + 272 pp., illustrations, maps, accepting a basic wage freeze set by the notes, bibliography, index. US $29.95, federal government and a no-strike clause cloth; ISBN 978-1-59114-211-9. for the duration, unions got a guaranteed closed shop. Workers had no interest in the Roger Dingman’s Deciphering the Rising unions and the unions got very rich. Sun is an important historical contribution Workers did not object because their pay and an innovative entry into the debate was very good. At its peak in 1943, the about race relations in the Pacific Theater Savannah shipyard employed 15,000 of the Second World War. Narrowing his workers on three shifts. In all, more than focus to male and female Navy and 46,000 men and women passed through the Marine officers who worked as Japanese city's largest industrial manufacturing plant interpreters, Dingman argues that the ever during its 49 months of operation. skills of these officers not only positively While interesting, the recollections of forty affected the battlefields, but also led men and women cannot give either an insightful or complete picture of the towards ensuring lasting peace between shipyard. the two adversarial states – Japan and the Nearly one-third of the text is taken United States. Unlike the interpreters up with the fates of the 88 Liberty ships working for the United States Army, the built at Southeastern Shipbuilding, chiefly majority of whom were of Japanese the tragic voyage of the yard's first ship, the descent, the Navy and Marine officers SS James Oglethorpe that sailed in the ill- schooled at Boulder, Colorado, were fated convoy HX. 229. While the author white and had no previous Japanese Book Reviews 223 language experience. Their intensive to racial theorists. He proves that training taught them an extremely difficult academically ignoring Navy and Marine language at an unprecedentedly rapid language officers is an analytical mistake pace. More importantly, though, their and detrimental to constructing a training experience gave them a uniquely complete and accurate portrayal of the sensitive, cultural understanding of their events of the Pacific War. Dingman’s enemy, despite its ironic purpose of work should serve as an integral part of defeating that enemy via language. These any intensive graduate level study of the language officers took this lesson of Pacific Theater in the Second World War nuanced racial comprehension with them in both history and cultural studies as they hopped islands with combat units programs. and served tours of occupation duty. As Dingman makes a further post-war Cold War America looked meaningful contribution to academic towards Japan as a strategic and economic discourse about the Marine Corps officer. ally, the language officers, most of them Typically depicted as indoctrinated now civilians, became advocates for animals, Marines have acquired a amicable relations between the two historical reputation for brutality and countries. They encouraged the racism expressed under the unapologetic distribution of Japanese art, the study of guise of manhood. Mary Renda, in Japan by the American people and even Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and became international journalists in Japan. the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915- While the Boulder trained group of 1940, calls the American occupation of language officers were not the only Haiti a police state and attributes the translators used in the Pacific Theater, resistance of the local Haitian population Dingman argues that comprehending their to the expressed racism of the Marines role throughout war and peace is pivotal (Renda, p.11). Craig Cameron argues in to understanding a more accurate picture American Samurai: Myth, Imagination of race relations between Japan and the and the Conduct of Battle in the First United States. Marine Division, 1941-1951 that racism Dingman’s book is the first to fueled the combat decision-making and cover the topic of Naval and Marine conduct of Marines in the Pacific. language officers and it proves the Dingman does not deny the validity of the centrality of these particular officers in overly masculine, violent, racist Marine. the debate about racial dissonance Instead, he avoids generalizing members between the United States and Japan in of the service into one mentality and the Second World War. In opposition to devotes special attention to an elite group John Dower’s War Without Mercy that of Marine officers who displayed argues for intense, negative racism characteristics completely opposite from expressed by both sides during the Pacific the blood-thirsty majority. War, Dingman illustrates that racial As a work of academic awareness had a positive impact on scholarship Deciphering the Rising Sun is international relations and wartime superb. Resting on a solid foundation of conduct. Dingman’s point is important research, Dingman backs his conclusions and illuminating not only to historians but with ample archival evidence. 224 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Impressively, he conducted personal The Cruel Sea Retold show the interviews with hundreds of veterans, development in convoy defence on the accessed fourteen oral histories and even part of the Allies, and the British in attended the sixtieth reunion of the Naval particular, and the lack of an adequate Japanese Language School. From a response to it by the German U-Boat professional historian and scholar, such service. The first convoy, OG-71 from academic quality is to be expected. A the U.K. to Gibraltar, sailed 14 August professor at the University of Southern 1941. The convoy consisted of 22 California for thirty-six years, Dingman is merchants vessels and eight escorts. Ten an extremely credible author. His mastery ships were sunk while the other ships of historical evidence and his eloquent found a safe harbour in Lisbon, in neutral writing create a satisfying work that is as Portugal. Thus, a total defeat was enjoyable as it is academically rigorous. avoided. Courtney A. Short The second convoy the author West Point, New York sheds his light on is HG-73, sailing to the U.K. from Gibraltar on 17 September Bernard Edwards. The Cruel Sea Retold; 1941with an escort of 13 ships. Of 25 The Truth behind Monsarrat’s Epic merchant vessels ten were sunk. The Convoy Drama. Barnsley, S. Yorkshire: German side lost one U-boat. Pen & Sword, www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, The third convoy Bernard Edwards 2009. 