Book Reviews

Donald Barry, Bob Applebaum, and Earl lack the critical distance from the subject Wiseman. Fishing for a Solution. Canada’s normally required for an analytical historical Fisheries Relations with the European approach. Furthermore, while the book Union, 1977-2013. Calgary, AB: University benefits from the authors’ in-depth of Calgary Press, www .uofcpress.com, knowledge of the subject, it is characterized 2014. xvi+178 pp., maps, tables, notes, by a clearly Canadian perspective rather appendices, bibliography, index. CDN than a neutral historical approach. $34.95, paper: ISBN 978-1-55238-778-8. The book follows a chronological line, (Co-published with the Centre for Military describing the main stages of EU-Canadian and Strategic Studies) relations post-1977along with related international or bilateral agreements, includ- Fishing for a Solution by Donald Barry, ing access to fish stocks, tariffs and EU Bob Applebaum and Earl Wiseman sheds import regulations for Canadian fisheries light on one of the twentieth century’s most products. Worth noting is how Canada was interesting chapters in international fisheries taken by surprise when, after declaring the history, the development of the fisheries 200nm fisheries limit, EU trawlers first relationship between Canada and the fished for their quotas inside the Canadian (EU) following the limit, and then continued fishing for the extension of the Canadian fisheries limit to same stocks outside the Canadian limit 200 nautical miles (nm). instead of returning to their homeports. Co-authors Bob Applebaum and Earl While this was legal according to the letters Wiseman are former high-ranking officials of agreement of the time, it was definitely of the Canadian Department of Fisheries neither expected nor welcomed by Canada. and Oceans (DFO) and Donald Barry is This is a key example of the problems of Professor Emeritus of Political Science at modern international fisheries agreements. the University of Calgary. Their book Unfortunately, the book mainly addresses should be understood as an historical re- national fisheries policy rather than flection on the development of Canada-EU discussing developments on the company fisheries relations by former actors and level; for example, the idea of building up stakeholders, rather than a traditional piece European (German)–Canadian joint of scholarly historical analysis. These ventures. Integrating the history of these particular authors are both the main strength working-level developments into the story of the book and also its main weakness. would have provided a more nuanced They are, without any doubt, well qualified picture. Despite this, the book is a more to discuss the topic, but, having been than welcome starting point and will actively involved in the issues described, hopefully help to initiate future historical

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXV (October 2015), 413-465 414 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord research on topics like the proposed EU- history of the North Atlantic and/or the Canada joint ventures. development of Canadian fisheries policy. Statistical data, an index and a The questions it raises should be answered bibliography make the book an important by future generations of historians once they research tool for any historian interested in have access to the related sources that will the subject, even if the book itself contains no longer be ‘confidential information’. more historical reflection than historical analysis. The bibliography is somewhat Ingo Heidbrink limited, as sources in languages other than Norfolk, Virginia English are rare, despite the relevance of Spanish, Portuguese and German sources to the topic. Perhaps this reviewer’s sense of the Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. Osprey book’s incompleteness is simply the result Aircraft of the Aces # 125: F4F Wildcat and of an historian mainly interested in the F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2. Botley, Oxford: European (German) side of the develop- Osprey Publishing, Inc., www. ments under discussion reviewing a book ospreypublishing.com, 2015, 96 pp. illus- written by Canadian authors for a largely trations, colour plates, appendix, index. UK Canadian audience. That being said, the £13.99, US $22.95, CDN $26.95; paper; authors’ efforts to draw attention to a period ISBN 978-1-4728-0562-1. that has, so far, rarely caught the interest of historians is much appreciated. The book U.S. Navy Fighter Squadron VF-2 was the clearly explains that the extension of fishing first USN unit to receive fighter aircraft. In limits in the North Atlantic to 200nm did Osprey Aircraft of the Aces # 125: F4F not resolve all fishing conflicts but served as Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2, the a turning point that resulted in new conflicts author tells the story of this historic aircraft and regulatory challenges that will generate unit between 1921 and 1944. a rich catch for future generations of In reading this book, one thing must be fisheries historians. kept in mind: the USN often dis-establishes Fishing for a Solution is a most units and later reforms them with different welcome addition to the existing literature personnel. The new unit bearing the old on the history of the international fisheries numeric designation has no direct lineage of the Northwest Atlantic, even though a with the prior unit beyond the same number, final historical analysis still needs to be though the new unit may (and frequently written. Taking into account that the period does) choose to adopt the insignia, under review is less than 50 years in the nickname, and traditions of the prior unit. past, footnotes referring to ‘confidential From 1921 to 1945, VF-2 was formed, dis- information’ might have been unavoidable, established, reformed, dis-established again, but from an historian’s point of view, it is reformed again, and dis-established after its unsatisfactory, if not even unacceptable. last combat tour in late 1944. Therefore, Nevertheless, the book is recommended to this book relates the story of three distinct any researcher interested in the fisheries squadrons, each bearing the same number. Book Reviews 415

The first VF-2 squadron was formed in in June 1943, and it is this “version” of VF- 1921 in San Diego, California, and was 2 that made combat history. The squadron originally named Combat Squadron Four. was originally equipped with the FM-2 It gained the VF-2 designation the next Wildcat (a variant of the F4F Wildcat) but year. For the next twenty years, VF-2 would was soon re-equipped with the Grumman be in the forefront of USN carrier operation F6F hellcat—a larger, faster and more development. Flying biplanes for years, and powerful aircraft than the earlier Wildcat. then upgrading to the Brewster F2A Buffalo By common consent, the Hellcat was the monoplane, the first VF-2 flew off the best carrier fighter aircraft of the Second USN’s first , U.S.S. Langley, World War. and then U.S.S. Lexington. During this After a period of training on the Hellcat, time, VF-2 laid the groundwork for USN the third VF-2 went into combat in carrier operations. When the Japanese November 1943. From then until its return attacked the USN base at Pearl Harbor, to the USA in September 1944, the pilots of Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, VF-2 was at VF-2 destroyed 506 Japanese aircraft—261 sea aboard the Lexington. For the next aircraft in aerial combat and 245 Japanese several weeks, VF-2’s pilots and airplanes aircraft on the ground. When the one aerial carried out patrols with little combat. victory of the second VF-2 is added to the Experience with the F2A Buffalo indicated total, the two versions of VF-2 destroyed that the aircraft was not as good as its 262 Japanese aircraft. This is all the more contemporary, the Grumman F4F Wildcat. remarkable when it is noted that VF-2 lost Therefore, in January, 1942, the first VF-2 only three Hellcats and nine pilots during its was dis-established. Many of its pilots second combat tour—a victory-to-loss ratio never saw combat as the USN needed of almost nine-to-one. In addition, 28 VF-2 experienced pilots to train the many pilot pilots shot down five or more enemy cadets that would see future combat in the aircraft, which still stands as a USN record Pacific. for the most aces in one squadron. The second VF-2 was formed in Cleaver’s history of this great squadron January 1942 and its pilots and aircraft were follows the standard Osprey format of this once again assigned to U.S.S. Lexington. series: a well-written narrative that includes This time, VF-2 saw combat: the USN pilots’ accounts of their times with VF-2, carried out several little-known combat even going back to the first VF-2 in the operations against Japanese installations in 1930s. The book is heavily illustrated and the South Pacific and VF-2 and Lexington the personal accounts add much to the were part of those operations. But the narrative. As well, the colour section second VF-2 had a short lifespan: Lexington contains plates of aircraft from all three VF- was sunk during the Coral Sea battle in May 2s. The very colourful prewar schemes of 1942. (It should be noted that many of the USN biplanes are well-represented as is a second VF-2’s pilots went on to distinguish F2A Buffalo in the bright pre-war colour themselves during the remainder of the scheme. The following plates of Buffalos, Second World War and thereafter.) Wildcats, and Hellcats show the transition The third VF-2 was formed a year later, to camouflage and the consequent wartime 416 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

USN colour schemes. These are valuable series of 35 articles. This hardcover for the modeller and historian. The author anthology consists of 726 pages divided into indicates in the Introduction that VF-2 was eight parts, each of which is centred on an reformed a third time; its fourth version important theme in Atlantic world history. which has seen action in recent years. A Topics covered include exploration, sidebar with a brief description of this latest immigration and emigration, cultural VF-2 would have been helpful. encounters, warfare and governance, It would be tempting to dismiss this finance and trade, commerce and work as “just another Osprey book,” but the consumption, and the circulation of ideas. accounts of the first and second versions of The notes and references after each article VF-2 lift this above that trite designation. are useful for those who wish to read more The chapter dealing with the first VF-2 on a particular topic. The volume is gives a wealth of information as to the supplemented by two maps and 49 black- development of USN carrier operations. and-white images. The chapters dealing with the first and Coffman and Leonard begin chapter second versions of VF-2 contain detail on one by framing the debate over the little-known post-Pearl Harbor USN definition of “Atlantic World” and the operations and a close look at the Coral Sea different methodological approaches to battle. The chapters on the third VF-2 have understanding the past. The goal of this much information on Pacific War aerial book is to avoid reductionism and Euro- combat. For those reasons, this book is centrism by including articles on overlooked recommended. topics. To address relevant issues in the field and avoid limiting explanations, the Robert L. Shoop editors chose an ecumenical approach when Colorado Springs, Colorado deciding which articles to include, so that the book encompasses methodological, theoretical, thematic, and geographic D’Maris Coffman, Adrian Leonard, William diversity. Even with the large number of O’Reilly (eds.) The Atlantic World. : topics covered, the editors do not claim to Routledge, www.routledge .com, 2014. 726 have produced a comprehensive guide to pp., illustrations, maps, notes, index. US Atlantic history, but rather a volume that $205.00, hard-back; ISBN 978-0-415- sheds new light on topics that have been 46704-9. previously ignored. Because there were no specific criteria on the types of articles Few volumes can address the complex included, however, there is little coherency scope of the areas and peoples living along to the publication as a whole. A broad the Atlantic Ocean between the mid- spectrum of interesting and uncommon fifteenth and the early twenty-first centuries. topics is covered, but there is a lack of depth In The Atlantic World, D’Maris Coffman, within each subject, unavoidable given the Adrian Leonard, and William O’Reilly, all approach of tackling each topic in a single faculty of the University of Cambridge, article. The Atlantic World is a pedagogic bring Atlantic world history to life in a book, and is most appropriate for advanced Book Reviews 417 scholars. Longstanding debates in history fisheries in the New World for example, but are touched upon and many chapters include is not recommended for those looking for jargon that may overwhelm those who are comprehensive coverage of life along the novices in Atlantic history. This volume Atlantic coast. would be most helpful for those who are Lastly, I find that reductionism and already interested in one of the books’ Eurocentricity would have been better topics and want an additional source. avoided by ensuring more diversity within As advertised, the editors include the contributors themselves. According to articles on unconventional subjects not chapter one, “one can give greater weight to previously covered. For example, South events in one’s own Atlantic world than Africa, Austria, and Morocco, which are not they merit in a broader context” (2). Yet, normally included in Atlantic history, are the majority of contributors appear to be discussed in depth. Racism, or “colour Western-educated, and all except for two prejudice”, during the French colonization are affiliated with universities in the United of Guadeloupe is explored from both the Kingdom or a former British (e.g. views of both the French and the indigenous United States, Australia, Canada, and South peoples. And, while the more commonly Africa). covered experiences of Catholics and The editors’ joint efforts have yielded a Protestants are present, the editors also wealth of detail that will delight both include articles on the rarely-mentioned academics and anyone with a scholastic experiences of Jews and Muslims in the interest in the Atlantic world. Readers will Atlantic world. be able to enjoy the diverse approaches, Familiar concepts are also re-explored methodological pluralism, and unique from new points of view. For example, perspectives presented in this volume. slavery is discussed from several unique , such as the enslavement of Britons Grace Tsai by Barbary pirates. There are different Thousand Oaks, California perspectives on the role of paper money in changing the Atlantic world, maritime insurance, the effects of public taste on free David J. Freeman. Designs of Distinction: trade policies, fish and fisheries in the New Unofficial Insignia of the RCN 1910-1948. World, and endemic flora and fauna in Privately printed, 2015. 615 pp., . In addition, new methods illustrations, charts, appendices, for studying the Atlantic world are explored. bibliography, indices. CDN $125.00, paper; For example, chapter twelve re-examines ISBN 978-0-9940717-0-5. (Orders to Atlantic history by applying the knowledge include postage, via D.J. Freeman, 992 and methods used in Pacific world history. Karen Crescent, Victoria, B.C., V8X 3C6, The book covers diverse and rare topics, [email protected]) adding new literature to the field, but the topics covered seem to lack coherence. This In 1984, Nimbus Publishing produced Yogi book is excellent for those looking for Jensen and Thomas Lynch’s small book specific articles on Barbary pirates or Gun-shield Graffiti, an admirable selection 418 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

of the artwork that had appeared on a author concludes the 353 pages of badges selection of RCN ships’ gunshields during with 9 appendices with such useful guides the Second World War. Occasionally, other as The Crow’s Nest Club in St. John’s; U- unofficial badges have appeared in boat insignia (a descriptive table—flotillas, photographs in various RCN histories, often and a few boats with similar badges); just in the background. In his new volume, insignia known but not found; painters and Dave Freeman has once again produced a designers. There are three valuable indices: heavily-researched identification book that by people, by ships and a general index. has taken over 15 years to compile, a This book is not only fascinating to leaf companion for his earlier, very valuable, through, but highly valuable for identifying Canadian Names (Vanwell badges. Publishing, 2000). This is a major leap Not all ships developed an insignia (my forward from the introduction to unofficial own Armed , HMCS Vison, for RCN ships’ emblems in that Gunshield instance!), but Freeman has not missed Graffiti. It also will serve as a supplement many. He has even located insignia for to the official DND publication Badges of some of the later British-built Castle Class the Canadian Forces (1965) and other corvettes, and has confirmed that he is smaller booklets that depicted the official already accumulating an addendum for badges produced post-1948. future use. Despite the high cost of The list of the book’s sections alone producing a volume with so much colour, it will indicate its scope. The notes on will undoubtedly produce more hidden heraldry include the artists’ original design gems as time goes on. The standard of modifications and Freeman’s efforts to colour reproduction is mostly excellent, make the descriptions clearer for those except where Freeman had to rely on a unfamiliar with heraldic terms. The poorer quality illustration, such as a distant Wartime Designs section starts with photograph, although he has manipulated gunshield artwork and front-of-the-bridge these to the best of his considerable badges, but expands to include blazer crests, abilities. boats’ badges, stationery, plaques, group The book’s value will be in identifying insignia—whatever turned up or could be crew photographs otherwise not identified, found. Next come notes on honours, by means of some fanciful depiction on a unidentified designs, unsuccessful searches cartoon figure, a Kisbie ring or ship’s badge for reported badges and more. Non-ship in the background. Many ships, particularly badges include those for NSHQ, schools, the and earlier vessels, have as stations, WRCNS, DEMS, rugby teams, a many as five different pay office—and other material generated by insignia/badges/cartoons illustrated, often the author’s appeals for submissions. He wildly different, ranging from gunshield art identifies the difference in crowns used, to blazer crests and other sources. HMCS funnel markings used during the war for Calgary has four, Iroquois has six, for ship groups, and in some cases, by example. Freeman provides a description individual ships, missing badges, post-1948 for each illustration, detailing source, insignia derivations and changes. The material, a semi-heraldic description if it is Book Reviews 419

