Book Reviews

Wendy van Duivenvoorde. Dutch technical discussion of one particular East India Company Shipbuilding: ship, while setting it in within the The Archaeological Study of Batavia context of seventeenth-century and Other Seventeenth Century Dutch, and especially, Vereenigde Ships. College Station, TX: Texas Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), A&M University Press, www. shipbuilding. It is a meticulous and tamupress.com, 2015. 310 pp., illus- definitive cataloguing of the material trations, maps, bibliography, index. recovered from the Batavia, wrecked US $90.00, hardback; ISBN 978-1- off the west coast of Australia in 62349-179-6. 1628, as well as a discussion of the context of the disaster. The various James Bender. Dutch Warships in the chapters detail the study of the wreck, Age of Sail 1600 - 1714: Design, the disciplinary context of other VOC Construction and Fates. Annapolis, ships, and the archaeological find- MD: Naval Institute Press, www. ings. The author`s objective was to usni.org, 2014. 328 pp., illustrations, “create a better understanding of maps, notes, bibliography, index. US Dutch shipbuilding practices in the $78.95, hardback; ISBN 978-1- late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth 84832-157-1. century, in particular for ships de- signed and constructed to sail long Although it tends to be lost in the distances over the world's oceans.” It shuffle of the First World War cente- is important that she states that the nary, 2017 is the 350th anniversary of understanding of the Batavia in this the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch book is not a final reconstruction, but War, which was fought from 1665- a working hypothesis and educated 1667. The interdisciplinary and more guess. The sheer wealth of documen- nuanced approaches of the last sev- tation about the study and recovery of eral decades are actively working to the Batavia, information known reshape conceptions of not only the about other contemporary ships, and Second Anglo-Dutch War, but also of archival documents ensured her suc- the global context of seventeenth cess. century conflicts. Both books under For those who are interested in discussion examine Dutch shipbuild- the early-modern aspects of the age ing and ships, and provide details of sail, Dutch East India Company which, until recently, have been un- Shipbuilding is a must-buy, and an known or hard to acquire in English excellent example of the interdisci- language texts. plinary work that is driving modern Wendy van Duivenvoorde's understandings of the early-modern Dutch East India Company Ship- maritime world. For example, in- building: The Archaeological Study cluded in the book are transcribed of Batavia and Other Seventeenth and translated documents from Dutch Century Ships provides a detailed, archives that define the dimensions of

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXVII, No. 3 (July 2017), 289-346. 290 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord various different types of wooden much more detail for each ship. Un- ships. These are absolutely invalu- fortunately, unlike the Winfield vol- able, and provide important context umes, Bender does not supply a com- for the technical discussion and 'edu- plete set of characteristics for each cated guesses'. Further, the book is ship. Dimensions for some ships are beautifully printed and presented. provided intermittently, although There are numerous detailed and well most ships do have crew, armament laid-out images, including archival and commanders detailed. Bender documents, screen-shots of computer cannot be criticized for being unable programs used to reconstruct the to match Winfield’s wealth of techni- Batavia, and explanatory diagrams. cal details since his Royal Navy re- Van Duivenvoorde's efforts on this cords remain largely intact, while book continue the original accom- most of Bender’s comparable Dutch plishments of the Batavia team led by records were lost in a fire in 1844. Western Australia’s Jeremy Green, The details are accompanied by a who provided the foreword. large number of excellent (although James Bender's Dutch Warships all black and white) reproductions of in the Age of Sail 1600-1714: Design, contemporary drawings, paintings Construction, Careers and Fates is a and other images. much more straightforward historical Both Dutch East India Company effort, and makes an equally impor- Shipbuilding and Dutch Warships in tant contribution as a reference work the Age of Sail are highly recom- for historical research on the early- mended. They should certainly be modern maritime world. Although purchased for university libraries and Dutch Warships in the Age of Sail would make valued additions to the does not quite do for the Dutch navy personal libraries of academic schol- what Rif Winfield's fantastic British ars and history buffs. Warships in the Age of Sail did for the British navy, it is, nevertheless, a Samuel McLean detailed, and definitive cataloguing of Toronto, Ontario Dutch warships during the described period. The book begins with the Andrew Boyd. The Royal Navy in author’s brief explanation of the Eastern Waters, Linchpin of Victory, text`s structure, followed by a key to 1935-1942. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Sea- abbreviations, a glossary and bibliog- forth Publishing, www.pen-and- raphy. Despite its rather unorthodox sword.com, 2017. xxi+538 pg. illus- placement of information, this layout trations, tables, maps, appendix, works really well to provide context notes, bibliography, index. UK for the reader. There is a 24-page £30.00, US $39.95, cloth; ISBN 978- introduction from the excellent and 1-47389-248-4. (Distributed in North authoritative English historian of the America by Naval Institute Press, Anglo-Dutch Wars, J.D. Davies, in www.usnip.org). which he provides needed back- ground on the Dutch state, and the This is a big book, physically and Dutch methods for the creation, historiographically. Andrew Boyd, a maintenance and use of maritime former Royal Navy (RN) submariner military forces. Next comes two and Foreign Office civil servant, sections of fleet lists; the former sim- challenges a considerable field of ply listing ships that took part in each literature regarding the efficiency of campaign, and the latter, providing the interwar Royal Navy, the circum- Book Reviews 291 stances surrounding loss of the battle- the view that the interwar Royal ship Prince of Wales and the battle- Navy was intellectually conservative cruiser Repulse (Force Z) to Japanese and consumed with refighting the air attack in December 1941, and 1916 Battle of Jutland. In contrast, British strategy for defense of South- Boyd wants to show that in the 1930s east Asia and the Indian Ocean. In the Navy was both stronger and more particular, Boyd rejects those such as innovative than has been suggested, Correlli Barnett, who describe British even by fellow revisionists such as Eastern defense policy as “strategic John Ferris and Jon Sumida. He illusion, weakness, and then irrele- describes British interwar warships as vance” in the late 1930s and early broadly comparable to their foreign 1940s. Boyd’s work supports and counterparts and draws upon recent extends David Edgerton’s challenge works by Sumida, Geoffrey Till, to Barnett’s and Paul Kennedy’s view Norman Friedman, Thomas Hones, of twentieth-century Britain as a na- Mark Mandeles, and D.K. Brown to tion in decline. In contrast, Edgerton argue for the interwar Royal Navy. and Boyd highlight Britain’s Boyd makes a strong case, though in strengths, enduring prowess, and at least one technical area he goes too effectiveness, especially compared far in suggesting that the carrier HMS with nations other than the United Eagle was “comparable” to USS States. Boyd’s principal innovation Lexington in both size and capabili- is to recast our frame of reference ties (16). Boyd’s synthesis of recent when considering British Eastern revisionist works raises a larger inter- defense strategy. Instead of focusing pretive question. To what degree on the defense of the Singapore base should internal consistency and ‘ap- and Southeast Asia, Boyd argues that propriate for the information known in the late 1930s, planners in London at the time’ be the standard of histori- began to conceive of an eastern em- cal evaluation of military organiza- pire stretching from the South China tions? For example, Boyd accepts Sea and Singapore in the east all the and expands on Till’s 1979 argument way to the eastern Mediterranean in (in Air Power and the Royal Navy, the west. Within this area lay the 1914-1945: A Historical Survey) that critical Middle Eastern oil fields, the the RN’s interwar Fleet Air Arm resources of India-Australia, and the (FAA) reflected a uniquely British sea lines of communication connect- context and was in large measure ing these resources with the rest of appropriate for the tasks envisioned the empire. While modern historians and undertaken, despite serious limi- have separated the Mediterranean, tations. In contrast, Williamson Indian Ocean, and Pacific Oceans in Murray accepts Till’s position, but their accounts of the Second World concludes that the RN still “got it War, Boyd recasts British defense wrong” on naval aviation by making policy by highlighting the linkages, comparisons with American and Jap- both physical and mental, between anese naval aviation. (See William- these regions. son and A. Reed Millet’s 1996 Mili- The author begins by examining tary Innovation in the Interwar Pe- the Navy’s rearmament program of riod). Both perspectives appear to the 1930s, setting himself in opposi- have merit and the question requires tion to what he describes as “the stan- further investigation. dard narrative” of the Navy’s inter- Boyd then examines the develop- war decline. Barnett is the chief ment of British strategy to defend its culprit in Boyd’s account, especially eastern empire. He highlights a key 292 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

1937 meeting where British officials Asia, London gave the Mediterranean decided that in the eastern empire priority. three areas took priority: the Suez Boyd also demonstrates the criti- Canal, the oilfields of the Persian cal role played by the United States Gulf, and the northern approaches to in shaping Britain’s eastern defense India. To defend these locations (and strategy in 1941. Early that year, RN access to them) required control of plans proposed that the bulk of Brit- Iraq, Egypt, Iran, a neutral or friendly ish naval forces in the Far East would Turkey, open sea lines of communi- protect Indian Ocean convoys in the cation in the Indian Ocean from India event of war with Japan while the to Australia, and at the eastern edge Americans and Dutch guarded the of this region, Singapore. To defend Dutch East Indies and the South this region, the RN would have to be China Sea. In response to American flexible, shifting forces between the criticism of these plans (if the British eastern Mediterranean and Far East valued Singapore as highly as they as the strategic threats changed. Af- claimed, why were so few British ter the start of the Second World naval forces assigned to defend Sin- War, Britain adopted a forward de- gapore?), the Admiralty began to fensive posture in the eastern Medi- consider deploying the limited cover- terranean and Middle East which ing forces available to the South consumed much of the nation’s mili- China Sea rather than the Indian tary resource in 1940-1941, and in Ocean. This is an important point the Far East, relied upon a limited that has not previously been recog- defensive screen. Britain’s early nized. The Admiralty also sought to wartime commitment to hold the play its part in supporting the grow- eastern Mediterranean “meant the ing Anglo-American deterrence pos- forces available to meet potential ture in the western Pacific. The Japanese intervention were . . . re- Americans were sending troops and duced in crucial ways” (131). Boyd planes, including heavy bombers, to argues that this commitment discour- the Philippines in an effort to dis- aged Germany from undertaking a suade Japan from striking south and major offensive into the Middle East. agreed to provide destroyers to sup- Turing to Southeast Asia, Boyd port a British capital ship squadron demonstrates that in 1940, Admiralty based at Singapore. Boyd’s argument staff clung to the view that a purely successfully and creatively incorpo- naval fleet (as opposed to a mixed rates the deployment of Prince of sea-air force) was the foundation of Wales and Repulse with elements of eastern defense. As a result, in 1941, late 1941 allied planning such as the the Admiralty sought to persuade the American reinforcement of the Phil- Americans to move their fleet to Sin- ippines. He concludes that this deter- gapore to replace the ships the Admi- rence strategy “had the potential to ralty could no longer send east. By check Japan. Failure [of the strategy] 1941 the defense of Singapore and laying in timing and execution.” the surrounding area required British (272) air and sea forces only available at Boyd then challenges the tradi- the expense of its defense of the east- tional understanding of Force Z’s ern Mediterranean. Faced with this deployment to Singapore by arguing choice of conducting a forward de- that the Admiralty’s shift to an offen- fense of the eastern empire in the sive forward strategy, not Churchill’s eastern Mediterranean or in Southeast posturing, that played the critical role in the decision to send Force Z east. Book Reviews 293

He also disputes the notion that the tion of the U.S. government, the De- carrier Indomitable was to be partment of Defense, or Air Univer- assigned to Force Z, suggesting that sity.) later accounts are “post facto attempts by key participants to sug- Corbin Williamson gest they were more proactive in Prattville, Alabama addressing the Japanese air threat than they actually were.” (302) Fi- nally, contrary to those who view the Ken Cuthbertson. The Halifax Explo- 1942 Japanese raid into the Indian sion. Canada’s Worst Disaster, De- Ocean as a sign of the RN’s helpless- cember 6, 1917. Toronto, ON: Harper ness, Boyd insists that Somerville Collins Canada, www.harpercollins came within a hair of achieving a .com, 2017. 352 pp., illustrations, major victory over the Japanese. The notes, bibliography, index. CDN key to this argument is a counter- $34.99, cloth; ISBN 978-1-44345- factual night torpedo air strike on two 025-6. Japanese carriers detached from Nagumo’s retiring force late on 5 The 1917 Halifax explosion has in- April. This would have been one of spired numerous books, but Kingston, the more challenging naval air opera- Ontario, journalist, author and editor, tions of the Second World War. Ken Cuthbertson, offers a fresh take A number of maps help the on it this year, the 100th anniversary reader navigate the text, including of the tragedy. Cuthbertson has writ- several maps detailing the relative ten several highly acclaimed biogra- positions of Somerville and Nagumo phies of well-known journalists, most during the 1942 Ceylon raid—an recently, famed war correspondent indispensable element for the type of William L. Shirer (A Complex Fate, detailed operational argument Boyd 2015). His instincts and interest in makes. An appendix lays out inter- the human aspects of the title event war major power naval construction drive and sustain this carefully re- while the 75 pages of notes demon- searched new look at the cataclysmic strate the author’s prodigious morning of December 6, 1917. research, principally among British The book, rather prosaically ti- archival records. tled, uses 31 chapters plus an intro- Boyd’s characterization of an duction, a valuable bibliography and eastern empire defended from the endnotes to retell this tragic story to eastern Mediterranean to the South a new generation in chronological China Sea is an innovative approach order, focused tightly from 30 No- to understanding British policy and vember 1917 to April 1918. One by strategy in the late 1930s and early one, Cuthbertson provides consider- 1940s. The extensive evidence mar- able background and backstory on the shalled is compelling and future many players in an organic and inte- scholars will have to take note of this grated way that effectively builds reconceptualization. This book is insight into their motives and actions. recommended for specialist naval His foreshadowing, though occasion- historians as well as general readers ally a little heavy-handed, brings the interested in the Second World War reader breathlessly to the point of at sea. impact, fire, explosion and death. I (The views expressed in this found the book hard to put down. review are those of the author and do Cuthbertson observes the charac- not reflect the official policy or posi- ters clearly and (mostly) sympatheti- 294 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord cally, from the principals—Captains collision. This inability to reach a Haakon From, of the Belgian Relief unanimous conclusion does not seem freighter SS Imo, who did not sur- unusual for such huge disasters at the vive, and Aimé Le Médec of the mu- time. When the Empress of Ireland nitions ship SS Mont Blanc, who sank after a collision in the St. Law- did—to harbour pilots, Naval Chief rence only three years earlier, Nor- Examining Officer Wyatt, sailors like way’s inquiry found the Norwegian Bert Griffin, and ordinary people vessel blameless, while the Canadian such as Mary Jean Hinch, who were inquiry headed by Lord Mersey (who victims of and survived the almost had investigated Titanic’s sinking) indescribable “Thing” that had hap- found that the Empress was not the pened to them. cause of the collision. Two sets of The author sympathizes with Le irreconcilable (might one say “alter- Médec, portraying him as something native?”) facts. Humans failed. A of a heroic victim, starting from the thousand died. The controversy con- New York moment when he must tinues. stoically accept wartime orders from Cuthbertson is—rightly, I think his government to transport the —unsympathetic about the systemic 3,000-ton cargo of TNT, gun cotton, flaws he found, lackadaisical enforce- picric acid (an explosive nitrate com- ment of maritime rules, simple in- pound) and benzol that transforms his competence, carelessness of govern- ship—slow, worn out and entirely ment and military officials, and all- unsuited to the job —into a floating too-human institutional infighting bomb. Captain Le Médec reluctantly between the Harbour Pilots’ Associa- abandoned Mont Blanc, hopelessly tion, the Royal Navy, the Royal Ca- ablaze in the middle of Halifax har- nadian Navy, the civilian Harbour bour, after the collision, thereby sav- Master authorities and others ing himself and his crew (and possi- involved in the Halifax tragedy, never bly a Mi’kmaq toddler and mother), mind the ugly, inevitable and ever-so- but by then readers will only wince familiar buck-passing, cover-up and and agree that by then there was re- scapegoat-seeking by authorities after ally nothing else to do. The rudimen- the event. He points out that the tary systems and directions that were media played its own unsavoury role intended to prevent human error, in the investigative part of the saga. which he had apparently followed This era, of course, was suppos- more or less to the letter, were absent edly when hubris was being bled out or had failed catastrophically. Sadly, of the human race in the War to End it would not be the last time for such All Wars. The unsinkable Titanic dreadful occurrences. had gone down just five years before. Cuthbertson seems less sympa- Some things don’t seem to change. thetic to Imo’s reputedly irascible and The recent (2013) railway trag- impatient Captain From, who was, edy at Lac Mégantic, Quebec, indeed, in a hurry to get out of the showed similar issues of lax regula- harbour and was decapitated when tory oversight and enforcement by Mont Blanc exploded. Transport Canada, no doubt influ- Of the three trials and investiga- enced heavily by industry lobbyists tions following the event, one exoner- pressuring big government to keep ated From, one exonerated Le Médec, business operating costs low. Having and the third, adjudicated by the worked in laboratory medicine and as Privy Council in London, held the a safety officer, I nodded in agree- officers equally responsible for the ment with Cuthbertson. “To Err is Book Reviews 295

