Book Reviews

Jake Alimahomed-Wilson. Solidarity Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, an aca- Forever? Race, Gender, and demic sociologist teaching at Cali- Unionism in the Ports of Southern fornia State University, Long Beach, California. Lanham, MD: Lexington uses existing repositories of oral Books, an imprint of The Rowman & histories as well as some of his own Littlefield Publishing Group, www. conducted interviews and results rowman.com, 2016. xi+205 pp., bib- from field study observation to liography, index. US $85.00, hard- explore the challenges and barriers back; ISBN 978-1-4985-1434-7. (E- facing black workers and women on book available, ISBN 978-1-4985- the waterfronts of San Pedro, Long 1435-4.) Beach, and Los Angeles at the hands of union officials and members, both The International Longshore and historically and up to the present day. Warehouse Union (ILWU), a dom- Alimahomed-Wilson argues that inant waterfront labour union along institutionalized racial and gender the West Coast of North America, inequality have been the lot of has carefully cultivated a militant, minority groups outside the over- radical image and brand that arching white, masculine longshore represents rank-and-file members and culture in the commercial ports of glorifies the long-time leadership of southern California for a long time. Harry Bridges, to almost mythical Persons of colour and women, or proportions. Oral histories — record- both, were denied fair opportunity for ed, preserved, and made available hiring and employment, consistently through the efforts of officially discriminated against and harassed, sanctioned historians like Harvey occasionally threatened with vio- Schwartz, and equally committed lence, and made to feel unwelcome individuals and groups at local levels on the waterfront. Nonetheless, they — have brought voice and content to persisted in gaining recognition of this endeavour. What better than past their rights and fought back with and present longshore workers telling targeted lawsuits to force the union their stories and experiences in their and the employers' association to own words? accept and integrate more of them. Since its founding in 1937, the As a consequence, numbers of ILWU has outwardly abhorred all blacks, Latinos, and women slowly forms of discrimination on the basis increased among longshore workers of race or other lines of prejudice. in ILWU Local 13, marine clerks in

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXVI, No. 3 (July 2016), 317-370. 318 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

ILWU Local 63, and unionized tinue the trail-blazing work of his foremen in ILWU Local 94, though foreman father; and Clovijean Good, overall percentages still remain small a black woman from an established and structural discrimination con- longshore family behind a prominent tinues. Technological and organiza- court challenge, among others. From tional changes, in turn, created new the Unemployed 500, when black job classifications and broke up the longshore workers were deregistered old gang system and its lingering from the union post-war, to the pat- culture. riarchal networks that reserved spots The money spent by union locals on the waterfront for favoured family in defending against lawsuits and members, minorities struggled reaching settlements with its own against discriminatory behaviour on members, paid for by other members, the part of union locals. is presented as a waste of resources The individual stories and re- in light of other priorities, when collections are important, though policies could simply be changed. without further reference to docu- Alimahomed-Wilson is almost sad to mentary sources such as minute reach the conclusions that he does, books, financial records, and volu- given that the ILWU is still con- minous legal proceedings, oral his- sidered among the most progressive tory alone has limitations. The exam- and principled unions in the Amer- ination for discovery before trial, for ican labour movement. Despite being instance, represents a form of oral aware of problems with racism and history, one taken under oath, tran- sexism, Harry Bridges and other scribed, and subject to scrutiny by an international officers were reluctant opposing lawyer. Besides the oral to intervene in the affairs of auto- history collections used by nomous union locals which were left Alimahomed-Wilson, the ILWU to deal with matters themselves. Anne Rand Library in San Francisco Obviously, southern California ports has correspondence files arranged by were slower than other West Coast union local and individual officials, locations to catch up with the times, as well as the international executive and integrate black and female board minutes. Harry Bridges, who workers more fully in the union. once graced the cover of Time Individual chapters draw magazine, knew his way around a extensively from oral histories and courtroom, as evidenced by his provide useful background bio- vehicular homicide charges, deport- graphical profiles for the longshore ation hearings, high-profile political workers interviewed by Alimahomed- trials, and divorce cases. In the Brit- Wilson: Tony Salcido, a Latino in- ish Columbia context, ILWU locals volved in the union leadership who are relatively well-off financially and preserved much of the historical routinely engage in legal proceed- record; Elbert Kelly Jr., a black ings, either to benefit or defend Vietnam veteran attracted to the civil against members. Exactly how much rights movement and eager to con- did discrimination actually cost Book Reviews 319