214 pp, illustrations, appendix. UK describes is HG-76. The outcome of this £19.99, cloth; ISBN 978-1-84415-863-2. journey was entirely different. With 31 merchant vessels and an escort of 15, the Nicholas Monsarrat’s novel The Cruel Sea, convoy still lost seven ships — but the published in 1951, about the Atlantic battle balance of power had changed. U-boats between German U-boats and Allied naval became the game instead of the die-hard and merchant vessels during the Second hunters. There emerged a naked agression World War was based on his own wartime towards enemy subs that, in the end, remained unanswered and contributed to the experiences as a naval officer. The book Allied victory in the battle for the Atlantic. was an instant bestseller and became a This success was epitomized by Captain classic, followed later by a succesfull “Johnny” Walker, an expert in anti- motion picture. Bernard Edwards has submarine warfare with innovative ideas. followed in Monsarrat’s footsteps and When his group escorted Convoy HG-76 he written The Cruel Sea Retold. In the got the chance to put his ideas to the test. Second World War, U-boats had the upper His group passed with flying colours, hand at the beginning of the Battle of the sinking four U-boats. In all, five enemy Atlantic. The Allies learned the hard way subs were sunk in a six-day battle. through heavy losses. Bit by bit, the Compared to losses for earlier convoys, this organization of convoy defence, the was a resounding success. number of ships, techniques, knowledge The Cruel Sea Retold does not and tactics improved and the advantage lean on Monsarrat’s book. In his earlier slowly shifted to the Allies. The essence of work, Edwards has shown a distinctive both books is this shift in the maritime style of writing and approach. Regardless balance of power. of the obvious comparisons readers might The stories of three convoys in make based on the title, this book still Book Reviews 225 bears Edwards’ hallmarks. It is factual, were difficult for a battleship or other large and more distant from personal warship to attack successfully. As these observation. The Cruel Sea Retold is a small craft grew in numbers (especially in solid piece of work, gripping, and despite the French Navy, which at the time was its harsh subject, a joy to read. viewed as the primary threat to the RN), and in seagoing capability, the counter-weapon Jacob Bart Hak had to be developed. Thus, the Torpedo Leiden, The Netherlands Boat Destroyer (TBD) emerged as a distinct type. Its primary mission was protection of Norman Friedman. British Destroyers. the battle fleet, and its bases, from attack by From the earliest days to the Second the enemy TB. It was as fast, or faster, than World War. Annapolis, MD; US Naval the TB and the armament was such that it Institute Press, www.usni.org, 2009. 320 could sink the enemy or at least inflict pp., illustrations, bibliography, notes, data sufficient damage as to render him list (specifications), list of ships, index. impotent. Eventually, the name was US $85.00, cloth; ISBN 9781591140818. shortened to the now well-known term, Destroyer. In his Introduction to this, his latest work, The first true class of TBD was the renowned naval analyst and historian ordered by the Admiralty in the 1892-93 Norman Friedman states that the book is Estimates at the instigation of Rear Admiral about how the Royal Navy (RN) adapted to “Jacky” Fisher. Fisher, who would later the threat of the torpedo. The book is much become First Sea Lord and, in 1906, initiate more than that. It tells the story of a new, a revolution in naval warfare with HMS specific class of warship and how it evolved Dreadnought, sought to build a counter the from a simple, cheap adjunct to the main new type of French TB which would be battle force to a formidable and versatile capable of operating beyond inshore waters. weapons system in its own right. Although These early destroyers were little more than the book covers the period from the enlarged TB themselves, but they ushered in inception of the type into the Second World the new era. Eventually, the evolution War, it is the second of the series. would result in the superb Tribal-class of Friedman’s earlier book, published in 2006, the Second World War and in their modern examines the development of the Destroyer equivalents which, in terms of firepower, during the Second World War on up to the are the equal of many cruisers of the present day. wartime era. By the late nineteenth century, the As with all of Friedman’s works, self-propelled torpedo had been developed this book is the product of meticulous into a practical and relatively reliable research and the subject is examined in weapon. Launched from small craft (which comprehensive detail. Each stage of the came to be known as Torpedo Boats or TB) class’ development is documented and or later from a submarine, it posed a serious explained. Not only are the technical issues threat to all major naval forces, especially fully addressed, but they are put into the the Royal Navy which was the dominant context of operational and tactical naval power of the time. Such a experience. The author shows how the comparatively cheap weapon could inflict Admiralty responded to that experience as damage out of all proportion to the size of the requirements placed on the designers the attacker. Since the Torpedo Boats became more and more demanding. The themselves were small, fast and agile, they need for higher speed, longer range, 226 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord improved seakeeping capability, better Atlantic convoy escorts. These were the armament, effective command and control fifty, obsolete ex-US Navy destroyers and more comfortable accommodation transferred to Britain in 1940. They were became constant issues that had to be known as “four stackers” due to their funnel resolved. arrangements and six of the fifty were What is particularly fascinating, at assigned to the Royal Canadian Navy. least to this reviewer, is that Friedman This is an excellent book which is clearly explains the ways in which design full of fascinating information. It makes a changes were raised, reviewed and very important contribution to the maritime implemented in what was essentially an historical record and is an essential ongoing process. From the early days, the reference work for those with an interest in Admiralty looked upon destroyers as “...the naval technical history. subject of a rolling production programme, Michael Dove modified from time to time.” (p 42) Given St. Thomas, Ontario that, until well into the 1930s, the Admiralty considered the effective life span of the type to be only twelve years, such a program was David W. Jourdan. Never Forgotten: the necessary. Unlike in modern times, the RN Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost was afforded the luxury of building what Submarine DAKAR. Annapolis, MD: were basically prototypes. Some classes Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org, 2009. had few ships and there was often little xi + 272 pp., illustrations, maps, standardization within a class–a situation appendix, index. US $34.95, cloth; ISBN which carried on well into the 1930s. The 978-1-59114-418-2. extensive involvement of several key shipbuilders in the process, such as Vickers, A new addition to the Israeli Navy, INS Yarrow, Thorneycroft, White, Palmers and Dakar, a former British Second-World-War