in the form of a badge, date (if known) and holding an arrow. At the bottom of the arm, often a brief commentary as to location on the word PRIMUS in red letters on an the ship, and the artist where known. Some alternating blue and white striped pennant. badges adhered closely to proper heraldic On each side of the arm and below, three format, while others, such as a cowboy blue maple leaves highlighted and riding stylized corvettes biting U-boats, fimbriated in gold. In the tally plate, the were the subject of a painter’s or badge- ship’s name in black on a gold field. At the maker’s imagination. Some are handsome bottom of the naval crown, the ship’s title and evocative and were even carried over, {HMCS} in black letters on a gold field.” in part, into the official post-war badges. The four designs for the next ship entry, Others are dull or simply anal, depicting the HMCS Arrowhead, all contain variations on traditional fouled anchor with a name the Indian chief’s headdress, on a gunshield, added. Dawson and Wentworth, for a sweatshirt and two jacket patches, and instance, simply carry that “normal” naval include their sources and a note on the badge within the oval of leaves with a name career of one of the donors. under it. All that surfaced from Freeman’s This is a fascinating collection insignia, appeals for information. but also, a wartime naval mini-history of The period covered ranges from HMCS events and memories. It will, like Niobe and Rainbow of 1910 and other pre- Freeman’s earlier volume on ships’ names, First World War vessels, such as Vancouver be an essential reference for anyone trying and Thiepval, to post-Second World War; to source or date photos or other items with such as, the ships from Uganda (her RN the help of the appended notes. It is well badge) to Armed in a couple of worth the cost to any researcher or serious cases; almost every early corvette; a few student of the RCN’s record. MTBs and LCTs, 13 out of the 80 Fairmiles commissioned; Reserve Divisions (Hunter F.M. McKee and Unicorn, even for one of the pre-war Toronto, Ontario Half Companies). HMCS Trentonian’s example, a cloth blazer badge, was not produced until 1990 for a reunion Norman Friedman. Fighting the Great War commemorating the ship’s loss off the U.K. at Sea. Strategy, Tactics and Technology. in February 1945—no wartime badge was Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, found. www.nip.org, 2014, 416 pp., illustrations, One example will give an ideas of how maps, notes, bibliography, index. US complete (and complex) a reference this $85.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-59114-188-4. compendium of insignia is. The 1944 Castle Class corvette, Arnprior, has two The secondary title of Norman Friedman’s badges; one a suspected gunshield (from scholarly study succinctly expresses the Yogi Jensen), and the other, a painted jacket book’s themes, the Strategy, Tactics and patch, described as: Technology of at sea. He “Within a diamond frame proper on a describes the way each of the protagonists red field, a raised golden heraldic arm, attempted to use the sea to their advantage 420 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord and thereby, deny it to their adversaries potent. The author devotes considerable during a time of advanced industrial and attention to variations in types of mines, technical sophistication, coupled with their strategic placement and the safe inventive naval warfare strategies. clearing of underwater minefields. In The book opens with an overview of the describing the problems of mine removal strategic objectives and resources of the from the Narrows in preparation for the greatest European maritime powers at the Dardanelle campaign Friedman noted, beginning of the war; those of Great Britain, “Because of shore batteries, all sweeping and, to a lesser degree, . A attempts [for mines] were made at night. . . review of the participating fleets’ operations .the strong current flow in the Narrows and outcomes of their combat engagements caused the mines to dip, bringing them follows. Although Friedman recounts below the trawler draught. Sweeping wires details of many battles including Dogger often could not cut mooring cables, so that Bank, , , and Gallipoli, sweepers dragged mines out of the straits, his literary purpose is more an evaluation where special dumping areas were set up;” and analysis rather than a narrative of the details that have received scant attention in historical events. The heart of the book is a most accounts of the historic assault on detailed examination of the maritime Turkey. character or technological advancement The author also addresses the question within many classes of vessels involved in of logistical support. Albeit unglamorous, this conflict. These include supplies of munitions, spare parts, medical (capital ships), cruisers, destroyers, crude support, food and clothing are critical to the aircraft carriers, minelayers, mine sweepers, successful conduct of any military specialized logistical craft, , engagement. As the technology of complex chasers, transports, and more naval systems evolved, it became vital to close-in littoral vessels, such as recruit educated men rather than the brawn boats. Friedman also provides an academic needed during the age of sail—and provide appraisal of weapons and weapon-systems advanced training to the sailors. One that were developed and deployed along obvious example is the intelligent use of with their effectiveness, flaws and radio communications to acquire situational evolution, their protective armour, and awareness particularly at sea where precise finally, their swiftness and agility. navigation was wanting. Of particular note is a substantial Fighting the Great War at Sea is not discussion about vessels designed to deliver just another book about a war that has been torpedoes and mine warfare; topics that are extensively covered. Friedman revisits the rarely covered in other texts concerned with conflict armed with declassified documents the First World War. As the author points opened some seventy-five years after the out, torpedoes had deficient targeting war’s end. This new material casts some systems making it difficult to accurately plot light upon what was going through the a target’s course and distance. Combined minds of the maritime hierarchies just prior with the inability of most submarines to fire to the start of the conflict. more than a single at a target, this Friedman, a renowned naval historian, made a potentially deadly weapon much less expresses his opinions seen through the lens Book Reviews 421 of his accomplished “retrospectoscope.” He Howard J. Fuller. Empire, Technology and notes that both sides knew that a war in the Seapower: crisis in the age of early part of the twentieth century would Palmerston. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, seriously disrupt the British economy Cass Series: Naval Policy and History, because Germany was a major trading www.routledge.com, 2013. xv+297 pp., partner and their respective monarchs were notes, bibliography, index. US $140.00, cousins. The two nations were fiscally hardback; ISBN 978-0-415-37004-2. interdependent, but Germany’s failure to stockpile spare parts and munitions meant it For a full century the perception that the was ill prepared for war. Thus, both sides Royal Navy of the 1870s and 1880s was thought that if war were declared, it would inadequate to meet the demands that would likely end quickly. “The British war aim have been made of it in the event of war was the defeat of Germany, not the went virtually unchallenged. This view preservation of France. [But in an untoward originated in the mid-1880s and gathered scenario] if the Germans did overrun steam the following decade courtesy of France, but lost the war, they would have alarmist screeds by journalists such as had to disgorge what they had seized. That William T. Stead and Spenser Wilkinson. It is just what happened in the Second World was in turn adopted, lock, stock and barrel, War . . .” (355) by later writers such as Arthur J. Marder Friedman’s book is a supplement and and Oscar Parkes, the latter of whom coined update of the readily available works of the resonant phrase “the dark ages of the many other scholars of the naval history of Victorian navy” to describe the decade the First World War including the 1874-84. monumental multi-volume works of Arthur Since the 1980s, this interpretation has Jacob Marder. Fighting the Great War at been largely upended by the work of Sea is a physically large volume. One Andrew Lambert, myself, Robert Mullins, might classify it as a coffee table book, but Richard Dunley, and others, who have Friedman’s authoritative work should not be argued that the “dark ages” school drew superficially perused. Although its quasi- almost exclusively on the views of encyclopedic treatment of the subject makes disgruntled naval officers such as Lord it a bit less accessible than it deserves to be, Charles Beresford, Geoffrey Phipps it makes an important contribution to the Hornby, and John A. Fisher, whose of this conflict. The well- professional antipathy towards politicians’ organized data are well documented with alleged parsimony should be taken for regard to its various sources. The book’s granted and whose doom-mongering ought many illustrations augment the written to be taken with several grains of salt, rather descriptions and new information adds than accepted at face value, as did Marder, important insights about the war’s Parkes, and others. beginnings and its conduct at sea. Once one cuts through the navalist hyperbole and assesses the mid-Victorian Louis Arthur Norton battlefleet against its rivals—such as they West Simsbury, Connecticut were—First Lord G.J. Goschen’s pronouncement to the House of Commons 422 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord in 1873 that Britain possessed twelve forces and arsenals with mortar- and ironclads so powerful that they had no peers , working in conjunction heavily- in other navies appears not whistling in the armoured and armed breastwork monitors dark, but the confident utterance of a man such as HMS Devastation.(48) Were that who knew the country held a winning not enough, he misses few opportunities to hand.(Hansard, 3rd Ser., vol. 215, col. 44- denigrate HMS Warrior’s battle worthiness, 45) Moreover, so far from failing to while lauding not only the American develop an alternative operational strategy design’s fighting qualities, but its to the —its efficacy thrown open to seaworthiness as well. doubt by the arrival of steam power—the In his eagerness to make his case, Royal Navy adopted coastal assault as a however, Fuller has misrepresented the means of destroying enemy forces before arguments of his scholarly opponents to the they could sally forth. point of caricature. Contra his allegations, In this, his latest volume, Howard J. nobody of whom I am aware has claimed Fuller would have us return to the “dark that “[n]othing could prevent British naval ages” paradigm. Indeed, he goes further, power from destroying at will even the most arguing that Britain’s decline as a world heavily defended fortresses in the world,” or power—hitherto dated variously to the that “that British foreign policy—backed by 1890s, the , post-World War an all-powerful Royal Navy—all but One, or even post-1945, depending on dictated world peace in the nineteenth which book one consults—was in fact century.”(3, 7-8) Still less defensibly, he underway by the 1850s. Why, especially takes pot shots at Dr. Rebecca Matzke’s fine given that, as Paul Kennedy stressed in The Deterrence Through Strength: British Naval Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, the Power and Foreign Policy Under Pax 1860s marked the apogee of Britain’s Britannica (2011) despite the fact that the economic and industrial dominance? period it surveys (the 1830s and early 40s) (Kennedy, Rise and Fall, 151) Fuller takes falls well outside the chronological scope of as evidence for his claim Lord Palmerston’s his own study. Why? A clue is found in failure to back up his bellicose utterances footnote 4 on page 63, where it is stated that with action in the Schleswig-Holstein crisis Dr. Matzke “gratefully acknowledges the (1864), the narrow margin of superiority ‘particular help on the nineteenth-century that the British settled for in the ironclad Royal Navy’ given her by Andrew Lambert shipbuilding race with France 1858-62, and and John Beeler.”(7, 63) above all Britain’s refusal to intervene in the Fuller’s argument is grounded on the American Civil War. presumption that Britain would have Moreover, he maintains that the Royal intervened in many of the era’s numerous Navy lacked the offensive capacity as a crises had it possessed the means to do so, serious threat to France, Russia, and the and interprets its failure to act in any of United States, and that whatever strength it them, especially the American Civil War, as possessed was therefore defensive. Indeed, evidence that it could not, owing chiefly to he bluntly denies the existence of what the Royal Navy’s weakness, not to mention Andrew Lambert has described as the its want of a viable offensive operational “Cherbourg strategy” for destroying enemy strategy. That there might have been more Book Reviews 423 cogent reasons for Britain’s remaining aloof Alexander Milne deprecated using such than fear of American monitors—starting ships for high seas service: “however great with the fundamental fact that no core and important the power of their guns and national interests were at stake—is not how admirable [sic] they may be adapted countenanced. for the attack of an Enemy’s fleet, forts, or The same is true of his treatment of harbours, yet their sphere of action is Britain’s aloofness during the Italian crisis limited by the means of obtaining coal nor of 1859-60 and the Schleswig-Holstein War are they adapted for ocean of 1864, which he attributes in part to “the cruising….”(Quoted in Beeler, Birth of the growing realization that the Royal Navy was . 91, emphasis added) Numerous not quite supreme with the advent of the other examples could be adduced. ironclad....”(4) Missing is any consideration What, then, are readers to make of of the bases on which British foreign policy Fuller’s claim that no “plans” for precisely rested. Intervention on the continent was in that employment exist? Are they to the offing only if national security was conclude that Robinson and Milne (and threatened, and if a continental ally was many others) did not mean what they wrote forthcoming. Tellingly, when Belgian or said? To be sure, no bound volume neutrality appeared to be in jeopardy in the conveniently labeled “plans for the summer of 1870 even the unwarlike employment of coastal assault vessels” is to Gladstone sought guarantees from France be found among the Admiralty Papers, but and the North German Confederation and Fuller’s own research should have made was prepared to commit Britain to the fray him aware of why: war planning in the should either of the combatants occupy the nineteenth-century Royal Navy was not a country, by cooperating with the party did centralized undertaking. Rather, the not. Admiralty devolved that function to Fuller’s derisive dismissal of coastal commanders on the spot. When hostilities assault rests on his claim that no “plans” for threatened with the U.S. over the Trent its employment have surfaced, charging at affair in late 1861, First Lord the Duke of one point that “no one has published any Somerset informed Milne, then in command measured proof of its existence” and at of the North America and West another that “in the absence of any real Station, that “[i]n the event of war I do not plans which were formulated at the time...an send from here any plan of operations as imaginary reality is substituted” for reality you have probably better means of judging itself.(179, 48) Yet he repeatedly quotes what it may be advisable to do,” only contemporaries who evidently took the suggesting the advisability of raising the concept seriously, starting with Robert Union blockade of the South’s Spencer Robinson, Controller of the Navy ports.(Beeler, ed., The Milne Papers, vol. 2, 1861-71, who in 1866 pressed for the 559) construction of several small vessels of “the Was this ad hoc approach the most Monitor type being intended either for coast efficient way of proceeding? Perhaps not, defences or for the attack of shipping in an but there was much to be said for the view enemy’s harbour.” (42, emphasis added) Somerset expressed: that those on the spot Nine years later, First Naval Lord were better placed to judge what was 424 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord possible and what measures were needed to and conclude that perhaps the reason for achieve British aims, especially prior to Britain’s comparatively modest naval instantaneous global communications, than expansion from the late 1850s to 1889 was were those at the Admiralty. Moreover, this because it largely lacked that sense of devolved approach persisted long after the vulnerability. Palmerston era, even after the creation of a In justice to Fuller, a case can be made Naval Intelligence Department in 1887. that, in countering the “dark ages” Was the Royal Navy “all-powerful” in interpretation, those he labels “revisionists” the 1860s, 70s, and 80s? No. It generally may have pushed their arguments too far. maintained a modest level of superiority His approach, however, does not strike me over France and Russia, not because as the most persuasive way to make it. politicians were unmindful of possible threats—although with the exception of John Beeler 1858-62 there were no such worth Tuscaloosa, Alabama mentioning—but because they were mindful of the taxpaying electorate that had to foot the bill. By the standards of 1900-1914 the James Goldrick. Before Jutland. The Naval £10-13 million expended annually on the War in Northern European Waters, August senior service appears paltry, but compared 1914-February 1915. Annapolis, MD: to the £7-8 million per year typically spent Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org, 2015. during the 1840s and early 50s it appeared xvi+382 pp., illustrations, maps, table, enormous, and was regarded so by many, if notes, bibliography, index. US $44.95, UK not most, contemporaries save the usual £36.50, paper; ISBN 978-1-59114-349-9. suspects: naval officers and their hawkish (E-book available.) allies in Parliament and the press. Moreover, sensible statesmen such as The outbreak of war in August 1914 Gladstone, Disraeli, Goschen, and others followed a decade of unprecedented change were mindful that Britain held virtually all in and naval technologies. Within the trumps should any rival be so foolhardy the Royal Navy it was recognized that this as to provoke a naval arms race, in was the first major war in a century but particular unmatched financial resources, there were many “unknowns” about what the most advanced steam engineering was to come. In fact, the initial industry in the world, and a shipbuilding mobilization and deployments to war sector that was still producing almost 60 stations—initiated even before hostilities percent of the world’s tonnage as of 1914. formally began—were well handled. But Early in the book Fuller paraphrases Bryan switching to a war fighting mode had its Ranft’s assessment of Britain’s behaviour odd features. On the night Britain declared during the period 1889-1914: “Ranft war, the battleship was part of decided that the driving force behind a darkened formation heading through the Britain’s naval expansion at the turn of the Strait of Dover. Lionel Dawson had been century was a sense of vulnerability.”(22) surprised that part of his turnover when Unfortunately, he then fails to follow taking over the Middle Watch was an order, this line of thought to its logical outcome soon rescinded, that all officers on duty Book Reviews 425 were to wear revolvers. (Captain Lionel January 1915, described in this book, and Dawson, Flotillas: A Hard-Lying Story, Jutland, in May 1916, started in conditions London 1933, 152). of exceptional visibility. Inevitable Before Jutland is a very competent navigational errors bedevilled reports from operational history, from a British units out of sight of each other. It would perspective, of the first six months of the take decades to introduce mechanized war at sea in the and Baltic. It is plotting tables to record the track of a an updated and slightly longer version of the manoeuvring warship and to develop same author’s The King’s Ships Were at techniques to coordinate the understood Sea, also published by the Naval Institute positions of widely dispersed units. Press in 1984, which became generally Goldrick also notes how British recognized as an authoritative modern battle commanders at sea failed to grasp their history. Between publishing the two responsibilities beyond an individual ship, versions of this history, James Goldrick has or formation- level as part of a fighting had a distinguished career as an officer in organization. One result was lamentably the Royal Australian Navy, retiring as a poor reporting of contact with the enemy. Rear Admiral, and as the author of several Reporting problems and a lack of publications about British and Australian understanding of the importance of feeding defence policies and modern naval history. vital information upwards surfaced early but In his introduction, Goldrick writes continued and would have serious engagingly that since the first edition, he consequences at Jutland more than a year “grew up”. His experiences at sea, after the period covered in this narrative. including command of several ships and The book covers events in serving at more senior operational levels, chronological order after establishing a have better informed his understanding of context in six succinct introductory chapters how the opposing forces functioned and of on the individual navies, war plans, and the challenges which affected their operational challenges. This second edition performance. also includes coverage of Russian and The author writes “... that the six German operations in the Baltic. The months described here can be called the true author explains that what he describes as “a beginning of modern naval warfare.”(299) fundamental source” for both editions was Almost all of the new technologies the Royal Navy’s Great War “internal profoundly influenced operations: history” the Naval Staff Monographs submarines, aircraft both in reconnaissance (Historical) which had been produced and attack, open sea minelaying, surface between 1919 and 1939. Perhaps because engagements fought at long range and high the Monographs were his jumping off point, speed in adverse weather, and radio Goldrick’s narrative focus is, as he says, communications. Then there was the “primarily on the British”. Thus, even exploitation of an enemy’s use of radio though the events examined happened a through signals intelligence. At the same century ago, this new book—possibly the time, detection of enemy forces was still best in this genre—joins a long list of works limited to visual ranges. Goldrick observes which concentrate largely on presenting the that both the Battles of Doggerbank in Royal Navy side of operations. 426 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Goldrick’s narrative is buttressed by of both signals intelligence and the Ad- frequent allusions to writings and studies by miralty’s organization control forces at sea. others. The bibliography of English More could have been done to help the language references is almost intimidating. reader grasp North Sea and the For example, it lists 68 personal engagements described so fluidly. The text manuscripts in various British archives. carries a litany of evocative place names This new edition reflects scholarly work whose location is not clarified: Swarte over the 30 years since the first edition, Bank, Smith’s Knoll, Norderney Gat, “the including Andrew Gordon’s dissection of Gabbards” and most exotic of all “The the RN’s cult of command in The Rules of Broad Fourteens” (a large area to the west the Game (1996) and studies such as of the Dutch coast with fairly uniform Nicholas Lambert’s Planning for depths around 14 fathoms). There is a map Armageddon (2012) which have clarified as frontispiece but these points are not the British war plan to wage economic shown, nor are they defined as in other warfare on Germany by imposing a distant books about the North Sea encounters. The blockade. Stephen Roskill had already track charts show times and sinkings but published criticisms of Churchill’s actions nothing else (the one showing U-9’s famous as First Sea Lord by 1984 and there have sinkings of three cruisers on 22 September been further searching appraisals since. does indicate where Weddingen fired his Goldrick writes: “The Admiralty would torpedoes). Track charts in other works have been a different place without about these actions have annotations about Churchill, but the question is open as to how many ships were in formation, when whether it benefitted from his energy more the enemy was first sighted, when they than it suffered from his ignorance”. (301) opened fire etc.—some even very usefully The difficulties the Germans had because of indicate areas of restricted visibility. The inferior coal had already been written about photographs are disappointing — the same in English back in 1984, but Goldrick had stodgy small images of individual ships and published an article on this topic in 2014 mostly stodgy images of individuals as in and weaves it into the story. The difficulties the first edition. Pictures showing both the British and the Germans contemporary warships belching smoke and experienced when wartime demanded more the torpedo beats with their low freeboard sustained steaming and at higher speeds are plunging into seas would have underlined well brought out. points made in the text about how heavy Chapter 5, “Operational Challenges”, is smoke inhibited gunnery and poor particularly rewarding. Goldrick brings his performance in heavy weather hampered own professional background and sea small warships. The index is useful because experience to bear by outlining issues such it cites page numbers for specific aspects of as environmental conditions, contemporary a particular heading. There has been an odd navigation techniques, endurance and fuel, change, however, since the first edition the gaps between prewar expectations of because the new index curiously does not new technologies and actual performance in list individual submarines or include the operational conditions, problems in radio names of commanding officers other than communications and the embryonic nature Max Horton. Book Reviews 427