ILWU locals in southern California Eighteenth Century) uses the per- in monetary terms, and could they sonal histories, letters and memoirs afford it as a part of doing business? of eighteenth-century Dutch sailors, This key question, so central to the to describe their lives at sea. Jaap overall argument, remains largely Bruijn taught maritime history at the unanswered by the available con- University of Leiden for some four sulted sources. decades, retiring in 2003. In this Solidarity Forever? has a high book, he has returned to where he retail price, no discount being offered began his research and writing began, for availability in a digital format. exploiting and summarizing many Save for the front cover, the book has things that he has learned through an no illustrations or photographs. extremely productive career. He Missing from the bibliography is specifically acknowledges the Russell Brewer's comparative study research and publications of his many of organized crime and waterfront students and other scholars whose unions in the Long Beach and Los work he incorporates in the book. Angeles areas, Policing on the There are numbers, for example, Waterfront (Oxford University Press, relating to the size of the maritime 2014). The basic index is quite dis- sector and how many men were appointing, and surprisingly, omits mustered to man the ships, which most of the longshore workers named helps establish a context for the in the book. Maritime historians personal stories. It is the concen- accustomed to rigorous research in tration on the detail of people’s lives, libraries, archives, and museums though, which gives the book an should not be put off by intimacy, in this case almost making Alimahomed-Wilson's sociological the historian and his readers some- and ethnographic approach, which thing of voyeurs. The personal touch has some utility in challenging the of reporting events in sailors’ lives, mythology behind the brand and the straightforward writing style and keeping the ILWU honest. the author’s clear command of every aspect of the topic makes the book Chris Madsen enjoyable and easy to read. North Vancouver, British Columbia Zeegang enjoys two meanings: swells created by the winds which Jaap R. Bruijn. Zeegang Zeevarend sailors faced and also the new sense Nederland in de achttiende eeuw. of a sailor going to sea. Using the Zutphen, Netherlands: WalbergPers, personal reminiscences of ten men www.walburgpers.nl, 2016. 319 pp., who, for various reasons, chose a life illustrations, bibliography, index. at sea, along with many letters that Euro 29, 50 €, hardback; ISBN 978- other sailors wrote or received, 9-46249-098-7. Bruijn describes in 12 chapters var- ious aspects of work and practices in This finely-crafted book (translated the maritime world as well as the as Seafaring in the Netherlands in the institutions which shaped those who 320 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord were involved and what they did. colonies in North America, was a Where sailors came from, how they disaster for the Dutch navy, the were recruited, work and life on fisheries and for shipping in general. board, the dangers faced, the kinds of The conquest by revolutionary France goods carried or sought, the type of in 1795 which made the Netherlands ships employed in different enter- an enemy of Britain again, had an prises, the composition of crews, and even deeper and more sustained life on land for the sailors and their impact on the maritime sector. families each get separate treatment. Overfishing, most notably whaling, Bruijn identifies five different sectors and environmental changes along of Dutch shipping — the trade to the with increasing competition from East Indies and to the West, including British shipping, further damaged the Africa and the Americas, the fish- position of the Dutch and employ- eries, whaling, and the navy — and ment opportunities for sailors. Still, after an overview of the divisions, many men found work, mixing each is dealt with in a chapter. The sailing with jobs on land or signing Dutch East India Company gets on for the long voyage to Batavia extensive and detailed consideration, (Jakarta) and then sailing on East since the author has long been a India Company ships in the Far East leading figure in the study of Dutch before coming home, that is if they maritime connections with the colony lived long enough to do that. Even in southeast Asia. The other sectors that option disappeared after 1795 are not, however, in any way under- when the Dutch East India Company represented. Recent scholarship on ceased operations. The slow con- whaling, for example, where Bruijn traction of opportunities forms the has done work in the last decade, is context for the lives of those who easily integrated. populate Bruijn’s book. The Golden Age of the Dutch The ten men whose stories form Republic and the Dutch economy the core of Dutch eighteenth-century may have been over by 1714, but the life at sea had very different origins maritime sector still played a signi- and very different careers. They ficant role in the Netherlands and in came from port towns and the the world at large. In the long eight- countryside in the Dutch Republic eenth century, from the War of the and from other states to the northeast. Spanish Succession in the opening Some ended life at sea after a number years of the 1700s when the Nether- of voyages, others had short careers lands lost any of its remaining status and retired quickly. Some died im- as a major power, through the poverished, while other rose to high Napoleonic Wars in the first decades office and lived in grand houses in of the 1800s, the maritime sector the city or in the countryside. In four suffered from a long term decline. cases, it was the urging of grand- The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, a by- children that led the men to describe product of the Netherlands` support their experiences at sea. For others, for France and Britain’s rebellious it was simply a desire to record the Book Reviews 321 marvels and the mundane which they I recommend this work to the scholar had seen and known. interested in the development of Zeegang demonstrates the learn- harbours on the Great Lakes and else- ing Bruijn assembled over a career where. Goderich provides a useful devoted to maritime history. The for- model that is applicable to many mat does lead to some repetition of other locations. Typically, harbour detail, though never obtrusively and development starts with a river giving always to make a pertinent point. access to a major waterway, an The publisher has contributed to the aboriginal community, arrival of the quality of the book, using very good European settler, investment and then paper and illustrating it sumptuously adapting to changing market con- with 51 images from the eighteenth ditions. century, 31 of them in colour. The There is an illustration on almost extensive bibliography covers all the every page, at times, several, all of major works in Dutch on eighteenth- them advancing the historical narr- century maritime history and more. ative that starts in the early nine- While grand themes of eighteenth- teenth century. There are maps, por- century European politics and society traits, landscapes photographs, all are not topics of the text, the author is well chosen and cited. The cut lines able, through the use of a range of accompanying each image are often personal information drawn from extensive and thus, are an important varied documents including what part of the history adding to the text. sailors wrote, to create a sense of Goderich is on a hill overlooking the how one group of men and their harbour, so many of the illustrations families navigated within the context are panoramas. The photographs of those grand themes. The working dating from the mid-nineteenth cen- sailor is at the centre of the book and, tury and later, the aerial images are functioning in a dangerous and especially rich in detail. changing world, he comes alive Schooners, watercraft for work thanks to the skilled writing and and leisure, the canaller and the mod- research of a distinguished scholar. ern Laker are all documented going about their business. Today, the salt Richard W. Unger mine and grain are major industries Victoria, British Columbia with modern docks providing berths for the largest ships that can fit the Seaway System. There is a much re- Paul Carrol. Illustrated Guide to duced fishing industry, once pro- Goderich Harbour & Waterfront minent, and yacht facilities. compiled by Paul Carroll. Goderich, This softcover book is intended ON: BPR Publications, www. as a guide to the maritime history of facebook.com/Books-Images-by- Goderich Harbour; for the use of Paul-BPR-Publications, 2015. 135 local residents and visitors and is pp., maps, illustrations. CDN $30.00, organized into walks: The Bluff paper; ISBN 978-0-9738680-0-5. Walk, North Harbour Road, The 322 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Beaches and Boardwalk, the Great enthusiast. The annexation of Puerto Storm of 1913, and The Huron Rican lighthouses after the Spanish- County Shoreline. Compiled by Paul American War is particularly new to Carroll, this publication is recom- the historiography of American mended. lighthouses. Certainly, Brilliant Beacons tells Maurice D. Smith the story of Winslow Lewis and Kingston, Ontario Stephen Pleasonton, the adoption of the Fresnel lens, and the reorgan- ization of the Lighthouse Service into Eric Jay Dolin. Brilliant Beacons: A the United States Coast Guard. History of the American Lighthouse. Dolin’s history, however, goes much New York: Liveright Publishing further. The author situates American Corporation, www.wwnorton.com, lighthouses in the larger scope of 2016. 560 pp., illustrations, notes, United States History. For instance, bibliography, index. US $29.95, Brilliant Beacons discusses the cloth; ISBN 978-0-87140-668-2 (E- relationship between lighthouses and book available.) slavery, places America’s beacons in the early nineteenth-century debates The history of American lighthouses over internal improvements, and is generally scattered among stories examines the impact of war and of individual lights, state or regional economic recession on the coastal lighthouse histories, and tales of aids to navigation. lighthouse keepers. Fewer than a One refreshing aspect of Brilliant handful of comprehensive narratives Beacons is that Dolin does not single on American lighthouses exist; most out Stephen Pleasonton for the delay notably, Arnold Burges Johnson’s in bringing the Fresnel Lighthouse The Modern Light-House Service lens to the United States. Rather, the (1890), George Rockwell Putnam’s author rightly spreads the blame to Lighthouses and Lightships of the include Congress, the President, and United States (1917), George Weiss’ other leading political figures. These The Lighthouse Service: Its History, individuals shared the responsibility Activities, and Organization (1926), of authorizing and appropriating and Francis Ross Holland Jr.’s funds for purchasing the Fresnel lens. America’s Lighthouses: Their Illus- As Brilliant Beacons claims, these trated History since 1716 (1972). individuals “could have forced any Now comes Eric Jay Dolin’s Brilliant number of changes on Pleasonton,” Beacons: A History of the American and their inaction “is an indictment of Lighthouse, a meticulously research- the system within which Pleasonton ed chronicle of American lighthouses operated.” (129-30) Indeed, while that gathers all of the aforementioned Pleasonton may have been against works into a single narrative while importing the expensive French tech- still offering something new for even nology, the Fifth Auditor was merely the most widely-read lighthouse an agent of the Treasury bound by Book Reviews 323 and charged with administering Con- igation as their responsibility. After gressional appropriations for light- the War of 1812, the Army and Navy houses. Congressional appropriations wrestled control of the Coast Survey were often insufficient to build away from Ferdinand Rudolph lighthouses, let alone purchase the Hassler. The complaints against expensive lens. Pleasonton represented a similar fight The delay in bringing the Fresnel to assume control of the Light-House lens to America was affected more by Establishment. By 1832, military the precision of the lens and prob- surveyors had failed to produce a lems manufacturing high quality chart of the coast and Hassler was glass. These issues limited the reappointed as Superintendent of the French to manufacturing only one or Coast Survey. This was precisely two lenses a year in the first decade when complaints started against after its introduction. Limited pro- Pleasonton’s administration. The duction slowed the rate of tech- chief complainants were Army eng- nological diffusion and delayed wide- ineers, naval officers, and members spread adoption of the technology of the Coast Survey who favored until the mid-1830s. The adoption of naval administration of coastal sur- the lens around the globe was not as veying and navigation. The Army immediate as some historians have and Navy attempted to replace their implied. lost responsibilities for the Coast My two caveats with Brilliant Survey by gaining responsibility for Beacons are Dolin’s interpretation of the Light-House Establishment. They the political debates surrounding the triumphed with the creation of the Fresnel lens and the discussion of Light-House Board. Four of the six science and technology prior to the board members were military establishment of the Light-House officers. Board in 1852. Criticism of Pleason- The second concern is Dolin’s ton’s administration is warranted; discussion of science and the arts however, the complaint that Amer- prior to 1852. Dolin does a great job ican lighthouses were inferior to discussing science and technology those in Europe because European after the establishment of the Light- lights utilized the Fresnel lens was House Board, however, there was a secondary. (Even the Trinity House great deal of science being performed Lighthouse Board in Britain indicated in the Light-House Establishment there was little difference between under Pleasonton. In the 1810s, the Fresnel lens and reflectors.) The David Melville experimented with real debate was about who was better gas lighting in Newport, Rhode suited to manage the Light-House Island. Melville also invented a Establishment; the military or civil heating apparatus to prevent sperm- servants. In the absence of war, the aceti oil from congealing in the Army and Navy needed to make winter. Benjamin Willard made themselves relevant. They viewed improvements to his father’s clock- the sciences of surveying and nav- work mechanism used in rotating 324 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord lights in the 1830s. The next decade Naval Aviation, covering its first saw improvements in burners, lamps, hundred years of existence. Split into and reflectors patented by Benjamin two volumes, with the first being a Coston, Alonzo Farrar, and Benjamin chronology of important events and Greenough. Thomas Tag, the United the second being a repository of States Lighthouse Society’s technical statistics, United States Naval Avi- expert, detailed the scientific exper- ation 1910-2010 traces the branch’s iments and technological advances in formative efforts toward powered the Light-House Establishment under flight beginning in March 1898 and Pleasonton in a series of articles for continuing through to the modern The Keeper’s Log in the mid-2000s. advances and actions of the twenty- Dolin references Tag’s other works, first century. The first volume is so it is disappointing the author did organized by decade, while the not include this early science and second is divided by subject matter. technology in his narrative. Both utilize data from the Naval These concerns aside, Dolin’s History and Heritage Command work is a well-written, meticulously- archives and additional twenty-first researched narrative that is worth the century sources. read. Brilliant Beacons is sure to Volume I is virtually pure chron- replace Francis Ross Holland Jr.’s ology, divided into thirteen chapters. work as the most widely read and The time periods contained within in most often cited work among these sections are largely divided by lighthouse histories. decade, with separate, in-depth chapters covering the First World James Risk War, the Second World War, and the Columbia, South Carolina Korean War. The preface does offer some background information on the work’s lineage, and each decade’s Roy A. Grossnick and Mark L. chapter is introduced via a page-long Evans. United States Naval Aviation contextual description of Naval Avia- 1910-2010. (2 vols.) Washington, tion during that specific time frame, DC: Naval History and Heritage but otherwise, information is con- Command, www.history.navy.mil, veyed through date entries and their 2015. Vol. 1, Chronology, xvi+747 corresponding descriptions of events. pp., Vol. 2, Statistics, xvii+469 pp., The actual text for historically signi- illustrations, indices, glossary, tables. ficant events can vary wildly. Some- US $132.00 (International Price US times, such as in the case of the EA- $184.80), cloth; Vol. 1; ISBN 978-0- 18G Growler’s initial testing in 2007, 945274-75-9, Vol. 2; ISBN 978-0- the text can be a single short 945274-86-5. sentence. For more significant or involved events, like the attack on This work is the fifth edition of the Pearl Harbor, there might be as much Naval History and Heritage as a full page worth of detailed Command’s history of American explanation accompanied by period Book Reviews 325 photographs. Black and white photo- glossaries precede the main body of graphs are interspersed throughout text in both volumes, detailing all the volume to illustrate people, air- relevant military acronyms and craft, and events. It should also be abbreviations in a handy alphabetical noted that among the expected reference form. The seven indices of information on Naval and Marine Volume I, in the words of their Corps, there are actually events introduction, direct the reader “to a related to Coast Guard Aviation as specific area on the page by citing the well, such as an early Coast Guard date” (p. 605). The subject matter helicopter rescue operation in Sept- and time frame offered up by each ember 1946. index listing instantly offers a small Volume II is much more seg- contextual glimpse into the subject mented, with 39 chapters contained even before locating the actual text within the seven categories of Air- entry, something not associated with craft, Personnel, Units, Ships, most other works. Deployments, Operations, and Other The inconsistency in this work is Actions. The chapters are largely the placement of photographs in chronological within their sections Volume I. While the images are and are focused on detailing the helpful in visualizing people, places, minutia of Naval Aviation, from and events, there are a surprising aircraft bureau numbers and desig- number that appear to be placed on nations to carrier deployments and the wrong pages in terms of chron- squadron combat operations. A large ology. This occurs with both dated portion of this data is in tabular form, and undated photographs, with the with several exceptions. Chapters distance from their subject’s dis- Nine and Ten are particularly inter- cussion varying from just a few pages esting, detailing Naval Wings and to much larger spans. The most Aviation Ratings, respectively. In extreme example involves a photo- addition to possessing data on the graph of the Vought XF5U-1 exper- subjects, images of each wing vari- imental airframe. Only mentioned in ation and ratings patch are included a November 1942 entry, a picture of as well, making it an excellent quick the XF5U-1 suddenly appears amidst reference guide in addition to being a entries regarding the summer of textual source. The wealth of inform- 1948, 75 pages and almost six full ation contained within these pages, chronological years after its rele- along with the historical information vance (p. 168, 243). The only other provided to help place the raw data in oddity was the decision to split the context, is a truly impressive repos- Vietnam War period between the itory for anyone seeking to analyze a 1960-1969 and 1970-1979 chapters, Naval Aviation document from the rather than possessing its own chapter twentieth century. like the two World Wars and Korea. Special note should be taken of A more detailed statement of sources this work’s thorough glossaries and for the volumes would be appreciated interesting index variations. The as well, for while it is stated in the 326 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord introduction that the records prior to index. UK £25 plus postage/packing the twenty-first century are all drawn at £5-00 UK, £15 abroad, paper; from the archives of Naval History ISBN and Heritage Command, only the preface contains any mention of the Although this is an expensive and source for data from the past fifteen elusive publication, it merits atten- years as being accumulated through tion. Christ`s Hospital is the school “an exhausting effort” following the founded in 1552 by the fifteen-year- Navy’s cessation of certain public- old King Edward VI, after he heard ations and the lack of recent Bishop Nicholas Ridley give a computerized transfers to the main sermon urging the rich to do more for database (p. vii). With the effort re- the poor. The young king was deeply quired to find this particular inform- affected by the sight of starving ation, it would be beneficial to list the children in the streets of London, and data locations to ease future scholarly authorised the use of the old Grey research into the discussed subjects. Friars monastery, disestablished in Given the wealth of information the reign of Henry VIII, as a place to contained within their pages, both house needy children. It was turned volumes of this latest Naval Aviation into a school for boys and girls, and iteration make for an impressive in1673 ‘Housey’, as it is known by historical resource. The chronology those who were students there, also allows for an understanding of the became the site of the Royal service’s progression over the course Mathematical School. of its evolution, and the statistics Sir Robert Clayton, an alderman offer a wealth of raw data on a representing one of the livery com- variety of important aspects. Com- panies in the city, and a former Lord bined together, these texts fully Mayor of London, “very much by document the first hundred years of chance ... after he had been reading, Naval Aviation, and make a fine for interest” about the French school capstone to the historiographical of navigation established at Dieppe in effort first undertaken a half-century 1666, had the idea of introducing a ago. similar education for some of the boys at Christ’s Hospital. Sir Robert, Charles Ross Patterson II Sir Patience Ward and one other Yorktown, Virginia alderman eventually achieved this objective by skillfully taking advan- tage of the school’s desperate finan- Clifford Jones. The Sea and the Sky: cial straits (a disputed legacy) after The History of the Royal Mathe- the Fire of London, following the matical School of Christ’s Hospital. restoration of the Monarchy. Clayton Horsham, W. Sussex. Privately pub- persuaded Lord Clifford, the new lished, chmuseum@christs-hospital. Treasurer of the Exchequer, to have org.uk, 2015. 350 pp., illustrations, the Chancellor of the Exchequer appendices, notes, bibliography, recommend a “school to be erected Book Reviews 327 for the teaching of Mathematics, Admiralty. Even then Pepys, who especially the two particulars Arith- was elected a Governor in February metic and Navigation; and also that 1675/6, would, in 1689, reflect on out of the said number [above 300] “the unhappy choice made by my there may be annually elected such Royal Masters, its founders, of the whose genius and constitution are place wherein they lodged the trust proper fit for Sea Service...” On 19 [of the mathematical school]”. August 1673 this was fixed with the The book comprises eighteen Great Seal of the King. chapters, eleven of which are devoted Clayton’s timing was good. Lord to the first forty years of the school, Clifford, a Roman Catholic, had been from 1673 to the end of the seven- forced to resign on 19 June 1763, teenth century, six to the nineteenth under the Test Act of 1672, but century, and one to the period 1902- before that happened, the King had 2015. Eight appendices provide doc- already approved the plan. The umentary sources and a bibliography, school was to maintain forty boys and most of them contain so much who would receive instruction speci- information that they merit inspection fically in mathematics and navi- before turning to the entire text of the gation. The Court of Governors of book. The first appendix reproduces Christ’s Hospital gave Clayton a vote the lists of “Children put forth of thanks and elected him a governor Apprentices in the practice of of the school in September 1763. NAVIGATION according to his late Clifford Jones, himself an “Old Majesty`s most gracious Purposes in Blue”, (the term used to describe this his Institution”, lists that were people who attended Christ’s maintained in a record book from Hospital school), has compiled this October 1665 to December 1887. extraordinarily comprehensive, The second appendix is a summary of beautifully illustrated if sometimes 53 of the approximately 1,000 work- confusing, history of those who, in books that are believed to have been the words of a classics scholar about kept by students, between 1755 and to leave the school in 1877, “are 1858. Appendix 3, “A brief study of conversing with the Mathematics, ‘The Elements of Navigation’ work- that they may better understand the books” and Appendix 4, “Masters of speculation of the Heavenly Bodies, the Royal Mathematical School” are and survey the Globes of the World all of particular interest, even though, accurately, that they may traverse the as Clifford Jones explains, there are oceans....”. Jones goes out of his way some minor errors in the lists of to give credit to Sir Robert Clayton pupils. Appendices 7, 8 and 9 repro- for his contribution to the founding of duce the letters patent of 1673 and the mathematical school, and points 1675/6, and the supplemental charter out that Samuel Pepys (who took of 1858. There follows the final more credit than he deserved) did not appendix, a somewhat idiosyncratic take an interest in the school until bibliography that will challenge after he became secretary of the researchers attempting to follow up 328 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord the sources for this book. is credited by some authors for giving The mathematical school had an one of his mathematics pupils in uneven history, partly because about 1782, Samuel Taylor Cole- “money was always tight at Christ’s ridge, the inspiration for his poem, Hospital”, partly because the duties “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” of the Master were often unclear. written in1797. (See Bernard Smith, The first master, John Leeke, began “Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner and “with remarkable success” but by Cook’s Second Voyage”, Journal of 1677 was disturbing the governors by the Warburg and Courtauld his unwanted attention to private Institutes. 19, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Jun., pupils on school time. The governors 1956), 117-154). In the nineteenth ordered him to no longer take private century, four of the seven masters of fee-paying students, to be in the the school were themselves Old classroom during teaching periods, Blues, as was one more from 1919- and to improve the discipline of the 1933. boys, which by that time had become Christ’s Hospital preserves the unacceptable. Leeke immediately traditions of the Royal Mathematical said he would resign as of 25 March School, and under a special present- 1677, and the Council of Governors ation method, offers admission, responded that he was not a fit master through the school’s Council of for the mathematical school anyway! Almoners, to the sons or daughters of Replacing him proved difficult, but personnel in the Royal Navy, the Peter Perkins, considered suitable as Royal Marines or the Royal Naval “a sober, discreet, intelligent person Reserve. In 2015 five students, three of good life, government and girls and two boys, were admitted, conversation” demonstrated all these and it appears that the school will qualities. Unfortunately, he died less exist in perpetuity, even if only in than two years later. His replace- name. Whatever the future holds, the ment, Robert Wood, proved unrel- history of the institution, like the iable and was allowed to resign on history of Christ’s Hospital itself, the grounds of ill health. Subsequent deserves to have been celebrated. masters enjoyed longer terms of Indeed, what The Sea and the Sky office but eventually resigned or were suggests is that schools of navigation dismissed for various reasons until, in that influenced maritime endeavour, 1708, James Hodgson came to the (such as the British Prisoner of War school. The author, with John School of Navigation in France, 1805 Robertson, of The Elements of Navig- -14, described by Mark Gabrielson ation, he eventually died in office in (The Northern Mariner, vol. XXV, 1755. Thereafter, the list of masters No 1, 2015), deserve considerably includes many distinguished math- more attention than they have ematicians, of whom William Wales received in the past. This handsome (Master from 1775-1798) is the most book is a welcome beginning to such celebrated. Previously Captain James endeavour. Cook’s astronomer and navigator, he Book Reviews 329

W.A.B. Douglas attempt to return to the Kido Butai Ottawa, Ontario that redirected American dive- bombers to the Japanese carriers. The Nautilus also plays a critical role David W. Jourdan. The Search for in the second perspective of the book, the Japanese Fleet: USS Nautilus and the search for the Japanese carriers, the Battle of Midway. Lincoln, NE: specifically the Japanese aircraft Potomac Books, www.nebraskapress. carrier IJN Kaga, through her logs unl.edu, 2015. 424 pp., illustrations, and after-action reports. appendices, index. US $29.95, These twin perspectives offer an hardback ; ISBN 978-1-61234-716-5. interesting intermixture of history and the modern search for the Mid- When it comes to the Second World way wrecks. Jourdan is certainly War in the Pacific, one of the most well qualified to write such an discussed battles is Midway in June account. As founder and president of 1942. A moment of epic drama the deep-sea exploration company, which saw the momentum of the Nauticos, that conducted the search Empire of Japan dramatically stop- for the Kaga, he is excellently posi- ped, Midway is forever enshrined in tioned to tell the tale of rediscovery. memory by the image of American Through eleven chapters supported dive-bombers tipping over and four by a prologue, epilogue and five Japanese carriers left burning on the appendices, he weaves the tale of the sea. Immortalized on film, on tele- battle of Midway into the account of vision, and in many books, Midway how Nauticos became part of the has to be one of the most easily search for the Kaga. recognizable moments of the Second Jourdan uses the Nautilus log and World War. Accordingly, for another patrol reports to help ground a time- Midway book to appear on my shelf, line of the battle within geographic it has to have something new and space. In the process, he reviews different in its approach. most of the known facts of the battle David Jourdan certainly promises to produce an enjoyable narrative a dramatic change in his new book summary. He also goes into the The Search for the Japanese Fleet: difficulties associated with searching USS Nautilus and the Battle of the sea for lost ships, something Midway. This intriguing book challenging enough in the case of approaches the battle from two very modern shipwrecks let alone historic different perspectives. The first ones. When dealing with ships lost emphasizes the role of American in the heat of battle, records tend to submarines, especially the USS be, at best, partial and navigation Nautilus, in the battle. Nautilus’ difficult, creating a massive challenge attack on the morning of the battle in finding the Kaga. distracted the Japanese, and more The most interesting and import- importantly, pulled an escort away ant aspects of the book rest with the from the fleet. It was the destroyer’s role of Nauticos in the search and the 330 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord problems it faced. Funding and offi- important limitations that need to be cial support are key aspects in such a addressed. The complete absence of quest. After all, research ships are citations is not acceptable here and scarce and gaining access to them detracts from the value of the text. requires serious political and econ- As a narrative, retold from secondary omic support. The fact that the ships sources, the book should have been being sought are considered war footnoted, especially considering that graves makes the cooperation of the the works referred to are commonly various nations involved especially available in today’s mass-market important. Of particular interest on publishing environment. Finally, it the Nauticos side of the experience is must be noted that the remains of the the discussion of the navigation Kaga have yet to be located. Despite challenges faced by the Nautilus and tremendous effort, all that has been by extension, all ships involved in the found is debris identified as part of original battle. Nauticos had to the ship. The fact that the carrier basically re-navigate the battle to drifted for hours while on fire means help determine potential locations for that this debris could have been the lost carriers and narrow down scattered at any point between when search areas to increase their chance the ship was hit by the first bomb and of success. It was a very complicated the time it sank. The tomb of the and time-consuming process that Kaga and, of course, closure for all would have been more interesting if the families of those who went down Jourdan had provided more details with their ship, remain as elusive as about how it was done and a fuller the rest of the lost Japanese carriers. discussion of the effort involved. The result is a great read about the Despite being an enjoyable read, battle enhanced by the addition of the there are some major issues within Nautilus and a discussion of some the text. Most of the book is really a aspects of the search for Kaga. But retelling of the standard history of the the incomplete conclusion leaves the Battle of Midway. The inclusion of reader hoping for a second book to the Nautilus provides a change of focus on the search for Kaga. That is perspective, but it seems over- the new ground-breaking research whelmed by the repetition of the that we want to see. conventional narrative, which adds little new to our understanding of Robert Dienesch Midway. Likewise, the discussion of Windsor, Ontario the re-discovery is also marginalized, making it feel grafted onto the story, or at best, tangentially important. Angus Konstam. British Light This is sad, because it is the most Cruisers 1939-45. Oxford, UK: intriguing aspect of the tale, being the O s p r ey P u b l i s h i ng, ww w . most original, and seriously under- ospreypublishing.com, 2012. 48 pp., mines the value of Jourdan’s book. illustrations, bibliography, tables, There are also a couple of very index. UK £9.99, US $17.95, CDN $ Book Reviews 331