Human,” a landmark 2000 report, paperback edition of the superb origi- similarly stated the problem with nal that appeared in 2008 as a joint medical errors— not so much about publication between Seaforth Pub- bad people in health care, but about lishing and the Naval Institute Press. good people working in bad systems The innumerable strengths of the first that need to be made safer. It’s not version are found here, from the com- that we don’t know what to do (safer prehensive and detailed examination harbour rules did exist in 1917) and of all aspects of the English Restora- many approaches do reduce failures tion navy to the lavish collection of in complex systems. But it’s rare that both colour and black and white illus- robust operation controls are fully trations that appear throughout the implemented or maintained for long, book. While it cannot be considered since safety is so expensive! Explain a ‘new’ or fresh contribution, Davies’ that to the survivors of the Lac Még- splendid work remains an essential antic disaster or the devastated source for students and scholars of Haligonians before them. the Royal Navy. Cuthbertson’s criticism of the The principal focus of Davies’ “system” and those in charge of it in book is the 40-year period between Halifax and elsewhere in 1917 is 1649 and 1689, when under the ad- clear and fair. Harbour authorities ministration of Samuel Pepys, the subsequently improved procedure to English navy underwent the funda- deal more sensibly with munitions mental changes that enabled it to ships, showing there was at least transition into the world’s most pow- some recognition at the time that erful navy over the following century simply blaming the people involved and a half. Davies convincingly ar- was not a solution for the future. gues that it was during the ‘extended’ Cuthbertson softens his judgement Restoration Period, under the mon- with the caveat that “Western society archs Charles II and his brother was still transitioning from being James II, when England continued to rural and agrarian to being urban and duel with the Dutch for maritime industrialized.” A century later, we economic supremacy, that the English still are, it seems. That may be one navy became a permanent national of the lessons to be drawn from this institution. The period witnessed the fine book. construction and operation of larger and heavier warships, employing David More innovative and more effective fight- Kingston, Ontario ing tactics, and commanded by an increasingly professional officer corps, while being overseen by a J.D. Davies. Pepys’s Navy: Ships, competent and committed administra- Men and Warfare, 1649-1689. Barn- tion. sley, S. Yorks.: Seaforth Pub-lishing, Every aspect of England’s Resto- www.seaforthpublishing. com, 2016. ration Navy is examined over 55 304 pp., illustrations, notes, appen- chapters contained within thirteen dix, bibliography, index. UK £19.99, main sections. Davies modeled his paper; ISBN 978-1-4738-7928-7. study on Brian Lavery’s Nelson’s Navy (1989), and was determined to Apart from its slightly smaller dimen- do for the navy of the seventeenth sions, cover illustration, and modified century what Lavery had so effec- title that substitutes the word “War- tively achieved for that of the later fare” for “Organisation,” this is the period. In this book, Davies devotes 296 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord concise chapters to ship types, ship- and rarely experienced for an building, officers and crews, methods economically-priced book, for he has of naval recruitment, and life and gathered a truly impressive array work aboard ship. Other chapters from repositories ranging from the provide the necessary context for National Maritime Museum, British understanding developments in the Library, British Museum, and U.S. navy during periods of war and Naval Academy, to private collec- peace, such as changes relating to tions, as well as the author’s own dockyards, naval bases and victual- photograph collection. ling, and the state and influence of The strengths of Davies’s book England’s Dutch and French naval also reside in its prose. For the past counterparts. He addresses fighting decade, he has produced no fewer tactics through the analysis of three than seven works of historical fiction separate battles — Scheveningen, novels set within the context of the Lowestoft, and Texel; the case stud- seventeenth-century English navy. ies providing welcome attention to Writing with flair and purpose, these largely neglected battles. Davies engages academic and popu- Davies, a widely recognized lar audiences alike. Whether describ- scholar of the Royal Navy and Resto- ing the intricacies of working the ration Period, is clearly at home here. ship, the supply chain of ships’ His expertise on the topic is unparal- masts, sails, rigging and armaments, leled, having spent much of the past or the victualling system in this book, four decades researching and writing or relating the latest exploits of his either academic monographs or his- fictional “gentleman” Captain Mat- torical fiction novels set in the pe- thew Quinton in his engrossing nov- riod. His first major study, Gentle- els, Davies makes the world of the man and Tarpaulins: The Officers seventeenth century Restoration and Men of the Restoration Navy Navy accessible to all his readers. (1991), which examined the reactions Though the stellar work stands on of naval personnel to the demands its own in every regard, this reviewer imposed by Pepys and the structure feels that the author may have missed of the service and the role of the an opportunity to include a guest Navy in the life of the country, cer- preface to expand the audience. An- tainly informs this much broader other relatively simple enhancement treatment. Davies’ use of the best would have been to update the sug- available evidence allows readers to gestions for further reading. These reap the benefits of his notes. nitpicks aside, Davies’s outstanding Though he makes thorough use of study of the seventeenth-century Pepys’s famous diary and the naval English navy should continue to be administrator’s other published and the go-to book on the subject. The unpublished works, Davies is very readable text and affordable price of careful in weighing that testimony this edition will further increase its with that found in additional original accessibility to scholars and non- manuscript sources such as the Admi- scholars alike, who will eagerly sign ralty Records, as well as published on for the passage. primary materials including those volumes produced by the Navy Re- cords Society. Of further value and Michael Dove enjoyment to readers are its wonder- St. Thomas, Ontario ful illustrations. Davies’s use of images and photographs is extensive Book Reviews 297