others, ensured that the designs were nearly submarine, had been refitted in Portsmouth always pushing technological limits right up dockyard, England, passed its sea-trials and to the start of the Second World War. The workup training in the Clyde and set sail for depth of the relationship between the Israel in January 1968. The submarine Director of Naval Construction and the entered the port of Gibraltar for fuel and favoured yards, as well as the influence they some crew changes and dived its way east could bring to bear, is neatly demonstrated. in the Mediterranean. After ten days, their The book is lavishly and daily transmissions to the Israeli Navy beautifully illustrated with photographs and abruptly stopped. For 31 years, their superb line drawings. Many of the location remained a mystery. The gyro photographs have not been published repeater pictured on the cover of the book previously and there is at least one makes me nostalgic for days and night- photograph or drawing on nearly every watches as the navigating officer aboard page. The Canadian ships which were Dakar’s sister submarine, INS Leviathan, either built in Britain—such as Saguenay during similar sea-trials and workup and Skeena in 1930—or later acquired from trainings in the Clyde, up in Scotland, and the RN are well represented in photographs on the way home to Israel under the and textual descriptions. In the final command of Lt. Cdr. Zeev Almog. chapter, there is an interesting section on the With hardly any time for training, Town-class ships and the modifications INS Leviathan had been rushed home, made to them so that they could serve as travelling mainly on the surface, to get back Book Reviews 227 as quickly as possible for the 1967 war. before the deep-water one began, so the One should never forget the timing, as that families of the lost sailors would feel that a was one of the reasons Lt. Cdr. Jacob real change had occurred after so many Ra'anan, Dakar’s captain, attempted to set a years. record, diving all the way to Israel. Jourdan could have enlarged the Author David W. Jourdan, a US drama by mentioning Israeli relations with Naval Academy graduate and the co- the Egyptian navy while coordinating the founder of Nauticos, a deep-sea exploration five searches. As a naval captain at that company, weaves together a tale that time, I was serving under RAdm. Kimchy combines a technical detective story with a on the search committee and also in the scientific saga, as he follows the fate of the Israel/Egypt Peace Committee. Our ships Israeli submarine. True to its title, his story crossing the Suez Canal and the search for covers the search and discovery of INS the Dakar were the only contacts with Dakar. Egypt in those days, and as such, Several books have been written on contributed to the peace process. We used to the tragedy and many technical essays, but meet in the Ras El Tin Palace in Alexandria this book combines the author’s personal to coordinate the searches. Not many years history, experiments and explorations as ago, during a patrol in command of INS well as the story of Israel, its navy, its Dolphin (the sister ship of the Dakar), I submarine flotilla and the bereaved found myself glancing at the palace again families. It blends a mix of men, through the attack periscope. electronics and iron into one tragic tale that As a submarines veteran himself, brings alive the memories of the crew of the Jourdan describes the boat and the submarine, through the eyes of an outsider principles of diving and surfacing in a clear who learned a lot about us during the study and forthright way, helping the reader and search for Dakar and even more after understand the complex sets of drills and the discovery. orders. Sharing his own experience of Trim Jourdan’s sources include personal Dive helps him build tension and interviews which he blends with facts from understanding of the complexity of Israeli navy documents and stories from operating a submarine. He also makes good good friends he made at the time of the use of the diary he kept during his visits to search. One very important interview he Israel. missed, however, was RAdm.(ret.) I.N. Moving back and forth from the Hadar Kimchy, a talented and modest present to the founding of Nauticos, to officer who was commander s/m in 1967 refitting the Dakar and interviews with and became second to the Israeli CNO. In officers and relatives may hamper the flow his retirement, he was appointed to head the of the narrative but it does help build first Search Committee and continued his understanding of the ties between the crew assignment for 29 years. Although they did and the submarine and the technical not find the Dakar, that committee development of the company that would contributed a lot of information from their search for and find the lost submarine. five searches along the Egyptian coast, Dealing with sorrow and sadness sometimes by way of elimination. reveals the author’s human side and affirms Kimchy’s name should not be forgotten. It the need to remember all those who was he who asked the CNO, Adm. Ami disappeared in the depths of the sea. The Ayalon, to relieve him and the committee fate of a submariner's wife can be the same after the shallow water search was done and as that of the wife of the operator of a 228 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord midget submarine used in deep-sea illustrations, appendices, notes, exploration. bibliography, index. US $55.00, cloth; The book shows how salvage ISBN 978-0-7864-4387-1. technology can be adapted to finding natural treasures and lost submarines. It stresses The brief biography of the authors on the the importance of preliminary research to back cover of this volume notes that they consider all the details available and have been writing together for years, their pinpoint exactly where to dive. That is the joint resumés including TV scripts for story of Nauticos and the talented people Gunsmoke and a forthcoming book on the who, after such a long time of waiting and Riverboat television series. Caveat lector. hoping, enabled us to locate the Dakar. The introduction promises, and the rest of Thanks to them, we were able to bring the work delivers, sections on bathroom home its bridge fin and other parts and put facilities (pp. 195-96), gambling (pp. 198- them in the Naval Museum at Haifa as a 201), drinking (all of chapter 18, including memorial to the Dakar and its crew and a some recipes), disease (Chap. 21), pirates special place for the families. Reading this (pp. 247-49) and voodoo (pp. 250-251). book is a kind of process between the will The publisher, McFarland, bills to remember and the knowledge that the itself as a leading U.S. publisher of burden is heavy. Finding the submarine scholarly, reference and academic books. helped everyone involved to carry on, This is not one of them. There is an index, knowing that, at last, most of the mystery a bibliography, end notes and a glossary. had been solved, and