Thanks to the author’s combination of His fifth book for Osprey Publishing is a naval operational background and illustrated by Peter Dennis and Ian Palmer meticulous research, Before Jutland can who contribute a wide range of fascinating truly be described as an authoritative battle photographs, ship’s profiles and illustrations history of the opening months of the war at of weaponry to the book. sea in Northern Europe in 1914-15. This This illustrated account of the First study reads easily and incorporates current World War at sea shows how these early scholarship about how new technologies machines of naval warfare—the British ‘Q- were influencing naval warfare and about ship’ and German ‘U-boat’, as well as the British plans to use seapower against the combatants who operated them—were German economy. While German and pitted against each other. The author Russian intentions and operations are explains how, from the summer of 1915 on, covered the emphasis is on how the Royal the German Navy was sinking up to sixty Navy—not only at sea but as an Allied merchant vessels per week. The organization—planned and conducted the Admiralty was initially at a loss as to how to opening phases in home waters of its first respond to the threat to their main fleets in major war in a century. the North Sea while French Jeune Ecole strategists had suggested building a barrage Jan Drent across the North Sea to block German Victoria, British Columbia access to the Atlantic. Britain promptly dismissed this notion as unworkable, despite having lost over 328,000 tons of shipping to David Greentree. Q-Ship versus U-Boat submarines by April 1917. 1914-18. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, Greentree describes in some detail how www.ospreypublishing.com, 2014. 80 pp., the Admiralty, backed by Winston illustrations, tables, map, bibliography, Churchill, developed the novel solution of index. US $18.95, UK £12.99, CDN ‘decoy vessels’. Constructed to appear to $19.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-78200-284-0. the enemy as innocent merchant ships, they were, in fact, fully armed with cannons At the outbreak of the First World War in concealed behind camouflage screens and 1914, Great Britain was unprepared to were crewed by Royal Navy personnel in tackle Imperial Germany’s so-called ‘U- fishermen’s clothes. Allied freighters and boats’ and its fast torpedo boats that preyed ocean-going fishing boats stalked their upon Allied merchant vessels in the Atlantic adversary unrecognized and, when attacked, Ocean. The Admiralty faced a steep the crew would theatrically appear to be learning curve in supporting Britain’s war undisciplined landlubbers or panic-stricken effort in the Atlantic and, as early as May civilians. They also launched lifeboats to 1915, Britain’s situation was being openly further tempt the so-called wolf packs of described as desperate German U-boats to surface (Morris 1995), After obtaining an MA in War Studies at which point the hidden guns of the Q- from King’s College London, the author ships would open fire. (Massie 1991) served in the Royal Air Force in a variety of Greentree carefully explains much of locations, including Afghanistan and Oman. the technology involved in creating 428 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Britain’s Q-ships while analyzing Admiralty misunderstanding, missed opportunities and tactics during the pioneering years of anti- events, and the seven great navies of the . The evidence clearly world had rebuilt their fleets. This slim shows that naval service at that time was book ‘punches above its weight’ and, as highly dangerous for the participants and such, it deserves a prominent place on the required training in the new art of marine shelves of any reader with an interest in the deception. The author has also detailed the centenary of the First World War and the vessels, technology and tactics of the two Royal Navy. main sides. He explains how, as the war progressed, U-boats in the Atlantic became Michael Clark more wary, taking fewer risks as Germany London, England evolved new tactics in the battle for superiority to match those of the Royal Navy. John R. Grodzinski. Defender of Canada. Although parts of this story have been Sir George Prevost and the War of 1812. told elsewhere, this new book gives a Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma fascinating account of how these ships faced Press, www.oupress.com, 2014. xxi+375 off against each other. It also details the pp., illustrations, maps, tables, appendices, dangers which the Q-ships faced and notes, bibliography, index. US $34.95, highlights how the crews acquired unique cloth; ISBN 978-0-80614387-3. training in the black arts of deception. The First World War saw many unexpected Most historians of the War of 1812 have not maritime innovations, such as seaplanes and been kind to Governor-in-Chief Lieutenant communication at sea, which are outlined General Sir George Prevost, the man in here. Fortunately, this book is just one part command of British North America during of an illustrated series which highlights not the war. Portrayed in the past as a good only Q-ships and U-Boats, but the civil administrator, his military leadership Escorts, British Cruisers, German has been viewed as timid, interfering, and Commerce Raiders, E-Boats and MTBs. outright incompetent. A fractured Greentree has made good use of many relationship with Royal Navy commander of the less conventional maritime sources in Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, plus writing this book. The result is a Prevost’s own failed attack on Plattsburgh, chronology that skilfully analyses how the New York, in September 1814, led to threat to Allied merchant shipping Prevost’s recall to London and the demand developed during the First World War and for his court martial. Prevost’s death before how Britain effectively dealt with the court could sit left a permanent bad odor Germany’s novel U-boats. around his time as military leader in Officially backed by Winston Churchill Canada. at the Admiralty and the dynamic senior Sea John Grodzinski’s Defender of Canada: Lord, Admiral Jacky Fisher, a new dawn of Sir George Prevost and the War of 1812 is contesting submarine warfare was heralded a complete revision of the former narrative in. Yet, within two decades, the Treaty of surrounding Prevost’s military leadership in Versailles had disappeared in a fog of British North America. With strong and Book Reviews 429 clear prose, Grodzinski elevates Prevost out how Prevost approached the war. Passing of the dustbin and into the position of this defensive strategy along, he did, insightful leader, strategist, tactician and however, tell Generals Brock and innocent victim of a self-protective political Sherbrooke to attack the enemy if assault by his critics. It is a persuasive opportunity allowed. This rather minimal argument. instruction is used by Grodzinski to support The first chapter takes us from his birth later critiques of Brock and his successors. in 1767 in the New Jersey colony through Meanwhile, by accommodating the French his arrival in Nova Scotia as governor in population of Lower Canada, Prevost turned 1808. Prevost’s military credentials are several of the English ruling class in the established with his involvement in the colony into his worst enemies. defense of St Vincent. Time as governor of The opening of the war is the subject of St Lucia and Dominica led to his the next chapter. Continued disadvantages appointment as the governor and military for Prevost play across this chapter, but its leader for Nova Scotia in 1808. With the main target is Isaac Brock and his perceived Chesapeake-Leopard Affair in 1807 souring heroic defense of Upper Canada. relationships between Britain and the Grodzinski notes that Brock’s moves United States, Prevost’s posting to Nova against Fort Mackinac and Detroit were Scotia’s was important. suggested by Francis Gore, the previous The second chapter focuses on Governor-in-Chief, and that both actions Prevost’s time in Nova Scotia and the were completely in line with Prevost’s plan. expedition to capture Martinique in 1809. Brock’s rash behaviour at the Battle of His reorganization of the local militia, the Queenston Heights is turned into an raising of a regiment of fencible infantry for ignorant blunder and Sir Isaac is toppled Nova Scotia, and repairs and additional from his mythic pedestal. works for the defense of Halifax prepared Chapters Five and Six address the war the colony for the coming war. Grodzinski during 1813, including various American describes Prevost’s active part in the capture invasion efforts, although the central focus of Martinique, leading his troops in pursuit is the arrival of Sir James Yeo and the of the French, and setting the British siege British Navy on the Great Lakes. Yeo was guns. to report to the Admiralty and Admiral Chapter Three covers his arrival in Warren in Halifax, and consult and Quebec to assume the position of Governor- cooperate with Prevost. Grodzinski sees in-Chief through to the beginning of the this as giving Yeo room to ignore War of 1812. The problems in defending whomever he liked. The attack on Sacketts the , with too few regular troops, a Harbor at the end of May 1813 is the first small logistics staff, limited food supplies, a break in the relationship between Prevost shaky militia, an incompetent provincial and Yeo. Prevost suggested the attack, a marine and a supply line over 1,700 miles in sure sign of his aggressiveness. The assault length are sketched out for the reader. The did not go well, but in Grodzinski’s telling, British Government ordered Prevost to Prevost was the one who pushed the attack adopt a defensive stand. Grodzinski points to its breaking point before ordering a to this directive as critical in understanding withdrawal. Yeo is noted as wanting an 430 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord attack but abandoned his ships to fight which Prevost led an army of 10,000 British ashore. The failure of naval support and an troops. They were sent from Europe to enemy ensconced in fortified positions capture the forts and town of Plattsburgh, on defeated the mission. The second break in the shore of Lake Champlain. Cooperation their relationship involved how to use the with a squadron of four ships and eleven Lake Ontario squadron. During 1813, the gunboats that would engage the American British and American squadrons met three squadron anchored off the town was a times. These indecisive engagements reveal critical feature of the assault. The failure of Yeo’s hesitation to fight American this effort is the main military strike against Commodore Chauncey and win control of Prevost; its reassessment by Grodzinski is the lake. At the same time, Prevost had critical to his argument. requested Yeo cooperate with the army by Prevost is clearly in charge, but he uses moving troops and supplies. The his aides to communicate with the generals engagements interrupted such cooperation. commanding the troops and for logistics. On both counts Grodzinski scores hits Logistical problems slow the transportation against Yeo and points for Prevost. At the of supplies with the army as it moves south. end of Chapter Six, Grodzinski addresses Yeo would later claim that an agreement the criticism that Prevost’s failure to support was made between Prevost and Captain Major General Henry Proctor at Downey (in command of the squadron) that Amherstburg led to the defeats of the a coordinated assault on the forts at British squadron on Lake Erie in September Plattsburgh would occur as the British and Proctor’s at Moraviantown in October squadron attacked the American ships. This 1813. Barclay’s defeat is easily turned into was to distract the cannons of the forts from Yeo’s failure to send seamen to Lake Erie. firing on the British vessels. Grodzinski Proctor’s defeat is racked up to shows that the ships were too far away from incompetence and failing to obey Prevost’s the forts for this to be necessary. He orders. questions the need for a coordinated attack The assault on Yeo continues in and the possibility that captured American Chapter Seven. Prevost’s desire for Yeo’s ordnance could be used to bombard the cooperation with the army on the Niagara American squadron into submission, even Peninsula in 1814 went largely unfulfilled, after it had captured the British ships. What causing the former great stress. Grodzinski is clear is that as the British ships sailed into also claims that Prevost influenced (at least fight their American counterparts, there was in part) the attack against Washington. He no corresponding attack by British land writes that the destructive raids on Dover in forces, with the exception of a minimal May 1814 and St David’s and Queenston in cannonade. The uncoordinated preparations July 1814 moved Prevost to suggest a and the loss of the squadron caused Prevost similar raid to Cochrane (commanding the to call off the attack and head for Lower British Naval forces on the Station). Canada. Fear of a counter attack by Cochrane decided on Washington. American forces in the area also played into The central reason for the book lies in Prevost’s decisions. Mutterings of Chapters Eight and Nine dealing with the disapproval from the British officers with September 1814 Plattsburgh campaign, in European experience emerged as the troops Book Reviews 431 re-entered Lower Canada. Their main home to respond to similar questions, but concern was Prevost’s failure “to issue a these concerns disappeared as Yeo pressed scheme of operations” (164) before the to have the former Governor-in-Chief of force left to attack Plattsburgh. British North America tried for the defeat at As Grodzinski points out, the British Plattsburgh. As this court martial was being troops were not an elite force and there was prepared, with Yeo serving as a prosecutor, an absence of siege engineers and Sir George Prevost, already in declining appropriate artillery. The naval situation on health, died. The questions over his military Lake Champlain was a desperate one, with and civil conduct in North America were the new ship only partially finished, though never fully investigated leaving the cloud armed, and with the bulk of new recruits that, Grodzinski holds, unfairly marred arriving within days of the battle. One Prevost’s reputation. In a final comment on concern is Yeo’s sending Captain Peter Prevost’s career, Grodzinski states that Fisher to replace Commander Daniel Pring Prevost led the war effort, dealt with as commander of the squadron and then incredibly demanding logistical concerns for quickly replacing Fisher with Captain both the army and the navy and had fewer Robert Downey, who only arrived 1 troops than he needed for most of the war. September. Yeo is also rightfully blamed Instead of criticism, Prevost deserves praise for ignoring Pring’s requests for more for his efforts and ultimate success in sailors, as he had ignored Barclay’s. preserving the colonies. Reviewing the exchange of letters between Grodzinski’s argument is convincing, Downie and Prevost, Grodzinski is clear but the rendering of Prevost we are left with that Prevost did not order, nor goad Downie is that of the saviour of Canada (almost into sailing before he was ready, as put forth single-handedly). While Gore and Prevost by Yeo and other critics. When the navy realized their importance, it was Brock who sailed into the bay off Plattsburgh it was decided (albeit with a bit of a waffle) to their choice. Yet the letters indicate that order the attack on Fort Mackinac before the Prevost wanted action to happen soon and Americans there heard about the declaration that two days of delay did not please him. of war. It was Brock who went after the They also indicate some form of Americans at Detroit, delivering a crippling coordinated attack by the British army and blow. Both of these events ensured the navy against the American forces, but that Aboriginal tribes, including those under coordination did not occur. Grodzinski Tecumseh stayed with the British, an states that, “Prevost may have misemployed alliance that was never assured, even with the division, but he had preserved it” (191). earlier agreements. Grodzinski’s criticism Preparations for Prevost’s court martial of Proctor’s performance fails to note his on charges stemming from surviving Royal success at the Battle of Frenchtown in Navy officers complaining about his urging January 1813, and underplays the pressure of Downey to engage and then failing to from Tecumseh to fight. The author’s support him as promised are the focus of suggestion that Prevost had something to do Chapter Ten. At the end of the war, Prevost with the raid on Washington is a stretch. was recalled to explain the loss at The British had been raiding Chesapeake Plattsburgh to the Admiralty. Yeo returned Bay for over a year, getting more daring and 432 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord destructive. Washington was a natural og Søfartsmuseet, www.fimus.dk, 2015. progression in these raids, especially with 191 pp., illustrations, notes, English the arrival of reinforcements in early summaries. 198, Dkk, hardback; ISBN 978- August. The overall narrative is that few, 87-90982-75-1. other than Prevost, succeeded, and if they did, it was because of him, which is simply Reviewing yearbooks published by not reflective of the historic record. Prevost academic institutions, and in particular, had some talented officers and steady yearbooks from research-focused museums, regulars, seamen and militia who made their are always a challenge because they serve a boss look good. number of different functions, and not all of Black and white illustrations include a these functions are directly related to a portrait of Prevost, maps of St Lucia, traditional academic publication. A review Martinique, Dominica, the Great Lakes of the 2014 yearbook of the fisheries and region and Prevost’s family coat of arms maritime museum in Esbjerg, however, is a and grave-site. Two maps appear in the comparably easy task as the volume chapter on Plattsburgh. The most dynamic combines a number of scholarly articles that of the six appendices is the last, a copy of would have been easily accepted by Yeo’s incomplete preparatory notes for the virtually any academic journal within the court martial (a great find, produced here field. for the first time) that reveal Sir James’ plan The volume combines nine articles to demonstrate Prevost’s forcing Downie to covering various museum research areas engage the enemy before his squadron was ranging in time from Early Modern to the ready, and then Prevost’s failure to deliver present. Mette Guldberg provides a history the support he had vowed to give. of the northernmost North Sea port, Grodzinski suggests it is a bizarre “pretend” Hjerting, in the Early Modern period and trial written up by Sir James Yeo himself. Ida Christine Jørgensen discusses the ideas Endnotes are thorough, numerous and of life and the world of Danish seafarers in useful, as is the bibliography. The index is the same period. Both articles are well more then adequate and easy to work with. researched and highlight topics often As a revision to the old story of Sir overlooked, but definitely important for a George Prevost’s command of British North better understanding of the past. America during the War of 1812, this book Contributions by Holger Munchaus Petersen helps to set a bent record straight, but in and Benny Boysen deal with the transition doing so, makes it shine just a little too period from sail to steam and from timber to brightly. iron-built ships. Søren Byskov and Knud Jakobsen focus Thomas Malcomson on fisheries history and in particular, Danish Toronto, Ontario plaice fisheries and Danish fisheries during the Second World War. Probably the most interesting article in this edition of the Morten Hahn-Pedersen (ed.). Årbog for yearbook is Morten Hahn-Pedersen’s Fiskeri-og Søfartsmuseet Saltvandsakvariet discussion of the development of the Danish Esbjerg 2014. Esbjerg, : Fiskeri- North Sea tourist industry over the last 200 Book Reviews 433 years. It reads like a blueprint for not only provides intellectual leadership for the Danish seaside-resorts, but also for resorts discipline at large. It serves as an example on the German or Dutch North Sea coast. for many other institutions regardless of Readers from these areas will not only whether they are on the North Sea or on any appreciate the detailed historical analysis, other coast around the globe. but will definitely enjoy the numerous I would recommend Esbjerg’s 2014 parallels with their own childhood yearbook to any historian interested in the memories at the beach. With tourism one of history of the North Sea region, whether today’s most important industries for coastal pursuing traditional maritime history areas all around the globe, such an analysis research or a broader cultural history of seems to be especially relevant for coastal regions. Although published in understanding the changing coastal culture Danish for a primarily Danish audience of the last two centuries. (which might limit international readership The final two articles by Carl Christian somewhat), there are English summaries Kinze and Bie Thøstesen are dedicated to available for all articles. This makes the the wider field of natural history and focus book more accessible while ensuring the on humpback whales in the Baltic and essential clarity of the original article, which beached whales in Denmark; in other can sometimes be lost in translation. The words, whales that left their traditional yearbook’s scholarly content is a welcome habitat. While both articles are primarily addition to the existing literature. natural history articles, they are at the same Moreover, the museum should be time important contributions to maritime commended for its decision to continue to environmental history. communicate its research at a time when Altogether the nine articles successfully many museums are drifting towards the idea demonstrate that it is no longer enough for of ‘edutainment’ or focusing on exhibitions a maritime (and fisheries) museum to focus designed to drag a maximum number of exclusively on traditional maritime history visitors into the museum regardless of their topics, but that new fields like coastal scholarly quality or importance. culture and/or maritime environmental The high quality of the publication and history can contribute to the future of the large number of previously unpublished institutions like the museum in Esbjerg and illustrations, in combination with a maritime history at large. While some reasonable price, make it easy recommend might regard these fields as outside the this book, even to readers with limited skills focus of an institution dedicated to maritime in Danish. and fisheries history, it should be stated that this research is critical for keeping and Ingo Heidbrink widening the societal relevance of such Norfolk, Virginia institutions and the discipline. With the publication of their 2014 yearbook, the fisheries and maritime museum in Esbjerg Jon K. Hendrickson. Crisis in the has demonstrated once again that it is not Mediterranean: Naval Competition and only one of the foremost Danish institutions Great Power Politics, 1904-1914. in the field of maritime history, but that it Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 434 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord www.nip.org, 2014. 234 pp., illustrations, the Treaty of Versailles on the Middle East. notes, bibliography, index. US $54.95, UK Agreement as to the criticality of the region £41.50, hardback; ISBN 978-1-61251-475- in the Great War’s progress itself as well as 8. (E-book available.) for the subsequent decades of the twentieth century and into today seems axiomatic and Hendrickson has written an interesting book uncontroversial. about a little-known side of the naval rivalry Once these opening scenes were over, in the years prior to the Great War. however, the naval war in the Mediter- Inevitably, focus is on the two main ranean fled off the front pages of the protagonists—Great Britain and newspapers and it became a secondary Germany—with the navies of other powers theatre. Essentially, the Central Powers either completely invisible, or skipped over could not effectively challenge the in passing. Consequently, Hendrickson’s dominance of the Entente navies and control volume fulfills a useful service in raising the of the Mediterranean was essentially, but by profile of the navies of France, Italy and no means entirely, uncontested. Has Austria-Hungary. Remaining obscure is the Hendrickson set the scene for this outcome naval force of the Ottoman Empire. with his review of naval developments in The author’s basic theme is the the decade before the Great War’s outbreak existence of a naval rivalry in the in 1914? Mediterranean that was every bit as In my view, the premise of Hend- important as that of the far better known rickson’s thesis is ill-founded. Great Britain contest in the North Sea. In particular, did not abandon its Great Britain’s weakness threw open the dominance of the Mediterranean in favour domination of the ancient crucible of of an unsupervised struggle of minnows, Rome’s Mare Nostrum to new powers after and hence, risk loss of prestige and power in a century of Pax Britannica. It is an a critical theatre. Britain’s reduced presence intriguing story. Is it true? was entirely due to the arrangements made It must be noted that the war’s opening with France and the modernization and days absolutely witnessed drama of centralization of its fleet in home waters to enormous consequences. The pursuit of confront its main rival, Germany. SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau by an Possession of bases at Gibraltar, Malta, arguably outgunned, certainly Cyprus and Egypt would permit a rapid outmanoeuvred, British squadron led to the deployment of naval forces to uphold Ottoman’s Empire’s entry into the war on British interests very swiftly as circum- the side of the Central Powers. In turn, this stances dictated. The power of the French led to the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign, fleet was assessed as more than adequate to and then ultimately, to the more successful deal with the presumed rivals Italy and campaigns up the Tigris and Euphrates Austria-Hungary. If the French needed River valleys and the littoral struggle up the assistance, the surfeit of naval power in the Mediterranean coast from Egypt, all leading North Sea would certainly allow the to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the redeployment of sufficient forces to deal autumn of 1918. No need to enter into a with whatever issue arose. In the event, of digression as to the malign consequences of course, the Italians never supported their Book Reviews 435