Bartholomew Diggins. (George S. taking rebel-held New Orleans under Burkhardt, ed.) Sailing with Farra- the Union’s Anaconda policy, de- gut. The Civil War Recollections of signed to shut down Southern ports Bartholomew Diggins. Knoxville, and split the Confederacy at the Mis- TN: University of Tennessee Press, sissippi. Diggins describes the large www.utpress.org, 2016. 241 pp., fire rafts “filled with pine knots and illustrations, maps, notes, other combustible matter…all in bibliography, index. US $53.95, flames 30 to 50 feet high,” used by cloth; ISBN 978-1-62190-208-9. the Confederates to defend New Or- leans (10), and the “teroble roar and George S. Burkhardt’s Sailing with nois” of the guns during the siege of Farragut: The Civil War Recollec- the city (17). New Orleans having tions of Bartholomew Diggins depicts fallen, he details firsthand the contin- the American Civil War through the ued defiance of local rebels and the eyes of an ordinary sailor who fought dramatic response of Union General against the Confederacy under Admi- Benjamin F. Butler, the infamous ral David Farragut for Union control “Beast Butler.” of the Mississippi and Gulf Coast After the reduction of New Or- ports between 1862 and 1864. Part leans, Diggins takes us up the Missis- of the Voices of the Civil War series, sippi to Vicksburg, where he criti- Burkhardt’s edition of Diggins helps cizes Farragut for his dangerous pas- fill a void, the serious lack of naval sage of the well-fortified city whose primary accounts by common sailors, batteries commanded the steep, over- marines and others, from either side, hanging banks of the river. He enu- engaged in the conflict between the merates the hazards of “brown water States. Burkhardt credits this dearth warfare,” such as currents, tides, of personal narratives to the high rate storms, groundings, and gunfire from of illiteracy among the naval rank and enemy ships and forts, as well as file, both Union and Confederate. He random shots from shore, by which tells us that 45 percent of the U.S. he was seriously wounded. An added Navy’s strength in 1863 was foreign- problem for the “brown water navy,” born while another 8 to 23 percent of he says, was runaway slaves, desper- the enlistees were African-Ameri- ate for safe passage, and seeking to cans, mostly illiterate. USS Hart- serve with the fleet to earn their free- ford, Diggins’ ship, carried a crew of dom. 324, of which 216 were foreign-born, When Farragut’s vessels attacked representing 25 different nationali- rebel-held Port Hudson, Diggins re- ties. Many of Diggins’s crewmates, counts his mission ashore to disrupt he says, understood only basic telegraph communications behind commands. enemy lines, and his stint at blockade A young Irish immigrant in 1862, duty at the mouth of the Red River to Diggins never gave his reasons for inhibit the flow of Confederate traffic enlisting in the navy. Burkhardt across the Mississippi. Diggins doubts it was due to patriotic fervor, found blockade duty especially irk- suggesting instead Diggins’s need for some due to heavy weather and ra- employment, the lure of prize money, tions infested with worms and and his personal desire for regular “wevils.” The surrender of Vicks- meals and better sleeping conditions burg and Port Hudson, however, than were offered by the army’s tradi- raised Yankee spirits, and Hartford tional muddy ground. USS Hartford, turned north with the rest of the Un- Farragut’s flagship, was tasked with ion flotilla for repairs and refitting 298 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ending Diggins’ first voyage with survived, though much deteriorated, Farragut. until 1956. His second voyage with the admi- Throughout his Recollections, ral began in 1864, and focused on Diggins details information on gun- rebel-held Mobile. He gives us an boats, ironclads, supply ships, moni- eyewitness account of the Battle of tors, submarines, and Confederate Mobile Bay, listing the Union vessels mines and torpedoes, and explains involved, their fleet formation, and contemporary weaponry, tactics, and Farragut’s heroics. Diggins greatly strategy. His personal contact with, admired him for storming through and comments on, a selection of Un- Confederate defenses, even quoting ion leaders including Farragut, Admi- the Admiral’s famous “Damn the ral David Porter, generals Butler, Torpedoes” line in reference to his Nathaniel Banks, and U. S. Grant ships entering the heavily-mined enlivens his narrative. Burkhardt has harbour. done a fine job editing Diggins’ Rec- In an interesting sidelight to the ollections. He introduces each chap- struggle for Mobile, Diggins des- ter with useful background informa- cribes previously unrecorded skir- tion, supplementing Diggins’ original mishes in which he and his crew- manuscript with period maps and mates on Hartford participated, what photographs. He, likewise, displays Burkhardt terms the Ivanhoe Saga. a mastery of a rich array of primary On the dark night of 30 July 1864, and secondary sources. Overall, blockade runner Ivanhoe, a fast Eng- Burkhardt’s Sailing with Farragut: lish iron-hulled paddle-wheel The Civil War Recollections of steamer, carrying medicines, shoes, Bartholomew Diggins is a sterling blankets, and provisions sorely addition to the library of literature on needed by the beleaguered city, America’s Civil War. grounded in Mobile harbour. Over a week-long series of actions, the Un- William L. Welch ion fleet tried to destroy the steamer, Natick, Massachusetts while the Confederates tried as hard to save her and salvage her cargo. On two separate nights, Diggins became Laura Sook Duncombe. Pirate part of a boarding party of 100 men Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, seeking to sack Ivanhoe, each man and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven armed with a revolver, cutlass, and Seas. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review carbine. Hand-to-hand combat with Press. www.chicagoreviewpress.com, desperate defenders ensued, but in 2017. 272 pp., illustrations, bibliogra- the end, the rebels prevailed in mak- phy, index. US $26.99, CDN $35.99; ing off with Ivanhoe’s cargo. ISBN 978-1-61373-601-2. Naval aspects of the Civil War largely ended with the fall of Mobile, Laura Sook Duncombe’s new book and USS Hartford sailed north with on pirate women covers a lot of Farragut and Diggins, each to receive ground geographically and chrono- recognition for their services— logically. She has chosen a varied Farragut becoming America’s first selection of female sea rovers, some full admiral, and Diggins being notorious while others are obscure; awarded the Medal of Honor for his they inhabited different eras, from the gallantry at Mobile. Surprisingly, ancient world to the modern period. Burkhardt tells us, USS Hartford Their stories are often a blend of history and myth. In some cases, Book Reviews 299 they exist only in novels or Holly- Bartholomew Roberts, one of most wood films. Duncombe argues that infamous pirates of the Golden Age, what these women had in common, may have been a woman! Although despite their diverse backstories, is she has used diverse sources for her that their need for freedom drove research, Duncombe’s bibliography is them to the sea. Certainly, the ship- not extensive. Her analysis would board world offered danger and op- have benefitted from some of the portunity as well as escape from their recent works on gender and seafaring. lives ashore. Duncombe isn’t an historian nor Many of Duncombe’s subjects is her intended audience professional are historical figures. She includes academics. General readers won’t be the best known women pirates such troubled by the absence of references as Anne Bonny and Mary Read. One in the text. Academic readers, how- of her underlying arguments, how- ever, will wish the author had backed ever, is that most such women lan- up some of her bolder claims with guish in anonymity. This is true of more evidence and specifics. State- even the most successful pirates. An ments such as “Without American apt example is Cheng I Sao: despite pirates, there might not have been an her massive fleet and her many suc- America as it exists today” (146) cesses at sea in the nineteenth cen- raise a number of unanswered ques- tury, Cheng I Sao is not well known tions. in the western world. And even in The author tries to contextualize her own country, her true name is her subjects in their various national, uncertain: Cheng I Sao simply means cultural and time periods, even in “wife of Cheng I”. Yet, Duncombe cases where the female pirate is a argues that Cheng I Sao is the most work of fiction. She includes, for prosperous pirate of all time of either example, the story of Gunpowder gender. (174) In the majority of Gert, a completely fabricated charac- cases, the lives of these women are so ter whose story, it seems, was con- poorly documented, it is almost im- vincing enough to fool the Canadian possible to know what aspects are Broadcasting Company. Historical fact and which ones are fiction. The realities or speculation regarding author attempts to sift through the these female pirates are only part of often conflicting accounts of their the author’s focus. She is also in- feats and legacies. trigued by how accounts of these In order to do this, Duncombe women were recorded and passed has consulted some of the relevant down through history. Duncombe’s secondary sources and a few primary book is a fascinating exploration of sources in print. Her research in- pirate tropes, myths and histories. cluded some of the “must read” texts The material is entertaining and for anyone tackling female piracy, the author writes in an engaging man- such as John C. Appleby’s Women ner. Duncombe colloquially refers to and English Piracy, 1540-1720: some of her subjects’ “stone-cold Partners and Victims of Crime and sass” (127) and “gaining excellent David Cordingly’s Seafaring Women: street cred” (186). It must also be Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female said that the author has a serious Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives. She agenda beneath the swashbuckling also draws on popular culture- fun. She wishes to explore these —everything from Treasure Island to women’s lives and legacies from a the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. feminist perspective. Without ques- She even includes juicy gossip that tion, female pirates represent a mas- 300 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord sive rejection of the gender norms of 239 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, their respective societies: “Pirates bibliography. Euro 17,90€, hardback; live outside the laws of man, but ISBN 798-3-86927-138-5. women pirates live outside the laws of nature.” (xi) Her approach is The title of this delightful work—- timely and may hopefully lead to a which we might render as The adven- “rethinking” of some of the conven- turesome travels of a sea-captain’s tional wisdom about female piracy. wife—hints at the tradition of the She is right to point out the biased picaresque novel once popular in portrayal or lack of knowledge about sixteenth- and seventeenth-century these women. Her examination ex- Germany. These were lively tends to how women are discrimi- romances of voyage and discovery, nated against in Hollywood. danger and intrigue, featuring such Although this is certainly true, a book memorable characters as Simplicius, focusing on female pirates is not the Springinsfeld and Courasche. Some- best place for that discussion. where along the way, these fictional Overall, Duncombe does provide types would discover long-hidden an enjoyable romp through history secrets, and encounter exotic worlds; via the lives of several women pi- somewhere they might even find a rates. This is a useful book in terms bundle of letters that provided a key of raising questions about how pi- to a network of unexpected human rates, and women pirates in particu- relationships. The real-life letters lar, are portrayed in history and in and diaries of Helmine Schröder née fiction. There are a number of other Arppe, (1857-1940) led to the present authors who have published works on volume. Their discovery, after much female pirates so the book jacket’s dogged sleuthing, proved much more claim that it is “the most comprehen- than a family treasure and a cause for sive overview of women pirates” is a grand family reunion. They offer arguable. Nevertheless, it definitely the general reader a unique historical fulfills its second claim that it is perspective on the last days of com- “chock-full of swashbuckling adven- mercial sail, and of a woman’s at- tures that pull these unique women tempts to break into it. The book’s from the shadows…” While it may subtitle—Shipboard letters from leave a more academic reader longing sailing freighters around Cape for references and more evidence, Horn—captures both the imagination Pirate Women is a fun and informa- and the reality. tive read aimed at a general audience. It was not uncommon in the nine- teenth century for wives to accom- Cheryl Fury pany their skipper-husbands on the Grand Bay-Westfield, New Bruns- relatively short voyages in the Baltic wick trade. But that was rarely the case with deep-sea sailing freighters, whose voyages could take many Ursula Feldkamp and Gerd Kelbing months, and sometimes years. That (Hrsg.) Die abenteuerlichen Reisen was because they often engaged in einer Kapitänsfrau. Bordbriefe der the tramp trade and had to pick up Helmine Schröder von Frachtsegel- whatever cargoes and destinations schiffen um Kap Hoorn. Bremen- they could. As the editors explain, haven, Germany: Deutsches ship owners did not want to deal with Schiffahrtsmuseum und Oceanum the ethical and moral issues of having Verlag, www.dsm.museum, 2016. a woman on board for lengthy voy- Book Reviews 301 ages. And besides, social proprieties tains’ wives at sea: pregnancy, isola- of the day required the captain’s wife tion in the ‘golden cage’ of her cabin, be isolated from the rest of the crew. the ‘appropriate’ clothing,’ and In the event, Helmine Schröder meals. Sea-going wives, it turns out, was unusual for the time by overcom- caused the crew additional work; for ing such obstacles. The eldest of example, crew had to douse and reset eleven children, Helmine finished her the mizzen sail whenever she laun- schooling at the age of sixteen, and dered, and lamented her use of fresh- became a teacher. At the age of 24, water. Feldkamp explains how hap- she married her uncle, Captain Rob- pily Helmine adapted to shipboard ert Schröder. Fourteen years her life, standing watch with her hus- senior, he had, by that time, sailed band, and even learning to calculate around Cape Horn 22 times. He the ship’s position with sextant and worked out of Antwerp with the Bel- chronometer. Yet, despite her capa- gian shipping firm of T.C.Engels, that bility, being a woman, she could had been dealing in the saltpeter trade never have been accepted as crew. with Chile. At the time of their mar- Helmine was sensitive to all this riage, Captain Schröder skippered the in letters addressed to her family at three-masted wooden bark Marnix de home. Both in letters and diary she St. Aldegonde. The increasing com- wrote of the domestic concerns of life petition by steamships in world trade aboard, of the business of operating a had been making it more difficult for commercial vessel, of the exciting companies to find experienced and places she visited, and of her admira- qualified crew for tallship freighters. tion of her husband’s nautical talents; In fact, few such ships had been built she wrote of the brave crewmen who since the 1870s. These facts likely handled sails under the most frighten- played a role in Helmine’s obtaining ing conditions, and of her wonder at permission to accompany her hus- the raw ocean’s power and majesty. band. Together they undertook their Her deep Christian faith permeates first voyage to Chile in 1881-1882. her letters and diaries, as does her Robert then left her at home in love for her husband—the “my Rob- Rostock, in the northern seaboard ert” of so many entries—and for her state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, distant family. She herself was a as she was pregnant. In November spunky, yet gentle, observer of a 1883, he set sail with the steel bark nautical world she was exploring Theodore Engel, not returning to with open and unfeigned pleasure. Antwerp until October 1886, when “If you want to be a competent sea- his son was just over two years old. faring wife,” she had written in her That November, the young family very first letter, “you mustn’t be went to sea on the Chile route aboard afraid of a bit of wind.” To this, her the Theodore Engel, finally coming husband added a postscript: “I always ashore for good a year later in order thought that my Helmine would expe- to run a family factory in Rostock. rience some fear, but no, nothing Though the editors offer few techni- startles her.” Even at the prospect of cal details on these ships, the book’s her husband’s skippering a steamship cover reproduces an anonymous with its regular runs and reliable painting of the bow of the Marnix schedules, she looked back to high with all sails set. seas sailing. Especially aboard her The Afterword by co-editor honeymoon ship “the Marnix.” Ursula Feldkamp sheds particularly Though not quite as quixotic as the helpful light on issues faced by cap- literary formula of the picaresque 302 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord novel, the adventures of this particu- when the KG 40 unit was stationed in lar captain’s wife form a refreshing France and were most likely taken for counterpoint to the usual narratives propaganda purposes. After these of macho sailors battling the Horn. there are 28 pages of captioned pho- They make a very significant contri- tographs focusing on the Fw-200 bution to maritime history. from initial acceptance through oper- ational use, featuring armaments and Michael Hadley aircrews mixed in with overall views Victoria, British Columbia of the aircrafts. This section is fol- lowed by ten images of the Heinkel He-177 long-range bomber. Thirteen Manfred Griehl. Airwar over the photographs of Junkers Ju-88 bomb- Atlantic. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen and ers and their operation, five pictures Sword Books Ltd., www.pen-and- of the enormous Blohm and Voss Bv- sword.co.uk, 2016. 72 pp., illustra- 222 and Bv-238 flying boats, and tions, index. UK £12.99, US $19.99, nine images of the Ju-290 long range paper; ISBN 978-1-84832-791-7. patrol aircraft appear on the remain- ing pages. There is a final mix of 13 Part of the Luftwaffe at War photo- images involving previously visited graphic reference series published by airframes, lesser-used aircraft, experi- Pen and Sword Books, this volume mental designs, anti-shipping arma- focuses on German air operations ments, and two views of He-115 over the Atlantic Ocean, most notably floatplane attack training. the Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor The publication data states that airframes. A four-page introduction this is the 2016 edition of a work first offers an overview of German avia- crafted in 2003. An examination of tion in the Atlantic from 1938 to the earlier version shows that the two 1945, followed by eight full-size editions are identical save for varia- colour pictures depicting Fw-200 tions of their cover and publisher, crews and aircraft. The remainder of making this more of a re-release the work is a 56-page collection of rather than a revision. As it stands, it captioned black and white photo- would be beneficial to carry out some graphs, usually one or two images per level of alteration. The introductory page. text could be streamlined, possibly The introductory text is a com- with the text divided into subsections pact piece. It is sometimes a little by discussed subject or unit rather choppy, both textually and chrono- than as an unbroken stream. There logically, but it serves largely as an are also some odd lines mixed in operational history of Kampf- where the wording is not as clear as it geschwader (KG) 40, the most nota- could be, and aircraft are introduced ble German unit of the Atlantic air by their model designations well war. The introduction hits its stride before any sort of minimal descrip- during this section, examining the tion of them is given (5). Some form unit’s aircraft, tactics, officers, and of citation in this section is also operations over the course of roughly needed, as there are no footnotes, two full double-columned pages. endnotes, or bibliography to be The photographs are arranged so found. Some captions are a little odd, that the full-colour images appear such as a joke about patrolling sol- first, then the black and white ones, diers protecting cows on the frontis- clustered by date and aircraft type. piece, while others contain informa- The initial photos appear to date from tion unrelated to the image, such as Book Reviews 303 the discussion of changing exterior prove useful to both lay and scholarly camouflage patterns on a detail image communities. of a cockpit interior (53). The intro- ductory caption for the He-177 might Charles Ross Patterson II need some restructuring as well, as Yorktown, Virginia lay readers might not realize that there are two engines powering each propeller, making them think the Poul Grooss. The Naval War in the reference to four engines is a typo Baltic 1939-1945. Barnsley, S. (45). More photographs would also Yorks: Seaforth Publishing, www. be appreciated. The He-115, despite seaforthpublishing.com, 2017. 400 being the cover image, is heavily pp., illustrations, maps, appendices, underrepresented in the work, index. UK £30.00, US $39.99, cloth; although there are many good profile ISBN 978-1-5267-0000-1. and operational shots of the airframe in existence. Other maritime air- This work is a 2017 English transla- frames that are not included could be tion of Poul Grooss’ 2014 study of added in an expansion, most notably the Baltic naval war, originally re- the tri-motor Bv-138 “Sea Dragon” leased in Danish as Krigen I flying boat, which was an important Østersøen 1939-1945. While the title airframe for German long-range re- belies the author’s intent to write a connaissance and patrol operations. naval history, Grooss admits in the Additionally, a concluding section on introduction that due to the nature of the results of the Luftwaffe’s wartime combat in the Baltic region, the text Atlantic operations with regard to can be seen more as a “joint-opera- post-war operations and aviation tion” piece which covers the interwo- design would be useful. Given the ven actions on both land and sea rarity of surviving maritime-use air- (xiii). The work is arranged chrono- frames from the Second World War, logically, with the actions of each a section detailing surviving aircraft participating nation discussed in turn. would help as well. For example, After the introduction, Grooss offers there is a single Fw-200 under resto- a brief history of the Baltic region, ration in Berlin, the remains of one followed by examinations of the Bv-138 in Denmark, and two recov- interwar political and military ered He-115 wrecks awaiting restora- maneuverings that placed the Baltic tion. For those interested in the At- States in their assorted positions just lantic air war, information on these prior to the outbreak of the Second surviving traces of the conflict could World War. Wartime actions make be a helpful research tool. up the core of the text, with primary Despite its flaws, this work is a emphasis placed on the early and late decent visual primer on some of the war time periods, when naval activity Luftwaffe’s airframes and actions was at its peak. The final sections over the Atlantic Ocean during the cover the post-war aftermath and Second World War. Above all, it is ramifications, followed by appendi- specifically helpful for those inter- ces and indices. ested in KG 40 and the wartime use The foreword and introductory of the Fw-200 Condor. Since works pages detail the overall importance of on this subject are not nearly as prev- the Baltic campaigns to the narrative alent as those on other aspects of the of the Second World War, and why Luftwaffe in the Second World War, these actions had a greater signifi- an improved second edition would cance than previously thought. 304 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

Grooss points out that since casualty war are often discussed prior to spe- numbers are heavily disputed, the cific naval actions, putting them fully death toll may have actually equaled into context and improving reader or surpassed that of the war in the understanding of why the actions Atlantic (xiv). The existing histori- were carried out as they were. Of ography of the subject is shallow, and great interest are the actions of Swe- Grooss explains that the uncharted den, Finland, and the occupied coun- nature of his study had led him to tries during the wartime years, along work largely with primary sources, with the late war Operation several of which conflict depending RESCUE/HANNIBAL to evacuate on the national bias of the original civilians in the face of the coming authors. Most importantly, he makes Soviet forces. A wide assortment of it clear that he in no way intends for photographs, maps, and diagrams are his coverage of Sweden’s actions worked into the text, enabling readers during the war to be seen as an “at- to visualize the people, ships, equip- tack” on the country, he merely dis- ment, and locations described by covered a great deal of new informa- Grooss. To highlight technological tion during his research not previ- information or other details outside ously found by other historians (xv). the narrative, Grooss uses grey infor- One could argue that the two first mational text boxes outside the main chapters serve as additional introduc- text. Footnotes cover the more com- tory material, focusing on the region mon notes and points of clarification, and interwar lead-up to hostilities. such as details of surviving wartime The 11-page first chapter offers a vessels and their present locations. physical description of the Baltic Notable post-war aspects and events, region, including natural geography such as remaining minefields and and man-made modifications such as shipwrecks, British testing of German canals, along with a brief coverage of air warning systems, and the late/post the area’s power struggles from the war execution of German personnel age of the Vikings through the First by Germans for wartime actions, is World War. The shorter second covered in its own chapter. This is chapter consists of four pages of text followed by a Postscript analysis of and two pages of photographs, suc- the participating countries, in which cinctly covering the political jockey- Grooss concludes that in the final ing of the primary countries during outcome of the Baltic fighting, Swe- the interwar period, and how each den is the one nation that emerged arrived at their own starting point relatively “untouched by the devasta- when hostilities finally broke out. tion,” and therefore could be deemed The heart of The Naval War in “a kind of winner” compared to the the Baltic consists of six chapters that occupied, weakened, and impover- cover the war from 1939 to 1945. ished lands surrounding it (360). Of While Grooss discusses the early and special note amongst the appendixes final years of the war in a more day- is Grooss’ “Cross-reference List of to-day or month-to-month approach, Place Names in Various Languages,” the years 1943 and 1944 are detailed which is an extremely useful tool not in much broader terms, due to the only for this work, but for general comparative lack of historically-sig- research into wartime documents nificant naval actions. Political and originating from the Baltic area and military maneuverings are discussed relating to inhabitants or belligerents in terms of their symbiotic relation- (375-384). ships, and the broader terms of the Book Reviews 305