the Israeli tradition of Some of the citations are embedded in the bringing home every soldier, sailor or pilot text, particularly as a specific issue of a had been fulfilled . newspaper is quoted, and many Although the real cause of the contemporary newspapers are extensively sinking is not fully known, the facts are quoted. In fact, it is quite remarkable how available for interpretation. I enjoyed many of those extensive quotes come from reading the book for its masterful fusion of contemporary newspapers in communities people, science, machinery and hard labour. like Buffalo, Sandusky, Toledo, Racine and I hope that it will be translated into Hebrew Milwaukee who were reporting on and into other languages. steamboats on the Great Lakes. David Jourdan has not only proven Occasionally, the authors acknowledge that himself as a scientist, technocrat, the facts in evidence were not from the businessman and submariner, but also as a western rivers (e.g. p. 220); often they do humanitarian. Because of him, his men and not. There were regional differences in his book, the crew of INS Dakar will not be steam navigation; they were evident to forgotten. The story is a moving one, well contemporaries; they mattered. worth remembering. What is more disappointing is that Israel Leshem a major set of assertions is made with Kiryat-Tivon, Israel relatively little evidence to support it. Perhaps the major one is this generalization: "As demonstrated with the desire to attract S.L.Kotar and J.E. Gessler. The cabin passengers, owners spent more than Steamboat Era. A History of Fulton’s they brought in for the privilege of bragging Folly on American Rivers, 1807-1860. rights." With minor variations, the claim is Jefferson, NC: McFarland, www. made several times through the volume. It mcfarlandpub.com, 2009. 299 pp., may be the case, that in some instances, in Book Reviews 229 certain specific contexts, businesses still a better place to start. deliberately engage in competitive Walter Lewis behaviour where they lose money. It is Acton, Ontario difficult to construct a scenario where this was true for an entire sector of the trade for a generation. This reviewer would like A.G.W. Lamont. Guns Above, Steam substantially more evidence. Below, in Canada’s Navy of WW II. A tendency to hyperbole surfaces Cambridgeshire, UK: Melrose Books, regularly. I would like to see the evidence www.melrosebooks.com, 2006. xii + 203 that supports the statement where "over the pp., illustrations, drawings, tables, notes, course of a boat's life, she might be exposed index. £14.99, cloth; ISBN 1-905226-60- to fifty such blazes." (p. 122) Or the rather 8. grotesque statement that "often, hundreds of As this reviewer has discovered with his deck passengers would perish within a self-published Three Princes Armed, it is matter of hours, and dead bodies were difficult to reach much of a wider market frequently seen floating in the water as with such often-worthwhile but self- officers tried to rid the boat of those fatally published and self-marketed efforts. Archie stricken."(p. 239) This statement, at least, Lamont, who has recently died (spring has a single contemporary reference, but use 2009) in Eastern Ontario, first published of the words "often" and "frequently" Guns Above, Steam Below on his own in requires something more. 2003, to very little notice or acclaim. This Beyond that, there are a number of reprinting in the U.K. makes a valuable odd references. Presumably a good copy- contribution to the history of the Canadian editor would have caught the fact that the Navy during the wartime, particularly "Eric" canal was not opened in 1835. It is because it is largely about the operations of more likely that the artists employed on p. the boiler rooms with a corvette’s triple- 202 were painting the paddlebox rather than expansion steam engine (in HMCS Cobalt) the wheelhouse (aka pilothouse). And I'm and an RCN destroyer’s steam turbine in still trying to parse "The Ohio River at HMCS Qu’appelle. Pittsburgh measured eighteen inches at its Lamont joined the Royal Canadian lowest point and increased to three feet at Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) in the the mouth; the Mississippi measured two spring of 1943 as a graduate chemical feet at St. Paul, four feet at St. Louis and engineer, and after very little naval five feet at Cairo." (p.73) introduction, became the Boiler Water The authors start by noting that Officer at the shore base of HMCS "The Steamboat Era is one of the most Chatham on the West coast. As a deck fascinating and perhaps most romanticized officer, who appreciated the care needed times in American history." They have done with such a simple product as boiler water? relatively little to clarify the romanticism Lamont goes into just enough detail as he and have gone some length to perpetuate it. tells his story to make it, oddly enough, There is a solid literature on the western really very interesting, even enlightening. rivers: Mark Twain's reminiscences in Life He notes there was an increasing awareness on the Mississippi bring it alive, Louis C. —usually by his COs—of the need to be Hunter's Steamboats on the Western Rivers very much aware of three vital engineroom still dominates the field, although more concerns: amount of fuel remaining, Scotch recent economic and technical studies have boiler tube cleaning, and boiler water feed, helped enrich our understanding. They are which, in a ship’s engineer’s opinion, 230 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord controlled tactical events. A couple of www.ashgate.com, Navy Records Society, useful diagrams and a table of speed and oil Vol. 154, 2009. xvii + 410 pp., tables, consumption make his points, as does an appendices, list of documents and Engineering Department Watch & Quarters sources, index. US $125.00, cloth; ISBN Bill. It is a quite different, nearly unique 978 0 7546 6597 7. view of the Atlantic (and Channel) battles from the other end of the voicepipe. As Dr. Macdougall is no stranger to dockyard Cobalt’s Boiler Room Officer, Lamont had history. A founding member of the Naval considerable spare time, so he was soon Dockyards Society and the editor of its standing bridge watches as well. He gives newsletter, he has also been a frequent several appreciative assessments of not only presenter at the annual meetings of the his engineroom contemporaries, officers NDS, and now teaches at Portsmouth and ERAs, but of his various COs and College. The present volume is a others, so it is not all just the engine room development from his 1994 Ph.D. thesis at perspective. the University of Kent at Canterbury, There is an appreciative “Somerset Place to Whitehall: Reforming introduction by the late Lieutenant- the Civil Departments of the Navy.” As long Commander Alan Easton, who commanded ago as 1982 he published Royal Dockyards, both corvettes and destroyers similar to a brief history of all the home yards. those of Lamont, and