Central Power allies and so the potential the book is not worthwhile. He relates his problem evaporated in 1915, after consid- story with some verve and he sheds light on erable tensions in 1914. an aspect of the naval rivalries prior to the Indeed, the struggle between the Great War that is ignored or glossed over by ‘minnows’ was intense at that level, but most. True, this “Mediterranean” rivalry is never a ‘First Division’ struggle represented minor in big picture terms, but it is not by the North Sea protagonists. Describing without interest. In particular, the role of this as a crisis seems to be overstating the the Italo-Turkish War over Libya (1911- matter. It was certainly important, and the 1912) is well covered, and provides a difficulties faced by authorities principally significant new interpretation on a much in Paris, Rome and Vienna were significant ignored aspect of great power rivalry in the (London seems to have been much less pre-war years. Hendrickson has, therefore, troubled). But the scale of the matter was provided useful insights that will round out very much a second-order struggle. any reader’s knowledge of both the era and Hendrickson relates with some relish the the area involved. He has also made use of manoeuvrings for financing that affected the the primary sources of the four main nations Austria-Hungary fleet, which rather makes involved and so has shed light on a topic the case for a second-string issue. The that is essentially deeply obscure. sleight of hand involved for the Austro- Hendrickson writes well. Hungarian naval authorities to secure the The book is bare bones. There are no funds needed to build their fleet makes for illustrations, or maps, or photographs of the an interesting story, but it illustrates how vessels involved, or of the naval facilities marginal the navy was for that government. that were the backbone of the region’s As was the case with the other powers, the navies. This is a pity as the familiarity of key branch of the military was most readers with the subject of the book unambiguously the army. Funds spent on will be limited and hence, illustrations all the navy were funds that were not available the more valued. There is also minimal for the far more important army. Given the discussion as to the material quality of the performance of the Austro-Hungarian army navies so painfully built or of their during the war, it can be argued that the operational performance in the war to come. navy funds might have been more profitably Admittedly the book ends with the outbreak spent elsewhere. (Indeed, this theme is well of war in 1914, but a short concluding known with regard to Germany. It is no chapter touching on such matters would new thesis to suggest that the resources have been a useful addition to the book. I poured into the Kaiser’s fleet were a geo- recommend Hendrickson’s book but note political disaster of the first order. Had the caveats raised. Germany maintained a small, cruiser-based fleet designed to maintain colonial interests, Ian Yeates and not challenged Great Britain for naval Regina, Saskatchewan supremacy, we would be living in an entirely different world today.) David Hobbs. Warships of the Great War I don’t think Hendrickson has made the Year: A History in Ship Models. Barnsley, case for his ‘crisis’, but that does not mean S. Yorks: Seaforth Publishing, 436 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

www.seaforthpublishing.com, 2014. 128 world market for iron-hulled warships and pp., illustrations. UK £25.00, cloth; ISBN how it also built ships for other nations 978-1-84832-212-7. Next comes a chapter on the torpedo- boat destroyer, later simply shortened to In his introduction, Hobbs provides the destroyer. This section starts with an reader with a brief overview of the state of overview on the early River, Tribal and the Royal Navy in 1914 as it entered the Beagle (or ‘G’) class torpedo-boat First World War, mentioning the growth destroyers. The Acorn (‘H’) and Acheron and addition of thousands of new ships and (‘I’) class ships based on Admiralty designs vessels under its command, along with their are then looked at. Next is a discussion on capabilities relating to communications, standardization and refinement of features armament and machinery. He then goes on of the destroyer covering the ‘M’ through to discuss the importance scale ship models ‘U’ classes. The Royal Navy’s ultimate can play today in the study of these ships First World War destroyer classes, the ‘V & The second chapter/section starts out W’, are covered and the section ends with with a discussion on and how some examples of comparable German standardization of the battleship came with torpedo boats. Sir William White’s Royal Sovereign class Chapter/Section 6 is dedicated to of ship. Using pictures of a highly detailed, submarines, while Chapter/Section 7 is 1/48 scale model of the Royal Sovereign dedicated to a variety of other types of class ship Ramillies that was made for the warships used, including aircraft-carrying builder, the reader is able to view various ships, anti-submarine escorts and coastal constructional details of the ship as Hobbs motor boats to name a few. This chapter describes them in his narrative. He then provides the reader with some fine discusses the King Edward VII and Lord examples (models) that show the diversity Nelson pre-dreadnought classes of ships and of the ships used by the Royal Navy during their armaments, the Dreadnought the First Great War. The last chapter revolution and the Super-dreadnought. This completes the book with some examples of section ends with a look at some of the merchant ships armed for war. underwater threats and protection of these With almost all of the ships of this era ships. now gone, this book will be of interest to a In Chapter/Section 3, Hobbs covers wide audience of warship enthusiasts from , the capitol ship and its scale model ship builders to researchers. development 1914-1918. In this section, he Hobbs’ narrative carries the reader through makes use of various highly detailed models a logical progression of ship development, to highlight various construction details of using highly detailed models to illustrate the ships. some of the construction details, in some The next chapter/section discusses the cases, the configuration of the same ship at cruiser, beginning with a general overview different times. I highly recommend this of the cruiser and its beginnings and also book to any warship enthusiasts. covers scout cruisers, light cruisers and armoured cruisers. Included is a brief Winston E. Scoville discussion of how Britain dominated the Clinton, Ontario Book Reviews 437

Harald Hückstädt, Erik Larsen, Reinhard city’s established practices of maritime Schmelzkopf, Hans-Günther Wentzel. Von transport and trade, transitioning to their Rostock nach See. Die Geschichte der focus on the use of steam-powered ships Rostocker Dampfschifffahrt, 1850 bis 1945. within the region. In nineteenth-century (Schriften des Deutschen Schiffahrts- Germany, Rostock was the third largest museums, Vol. 74) Bremerhaven: harbour city, next to Bremen and Hamburg, Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum and the maritime giant. As the authors note, Oceanum Verlag, www.dsm.museum, 2011. Rostock maintained a stubborn bravado 247 pp., illustrations, maps, bibliography, when it came to modernizing towards steam notes, index German with English and power. One of the early practices among French summaries. Euro € 34,90, hard Rostock merchants was the cover; ISBN 978-3-86927-074-6. "Partenreederei", the concept of shipping entrepreneurs seeking financial backing With the downfall of the mighty Soviet from other participants—be they captains, Union and its stranglehold over Eastern ship builders, agents, or brokers—to Europe, scholars from all walks of academia promote their enterprise. Each partner have gained access to a myriad of archival bought a share into the ship hoping the repositories in which to conduct their productivity of its respective respective research. German maritime would pay off; yet by the mid-nineteenth historians have often focused on the well century, the lack of capital generated established, world-wide trading port cities rendered this practice futile, which of Hamburg and Bremen, as well as smaller ultimately left shippers in the same position German cities, such as Lübeck and , of maintaining their already-established because of their reputations as centrally fleet. located "gateways" between east and west. By 1866, Rostock coal and sugar trader Historians Hückstädt, Larsen, Schmelzkopf, Martin Petersen commissioned a shipyard in and Wentzel shifted their focus from such Inverkeithing, to build the Wilhelm internationally rich harbours to the old Tell, a small steamer of 225 BRT Mecklenburgian city of Rostock, located in (Bruttoregistertonne or gross registered the former East German Democratic tonnage). He ran the steamer until 1881, Republic. In Von Rostock nach See: Die navigating its usual trade route from St. Geschichte der Rostocker Dampfschifffahrt, Petersburg to the carrying 1850 bis 1945 (From Rostock to the Sea: sugar and wood out and bringing back The History of Rostock Steam Shipping, British coal to Mecklenburg. With the wars 1850 to 1945), the authors chronicle the of German unification, first between history of steam-powered shipping—the and Denmark and then with Austria, the ships and ship owners, their development, advancement of steam-powered shipping and daily operation—in a port city that has, halted slightly until 1869, when shipping for years, stubbornly depended upon the entrepreneur N. H. Witte assumed perpetual employment of sailing ships and ownership of the Concurrent from the local their manpower. Rostock shipyard. During the latter half of At the beginning of Von Rostock nach the nineteenth century, shippers such as See, the authors supply a history behind the Petersen built his fleet up to five steam- 438 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord powered ships, setting the precedent for Socialist Germany, according to the authors, future shipping tycoons such as August seemed surprisingly less stressful than the Cords, the Fischer family, Erik Larsen, and losses suffered in the First World War, save Otto Zelck to amass steam-powered fleets at for the typical bureaucratic red tape, where extraordinary strength. Lesser ship owners, by 1941, all ships essentially took orders such as Witte, partnered with tradesmen like from the Reichskommissar für die engineer Carl Abendroth, to establish the Seeschiffahrt (ReiKoSee). With the war's Rostocker Actien-Gesellschaft für Schiffs- end in sight, the Baltic became a death trap und Maschinenbau—the Rostock as Soviet submarines and Allied bombers Corporation for Ship and Engine preyed on Rostock ships. In the end, the Building—which ultimately became city was in ruins as Rostock's businessmen Germany's famous shipyard, Neptunwerft, fled in fear of the onslaught of Soviet located in Rostock. occupation. Just before the onset of the First World Von Rostock nach See provides a well- War, rail lines were established between researched chronicle of steam-powered Berlin and Neusterlitz by the Deutsch- shipping as well as a user-friendly registry Nordischer Lloyd that stretched all the way of all the Rostock shippers and their to Rostock's seaside area of Warnemünde. respective ships, a list which encompasses This linked Berlin directly to areas in the nearly half the book. Unfortunately, the north and outside of Germany, as well as authors occasionally fail to provide enough establishing Rostock as a ferry port. In details; for example, a chapter devoted to 1914, the First World War erupted, as the shipyards like the Neptunwerft, or more authors say, "with no warning system." information behind the day-to-day Rostock merchants were hit hard as they operations these ships experienced in tried to maintain their everyday business of European waters would have been helpful. sending ships to all parts of Europe; 18 of Nevertheless, enthusiasts and scholars of the 54 total ships in Rostock were lost to maritime history in Germany will find Von enemy harbours, either seized by Allied Rostock nach See an insightful addition. powers, or else attacked and sunk. Towards war's end, the German government provided Christopher Pearcy some assistance through the "Gesetz über Virginia Beach, Virginia die Wiederherstellung der deutschen Handelsflotte", allowing some companies, such as F. W. Fischer, to recover eight Richard Johnstone-Bryden. HMS Belfast steam-powered ships. Allied powers also Cruiser 1939. Barnsley, S. Yorks.: Seaforth offered to sell confiscated ships back at a Publishing, www.seaforthpublishing.com, lower price, through which about six ships 2013. (Published and distributed in the US were resold to Germany. During the and Canada by Naval Institute Press, interwar rebuilding period, shipping names http://www.nip.org"www.nip.org). 129 pp., like Cords and Zelck flourished, while illustrations, bibliography. US $29.95, others, such as Fischer, were either bought paper; ISBN 978-1-59114-385-7. up or simply went out of business, selling off any remaining ships. Life in National HMS Belfast Cruiser 1939 was written as Book Reviews 439