18.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-84908- and always value for money for 684-4. readers, but the 48-page limit does sometimes constrict things. In this The Royal Navy of the interwar years case, because of the writing style and faced much the same problem of the images chosen, it certainly protecting long sea lines of doesn’t feel that way but, considering communication as it does today; but what was achieved in these few in that period it had the advantage of pages, it is not illogical to think what empire and red on maps to help it might have been encompassed with make the case for the ships it needed more space available. Nevertheless, to secure them. While the US Navy the content is certainly fulsome. was focused on heavy cruisers to Konstam begins by looking at the scout for their fleet during this period design and development of light of treaties, economic boom and bust, cruisers, considering the factors and and the various of legacies of the influences that went into the period First World War, the RN focused on and how they changed over time. light cruisers; trying to get as many After this, he dives straight into the useful ships as it could out of the ships themselves, firstly examining tonnage it was allowed, in order to the always intriguing and often over- patrol the seven-tenths of the world’s looked ‘C’ class vessels — First surface that connected an empire that World War-era light cruisers that had covered almost a quarter of the been modified to AA Cruiser duty world’s land mass. by/during the Second World War. These are the ships which Angus Really good discussions of these Konstam examines, and the strategic ships are rare; in fact, this book and scenario which was their backdrop. Norman Friedman’s British Cruiser His work, however, focuses not on book published by Naval Institute their peace-time duties, but on the Press are probably the best available. Second World War when they faced As usual, there is the Osprey limit- their greatest difficulties. The ation that, in contrast to Friedman’s author’s pleasing style makes this work, there are no references to small book as much a story as a fact- follow. The suggested readings, filled reference — flowing from para- however, do put forward some inter- graph to paragraph, from anecdote to esting prospects for the academic anecdote, with an effortless grace. reader seeking more information. This is of great benefit as the topic is After discussing the ‘C’ class, not a simple one. Light cruisers Konstam moves on to the ‘D’ and ‘E’ evolved and developed rapidly — classes which were still serving in the perhaps faster than any other group Second World War. of vessels in the RN, leaving a lot of The review of the First World ground for Konstam to cover, even War legacy ships serves as a great though the format has forced him to foundation for the subsequent exam- limit his focus. As with all the ination of the London Naval Treaty Osprey series, the books are excellent and its impact on the RN. Then Kon- 332 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord stam launches into the meat of this been encompassed with more space. work with a discussion the Leander The only real academic drawback is class, famous for the involvement of the lack of references, but the further two of their number (HMS Ajax and reading section compensates for HMS Achilles) with the sinking of much of this. Finally, the quality of Graf Spee — to which Konstam the work, the quality and quantity of refers later in the book. After the information it provides, combined Leander class, the book moves on to with the ease of access makes this the Arethusa class, the Southampton very much a must-have for anyone class, the Edinburgh class (to which interested in the naval history of this HMS Belfast belonged, featured in a period. particularly nice cut-out drawing (20- 1), the Dido class, the Bellona class, Alex Clarke the Fiji class and the Swiftsure class. Epsom, Surrey Each class has its own pages, explanation and structure—allowing the reader to easily follow the Harold D. Langley. Social Reform in evolution of the RN’s design, and the United States Navy, 1798-1862. observe how each class built upon the Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute experience of the previous vessels. Press, www.nip.org, 2015. 336 pp., After explaining each class, notes, bibliography, index. US Konstam discusses their operation, $26.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-59114- weaponry and their sensors and fire 178-5. Originally published 1967. (E- control. Each area is rounded, book available.) developed and allows the reader to understand not just the plain facts, Harold Langley’s classic Social but also the context that give those Reform in the United States Navy, facts meaning. What is particularly 1798-1862 was re-issued in 2015 by nice is the final Specifications section the Naval Institute Press. In both — providing a quick reference and editions, Langley explores the impact displaying the information almost in that the spread of Jacksonian the style of Janes’ Fighting Ships. democracy and the rise of the This is makes the information very common man had on U.S. naval easy to access, and just as import- regulations and traditions, derived antly, easy to compare, as the classes from the autocratic rules and are virtually lined up next to each procedures of the eighteenth century other. Even without the rest of the Royal Navy. By the 1830s many of book, this section is arguably worth these regulations, procedures, and the £9.99 cost; but it is only a section methods of operation seemed to be in and this review is of the whole. conflict with America’s democratic Konstam’s British Light Cruisers ideals. Langley details how these is an excellent book. If it is not per- objectionable regulations and fect, that is only because it would be practices in the U. S. Navy were good to see what more could have brought to the attention of Congress, Book Reviews 333 and who led the process to reform the frequent America’s seaports, visit system and bring about change. vessels, distribute religious tracts, To examine the impact of and encourage seamen to attend nineteenth-century reform on the U.S. public worship. The success of the Navy, and more specifically, on the ASFS, says Langley, was reflected in conditions of service of the common the creation of more than a hundred sailor, Langley pursues four major auxiliaries in the U.S. by the 1840s, themes: first, the activities of and numerous Society “stations” societies committed to improving the overseas by the 1860s. lot of the common sailor, especially The Navy suffered from a serious the American Seamen’s Friend lack of seamen in the early nineteenth Society; second, the manpower century, especially of American-born shortage in the Navy with regard to seamen. Langley suggests this was American enlistees, accompanied by due to perceived conditions in the a history of recruitment practices; service and restrictions on Black third, the agitation against corporal enlistment, resulting in an abnormally punishment for American sailors; and high percentage of foreigners man- fourth, the campaign to abolish the ning U.S. naval vessels. To his American sailor’s grog ration at sea credit, Langley does not shrink from and its connection with the temper- discussing the disgraceful practice of ance movement ashore. crimping, often used as a naval He begins by describing how a recruitment tool. Not until the Civil group of American religious reform- War did Congress act to improve the ers, scandalized by the brutal aspects conditions of enlistment, pay, and of the ordinary sailor’s life, and the promotion in the U.S. Navy. degrading effects of the grog shop Perhaps Langley’s most and the brothel on seamen, and successful section in Social Reform is inspired by the Bethel Movement in Part III, where he deals with the England, founded the American Sea- crusade to abolish flogging in the men’s Friend Society (ASFS) in New Navy as being out of harmony with York in 1826. Any individual, mer- the democratic spirit of the age. He chant mariner or sailor, could join the recounts the history and effectiveness Society for a small annual fee, and of flogging to enforce discipline in any charitable or religious group naval services, as punishment for whose purpose was the welfare of drunkenness, desertion, and sleeping American seamen could affiliate as on watch, from the time of Henry an auxiliary. The Society’s goals VIII to the nineteenth century. The were the establishment of respectable anti-flogging campaign began in boardinghouses for seamen where Congress as early as 1820, with attention would be given to their support coming from the ASFS’s welfare; the founding of savings Sailor’s Magazine, the published banks for the safe deposit of reminiscences of retired Navy men, seamen’s wages; and, the an aggressive national press, and employment of missionaries to even from Herman Melville’s popular 334 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord memoir White Jacket. Langley cred- a combat force is a welcome addition its the political skills of Senator John to the literature on America’s Navy. P. Hale of New Hampshire with helping to persuade Congress to William L. Welch abolish flogging in 1850. Natick, Massachusetts Connected to the crusade against flogging was an anti-grog campaign, part of the nineteenth-century temper- Edward J. Marolda and R. Blake ance movement, where many Dunnavent. Combat at Close Americans saw society’s ills stem- Quarters: Warfare on the Rivers and ming from the abuse of alcohol. Canals of Vietnam. Washington, DC: Having succeeded in eliminating Naval History and Heritage Com- flogging, reformers next aimed at mand, www.history.navy.mil, 2015. promoting national legislation to end 82 pp., illustrations, maps, biblio- the navy’s daily ration of grog, or graphy. US $21.00, paper; ISBN 978- whiskey. Drunkenness had been the 0-945274-73-5. (E-book available.) cause of flogging, reformers reason- ed, so if the spirit ration were This work is an overall history of the eliminated, better health and discip- United States Navy’s riverine actions line would occur in the service. during the Vietnam War, serving as Improved conditions would attract a the fifth publication of the Naval higher grade of enlistee, and harsh History and Heritage Command’s d i s c i p l i n e w o u l d b e c o me fiftieth anniversary of the U.S. Navy unnecessary. Government, they said, and the Vietnam War series. Arrang- had to be forced out of the liquor ed chronologically, Combat at Close business. Quarters covers American and allied Langley details the efforts of a riverine operations from French varied group of reformers, including actions during the post-Second- the ASFS, the Sailor’s Magazine, World-War years through the fall of naval physicians and chaplains, and South Vietnam in 1975. Primary state and national temperance emphasis is placed on American societies, in organizing an anti-grog adaptability to the ever-changing campaign to persuade Congress to scenarios of the riverine war, and the abolish the spirit ration in the U. S. ability of junior and senior command- Navy. Success finally came in 1862 ers to form effective policies and in the midst of the Civil War. tactics in a field which had seen The author has accessed a vast official doctrine routinely atrophy array of sources to produce his Social following the end of previous Reform in the United States Navy, conflicts. 1798-1862, and he uses them all to The main body of text following good effect. His presentation and the introduction is divided into five arguments are persuasive, though his chapters. The first of these, covering study might have been improved with the First Indochina War and the illustrations. Still, a social history of French Navy’s riverine operations, is Book Reviews 335 extremely brief, but offers a good the hallmark variance of the riverine initial background to the pre- campaigns. One such example of this American riverine campaign in South involved the comparison of weapon Vietnam, and what the US Navy was preferences for four different PBR to face in the coming years. The crews, with polar opposite opinions early days of American naval offered by men regarding the use of advisors and the allotment of Amer- claymore mines and 60 mm mortars ican equipment to the South Viet- by their ships, resulting in four namese Navy (VNN) is covered in completely different load outs (55). detail before the authors get to the These eyewitness accounts add a centerpiece of their history: the U.S. more personal level to the text, so Navy riverine operations of the mid- often lost in routine reiteration of to late 1960s. Throughout this sect- policies and procedures commonly ion, emphasis is placed on the Amer- found in operational analyses. ican sailor’s ability to adapt. Given In terms of the work’s general that “in 1965 no codified doctrinal or construct and composition, there are tactical manuals on river patrol several useful maps spread through- operations or riverine warfare exist- out the text, along with a varied and ed,” the evolution of American com- interesting array of period photo- bat actions and ship design from graphs in both colour and black and essentially nothing is quite impress- white, along with period military ive (20). From the early days of artwork of discussed subjects. While Operation Game Warden’s River the images all possess some form of Patrol Force through the Army-Navy description, the maps could be im- Mobile Riverine Force (MRF), proved with a distance scale to aid in SEALORDS, and the Vietnamization understanding, and a quick reference of riverine operations at the end of list to their locations within the text the conflict, the authors detail numer- in the work’s front matter. All of ous aspects of the riverine war in its these forms of media, however, offer different stages. Individual examples a great deal in terms of allowing one of strategies and situations are pro- to visualize types of watercraft, vided following descriptions of personnel, and conditions in Viet- various operations or an evolution of nam, thereby enhancing the text. In tactics, such as a typical nighttime the realm of detractions, the most PBR boat patrol on the Long Tau glaring is the lack of any direct River in 1967 and an MRF reaction citations, with the authors relying on to a nighttime ambush in December a Suggested Reading list instead. Its of the same year (23-24, 31). Add- publication by the Naval History and itionally, first-person accounts by Heritage Command lends credence to riverine crews are offered throughout its content, of course, but this lack of the work. It is quite interesting when footnotes or endnotes prevents scho- these recollections are used to lars from easily cross-examining any compare different approaches to the specific points utilizing the same same subject, thereby highlighting sources. The only other criticism of 336 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord note is in regard to the “Sidebars” seaforthpublishing.com, 2015. 208 secondary texts demarcated by green pp., illustrations, maps, appendix, borders and backgrounds. While notes, bibliography, index. UK containing interesting and more £30.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-84832- detailed information on a variety of 235-6. (Distributed in North America subjects, the placement of these by Naval Institute Press.) blocks often interferes with the reading of the main text, creating a If there are any warships that better few jarring transitions. This, how- illustrate the dash and glamour of the ever, is more a stylistic choice than Royal Navy in the Second World anything else. The only other crit- War, I do not know what they might iques would be the need for an be. The fast minelayers of the Abdiel expansion on post-war applications class were the epitome of that navy’s of the lessons learned about riverine ability to go into harm’s way, ac- combat in Vietnam in the conclusion, complish an assigned mission, and and the inclusion of some form of get out no matter the odds against historiography on the subject. success. This aptitude was demon- Overall, Combat at Close Quart- strated in spades throughout the war, ers is a fine introductory work to the but particularly in the Mediterranean riverine operations of the American theatre where the ships of the class Navy in the Vietnam War. It offers a were routinely involved in escapades solid chronology, good first-person and scrapes that slower or less agile accounts of combat actions, show- ships could not have survived. cases ground level and operational Accordingly, an aura about them level flexibility, and drives home the grew and remains intact to this day, effectiveness of America’s riverine notwithstanding the fact that three of forces. It is effective in establishing the six ships of the class were lost to the importance of the river actions in enemy action. Vietnam, and offers readers good Mine warfare suffers, perhaps, suggestions of other works on the from being one of those features of subject for their own further exam- war that is mentioned only in passing, inations. Given the fact that this is without a great deal of discussion as now the fiftieth anniversary of the to the mechanics of laying mine- Vietnam War, this is an excellent fields, how they were planned and primer into one of the war’s more how they were maintained. Mines overlooked aspects. seem to be perceived as one of those background features of naval war of Charles Ross Patterson II limited interest, albeit a necessary Yorktown, Virginia one to counter. Nicholson’s gripping operational history of the six ships of Arthur Nicholson. Very Special the Abdiel class fills, therefore, an Ships. Abdiel Class Fast Minelayers important gap in the knowledge of of World War Two. Barnsley, S. naval warfare in the first half of the Yorks.: Seaforth Publishing, www. twentieth century. Book Reviews 337