Two things would improve this versity Press, www.mqup.ca, 2016. work; firstly, the grey informational 256 pp., illustrations, maps, bibliog- text boxes, while interesting in their raphy, index. CDN $44.95, cloth; content, tend to break up the narra- ISBN 978-0-7735-4820-6. tive, as well as noticeably diverging from the overall story. Collecting The polar region has captured our these sections into appendices of imaginations for centuries, fuelling a technical data or battle plans might seemingly insatiable appetite for tales help to smooth the book’s overall of exploration, discovery and often flow. The primary problem area is tragedy. While numerous scholarly the lack of direct citation. While monographs and popular treatments there is no reason to doubt Grooss’ dedicated to the history, ethnology scholarship, and there is some refer- and ecology of the Arctic have ap- ence to where he obtained his infor- peared in that time, it is within the mation within the main text and foot- past decade that work on the ‘roof of notes, there are no real direct cita- the world’ has drawn widespread tions for interested scholars to follow public attention. Among the chief beyond the bibliography at the end. reasons are the promises and perils of Including such citations, even as an increasingly ice-free navigable endnotes, would greatly improve the northwest passage and the competing work’s functionality as a research claims of polar nations over their tool for current and future students of Arctic sovereignty. This has spurred the war in the Baltic. several high-profile military man- Overall, The Naval War in the oeuvres as expressions of respective Baltic is not only a guide to important national ambitions in the region. The naval actions that took place within most recent contribution to the boom the Baltic region, but also offers a in awareness and literature pertaining great deal in terms of the geopolitical to the Arctic arose with the fascinat- relationships and combined arms ing discoveries of the two ships of the actions in the area as well. The trans- fabled 1845 Franklin Expedition, lation of this work from its author’s beginning with a Parks Canada team native Danish into English is a boon locating the Erebus in 2014. Though for American scholars, providing the book under review appeared prior access to Grooss’ research into un- to the finding of Terror in 2016, it tapped archival sources and offering uses the re-ignition of public interest his professional perspective as a Dan- generated by the Erebus discovery ish military officer. For those inter- amid the jockeying of polar nations to ested in lesser-known Second World offer readers a fairly comprehensive War naval actions, or even Sweden’s record of human exploration and wartime acts undertaken during their habitation in this vast, unforgiving “neutrality,” this is an excellent and beautiful landscape. source of background information The book’s author, Curator of and analysis. Canadian and Caribbean Studies at the British Library, was a lead curator Charles Ross Patterson II of a 2014 exhibition of the same Yorktown, Virginia name at the British Library, and the book is an expanded treatment of the exhibition, published in North Amer- Philip J. Hatfield. Lines in the Ice: ica by McGill-Queen’s University Exploring the Roof of the World. Press. Oversized and lavishly illus- Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen’s Uni- trated, this is by all appearances, a 306 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord traditional coffee-table book. Based extensive and sustained encroach- exclusively on secondary research, ment, leaving a legacy of pollution this history of the Arctic is engag- that motivated zoologists and conser- ingly presented through some 84 mini vationists to take action. These expe- essays, none of which are more than ditions also had a dramatic cultural two pages in length. The approach is impact on Europeans and North very effective, allowing readers to Americans through the work of art- gain a nuanced understanding of a ists, writers, and photographers. remarkably diverse and complex Essays on Mary Shelley’s iconic tale environment and its past at a comfort- of Frankenstein and American car- able pace. toonist Thomas Nast’s relocation of The essays themselves are orga- Santa’s home from northern Europe nized within three main sections. to the North Pole in the late nine- “The Draw of the Arctic” seeks to teenth century, serve to deepen our explain the allure of the region to understanding of how the Arctic be- both indigenous and non-Arctic peo- came part of the popular imagination. ples. Resident Inuit communities of These discussions set the stage course long pre-dated European inter- for the third section: “The Arctic and est and presence in the north, though the Modern World,” in which the it may surprise many readers that the pressures of trade, oil and mineral Arctic became part of the European exploration, military defense, mass imagination as far back as the days of tourism, and climate change have Herodotus in the fourth century BC. continued through the twentieth and For Europeans, these mysterious twenty-first centuries to remould and lands and seascapes gradually moved distress the landscape and its inhabit- from the realm of imagination to ants. The “lines in the ice” refer to reality as attempts to locate trade those human marks on the region, routes increased between the six- from mapping sea routes and Inuit teenth and eighteenth centuries. overland trails, to the Soviet con- Greater contact with the North, how- struction of the White Sea-Baltic ever, ushered in an era of destructive Canal and the establishment of the change for the region’s inhabitants. Distant Early Warning System (DEW Section Two: “Seeking an Arctic Line), to growing infrastructure asso- Passage” chronicles the series of ciated with resource extraction and polar missions conducted by the the result of daily human activities. United States and Europe in the nine- Though the forecast appears bleak, teenth century, particularly when Hatfield is also mindful of how the Britain emerged from the post-Napo- Arctic has inspired art, literature, leonic era as the foremost Arctic science and cartography over time exploring nation. The highly publi- and how this may act to rally us in cized Franklin Expedition, and later support. search for survivors, receives special The commonly-held perception focus, though there is also ample of the Arctic, by those living far to attention devoted to other explorers the south of it, has been a vast, deso- including Buchan, Ross, Parry, Rae, late and uninhabited region. Special- McClure, McClintock, Nares, and ists and generalists will benefit from Amundsen. The rigours and accom- the book’s wonderful achievement in plishments of these missions are re- presenting the history of exploring, called, but so too is the erosion of the working and living in the Arctic as a Inuit way of life and the physical multi-layered relationship. Readers landscape that accompanied this more of this journal will certainly appreci- Book Reviews 307 ate the author’s coverage of early and re-assessing the great maritime modern mapmaking and the numer- history of Germany, and indeed of ous voyages made in search a north- Central Europe. The resources of the erly passage around North America. Museum itself embrace not only ar- A remarkable collection of illustra- chives and technical laboratories, but tions, from an indigenous carved map floating exhibits (including coastal, to a twenty-first century NASA visu- riverine and deep-sea vessels), and alization of changing ice levels over graphic artifacts as diverse as the the past four decades, all combine to mediaeval “Bremen Cog” (1380) and enhance the ways we see and under- the control panel of Germany’s first stand the high north. Hatfield must nuclear-powered vessel Otto Hahn be applauded for examining both the (1968). The value which Germany ingenuity and creativity arising from places on its cultural traditions can be human activity in the region, as well seen by the fact that the Museum was as giving equal time to the remark- designed by architect Hans Scharoun able destruction and devastation of it. (1893-1972), famous, among other achievements, for his design of the Michael Dove Berlin Philharmonic concert hall. He St. Thomas, Ontario was a proponent of the so-called ‘or- ganic philosophy’ of architecture which sought to blend the human and Eric Hoops (ed.) Deutsches technical needs of site, space and Schiffahrtsagrchiv 36/37 /2013/ structure, in order to form an organic 2014. Bremerhaven: Deutsches whole. The visitor to both concert Schiffahrtsmuseum and Oceanum hall and museum feels the effect of Verlag, www.dsm. museum, 2015. that blend. The German Maritime 415 pp., illustrations, notes, bibliog- Museum, in short, is harmonic. The raphies, English summaries. Euro museum is a national treasure, and its 23,50 €, hardback; ISBN 798-3- Annual reflects that. 86927-138-5. These Annuals embody the high- est scholarly standards while docu- Eric Hoops (ed.) Deutsches menting an uncommonly eclectic Schiffahrtsarchiv 38/2015. Bremer- range of themes and issues: every- haven: Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum thing from marine archaeology and and Oceanum Verlag, www.dsm. engineering, ship construction, art, museum, 2016. 391 pp., illustrations, literature, and social and political notes, bibliographies, English sum- history. What unifies these contribu- maries. Euro 23,50 €, hardback; tions is their focus on the seas and ISBN 978-3-86927-038-8. seafaring. As an aid to further dia- logue and international research, each The German Maritime Museum in article includes the full postal address Bremerhaven has been producing its of the contributor, and a brief— handsome “German Nautical occasionally very brief—summary in Archive” for forty years. Published English. Many articles are supported annually since 1978, this “Scientific by obviously very expensive colour Yearbook of the German Maritime photographs and technical drawings. Museum,” as it is formally known, The first volume under review— began appearing as a refereed journal for the years 2013/2014—embraces in 2004. The present two volumes the typically wide range of themes. continue the rich scholarly tradition These run from an examination of of examining, celebrating, preserving tides as understood in the literature of 308 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord antiquity, to the development of high problems for ‘religious’ views; but in seas fishing vessels in the nineteenth the final analysis, these nascent ideas and twentieth centuries on the south- about tides sometimes disconcerted ern Baltic coast, to the restoration of the indigenous populations in antiq- Baltic seaside resorts and marinas in uity whenever they confronted new the 1990s, and a study of the MAN realities. high-speed diesel engines once in- Author Torst Capelle’s “A stalled in the torpedo boats of Ger- golden boat and its context”—an many’s Second World War Kriegs- examination of a golden charm brace- marine. The value of the latter study let discovered in 1797 in what is now lay in possible applications to the Romania—treats his readers to an 89- modern Federal German Navy. page abridged version of the book Clear and graphic communication which he had published on the sub- has been central to the success of ject in 1994. Whereas his book could these volumes. Occasionally, how- provide only black-and-white photos ever, good communication has seem- of the ‘golden chain of miniatures,’ ed to be overridden by an overween- the article can now include colour ing sense of scholarly style. This photographs—all of them for the first first volume, for example, is not a time. Twenty-eight impressive colour casual read. It is a book for deeply- plates, many of them full-page, here dyed specialists. For example, the grace a text that has been updated by volume opens with a 100-page dis- the inclusion of the most recent re- quisition on “Types and Contents of search. The chain, which is now Tidal Analyses in the Literature of held in the Antiquities Department of Antiquity.” With its closely-argued the Kunsthistorisches Museum in text—and 651 footnotes—it is not for Vienna, contains some 14 medallions the faint-hearted. It is written in what from the Roman era, as well as four social critic Rudolf Walter Leonhardt ‘charms’ of Germanic/Teutonic ori- had described in the 1960s as ‘profes- gin from the period of the ‘Migration sor German’ (Professorendeutsch): of Peoples” (Völkerwanderung) convoluted and opaque. The sum- which occurred between the fourth mary in English gives some of the century and the sixth century A.D. flavour: “the concepts and concep- Taking pride of place in the chain tions of the tides could moreover (and in the article) is the largest item serve as an instrument of the — at in the collection, a manned boat in least latently negative — cultural- gold. As the author observes, the anthropological assessment of the golden chain is an important objet groups of the population confronted d’art that reflects the complex cul- with the phenomenon of the tides.” tural interrelationships throughout The author himself summarizes a the early Teutonic world. half-dozen characteristics of how one The second volume under re- viewed tides in antiquity. He notes in view—for the year 2015—is an alto- antiquity the beginnings of a scien- gether different work. It is a consis- tific way of viewing tidal phenom- tently well-written and more conge- ena; observers of the period saw sin- nial collection of papers that appeal gle causes of what were in fact multi- to specialist and non-specialist alike. causal synergies; their explanations, It runs from the arcane (timber rafting he points out, were couched in both in antiquity as seen by Roman legal pagan and Christian mind-sets; what specialists), to a ‘who-dunnit’ exami- satisfied their ‘scientific’ understand- nation of a nineteenth-century crime, ing seems not to have caused any to the stranding of the passenger Book Reviews 309 vessel Hohenzollern in Sardinia in Michael Hadley 1908, to an 83-page reflection on Victoria, British Columbia late-mediaeval ship construction and trade in the Baltic (with 311 foot- notes). The volume continues its rich Rick James. West Coast Wrecks and fare with Part I of “Traditional Sail- Other Maritime Tales. Madeira Park, making from the 17th to 20th centu- BC: Raincoast Chronicles 21. Har- ries” (Part II to be continued in the bour Publishing. www.harbour volume for 2017), and a study of two publishing.com, 2011. 128 pp., map, ‘forgotten’ types of boat unique to illustrations, bibliography, index. the Southern Baltic (Quatzen und CDN $24.95, paper; ISBN 978-1- Polten). 55017-545-5. As if this were not rich enough, the volume ends with an article on British Columbia’s Pacific coast the painting Der Mönch am Meer features a robust maritime history, (The Monk by the Sea) by German and stories recalling vessels that were Romantic landscape painter Caspar shipwrecked throughout the region David Friedrich (1774-1840). It, too, and local seafaring traditions have is a detective story, for prior to its thrilled and entertained the public latest restoration, Friedrich’s painting since the nineteenth century. In West had been neglected, abused, re- Coast Wrecks and Other Maritime touched and overpainted such that it Tales, author Rick James presents a no longer reflected the painter’s orig- compilation of shipwrecks that oc- inal intentions. Infrared examination curred along the BC coast over the and restoration led to what author past 140 years while offering a lo- Sabina Cibura describes as ‘particu- cal’s insight into the area’s unique larly spectacular insights’ into the maritime history. Although James painting, and its relationships with claims that the book is not intended other paintings and drawings by to be an all-inclusive source when Friedrich. In short, viewers who saw discussing BC’s shipwrecks, the the reconditioned ‘Monk by the Sea’ reader will find that the ships he men- in Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie in tions and their associated histories January 2016 discovered for the first provide an excellent and encompass- time in the painting not only the exis- ing summary of the province’s mari- tence of a long-hidden ship, but a time past. fresh way of interpreting a unique From nineteenth-century wooden moment in Friedrich’s philosophy of sailing vessels to mid-twentieth-cen- nature. Sumptuous, detailed illustra- tury steel packet steamers, James tions and diagrams, both in colour chronologically presents the histories and black-and white, accompany each of almost every conceivable type of of the articles. shipping that traveled Canada’s west- Over the years, editor Eric Hoops ern coast. Considering that each ves- has rendered sterling professional sel’s story occupies only a few pages, service to the international nautical the book provides a concise overview research community. The volumes of British Columbia’s maritime past that have appeared under his hand, as through which readers can under- every editor can understand, are the stand the economic and wartime con- result of the interplay of many variet- ditions that resulted in the develop- ies of talent, teamwork and travail. ment of specific vessel types. In May his leadership continue. some cases, such as Canada’s involvement in the First World War, 310 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord these conditions actually resulted in engine was a distinct part of BC’s the overproduction of ships, which is maritime cultural identity but does why so many vessels were ultimately not compare their construction and abandoned along the region’s shore- efficiency with similar engines used lines. The remains of some ship- elsewhere during the same time pe- wrecks discussed in the book still riod to allow the reader to appreciate remain undiscovered, adding a layer its uniqueness. of mystery to their respective stories. West Coast Wrecks and Other The author has an obvious pas- Maritime Tales provides an excellent sion for BC’s maritime history along overview of British Columbia’s mari- with extensive experience with both time past since the 1860s and should the subject matter and the people who appeal to readers who not only have share his interest. James writes well an interest in shipwrecks but also with a lively style, but while he does history in general. By means of a provide a list of selected sources and series of concise narratives, James names of various individuals who allows the reader to situate specific were consulted, there are no foot- vessels within the province’s broader notes or citations throughout the nar- maritime history. The book also rative. This would indicate that his serves as a great introduction to the book is intended for the general pub- maritime traditions of this region and lic rather than academic researchers. may serve as a platform for readers to In addition to recounting the perform further research that is more histories of various ships that have focused to their own particular inter- been lost along the BC coast, James ests. also focuses on the contributions of diver Fred Rogers, who has not only James D. Moore III authored books on BC shipwrecks Sterling, Virginia but has discovered and explored sev- eral of these vessels. While readers who live outside the province may be John Jordan (ed.) Warship 2016. unfamiliar with these explorations, London and New York, NY: Conway James attributes much of the modern ( B l o o m s b u r y P u b l i s h i n g ) , knowledge about the area’s ship- www.bloomsbury.com, 2016. 208 wrecks to Rogers’ accomplishments. pp., illustrations, maps, tables, notes, He suggests that Rogers’ work was sources. US $60.00, hardback; ISBN driven by a desire for historical 978-1-8448-6326-6. (E-book avail- knowledge, highlighting the impor- able.) tance of leaving underwater artifacts undisturbed. Wreck sites are non- What makes Warship 2016 different renewable resources that can be used from previous issues is the hard cover as a means to educate the public, if format with the designs and notes they are not damaged. printed directly on it, rather than a West Coast Wrecks also includes cloth binding with paper dustcover. a brief history of the development Otherwise, it continues to provide a and use of the Easthope marine en- wide variety of both historic and gine, the first gasoline engine pro- current information, a formula its duced in British Columbia. These readers expect. As stated on the back types of engines were primarily used cover, Warship is devoted to the de- on fishing boats throughout the early sign, development and service history twentieth century, but few have been of the world’s combat ships. preserved. James suggests that this Book Reviews 311