just enough pages are This volume of 407 documents devoted to strategic description to set the focuses on the half-century after the end of scenes for his own contribution. After the wars with France and the United States Qu’appelle, Lamont also served in HMS in 1815. It closes with the building of the Battler, an escort carrier, in preparation for 9,000-ton Achilles, a 26-gun screw- the Navy acquiring HMCS Warrior, which armoured iron frigate, the first to be built in only lasted briefly until his discharge in the a royal dockyard, and the Bellerophon, a fall of 1945. He includes an extended screw, central-battery ironclad frigate, the excerpt of a poem by naval historian Joe first British warship to be designed from the Schull on the qualities of leadership, which outset as an ironclad. Following the design Lamont feels were exemplified by those in of the Great Eastern, the Bellerophon was his ships—his engine room Chief, his COs given a double bottom. (p.47) and those with whom he stood watch. He was present in Qu’appelle in Iceland when These fifty years witnessed the HMCS Skeena went ashore and devotes a transformation of the navy from wind and chapter to that sad event, with sympathies wood to iron and steam. Hitherto, the for those castigated for her loss. largest part of a dockyard workforce was But it is Lamont’s hands-on the shipwrights, who worked exclusively in descriptions of how boiler rooms and wood. In 1833, of a much reduced engine rooms actually worked that make workforce of 1,122, Chatham had 484 this small volume worth the read. shipwrights, or 43%. (p.235) Faced with their gradual replacement by metalworkers, Fraser McKee they opted for retraining as riveters and Toronto, Ontario platers, when metalworkers were dismissed for downing tools in 1862. (p.256). The Philip Macdougall (ed.). Chatham necessary huge expansion of Chatham Dockyard, 1815-1865. Industrial resulted in employing up to 1,000 convicts Transformation. Surrey, UK: Ashgate, on the building sites. (p.106) Book Reviews 231 The Admiralty was not quick to While the essence of logistics is all about adjust to the new era. Woolwich, not the supply of men, ships, facilities, bases, Chatham, had been designated the navy’s and combat support afloat, the author steam yard. Only after the navy’s focuses on one process: planning and commitment to ironclads and the selection distribution. of Chatham as the initial building site did He argues that sea power can the yard acquire an expertise not at first provide the country holding it with the shared by other royal dockyards.(p.55). ability to control the geostrategic terms of a Incidentally, it was only with the war. In that context, he argues that how a development of the massive pre-1914 nation positions its logistic capability battleships that could not be built at speaks volumes about its intent, both Chatham, that Chatham was able to develop strategically, and tactically. The central as a builder of submarines, the last of these premise of the book is that the logistic being HMCS Okanagan in 1966. challenges confronting both the RN and the One of the most useful elements in USN in 1945, the end of the Second World Dr. Macdougall’s edition is his use of War, required innovative solutions that, if newspaper reports to supplement his successfully implemented, would become dependence on the official records, the most radical turning point in the history principally available at The National of mobile logistic support and the yardstick Archives in Kew and the National Maritime by which future mobile logistic support Museum in Greenwich. would be judged, particularly for carrier- A glossary would have helped, as I based warfare. found myself frequently having to make The book shows how the RN and reference to Smyth’s The Sailor’s Wordbook the USN initially approached replenishment (1867). All in all, the volume is at sea from different perspectives. The RN, exceptionally well edited, and makes a with its chain of bases and repair facilities substantial contribution to the industrial spread throughout the empire, did not history of southeast England. consider operations over long distances for extended periods probable, and Julian Gwyn consequently, replenishment at sea was Berwick, Nova Scotia effectively ignored. By contrast, the USN’s approach to sea replenishment became more Peter V. Nash. The Development of inclusive and forward-looking because a Mobile Logistical Support in Anglo- two-ocean strategy gave it no choice, American Naval Policy, 1900-1953. especially as war loomed on the horizon. Gainesville, FL: University Press of This became particularly evident during the Florida, www.upf.com, 2009. xxxiv + 320 Second World War in the Pacific, where pp., illustrations, maps, tables, carrier-based warfare with naval aviation appendices, notes, glossary, bibliography, covering huge distances over large swathes index. US $69.95, cloth; ISBN 978-0- of water required the development of a 8130-3367-9. “Fleet Train” that would ensure supply of all the ingredients of war to the fleet and its The author explores how the Royal Navy naval aviation. (RN) and the United States Navy (USN) The author points out that the evolved and eventually defined the art and “Fleet Train” for both navies came of age in science of mobile logistic support from the 1945 but the RN experienced many travails early 1900s to the end of the Korean War. before it got there. Indeed, while the USN 232 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord welcomed its participation in the final American. The appendices are replete with offensive against Japan, it was under the charts and tables that provide the reader condition that the RN would have to with a comprehensive and accurate picture organize and create its own “Fleet Train” of the evolving situation in mobile logistic for replenishment at sea. For the USN, a support. Since there was more material combination of military might, a large available on the American logistic situation economy, and a clearer vision of what was at the time of the writing of the book, the needed logistically made that task author places more emphasis on the British somewhat easier. effort at creating a “Fleet Train”. He After the Second World War, post- constantly measures it, however, by relating war demobilization, savage cuts in it to the American effort, thus underlying personnel and ships, in operating budgets, and demonstrating how the endeavour was and in investments in new ships and difficult to complete in time of war, thus technology, increased the risks of losing stressing the need to maintain that capability “corporate memory” in both navies. The in time of peace by elevating it to the level USN, however, managed to raise “supply” of other strategic concerns. as an educational need by elevating logistics In a grand strategy scheme, sea to the same level as other strategic subjects power allows the powers wielding it the in the various Naval War College curricula. possibility