The history of mines, largely an during the war, but they were not American innovation, really notably successful designs. The commenced during the middle interwar period involved some decades of the nineteenth century tentative steps towards designing with the conflicts of the Crimean War proper minelayers, with HMS and the American Civil War. Adventure (commissioned in 1927) Nicholson provides a useful survey of representing the British effort. By the weapon’s development in the and large, however, conversions final decades of that century, as well remained the model. as the efforts to counter it and defend Work on the Abdiel class of ‘fast against the obvious menace that this minelayers’ commenced in the late new evil in maritime conflict 1930s as the looming likelihood of represented. Mines played a promin- what became the Second World War ent role in the Russo-Japanese War of was acknowledged and rearmament 1904-05, as well as during the global got underway. Nicolson describes conflict that was the First World the genesis of these warships well, War. A number of Russian and Jap- including many design details and anese battleships were lost during the performance metrics. He has an former conflict, including vessels of interesting discussion on the matter the very latest type. The pattern was of what speed these ships could repeated in the First World War with achieve and concludes that it was the notable loss of HMS Audacious to approximately 40 knots at best, a mine on 27 October 1914, a loss not despite passionate claims from some publicly acknowledged until the of speeds in the mid- to high 40s. war’s end. Finally, of course, the They were certainly the fastest ships critical role mines played in the in the Royal Navy and had few fiasco that was the Dardanelles is competitors elsewhere. Of direct well known where a single line of relevance to their minelaying func- only 20 mines sank no less than three tion was the innovative design of an pre-Dreadnoughts in quick success- enclosed mine deck, and a capacity of ion and so imposed the necessity for 160 mines. The ability to lay mine- the bungled military campaign that fields relatively quickly via the mine- followed that setback. Minefields, handling system on the mine deck minelaying, and minesweeping was a major factor in the success of became, therefore, an accepted part the vessels. Their fast speed, as well of the naval art during the First as capacious mine-handling spaces, World War, an importance that did made the Abdiel’s ideal for ‘second- not diminish in the Second. ary duties’ at which they excelled. The Admiralty had converted They were used extensively in the other warships for the minelaying Mediterranean for a wide variety of role, in common with most other missions, including resupply runs to combatants of the Great War. Tobruk, transporting troops, VIPs Germany, in contrast, constructed and, inter alia, supplies into two purpose-built minesweepers beleaguered Malta. Nicolson is not 338 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord writing hagiography, however. He Ryan K. Noppen. German Commerce discusses the shortcomings of the Raiders 1914-18. Botley, Oxford: Abdiel’s, notably their short legs, and Osprey Publishing, Inc., www. their relatively large machinery ospreypublishing.com, 2015. 48 pp., spaces that left them vulnerable to illustrations, colour plates, biblio- flooding in the event of bomb or graphy, index. UK£ 9.99, US $ 17.95, torpedo hits. The mine deck also did CDN $23.50; paper; ISBN 978-1- not help in this regard. Nonetheless, 4728-0950-6. the Abdiel’s excelled in their func- tion and were virtually unique in the Ryan K. Noppen, having written world and have so remained. earlier Osprey books on Austro- With this background in place, Hungarian battleships and Ottoman Nicholson then provides an oper- Navy warships, continues his study of ational history of the Abdiel class lesser-known aspects of the Great throughout the Second World War, War at Sea in German Commerce commencing with that of HMS Abdiel Raiders 1914-18. herself and continuing thereafter to Imperial Germany came late to cover all six vessels. To say that they the naval world (as related in Robert had an active time of it is massive Massie’s Dreadnought) but when the understatement, and they paid the German Kaiser Wilhelm II decreed price—HMS Welshman, HMS Latona that Germany must have a world- and HMS Abdiel were all lost during class navy, the result was a blue- the war (HM Ships Manxman, Apollo water navy capable of challenging and Ariadne rounded out the class). Britain’s Royal Navy in the North This entertaining, well written and Sea. But that was not the only area immensely interesting history repres- of operations for the Kaiser’s navy ents the bulk of the book. Included, (“Kaiserliche Marine”): Imperial as is typical of histories of this type, Germany acquired colonies in Africa, are a wide range of photographs, China, and the Pacific. Those, too, diagrams and maps. Particularly well had to be defended at sea. Coaling done is a series of exquisite views of stations had to be emplaced to supply the six ships of the class in various German warships engaged in over- guises and layouts. The story intro- seas operations and long-range radio duces the human element throughout stations were needed to communicate with liberal quotes, photos and anec- with them. Enemy commerce, wher- dotes from the crews who served in ever found, had to be interdicted. the ships from captain to ordinary These strategic demands led to the seaman. The book is well produced, development of commerce raiding attractively laid out and well written. ships. I have no hesitation in recommending The Kaiserliche Marine dev- it to anyone with an interest in this eloped three categories of commerce class of warships. raiders: light cruisers, converted ocean liners, and converted merchant Ian Yeates freighters. The number of ships Regina, Saskatchewan involved was small: five light Book Reviews 339 cruisers, six converted ocean liners, slow speed decreased their coal and three converted merchant consumption and thus, gave the freighters. These ships operated with merchant vessel cum raider a longer mixed success throughout the world. operational radius. Möwe and Wolf When a German commerce raider were conventional merchant vessels engaged an enemy merchant ship, the in appearance; Seeadler was a sailing initial goal was to capture the enemy ship. Möwe captured 40 allied ships, ship, not sink it. For example, the survived the First World War, capture of an enemy full of coal reverted to a merchant vessel be- provided the commerce raider with a tween the wars, was returned to source of fuel. German control, and even served in The light cruisers were generally Hitler’s Kriesgmarine in the Second successful. Two became famous: World War. Wolf captured fourteen SMS Emden fought an epic battle allied ships and also survived the with the Australian cruiser, HMAS First World War. Seeadler, cap- Sydney, while the Royal Navy’s tained by Count Felix von Luckner, struggle to sink SMS Königsberg, sank fourteen allied merchant ships operating off German East Africa, before running aground on a Pacific has been documented historically as atoll. All sinkings were accompl- well as cinematically. It served as ished without a loss of life — a the inspiration for C.S. Forester’s source of pride to von Luckner, who novel, The African Queen, and the was the subject of two books written movie of the same name. by journalist Lowell Thomas in the The converted ocean liners were 1930s. Seeadler was the subject of a less successful; being larger, their model kit in the 1950s and 1960s. fuel consumption was greater than (On a personal note—this reviewer’s the cruisers. Three liners, SMS grandfather met von Luckner in 1931 Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, SMS and obtained his autograph. The Kronprinz Wilhelm, and SMS Prinz autograph still remains in my Eitel Friedrich, all captured enemy possession, along with copies of both shipping, but the other three, SMS Thomas’s books on von Luckner.) Berlin, SMS Cap Trafalgar, and The record of Germany’s First SMS Cormoran, were unsuccessful World War commerce raiders combatants. remains a source of controversy to Probably the most successful this day. Critics claim the commerce commerce raiders were the three raiders only accounted for 5% of the merchant vessels: SMS Möwe, SMS merchant ship losses—the balance Wolf, and SMS Seeadler. Appearing being taken by U-boats. But the to any ship spotter as ordinary, commerce raiders did sink some harmless merchantmen, the converted shipping, and forced the British, vessels could and did approach French, and later, the American enemy merchant ships and sunk them. navies to send combat ships to hunt Moreover, they could carry a large them down. Moreover, the Kriegs- volume of coal, mines, and supplies marine revived the commerce raider in their cargo holds. Their relatively concept in the Second World War — 340 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord and those raiders are famous. fairly expect to read a recounting of Noppen’s book follows the his activities; the blockading, the Osprey format and his previous diplomacy, the anxiety of searching works in this series. He writes well for a missed enemy, the battle of the and the topical organization by ship Nile, the choice to abandon that sea is coherent. Useful specification and chase the enemy across the tables appear at the beginning of each Atlantic, along with an analysis of his ship’s description and the intro- development as an officer and ductory narrative places the role of tactician. It is not to be found here. the commerce raiders in the context While each of these events are of overall Imperial German naval mentioned (more in passing) this is a strategy. The photographs, many of book about the naval career of Sir them First World War era, are very John Orde, a relative of the author. helpful. Colour plates of each ship In particular, it concerns the dispute and a cutaway drawing of Wolf assist that erupted between Orde and Lord the reader and add to the presentation St. Vincent over sending Horatio of this book. A bibliography lists Nelson into the Mediterranean Sea in pertinent works for those wishing to 1798; the mission which led to the pursue further study of this subject. Battle of the Nile. In short, this is a valuable book. Sir John Orde’s naval career is As with Noppen’s other works, like that of most naval officers in the German Commerce Raiders 1914-18 mid- to late-eighteenth century. To serves as a very useful introduction to sea at a young age, Orde learned the its subject for the novice and a good workings of a ship, via midshipman short reference for the expert in this to lieutenant to commander to captain area. It is recommended. and finally, to the Rear Admiral position that could lead to command Robert L. Shoop of squadrons and possibly fleets. Colorado Springs, Colorado This last bit of the trajectory was, in Sir John Orde’s opinion, derailed when Lord St. Vincent chose Nelson Denis Orde. Nelson’s Mediterranean to enter the Mediterranean Sea and Command. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen blockade the French ships in Toulon. and Sword Books Limited, www.pen- Rear Admiral Nelson was junior to and-sword.co.uk, 2015. xv+228pp., Rear Admiral Orde on the Admiral- illustrations, notes, bibliography, ty’s seniority list, and thus, the index. UK £14.99, US $29.95, paper; squadron that was blockading the ISBN 978-1-78346-290-2. Spanish Navy at Cadiz. Nelson’s appointment to such an important The title of Denis Orde’s book, task was viewed by Sir John as a Nelson’s Mediterranean Command, slight to his honour, a questioning of would suggest that it dealt with one his ability to lead. This insult needed or all three periods of time Lord to be addressed, namely with an Nelson spent on that sea. One might apology and explanation from his Book Reviews 341 commanding officer, Lord St. place in naval history is largely that Vincent. A letter campaign by Orde of the man who had felt slighted by to St. Vincent and the Admiralty Lord St. Vincent and an officer cut consumed much of Sir John’s time from a different cloth than Lord for the next few years. His indignant Nelson. behaviour led to his recall home, Several other, more minor inter- where he continued his demand for personal problems between officers recompense on the issue. Failing to are described within the book. The receive satisfaction, he actually went reader is offered some interesting to Lord St. Vincent’s country estate narratives on the theme of the inter- to challenge him to a duel. With the personal relationships among those in aid of the Admiralty, which forbid command within squadrons. But Sir him from fighting Orde, St. Vincent John Orde is the true focus of this finally distanced himself from the volume, and in terms of failed inter- affair. personal relationships, his is the most Orde also experienced a falling dynamic story. out with Nelson. When Lord Nelson This is a re-publication of the was blockading the French ships at originally book, published in 1997. Toulon, in 1804, Orde was sent to There is no new information added to blockade the Spanish ships at Cadiz. this version, which is the most Problems in communications between significant problem with the book. the two Vice Admirals and Orde’s Much has been written about Lord access to prizes, that Nelson thought Nelson since 1997 (just in the 2000- he should have a piece of, caused 2005 list of books alone) and Orde’s Nelson to sour on Orde, according to work would have benefited from the author. Indeed, Nelson’s letters, including the insights of those which Denis Orde quotes, are not authors. The book also contains very flattering of Sir John. As the some errors of fact that could have French broke out of Toulon and been corrected in a revised edition. headed out of the Mediterranean, One such error occurs during the Orde decided to leave the area off discussion of the Seven Years War Cadiz, where he could have stayed when Admiral Sanders, we are told, and fought the French as they headed took the English Fleet up the Hudson for that port. For this he was sharply River and captured Quebec (55). The criticized, his request for retirement good Admiral used the St Lawrence was granted, but his request for a River, on which Quebec City was court martial to clear his name was (and still is) situated. Denis Orde denied. suggests that Nelson “had too few In the end, a more mild and frigates” while looking for Napoleon reflective Sir John Orde outlived both and the French Army in the Mediterr- Nelson (at whose funeral he served as anean in 1798 and that his frigates one of the four supporters of the Pall) were the first to see the French fleet and Lord St. Vincent (whom he in Aboukir Bay, on August 1 (106). survived by eleven months). His Nelson’s frigates had left the 342 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

Mediterranean when his squadron the Lyndon Johnson presidency. In was blown off their blockade, at 1965, the Johnson administration Toulon. He had no frigates during thought that a highly organized his chase of the French ships and bombing campaign against North their defeat at the Battle of the Nile. Vietnam as part of the American The cover art is an image of involvement in Vietnam would force Nelson’s face (from the painting by the North Vietnamese to quit their Lemuel Abbott) overlaid on an image military involvement in South of a contemporary diagram of the Vietnam and thus, end their struggle Battle of Trafalgar, in which Orde did to unify Vietnam. Moreover, the not participate. The twelve images in military doctrines in vogue at that the book depict a number of the time were “flexible response” and individuals mentioned in the text, “graduated escalation.” “Flexible including one image of Sir John response” is self-defining; “graduated Orde. The endnotes are sparse and escalation” meant to draw a line at the bibliography is now dated. the Demilitarized Zone of Vietnam, This book is for those interested start bombing north of that line, and in the career of naval officers in the continue the bombing northwards era of Nelson. It will also appeal to until the North Vietnamese capit- people studying the dynamics ulated. between naval officers (in this case, That strategy failed, as Polmar the problematic dynamics). and Marolda immediately note. The North Vietnamese were implacable Thomas Malcomson and determined to unify Vietnam Toronto, Ontario under their rule. The American Administration — President Johnson, Norman Polmar and Edward J. Defense Secretary Robert McNam- Marolda. Naval Air War. The Rolling ara, the American national security Thunder Campaign. Washington, institutions, and often, the American D.C.: Naval History and Heritage military high command — all mis- Command, www.history.navy.mil, judged the North Vietnamese will to 2016. 67 pp., illustrations, biblio- fight (as had the French when they graphy. US $25.00, paper; ISBN 978- fought in Indochina from 1946-54). 0-945274-82-7. Complicating the U.S. involvement in Vietnam from 1965-69 were two Operation Rolling Thunder was the concepts: the competing priorities of American bombing campaign against Johnson’s domestic spending for his North Vietnam during 1965-68. In “Great Society,” and the Washington, Naval Air War. The Rolling Thunder DC micromanagement of military Campaign, authors Polmar and operations in Vietnam. Johnson Marolda offer a concise view of the himself many times personally contributions of the U.S. Navy and selected bombing targets while U.S. Marine Corps to that campaign. Defense Secretary McNamara and his Rolling Thunder was a product of assistants chose the targets to be Book Reviews 343 attacked as well as the days and times the reader unfamiliar with the Viet- of the attacks, and the ordnance used nam War. Polmar and Marolda in those attacks. Polmar and Marolda heavily illustrated the book with quite rightly imply that these many photos and paintings reprod- decisions should have been made by uced in colour—again, an asset to the the field commanders. reader. Maps of carrier stations and Naval Air War. The Rolling North Vietnam and a list of acronyms Thunder Campaign is a short book, used are also included. The biblio- organized topically. Brief sections graphy lists books and websites for relate the start of the campaign, further reading in this topic. “Dixie Station,” where USN aircraft The authors do not concentrate carriers were stationed, aircrew on air operations to the total exclu- rescue, efforts to counter anti-aircraft sion of naval operations during 1965- missiles (an effort that the Johnson 68; U.S.S. New Jersey, a Second Administration, fearful that Soviet World War-era Iowa class battleship, technicians were manning the missile conducted offshore bombardment sites, closely controlled,) the gradual against North Vietnam. At various intensity of the bombing campaign in times, destroyers from the Royal 1965, attacks against petroleum, oil Australian Navy also took part in and lubricant sites, air combat over offensive operations. The U.S. Coast North Vietnam, the impact of the Guard, which also sent units to 1968 Tet Offensive on Rolling Vietnam, is also mentioned in the Thunder, and lessons that the USN narrative. and USMC learned from Rolling The Tet Offensive in early 1968 Thunder. The authors write clearly was a military defeat for the com- and avoid jargon. Abbreviations used munist forces attacking South Viet- in the narrative are delineated imme- nam, but turned American opinion diately as they appear. Interspersed against the Vietnam War. President throughout the narrative are sections Johnson suspended bombing mis- dealing with types of USN and sions against North Vietnam on 31 USMC attack aircraft used in Rolling March 1968 and in that announce- Thunder, fires aboard ships assigned ment, declared his intention not to to Rolling Thunder, a biography of run again for President. Reconn- USN Admiral Ulysses S.G. Sharp, aissance operations continued until commander-in-chief of the U.S. 31 October 1968, when Johnson sus- Pacific Command during most of pended all combat operations against Rolling Thunder, the introduction of North Vietnam. Three-plus years precision-guided munitions, and later, the North Vietnamese attacked reconnaissance aircraft used in South Vietnam in force. At that time, Rolling Thunder. While these sec- the Nixon Administration gave the tions break up the narrative, the military much greater operational interspersed sections do help freedom. The authors note that the illustrate what the authors’ relate in USN learned lessons from Rolling the narrative and clarify matters for Thunder: more accurate offshore 344 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord bombardment, effective anti-aircraft Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute measures, improved damage control Press, www.nip.org, 2015. xiii+277 for ships, and the establishment of the pp., illustrations, maps, index, notes, USN “Top Gun” school, which pre- bibliography. US $49.95, hardback; pared pilots for air-to-air combat. ISBN 978-1-61251-390-4. In the end, all the efforts of the Americans and their allies were for In tracing the development of strat- naught. On 30 April 1975, a final egic bombing by allied naval aviators North Vietnamese offensive resulted during the First World War, the in the surrender of the South Viet- authors focus on two American naval namese government and the unific- air services, the U.S. Navy and U.S. ation of Vietnam under communist Marine Corps. Marines piggyback on rule. Rolling Thunder cost the North Navy aviators to become the “Naval Vietnamese dearly in lives and Aviator” to whom the book is treasure and aided the ground war by dedicated. Since both were assoc- interfering with communist supply iated with the other allies, particu- routes and delaying communist mili- larly before the Royal Flying Corps tary operations. Polmar and Marolda (RFC) became independent in the last note, rightly, that the failure was not few months of the war, American for want of effort by the military aviators are seen operating within personnel involved—their profession- British and, to a lesser extent, French alism and dedication to duty is well- air services. There is also a glimpse noted in this book—but that the of the Italian/Austro-Hungarian thea- directions given to the military from tre and connections to the origins of their top leaders were flawed. American aviation. The story is told Naval Air War. The Rolling against a backdrop of rapid technical Thunder Campaign is a brief but change and a sometimes fast-moving valuable resource for students of the ground war in the area. Vietnam War. It accurately narrates The authors alternate successive a facet of the Vietnam War that is American attempts to develop a naval sometimes overlooked. It is recom- bombing strategy with interludes of mended as a beginning volume for combat and logistical operations. the reader unfamiliar with this topic They also claim turf for the U.S. and also as a good resource for those naval air services, suggesting that with a general interest in the Vietnam strategic bombing was conceived and War. developed by naval aviators. Their attempt to cement the case for naval Robert L. Shoop aviation services begins on page one, Colorado Springs, Colorado chapter one, by identifying Winston Churchill as the originator of offen- Geoffrey L. Rossano and Thomas sive aviation, which is a large part of Wildenberg. Striking the Hornets’ the definition of strategic bombing. Nest: Naval Aviation and the Origins The hornet’s nest in the book’s title is of Strategic Bombing in World War I. drawn from U.S. President Woodrow Book Reviews 345