The first three items in this edi- Navy weapons and fire control during tion describe in detail three classes of the same period. 1930s warships: the French colonial Turning to historic events, Enrico sloops of the Bouganville class, by Cernuschi and Vincent P. O’Hara John Jordan, the similarly-purposed conclude a two-part account of naval Italian sloop Eritrea, by Michele war in the Adriatic in the First World Cosentino, and the Japanese Asashio War. In 1917-18, the Austro-Hungar- class of powerful destroyers, by Hans ian fleet was pretty well boxed in Lengerer. All three studies include and, in spite of good performance by elevations, plans and excellent photo- individual units, was not able to do graphs. The operational histories of much. Then Stephen Dent investi- the eight Bouganvilles that were com- gates the use of the old French battle- pleted and the Eritrea are recounted; ship Courbet as a target for “bounc- the latter serving in both Italian and, ing bombs”, such as those used to later, French service (as Francis breach the Ruhr Dam. These never Garnier). The article on the Asashio reached a satisfactory conclusion. class discusses how Japanese On the lighter side, Richard Wright destroyer design was influenced by has researched the involvement, or the capsizing of the torpedo boat rather non-involvement of the Chi- Tomozuru while running trials in nese Navy’s flagship Hai Chi in the 1934 and the “Fourth Fleet Incident” revolution of 1911 which saw the end of 1935 which respectively revealed of the Chinese Empire. After attend- deficiencies in stability and strength ing King George V’s coronation re- in Japanese warships (see Warship view, the ship was kept cruising be- 2011 and 2013). The Asashio class is tween England and North America meticulously described with plans until events at home settled down. and photographs. All ten units were Perhaps this was because the loyalty lost in action during the war in the of the crew was uncertain. Pacific. Later in the book, there is an No Warship annual would be article by Vladimir Yakubov and complete without examining some Richard Worth about another class of unusual nineteenth-century design. the same period, the Soviet Fugas The French and Russian navies have class of useful and versatile small provided the most interesting exam- minesweepers. ples and this year it is the French The major article on modern ship coast defence ship Tempête, a small, types describes the U. S. Navy’s rev- slow, monitor launched in 1876. A olutionary Freedom and Independ- sister ship Vengeur is mentioned but ence classes. These are designated not the similar Tonnerre and Fulmin- Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and are ant. This article by Philippe Caresse a totally new type of naval vessel. could easily apply to the whole Author Conrad Waters includes in group. Stephen McLaughlin has not this category the modern corvettes continued his accounts of early Rus- used by several European navies sian ironclads in this issue, choosing, which would be useful in coastal instead, to amplify some of the dis- waters. Also of technical interest, cussions he and William Schleihauf Peter Marland describes the develop- developed in their analysis of the ment of Action Information Organisa- Dewar brothers’ Jutland, The Naval tion in the post-Second World War Staff Appreciation. (See review in Royal Navy. This follows up on his The Northern Mariner/Le marin du article in the previous issue on Royal nord, Vol. XXVII No.1). He gives examples of divisional tactics that 312 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord might have been employed at three The German Maritime Museum pro- critical stages of the battle. This is duces a steady flow of excellent pub- what Vice Admiral Sturdee advo- lications, three of which, on photog- cated, but the Commander-in-Chief, raphy, ports and shipping, are re- Admiral Jellicoe, firmly rejected it. viewed here. Conclusion? It would have been The German photographer risky. Konrad Nonnast (1919- 1992) took Reviews of the year’s nautical up professional photography when he books wind up this volume along was well into his twenties after serv- with Warship Gallery, actually a ing in the German Navy during the short article on the First World War Second World War. Once the guns battleship HMS Colossus. fell silent, with his country in ruins, Nonnast found employment at a ship- C. Douglas Maginley, yard in the port of Cuxhaven on the Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia eastern shores of the North Sea. A couple of years later he switched to radio electronics. It is not quite clear Klaus-Peter Kiedel & Horst Koper- when he made his career change and schmidt. Rund um Steubenhöft und turned to newspaper photography, but Alte Liebe. Mit dem Pressefotografen by the mid-1950s, Konrad Nonnast Konrad Nonnast in den Cuxhavener had become a well known reporter Häfen in den 1950er und 1960er who toured the Cuxhaven area on his Jahren. Bremerhaven, Germany. motorbike. Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum and Until well in to the 1960s, he Oceanum Verlag, www.dsm.museum, stuck with large format cameras using 2014. 96 pp., illustrations. Euro 19,90 6 x 9 centimetre negatives. When he €, hardback; ISBN 978-3-86927-084- thought the time was right, he 5. switched to standard-sized film, that is, 24 x 36 millimetre. But that was Klaus-Peter Kiedel. Menschen, more than enough of that modern Schiffe, Ladungen. Mit dem foto- stuff for Nonnast. He continued grafen Walter Lüden im Hamburger shooting in black and white, since it Hafen in den 1950er und 1960er would take quite some time before Jahren. Bremerhaven, Germany. press photography entered the realm Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum and of colour. Oceanum Verlag, www.dsm.museum, In the 1950s and 60s, Nonnast 2015. 95 pp., illustrations. Euro 19,90 documented the development of mari- €, hardback; ISBN 978-3-86927-085- time affairs in Cuxhaven, including 2. the mass emigration to Canada (1948- 1950) and Australia (1954-1962) that Klaus-Peter Kiedel und Arnold characterized post-war shipping. In Kudas. Dampfer, Kümos und the second half of the 60s, mass Containerschiffe. Fotografien am transport took to the air, leaving the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal von 1960 bis stately liners to people with time to 2015. Bremerhaven, Germany. waste. Nonnast focused on maritime Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum and activities in the port of Cuxhaven, Oceanum Verlag, www.dsm.museum, capturing ocean liners, ferries, tugs, 2016. 95 pp., illustrations. Euro19.90 cargo steamers, tankers, maintenance €, hardback; ISBN 978-3-86927-086- and repair at ship yards and wharfs, 9. quayside storage houses, tankers, and the handling of crates, boxes, barrels Book Reviews 313 and all sorts of cargo in the pre-con- occasion ships call at both ports. tainer era. The majority of the photo- Konrad Nonnast in Cuxhaven and graphs offer a fascinating portrayal of Walter Lüden in Hamburg sometimes maritime life of the period. photographed the same ships in their Walter Lüden (1914-1996), a respective ports. Among them were contemporary of Nonnast, was a self- the liners Italia (Nonnast p. 15, taught photographer. He took up Lüden p. 80; an almost identical pho- photography while still in his teens, tograph) and Hanseatic en route from starting with a so called “Box” cam- Hamburg to New York. era. After the Second World War, he The third book contains a variety turned professional and worked for a of photographs of shipping in the newspaper magazine using Leica and Nord-Ostsee-Kanal between the Bal- Hasselblad cameras in the port city of tic port of Kiel and the port of Bruns- Hamburg, at the river Elbe. During büttel near Cuxhaven during the same the war, the city was nearly bombed time-frame as the previous books. out of existence but Lüden managed The images, taken over the years by to keep himself afloat in the early amateur photographers, illustrate in stage of Allied occupation by taking both black and white and colour, the portrait pictures of English and wide range of ship types passing American officers. While document- through this canal. Although the ing the damaged cities in the north of pictures lack the photographic quality Germany, he witnessed the recon- of those by Nonnast and Lüden, they struction of Hamburg and the eco- still offer a good insight into the busy nomic miracle of West Germany. shipping history of this narrow Within a couple of years working in stretch of water during the 1950s and the area, Lüden became a part of port 60s. life. His iconic photographs mirror a photographer's eye. His dynamic Jacob Bart Hak images illustrate the hustle and bustle Leiden, The Netherlands of ship's and quayside activities. Aware of the dangers of moving cranes, trains and trucks, Lüden kept John M. Lillard. Playing War: War- an open eye for interesting shots, not gaming and U.S. Preparations for only ships, cargoes and quays, but World War II. Lincoln, NE: Potomac also the denizens of this port environ- Books, University of Nebraska Press, ment: sailors, dock workers, ship- www.potomacbooksinc.com, 2016. builders, truck drivers, agents and of xiii+210 pp., illustrations, tables, course the spectators; the notes, bibliography, appendices. US Hamburger—the people, not the $39.95, cloth; ISBN 978-1-61234- food. By the time Lüden left Ham- 773-8. (E-book available.) burg in 1965 to live on an island in the North of Germany, the Container This work is an examination of the Revolution was in full swing. Ro-ro interwar era war games carried out by (roll-on/roll-off cargo loading) had the United States Naval War College, been introduced and on the docks, as designed to act as an “inquiry into the elsewhere, the times, they were a- behavior of a military organization” changing. Full marks to Klaus-Peter and address the college’s place in the Kiedel for publishing the outstanding formation of naval leaders and tactics work of photographer Walter Lüden. before the Second World War (3). To get to the port of Hamburg, Following an introduction describing ships must pass Cuxhaven, and on the book’s purpose and related 314 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord historiographies, the text examines influence expanded. Mahanian theo- the students, instructors, facilities, ries and tactics are still quite evident and gaming process. Once this back- in the battleship-heavy war games, ground information is covered, the but a clear and gradual acceptance of three phases of interwar war gaming newer ideas, most notably regarding are examined in their own chapters. the use of aircraft, was beginning to The remainder of the work consists take hold. The middle years saw the of the conclusion, three appendixes, most innovative leaps forward, with chapter notes, and a bibliography. the casting off of Mahanian ideals in The introduction underlines the favour of experiments with new tac- absence of a proper examination of tics, technologies, and concepts. War the Naval War College’s interwar game data was collected and analyzed war games through a detailed survey against data provided by previous of related historiographies and data games and real-life fleet problems to regarding War College graduates in help with examining facets in the the Second World War. Lillard feels long term. Finally, insightful cri- that the tangential and slightly dis- tiques from the referees helped fur- missive way other historians have ther shape the advancement of both viewed the interwar activities of the games and theoretical thinking. In Naval War College in the context of the late pre-war years, the War Col- the Second World War as un- lege entered a period of “increasing deserved. He follows a rather de- maturity and relevance,” evolving tailed historiographical analysis with their games to deal with long-term, an outline of his work, describing the total war scenarios with allied powers purpose of the various chapters and and political considerations, an as- the logic behind their creation. The pect that would be strikingly similar first two focus on the student players, to the reality of the looming war instructors, and general war game (112, 121, 126). While Lillard does process. Within these chapters, note that the applicability of the war Lillard notes the current overempha- games to real life was questionable, sis on the Admirals in charge of the the environment helped offer a quan- College, but holds that the Captains titative approach which fleet prob- leading each section and the students lems lacked, and built a tight commu- who would become future instructors nity of leaders with shared experi- were the most influential in terms of ences (133-137). molding the classes and advocating In terms of possible improve- new ideas (30-33). The overview of ments for future editions, the occa- the games themselves is well laid out, sional use of more obscure words with blueprints, photographs, and such as “lacuna” and “fulminated” charts supplied to help one visualize tend to throw off a reader’s pace, and the experience of the roughly dozen could easily be replaced with their war games carried out by each senior more well-known synonyms to im- class. prove the flow of the text. An appen- The here main chapters examine dix regarding wartime and post-war the War College within Lillard’s games by the Naval War College and three phases of the interwar period: how they compared to their interwar the Early Phase of 1919-1927, the predecessors would also be interest- Middle Phase of 1928-1934, and the ing, especially given the use of a Late Phase of 1935-1941. He de- 1950s era photo within the main text scribes the first phase as a period of (111). growth, where the War College’s Book Reviews 315

