Ahlström, Christian. Looking for Leads: Shipwrecks of the Past Revealed
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BOOK REVIEWS Benjamin W. Labaree, William M. Fowler, Jr., of geography, natural resources, and the achieve- John B. Hattendorf, Jeffrey J. Safford, Edward W. ments of marine scientists in the historic interac- Sloan and Andrew W. German. America and the tion between people and the sea. Sea: A Maritime History. Mystic, CT: Mystic Much of the richness in America At Sea Seaport Museum, 1998. x + 686 pp., illustrations stems from the authors' decision to supplement & photographs (b+w, colour), maps, appendix, the basic narrative in several ways. The volume's select bibliography, contributors, index. US $65, oversize format allows heavy use of illustrations, cloth; ISBN 0-913372-81-1. including numerous works of art and historic photographs. These add to the aesthetic as well as One can compare America and the Sea to an to the didactic value of the volume. Sidebars are oceanic trawl brimming over with treasures from presented with equal skill, and include many con- the deep. Concentrating on the maritime experi- temporary documents such as slave-voyage nar- ence of the United States, this sophisticated vol- ratives, a battle report of USS Constitution, and ume reflects the best and most recent scholarship. Alexis De Tocqueville's amazing commentary The book's quality is not surprising since the from the 1830s predicting that the United States authors of America and the Sea are distinguished would become the world's leading naval power. historians serving on the faculty of Mystic Sea- As well, the principal authors, together with other port's Frank C. Munson Institute. That institute scholars, offer in-depth comments on selected offers graduate-level courses in maritime history subjects or individuals. Many of these sections during the summer season. Now Mystic extends mirror the interest of modern historians in the its educational impact by commissioning and pub- roles of women, African-Americans, and the lishing America and the Sea. underclasses, all of which once received scant The breadth of this volume's interpretive scholarly attention. The sidebars cover many framework is suggested in the opening para- other topics, such as modern aquaculture, the graphs. Here the authors assert that the sea can be round-the-world cruise of Joshua Slocum, and perceived in two paradoxical ways: first, as a recreational uses of the sea. highway allowing nations to share in the world- The conclusions in this volume are often wide mingling of people, resources, and cultures; fresh and challenging. For example, the authors and, second, as a barrier behind which a country identify a number of maritime factors that help such as the United States could be isolated and explain the decision of colonial Americans to protected during much of its history. declare their independence from Great Britain. The subject matter presented in America and They observe that the maritime policy developed The Sea is far more extensive than the salty by the Federalists in the 1790s reflected a account one might expect of the ocean-going mercantilistic attempt to aid maritime industries. merchant marine. That subject is covered very But Mystic Seaport's scholars also point out that well. But the volume also presents insightful marine prosperity in the new nation depended accounts of US fisheries, especially in the North upon the private initiative of ship owners and Atlantic and Pacific Northwest, and describes captains. While acknowledging the influence of water-borne commerce on the Great Lakes and Alfred Thayer Mahan, the authors note that his other inland waterways. The volume contains seapower theories can be questioned. illuminating coverage of the economic history Any work as ambitious as America at Sea associated with the development of US po rts and may be criticized. In this reviewer's opinion the changes in trade patterns. Another major compo- World War I naval section gives disproportionate nent consists of the social history of the men and attention to the London perspective of Admiral women associated with maritime industries. There William S. Sims, dismissing all too easily Wash- are long sections dealing with the US Navy and ington's point of view. For such a well-designed the light house, revenue marine, and lifesaving volume, it is surprising that the maps are not more services that eventually formed the US Coast handsome and numerous. Nor does the index Guard. Finally, attention is given to the influence appear to be entirely complete. A cross-check 61 62 The Northern Mariner revealed that the indexers failed to pick up the In cooperation with the United States, Great names of several scholars referred to in the text. Britain and the other NATO partners the German Nothing, however, should obscure the fact navy (i.e. the West German navy) helped to that America At Sea is an important volume. It secure peace