both a visual and historic guide, and is part scattered colonies and potential maritime of a series that focuses on specific historic enemies, such as Japan, became extremely vessels. The book brings to life the story of interested in d enveloping various classes of HMS Belfast, a ship which played a vital cruisers. The initial result of this part in the Royal Navy from the early- to development was a line of English cruisers, mid-twentieth century. The author set out the Southampton-class cruiser, which to present a colourful and interesting included HMS Belfast, commissioned in narrative, supported by numerous images August of 1939, just one month before the and drawings, on the history of this class of outbreak of the Second World War warship. But this was not his only aim. Directly after her timely commission From a broader perspective, he describes and acceptance into the Royal Navy, HMS and illustrates the Belfast’s rescue from a Belfast proved to be an excellent ship, scrapyard in the early 1970s, its crewed by first-rate officers and men. What preservation and conservation, and its followed was an outstanding and illustrious continuing service to the public and career that spanned more than three maritime community as a floating museum. decades. The author provides a fascinating Cruiser development, in general, started description of the ship’s activities, including in the late-eighteenth century when its historic combat actions from the individual warships would undertake beginning of the Second World War in the independent operations well away from North Atlantic, through the interwar years, their home fleets and go “cruising” for the Korean War, and peace-keeping pirates, privateers, enemy ships, and missions in the late 1950s and early 1960s. intelligence gathering. The word “cruiser” In addition to approaching his subject in a did not yet designate a specific type of well-organized manner, the author also vessel; instead, it described a method of supports his narrative with a well-rounded, naval warfare. The definition of cruiser detailed, and authoritative bibliography. changed, however, with the advent of steam This bibliography, with its quality sources, propulsion and iron hull amour in the mid- is a sufficient starting point for readers who nineteenth century. By the end of that wish to further research this ship, other century, the term “cruiser” signified a twentieth-century warships, or the Royal specific type of medium-sized, well-armed, Navy in general long-range warship capable of undertaking In terms of an exhibit, Johnstone- the traditional cruising role. After the Bryden provides a superbly illustrated tour maritime arms race, the dreadnought era, of HMS Belfast from bow to , and the First World War and the naval- topmast to keel. He is well-qualified for the limitation treaties of the 1920s and 1930s, job: not only is he a professional maritime governments developed various types of author, historian, and photographer, but he cruisers. Many of them were characterized is active in many efforts to maintain Great by unique combinations since, depending Britain’s maritime past. upon the needs of the country that ordered HMS Belfast is Britain’s largest them, the developers could customize the remaining historic warship, and serves as a following: tonnage, speed, amour, and gun lasting reminder of the era of powerful, big- calibre. Great Britain, because of its gun, armoured warships that maintained the 440 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord strength and backbone of the Royal Navy in Transportation announcing that the former the first half of the twentieth century. It is Canadian Marine Service would be renamed now a floating museum maintained by the as the CCG. This was in recognition that Imperial War Museum on the Thames in the booming postwar economy required a London, presenting what life was like for maritime service capable of harbour safety those who served in her from before the and search and rescue. Also—some noted Second World War until the 1960s. Both that the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) had the author and publisher should be often rescued troubled Canadian vessels; congratulated for providing a fascinating thus, the need for a different organization. insight into the technology of the period The creation of the CCG is one of the from the 1930s to the 1960s. This work, lesser-known and less-appreciated like the ship itself, contributes to maritime accomplishments of the Diefenbaker studies and history. Thanks to the historical government (1957-1963). In 1995, the nature of the narrative, vivid illustrations of Fisheries and Ocean fleets of the Canadian the ship’s layout, and a detailed government were amalgamated into the bibliography, this work would be useful to CCG. anyone who is interested in pursuing a The CCG’s missions are varied: in better understanding the Royal Navy and common with other nations’ coast guards, cruiser development in the first half of the the CCG is involved in search and rescue, twentieth century. harbour safety, environmental protection, commercial development, hydrography, and Wayne Abrahamson exploration. In 2005, in response to the Pensacola, Florida terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the CCG has added border security in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Charles Maginley, Bernard Collin, Ronald Mounted Police and Arctic sovereignty with Barrie. The Canadian Coast Guard Fleet. the Royal Canadian Navy to its list of Mahone Bay, NS: Long Hill Publishing, duties. www.longhillpublishing.ca, 2014. xii +297 The Canadian Coast Guard Fleet is a pp., illustrations, tables, index of ships, fine introduction to this maritime service. It hovercraft, and helicopters. CDN $40, is divided into three parts: the first relates paper; $50 hardback; ISBN 978-0-9733946- the origins and development of the CCG, 2-7. including descriptions of the CCG Auxiliary and Inshore Rescue Program; the second The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is the part is an in-depth look at the ships, newest of Canada’s uniformed services and hovercraft, and helicopters of the CCG; also the smallest, yet despite its size, it plays while the last is comprised of five statistical an important part in Canadian commerce, tables containing the dimensions and safety, and exploration. In The Canadian statistics of each CCG vessel. Coast Guard Fleet, authors Maginley, Part One contains a description of the Collin, and Barrie, all veterans of the CCG, antecedents of the CCG, as well as its tell the story of this vital service. development during its first 50 years of In 1962, the Canadian Department of existence. This is a valuable overview Book Reviews 441 which gives the reader a sense of the roles primary role is logistical support for CCG played by the CCG. ships and shore stations. Finally, in Part Two is the meat of the book. The addition to the colour cover, the centre introduction defines tonnage and section of the book, contained in Part Two, dimensions used in the book, then the has 18 pages of colour prints of CCG general machinery used in CCG vessels, the ships—attractive and pleasing to see, and of colour schemes used in the CCG (valuable value again to the modeller and maritime information for modellers and maritime artist. These colour prints add much to the artists,) designations of operating range, and book. abbreviations used in the following pages. Part Three is a comprehensive set of This is helpful to the reader as the statistical tables which give the pertinent information given is placed up front, rather data on CCG assets. than in an appendix or scattered throughout This book is a valuable reference tool. the narrative. Next, it moves on to The authors’ knowledge of the CCG shows subchapters containing descriptions of each through. The research is detailed and class of CCG ship—Eastern Arctic Patrol meticulous and the writing is easy to follow. Ships, Icebreakers, as well as weather ships, The authors obviously took their collective search and rescue cutters, fisheries patrol time in researching the CCG history and the and research vessels, hydrographic and history of each CCG asset. The many oceanographic ships, icebreaking cable photographs aid in connecting the reader to ships, light icebreakers, navigation aid the accompanying text. The cover carries a tenders, survey ships, northern supply colour plate of the CCG ship Henry Larsen vessels, miscellaneous vessels, as well as and the CCG maple leaf badge. hovercraft and helicopters. Within each North Americans are fortunate to have subchapter is a narrative of each vessel of two such fine white-water navies protecting the class described—basic statistical data, their shores—the USCG and the CCG. The when each ship of that class was introduced Canadian Coast Guard Fleet well relates into CCG service, and when (if applicable) the story of one of those white-water navies. that ship was taken out of service and at It is an excellent work and deserves to be on least one photograph of the ship or of a ship the shelf of every maritime enthusiast. of that particular class. The sections on hovercraft and helicopters follow that Robert L. Shoop format as well. There is one omission—the Colorado Springs, Colorado CCG operated a DC-3 aircraft in the 1980s—this is not mentioned in the text. Hans H. Meyer. Die Schiffe von Howaldt Also, the authors point out that CCG und HDW / The Ships of Howaldt and helicopters, unlike helicopters used by other HDW. Band 1/ Volume 1, Neu- und national coast guards, are not primarily Umbauten der Kieler Howaldtswerke AG tasked with search and rescue. The search von 1945 bis 1967 / New and Converted and rescue function is primarily one for the Vessels Built by Kieler Howaldtswerke AG Royal Canadian Air Force and also the between 1945 and 1967. Bremerhaven: RCMP. CCG helicopters can and have Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum Oceanum been used for search and rescue, but their Verlag, www.dsm.museum, 2013. 446 pp., 442 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord bilingual, illustrations, bibliography, index. Bloc and the West, the Allied Western 49,90 €, hard back; ISBN 978-3-86927- Powers desired to create a stronger bond 071-5. with the Federal Republic of Germany. Between 1945 and 1948, the shipyard Founded in 1838 in Kiel, Germany, the repaired and converted German merchant machine factory Schweffel & Howaldt ships which had been given to other initially produced boilers, then later turned countries as part of the war reparations. The to building ships and submarines. During company was allowed to repair German the Second World War, the company coastal and fishing vessels and foreign delivered over 100 U-boats to the Nazi- ships. Two years after the war, a total of regime. In May 1945, the future of the 835 merchant vessels had passed through Howaldswerke shipbuilding company was the yard. Contracts to repair salvaged in dire straits. Germany lay in ruins. At vessels were actually more like contracts for "Stunde Null", Zero Hour, the country had new construction, since in some cases, very to start from scratch, in all aspects of little remained of the original ship. Some of society. Although hampered by severely the "repaired" ships were close to ninety damaged facilities and Allied restrictions on percent newly built. Such extensive German shipbuilding, the shipyard set experience in ship repair enabled course to recovery. Howaldtswerke to add the repair branch to The Second World War drew a long their key markets. Conversion of tankers shadow over the post-war era. The Potsdam into whaling factory ships and the Agreement of 2 August 1945 signed by the reconditioning of ships into whalers were U.K., the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., prohibited central to the business of the shipyard the shipyard from building new ocean-going during the post-War years. In 1957/58, vessels. On 26 September 1946, the Allied Howaldt reconditioned two former German Control Council stated the conditions for the navy submarines which had been scuttled construction of ocean-going vessels by by their own crews only days before the German shipyards, partially annulling the surrender of the German armed forces on Potsdam Agreement. On 14 April 1949, 8/9 May 1945. Both submarines became Britain, America and France signed the part of Germany's new Federal Navy. Washington Agreement, which granted the Fulfilling submarine-related contracts pro- shipyard permission to build new ships. vided the company with a basic knowledge With the signing of the Petersberg of submarine construction and thereby, the Agreement on 22 November 1949 by the key to a business segment that would Federal Republic of Germany and the become critical to the company later on. Western occupying powers, Germany was New construction undertaken by the allowed to build larger ships, up to a yard included all the major ship types, maximum 7200 GT for tankers. The Allied including tankers, bulk carriers, freighters, Western Powers lifted the ban on building reefer ships and trawlers. It was in tanker passenger ships when France, Britain and construction that the most rapid the U.S. signed the General Treaty development occurred, particularly with (Deutschlandvertrag) in 1952. In response regard to ship size. While tankers in the to increasing tensions between the Eastern early 1950s had an average size of 18,000 to Book Reviews 443

23,000 DWT, the tonnage of those Jacob Bart Hak delivered towards the end of the decade was Leiden, the Netherlands 70,000 DWT. By 1967, it had reached 212,000 DWT. In the 1960s, the shipyard began Morris, Derek and Ken Cozens. London’s construction of a dozen class-201 Sailortown, 1600-1800: A Social History of submarines, which the German Navy had Shadwell and Ratcliff, an Early Modern commissioned in 1959. To make further London Riverside Suburb. The East London use of their new submarine production History Society, www.eastlondonhistory facilities and their acquired know-how in .org.uk, 2014. Illustrations, bibliography, the field, Howaldtswerke endeavoured to indices. UK £12.60 plus postage, paper; export submarines. According to the ISBN 978-0-9564779-2-7. agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Western European Union, In the October 2013 issue of this journal I German yards were allowed to build and reviewed a trio of books by these authors. export submarines with a standard The works in sequence of publication are of up to 1,000 tons. In 1967, Mile End Old Town, Wapping, and Howaldt landed its first submarine export Whitechapel. Taken altogether these contract with the Greek Navy. constitute a path-breaking contribution to In 1967 the Kieler Howaldtswerke social and business history. At once merged with Howaldtswerke Hamburg AG, important to the metropolitan history of and Deutsche Werft AG, Hamburg, to form greater London, they also have helped to the company Howaldtswerke Deutsche save from neglect vital commercial centres Werft AG. The construction of submarines of Great Britain and indeed, of the British became a decisive economic factor for the Empire. Now we have the fourth book in new shipyard. Howaldtswerke also began to the series chart new waters by developing a tank At a time that Britain was virtually at system for the transportation of liquefied war for a century or more, and when the natural gas. Then they explored the use of merchant marine and the Royal Navy were nuclear power in shipping. In 1968 powerful agencies and factors in the profit Howaldtswerke delivered the nuclear- and power of the kingdom, Shadwell and powered ore carrier OTTO HAHN with a Ratcliff, once part of the great mediaeval capacity of around 14,000 DWT, to be used parish of Stepney, played remarkable roles. for testing‚ experimentation and Hardly a history of Great Britain of the era demonstration. under consideration mentions these This book, the first of the trilogy The riverside locales. Now, all of this is being Ships of Howaldt and HDW, presents the rectified. It may be hoped that budding history of the company and the history, historians, young and old alike, will take technical data, photographs and side these works to heart. Perhaps supervising drawings of some 400 vessels, which were professors in the fields of urban history will constructed, completed, reconditioned or take note, too. otherwise converted from 1945 until the Professor Jerry White of Birkbeck merger in 1967. College in the University of London, among the first of the academics to accord Morris 444 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord and Cozens their rightful place in the Thames River to the flanking interior to the historical literature, writes in his Preface to north, and they were also adjacent to the the volume under review: “Revelatory is not south side (that of Hospital and too strong a word for the work undertaken the naval complex based around the Royal here. The public understanding of the East Dockyards of Deptford and Woolwich) that End of London at any time up to the First seemed to represent the more government- World War is of a uniformly bleak, often directed, or government-owned, aspect of terrible, place of desperate poverty. This the proto-military state. In the parish of monochrome picture has been challenged by Shadwell and the now forgotten hamlet of historians who have stressed the importance Ratcliff, as in Wapping and Limehouse, we of an indigenous merchant and industrial find enterprises supplying the thousands of class, especially in the years before 1800. ships that had found their way into the Pool But we have never before had revealed to us of London (both coastal shipping and those in such immense and convincing detail just ocean-going vessels that could navigate how prosperous, diverse and cultured this upstream) with essential repairs and East End heritage was in fact.” Professor materials: sails, ropes, masts, anchors, White points out how Morris and Cozens victuals, and other necessities, together with have shown the cross-class complexity of pilots, seamen and sea captains. The Royal this district. Of greatest surprise and delight Navy required extensive foodstuffs and is the exploration of the lives and various liquid refreshments. Hence we find connections of “the middling sort of Sir William Curtis, “Billy Biscuit,” people.” London’s eastern parishes were a supplying biscuit for the fleet (and learn that place of astonishing commercial and social weevils might have provided essential diversity. Morris and Cozens lay before us Vitamin C as an antiscorbutic). We also all sorts of details about the merchants, find that India Pale Ale (IPA) was ships’ captains, manufacturers, contractors, developed here, and if the reviewer is clergymen, doctors and other professionals. correct in his brewing history, IPA is twice- And as Professor White also correctly notes, processed, and the final, resulting fluid has the lives of women come strongly to the greater travelling potential than something fore. I would add that we see, too, the single-fermented which, in time, will sour. direction applied on the social fabric by Among the items purchased by the parish and council governments, for as the Hudson’s Bay Company were nails: in 1751 British state came into its powerful no less than 10,000 No.40 nails and 500 formation in the years beginning with No. 30 nails were shipped. Processed iron Queen Anne, the profit and the power of the was precious in HBC territories, and I whole in the national and imperial interest recollect that York boats at the conclusion rested not solely on individual, mercantile of their upcountry passages were burned for and corporate advancement, and capital their nails, and the latter recycled to bayside accumulation and investment, but on what for the construction of new boats. Under we might call the enabling state, one that contract were delivered seeds supplied by made possible the conditions on which these James Gordon, who had also sold seeds to persons and entities in London’s eastern Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander and his parishes prospered and laboured. neighbor, Captain James Cook, before their These riverside parishes linked the first voyage of exploration. Etches and St. Book Reviews 445