of controlling the geostrategic The Cold War was shaped by the terms of war by allowing them to choose the threat of atomic weapons and the fast time and place of any amphibious operation submarine with new technologies such as in pursuit of the final objective, which is the jet aircraft. Logistic support needed to winning a war. It also allows them, prior to keep up, and the Korean War demonstrated any amphibious landing, to secure or that jet aircraft fuel was now determining interdict maritime lines for themselves or carrier endurance, requiring a new approach the enemy. With the disappearance of in designs for both warships and auxiliaries. Western empires and the coal bases The Korean War also brought logistic spanning them, a new system of mobile support to the forefront for both navies in logistic support had to be designed that many other ways, the most important of would allow a naval power or a naval which was added funds to enable both alliance, such as NATO, to project its power navies to restock with more ships and at sea in a sustained and autonomous commissions in order to enable them to fashion. In that context, mobile logistic meet the requirements of a possible war to support allowing for replenishment at sea be waged on many fronts in Asia and was the new way of telling the difference Europe. between a true “blue sea” navy and one that The Korean War also brought about is not. a convergence in doctrine. Replenishment Yves V. Raic procedures had been harmonized and Kingston, Ontario converged to provide vital operability between the RN, the USN, and the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy). That, in turn, Pitassi, Michael. The Navies of Rome. provided the foundation for NATO’s Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, replenishment doctrine, which has more or www.boydellandbrewer.com, 2009. xxvii less remained the same to this day. + 348 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, The author has made very judicious appendices, bibliography, index. US use of primary sources both British, and $90.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-8438-3409-0. Book Reviews 233 The dust jacket starts boldly, claiming that experts would each want to quarrel with the this book “represents the first true chapter focussing on their area of interest. examination of the Roman Navy as an Throughout, the narrative is supplemented independent arm of the military.” This by box features, some short, some long, intrigued me, since most scholars think of dealing with areas of particular naval it as part of a single military machine, interest, e.g. pumps and dry docks (p. 137) though prompting significant questions or ribbons of rank (p. 223). There are also too, such as “Did the Romans 14 colour plates. conceptualise the Army or the Navy in the Of greater significance are the same way that we do?” It also addresses numerous errors of both omission and a significant gap in Roman studies, since commission concerning naval history. there is no comprehensive modern Thus, the description of consular control account of Roman naval warfare. In of fleets (pp. 24, 44) can be read as if scope, the work immediately prompts these were separate naval appointments comparison with N. A. M. Rodger's rather than combined commands of naval Safeguard of the Sea volumes. Still on and land forces. The description of the dust jacket, Roman seapower is Roman plans in 218 BC (pp. 89, 91), explicitly compared with that of the though aware of the planned landing in British Empire in the nineteenth century. Africa from Sicily under the command of The introduction promises a focus on both T. Sempronius Longus, devotes no time to blue and brown water actions as well as a analysing Roman strategy. The traditional military history. establishment of the aerarium militare by The structure of the work is Augustus (p. 208) is described as “to fund chronological, with nine chapters covering the navy (and the army)”, at best Roman history from 753 BC to AD 476. A stretching the Latin militibus, “armed useful feature is margins containing dates men” (Res Gestae 17.2), if not outright for each paragraph. There are endnotes distortion. The ability of the Roman state after each chapter which include precise to plan and launch an amphibious assault references to primary sources, but on Vandal Africa in 468 receives only secondary sources are mentioned only by cursory attention on the last page of the author or title, without page references. text (p. 313), possibly understating the Neither the notes nor the bibliography logistical achievement that this operation contain references to periodicals. The target represented; there is a similar minimal audience is thus, the mythical general reader approach to landing Roman troops in and certainly not students or scholars. Africa in the First and Second Punic Wars This is not a history of the Roman (pp. 61, 110). The same is true of state from 753 BC to AD 476, since the dockyards and infrastructure. Although battle of Cannae is not described (p. 91), their importance is argued for well with there is no description of how respect to ship-building in the First Punic Octavian/Augustus transformed a Republic into an Empire (p. 198), and nothing is said War (48-49), it is underplayed generally, about Christianity (aside from a short box an interesting contrast with Rodger's feature on pilgrimage (p. 305). Despite the works, and one that would be well worth lack of social, political, or religious history, pursuing. Pitassi does provide a cursory survey of Another somewhat neglected Roman military history, even if period fundamental is winter and weather. 234 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Although there is a box feature on sailing notes. UK £19.99, paper, ISBN 978-1- seasons (p. 9) that mentions that 84868-065-4. Mediterranean sea travel was “largely suspended” between November and March, On the night of 7 December 1942, the this is not well integrated into the British submarine HMS Tuna surfaced off description of Caesar's crossing from Italy the French coast, ten nautical miles from to Greece in January 48 BC (pp. 170-171). the estuary of the River Gironde, which Similarly, the differences between leads to the port of Bordeaux. Ten Royal operations in the Atlantic and North Sea Marine Commandos disembarked from zone and the Mediterranean are summed up the submarine in two-man canoes and in a single sentence (p. 161). A more paddled some 70 miles up-river over the detailed analysis talking about the factors next five nights. Two of the canoes admirals and captains might take into reached the port and planted limpet mines account before setting out in the winter on ships in the harbour. Subsequently, would have been interesting. five ships were badly damaged by the The book ends dramatically in AD mines, but only two of the Commandos 476 at the fall of the western Roman evaded capture to return to the UK. All Empire. There is no