All in all, this work is an interest- training, assigned to the Baltic Front ing study into an often overlooked as an aircraft observer. On 6 April part of interwar naval history. It 1915, after a combat mission over the helps shed light on some of the more Imperial Russian city of Libau, unusual training received by future Killinger’s engine malfunctioned, naval leaders of the Second World forcing him and his pilot to crash at War, and into the testing bed for sea. The Russians rescued them and many of the ideas, tactics, and tech- the two Germans immediately be- nologies that would come to the fore came prisoners of war. in the 1940s. Playing War success- Killinger’s time as a Russian fully bridges an interwar gap in naval POW and his subsequent successful historiography, and would be a useful escape is the heart of the narrative. research tool for those interested in He was first held in various prisons the academic side of US naval officer and then, along with other Germans preparations for the Second World and Austrians captured by the Rus- War. sians, was transported to Siberia via Charles Ross Patterson II train. Killinger and three fellow Yorktown, Virginia prisoners jumped from the train and despite bitterly cold weather, he man- aged to make his way to Manchuria Dwight R. Messimer. Eleven Months and then-neutral China. He contacted to Freedom. A German POW’s Un- German consulates and after convinc- likely Escape from Siberia in 1915. ing the local German authorities of Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute his story, Killinger was put aboard a Press, www.nip.org, 2016, ix+197 liner destined for the then-neutral pp., illustrations, maps, notes, bibli- USA. On the journey, he made ography, index. US $29.95, cloth; friends (and possibly enjoyed a ship- ISBN 978-1-68247-065-7. (E-book board romance with a married woman available.) who was a fellow passenger). From San Francisco, he took a trans-conti- The stories of prisoners of war nental train to New York. These (POWs) escaping from captivity in were the safest parts of his escape; the Second World War are legion; for the most difficult part came next. example, “The Great Escape” from The British Royal Navy had imposed Stalag Luft 3 in March, 1944 has a very effective blockade of the Euro- been the subject of several books and pean coast and all ships approaching a famous movie. Lost to time are the Europe were stopped and the passen- chronicles of First World War POW gers and crewmembers searched and escapees, which makes Dwight R. questioned. Killinger managed to Messimer’s Eleven Months to Free- disguise himself as a deckhand on a dom. A German POW’s Unlikely ship bound for also-neutral Norway, Escape from Siberia in 1915 one of passing the British blockade, arriving the rarest stories in escape history. in Norway, then travelling to pro- Erich Killinger was an Imperial German Sweden, and finally returned German Navy midshipman at the to Germany. He returned to German outbreak of World War One. He was Naval Aviation, wrote a book about known for his risk-taking ability and his exploits, and served to the end of often pushed the edge of the the First World War. rulebook. At the beginning of the Killinger’s post-World War One war, Killinger joined the fledgling career was typical of many Germans; German Naval Air Arm, and after he served as a sales representative 316 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord and traveled throughout the world. various locations involved. The au- His book on his escape was reprinted thor’s use of primary sources is in 1934. Then, in 1938, he joined the sound. Further, the narrative illus- German Luftwaffe (Air Force) trates early Russo-German conflict in reserve. This was the only career the First World War—a subject not path for a former aviator; Hermann always dealt with by Western writers Goering, Commander-in-Chief of the on the Great War. Luftwaffe, declared that he had sole In many ways, Killinger’s escape control of ALL military air assets. can be compared to Franz von The German Navy had no air force of Werra’s escape from British captivity its own, although Luftwaffe units in the Second World War. Killinger were attached to the German Navy. escaped from a train in Siberia in Killinger had no choice—if he freezing weather, made his way wanted to be part of aviation—it was through several neutral nations and the Luftwaffe or nothing. returned to Germany. Von Werra Ultimately, Killinger became was transported to Canada, jumped Commandant of a POW camp—a from a train in the dead of winter, natural choice for a man who had found a boat and crossed the ice- been interrogated by the enemy and strewn St. Lawrence River and managed to escape. After the Second slipped into the then-neutral USA. World War, Killinger was tried for From there, he found his way to war crimes based on abuse of prison- South America and ultimately Ger- ers. He was found guilty of the many. (Von Werra’s story was re- crimes charged, served a short prison counted in the book and the movie sentence and was released in 1948. The One That Got Away.) Eleven He again rejoined the business world Months to Freedom. A German from 1950 until his retirement in POW’s Unlikely Escape from Siberia 1963 and died in May, 1977. in 1915 is a very entertaining read Messimer’s narrative is fascinat- and is highly recommended. It would ing. His primary sources are make a great movie or TV-miniseries. Killinger’s two books as well as con- temporary military reports. He fully Robert L. Shoop describes Killinger’s career and the Colorado Springs, Colorado escape. Especially noteworthy is the description of the international Ger- man “pipeline” established for escap- Robert E. Mullins (John Beeler, ed.) ees. The narrative provides much The Transformation of British and colour—the network of forgers for American Naval Policy in the Pre- passports, Mexican dollars for the Dreadnought Era: Ideas, Culture and escapees, Killinger’s attempts to Strategy. New York, NY: Palgrave disguise himself as a merchant sea- Macmillan, www.palgrave.com, man, the precise efforts by German 2016. xxiii+328 pp., illustrations, consular officers to get Germans back tables, notes, bibliography, index. to their country—all are the stuff of UK £66.99, cloth; ISBN 978-3-319- great drama. 32036-6. (E-book available.) Messimer’s writing is clear and concise. The narrative does not flag This work began in 2000 as the and holds the reader’s attention. King’s College London doctoral dis- Very good photographs from the au- sertation of Robert E. Mullins. Three thor’s collection bolster the narrative years later, Professor John Beeler of and the maps provided make clear the the University of Alabama ap- Book Reviews 317 proached Mullins to produce “a vast- the foundations of [correct] British ly transformed scholarly contribution and American naval (and presumably to the fields of political science, na- also foreign) policies. val history, and strategic studies” Both the book and Mullins’ origi- (xvii). Mullins and Beeler (identified nal dissertation tend to rely heavily as both a ‘co-author’ and an editor), upon the work — sometimes the are both absolutely correct that the assumptions — of others. On the one policy-process leading to the Naval hand, he argues that there was never Defence Act of 1889 on the British really a foreign threat emanating side, and the move towards a Blue from France and Russia (virtually Water battlefleet navy by the United throughout the nineteenth-century); States around the same time, was their navies, singly or combined, complex, involving a host of domes- were second-rate at best and could tic and foreign, internal and external have been defeated at any time by the factors. The civil-military causal Royal Navy—the margin of qualita- chain is highlighted; neither political tive and quantitative superiority over nor naval leaders called the shots all rivals was that great. On the other exclusively of the others’ influence. hand, it was foolish and irresponsible Few military historians today can get for mere economy-minded British away with simplistic nuts-and-bolts, politicians to dictate the force levels armchair-general analyses which of British naval and imperial power John Keegan famously addressed as throughout the Victorian era. There ‘the deficiencies of military history’ could never be enough ironclads or in The Face of Battle (1976). This battleships, particularly of the largest included “the history of strategic class possible. Yet many other histo- doctrine…[which] suffers markedly rians have concluded that succeeding from that weakness endemic to the British ministries rarely cut naval study of ideas, the failure to demon- spending when convinced the threat strate connection between thought was real; and the nature of that naval and action” (29). ‘threat’ was far more complicated This is the crux of the matter in than simply who had the largest The Transformation of British and battlefleet of first-rates. Would Brit- American Naval Policy in the Pre- ish seapower be able to operate Dreadnought Era. After much against an enemy’s fortified coastline wringing of sources, including a effectively or not? What about the sharp attack on Arthur Marder, and defence of imperial trade and colo- references to political science, cul- nies worldwide? As even Oscar tural studies, strategic and security Parkes noted in 1970, the Northbrook studies, international relations and Admiralty, for example, had to con- the like, the author insists that British sider attacks by swarms of torpedo naval policy, during the 1880s in boats, not just the calibre of guns and particular, was based on “strategic armour thicknesses of rival powers’ ideas which were inspired by [select] ironclads. Mullins quotes from examples drawn from naval history Parkes a letter by Admiral Sir Cooper and which were later institutionalised Key (First Naval Lord) to Admiral and implemented through the lobby- Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby, dated ing efforts of naval officers” (32, December 1884, emphasising “I original emphasis). For this, we can should have no fear whatever with thank professors of naval history France and Russia now, so far as our —namely Professor John Laughton at Navy is concerned” (dissertation 47; King’s College London—for laying Parkes, British Battleships, 328). But 318 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord in that same letter Key also stated, “I fortified ports could backfire, as with have always deprecated asking for a Charleston in April 1863. Although very large lump sum for shipbuilding the authors refer to the Civil War purposes—it will only induce other experience as contemporary proof of Nations to make another start.” In the primacy of an offensive policy, other words, naval power was always Vice-Admiral and naval historian relative, and foreign navies carefully Philip Colomb was actually very calculated Britain’s ability to harm careful about when and how attacks without fear of injury as well. It was on territory from the sea might be such ‘defensive supremacy’ that dom- conducted, even after attaining full inated Gladstone’s and Salisbury’s command of the sea. “In all attacks thinking — as well as that of Russia, made over sea against territory, we for example. Anything else tended shall note one almost universal rule,” towards interventionist foreign poli- he noted in 1899. “No attacks of cies, arms races and finally, wars. magnitude are ever known direct What’s remarkable is that this sophis- from a distant base…,” the best illus- ticated and perceptive logic was also tration of that being the operations of shared by British naval professionals the Union Navy during the American such as Key. Civil War (Naval Warfare, 1899, p. Citing Andrew Lambert, Profes- 225). Colomb then went on to ob- sor of Naval History at King’s Col- serve that during the Franco-Prussian lege London, the authors maintain War it was “well understood by the that “the exploitation of British naval French Government in 1870 as ever it supremacy [was] the logical had been in former days, that the outgrowth of a forward offensive navy alone was practically powerless naval strategy.” This went beyond a to make territorial attacks, and that close blockade of enemy naval bases whether ships were steam ‘battle- (and port cities) to actually bombard- ships’ or sailing ‘line-of-battle ships’ ing them to rubble, suggesting that a they did not in themselves represent battleship could go anywhere and do the proper force for conducting terri- anything — something few in the torial attacks” (427). Finally, when Admiralty or in America seem to analysing the Spanish-American War, have believed. Thus, Mullins in his Colomb concluded “Attacks on terri- dissertation was baffled that “Mahan tory by the fleet alone, except by way was curiously silent on the offensive of set bombardment for merely puni- potential that followed from com- tive or destructive purposes, are not mand of the sea, examples for which now, any more than they were two appeared throughout British experi- hundred years ago, the proper objects ences with global warfare between for a navy alone to carry out” (Ap- the seventeenth and nineteenth centu- pendix, xxii). It should be added here ries” (203; Transformation, p. 284, that the Royal Navy was distinctly reduces this to “the eighteenth and unable to force the defences of the nineteenth centuries”). main Russian naval base at Cronstadt, Perhaps this was because it was guarding St. Petersburg, throughout not so clear cut how effective com- the Crimean War. The main, decisive mand of the sea was in winning wars theatre of war remained the costly against land powers—the American Siege of Sevastopol. Civil War being a large, fresh exam- This book is asking readers to ple closer to home. The Union block- buy into quite a bit. Indeed, as ade and amphibious operations could Keegan warned long ago, military only accomplish so much; assaults on (and naval) historians tend to “accept Book Reviews 319 the conventions within which they strategic principles underlying na- are working”. Notions such as ‘Brit- tional defence” (211, 209). Mean- ish naval supremacy’ or ‘Pax Britan- while it was largely business as usual nica’ become axiomatic, even tauto- in the Admiralty. As such, the real logically so. Thus, “what has been strength of both the original disserta- called the ‘rhetoric of the past’—that tion by Mullins and this published inventory of assumptions, and usages version lies not in the various through which the [military and na- assumptions and agendas themselves, val] historian makes his professional not entirely convincing in their inter- approach to the past—is not pretation of historical evidence, but only…much more strong and inflexi- in its new and useful history of ‘or- ble than the rhetoric of almost all ganisational culture’ to support—not other sorts of history, but it is so necessarily supplant—‘policy-and- strong, so inflexible and above all so operations’ narratives. time-hallowed that it exerts virtual powers of dictatorship over the mili- Howard J. Fuller tary [and naval] historian’s mind” Wolverhampton, England (Face of Battle, 36). This reviewer recommends that potential readers consider alternative Vincent P. O’Hara and Leonard R. explanations of at least British naval Heinz. Clash of Fleets: Naval Battles policy during this period, such as C. of the Great War, 1914-1918. Anna- I. Hamilton’s The Making of the polis, MD: Naval Institute Press, Modern Admiralty: British Naval www.usni.org, 2017. ix+372 pp, Policy-Making, 1805-1927 (Cam- illustrations, maps, notes, appendix, bridge University Press, 2011). It indices. US $34.95, cloth; ISBN 978- offers more insightful analysis (with- 1-68247-008-4. out the need to beat up poor Arthur Marder). Naval historians, Hamilton For most people, the first image that warns, must be careful with “the pops into the mind at the mention of myt h s o f c o h e r e n c e a n d the First World War is an endless doctrine…one must not try to sim- slaughter in the trenches, linked to plify the inconsistency of the past, names like the Somme or Passchen- and falsely attribute the kind of ratio- daele. The war at sea is a different nal planning now seen as fundamen- story. The naval version of the First tal to good governance” (1). Hence World War is usually presented in a the Naval Defence Act of 1889 in his rather limited form. Invariably the view was blindsided by ‘matériel history is laid out either as a discus- factors’ and even these technological sion of German submarine operations discussions could be “dangerously and their attempt to strangle Great focused”. This included Laughton’s Britain, leading into the 1917 politi- article of 1884 on the state of the cal ramifications of submarine opera- navy which “dealt largely with the tions and the entrance of the United question of ship numbers.” Perhaps States into the war; or, alternately, the ‘historical school’ was decisive in the naval history of the First World influencing naval policy, perhaps not. War focuses rather myopically on the Conservative MP John Colomb (the great surface battle of Jutland on 31 Vice-Admiral’s younger brother) May to 1 June 1916. This ignores the received “a chilly reception in the other 143 wartime surface battles that Chamber”, notes Hamilton, “when he spanned the globe. While none were rose to urge the formulation of the necessarily as large as Jutland, col- 320 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord lectively these battles played an im- tempo and lethality of operations portant role in shaping the war. producing some surprising results. The vastness of this surface war The inclusion of more than just has virtually never been discussed by the North Sea experiences is impor- historians, until now. Vincent tant here. Battles waged in places O’Hara, an independent scholar and like the Aegean, the Black Sea, and the 2015 Naval Institute Press Author the Indian Ocean reveal the enormous of the Year for his book Torch: North scope of the war. Just as the fixation Africa and the Allied Path to Victory, on the trench system across France and Leonard Heinz, retired attorney excludes a massive aspect of the land and naval enthusiast, have teamed up warfare experience in places like the to produce an impressive study of all Eastern front, or the Middle East, the the First World War battles. Clash of emphasis on the North Sea denies a Fleets: Naval Battles of the Great clear understanding of the scope of War, 1914-1918 represents a major the war at sea. This is brought home step forward in understanding the by the vast variety of experiences and complexities of surface combat dur- engagements and the number of na- ing the period. Organized into seven tions involved. It adds a huge rich- chapters, the book presents a gener- ness to our understanding and opens ally chronological story of the war. our eyes to the need for more While the first chapter deals with the research. Probably the greatest weak- nature of the fleets involved and the ness of the text lies with the need to last assesses the war experiences, the limit the scale of the discussion of remaining five each focus on a single each battle. Each of these events was year of the war, breaking it down a pivotal moment in the lives of those chronologically by geographic area. involved, making the scale of detail Each chapter presents the reader afforded seem a bit short at times. with all the naval engagements of the With such a large number of engage- year in a concise but effective man- ments to cover, however, the authors ner. The authors first provide details had to compromise although they concerning weather conditions, the manage to find a balance between men and ships involved, reason for detail and scope. the engagement, and casualties, then On the whole, this book is an follow up with a discussion of each excellent addition to any naval enthu- battle and its consequences. From siast’s collection. Anyone who does the smallest bumping of light forces extensive work in the First World through to the mighty clashes of the War or naval history in general, main battle fleets, every theatre of should really add this to their collec- operations and every navy, save the tion. It provides a wealth of informa- United States, is brought into the tion in an easily readable format. An general pattern of the naval war. enjoyable, well written book, it Each entry includes a wealth of detail should also be considered by anyone about the engagement that is useful with just a simple interest in naval for both academics and historical affairs. enthusiasts. Of particular value, however, is the final chapter where the authors compare the First World Robert Dienesch War with both the earlier Russo-Japa- Windsor, Ontario nese War (1904-05) and the Second World War. Examining a variety of factors, the authors examine the Book Reviews 321