Wilson’s analogy of German sub- ations.” (172) This seems to be an marine bases, such as Bruges, to a attempt to gloss over and conflate hornet’s nest. He contrasted the allied services under an ill-defined, allied goal of “crushing the nest” amorphous, allied naval aviation org- with the ineffectiveness of the anti- anization called the Northern submarine war, which Wilson char- Bombing Group that seems to exist acterized as “hunting hornets all over almost apart from any national the farm and letting the nest alone” government. Its first assignment, to (25). This coincides with a deeply- ferry the heavy Caproni bombers held belief among U.S. leaders that selected for the unit from Italy to the British initiatives had been ineffect- airfields of Northwest France and ive because their leadership lacked Belgium, ended with only eight inventiveness and aggressiveness. machines being available—the rest The first chapter, “Blazing the having crashed along the way. Path”, covers in some detail individ- Another proposal to launch aircraft uals and British organizations fight- included the use of thousands of sea- ing the war in the air, which initially sleds to carry sea planes that were to included the Royal Naval Air Service be towed close enough to launch. (RNAS) and RFC. In the next chap- On several occasions, the attempt ters, the authors trace the evolution of to race into action became a farce the U.S. Navy and Marine efforts to with wrong turns and slapstick prepare themselves to prosecute the worthy of the Keystone Kops. The air war, increasingly focusing on the authors do themselves credit by concept of a strategic bombing mis- presenting these farcical episodes as sion. The authors present all the well as the precise, military side of pieces needed to recruit, equip and events expected in a military history. train in the U.S. and in Europe. In In most cases, the individual level of Europe there are fact-finding visits detail is quite helpful, offering a from politicians and planners, while close-textured image of ordinary life individual aviators are integrated into that helps the reader understand such the allied air services, including issues as the effect of the influenza French and Italians units. The strug- epidemic of 1918-1919. The work gle to acquire equipment and supplies often strays into what appears to be in the European theatre was never irrelevance, until the authors reveal more than partially successful in the the impact of certain events; for scramble against other entrenched example, the inter-service rivalry services. between the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Finally in Chapter 16, “The Marines. Campaign Begins”, the strategic Sometimes this concentration on bombing organization developed domestic arrangements reflects badly through the preceding months, was on the participant, such as the Marine ready: “By the end of July 1918, the officer who landed at Liverpool “had Northern Bombing Group seemed lunch at the Adelphi”, and complain- poised to begin independent oper- ed about “a quarter lump of sugar, no 346 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord butter, very little bread… and then it dismal and one fears some of the was on to London and the Savoy “Advance Praise” might have been Hotel” (126). This is presented as offered in advance of an actual though the diet represented some reading of the text. kind of a privation, when in fact it An organizational chart would was the best to be had in a country have been helpful, for understanding enduring a blockade to starvation by the Northern Bombing Group, which U-boats and surface raiders. was an ill-defined sort of seat-of-the- There is only the briefest des- pants creation. A fuller list of acro- cription of each technology and air- nyms or glossary would also be craft introduced, and no coverage of helpful, given the number of organ- the overall technological develop- izations involved, including RFC, ment other than assertions that RAF, RNAS, U.S. Navy and U.S. bombsights, bombs and suitable air- Marines. Existing abbreviations omit craft were inadequate. It would take key organizations, like RFC and another world war and 25 years of RNAS. The bibliography lists art- pressurized development of air war- icles published in popular as well as fare for the reality of heavier aircraft academic sources. One wonders, for with better navigation and bomb- instance, what germane information aiming equipment before naval was in Edith Culver’s The Day the aviation practice began to catch up Air Mail Began, published in Kansas with the original vision. City in 1971 by the Cub Flyers. Chapter 19, “Lessons and Lega- Does this book work as an cies”, does not actually say that the academic exercise? No. It covers the hornet’s nest had not been crushed by briefest period of time and is U.S. naval aviators, but does admit: digressive in the extreme. Does it “Naval aviation ended World War I work as a kind of family history? without a mission or a doctrine.” Yes. The detail is opulent in areas (210) The greatest contribution came that would probably be omitted in an from serving within other allied air academic history yet, at the same forces. time, it presents a fascinating glimpse The book is printed on permanent into life behind the lines in 1917- alkaline paper, intended to last a long 1919. As a commemoration of the time; a legacy intended for future 100th anniversary of the First World generations. Maps are ultra-simple War, the book may be intended for black and white line drawings, which retired officers and contractors rather are situated with the text related to than academics who would appreciate the campaigns as they occurred the production values rather than the through time. At one-third of a page, content. they are all small scale and require an atlas to follow. Photographs are low Ian Dew and Kathy Traynor definition, almost newspaper quality. Thunder Bay, Ontario The worst thing about this work may be the dust cover. The art work is Book Reviews 347

John Darrell Sherwood. War in the insufficient training for advisors. Shallows: U.S. Navy Coastal and Advisors were also hampered by the Riverine Warfare in Vietnam, South Vietnamese Navy (VNN)’s 1965–1968. Washington, DC: Naval crippling weaknesses: ineffective History and Heritage command, leaders, poor maintenance, personnel www.history.navy.mil, 2015. 425 pp., and administrative problems illustrations, tables, appendices, exacerbated by Army of the Republic bibliography, endnotes, index. US of Vietnam (ARVN) commanders $75.00, cloth; ISBN 978-0-945274- who viewed the VNN simply as a taxi 76-6. service. The advisors were not helped by the consistently paternalistic War in the Shallows describes the American attitude towards the VNN. U.S. Navy’s riverine and coastal In March 1965, as part of operations in South Vietnam during America’s growing military the years of growing U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, the involvement in the Vietnam War, U.S. Navy initiated Operation Market 1965-1968. Each chapter focuses on Time. Within a year, layers of radar, one type of shallow water warfare. patrol planes, small warships, and The work is based on declassified surveillance centres had ended North official documents, held largely at the Vietnam’s use of large, steel-hulled Naval History and Heritage ships to bring supplies south. Market Command in Washington, DC, along Time’s success against these larger with oral histories from 125 Vietnam infiltrators meant that the navy’s veterans. greatest challenge off the coast of The chapters move back and Vietnam was Vietnamization, rather forth between river and coast while than heavy enemy activity. Market moving forward chronologically. Time, however, proved incapable of Riverine operations were focused in halting the flow of supplies the Mekong Delta south of Saigon transported by smaller vessels, such and consisted of patrols to disrupt the as wooden junks. In an effort to stem Viet Cong, amphibious assaults, and this flow and to establish control over support for allied forces operating in the rivers of the Mekong Delta, the the area. In contrast, coastal USN launched Operation Game operations sought to prevent the Warden. Game Warden relied North Vietnamese from moving heavily on new, small craft with an supplies to their forces in South unorthodox design history; the iconic Vietnam by sea. Patrol Boat River (PBR). The PBRs A background chapter describes initially focused their riverine patrols the origins of the American naval on searching sampans rather than advisory effort in South Vietnam as supporting amphibious assaults by well as the structural challenges of ARVN or U.S. troops, though this the advisory system: yearly changed over time. Sherwood also deployments, cultural differences, describes the Navy-operated lack of a common language, and helicopter squadron that supported 348 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord the PBRs, one of the most decorated Sea (1992) and Cutler’s Brown units in U.S. naval history. Water, Black Berets (2012) have Sherwood then turns to the examined these coastal operations, Mobile Riverine Force (MRF), the Sherwood is the first to combine a product of pairing a U.S. Army large swath of official records with infantry brigade with a collection of numerous oral histories. These oral Navy landing craft, modified for accounts allow him to include dozens riverine service. After describing the of personal stories that enliven the Force’s origin and formation, he text and highlight a number of heroic discusses the gradual improvements actions for which the participants in Navy sailor training that occurred were decorated. The result is the during the war. The MRF was definitive work on the subject that commanded collectively by a Navy cements Sherwood’s reputation as the captain and an Army colonel who reigning scholar of the U.S. Navy in worked closely together to avoid turf the Vietnam War. struggles. In a series of intense actions in the Mekong Delta, the Corbin Williamson MRF inflicted and received heavy Oakton, Virginia casualties in 1967. The Force’s true test came during the Tet Offensive in January 1968. As Viet Cong and Nancy Shoemaker. Native American North Vietnamese force’s launched Whalemen and the World. Indigenous heavy attacks throughout South Encounters and the Contingency of Vietnam, the MRF played an Race. Chapel Hill, NC: University of important role in beating back attacks North Carolina Press, www. in the Delta. In combination with uncpress.unc.edu, 2015. x+303 pp., ARVN and other U.S. units, the MRF illustrations, maps, tables, notes, inflicted heavy casualties on the Viet bibliography, appendix, index. US Cong, turning the Tet Offensive into $34.65, cloth; ISBN 978-1-4696- an operational defeat for the North, 2257-6. though a political defeat for the United States. Native American Whalemen and the In contrast to the Navy’s larger, World is a complex tale and a blue-water warships, the small craft scholarly, worldwide travel study of Vietnamese rivers and coves gave about race, focused largely on junior officers and sailors indigenous American whalemen. unparalleled leadership opportunities. Shoemaker describes their identity Within the confines of the Mekong and how, during the era of the Delta, young men were given whaling industry, ideas of race authority they would receive on differed according to the situation, larger warships only after years of often with unpredictability. “The training and preparation. positions held by native New While other works such as England whalemen . . . wreaked Schreadley’s From the Rivers to the havoc on simple narratives of white Book Reviews 349 encounters with natives from contact Ship”. takes the reader through the to conquest and expose the inherent recruitment of a whaler’s workforce flexibility of racial expectations to that could be comprised of white and adapt to each situation.” (195) black Americans, Indians, It is likely that few readers have Portuguese-speaking Azorean and given much thought to the indigenous Cape Verdeans, Europeans chattering people who found employment at sea, in other tongues, plus a sprinkling of far from the land with which most Pacific Islanders, Asians, Africans, Indian tribes are so closely assoc- Hispanic South Americans and Inuit. iated. There is substantial evidence This disparate, polyglot band that whalers commonly utilized worked for the good of the ship and Native Americans for labour. The obeyed its rules in order to participate New England whaling industry in the voyage’s profits. Rank dic- largely stretched from southern Cape tated where one worked, slept and Cod, the islands of Martha’s Vine- ate; and this, in turn, generated a yard and Nantucket, through Buz- shipboard culture and a bond as well. zard’s Bay and west through the The second group of chapters, Connecticut shore around the New called “On the Beach”, describes the London area. This region was also impact that the whaleship’s sailors the home of many tribes whose and their varied races had on the ancestors harvested fish from the cultures with which they inter- local waters. Over time, white mingled. Relations were frequently immigrants appropriated their best amicable, but in some cases, violent tribal lands either through purchase incidents occurred. Still, they were or confiscation. As whale ships multi-hued, racially diverse ambass- sailed the world’s oceans, they found adors of the nascent United States. the South Seas and its many islands “They brought metal trade goods, dis- good hunting grounds for their eases, and a sense of cultural super- quarry. While there, the whalers aug- iority . . . [to the] darker inscrutable mented their crew with skilled native natives”. (7) This was a preview of islanders. Some served as common America’s intrusion into far-flung labourers while others, because of societies via the oceans of the world. their extraordinary eyesight and hunt- Shoemaker’s third part, “Beach- ing abilities, were accorded respons- combers”, examines in detail the ibilities as harpooners, boat steerers effect of aboriginal Americans who and in some cases, ship’s officers and left their ships in an attempt to inte- even owners. Whaling was one of grate with primitive island people, the few occupations where talent namely those in Fiji and the New frequently transcended racial stereo- Zealand’s south island. They mar- types. ried, had children and acquired land, Shoemaker’s book is divided into but their acceptance varied and they four sections, each concentrating on remained outsiders, but not because a different aspect of whaling and they were Indians. Ironically, they racial divides. The first, called “The were largely considered white men, 350 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord foreigners and social intruders. women. There were brief discussions The fourth and shortest segment in various chapters about prom- is titled “The Reservation.” Here the iscuity, sexual conquest in foreign author focuses upon how the col- ports and attempting to join the onists gained control of aboriginal society of the married when they lands and culture and marginalized chose to immigrate to South Sea the indigenous people economically island nations. Unfortunately, there and socially. Back home in New was inadequate space given to the England, the Native American whalemen’s wives back home; female experience sharply contrasted with dependents who could go for years the acceptance and potential for without seeing their husbands and advancement they had achieved as raise their families with uncertain whaler crewmen. Instead, their economic security in a mostly actions made them “social derelicts, racially-segregated society ashore. a degraded, abject, dependent people In Herman Melville’s Moby- who barely even encountered Dick, Tashtego, the sole New Eng- Indians” — far from the portrait of land Indian, and the more central the noble savage. (8) Although indig- character, Queequeg, the wild South enous whalemen earned enough Sea Island cannibal, both held the money to support their families and responsible position of harpooner on developed highly sought-after spec- the fictitious whaler, Pequod. For ialized skills, the industry was rapidly many bibliophiles, this American lit- disappearing like an outgoing tide. erary classic was their sole exposure They earned the admiration of their to the nineteenth-century whaling shipmates, sometimes grudgingly, industry, but Shoemaker adds a novel over the course of about a hundred stratum to the social complexity con- years, but it did not last much beyond tained within this ocean-borne indus- the later part of the nineteenth trial enterprise. In conclusion, Native century. American Whalemen and the World is Native American Whalemen and a welcome addition to the literature the World is a monumental, erudite of whaling and maritime history. study of a fleeting industry that was Scholars wishing to expand their buttressed by a racial and ethnic knowledge in this neglected area of mosaic. It is a well-told tale of pre- maritime sociology would do well by judice, perseverance, and pride of adding this book to their library. accomplishment, concluding in point- lessness as the whaling fishery Louis Arthur Norton became extinct. The author includes West Simsbury, Connecticut an abundance of notes and references for those who wish to delve more Paul W. Simpson. Around Cape Horn deeply into certain aspects of the Once More: the story of the French work. The only disappointment this clipper ship Montebello. Adelaide, reviewer has relates to the limited South Australia: Clippership Press, discussion of native seamen and [email protected], 2016. Book Reviews 351