conclusion, and thus no place to address the question of whether the others were captured and shot. The the Romans did have a navy in the modern raid was fictionalised in the 1955 movie sense of a separate arm of service. Since Cockleshell Heroes. Roman fleets throughout Roman history The canoes used in this raid were were commanded by men who also led designed and built to specifications armies in separate land campaigns, the idea developed by Major H. G. Hasler, Royal of a navy as we understand it seems Marines. Hasler led the raid and was one of unlikely. Unfortunately, this sort of the survivors. These canoes were analytical reflection gets lost within the designated Mark 2 “Cockles.” “Cockle” narrative drive while the box features tend was the official code name for the canoes to be restricted to anecdotal rather than used by the British Royal Marine analytical content. Commandos until early 1943. The Mk 2 Overall, this is a solidly-researched replaced the earlier folding kayaks in use by book that reads well, is attractively the British forces, known as the “Folbot” produced, and contains few misprints or (which, oddly enough, was a German outright errors. It provides a good basic design!). introduction to Roman naval history, but The development of a recreational specialists will want to look more deeply vessel, the canoe, into an instrument of into many of the issues that Pitassi raises stealth warfare—although it was not only in passing. described as such at the time—is the subject of this book. Although the vessels Hugh Elton described in the book are called canoes, in Peterborough, Ontario North American usage they would more properly be called kayaks, as they have a Quentin Rees. The Cockleshell Canoes: covered deck and a cockpit with a spray- British Military Canoes of World War deck also known as a “skirt.” Also, a kayak Two. Stroud, UK: Amberly Publishing, paddler normally uses a double-ended www.amberley-books.com , 2009. 320 pp., paddle, which was the case for virtually all illustrations, appendix, bibliography, end of the “Cockles.” The open vessel known Book Reviews 235 in North America as a canoe, and propelled War (several of which are listed in the with a single-ended paddle, apparently is a bibliography), it is more likely the latter “Canadian Canoe” in British usage. case. The author estimates that over Despite the major investment in 3,600 canoes were produced during the research, or possibly because of it, there Second World War. There were ten Marks, seems to be too much information for the or types, built, ranging from the Mk I reader to absorb easily. Because the book is Folbot to the Mk 10 four-man motorised primarily organized to deal with the various canoe fabricated from aircraft type alloy. Marks of canoe as essentially stand-alone Some Marks were built in large quantities subjects, the chronology becomes while others were prototypes or simply disjointed, bouncing back and forth across experimental. One of the major constraints the wartime years. The author is obviously on the designers was that the canoe had to deeply familiar with his subject, but he has fit through a submarine hatch–usually the difficulty imparting much more than a forward torpedo loading hatch–and this mechanical recitation of facts with little placed limits on the length as well. The interpretive analysis. His predominant use many variants within types reflected of the passive voice merely serves to differences such as outriggers, lee boards, emphasise this. sail arrangements, steering configuration The author criticises the Admiralty, and minor construction details. There was in particular the organisation of the Director one powered canoe that functioned as a of Naval Construction (DNC) in Bath, submersible and was described, post war, as strongly and frequently as being obstructive the world’s smallest submarine (one of its in the design and procurement process. On features was a “Splashproof Cockpit the evidence presented, this may be an Cover”). The canoes were used in overly harsh judgement. The DNC staff, as operations in both the European, naval architects, had a vested interest in the particularly in the Mediterranean, and the stability and safety of the vessels and the Far East theatres of war. representatives mentioned were senior staff The book describes each of the (one, Neville Holt, later became the number various types of vessels in extensive detail two man in the DNC). That they took their with a chapter devoted to each Mark of task very seriously shows in one delightful canoe. The history of each design and its photograph (p. 135) where two DNC development is thoroughly documented. representatives are sailing a canoe fitted There are numerous photographs with outriggers on trials in the Solent in throughout the book which complement the June 1943. With Holt at the helm, and each text very effectively. The author has smiling broadly, they are dressed in obviously done a massive amount of business suits and ties–a vote of confidence research in compiling what amounts to an in the seakeeping qualities of the design encyclopaedia of the wartime canoes. He perhaps! states in the Introduction that “...until this While the basic story is fascinating, publication at least ninety-five percent of it could have been better related and the information highlighted was not known presented. An index would also be of, or went unreported.” (p. 9). Given the beneficial. The review copy was poorly number of books that have been written on bound. When I turned to page 24 and the clandestine operations of the British smoothed the book, the first twenty-four Special Forces during the Second World pages detached themselves from the 236 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord backing as a unit, thus making cautious and the general acceptance of women handling necessary afterwards. Marines by their male counterparts, Sheldon notes, have done much to reduce the Michael Young inequality that earlier afflicted female Ottawa, Ontario Marines; however, because U.S. law prohibits women from serving in combat Sara Sheldon. The Few. The Proud.: Women situations, the fallacy that female Marines Marines in Harm’s Way. Santa Barbara, are safely removed from hazardous CA: Praeger Publishers, conditions continues to persist, dramatically www.greenwood.com, 2008. 