Steven Park. The Burning of His Maj- scrubbed with vinegar to mask the esty’s Schooner Gaspee: An Attack odour of sweat, blood and excrement on Crown Rule Before the American in an attempt to pass inspection by Revolution. Chicago IL: Westholme the authorities. Publishing, (Journal of the American British coffers were low after the Revolution Books), www.westholme recent Seven Years War. One way to publishing.com, 2017. xi+188 pp. partly replenish the king’s treasury map, notes, bibliography, index. US was to police Narragansett Bay, catch $26.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-59416- smugglers and both fine and tax 267-1. them. One vessel tasked with this assignment was His Majesty’s Schoo- Containing New England’s largest ner Gaspee, a sloop that was con- estuary, Narragansett Bay, Rhode verted to a two-masted schooner in Island, was once called “Rogue’s 1767 or 1768. In a schooner rig, the Island” and “the Sewer of New Eng- sail area was larger, making it poten- land” by Puritan minister Cotton tially faster, a needed attribute for a Mather. This bay receives the revenue vessel. Gaspee was a dimin- Taunton, Providence, and Sakonnet utive warship only 49 feet long carry- Rivers extending northward from the ing eight small cannon. She was Atlantic for 28 miles, roughly cleav- authorized to carry a crew of 30 men, ing the state in two. The bay was an but rarely had this many due to a high abundant source of seafood and was rate of desertions in North American the site of many safe harbours. The waters and the difficulty with im- Narragansett colony, founded upon pressment in the colonies. The religious independence and freedom, schooner patrolled the bay with one was settled by sundry disreputable or two other vessels as a team. On 17 entrepreneurs, and reprobates en- February 1772, Gaspee seized a gaged in the so-called “slave trade cargo of rum, other spirits and sugar triangle.” from the sloop Fortune, owned by This triangular trafficking Jacob Greene, a member of a promi- commerce started with the importa- nent Rhode Island family and caused tion of vast quantities of molasses consternation among the local popu- from the Caribbean to be processed lation. Five months later, Gaspee ran in the colony’s many distilleries to aground off Namquid Point in the produce a high-demand commodity, afternoon of 9 June while in pursuit rum. Vast numbers of barrels con- of the packet Hannah for tax evasion. taining spirits were shipped to West In darkness on 10 June, a raiding Africa in exchange for slaves to be party attempted to board the schoo- traded in the Caribbean or mainland ner. When within shouting distance America. Theoretically, Rhode Is- of the schooner, Abraham Whipple land was an enlightened colony ban- identified himself as sheriff of Kent ning the importation of slaves in County. A scuffle ensued and the 1652. Although slaving was illegal, ship’s captain, William Dudingston, the law was largely ignored. During who carried both naval and revenue the mid-1700s, the city of Newport service commissions, was wounded. had 22 distilleries from which rum The 30 or 40 men in the American was exported and traded for slaves. raiding party overwhelmed the Brit- Many Rhode Island residents grew ish ship’s crew. Purposely or acci- rich on the “prohibited” business of dentally, Gaspee was set afire. Sub- its day. When anchored in Newport, sequently the vessel’s powder maga- the decks of slave ships were 322 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord zine exploded leaving little of the Gaspee as a significant spark of the king’s vessel to salvage. Revolutionary War. Where does a The dark night made it difficult muddled raid fit in relation to the to definitively identify the raiders Boston Massacre (5 March 1770), the dressed in non-descript dark clothing. Boston Tea party (16 December The only witness who allegedly rec- 1773), the Battle of Machias, Maine ognized some of the men was Aaron (11 June 1775) during which HMS Biggs, variously described as “a free Margaretta was captured by rebels, negro, mulatto lad and indentured and the Battle of Lexington and Con- servant.” (22) He claimed to have cord (19 April 19, 1775)? Four of been rowing a boat nearby when the these events took place in what was raid took place. (During a subsequent then Massachusetts, with only one in trial, however, Biggs’s testimony was nearby Rhode Island. It is reminiscent discredited because of an accusation of Luigi Pirandello’s play, in this that he was bribed, tried to avoid a case six events in search of the pri- flogging or was using this deposition mary catalyst for the American Revo- as a means of flight from his master.) lution. Steven Park’s small book is Park investigates many issues, tightly focused upon a singular event, but two comprise a large portion of its legal implications and ponderings the book. Was this incident merely about its historical significance. The the result of a few disgruntled Rhode historic background information and Island merchants who attempted to the detailing of the Gaspee incident teach some annoying policemen a occupies the first third of Park’s lesson that ended with unintended - book. The remainder is an in-depth consequences? Was this event pur- examination of the history and appli- posely blown out of proportion as an cation of Admiralty and British Law excuse for the Patriot movement to as it might relate to bringing to jus- subvert the Royal government and tice the culprits who had burned His start a rebellion? Reasonable argu- Majesty’s property. The legal prob- ments can be made for both cases. lems were many, but the most contro- In summary, Steven Park has versial was that those responsible written a scholarly 114-page text with might be sent across the Atlantic to 566 notes and 15 pages of primary stand trial three thousand miles away and secondary source references, in England. If not, there was a ques- possibly an edited PhD thesis. It is tion of who had jurisdiction, the surprising that Abraham Whipple, North American Vice-Admiralty who was as a central figure in the Courts or the local colonial courts? Gaspee event and later a distin- This complex legal question of vici- guished a captain the Continental nage agitated the independent-minded Navy, is only mentioned in passing people of Rhode Island and espe- (10 and 16-18). This reviewer sug- cially proto-revolutionary firebrands gests two companion books to put the such as Sam Adams of Massachusetts Gaspee affair into historical perspec- and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. tive: Sheldon S. Cohen’s Commodore Park presents the opposing but subtle Abraham Whipple of the Continental arguments in a clear manner. Courts Navy: Privateer, Patriot. Pioneer of oyer and terminer, commissioners (University of Florida Press, 2010) of assizes and the court of Nisi Prius and Christopher L. Pastore’s Between emerge from British legal obscurity. Land and Sea. The Atlantic Coast There is an examination of histor- and the Transformation of New Eng- ical evidence for the burning of the land. (Harvard University Press, Book Reviews 323

2014), neither of which appears in the The introduction appears to be author’s secondary resource list. In for the Perkins Collection as a whole, summary, this work is a challenging rather than specifically for Volume II, read for those with a limited interest and offers what little background is in sixteenth- through eighteenth-cen- available on the man behind the work tury British legal history and its ap- before discussing the albums. The plication. Still, Dr. Park presents his National Maritime Museum origi- arguments in a cogent, erudite man- nally received the pages unbound, but ner, making his book worthy of a staff eventually bound the loose place in the libraries of scholars of leaves at a later date (6). Since the maritime history of the American Perkins had a set order for the pages, Revolution. any pages inserted out of this order have been returned to their intended Louis Arthur Norton place in this reproduction. It is also West Simsbury, Connecticut noted that the museum viewed the albums as a “working collection” rather than “museum objects,” so Richard Perkins. British Warship there is a small number of pencil Recognition. The Perkins Identifica- notes scattered throughout the vari- tion Albums, Vol. II: Armoured Ships, ous volumes added by museum staff- 1860-1895, Monitors and Aviation ers over the years, supplying addi- Ships. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Seaforth tional information not available to Publishing, www.seaforthpublishing. Perkins during his initial crafting of com, and National Maritime Mu- the works (7). seum, 2016. 224 pp., introduction by Regarding the main body of this Andrew Choong, illustrations, index. volume, each page of Perkins’ folio UK £60.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1- has been removed from its museum 84832-386-5. binding, scanned in high definition and reproduced at full scale, perfectly This work is a one-to-one scale repro- capturing the appearance of the origi- duction of the second volume from nal images. His loose notes have Richard Perkins’ singularly unique been inserted and transcribed at the collection of Royal Navy ship pro- beginning of the work, followed by files. Produced between 1927 and the scanned pages arranged in his 1946, with the vast majority of work original order. Perkins created a two- occurring prior to 1939, Perkin’s page listing of ships divided by type work was the undertaking of a dedi- and demarcated into class as an initial cated enthusiast, seeking to document guide to his second volume of work. all ships of the British fleet for The ordering of ship classes within roughly the eight decades between each ship type seems to a degree the years 1860 and 1940. This vol- random, as many seem to be follow- ume focuses specifically on the ar- ing reverse chronological order only moured ships of 1860-1895, moni- to be followed by a more recent ship tors, and aviation ships of the Royal class. (20-21) The ship data and Navy, with the original work largely profiles themselves are arranged with unmodified, save for slight page reor- a high degree of uniformity using ganizations, an introduction by An- Perkins’ template system, so each drew Choong, NMM Curator of His- vessel entry ideally contains all vari- toric Photographs and Ships’ Plans, ants of the ship’s name, a colour and a ship index at the end for quick profile drawing, notes regarding wea- reference. pons and history, funnel or other key 324 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord details, and a service timeline. piece. The images’ description states Perkins’ profile drawings appear to that their inclusion is meant to illus- have been produced separately from trate the variety of warships con- his main templates and then affixed tained within this particular volume, afterwards, as seen from the edges but utilizing more of the collection’s and different colorations visible in 11,000 photographic negatives in a the scans. The drawings are all in larger capacity would help to further colour, depicting the period paint underline the accuracy of Perkins’ schemes of the vessels. Additional illustrations and provide examples of data is included in the form of red their usefulness in terms of rapid ship and green coloured details, which identification. Such a section could illustrate minor removals and addi- feature certain notable vessels such tions to the ship, respectively. In the as HMS Warrior, or Monitor M33, event of a ship having major alter- that still survive, or more well-known ations during its service life, Perkins vessels like HMS Ark Royal, or ill- includes additional drawings of the fated HMS Victoria. These are, of vessel at different key points in time, course, minor cavils, merely so as to fully illustrate all possible suggested as a means to enhancing iterations of the same vessel’s visual the book`s overall effectiveness. appearance. The other data included As a whole, this work represents with each ship’s entry varies based an opening up to the scholarly com- on the vessel as well. Some vessels munity of an invaluable archive for naturally have more information than British warship recognition. Perkins’ others, depending on their service painstakingly accurate depictions of length, the variety of changes under- naval vessel profiles, his documenta- gone while in service, the information tion of their service history, and an- available to Perkins at the time, and a notations of their modifications number of other factors. throughout their career make for an In terms of possible improve- incredibly concise resource for iden- ments to this work and the future tifying vessels in photographs and editions of remaining volumes, there other visual media, both in terms of are two that come to mind. A more ship name and rough time period of tightly focused Introduction high- the image. An underutilized gem lighting the specific volume in hand long trapped in the repositories of the would be appreciated, as would an National Maritime Museum, the pub- explanation of why certain types of lication of this volume and other will vessels, like the pre-1895 armour-ed be of great import to those with an ships, monitors, and aviation ships interest in the Royal Navy during the found in Volume II are grouped to- eight decades prior to the Second gether. A general summary of war- World War. ship evolution involving the specific vessel types would complement the Charles Ross Patterson II drawings that highlight vessel modifi- Yorktown, Virginia cations and improvements during their service life. The other major suggestion would be to include more Andrew C. Rath. The Crimean War photographic profiles of the covered in Imperial Context, 1854-1856. New vessels in an appendix or another York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, separate section. Three such images www.palgrave.com, 2017. xxiv+301 from the Perkins image collection are pp., maps, notes, bibliography, index. at the very beginning on the frontis- Book Reviews 325

US $90.00, UK £60.00, hardback; the Ottoman Empire against growing ISBN 978-1-137-54451-3. Russian aggression against the Turks, which includes a feint offensive in While the main focus of Rath’s work the Crimean Peninsula. Due to is the maritime conflict between 1854 circumstances, however, the intended and 1856 in what became known as side raid or assault scheduled for the Crimean War, he explores the Sebastopol became the news-drawing maritime aspect of the war in much siege from which the war received its greater detail. Arguing that this name. While the campaign in the struggle for imperial dominance has Crimea, and the siege of Sebastopol been much misrepresented, thinly have been the foci of many research- referenced, and underscored by histo- ers and authors, Rath uses this chap- rians and researchers, he criticizes the ter to point out that the naval strate- publication of biased or slanted treat- gists of France and Britain saw the ments throughout the twentieth cen- Baltic Sea as the future area of action tury. He feels that these works do not where they could stifle any Russian represent a full appreciation and un- transcontinental ambitions. derstanding of the war’s far-flung Within this format, Rath expertly naval campaigns and their contribu- provides expanded views and text on tion to the overall outcome of the the events and outcomes of each war. First, there were more than chapter, along with any associated three empires fighting and vying for naval campaign, not only in the Black land, power, and military and naval Sea and the Crimean Peninsula, but supremacy as sovereign states. The around the world. Each chapter has a Ottoman Empire, various Italian regional focus so that the reader has kingdoms, Norway-Sweden, and no problem understanding not only Denmark became major players in the the campaign, but its significance to outcome of the war. Second, many of the greater scheme of the war. He the events, for example, the signing also pays attention to the fact that this of diplomatic agreements that opened conflict occurred in the mid-nine- an isolated Japan to the western teenth century in the midst of an world and pushed Japan to create a evolving world, and that each cam- modern navy that could challenge paign provided something to this European powers, occurred far from period; namely, new maritime steam Crimea and the siege of Sebastopol. and weapon technologies along with The book is clearly organized and a greater appreciation for interna- provides for an easy, but compre- tional maritime law and advances in hensive, read. It starts with an intro- medicine and understanding disease duction that delivers the background under wartime conditions. circumstances which characterized This work is well researched and the reigning imperial powers of Eu- written with a much appreciated com- rope in the 1850s and their ambitions pleteness. A review of the end notes beyond their realms. Rath also uses reveals a wide variety of both pri- this chapter to explain the format of mary and secondary sources includ- the book and points out the major ing newspaper articles, official com- features, events, details and rationale manding officers’ reports, personal for each one of the succeeding ten correspondence in the form of letters chapters and conclusion. For exam- and diaries, and secondary sources ple, in chapter one, Rath addresses from both the nineteenth and twenti- the collusion and strategic planning eth centuries. Also, the sources are between Great Britain, France, and not just of British or French origin, 326 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord but from all nations, kingdoms, and think they were going to learn about navies and militaries involved. By the military campaigns, the battles, being so inclusive with his sources, the triumphs and losses in which Rath was successful in providing a army and navy collaborated, in the well-rounded and complete overview effort to defeat Napoleon. They of specific wartime campaigns and would be mistaken. This book is their contributions to the nature of ultimately about the British Transport maritime warfare within a changing Board whose herculean, and under mid-nineteenth-century world. appreciated task, was to get thou- Rath’s biography indicates that he sands of troops, their equipment, attended the London School of Eco- supplies, horses and food from one nomic and Political Science and place to another (often very far apart) Georgetown University before receiv- while at the same time victualling the ing his Doctorate from McGill Uni- British fleet on all its stations, and versity. supporting troops and allies previ- This work includes both primary ously carried to foreign soil. It is a and secondary sources. It makes an story that has been largely ignored. excellent contribution to understand- Robert Sutcliffe’s book is a signifi- ing maritime history during the Cri- cant contribution to the study of this mean conflict but might be better topic. appreciated by those readers inter- The Transport Board was resur- ested in maritime warfare, maritime rected in 1794 as a result of the Brit- law, and maritime history in the mid- ish experience during the American nineteenth century rather than a gen- War of Independence. Its tasks in- eral audience. It should definitely be cluded supplying the British Navy part of the library of any historian or while on station, moving troops, their researcher intent on conducting fu- weapons and ammunition, camp ac- ture research in this area. coutrements, food and other supplies. Having disembarked the army at a Wayne Abrahamson destination, the Transport Board then Pensacola, Florida. worked to supply them, move them around the local theatre by water, and, if necessary, extract them from Robert K. Sutcliffe. British Expedi- threat of defeat. The Transport Board tionary Warfare and the Defeat of was also responsible for prisoners-of- Napoleon 1793-1815. Woodbridge, war and providing hospital ships for Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer Ltd., foreign service. The movement of www.boydellandbrewer.com, 2016. troops and their supplies is the major xxi+272 pp., illustrations, maps, focus of this book. The Board’s early charts and tables, appendices, notes, history was one of slow incremental bibliography, index. £75, US $120, improvement in its ability to perform cloth; ISBN 978 1 84383 949 1. its role. At the beginning and the end of this book, Sutcliffe is clear that the The cover art of this volume is an success of the Transport Board, in illustration of the landing of British shipping the troops and material to troops in Egypt, in 1801. A shell is distant places, was in large part due exploding in a boat carrying troops to to the British domination of the shore; men are flung from the boat, oceans, especially after the Battle of others turn away in a vain effort at Trafalgar (1805). self-protection. From the title and this Convoys of transport ships image, the prospective reader might ranged in size from two to more than Book Reviews 327