in the Baltic and North Seas and in represents the most comprehensive and scholarly the Atlantic, in contrast to the performance of its account of US maritime history written to date. predecessors, which seemed always to head for The authors and publisher deserve a hearty well disaster when they acted on their own and in done for their notable contribution to our field. antagonism to the rest of the world. Every topic Salewski touches is masterly Dean C. Allard scrutinized by an author who knows the sources Arlington, Virginia and archives. His analysis is often surprising and always brilliant, especially when dealing with Michael Salewski. Die Deutschen und die See: aspects of the Kriegsmarine (1935 to 1945). Studien zur deutschen Marinegeschichte des 19. Based on an intimate knowledge acquired in the und 20. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner 1960s when he wrote his disse rtation and later his Verlag, 1998. 361 pp., figures. DM/sFr 128,-, OS habilschrift about the German Supreme Naval 934,-, cloth; ISBN 3-515-07319-1. Command, he offers valuable insights into the quite intricate relations between Hitler and Michael Salewski is Germany's leading naval Raeder, Raeder and Dönitz and Dönitz and Hitler. historian. He is a very prolific writer with inter- It is astonishing how many Anglo-American ests that extend far beyond naval history. His writers fail to consult Salewski's path-breaking Political History of Germany, for example, ap- work on the German Supreme Naval Command. peared in two volumes a few years ago. Teaching Although I was familiar with most of the history at the University of Kiel since 1980, he is articles in this collection, reading them again was also the editor of a review journal and the His- highly stimulating. The book can be rec- torische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft as ommended to all readers interested in German well as its side jou rnal Historische Mitteilungen. naval history. It is a must for all scholars working Beihefte, of which Die Deutschen und die See is in that field. Perhaps one day an English version volume 25. For his sixtieth birthday, two of his will be available. pupils published twenty-two articles or parts from books he had written over the last three decades. Lars Ulrich Scholl Anyone familiar with Salewski's writings will Bremerhaven, Germany welcome this collection because the files can be cleared of many photocopies, while those un- Poul Holm and Olaf Janzen (eds.). Northern Seas familiar with his work now have an opportunity to Yearbook 1997, Association for the History of the get an excellent overview of the academic work Northern Seas. Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet studie- of this eminent historian. serie, nr. 10; Esbjerg: Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet, The way the essays are arranged almost turn 1998. 116 pp., maps, illustrations, tables. Dkr 150 the book into a monograph. The articles are [free with membership in the AHNS], paper; presented more or less chronologically, from the ISBN 87-87453-87-8. middle of the nineteenth century forward to the end of World War II. The opening paper, "Ger- This yearbook contains the papers of a conference many as a Sea Power," is a splendid general held at Esbjerg in August 1997. The publication introduction. The surprising conclusion Salewski within a year's time deserves a compliment. It is reaches is that Germany became a sea power only once again in the attractive blue jacket, one of the when she did not have any aspirations in that trademarks of the Esbjerg museum. By and large, direction, i.e. the moment she joined NATO and the six papers show good quality but do not have was given a specific task within the frame of much relation to each other. Hence I restrict international maritime politics. For the first time myself to a brief characterization of the essays. in history the German navy carried neither ideolo- As part of a greater study into the history of gies nor claims for colonies or shares in the the fisheries along the South Devon coast from international maritime economy, which so often the eleventh into the mid-sixteenth century, had caused deadly competition with other powers. Harold Fox discusses the transition from seasonal Book Reviews 63 to permanent settlement of fishing villages in concerns of environmentalists, stemmed from his England. He draws attention to the influence of many years experience on the world's oceans. To landscape and the location of those villages in that this day, that remark has remained with me in part transition, and examines the role played by as- because, having been raised on the Pacific coast, pects of the development of local sets of by-laws I was immediately able to sense the truth of it, and and the birth of nonconformity. S.I. Langhelle also because it so aptly expressed something of discusses some aspects of the timber export trade the intangible character of coastal life.