200 pp., downplaying both the risk that women photos, index. US $49.95, cloth; ISBN 978- Marines are subject to and the enormity of 0-275-99993-3. their contributions to the war effort. Discussing the prohibition barring women Frustrated by the absence of human interest from combat operations, Sheldon draws on and non-combat stories emerging from Iraq the testimony of female Marines to and concerned that the majority of demonstrate the ambiguity necessarily Americans are oblivious to the contributions associated with distinguishing combat of female Marines serving in the area, Sara operations from supporting endeavours in Sheldon embedded with the 1st Marine Iraq. Lance Corporal Jessica Kane, for Expeditionary Force at Camp Fallujah, instance, is responsible for driving her determined to generate greater awareness of commanding officer into Fallujah and and respect for the women Marines providing him with security while he deployed in harm’s way overseas. Seeking addresses citizens’ complaints, thus taking insight into female Marines’ motives for her far outside of the relative safety of the entering the Corps, as well as their base. Women Marines frequently respective obligations and experiences in accompany convoys on the Abu Ghraib Iraq, Sheldon interviewed women road, where transports are assaulted weekly functioning in various capacities at Camp by enemy gunfire, missiles, and IEDs. Fallujah and elsewhere in the Al Anbar Sheldon observes that female Marines in province. The resulting book, The Few. The Iraq are regularly exposed to danger, Proud., is a compilation of Sheldon’s contending that since neither male nor interviews and observations, structured to female Marines detect any discrepancy provide an overview of women Marines’ between their relative abilities to perform roles in the war effort while documenting effectively in high-risk situations, the rule their perceptions of nascent Iraqi democracy denying women Marines combat roles is and the Corps’ humanitarian efforts in the more political than practical. Particularly in region. Iraq, Sheldon asserts, the separation In the preliminary chapters of her between combat and non-combat operations book, Sheldon focuses foremost on the is necessarily obscured, as insurgent attacks environment in Camp Fallujah and the can happen anywhere and at any time. personal histories of the women serving While Sheldon largely avoids there. Far from demonstrating differences disseminating her own comprehensive between male and female Marines, her policy judgements and subjective political interviews reveal significant similarities analyses, she does not shy from including between the two groups, from their motives her subjects’ personal political observations for enlisting to their future plans and and beliefs. This adds depth to the text, homecoming expectations. These parallels producing a book that ultimately stands as Book Reviews 237 witness to far more than the experiences of During the War of 1812, the women Marines in Iraq alone, instead American government struggled with encapsulating the individual trials and limited means to defend the Atlantic coast military challenges that exemplify the against the threat of attack from the world’s current war effort and the situation in Iraq foremost maritime power. Desperate times as a whole. In including accounts that stray called for desperate measures. away from focus on women’s rights and Revolutionary War hero Joshua Barney’s policy debate and embrace discussion of plan for a flotilla of shallow-draft barges to complex issues such as Iraqi culture, the defend the inland waterways of his native transition to democracy, and American Chesapeake region had little to commend it influence on tradition in Iraq, Sheldon beyond frugality. But against formidable simultaneously chronicles the move toward odds, Barney’s force of roughly six hundred gender equality in the Corps and captures sailors and marines offered Rear-Admiral invaluable commentary on the overall state George Cockburn’s Royal Navy squadron of affairs in Iraq. Remarkable in its role several months of meaningful resistance jointly as a feminist text and an examination during the summer of 1814. Shomette of all Marines’ humanitarian obligations and celebrates Barney’s brave four-month stand experiences in Al Anbar, The Few. The without hiding the ultimate futility of his Proud. is a strikingly intricate and important task—Barney eventually abandoned and addition to the canon of oral histories on the destroyed the flotilla, only delaying General War in Iraq. Robert Ross’ successful assault on Tori E. Giordano Washington, D.C. Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania Though detailing only a single campaign in one theatre, Flotilla captures Donald G. Shomette. Flotilla: the Patuxent several significant themes in the war’s Naval Campaign in the War of 1812. wider history. Shomette forcefully Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University documents the complete state of American Press, www.press.jhu.edu, 2009. 520pp., unpreparedness. Local militia offered no illustrations, appendices, index. US $38.95, real resistance to hardened veterans of the cloth; ISBN 9780801891229. Napoleonic War and too few U.S. regulars were available for the task. After Barney’s Donald G. Shomette has revised and marines tenaciously held the center of a expanded his 1981 history of Commodore crumbling line at the battle of Bladensburg, Joshua Barney’s Chesapeake Flotilla. New a British general commented that the flotilla maps and charts illuminate the narrative, men “have given us the only fight we have while the footnotes show up-to-date had!” (p. 326) The same Congress that had consideration of the most recent voted for war viewed matters less clearly scholarship. Lengthy appendices including and did not appropriate funds to pay muster rolls for both the flotilla and the Barney’s men until late 1815. In contrast, British Marine unit formed with runaway British forces operated with clear Maryland slaves provide the kind of social instructions and specific goals with detail that campaign histories often neglect. generally adequate resources. Devastating Shomette hopes his improved volume will amphibious coastal raids provided valuable provide “a substantially enhanced and prizes and sapped American support for the sharper focus.”(p. i) This masterfully war. Vice-Admiral Alexander F. I. enhanced volume does exactly that in Cochrane, Commander of the Royal Navy’s minute detail. America Station, once commented to 238 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Cockburn that he hoped “to give them a complete drubbing before peace is made.”(p. 71) Shomette clearly demonstrates that British leaders intended to enforce a humbling peace and had no designs whatsoever against American independence. Royal Navy officers executed that plan with chilling precision during the 1813-1814 Chesapeake campaign. Flotilla offers considered treatment of both the British and American sides of the Patuxent campaign, even though Shomette’s style occasionally slips into a nationalistic bias. He repeats the standard characterization of British plunder as “terror,” at one point questioning the truth concerning claims that Cockburn’s men desecrated graves as “too time consuming and ghoulish even for the British.”(p. 207) What separates Cockburn’s Chesapeake campaign from the celebrated careers of American privateers during the same war? Nonetheless, Flotilla is an invaluable resource: a mine of information for scholars of the war, and more-than-penetrable for the casual reader. Samuel Negus Fort Worth, Texas