125 pp., illustrations, bibliography, of steel windjammers, some with four index. AU $15.00, US $8.99, paper; or five masts. The Montebello, how- ISBN 978-1365112010. ever, was a three-master, slightly larger than average for her day. She In the 1920s and 30s quite a large was owned by the firm of Guillon et number of retiring shipmasters, who Fleury of Nantes, who operated fif- had started their careers in sail, were teen ships at that time. Mr. Simpson writing their memoirs. Meanwhile, has explained the bounty system very authors like Basil Lubbock, clearly. conscious that the days of One of the provisions of the commercial sail were effectively Bounty Act was that at least three- over, published popular and factual fourths of the crew had to be French books about the ships, their captains citizens (in the Montebello they all and crews, so the general public were were). French sailors on bounty more or less aware of what life in ships were comparatively well paid sailing ships had been like. Not so in and received a pension after 25 years the last four or five decades. Despite at sea. In return, they provided a a bit of a revival of sail in the form of ready reserve for the French Navy, the training ships of the international which practised a partial mobilization Tall Ships flee, we have become every year. At that time, British and quite ignorant of the nautical world, American sailing ships had citizen past and present (except for huge captains and officers but polyglot cruise ships). It is, therefore, refresh- crews, often put on board drunk or ing to read a factual account of the drugged by the boarding house voyages of a real ship and her crew in crimps just before sailing. (See John the early years of the twentieth Masefield’s more miserable poems to century. get the flavour of it). But French This book describes the voyages sailors who tended to hail from the of the French barque Montebello same Breton regions and enjoy better from her launch in 1900 to her loss food and pay, were generally immune on Kangaroo Island, South Australia to the blandishments of the boarding in 1906, along with adventures of her house runners and the Montebello crew and the subsequent careers of never lost a man to them. That is not the two captains, Marchandeau and to say that they had an easy time of it. Kervegan who had commanded her. The Montebello was still a small ship The Montebello was a first class, by today’s standards and she sailed steel sailing vessel of the French the stormy southern ocean on her way “bounty fleet”. In 1888, France intro- to Australia and around Cape Horn. duced the Navigation Bounty Act to Crews had to draw upon their build up her merchant marine and ultimate resources in energy and shipbuilding industries. The Act seamanlike skills just to survive. On provided subsidies to builders of steel slow passages, food could be nearly ships and to ship owners. It resulted exhausted. The way the author, who in the creation of a magnificent fleet obviously had access to the logbooks, 352 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord has traced all these long voyages Mark Stille. US Heavy Cruisers, gives the reader a true picture of what 1941-45 Pre-war Classes. Oxford, it was like for the crew of a sailing UK: Osprey Publishing, www. ship of the period. ospreypublishing.com, 2014. 48 pp., Both of the Montebello’s illustrations, tables, bibliography, commanders were able and exper- index. US $17.95, CDN $18.95, £ ienced mariners and popular with 9.99, paper; ISBN 978-1-78200-629- their crews. It was Captain Ker- 9. vegan’s misfortune to lose the ship when, in storm darkness and low Mark Stille. US Heavy Cruisers, visibility, she ran aground on 1943-75 Wartime and Post-war Kangaroo Island while trying to reach Classes. Oxford, UK: Osprey Port Adelaide. With skill, bravery Publishing, www.ospreypublishing. and determination the crew impro- com, 2014. 48 pp., illustrations, tab- vised a breeches buoy and got les, bibliography, index. US $17.95, everyone, including the ship’s dog, CDN $18.95, £ 9.99, paper; ISBN ashore on a remote uninhabited 978-1-78200-632-9. headland; but aid did arrive and eventually they were repatriated to Any book carrying the Osprey name France. Captain Kervegan also lost a has a lot to live up to. These are subsequent command, the barque books which, while not intended as Croisset, on the coast of Ireland. The academic tomes (and containing no accounts of both shipwrecks make referencing beyond a bibliography), exciting reading. This did his career still have a reputation for information no good but he performed distin- quality, and most importantly, accur- guished service commanding acy. Both these books live up to that steamships in the First World War reputation, providing exactly what and died in 1963, a prominent citizen their titles claim in a concise, under- of the Nantes area. stated way. Part of this may be due A notable feature of the book is to Mark Stille’s engaging writing the illustrations, which include many style, which conveys the necessary representations of the ports and information with no wasted words. loading berths mentioned in the text. With US Heavy Cruisers, especially These are all contemporary with the the pre-war ones, that is fine line to story; many are old postcards. There tread. are photographs of the wrecks of the As Stille points out, heavy Montebello and the Croisset as well cruisers were the core of the US as of the ships and crew members. Navy’s reconnaissance efforts, as There are, as is inevitable, a few well as key to protecting its increas- typos but this is a most interesting, ingly important (and by the Second well researched little book. World War, crucial) aircraft carriers. This protective role, when combined C. Douglas Maginley with the building limitations on Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia capital ship construction imposed by Book Reviews 353 the various naval treaties of the 1920s class, and their configuration. The and 30s, meant that heavy cruisers narrative, combined with the illus- were the focus of much of the USN’s trations enable the readers to create a building design efforts — as they very clear image of the ships for sought to get the best ships they themselves, of the duties they per- could from within the limits allowed formed, the sacrifices they made and by those same treaties that had halted most of all, the factors of their time the building of capital ships; some- that shaped them. With all these facts thing that is explained in detail in this and the standard Osprey structure, the book. book should be formulaic, yet Stille’s Methodically and logically pre- style has used the framework and sented, US Heavy Cruisers, 1941-45 content to create a thread that pulls Pre-War Classes begins by giving the the reader through it all, a thread reader the strategic background for which, at the end, makes them want the class, then moving on to discuss to return to the beginning. design issues and the effect of If there is one critique of this various treaties on development. The work, it is that it should not be a solo book then turns to the categories of purchase. To obtain the full picture weapons with which the cruisers of heavy cruisers, one should buy the were fitted. This is a perfect section sequel and companion, US Heavy to illustrate the book’s appeal to Cruisers, 1943-75 Wartime and Post- different types of readers. It offers a War Classes, also by Stille. During useful, compact overview of pre-war and after the war is when many of the cruisers for general interest readers. developments undertaken before the For the more demanding reader, Second World War, come to fruition, approaching this book from a such as radar. Written in the same research or reference work per- easy, informative style, this book spective, this section provides useful focuses on US heavy cruisers at the definitions that are conveniently beginning of the carrier age, when the quotable or easily incorporated into a loss of so many battleships at Pearl new work. The tables, and the quan- Harbor forced the US to rely on tity (and sheer variety) of images heavy cruisers for its principal both enhance the book and make it surface-action vessels. Most import- easier to read, while providing a level antly, from a design perspective, by of detail that even the most selective 1943, the naval treaties of the inter- of academics would find useful. war years had ceased to have any Alongside this depth and thought, influence over warship design and there is breadth. Stille includes de- construction. cent sections on all the cruiser classes The ultimate example was the of this period; the Pensacola, the Alaska class, which displaced 34,253 Northampton, the Portland, the New tons fully loaded — not far off the Orleans, and lastly, the Wichita class. 35,000-ton limit for battleships He takes the time to cover all their according to the naval treaties! This quirks, highlighting the story of each class was designed as heavy cruisers, 354 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord to fulfil the battlecruiser role of to design to role rather than rule. hunting down the ‘super’ heavy While many more light cruisers were cruisers launched by other nations — built than heavy cruisers, the latter a threat that never materialized. In usually had more space, making them the end, they became (as Stille notes) easier to upgrade with the dawn of examples of the prolificacy of Second the missile age, another reason they World War US naval construction. survived longer in service. The next Despite their size, in actual form, section addresses weapons, and radar, shape, and layout, the Alaska class giving the reader a solid framework were very similar to the other within which to place individual wartime heavy cruiser designs — classes. The logical progression something that is very well illustrated makes it an excellent book for both by a number of full-page profile the knowledgeable and those less drawings and pictures. Among the informed about heavy cruisers. most interesting pictures in the book Since one class built upon the are the ones of the Baltimore class previous one, the classes are vessel USS Pittsburgh after it lost its discussed chronologically, starting bow in a typhoon (they are similar to with the Baltimore class, which were the pictures of the RN’s Tribal class basically enlarged versions of the destroyer HMS Eskimo after she lost USS Wichita. This was the most her bow at the 2nd Battle of Narvik); numerous class built, with the first they really reveal the structure of the being commissioned in mid-April cruiser as its sits in water. (26) 1943 (USS Baltimore) and the last In terms of structure, Stille’s (USS Chicago) in January 1945. 1943-75 book is almost identical to After extensive discussion and the 1941-45 one. Both begin with the examination of the class and its background, and a discussion of how record, the section finishes with a the role of the heavy cruiser had quick reference for class speci- changed over time. The second book fications, before moving on to the highlights the concentration of heavy Alaska class. Only two of this super cruisers in the Pacific, in the war heavy cruiser class were com- against Japan. It follows the heavy missioned, both in 1944, as Stille cruiser into the post-war period, points out, too late to do more that act describing how it remained relevant as escorts to the fast carrier forces. due to the capabilities of its main The Alaskans did not arrive as battery. The guns might have been late as the next class. The four developed for anti-surface warfare, completed vessels of the Oregon City but, as was proven in Korea and class were all built after the Second Vietnam, they were very capable as World War, making them Cold War shore bombardment. After this, Stille ships. Northampton was completed in examines the design of the heavy 1953 as a command ship, rather than cruisers. After USS Wichita was a cruiser, which allows Stille the built in 1939, there were no more opportunity to concisely explain the treaty limits and designers were free National Emergency Command Post Book Reviews 355

Afloat program. They were not, Press, www.boydellandbrewer.com however, the last heavy cruisers built with the National Maritime Museum, by the USN. The Des Moines class 2015. xiv + 259 pp., illustrations, was built around a new 8-inch gun, notes, bibliography, index. US like the modern Zumwalt class $49.95, hardback; ISBN 978-1- program. They were similarly very 84383-970-5. expensive, so only three were built. Although the Des Moines class Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552 - 1616) cruisers ultimately proved to be very commented about seafarers, "of so good warships, they were, none- many, so few grow to gray heires". theless, built for a war which was Because seafaring is such a danger- over. ous occupation, the sea has claimed Both Heavy Cruiser books are many, often in the prime of their excellent, with one flaw — they do lives. Such tragedies are bound to not contain the notes and reams of cause deep grief. Barbara Tomlin- primary source references of a son’s fascinating new book, Com- Norman Friedman book, for example, memorating the Seafarer: Monument, with hundreds of pages of explan- Memorials and Memory, explores ation and expressive prose. Never- how groups and individuals have theless, together, the books act as an mobilized their mourning into excellent reference guide and tangible and lasting memorials to comparison point that is more those who lost their lives at sea. compact and portable than a larger Although there is a growing lit- volume. erature on individual and collective US Heavy Cruisers, 1941-43 Pre- historical memory, there have been a War Classes and 1943-75 Wartime very limited number of academic and Post-War Classes make an studies on the nature of maritime excellent addition to any bookshelf. commemoration. Tomlinson’s book Anyone interested in the topic will is an effort to build on the work of enjoy Stille’s style, and will, I hope, David Saunders’ Britain’s Maritime look for more of his work. Although Memorials & Mementoes (1996) and either book can stand alone, it really David J Stewart’s The Sea and their makes sense to buy both of them at Graves: An Archaeology of Death once. For less than £20.00, they and Remembrance in Maritime would reward their owners hand- Culture (2011). Tomlinson’s research somely. and Saunder’s grew out of a database project started in 1978 at the National Alex Clarke Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Epsom, Surrey UK. Initially, NMM personnel were interested in recording maritime- related sculpture held outside the Barbara Tomlinson. Commemorating Museum’s collections; however, the the Seafarer. Monuments, Memorials parameters increased beyond that and Memory. Rochester, NY: Boydell when it “became apparent memorials 356 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord provided much information of his- While some of her case studies torical and cultural importance”. reveal forgotten catastrophes and (preface) The database has continued dimly remembered maritime heroes, to expand, going on-line in 2002. the author also accords room for These memorials provide source some of the most famous shipping material for the maritime historian as disasters and celebrated men such as well as information for family history Drake and Nelson. Although most of researchers. the book focuses on British examples, The author’s research rests on her maritime disasters like the sinking of extensive career working with the the Titanic were accompanied by Museum’s collection, its database, as such widespread grief that it was well as the UK War Memorial memorialized in various parts of the Archive. Tomlinson selects several globe. It is striking how diverse the case studies to explore the events and groups and individuals selected for people that prompted the erection of memorialization were — everyone these memorials and why they took from the Titanic’s captain to the the form they did. Almost all the musicians. memorials she examines date from Although the Titanic memorials after 1500 and consist of church and are symptomatic of a long-term trend cemetery monuments, commemor- towards democratization of com- ative stained glass and public sculp- memoration whereby those of more ture: “They are spread across the humble origins are memorialized country in churches, cemeteries, along with the high-ranking and streets, on hilltops or in other fairly illustrious, Tomlinson dedicates a public places… Whether tucked chapter to maritime explorers as they behind parish flower arrangements or have historically been the ones whose standing in outside in the rain, they image (or imagined image) has been act as an expression of grief and a most readily made into busts, statues repository of individual and collect- or been featured on memorials. Such ive memory”. (preface) figures have often been intimately Tomlinson covers a lot of ground connected in the collective memory with the various examples. Much of with civic pride and territorial her analysis focuses on naval acquisition. Yet, with changes in memorials as the Royal Navy has had public attitudes, especially towards a profound effect on British maritime seafarers whose civic contributions art and iconography, so much so that were paid for by the profits from this comprises four chapters — slavery, some of these memorials roughly half the book. By compar- have been taken down. Others have ison, mercantile commemoration is been lost to enemy bombing during accorded a single chapter, as are the war years, vandalism, theft, or memorials of maritime accidents. neglect. The decline of churches, for Given the paucity of memorials to example, reinforces the need for fishermen, they only figure in a works like Tomlinson’s. portion of a chapter. Although the author argues that Book Reviews 357 the “material culture of commemor- Grand Bay - Westfield, New ation over the centuries has been Brunswick affected by contemporary politics, religious movements and artistic trends”, her analysis is very thin on Jim Wellman. Sea Folk. St. John’s: these developments. This is the Flanker Press, www.flankerpress. greatest weakness of the book. com, 2013. x+217pp., illustrations, The author has included roughly index. CDN $1995, paper; ISBN 978- 100 black and white illustrations to 1-77117-224-0. (E-book available.) augment the text. These images are understandably important to the book Fishing for a living is one of the most but they vary in quality, with some dangerous professions. People die at requiring better resolution. Although sea from weather, fires, explosions, the cost of using colour photographs accidents, inefficient preparation, in publications is often prohibitively carelessness, equipment failures, and expensive, having a few colour mostly being at the wrong place at images, perhaps of the stained glass, the wrong time. When you add a would have enhanced the look of the demanding environment to this book. Barring that, a link to a web equation, the coasts of Newfoundland page with images would be helpful. and northern Nova Scotia, the perils Tomlinson’s book, Commemorating increase many-fold. The winters are the Seafarer: Monument, Memorials long and harsh while spring and fall and Memory, brings to our attention conditions can change capriciously not only the range of seafaring with swiftness and violence. The memorials, but it also demonstrates Canadians who live in these coastal both the tragic cost of going to sea to regions are self-reliant and resolute. trade, to fight, to fish, or to travel, not They have an admirable sense of only in lives lost but also in tears camaraderie that sustains them. cried by those left to mourn them. During their long winters, their How people have fashioned their ability to provide food and other grief into lasting monuments to necessities for themselves and their express their individual and collect- families requires ingenuity, a great ive mourning is a relatively new store of grit and seemingly, some discipline but also an exciting field of help from Providence. study. Barbara Tomlinson’s book Wellman has collected 23 short should appeal to a general audience vignettes focused on adventures, of readers interested in maritime triumphs and calamities concerning history, the history of death, and fishermen, fisherwomen and those individual and collective memory. It who process the bounty of the sea on is a welcome addition which land. With a few exceptions, almost enhances our understanding of all of the stories date from 2000 to maritime commemoration. 2013. The sites of these accounts cover a broad map of the rugged Cheryl Fury province stretching from St. John’s in 358 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord the east, along the northern coast ends with a touching poem titled through Fogo and Twillingate to the “Brothers Forever” written by Father Grey Islands, Port aux Choix and Edward Brophy, a Newfoundland Quirpon on the extreme northwestern Catholic priest. A few selected peninsula to Corner Brook in the stanzas offer a flavor of the fairly southwest. The eclectic anecdotes long requiem: are, as the title states, about “Sea “It’s a Lovely day in Joe Batt’s Arm Folk,” their luck as well as their The sun is on the snow misfortunes, Some stories are mov- The men are going after seals ing and uplifting, others sad, but all No place better place to go. display the fortitude of the people ******* profiled. The wind was still, sir, nar a drift Most of Wellman’s “Sea Folk” The sun shone overhead were fishermen, but they also hunted When far away a grinding noise sea mammals when the need arose. Filled all [the] men with dread. One of the most heartrending and memorable tales concerns a band of The wind was calm and pleasant seal hunters who set out as spring But a sudden shift in tide was arriving to harvest seals to Revealed the water clear and cold provide meat for their dwindling An ocean deep and wide. winter stores. It was an April ****** morning in 1917 when dozens of men It’s a perfect day on the ice today from Joe Batt’s Arm, Barr’d Island The gulls fly overhead and Fogo embarked upon jagged sea Some men are lying on the ice ice that hugged the rocky shore. You’d swear to God, they’re dead. They were armed with the imple- ******* ments needed for their quest along The men and boys are called away with food and water. Not too long To hunt the ice for seals after they headed to where the seals But some at home still weep and usually nestled to rest on the ice, “the mourn — wind quickly changed direction, A wound that never heals.” (49-53) causing the ice to break up and soon Sea Folk was an enjoyable read begin moving off shore. And then, to for this reviewer who grew up in an make matters worse, a thick fog American fishing port and spent moved in, closing down visibility to some time working in Newfound- all, including the sealers left on the land. It might fulfill the desire of ice. Men scrambled madly in a those who like to vicariously exper- feverish attempt to get back to land. ience through literature, the tenuous Most did, but, as the day wore on, the life of those who “go down to the sea realization came that not all the men in ships.” It may also be a book for made it back safely.” (42) Altogether those who have had a close assoc- six men died of exposure or star- iation with the sea and have salt vation from this mishap, three of water running in their veins — whom were brothers. Wellman’s tale perhaps an untapped sentimental Book Reviews 359 multitude. Unfortunately, not all of year service career. Wellman’s collected stories are America must have been a plum gripping and some are, frankly, mun- assignment for USN officers, since it dane. Although clear and concise, led to an Admiral’s rank for most of the narrative writing is sometimes them. Of the carrier’s commanders, plodding, offering little character 18 became Admirals, with two of insight. Lacking a coherent theme to them reaching four-star Admiral rank. suggest why each tale was included Of those two, one, Thomas B. in this anthology, it almost appears Hayward, became Chief of Naval as if the author had gathered a Operations, the highest position in number of good stories but then the USN. Another commander of found that he had to fill about two America was briefly an interim hundred pages to make a saleable Superintendent of the U.S. Naval book — so fill them he did. Academy, while another former Sea Folk reminds me of commander became Inspector Gen- “screech,” a rum-like drink peculiar eral of the USN. This impressive list to Newfoundland, which is part of a of post-America careers indicates strange ceremony involving kissing a how important a posting to America cod and downing a shot of screech was to a USN officer. Only the best (Rhum) after shouting “long may were selected to command the ship as your big jib draw.” Like this screech a step towards Admiral’s rank. One ritual, Sea Folk may not be for thing all of America’s commanders everybody. It would appeal to a had in common: they were all flight special audience, a niche market of crew, although one later became a those who know and appreciate the flight officer due to loss of vision. hazards inherent in the lives of Due to the ship’s lengthy service “fisher folk.” career, her commanders experienced a variety of conflicts. Some saw Louis Arthur Norton, service in the Second World War and West Simsbury, Connecticut the Korean War; others saw combat in Vietnam (one commander of James E. Wise, Jr. and Scott Baron. America, Robert B. Fuller, was a At the Helm of USS America. prisoner of war who spent six years Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publish- in captivity,) while the last captains ing, www.mcfarlandpub.com, 2014. of America saw service in Operation vii+242pp., illustrations, appendices, Desert Storm, the 1991 Gulf War as bibliography, index. US $45.00, well as other conflicts such as the paper; ISBN 978-07864-7656-5. 1975 Mayaguez rescue, Lebanon and Libya in the 1980s, and Haiti and In At the Helm of USS America, Bosnia in the1990s. authors Wise and Baron tell the story The profiles of the commanders of the USS America, a U.S. Navy are as varied as the assignments of (USN) super-aircraft carrier, and its their ship. They came from all parts 23 commanders spanning a thirty- of the United States and via a range 360 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord of educational institutions. Only four world several times, including three of America’s commanders graduated combat tours in Vietnam, and one from the U.S. Naval Academy while combat tour each to Libya, the others came from the Naval Officer Persian Gulf, and Bosnia. America Candidate, Naval Aviation Cadet, and was decommissioned on 9 August the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training 1996, due to post-Cold War defense- Corps programs. budget cutbacks. For several years, America’s commanders shared there was hope that America could be more than flight crew experience: preserved as a museum, but those they were well-educated, knew both plans came to naught. (A comparison airmanship and seamanship, had here — there were plans to convert integrity, set high standards of HMCS Bonaventure, the Royal conduct and discipline for themselves Canadian Navy’s last aircraft carrier, and their crews, and were respected into a museum and other uses. Those and often, even popular, with their ideas, too, came to naught.) Finally, crews. On his departure from in 2005, the USN announced that America, Commander John J. America was be used as a live-fire Mazach, (October, 1989- February, test and target evaluation ship to 1991) was honoured by his ship’s assess battle damage and thus, help crew with a sign that read “We’d sail plan the layout of future aircraft to hell and back with J.J. Mazach.” carriers. For over a month, the USN The commanders’ skills were attacked America with various recognized by the number of explosives designed to simulate decorations they earned; among their torpedo, cruise missile, and small many medals were awarded three craft attacks. The stubborn old ship Navy Crosses, five Silver Stars, refused to sink. Finally, on 14 May twenty Distinguished Flying Crosses, 2006, America was towed out to sea and even one Knight Commander of and sunk. At the time, it was the the Order of the British Empire! largest warship ever scuttled. The book is well illustrated with In the final analysis, a ship, no photographs of every commander matter how large or well-built and plus many photographs of America at equipped, is only as good as its crew. work. Most of the commanders’ bio- The quality of that crew begins with graphies are supplemented with first- the ship’s commander, and it is clear person accounts of their naval service from this book that America’s 23 offering a wealth of detail that adds commanders were among the best of to book’s interest. Despite the few the USN. Many qualities of leader- slim exceptions, the biographies, ship can be gleaned from the bio- personal interviews and oral histories graphies of the men contained in this greatly enhance the narrative. book. It is a good read and is The book also contains a brief recommended. summary of America’s naval service. Over thirty years with the USN, Robert L. Shoop America literally sailed around the Colorado Springs, Colorado Book Reviews 361