Barbe had their ships in the whaling trade editorial perspective, too, running heads for supplied here, as did firms shipping to the the individual chapters, if adopted, would Baltic and the Greenland seas and America. have aided the reader. It could be that the Once again, the quoting from Joseph final, and summary volume, will give us a Conrad’s Heart of Darkness proves better guide to the whole and be a irresistible: “The tidal current runs to and compendium for the entire set. And putting fro in its unceasing service, crowded with that together may be the greatest challenge memories of men and ships it had borne to of all. the rest of home or to the battles of the Before closing, it is pleasing to see the sea.... Hunters for gold and pursuers of history of commerce being given attention fame, they all had gone out on that stream, in what might be called the microcosm, for bearing the sword, and often the torch, it is from the local that we learn about messengers of the might within the land, relationships to larger entities. With bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What wisdom, John S. Galbraith, the dean of greatness had not floated on the ebb of that corporate imperial histories of the British river into the mystery of an unknown Empire of the nineteenth century, concluded earth!... The dreams of men, the seed of that the expansion of the Empire had been commonwealths, the germs of empire.” largely motivated by the energies of the The work contains useful indexes as mercantile class. Of greater importance in well as bibliographies (these accompany the shaping of imperial policy than the each section of the book). There is a secretaries and under-secretaries of state glossary, useful when we need to find out credited with its formation, were countless that kentledge means pig iron used in persons in the commercial community who ballast; link, a torch carried by a link boy; created the conditions upon which that lumpers, stevedores; small beer, weak beer; policy was based. These persons are mostly trenail, a wooden pin for securing timbers; unknown to history. The same could be and more. There’s a sailmaker’s glossary of said of these communities of east London those terms found in the text. There are until the Morris and Cozens team began to assorted lists and indexes. The publish their findings. As the publisher bibliographies are intended as guides to says of London’s Sailortown, this is the first future reading. book to describe this unique area of The student or inquisitive scholar seventeenth and eighteenth century London. reading this book will find the enterprise of It features the rich and poor, the churches doing so not for the weak of heart. It is true and chapels, the East India Company, the that the material is set out in general Hudson’s Bay Company, brewers, coopers, chapters, as the table of contents declares, mariners, sailmakers, shipbuilders, ship and the work as a whole is comprehensive chandlers, and more. I have stressed above and full of facts. But getting at these facts is the merchant and mercantile marine aspects not easy, and perhaps one general index of this work that have attracted my would have been best in the long run. More attention, and the evolution of docks and cross-referencing would have helped. warehouses has been excluded in this Perhaps, too, one general bibliography review on account of space limitations. would have been preferable along with a Many social and institutional aspects of calendar of primary sources. From an Shadwell and Ratcliff are laid out in detail 446 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord by Morris and Cozens, and in these aspects, economics, politics, and diplomacy. He too, the diligent student will discover many writes, “An alternative title for this book vitally important findings besides new might have been, The Navalist Era in perspectives that show that this part of Defence 1889-1922” (xi). It is an account greater London was no dismal and of the most dangerous period in naval backwater slum of the metropolis as history before our own age from a British portrayed by the Victorians Charles Dickens perspective. The definition of the and William Booth, rather the opposite: it dreadnought includes battleships and was a living organism that served local battlecruisers, that is, large, turbine-driven, needs and the marine trades and the Navy armoured vessels, carrying for primary with global reach and global capacity. armament a number of a single type of large London was the port of the world. Trade naval rifles. brought England its liquid wealth, and in The chapter on “Origins of the Pre- 1724, Daniel Defoe spoke of the “silver Dreadnought Era” offers a concise survey of Thames” because of the revenue that the historical developments in the technology river generated. Morris and Cozens have and economics of steel-making for armour found true silver in those insurance, parish, plate and engines (turbines) and propellants company and tax records that are of the for large guns. The development of fire greatest value to historical studies. control technology is reviewed briefly. In the next chapters the evolution of the capital Barry Gough ship in the Royal Navy is traced in the Victoria, British Columbia context of British politics, beginning with the Naval Defence Act of 1889 and international diplomacy in the years leading Roger Parkinson. The Ship that Changed up to their trial of the . the World. Dreadnought. London: I.B. “The New Navies of the 1890s” covers Tauris, www.ibtauris.com, 2015. xiv+306 the rapid rise of the American and Japanese pp., illustrations, tables, appendix, notes, navies, illuminating Britain’s formative role bibliography, index. UK £25.00, hardback; in the development of the Japanese navy, £15.00 paper; ISBN 978-1-78076-826-7. first as a supplier of ships, and later of technology. There is a detailed description This is one of many recent books on the of the realities of maintaining ships on the Dreadnought and the First World War other side of the world which required deep published at the one hundredth anniversary water docking and other facilities available of the event. It is an analysis of the capital in Japan. Parkinson analyzes the behaviour ship building programs of world navies, of the vessels of the combatant fleets of the focusing on Britain and Germany, leading to Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, the worldwide “dreadnought” arms race culminating at the , prior to and during the First World War. which was a proving ground for new Other navies represented are those of the technologies and tactics. United States, Japan, France, Italy and other Beginning with “Fisher and the minor and historical countries. The author Dreadnought”, the reader is introduced to covers a wide range of factors, including the individual people who were the main technological development, as well as actors. Prime movers in the arms race, like Book Reviews 447

Admiral “Jacky” Fisher and Kaiser Wilhelm coming of airpower. II, are presented in great detail. The author Parkinson ably demonstrates that while traces the strong ties between Britain and the Dreadnought was the culmination of the Germany based on the relationships of their theories of Admiral Jacky Fisher, its royal families and those of leading completion marked the beginning of a aristocratic families. He shows where the disastrous naval race. It was also “simply a theories of Mahan fit into the logic of one ship whose time had come” (102). All the big battle that became Jutland. Individual elements were present and other navies, leaders include Bülow, Tirpitz, Battenberg particularly the U.S. Navy, were moving in (later Mountbatten) and other figures of the direction of an all-big-gun ship powered British political history. The performances by turbines. What was revolutionary about of Beatty, Hipper, Jellicoe, Scheer, and the ship and its construction was that, for Togo are analyzed. the first time, the British Navy dramatically In “From Dreadnoughts to Super- and publicly became a first adopter. Before Dreadnoughts” the author traces the that, the policy of reaction to innovation had acceleration in size and range of guns in the efficiently served the for a period prior to the First World War, from century. Now this balance was shattered: in 12-inch in en echelon turrets in the terms of building time, Dreadnought took a Dreadnought to 13.5-inch and heavier guns scant 14 months compared to the more in superimposed turrets in the super- common two to three years dreadnoughts. The author shows how the Among the best features of the work are inexorable drive for faster ships firing small-scale drawings (based on Brassey’s heavier shells with ever increasing ranges annuals) and specifications for individual became a world-wide arms race, in which vessels. These drawings are situated with each generation of ship was quickly the text related to the vessels and the rendered obsolete by the next. This race important developments they represent. finally went some way toward bankrupting They give compressed data. The appendix, the main participants, Britain and Germany. “Dreadnought building times, costs and In the denouement at the Battle of Jutland; fate”, presents valuable tabular information Parkinson traces the fate of the individual on battleships in world navies. Additional ships back to their design, attributing British data includes time to build in months; losses to misuse (lack of armour) of the estimates under which the ships were built, battlecruisers and the unsafe handling of and fate of the vessel (cancelled, sunk, explosives. scrapped, and so on) all in a format that The study ends with the exhaustion of allows comparison within and among the British and their attempt to control navies. This is testament to Fisher’s desire events at the first Washington conference. to demonstrate Britain’s superiority in In closing, the author looks forward to the design and ship-building. demise of the battleship, which he In terms of weights and measures, the concludes, was caused by the prohibitive size of guns, being the primary weapon, is costs of the ship that evolved out of the given in inches (Imperial measure) unless dreadnought and the advance in the the country of origin was using International constraints to their use, especially torpedoes measure at the time, for example Germany, and mines. The author only alludes to the France and Italy, where it is given in 448 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord centimetres. Interestingly, Japanese guns pilchard, mackerel and crustaceans. The are also measured in inches. inland veins of tin, copper and china clay The “Bibliography” section has provided another kind of livelihood. After problems. It lists under “Primary sources” filling their local needs the excess of earth some published articles and omits and sea bounty was placed aboard ships and Admiralty and other government papers. delivered to ports along the adjoining Under “Secondary sources”, location and British coastline and beyond. year of publication are given but the name Section one lays down the origin of the of the publisher omitted, which makes it Cornwall to be studied in depth in the hard for the reader to judge their value. following sections. Settlement in the Iron Sources are almost entirely British and in Age, development of coastal towns and the the , which indicates the rise of coastal and international trade are very British prism through which the author covered in three detailed chapters. Chapter views events. four, by Wendy R. Childs, provides a rich A list of acronyms or glossary would be description of the rise in exports of tin and helpful. The Notes section is easy to china clay and the import of foreign food navigate, being arranged under headings and wares, placing Cornwall in the thick of showing the page numbers, for example, international trade. “Notes to pages 4 - 11”. ‘The Age of Turbulence’ Maritime Disorder in Tudor and Stuart Cornwall,’ Ian Dew and Kathy Traynor section two, turns to the period of 1485 to Thunder Bay, Ontario 1714. After a lengthy introductory piece by the editors, three chapters address key aspects of the era which is dominated by the Philip Paynton, Alston Kennerly and Helen integration of Cornwall into the rest of the Doe (eds.). The Maritime History of nation, a task that in some ways is never Cornwall. Exeter: University of Exeter completely accomplished. Piracy and Press, www.exeterpress.co.uk, 2014. privateering, the region’s involvement in the xvi+461 pp., illustrations, maps, tables, naval aspects of the English Civil War and notes, bibliography, index. US $ 110.00, the customs service’s corruption and cloth; ISBN 978-0-85089-850-8. ineptness form the focused chapters in this Distributed in North America by the section. University of Chicago Press. Section three examines the long eighteenth century, beginning with an Editors Payton, Kennerley and Doe have overview essay of the period and four provided a collection of papers which chapters dedicated to the tin trade, examine specific elements of Cornwall’s development of Cornish ports, navigation, maritime past, organized into five time and wrecking and salvage. This section periods from the pre-medieval age through holds the prerequisite piece on the Royal to the present. The book tells of the power Navy by Nicholas Rodger. As expected, it of sea and terrain in shaping the course of a is well written and provides a good survey community’s life. The people of Cornwall of the navy at this time, dotted with local were drawn to the sea that surrounded them connections to Cornwall. on three sides to bring in the harvest of Profit from wreckage, smuggling and Book Reviews 449 piracy keeps appearing in the volume. Throughout the book we are told that While not the mainstay for most of the Cornwall is separate from the rest of Cornish population, the rough coastline England. At first, this is due to the rough provided many wrecks that would deposit terrain and the Tamar River (at the very east their cargoes on the beaches, to which locals end of the region) almost running the full helped themselves. The book explores the width of the peninsula, making it all but an history of the people’s right to collect these island. Later, the sheer distance from the lost goods and authority’s entitlement to political centre of the country led to a claim a portion, or all of it. The coasting certain sense of isolation, but canal trade and foreign vessels attempting to make building, the age of the train, and large span landfall offered targets for sea marauders. bridge development somewhat changed this, The smuggler’s dance with authority linking Cornwall more directly with the rest occurred frequently along the Cornwall of the country. It also undermined the role coast. of merchant shipping in transporting mined Section four covers the age of industrial ores and clay, fish, and local products to expansion and empire. The 30-page markets in Britain. In part, the linkage introduction gives a detailed description of began Cornwall’s decline. More could be maritime developments including insurance, said about the rail and canal development life saving technology, port expansions, the and its direct competition with the coasting emigration of Cornish people to North trade. America and the continuing tale of The strongest element in the book is the wrecking and salvage. It was a time of introductory chapters for each of the five change and turmoil. Seven chapters fill out sections. Written by the editors, they this section, touching on the fisheries, provide a thorough grounding in the major yachting, China Clay trade, the rise of historic, economic and social developments steam, smuggling and wrecking, and of the time period, both of regional Cornish ports. importance and the larger context within Section five deals with the twentieth which Cornwall life was woven. They are century and Cornwall’s maritime future. excellent essays, combining established This section explores the decline in the use sources with new research into the era under of sail, the region’s roles in the First and exploration. Reading these alone is worth Second World Wars, the shift of trading the price of the volume. ports into a variety of different functions Many of the chapters use terms and and the significant changes to the fisheries assume a certain level of knowledge of since 1950, essentially the economic ships and fishing that might frustrate the downturn of Cornwall. But not all is doom novice to maritime studies; so too the and gloom as Philip Payton contemplates statistics that appear in some of the analysis. Cornwall’s potential future development as The use of stats, however, is supremely a tourist destination with a focus on done, especially in Alston Kennerley’s historical sites and recreation possibilities. “Cornwall and the Decline of Commercial Attracting visitors to the spectacularly Sail.” He integrates his number crunching beautiful coast and seaside towns holds out perfectly into his argument. If there is an some hope for the future economic area that needs significantly more emphasis, wellbeing of the region. it would be that of women and the sea. Not 450 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord only women who went to sea or owned index. US $165.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1- boats, but the impact of a husband’s sea life 4724-4093-8. on his wife and family ashore and how they maintained a home. This work is a compendium of British and The volume contains many images, at German documents designed to allow least three per chapter. Black and white scholarly study of the Anglo-German naval illustrations dominate but there are coloured arms race via side-by-side comparison, images, both paintings and photographs, rather than through the traditional lens of throughout but most noticeably in a either an Anglo-centric or German-centric collection between pages six and seven. work. In doing so, the editors, British Naval They contribute a visual documentation to Historian Dr. Matthew S. Seligmann of the work that adds significantly to the value Brunel University London, retired German of the book as a source, if not simply to the Naval Officer and current Lecturer at the pleasure of reading. The various tables are University of Potsdam Dr. Frank Nägler, easy to interpret. Maps are limited, but and the Bundeswehr Center for Military clear and helpful where they appear. A map History and Social Sciences’ leading Naval showing the progress of rail and canal historian Dr. Michael Epkenhans, have development would have been helpful, gathered a selection of 153 single or multi- perhaps with Terry Chapman’s chapter, part documents and partitioned them into “Cornwall’s Trading Ports.” The detailed groups following key changes in the Anglo- index is very useful and the brief, selected German naval dynamic. Essentially, these bibliography is a good addition to the paired chapters are broken up into the years references at the end of each of the 29 1898-1904, 1905-1907, 1908-1911, and chapters. 1912-1914, with German documents of the As the editors note in their introduction first period actually extending back to 1895 this is the first academic collection of to highlight the initial actions that triggered articles on the maritime history of Cornwall the whole debacle. (3). It holds many jewels, but its real The work largely allows the primary purpose is to lead others interested in source documents to stand on their own, as maritime, social, economic and cultural is the style of such Navy Record Society studies to the coast, rivers and upland of books, but it leads with a rather impressive Cornwall. introduction and historiography that allows one to get a feel for the editors’ hand and Thomas Malcomson the logic of their approach. The historio- Toronto, Ontario graphy addresses both British and German contexts in depth, covering record surviv- ability and the interpretative trends of Matthew S. Seligmann, Frank Nägler, and scholarly studies for both nationalities. Michael Epkenhans (eds.). The Naval Route Compared to the corresponding Imperial to the Abyss: The Anglo-German Naval German Archive, fewer British naval Race 1895-1914. London: Navy Records documents survive since the former was Society Publications, distributed in the US heavily and almost indiscriminately culled by Ashgate Press, www.ashgate.com, 2015. from 1958 to 1961, whereas the latter was xlix+508 pp., tables, notes, bibliography, kept safe during the Second World War via Book Reviews 451 a transfer to Bavaria and guards ignoring references to people and events outside the orders to burn the archive. Some additional purview of the document itself. This works traces of lost British records did survive extremely well, save for one instance. The outside the Admiralty Papers, in corres- 1904 Dogger Bank Incident is alluded to in pondence between governmental bodies and a November 1904 letter from Admiral in the works of American historian Arthur J. Tirpitz to Freiherr von Richthofen, but Marder, who quoted several lost documents without any note to explain to the in his pre-1958 works. Both uninformed that it entailed paranoid Russian historiographies operate on a cyclical trend, sailors opening fire on British fishermen with initial basis forming out of the and their own ships while under the false immediate post-war publications of British assumption that they were Japanese and German naval leaders, followed by warships, an action that outraged the British revisionism. This occurred in Germany and lowered their opinion of the Russian after the documents were Navy (99). Other than this single oversight, declassified in the 1960s, whereas British the design allows for the work to stand revisionism took another two decades to alone quite well, with almost no need for emerge. Now, both sides are experiencing cross-referencing to achieve the maximum a fresh wave of counter-revisionism and amount of understanding of the text’s new approaches, starting at the turn of the content. century and ramping up during the In terms of said content, all selected centennial of the War. documents were chosen to show what both The introduction heavily documents the sides intended to achieve, how they analysis of these trends and really regarded each other, and what actions were showcases the views held by the editors, truly aggressive or actually reactive. most notably their staunch defense of Correspondence and budgetary documents Arthur Marder’s works (xix). Additionally, compose a large portion of the earlier work, each chapter’s primary source collection is back when France and Russia were still predicated with an introductory section, viewed as the threat to Britain and Germany where the editors are able to offer scholarly was only just beginning to ramp up ship analysis and place the text within the larger production. After Japan’s resounding context of world events, such as “domestic defeat of the Russian Navy in 1904-1905 considerations” within Germany and the rise and Germany’s emergence as a burgeoning of the ‘black-blue bloc’ coalition spurring naval entity, texts began to shift in tone and the 1907 escalation of German Naval type. Ship designs and memoranda manufacturing, or the October 1911 regarding financing warship construction appointment of Winston Churchill as First litter the German chapters, and while British Sea Lord and his rapid reorganization of documents offer arguments on how to deal naval leadership to include much younger with the German naval presence. Newly and more innovative individuals just on the designed Naval War Plans begin to appear eve of war (161, 164, 415). Within the on both sides, showing their increased focus document sections are a myriad assortment against one another. By the time of the of notes that offer concise biographies on 1908-1911 chapters, the papers indicate that people mentioned, ship data upon a vessel’s the battle lines for the First World War are first mentioning, and explanations regarding more or less set in what would become the 452 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord preferred actions for both sides on the This is the second book Harold Simms waves once the fighting commenced, with has written about a family member. In the the last few German documents highlighting early 1980s, he began making a list of boats the Navy’s fall from the German spotlight in that his maternal grandfather, Amos Pentz, favour of the Army, as the British texts had built and after thirteen years of highlight their reactionary measures and research, he published One Hundred Forty- exploding battleship construction plan that One Wooden Ships, 1872-1922: Amos Pentz would ultimately form the core of the Master Shipbuilder of Shelburne, Nova wartime . Scotia (2004). It was after this that Harold The Naval Route to the Abyss is decided to write about his father, William definitely an important piece of scholarship, Ernest Simms, for the benefit of future coming in at the start of new generations of the family. Although the historiographical trends with a unique book contains many interesting stories about combined nature that offers a much more the family, it is also filled with detailed impartial view of an often unintentionally information about the sailing boats and partisan subject. With the centennial of the military vessels built by the Simms brothers. First World War well underway and this It is illustrated with numerous photographs metamorphosis of scholarly opinion, such of vessels, plans, documents and an impressive source compendium is all the advertisements from William’s extensive more valuable to understanding the origins collection. of the fleets made immortal at Jutland. William Ernest Simms was born in Newfoundland, Canada, in 1896 and Charles Ross Patterson II although he grew up on a farm, he showed Yorktown, Virginia an interest in boat building from childhood. In 1919, at the age of 23, he moved to Harold G. Simms II. William Ernest Simms, Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, to learn the art of Master Wooden Yacht Builder, 1896-1986. wooden shipbuilding. Unable to find much Self-published, 2011. ix+314 pp., table of work there, he moved down the coast to contents, illustrations, appendix, boat list, Boston in 1922 and began working for bibliography, index and foreword by Olin J. George Lawley & Son, one of the largest Stephens II. US $45.00+$5 postage, cloth; yacht-building companies in the United ISBN 0-9759498-0-3. (Order directly from States. Although hired as a carpenter, he H.G. Simms, [email protected]) worked in every department, including the blacksmith shop, the rigging department and In this excellent biography, Harold G. the mast-making department, to learn all Simms sets out the life and achievements of aspects of yacht construction. After his father, the American master wooden- becoming foreman of the small boat yacht-builder, William Ernest Simms. With division, he married Ruby Pentz, the his brother, Eric James Simms, William daughter of Amos. In 1928, he left founded a boat-building business on the east Lawley’s and after some years struggling to coast of the United States in the early find steady work as a yacht builder, he and 1930s. Producing everything from luxury his brother Eric finally decided to found yachts to military vessels, it became one of their own boat-building yard. William Boston’s most respected shipyards. knew wooden yacht construction and finish Book Reviews 453 work, and Eric knew engines and anything including the 89-foot motor sailer Versatile, mechanical, so with a small amount of built for Harold S. Vanderbilt and launched capital, they leased the old Lawson in September 1950. This was the heyday of Boatyard in Dorchester, Boston, in 1933. Simms Brothers and the same year in which Under the name Simms Brothers, they Harold joined his father’s company with a began building wooden sailing boats. bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Overcoming initial financial difficulties, Tufts College and a year of naval their business and reputation steadily grew architecture studies at the Massachusetts and by 1938, they were in a position to buy Institute of Technology (MIT). the yard outright. At the outbreak of the Korean War in It was not long before the American 1950, Simms Brothers resumed building government noticed the capabilities of military vessels, producing nine Simms Brothers. In 1940, the yard built and ten air-sea rescue boats and sold their first mine yawl to the Navy. for the Navy between 1951 and 1957. They went on to build the sardine boat When it was found that the Dorchester link William Underwood, but in 1941, the Navy of the new Southeast Expressway was to contracted Simms Brothers to build two pass through their boatyard, however, they harbour barges, then three more, the last of sold up and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, which was delivered in October of that year. taking over the site of Knight Boats and The attack on Pearl Harbor in December Motors in May 1957. At this point, William 1941 changed everything. In 1942, Simms decided he no longer wished to bid on Brothers turned their boatyard over to government contracts and instead the yard wartime work for the Navy, dredging the sold, serviced and stored yachts. In 1961, basin in front of their yard, repairing the the family sold the business and returned to pier and building a long shed on it, and the northeast, where they bought and ran a installing a second railway to haul and boatyard in Scituate under the name Simms launch large yachts. Their first post-Pearl Yacht Yard, Inc. They built one more Harbour government contract was with the vessel in 1962, the sloop Dottie G., then Army for four harbour freight boats. In the concentrated on servicing and storing same year, 1942, they won a contract to vessels. At its maximum size, the yard had build four marine sub-chasers for the Navy, more than fifty yachts. When the yard was and over the next two and a half years, they finally sold in 1977, William officially built twelve of these. By this time, 99 men retired at the age of 82. were working at the boatyard. William Ending with a list of 76 vessels built by became an American citizen in 1943 at the Simms Brothers, Harold Simm’s book Navy’s request in order to facilitate relations offers an in-depth, lavishly illustrated between the boatyard and the government. insight into the world of wooden boat In the following year, the Navy ordered construction in the 1900s. It will be eight air-sea rescue boats, the last of which appreciated by anyone interested in the left the yard in May 1945. history of boat-building. After the war, they returned to the business of building and servicing yachts. Michael Clark In 1946, they began work on the famous London, England ocean racer Argyll, along with other yachts, 454 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.). The He avoids excessive detail when it comes to Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes the machinations of these crises; as he states Command of NATO. Annapolis, MD: Naval in his preface, his intent is not to discuss Institute Press, www.nip.org, 2014. xvi+246 “what happened,” but rather to analyze pp., illustrations, appendices, index. US “why it happened.” (xi) As such, his $32.95, UK £22.95, cloth; ISBN 978-1- narrative remains reader-friendly 61251-704-9. throughout. His treatments of Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Russia, all less than 20 For Admiral James Stavridis to claim that pages each, provide a brief primer not just his selection to the command of the North on what occurred while he led NATO, but Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and where he sees the various situations going the United States’ European Command and why. A lengthy reading list at the end (EUCOM) represents an “accident” may be of the book provides ready one of the greatest examples of humility recommendations for anyone wanting to dig from the last several years. Given his deeper. decades of exemplary service, his razor- Stavridis’ last several chapters are the sharp mind, and his “outside-the-box” ideas best. Here he moves the narrative away about messaging and strategic from diplomatic and operational discussions communication, Stavridis more than met the to illuminate more ephemeral concepts: lofty standard set for NATO commanders team-building, globalization, strategic since Eisenhower. The fact that he would communication, and planning. It is within become the first admiral to command the these chapters where he proves he is no largely land-based alliance at a time when it accident. One could tear out each of these faced war, transitions and crises proved separate sections and insert them into unique, but his handling of the complexities manuals on leadership, strategy, or business of his command exhibited why he was no and not only enliven the texts, but provide “accident.” Under his able hand, the much needed insight in a very readable alliance sailed well into the twenty-first manner. The admiral iconoclastically tore century, updating to meet emerging threats down traditional ways of thinking at NATO while maintaining its core values. and worked to insert modernization into the The Accidental Admiral charts institution. In The Accidental Admiral he Stavridis’ more than four years in explains how he did it, his thought command. Arriving in 2009, the new processes behind it, and how one could commander faced the problem of fighting build these changes into their organizations. an ongoing and difficult war in Afghanistan His chapter on “convergence,” or the while also having to navigate the ever- intersection of seemingly dissimilar global changing dynamics of the Arab Spring, a trends to create exponentially more resurgent Russia, and a new war in Libya. threatening crises, provides one of the best All of these events occurred amid a overviews of the darker side of globalization bureaucratic morass of heated internal and ever written. external politics among Europe’s leaders. Stavridis devotes much of his narrative Stavridis dutifully explains the complexities to examining leaders and the traits that of the NATO decision-making process and helped them succeed. His analysis of the how he tried to streamline it when he could. leadership personalities he worked with Book Reviews 455 while in command of NATO is outstanding. entailed over watching a land-based alliance From the perspective of an “insider looking spread out over thousands of square miles, inside”, Stavridis reflects on several of the might be considered ironic, if not commanders he worked with: Generals accidental. Stanley McChrystal, David Petraeus, and John Allen. Each of these military men Andrew J. Forney reached the pinnacle of their careers and West Point, New York then, through an unanticipated misstep, found themselves forced to resign or retire. Always gracious, Stavridis clearly thinks Robert C. Stern. Big Gun Battles.Warship very highly of all three, but understands Duels of the Second World War. Barnsley, how perception can create problems. To S. Yorks: Seaforth Publishing, further drive the point home, he turns the www.seaforthpublishing.com, 2015. focus on himself, recounting the xx+268 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, investigation into some of his travel bibliography, index. UK £30.00, cloth; finances while NATO commander. ISBN 978-1-184832-153-3. Although ultimately cleared of any wrong- doing, the rumour of misconduct proved Despite the ambiguity in the title, this book enough to prevent his promotion to Chief of is not primarily an examination of battles Naval Operations. As a result, Stavridis involving big-gunned battleships. It offers elected to retire after four decades of a different take on a particular aspect of the service, and the United States lost an Second World War at sea. The author has outstanding military leader. focussed exclusively on significant The Accidental Admiral does not spin engagements where only surface ships any sea yarns, nor does it provide an participated—to the exclusion of aircraft operational recounting of a military and submarines—and where the primary campaign. Instead, it’s a fitting memoir to weapons used were naval guns. While this cap the exemplary career of one of the focus leaves out much of the campaigns in brightest minds the United States military the Pacific, including major surface ship has seen in a generation. Stavridis clearly battles in the Solomon Islands, much of the misses the sea, but more so the navy and the and other key battles, camaraderie it builds. The hint of there is still a wealth of material for those bittersweet farewell pervades his narrative, interested in naval history. and you pine for the sea along with the In the early twentieth century, the former admiral. His recounting of his last introduction of the long-range, large calibre week in the navy is touching and deeply naval gun mounted in a rotating turret—as personal, reflecting a humility that can be exemplified in HMS Dreadnought in felt on every page. Surely Stavridis will 1906—changed the naval tactical equation. find future success (he is now the dean of No longer would it be necessary, as Nelson the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy exhorted, to “engage the enemy more at Tufts University) and will not be out of closely.” But technology exacted a price. the limelight for long. At his core, though, Longer range firing introduced both he will always be a navy man. That fact, ballistics complexities and point-of-impact when one considers that his last command uncertainties—in other words, a 456 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord sophisticated fire-control solution needed to analyzed. The author offers some different be developed to take advantage of the insights into what took place off the River capabilities of the weapon. Naval gunnery Plate in December 1939. differs greatly from its artillery counterpart The book then traces the strategically on land. Naval guns are usually shooting at inconclusive series of surface ship a moving target that is likely also firing engagements between British and Italian back, as well as taking evasive action. And forces in the Mediterranean from June 1940 they are being fired from a moving platform to March 1941, including an incisive which may equally be conducting evasive analysis of the events and outcome. This manoeuvres. Practical solutions to the segment deals with lesser known problem were developed to the point that, at engagements and some fascinating aspects the outbreak of the Second World War, are revealed; for example, the post-action relatively sophisticated electro-mechanical analysis by the of the systems coupled with superb optics were at accuracy and firing techniques of the British sea in all major navies. The crux of this . It is interesting to note the author’s book is how these systems performed in observation that while both opposing battle and how they were exploited by the Admirals claimed victory in one battle, the men in command of the ships that carried British Admiral was criticised for his lack of them. aggression. The author considers that this Robert Stern has arranged the narrative may have had an influence on his actions in chronologically so that the first three his subsequent command—HMS Hood and chapters deal with the Royal Navy’s Prince of Wales—when they fought struggles with the Kriegsmarine and the Bismarck. Italian Regia Marina in the Atlantic and the Chapter three follows the generally Mediterranean. Subsequent chapters deal successful activities of the German with engagements between the Imperial commerce raiders up to the Bismarck’s Japanese Navy (IJN) and Allied forces, excursion into the Atlantic in May 1941. predominantly the , in Stern’s account of the events leading up to South East Asian waters. In between is a the engagement in which Hood was sunk is chapter which examines the battles between one of the best. Then the focus moves east British and German surface forces in the as the began its Barents Sea in defence of the Arctic assault into Southeast Asian waters. The convoys. Allied forces, known as ABDA (American- The opening gambit of the British-Dutch-Australian), were completely Kriegsmarine was the deployment of outnumbered by the Japanese yet they commerce raiders or “Panzerschiffe” into fought ferociously and had some local the Atlantic to attack the British seaborne successes. Again, the author is examining trade routes. In the vast reaches of the lesser known battles in out-of-the-way North and South Atlantic, these long-legged places. cruisers could effectively disappear, forcing The final chapter looks at what was the the Royal Navy to expend considerable last surface ship gunnery battle of the resources to both find and destroy them. Second World War in October 1944. This The most famous of these was Graf Spee was the Battle of Surigao Strait, a key part and her exploits are succinctly detailed and of what became known as the Battle of Book Reviews 457