Captain Tom Woodfield, OBE. Polar of the logistical framework necessary Mariner: Beyond the Limits in to support the various Antarctic Antarctica. Caithness UK: Whittles research programs. Publishing, www.whittlespublishing. In fact, shipping in the waters off com, 2016. 244 pp., illustrations, the Antarctic continent is, and was, charts. US $25.95, paper; ISBN 978- never just routine. Woodfield’s 1-84995-166-1. autobiography provides an impressive account of the maritime activities of Navigation in Antarctic waters is, the British Antarctic programs from without any doubt, among the most the 1950s to the 1980s and clearly challenging and demanding tasks for demonstrates that, while it became any mariner. The ice, most extreme part of the standard logistical weather and sea conditions, incom- planning for any project, seafaring in plete surveys, and the more or less and around Antarctica remained complete absence of all kinds of extremely different from routine navigational aids are just some of the navigation in other parts of the globe. factors that make the waters off the As Woodfield describes his Antarctic continent different from service for the Falkland Islands most other parts of the world’s Dependencies Survey (FIDES) oceans. onboard the RRS Shackleton, the Woodfield’s autobiographical RRS John Biscoe and finally, the Polar Mariner is not only a most RRS Bransfield, and his journey up readable personal account of an through the FIDES ranks to master, it entire career spent in Antarctic becomes obvious that any research navigation, but a source of utmost activity in Antarctica was not only relevance when it comes to under- heavily dependent on the service of standing the maritime history of the crews of these vessels, but, in Antarctica. Most historical public- fact, would have been impossible ations on Antarctica deal with either without them. specific expeditions or the explor- For the maritime historian, the ation of Antarctica at large and are most interesting part of Woodfield’s focused on activities on the continent autobiography is probably his discus- itself. While many books about the sion of the type of leadership requir- so-called heroic age of Antarctic ed for ships operating in these areas. history include at least a couple of His reflections on the personal chapters on the expeditions’ ships requirements necessary to command and their crews, the majority of later ships operating off Antarctica pro- publications tend to totally neglect vide a most useful insight into the the maritime component. The leadership style often so critical for a explanation for this might simply be project’s success or failure. Given that, after the Second World War, the long duration of voyages in the navigation in Antarctic waters had Southern Ocean and the limited become relatively routine and that availability of ship-to-shore commun- seafaring off Antarctica was just part ication, Woodfield’s contemporary 362 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord personal experiences as a mate and account of pragmatic leadership master compare quite easily to the under extreme conditions by one of stories of ship’s officers serving a the most experienced mariners in the century earlier on Atlantic or Pacific period prior to the advent of satellite routes. navigation and communication. The book contains a good num- ber of charts and more importantly, Ingo Heidbrink photographs, both black and white Norfolk, Virginia and colour, illustrating the operations of RRS Shackleton, RRS John Biscoe and RRS Bransfield. The profess- Joel Zemel. Scapegoat—the extra- ional maritime historian, however, ordinary legal proceedings following will miss the technical details of the the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Halifax, ships and the general arrangement NS: The New World Press, www. plans. Such plans, in particular, newworldpress.com, 2014. xxi + 435 would have given the reader a better pp., illustrations, maps, timeline, understanding of the differences appendices, bibliography, notes, between the vessels and the develop- index. CDN $35.95, paper; ISBN ment of ship design for use in Ant- 978-1-895814-62-0; ISBN 978-0- arctic waters. The unfortunate lack 9684920-9-3 (cloth) of any references, an index, or a bibliography somewhat limits the Joel Zemel explores the legal book’s use for academic research, proceedings that followed the great but, of course, it was not written as a explosion in the narrows of Halifax history of Antarctic navigation. Harbour, 6 December 1917. The Instead, it is the autobiography of one collision between the Belgian relief of the most experienced Antarctic ship Imo and the French freighter navigators of the second half of the Mont Blanc, filled with munitions, twentieth century. and the resulting explosion that Polar Mariner is not a maritime leveled a portion of Halifax has been history of Antarctica, which still explored in a number of books and at needs to be written, but a most least one film. Zemel has stitched important primary source for such a together selected verbatim testimony polar history. It deserves high praise from the Wreck Commission, sub- and is recommended to any polar sequent civil proceedings and historian interested in the maritime participants’ correspondence into a dimension of Antarctic history as sequential retelling of the tale from well as to any maritime historian the collision to the end of the civil interested in the maritime history of hearings. Antarctica. The more casual reader Chapter 1 provides a brief history interested in Antarctic history will of Halifax, and its harbour, leading enjoy it as an authentic and easily up to its role as a collection centre for read story from the post-heroic, post- trans-Atlantic convoys to Europe, Shackleton age. Polar Mariner is an during the First World War. Chap- Book Reviews 363 ters 2 through 5 detail the events of the question of why a munitions ship the morning of December 6, as SS was allowed in the harbour in the Imo attempted to sail out of the lower first place and by whom. Zemel’s basin at Halifax harbour and the SS belief that RNR Commander F. Evan Mont Blanc sailed in. The Imo’s use Wyatt, the chief examining officer of of horn blasts to declare its course to the port of Halifax, would be made Mont Blanc, and the ship’s speed and the scapegoat (thus the title of the failure to steer the proper course in book) for the failure of his superiors the narrows is brought out in a and those in office in Ottawa and confusing swirl of eyewitness evi- London, England, is first raised here. dence. The fire and explosion end No regulations existed to restrict the introduction, with little said at all munitions ships from entering the about the destruction in the city. harbour and Wyatt did not know the Chapter 6 deals with the estab- true nature of Mont Blanc’s load. lishment of the Wreck Commission to The Imo apparently disobeyed examine the issues of who was Wyatt’s orders to wait until they responsible for the accident, the role received permission to leave before of the pilotage commission in the sailing. Chapter 10 sees the Imo’s incident and the question of bringing counsel attack Commander Wyatt, munitions into the harbour. Justice attempting to cast doubt on his hand- Arthur Drysdale headed the Wreck ling of shipping in and out of the Commission inquiry, along with two harbour and his lack of awareness of nautical assessors. Chapters 7 and 8 the danger presented by Mont Blanc’s feature the questioning of Mont cargo. It is apparent that the pilots did Blanc’s Captain Aimé Le Médec and not take his order to seek permission pilot Francis Mackey by Counsel to leave seriously. Unfortunately for Charles Burchell, representing the Wyatt, while he was in court defend- owner of SS Imo (and its captain and ing himself, an oil tanker and a ship the pilot, both of whom died in the with munitions passed each other in explosion). Discussion of the simi- the harbour, against new regulations larity between French and English set in place after the December 6 steering systems, the number of incident. The Imo’s counsel uses the navigation horn blasts used and by event to further bury Wyatt. Chapter which ship, and the failure of Mont 11 opens with Wyatt suspended from Blanc’s pilot to warn those close to duty two days after this incident. He the burning Mont Blanc that their blames the pilots for not following lives were in grave danger, dominate orders while the pilots, in turn, admit the lengthy excerpts of testimony they did not listen to him, but claim cited in these chapters. The quest- he knew they disregarded his direct- ioning by Burchell is repetitive and ions. The captain and pilot of Mont hostile, meant to rattle the witnesses Blanc are also targeted for blame. and obfuscate his client’s respon- The continuing pursuit of Wyatt, sibility for the collision. LeMédec and Mackey by various Chapter 9 turns its attention to lawyers (though mainly Burchell) 364 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord spills over into the next two chapters. Court of Canada found both vessels Zemel suggests that the search for responsible, a decision upheld by the someone to blame was spurred on by Privy Council, resulting in no pay- the local press seeking an inquisition, ment of damages by either shipping rather than an inquiry. company. Chapter 14 contains the closing In chapter 17, Zemel makes the statement by Crown counsel, William case that the Canadian Navy did not Henry. It is the most succinct support Commander Wyatt to the account of the facts presented before degree that it might have. Removing the Wreck Commission. In Henry’s him from his station as port examiner view, the Imo’s pilot and captain during the Wreck Commission were responsible for the collision by inquiry, failing to provide a lawyer in not following the order to notify the a timely manner for his civil trial and port inspector and by not moving to his superior officers’ tone when the proper side of the channel as they writing about Wyatt, is clear evi- prepared to pass Mont Blanc. The dence of a desire to drop the man pilotage in the harbour, in general, publicly associated with the explo- was also criticized. After its deliber- sion. After being cleared, Wyatt left ation, the Wreck Commission return- the navy and went to live in the ed with the exact opposite decision. United States. They found the captain and pilot on Zemel’s epilogue retraces the Mont Blanc responsible for the facts of the collision and the Wreck accident, they saw Wyatt as incom- Commission’s search for a guilty petent and failing to provide for a party, rather than pursuing the cause safe harbour, and they absolved the of the collision between the Imo and Imo’s deceased captain and pilot of the Mount Blanc. He finds the Com- any blame. Captain Le Médec, mission to have been blinded by a Mackey (the pilot) and Commander predetermination that those on the Wyatt were arrested and charged with Mont Blanc, which had carried the manslaughter for the death of the dangerous explosives, and the person Canadian pilot aboard the Imo. The who let it into the harbour (Com- first two men were released under a mander Wyatt) were to be found writ of habeas corpus and only Wyatt guilty. Zemel holds the Federal gov- stood trial. The trial judge, Justice ernment at fault for allowing the Russell, found no evidence to prove pilotage in Halifax (and elsewhere in Wyatt guilty, and so instructed the Canada) to blithely carry out its jury, which after a short deliberation function unchecked, and suggests the returned with a verdict of “not Navy’s failure to properly organize guilty”. A civil court examined the and regulate traffic in the harbour as matter of financial liability for the the primary causes of the accident. accident between the two shipping He does pass some blame onto the companies and decided the Mont company that loaded the Mont Blanc Blanc was responsible for the acci- with such a deadly mix of volatile dent. An appeal to the Supreme material. He sees Wyatt, Le Médec Book Reviews 365 and Mackey as innocent. photographs of the courtroom where The book contains an appendix the Wreck Commission conducted its with some documents, short excerpts inquiry are used, one on p. 91 and the of testimony, short biographies of other among a group of images military personal and civilians between pp. 234-235. Similarly, involved in the story, a section called individual pictures of four of the “Elements of the Halifax Explosion”, Supreme Court of Canada Justices and two short lists of documents and appear in chapter 16 and again on p. of people interviewed by the Wreck 335 in a grouping of photos, a Commission. This hodge podge of repetition that seems unnecessary. information is left for the reader to The list of images used in the text is sort through and determine its impor- alphabetical rather than in their order tance. Much of it seems unnecessary of appearance. Though the source of and even redundant. the image is clearly stated in the list, Zemel has attempted to use the finding the image in the book is not words of those who testified to tell always straightforward, as some the story of the Halifax Explosion; an photos are cited by the page on which interesting approach. Unfortunately, they appear, while others are within the present editing of the verbal res- groups of photographs that appear ponses to commissioner or counsels’ between pages. Elsewhere, the list of questions (plus portions of various photos misplaces the image; for correspondence and documents) form examples, the photo of T. R. Robert- a choppy, and at times confusing, son, supposedly on p. 122, is not narrative, difficult to follow and there, but the other one, listed on p. comprehend. In the chapters that lay 333, is. heavy emphasis on the restating of Both the preface and the biblio- testimony, a summary pulling graphy note the key work done by together the key facts established, or other researchers and writers on the the relevant legal issues, is sorely topic. Zemel’s comments on these missed. sources would be helpful for those There are an abundance of entering into the study of this images in this book (167). The catastrophe. The rest of the book is photographs are of the people, ships not for a novice to the topic, since a and locations involved in the events reader requires some knowledge of of that fateful December day, as well the event to navigate through the text. as those who conducted the invest- The book will be of interest to those igation. Images of documents prod- exploring the Halifax explosion, uced by the various inquiries also especially as a source of images. appear, as do a handful of maps and charts of the area in which the Thomas Malcomson collision and explosion occurred. Toronto, Ontario Some images appear twice in the book, for example two identical 366 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord

To the editors of The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord:

I regret that Howard Fuller has seen fit to dispute my review of Empire, Technology and Seapower: Royal Navy Crisis in the age of Palmerston in vol. 25, no. 2, and regret still more the tone he adopted in so doing. Academic debate should be conducted with due regard for basic human civility, including the avoidance of libel. I have no desire to fire fight with fire, nor shall I, but neither can I permit his charges and accusations to pass unanswered. First of all, I did not “complain” that Fuller’s research and analysis followed that of Arthur Marder and Oscar Parkes: I merely observed that they did so. More substantively, I did not link his interpretation of Victorian British naval policy and strategy to those of Nicholas Rodger and Paul Kennedy. Indeed, while both scholars’ early work adheres to the “Dark Ages” trope that Fuller is so keen to defend, as one of the senior editors of Océanides, a forthcoming multi-author project exploring the role of the sea in the fates of nations, Rodger commissioned Andrew Lambert to contribute the chapter on the Royal Navy 1815-50, and me to write that on the period 1850-89, suggesting that whatever his previous views may have been, he now sees merit in the interpretative paradigm associated with Andrew’s and my work. Second, Fuller’s hyperbolic language, of which I made notice in my review, has not abated: if anything it has increased in intensity. Neither I, nor Andrew, nor anyone whose work aligns in any way with ours has ever claimed that the Victorian Royal Navy was “all-powerful—always—against everyone and anyone”.(244) This continual misconstruction and misrepresentation of my and others’ views is so bewildering and so ubiquitous that it suggests Fuller is incapable dispassionately of parsing the meaning statements made by those with whom he disagrees. For instance, he uses Richard Dunley’s and Andrew Lambert’s wholly justified observation that “every great power with a significant sea coast had good reason to fear the power of the Royal Navy” to conclude that both are, by extension, claiming that it was indeed “all-powerful.”(246) I doubt any careful reader would extrapolate that conclusion from the very specific assertion made by Lambert and Dunley, any more, for example, than the statement “all western powers have good cause to fear the reach of the Islamic State” would today be taken to mean that it is “all-powerful.” Nor does Fuller furnish the slightest evidence to support his claim that I have a “cult-like devotion not only to ‘Britannia’ but in the ubiquity of modern naval supremacy itself.”(244) Even the most casual familiarity with my work should lead a reader to conclude exactly the opposite. For instance, in British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, 1866-1880 (1997), I explicitly state that “[i]f Britain did not have to concern itself unduly with outside threats—the occasional [invariably groundless] invasion scare excepted—its power to intervene in Europe was similarly circumscribed” and that the Schleswig-Holstein crisis (1864) “illustrated the limitations of a foreign policy that relied largely on seapower” in conjunction with short-term continental alliances “for coercion and enforcement.”(9) A page later, in listing the foreign policy crises of the period 1866-80 I conclude that only the Eastern Crisis (1875-78) “involved a region in which naval power could be utilized with any Book Reviews 367 degree of effectiveness.”(10) Moreover, like Andrew Lambert, I wholly subscribe to Sir Julian Corbett’s dictum that sea power in and of itself is not decisive. Nowhere have I ever stated or even implied otherwise. At the very least, Fuller owes his opponents the professional courtesy of accurate quotation, rather than the wholesale exaggeration and distortion that appears to be his stock in trade. Not content with misconstruing others’ words, Fuller’s misrepresentation further extends to the use of quotation marks in a manner suggesting they are responsible for statements of which he is in fact the author: he comes very close to putting words in others’ mouths, to put it bluntly. “‘No, it’s not exactly written down,’ the revisionist historian adds,” British naval strategy and Admiralty policy “was both ‘too secret’ to show up in any surviving memo or even private correspondence and yet also ‘too broadly understood’ by savvy sea dogs…to even need [sic] to be clearly articulated.”(244-45) None of the phrases that he placed in quotation marks was made by me in my review or in any other place, nor by any other scholar whose work Fuller libels. But, as a matter of fact, “it” was written down, which brings me to the most serious of Fuller’s accusations: that I have fabricated evidence (i.e., made stuff up) to buttress my interpretation. He is forced to concede that there are to be found contemporary statements lending support to my views, but dismisses them prima facie on the grounds that “they are comparatively very few indeed” [sic]. One wonders what basis of comparison is being used, for there seems to me no shortage of examples articulating the strategy of coastal assault to which to point. In the interest of space I shall confine my remarks to the evidence given by Vice-Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson to an 1871 Admiralty Committee on the design of British ships of war, appointed in the wake of HMS Captain’s capsizing in September 1870. On 10 March 1871 Spencer Robinson testified in front of the committee regarding a class of four small monitor-style vessels ostensibly designed and built for defence of British coasts and harbors. He was at pains, however, to inform his questioners that [m]y intention, and the intention claimed for the “Cyclops” and for that class, always included that you might use these ships in conjunction with your other ships of war to attack an enemy’s port in shallow water, where large vessels could not get in. Supposing you had the misfortune to go to war with some Power having ports chiefly in shallow water. In such ports these vessels of the “Cyclops” class would contribute a very valuable form of attack—I do not mean alone, but in conjunction with other vessels—in conjunction with the gunboats invented by Mr. [George] Rendel [of the armaments firm William Armstrong and Co.] and torpedo boats. Very often, indeed, in war, the surest defence is to be found in a vigorous attack.(“Report of the Committee appointed…to examine the designs upon which ships of war have recently been constructed…” British Parliamentary Papers, 1872, vol. 18: 614-15) Nor is this by any means a lone example. In the space of less than six pages of testimony Spencer Robinson or members of the committee referred to coastal assault no fewer than a dozen times, among them the former’s unequivocal observation that 368 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord a larger monitor-type vessel, HMS Glatton “was an engine of war, for breaking into first class fortified harbours where there is plenty of water.”(617) So insistent was Spencer Robinson in emphasizing this coastal assault role that when one of his examiners omitted it from a statement of the purposes for which the Cyclops class was designed, he pointedly added “Yes, including the attack of an enemy’s harbours” not once but twice in succession.(617, questions 610 and 611). Were that not enough, in winding up his testimony he was about as explicit as was possible regarding the Admiralty’s intentions: In our powerful iron-clad fleet there are vessels perfectly calculated to go into any deep water harbour, and destroy anything in it, if not kept out by torpedoes [i.e., mines]. On the other hand there are many ports less strongly defended, where 17 or 18 feet of water is to be found, and where this class [Cyclops] could go in and destroy the transports if the enemy were preparing an expedition.(619) Not a single committee member, professional or civilian, questioned the veracity of his statements. In other words, no one expressed either surprise or reservations about the purposes for which the Cyclops class was designed and built. Indeed, the wording of several questions suggests that the principle of coastal assault was accepted by them without demur or doubt. Readers can thus judge for themselves if the tactical scenario to which I refer in The Birth of the Battleship is nothing more than “concocting wargames in my head” or “filling in the blanks with what I wish the past to be.”(246) Likewise, I leave to them to determine which “side of the firing line” is more culpable of “chronic lack of proper research methodology” or, at the very least, disregard of relevant evidence. (245-46) What of Fuller’s claim that by depicting HMS Devastation as principally designed for a coastal assault role, I am trying to bang square pegs into round holes owing to its alleged unsuitability for that mission on account of its draft of more than twenty-six and a half feet? For starters, several of the French ships that would have been Devastation’s targets — the Gloire, Magenta, Provence, Ocean, and Colbert classes, plus Couronne, Friedland, and Richelieu, in sum twenty-three vessels (the whole of France’s pre-1873 first-class ironclad fleet, as a matter of fact) — had draughts as deep or deeper (mostly the latter) than Devastation’s. So, for that matter, did Russia’s sole pre-1880 first-class ironclad, Petr Veliki (Peter the Great). Moreover, the French naval arsenal at Cherbourg was planned and constructed as a deep water port. According to the 1882 edition of the Admiralty’s own Channel Pilot the depth of water on the inner side of the central harbor wall ranged between thirty- six and forty-two feet at low tide, and more than 900 acres of the roadstead carried thirty feet of water or more. That deep-draught British warships might venture where even deeper-draught French or Russian warships went is a possibility that Fuller seems not to have considered. Given all of these facts, given Spencer Robinson’s explicit statements (and many such others besides), and given their unquestioning acceptance by the Admiralty Committee on the Designs of Ships of War, one wonders what quantity of evidence might convince Fuller that there might be merit to the conclusions I and others have reached regarding them, conclusions that he dismisses in such brusque fashion. Book Reviews 369

Rather than the quantitative standard that Fuller has employed (albeit inaccurately) to dismiss all contemporary references to coastal assault, I prefer a different yardstick: quality, i.e., who was making such references, and on what authority. For the record, Spencer Robinson was Controller of the Navy from 1861 to 1871, in which capacity he was the crucial link between the Board of Admiralty and the Constructors’ Department. Put another way, it was he who informed the latter as to the wishes of the former regarding the overall features of warship design. Nobody, therefore, was more “in the loop” than Spencer Robinson as to the intentions of the Board regarding the design of the Royal Navy’s vessels and the purposes for which they were built. And Alexander Milne, quoted in my review of Fuller’s book, was First Naval Lord — the senior professional at the Admiralty — 1866-68 and 1872-76. As I asked in my review, are we to conclude, as Fuller would have us do, that these men, at the pinnacle of their profession, did not mean what they said or wrote: that they were not serious? That they were only kidding? Such a judgment simply strains the bounds of credulity, at least for me. Obviously, Fuller disagrees. Yet, not content with ignoring abundant contemporary evidence that contradicts his views, and with charging his opponents with fabricating evidence to support theirs, Fuller also claims that I, not he, is guilty of substituting my opinions for the utterances of contemporaries: “revisionist scholarship tells us what people of the time really thought, and why, rather than the actual record of what those people said and what they did. Not only have myself and other historians been fooled but so were the historical actors themselves (!)”.(244) This charge appears to me little more than his disagreeable way of saying that I discount the alarmist contemporary rhetoric that informs his work. Yes, I do take the “sky is falling” sentiments habitually expressed by “disgruntled naval officers” and hawkish politicians and journalists with several grains of salt. Why? Why privilege George J. Goschen, William Gladstone, or Benjamin Disraeli, rather than Lord Palmerston or John A. Fisher? For the simplest and most fundamental of reasons: their views appear to me more broadly informed and less partisan than those of many other politicians and most naval officers. Indeed, I take my cue from the eminent Conservative statesman Lord Salisbury (Prime Minister 1885-86, 1886-92, 1895- 1902), who observed in an 1871 letter to fellow politician Lord Lytton [n]o lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the soldiers nothing is safe. They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of common sense. (Quoted in Algernon Cecil, Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers, 294) Equally to the point, as regards the voices that Fuller chooses to privilege, today one finds no shortage of professionals, politicians, and pundits decrying the alleged inadequacy of America’s armed forces despite their receiving greater funding than the rest of the world’s combined. Few non-partisan observers take such doom-and-gloom pronouncements at face value. I see no reason why historians should be any less skeptical of similar claims made by Victorian naval officers or their political or press 370 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord allies. Readers of my work, in sum, will find no shortage of reference to contemporary views, expressed in their own words. What they will not find is an unquestioning and uncritical acceptance of ex parte statements made by men who clearly had axes to grind. Ironically, Fuller’s own work suggests the degree to which both the Russians and the French were convinced that the British were deadly serious in their plans for coastal assault. For instance he devotes several sentences to Russia’s frantic efforts to strengthen the defences of St. Petersburg following the successful 1855 British assault on Sweaborg. (Empire, Technology and Seapower, 184-85) The point he seeks to make is that these measures would have made any such assault prohibitively risky. Others might instead read it as evidence of how worried the Russian government was that the British just might do it. Likewise, when tensions with Britain were at a fever-pitch owing to the ironclad building race of 1858-63, France, fearing a preemptive assault on Cherbourg, hastily constructed three forts on the central harbor wall. Did their presence increase the risks involved in mounting such an assault? Of course. But would Louis Napoleon have gone to the trouble and expense of having them built had he not been genuinely worried about a British descent on his showcase naval arsenal? Fuller may pooh-pooh the concept of coastal assault: rival powers certainly did not. One final point: in dismissing the “comparatively very few comments” regarding coastal assault made by Spencer Robinson and other contemporaries, Fuller evidently could not resist adding “[b]ut please read further, Professor [do I detect a hint of sarcasm here?]: such turret ships were designed to kill ships, not forts...”(246) For the record, it was Alexander Milne rather than me who referred to “the attack of an Enemy’s fleet, forts, or harbours” (shouldn’t Fuller therefore have written “but please read further, Admiral”?). As for my own views, anyone can without difficulty find them, for they are clearly articulated in virtually everything I have written on the subject. For example, in a chapter published in a sesquicentennial commemorative volume on HMS Warrior’s completion (2011), I state that the coastal assault ships that the Royal Navy built 1860-90 were designed for “steaming into a heavily fortified enemy naval arsenal, shooting up the shipping and quayside infrastructure, and standing a reasonably good chance of surviving the fire of shore batteries.”(“What Next? British Armourclad design Policy in the Ramming Era, 1861-81” in Andrew Baines, ed., HMS Warrior: 150th Anniversary, 69) I am baffled as to how such an explicit statement could possibly be misinterpreted, yet Fuller appears to have done so. I apologize to The Northern Mariner’s readers for having gone on at such length, but am confident that any historian whose work had been as thoroughly and egregiously misrepresented as mine has by Howard Fuller would be similarly concerned with setting the record straight.

John Beeler Tuscaloosa, Alabama