Leyte Gulf. It was a last ditch attempt of Publishing, www.ospreypublishing.com, the IJN to dislodge the American landing on 2014. 392 pp., illustrations, bibliography, the Philippines and involved most of the index. CDN $46.00, hardback; ISBN 978-1- heavy units of the IJN. It was a classic, 4728- 0146-3. complex battle and the author describes it with skill and understanding. Since the introduction of steam power as a One of the most interesting (at least to propulsion system, technology has become this reviewer) facets of the book is the a greater feature of nautical history than extent and detail of the analysis. The author many people realize. For generations, the cites statistics of the engagements in terms latest technology or the limits of the of rounds fired and hits obtained. In many technology of the day have set the tempo of cases, the actual damage inflicted by those naval operations. Technology is also the hits or near misses is also described. It is foundation for understanding the dramatic sobering to learn how profligate the gunners changes in naval capability and generally could be on occasion and how few really defines the ability of navies to project power damaging hits were often actually made. and, therefore, command of the sea. For And yet, as the author observes in his many readers, it is also the easiest point of Afterword, in 1944 it was technologically connection between great naval events and possible to achieve a hit with the first salvo the more difficult concept of naval power. at night at a range in excess of 20,000 yards The technology of the ship and its (10 nautical miles/18.5 Km). This, he equipment is easily recognizable and more contends, was “…the harbinger of the end readily digested. of naval gunnery as a major factor in Naturally, this has led to an entire genre warfare” (229). of books detailing the technology of warfare This is a remarkable book. Robert for easy comparison and comprehension. Stern’s narrative exhibits a deep Mark Stille’s recent work, The Imperial understanding of the tactical and technical Japanese Navy in the Pacific War, stands as issues involved in naval warfare. His an excellent example. In nine chapters, he analysis is incisive and he often poses seeks to establish an understanding of the interesting historical “what if” type Japanese naval order of battle during the questions. The endnotes also contain a Second World War and succeeds by wealth of additional information. The providing much more than a simple list of photographs and illustrations complement ships. the text and the publisher has chosen a Each major fleet of the period generally visually pleasing layout. It is an important had six major types of ships on an contribution to naval history and naval operational basis. Starting from the largest technical history. capital ships, such as aircraft carriers and battleships, and working through to E.J.M. Young submarines, the six chapters at the core of Ottawa, Ontario work revolve around these divisions. Each chapter represents one of the key ship types and within each, the author then dissects the Mark Stille. The Imperial Japanese Navy in various ships and their development, their the Pacific War. Oxford, UK: Osprey operational experiences, weapon systems, 458 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord and similar key issues. This situates each produces a powerful visual impact on the individual ship type as an operational unit, reader. identifies its capabilities and more While an interesting read and a importantly, places it within the Japanese fascinating tool for tracking changes in the philosophy and how they used it. IJN over time, the book suffers from serious Since each ship type consisted of more limitations of scale. Such an attempt to than one design, the author identifies produce a study of the Imperial Japanese variations of each common theme as a Navy fleet units and their development is to unique class of ship which reflected the tackle a subject of epic size. Trying to evolution of technical developments at the include doctrinal discussions as well as a time of production. While sharing a survey of the Second World War, is a recipe common design construct (in the sense that for potential disaster. Pulling all this they are all the same type of ship), each together into a coherent narrative in 392 class exhibits unique features, providing a short pages forced the author to be useful chronology of ship development by reductionist in terms of the details provided class and individual ship. This allows the and necessarily required him to skim over a reader to follow individual ships of a great deal of information. This has particular class and type from construction seriously reduced the academic value of the through upgrades and into the conflict itself. book, further marginalized by the huge Aircraft carriers, for example are discussed number of photographs and illustrations in terms of carrier development and which took up space that could have been operations, aircraft carried and shipboard used for substantive additions to reinforce weapon systems and other key issues like the value of the text. That the author radar and fighter defense. There follows an manages to provide some valuable material examination of each ship type from pre-war this way is a testimony to Stille, but it begs construction forward, based on armament the question of how much other information and salient features. Thus, the reader is able was sacrificed for brevity and illustrations. to examine the IJN Soryu briefly from Unfortunately, when combined with a lack creation to loss. of citations and a very limited bibliography, Stille rounds out his text by providing the overall value of this book drops three additional chapters and an appreciably. It is a beautifully illustrated introduction. One chapter discusses book based on extensive research, but it is Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) strategy and more useful to those with no background in doctrine and tries to set up the strategic the field than it is to most serious scholars. thinking and doctrinal underpinnings of the IJN. A stand-alone chapter summarizing Robert Dienesch the Pacific War is also provided with some Windsor, Ontario excellent maps to produce a sense of the context in which the fleet was operating and the events they experienced. Finally, an William Warner. ONBOARD HMAS analysis/conclusion brings all this together. AUSTRALIA 1914-1918. A boy’s Lavishly illustrated with maps and images recollections of life on the lower of the along with annotations discussing minor . Sydney, NSW: Five Senses details of the Japanese Navy, the book Education Pty Ltd., Book Reviews 459

www.fivesenseseducation.com.au, 2014. men had known more about why they were 192 pp., illustrations, maps. AU $29.95, steaming in ever decreasing circles around paper; ISBN 978-1-74130-984-3. the North Sea, their morale and operational focus would have been improved. Even as William Warner was a teenage signalman a junior sailor, Warner understood the value who served in the battlecruiser HMAS of British sea power and its ability to win Australia during 1916-18. He wrote this the war. In June 1916 he wrote: “In fact the book in the 1930s, but it was never British were in command of the seas. In the published. In 2014, his children, Robert fleet we knew this. We also knew the price Warner and Olwyn Green, edited their that had been paid in the Battle of Jutland to father’s manuscript and produced this work. maintain supremacy.” Accounts of life on the lower deck in the The book covers much of Australia’s RAN during the First World War are few career, including the ill-fated collision with and far between and William Warner’s book HMS New Zealand in April 1916, which is a very welcome addition to the history of kept the Australian ship out of the battle of the RAN. That said, it is a ‘diamond in the Jutland on 31 May/1June 1916, another rough’ and has its flaws. collision with HMS Repulse in December Warner’s detailed descriptions of his 1917, embarking of aircraft in 1918 (which life in the battlecruiser include long and were launched from platforms constructed monotonous patrols in the North Sea, on P and Q Turrets), escort duties in arduous living and working conditions the North Sea, the detachment of 11 men to (especially the much-hated coaling ship), take part in the , and the frequent gunnery and torpedo training surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in exercises, the boredom of the November 1918. anchorage, his shipmates (including the What spoils the book overall is poor alcoholic senior boat coxswain ‘Gentle editing. When Warner produced his manu- Dick’ who was frequently dis-rated but still script in the 1930s, he was recalling events maintained his position as the senior boat from a decade before and many events coxswain due to his skill), time on leave in became jumbled and out of sequence. The London, and the food, which he states was collision with Repulse in December 1917 not too bad and that ‘sailors are not normal (which saw Australia go into dock again) if they are not grumbling about something’. gets mixed up with the disastrous ‘Battle of He also provides insights into some of the May Island’ in January 1918, where the ship’s officers, such as the 1st lieutenant and fleet departed at night resulting in the surgeon, for their unceasing demands damage to several vessels and the sinking of for cleanliness, and Australian-born gunnery two K- Class submarines. These two officer, Lieutenant Commander Frederick separate incidents become the same incident Darley, who was highly respected and in the book, incorrectly said to occur in late revered for his calm manner and bravery. 1916. Additionally, the arrival of US The ship’s officers actually receive due warships to join the Grand Fleet in credit for their ability with the only real (and December 1917 somehow gets moved to often repeated) complaint being the men mid-1916 and the embarking of aircraft in were rarely kept informed of the ship’s Australia in 1917-18 is detailed as also program. Warner states, quite rightly, if the occurring in 1916. These errors could have 460 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

been avoided by simply reading the Official dangerous work. This is the value of History of the RAN in World War I by William Warner’s book in describing life on Arthur Jose to get an appreciation of an the lower deck in a much forgotten part of accurate time line of events. the Australian experience of World War I. Additionally, there is some poor proof With a little more polish this rough diamond reading regarding dates (the Battle of could have been a much better production. Jutland occurs in 1915, 1916 and 1917 at It is still very highly recommended to a wide different points in the book) and incorrect range of readers from the professional spelling of ship and place names that is historian through to those wanting to know annoying. The editors also state that they more about the RANs role in World War I. omitted paragraphs including descriptions of scenery, personal impressions and Greg Swinden opinions but do not contain factual Canberra, Australia material. This is a pity, as several of William Warner’s comments are well worth remembering. My favourite is his Richard E. Winslow III. “A Race of description of life in the North Sea in bad Shipbuilders”The Hanscoms of Eliot, weather: “ÒThe only means of signaling in Maine. Portsmouth, NH: Portsmouth such conditions was by flashing the 24 inch Marine Society, www.portsmouthhistory searchlights, which were at best indistinct in ,org, 2013. xvii+307 pp., illustrations, maps, the misty thick spray. It was very difficult notes, bibliography, index. US $35.00, to manipulate these searchlights and this job cloth; ISBN 978-0-915819-41-6. was hard work. Despite the use of several pairs of woolen mittens, one on top of the In “A Race of Shipbuilders,” historian other, my hands would soon become numb Richard E. Winslow III brings us the story and my face would ache from the cold. It of a remarkable American family, the was almost impossible to keep a foothold on Hanscoms of Eliot, Maine, designers and the slippery, sloppy uncovered brass deck constructors extraordinaire of vessels, large and I could easily fall a number of times….. and small, for over three hundred years. As It was far worse at night in the pitchy the author of several books published by the darkness when nothing was clearly visible Marine Society of Portsmouth, Winslow is and you could have persons or things an expert on all things maritime and naval bumping into you. The sound of retching, along the shores of the Piscataqua River in with interspersed groans coming from the Maine and New Hampshire. bridge corner was nauseating. On such dark According to Winslow, the first nights in a gale the only sanctuary was your Hanscoms arrived in the New World as hammock, but even this jerked around like English colonists in the seventeenth century, a suspended gyro, and the air of the mess with subsequent generations being deck was foul. If and when you got to your employed as seamen and shipwrights in the hammock it was likely as not to be lying in era of the Revolution and War of 1812. By a sloppy pool of water.” the 1820s and 30s, Hanscoms had earned As an 18 year old signalman, even after the title of master shipwrights, and were his tough training in HMAS Tingira in turning out ships and schooners at their 1914-15 the North Sea was hard and own, as well as at several other yards along Book Reviews 461

the Piscataqua, under the direction of the wake of the Merrimac-Monitor clash at William Hanscom, Sr. His son, William Hampton Roads in 1862. As Winslow Leighton Hanscom, continued the family reminds us, Hanscoms were there at the business at Eliot for several years. birth of modern naval warships. William’s brother, Isaiah, opted for Despite his admiration for the government service and became Clerk at the Hanscoms, Winslow does not shy away Navy Yard at Portsmouth in the 1840s, from detailing a possible blot on the overseeing the building of ships, schooners, family’s escutcheon. In 1871, Isaiah sloops, and frigates for ‘Uncle Sam,’ marked the zenith of his professional career including the steam frigate USS Saranac, when he became chief of the U.S. Navy’s launched in 1848. Isaiah also led a Bureau of Construction and Repair. As successful lobbying effort to expand the members of the graft-ridden Grant Portsmouth Yard to include a ship-repairing administration, not surprisingly, he and dry dock. Secretary Robeson were recommended for “Gold Fever” changed the lives of many impeachment in 1876 on charges of Americans in the 1840s, including at least corruption in their department by a one Hanscom, William Leighton. Democrat-controlled Congressional Temporarily relocating to the West, committee. The charges were likely Hanscom designed and briefly operated Lot politically motivated, as no legal action Whitcomb, the first steamboat built on the followed, and both men retained their Pacific coast. Other Hanscoms, Uncle positions. Nonetheless, it seems, Isaiah was Samuel and his two nephews, also launched tainted by the amoral atmosphere of Gilded several clippers on the Piscataqua in the Age Washington. 1850s, most notably Nighingale, called by Winslow devotes many of his later the U.S. Nautical and Naval Journal in chapters in “A Race of Shipbuilders” to 1855 “the swiftest ship in the world” (39). biographical vignettes of other Hanscom Victims of the business depression of the notables. He describes Captain John 1850s, however, the Hanscom brothers were Hanscom (1835-1863) as “an energetic forced to close their Piscataqua operations, young shipmaster” (85) who served his and entered government service full-time as country in the Northern Merchant Marine civilian employees of the Navy; Isaiah during the Civil War. To the usual hazards successively in Florida, California, of shipwreck, accidents, storms, disease, Portsmouth, and Norfolk, and William at and unruly crews endemic to the merchant Portsmouth, Boston, Philadelphia, and marine in peacetime, says Winslow, were Brooklyn. added Confederate privateers, blockade The Civil War found the Hanscoms runners, and British-built raiders in designing, building, and launching ships for wartime. With little Southern cotton the Union Navy. Notably Hanscom-built, available for the Anglo-American market, with William as designer and Isaiah as John Hanscom engaged in the trade for constructor, was the steamer USS Indian cotton at Calcutta. Though he Kearsarge, famous for sinking the successfully conducted the Calcutta run for Confederate sloop-of-war Alabama in 1864. several years, he was mysteriously murdered Hanscom-built, as well, were ironclads in 1863, likely by a mutinous crew, a Monadnock and Agamenticus launched in heinous crime that still remains unsolved. 462 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Winslow calls Simon Parker Hanscom seems to imply he has written a local (1819-1876) a “Journalist and Friend of history, his book is really the story of Presidents” (111). A cousin of William L. maritime America as told through the lives and Isaiah Hanscom, Simon was the of a remarkable American family. exception to the Hanscom family’s attachment to the sea. He pursued a William L. Welch successful newspaper career, serving as Natick, Massachusetts Washington correspondent for various New York sheets, ultimately becoming editor of the Washington National Republican, a Timothy S. Wolters. Information at Sea: strong pro-Lincoln journal during the Civil Shipboard Command and Control in the War. Winslow calls the Republican and its Navy from Mobile Bay to Okinawa. Balti- editor “Lincoln’s favorites” (120). more, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, Admiral John Forsyth Hanscom (1842- www.jhu.edu, 2013, xii+317 pp, illustra- 1912) helped build America’s Steel Navy. tions, notes, sources, index. US $54.95, He served at various private and hardback; ISBN 978-1-4214-1026-5. government yards, designing and renovating ships to fight in the Spanish-American War Managing information while underway has and, according to Winslow, “the biggest been a challenge for maritime commanders battleships [of the day] show many of since the earliest ships of war put to sea. In Hanscom’s ideas” (203). recent years, the United States Navy has Charles Ridgely Hanscom (1850-1918) made significant efforts to incorporate became a preeminent designer of naval cyberspace into its processes for managing vessels, yachts, and merchant ships, information in peace, war and other including two ocean-going steamboats for contested environments. The establishing railroad baron James J. Hill. This Hanscom of Fleet Cyber Command and the creation also served as general superintendent at of Information Dominance Corps in 2010 Bath Iron Works in Maine. highlight two of the USN’s latest efforts to Last in Winslow’s parade of Hanscom keep up with the newest technological and notables is Lawrence G. Hanscom (1906- information challenges of today’s maritime 1941), journalist and aviator, who became a operations. While the challenges may seem leading proponent of building airports for new, the problems presented when national security on the eve of the Second managing and using information at sea are World War. Hanscom Field and Hanscom enduring, a point well proven in Air Force base in Massachusetts are named Information at Sea: Shipboard Command in his honour. and Control in the Navy from Mobile Bay to Meticulously researched from a wide Okinawa. array of sources, both primary and Wolters’ book chronicles the navy’s secondary, “A Race of Shipbuilders” is an pursuit “to improve the fleet’s systems for impressive work of scholarship. Winslow managing information” from the Virginius has enhanced his study with numerous affair in 1873 through the end of the Second photographs, ship plans and drawings, and World War. This history is a relevant and images of oil paintings, plus a helpful map timely study that explores the timeless of the Piscataqua region. Though his title challenges of innovating during austere Book Reviews 463 times. By focusing on the past, Wolters advancing the signal and communication seeks to provide historical insights from the systems into the fleet, both materially and evolution of naval information management with respect to the training of the operators. that culminated in the creation of the The author includes accounts of how Command Information Center (CIC) on responsibility for integrating radio board American war ships in the Second technology into the fleet alternated between World War. More importantly, this the Bureau of Equipment and the Bureau of evolution resulted not just from the Steam Engineering prior to the creation of development of new devices and processes, the Radio Division and the Fleet Radio but also from the work and ingenuity of officer. While certainly this approach is all several generations of naval officers and encompassing, the author’s narrative is leaders. In Wolters’ terms, this history is somewhat difficult to follow “an examination of the brains behind this chronologically. Still, he succeeds in telling brawn” (2). With the implementation of the the story of these men and the machines. CIC during the Second World War II, In particular, the book navigates the Wolters posits that the responsibility for emergence of aircraft carriers, submarines, decision-making transformed from one, radar, and direction finder radios in the singular officer (à la Lord Nelson in the age lead-up to the Second World War. The of sail) into a more “distributed” model penultimate chapter, titled “A Most where “the junior personnel assuming Complex Problem,” examines how each of unprecedented responsibility” (4). these new technologies presented new The junior personnel, the navy streams of information for naval leaders to middlemen who made this evolution manage and then coordinate. While some possible are a central focus of the book. readers may find this chapter not as familiar Similar to Paul Kennedy’s 2013 book, as the book’s final chapter on the CIC in Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers war, Wolters’ analysis of how the Navy Who Turned the Tide in the Second World figured out these new developments during War, this study looks to the men who solved the interwar period is rich with analogs to the problems of information sharing and the current challenges of maritime communications along the way. Both information management. During the studies seek to understand “how things got annual “Fleet Problems” between the 1924 done” with respect the developing and and 1940, naval leaders developed implementing the innovations created to operational concepts to fight the fleet that fight the war. Information at Sea describes included using “radio silence,” leveraging the achievements of inventors, sailors and mission command type orders, and radiomen such as Foxhall Parker, Edward employing encrypted radio messages. The Very, Daniel Wurstbaugh, Stanford Hooper, pace of information management and Charles Badger; men who created accelerated from days and hours down to signal and flag systems, applied “spark and minutes. Officers at the Naval War College arc” radio technology and other processes to and the Naval Research Laboratory also had improve fleet “signaling” at the turn of the significant roles in creating the new last century. doctrine. Wolters recounts how Nimitz’s Wolters also explores the role of the circular formation led to improved radio Navy Department’s bureaucracy in communications. On the eve of the Second 464 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

World War, “senior officers [created] a $176.00, cloth; ISBN 9789-0041-94779, E- common operational doctrine that ISBN: 9789-0041-94786. emphasized initiative and tactical flexibility” (168). Moreover, the interwar A book entitled China on the Sea: How the years showed that “superior command and Maritime World Shaped China might control gave combatant commanders a reasonably be expected to focus on maritime decisive advantage” (169). affairs, especially the activities of Chinese The result of the interwar exercises and mariners, merchants, and officials. As research was the Command Information Zheng writes in her introduction, she wants Center becoming “the brain” of the ship. to reassess Qing China by “putting the seas As radar emerged as one of the most at the center of the narrative and using the indispensable sources of tactical information oceans to elucidate the complexity of on the ship, J.C. Wylie, Mahlon Tisdale, Chinese history.” While the book is full of and Caleb Laning proved to be pivotal in fascinating vignettes about how an the design and creation of the CIC on board increasingly open-door policy towards American ships. At Admiral Nimitz’s foreign trade exposed the Chinese to a urging, they designed the CIC layout and variety of imports, Chinese mariners and wrote the CIC doctrine that would be used maritime trade-related institutions are all but throughout the fleet during the war. For absent from most of the book; the index Wolters, theirs is not a story of individual contains no entries for “crew,” “port,” or achievement, but rather, yet another “ships.” example of the Second World War That a missed opportunity may be in the generation willingly putting the needs of the offing is suggested when she writes of her service and nation ahead of self. three-fold periodization of Chinese maritime With Information at Sea, Wolters has history: “the pre–Sui-Tang period (to 589 filled a gap in the story of the American CE), the Tang-Song-Yuan period navy’s crowning success at war. He (589–1367), when seafaring and trade includes over 66 pages of endnotes that developed fully, and the Ming-Qing period provide a great resource for further research (1368–1911), when it stagnated.” While the in maritime command and control. The government did impose strict limits (haijin, story of maritime information from the which Zheng does not discuss) on overseas 1870s through 1945 can and should inform trade, Zheng He’s voyages took place how the Navy tackles the information during the early Ming, and trade liberalized challenges of the future. after 1567. The new Qing government imposed haijin specifically in response to Jon Scott Logel the threat of the fleets of Ming loyalist Portsmouth, Rhode Island Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), but the Kangxi emperor relaxed them following the rebels’ defeat in 1683. This encouraged western traders to visit, but it also led to an Zheng Yangwen. China on the Sea: How unprecedented growth in China’s sea trade the Maritime World Shaped Modern China. and the flourishing of communities of Leiden: Brill, www.brill.com, 2012. x+362 overseas Chinese—“merchants without pp., illustrations, index. Euro €135,00, US empire” as Wang Gungwu put it. Book Reviews 465

Zheng covers these developments in acknowledging that the research is often chapter 2 and, almost exclusively in the well under way. She even fumbles some of context of the rice trade with Thailand in her own conclusions. Discussing the chapter 3. While she briefly discusses the English taste for Chinese tea, she quotes a Chinese presence in Dutch Batavia nineteenth-century author who “sums up the (Jakarta), she has little to say about it importance of tea” in terms of revenues to beyond the number of junks calling there in the exchequer and the East India Company the first half of the eighteenth century and (EIC) and the numbers of seamen and ships remarking that the Dutch murdered 10,000 employed. As a precursor to the American Chinese in 1740. Manila gets a brief Revolution, the Boston tea party—a protest mention, but nothing is said of the over the EIC’s dumping tea in the North massacre—or resilience—of Chinese American colonies—was perhaps more communities in Manila, Cho Lon important, though it goes unnoticed. But (Vietnam), Borneo, and elsewhere, to say Zheng’s anglophilia is acute, and she adds nothing of how they came to be or how they that in the nineteenth century “The English, functioned within Asia’s maritime rather than the Chinese, had come to perfect networks. the art of tea,” a claim she supports by More than half the book is given over to quoting an advertisement for Tea at the Ritz discussions of various commodities and in 2010. The authors of Chinese and novelties introduced by “western” Japanese tea classics written as early as the merchants—cotton, clocks, opium, and eighth century might dissent. architectural, musical, and artistic Foreign trade shaped China in the styles—how these were initially the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as it did preserve of the elite, and how they were all of the world’s major powers, and most of eventually indigenized (or not) by a growing that trade moved by sea. But how goods consumer base. Zheng concludes with a that happened to move across the sea truncated assessment of how China’s changed their recipients is not the same as exports changed foreign cultures. Far from how a country or people operated in and being at the centre of the narrative, around the maritime world, or on the sea. A however, the seas are almost entirely absent. full assessment of China’s long and Instead, we are left with a China all but complex maritime history remains to be stripped of agency with respect to its foreign written. trade, and at the mercy of European interlopers. Nothing is said of Chinese Lincoln Paine navigators’ increased knowledge of the Portland, Maine world as revealed in maps and writings, the strength of China’s merchant marine and naval defense forces, or its important trade with Japan in the two centuries after the Tokugawa shogun issued the sakoku (closed country) edict in 1635. The text often has the feel of a literature review, and Zheng frequently raises subjects that call for further research, without