125 ships. During the years 1794 to month to month. It produces a de- 1815 thousands of convoys were dis- tailed exacting account of the Trans- patched. It was the British Navy es- port Board’s activities and ultimately cort ships’ responsibility to keep their achievements. This makes for them organized, moving at a good chapters rich in hoards of data from speed, and safe. This proved at times which Sutcliffe draws clear conclu- to be a nightmare for the naval offi- sions. One of the clearest is the im- cers, one of frustration, tainted with pact of the Government’s use of a the stress of pending ruin if the con- large number of the merchant ships, voy collapsed into individual ships in the convoying of troops and mate- headed for their destination at all rial, reducing the available tonnage possible speed, attack by enemy ves- for shipping trade. For example, the sels, or wrecked due to storm. As use of colliers for carrying horses to Sutcliffe indicates, the overwhelming Northern Europe, resulted in fewer majority of convoys were delivered colliers being available for carrying as a unit, unscathed, and on time; coal to market and thus a rise in its losses were minimal. price. In a similar vein, the sending of The majority of the Transport food to Wellington’s troops resulted Board’s carriers were merchant ships, in shortages and higher prices in hired for specific periods of time England. Merchant ship owners stood (most often for three months), sup- to make money from the govern- ported by the occasional use of Brit- ment’s need for tonnage, as long as ish naval ships converted to carry damage to the ship and its cargo was troops, horses, or material. Coal col- minimal, and ships were readied and liers were seen as ideal for service as loaded promptly, avoiding financial horse carriers. The use of the ships of penalties. Sutcliffe’s analysis reveals the East India Company, though large the significant economic impact of and good, was limited as the Govern- shipping men, animals, armaments, ment feared paying the penalties material and food to places around applied if the vessels were not avail- the globe (though largely Europe and able for the convoys headed for the North America), in terms of both the Far East. Sutcliffe notes the Trans- cost to the government and the infu- port Board’s request to use more sion of money into the British econ- ships-of-the-line as troop ships was omy. rejected by the Admiralty, which Though it is clear that the trans- forever fretted over the need to block- port board improved in its capabili- ade the remnant navies of the French ties as the period unfolded, it never and their allies. The size of the naval could predict their long term future vessels would have allowed the trans- needs. This resulted, more than once, portation of larger proportions of the in the release of shipping to save various battalions, depositing them in money, then a mere three weeks or so more complete segments, thus mak- later the need to assemble a host of ing it easier to organize them after vessels for a new mission. The prob- landing. The failure to use the large lem being that ship owners had more ships, no longer needed for blockade than likely found new employment duty or fleet actions, stands as a for their released ships, thus creating missed opportunity. a shortage and subsequent delay in The text is heavy with statistics; assembling the needed tonnage. cargo weight, ship tonnage, numbers Two campaigns receive repeated of troops, officers, and horses, etc., mention in the book, the Walcheren compared one year to another, even expedition (1809) and Wellington’s 328 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

Peninsular campaign (1809 to contextualizing the point made in the 1814).The Walcheren expedition, text. There are three appendices, each though a military disaster, was proba- a table of figures, the first, for the bly the Transport Board’s most effi- number of ships and tonnage belong- cient preparation, being ready to ing to a variety of British ports, 1799- move troops and supplies only ten 1820; the second, showing the num- weeks after the request was given to ber of ships built in several English them, an astonishing accomplishment ports, 1786-1814; the third, showing in light of the other requirements the military force strength at home and board was fulfilling. Wellington’s away, 1808-1816. The bibliography success in Portugal and Spain was is thorough and will assist others built, in part, on the shoulders of the doing research in this area. Transport Board which not only de- Resplendent in detail, this work livered his troops to the theatre, but provides a seemingly definitive state- consistently supplied the food, fodder ment on the Transport Board’s troop and replacements of both men and movement and support activity dur- horses. The use of larger naval ves- ing the French Revolutionary and sels as transports would have been Napoleonic Wars. Robert Sutcliffe’s most advantageous in both cam- book will appeal to naval and mari- paigns, according to Sutcliffe, but time historians interested in this pe- again was not approved by the Admi- riod, but also those focused on the ralty. logistics behind seaborne military Other examples appearing in the expeditions, and anyone exploring book include the landing of troops in the organization and growth of Brit- Aboukir Bay, in 1801 to defeat the ish government bureaucracy during French in Egypt; the expeditions to this era. the West Indies that led to the capture of French and Spanish colonies; the Thomas Malcomson bombardment of Copenhagen in Toronto, Ontario 1807; and the Castine expedition by the British into Maine, United States, Garth Walpole (Russel Potter, ed.). in 1814. Though convoys were de- Relics of the Franklin Expedition: layed at times, by ship shortages and Discovering Artifacts from the problems in gathering and loading Doomed Arctic Voyage of 1845. troops and supplies, the Transport Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Board ultimately played a positive Inc. www.mcfarlandpub.com, 2017. role as each of these events unfolded. viii+229 pp., illustrations, maps, There are four illustrations in the appendices, notes, bibliography, in- book, two which show troops em- dex. US $39.95, paper: ISBN 978-1- barking, one of the burning of the 4766-6718-8. President’s mansion in Washington (1814) and the other of the bombard- Numerous books and articles have ment of Copenhagen (1807). Seven been written discussing, and at often maps support the narrative. Thirty times speculating on, the reasons charts and tables display the statisti- behind the disappearance of the 1845 cal record and analysis of the Trans- Franklin Expedition, which involved port Board’s activities. All tables and the loss of expedition leader John charts are referred to in the surround- Franklin, all officers and crew- ing text and help to visualize the members, and the vessels HMS issue being discussed. Footnotes are Erebus and HMS Terror. The late helpful, with some containing details Garth Walpole presents a comprehen- Book Reviews 329 sive account of how historical arti- viduals were located at a given time facts from the expedition, primarily and when specific material items those now held at the National Mari- were recovered. The accounts of the time Museum in London, England, first recovery expeditions, which were recovered and how these items, occurred between 1850 and 1852, are in the absence of written records, somewhat confusing. Understand- collectively offer biographical ac- ably, there were several vessels and counts of the participants in expedition leaders from Great Britain Franklin’s expedition. Since Walpole and America involved in searching unfortunately passed away before for Franklin and his crew during this completing his manuscript, so Russel time period, and they were all trans- Potter finished the final compilation iting around different geographic of research notes and inserted the areas. Walpole’s accounts of the corresponding images. The book is searches at this time shifts between still presented from Walpole’s point years and locations of specific areas of view, however, as Potter states, “I with no clear indication as to why the didn’t want Garth’s voice or person- accounts are structured in that spe- ality to be diminished in any way” cific way. This may cause further (2). confusion for the reader attempting to Walpole immediately states his keep track of who was involved in a intent to distinguish his research from specific expedition and where their other material culture analyses by vessel was located in relation to the maintaining that the items recovered others. Chronological accounts of from the Franklin Expedition are subsequent expeditions after 1852, more appropriately designated as however, and the related discussions relics rather than artifacts. The term of participants and recovered material relic may be viewed as antiquated or items, become much more straight- unscientific by some individuals, but forward. This clarity is likely due to Walpole argues persuasively that the reduced number of recovery ef- relics can be viewed as the material forts that were supported throughout embodiment of an individual, or a the latter nineteenth and early twenti- physical means by which the eth centuries and the greater attention deceased may be remembered. Aside to historical record-keeping by this from the recently-found sunken time. wrecks of the Erebus and Terror, the Walpole went to great effort to only remaining physical evidence of ensure that all historic accounts and the Franklin Expedition consists of the contexts in which specific relics the assemblage of items recovered were recovered were as accurate as following the crewmembers’ disap- possible, a feat that is especially im- pearance. Considering that these pressive given the conflicting infor- items reflect personal life histories in mation offered by some personal the absence of other historical infor- accounts. The book is extremely well mation, the reference to them as rel- researched, and all historical ics is quite fitting. accounts are thoroughly cited. All Walpole offers a chronological relics described also include their account of search and recovery expe- catalogue number designation from ditions that were organized following the National Maritime Museum. In the disappearance of Franklin and his fact, the book includes a full list of ships, and he acknowledges that there the museum’s Franklin collection, are some discrepancies in the histori- including reference to the specific cal record as to where specific indi- expedition from which items were 330 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord recovered. Academic researchers James D. Moore III who are interested in learning more Sterling, Virginia about the contexts in which specific items from the Franklin Expedition Anthony R. Wells. A Tale of Two were recovered will find this book to Navies. Geopolitics, Technology, and be a valuable resource. Strategy in the United States Navy The book does contain a few and the Royal Navy. 1960-2015. factual and editorial errors, and while Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute it is unclear how these were not re- Press, www.usni.org, 2017. xi+250 vised before publication, they are pp., illustrations, notes, bibliography, infrequent and do not detract from index. US $35.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1- the book’s central discussions. For 68247-120-3. example, the grave of expedition member William Braine was located Anthony R. Wells is distinguished as on Beechey Island; an illustration of the only man to have served in intelli- his gravestone is provided, but on the gence roles in the Royal Navy as a same page he is referred in the text as British citizen, and in the U.S. Navy William “Baines” (36). It is further as an American citizen. Because he suggested that the gravestones found has participated in this work on either on Beechey Island should be viewed side of the Atlantic, he has a unique in the context of “eighteenth century perspective on the connection Victorian values” (36), the wrong between the two navies and the way century. Compared with the meticu- that shaped events. A Tale of Two lous details given as to when and Navies covers that special relation- where specific relics were collected, ship and the shared challenges since the book does not necessarily expand 1960. The book is not an exhaustive on why certain items were left behind review of the entire Cold War, but and not conserved. Nevertheless, instead presents selected topics the Walpole lists those items that were author expects will be relevant for not retrieved, letting the reader appre- future discussion. The author’s intent ciate their value in terms of the over- is to provoke thought and discussion all collection. as much as it is to inform. He, there- Walpole is completely successful fore, presents a way to think about in explaining that as an assemblage, maritime affairs, rather than a simple the relics recovered from the Franklin history. Wells acknowledges that his Expedition not only convey the life analysis is occasionally hampered by histories of the lost crewmembers, a lack of information, as some of the but also their role in fostering explo- key documents remain classified and, ration and interactions among subse- therefore, unavailable to scholars. He quent British and American search nevertheless points to practical ways teams and Inuit communities. Due to to learn from the past to prepare for the meticulous historical detail of- the future, based on the information fered, the book may be most appreci- available and his own experience. ated by academic researchers and This book consists of a series of those with a focused interest in the interlocking yet independent thematic Franklin Expedition. General readers chapters that are organized mostly should understand that the book pri- chronologically. The first half of the marily concerns how and where spe- volume covers a range of Cold War cific relics were located rather than topics, including warfare in the nu- their historic context or how they clear era, intelligence, and technol- were functionally used. ogy. One chapter recounts the de- Book Reviews 331 mise of the Soviet Union, the para- able sources. This is especially help- digm shift it provoked, and the chal- ful for prospective researchers, offer- lenges that faced both navies, espe- ing source notes and a bibliography cially budget cuts and their effects. as a jumping-off point. An analysis of the post-Cold War One obstacle to a wider reader- challenges follows, including the loss ship is Wells’ assumption of a fair of clear purpose for NATO, and the amount of historical, geopolitical, cancellation of Cold War-era pro- and technological knowledge among jects. The last chapters of the book his readers. There is more informa- deal with current and ongoing issues tion on a few of the less-well-known such as ISIS and other extremism, the topics, such as the Soviet Black Sea rise of Chinese hegemony, and Rus- Fleet’s movements into the Mediter- sia’s resurgence. As the First Sea ranean during the Six-Day War, but Lord and the Chief of Naval Opera- for the most part, the author expects tions have issued a joint paper dis- the reader to have a solid grasp of cussing their vision for the future, the twentieth-century maritime history. author considers the stated views as Lack of that knowledge does not well as history to analyse the future negate the benefits of reading the of their combined strategy. As Wells book, since the author does explain demonstrates, the special relationship the outline of the events he refer- between British and American naval ences, but it may require the reader to forces has been illustrated by a con- conduct some additional research to sistent linkage of the two navies’ fully understand where Wells is com- respective strategic plans based on ing from. Otherwise, the main points the desire to defend shared values. will still be understood, but the nu- With his unique perspective and ances may be lost. breadth of experience, the author While the editing throughout the makes thought-provoking arguments book is excellent, with almost no for historians, policymakers, and typographical errors, there is a glar- national security scholars to reflect ing error in Chapter 9 where, while on. He demonstrates throughout the discussing the Gulf War, the author importance of naval affairs as a cost- refers to Iranian forces, when he effective tool for diplomacy and the clearly means Iraqi forces. (174) It is achievement of national goals. The the only instance your reviewer could Royal and U.S. Navies must therefore find, but it does introduce a doubt continue to learn from their relation- that some other such mistakes could ship, including reviewing each have slipped into the text. other’s mistakes, to succeed in meet- A Tale of Two Navies is written ing future challenges. for academics and professionals, Wells regularly speaks of his own although a general audience would experience, adding force to his argu- also benefit from the author’s insight, ments by noting when he was invol- and come out with a much deeper ved in a specific event or was part of understanding of how to think about an analysis team studying various naval affairs. Whether one is a pol- aspects of an issue. Occasionally, icy expert or a rank amateur, Wells’ this participation comes off as boast- work is an excellent acquisition for ful. Nevertheless, he has conducted a those who want to expand their think- massive amount of scholarly and ing on modern maritime affairs. professional research on his chosen topics, and is thoroughly familiar Frédérik Genest with the information and the avail- Kingston, Ontario 332 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

Evan Wilson. A Social History of contained on their passing certifi- British Naval Officers 1775-1815. cates. Rochester, NY: Boydell and Brewer, Wilson acknowledges the short- www.boydelland brewer.com, 2017. comings of his sources, such as the 301 pp., illustrations, appendix, propensity to lie about one’s age to notes, bibliography, index. US qualify for writing the lieutenant’s $120.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1-78327- exam, thereby distorting the age data. 174-0. He avoids the use of the questionable biographical dictionaries, drawing instead on the entries in other Michael Lewis’s “A Social History of sources, such as the Oxford Dic- the Navy, 1793-1815,” published in tionary of National Biography 1960, quickly became the primary (ODNB). Some of these entries, source on the background and career however, depend on Marshall and/or path of the officers that commanded O’Byrne. For example Wilson cites the British Navy during the French the ODNB regarding Sir Christopher Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Cole (121), but in the ODNB entry, It earned the status of a classic. Con- Marshall is the first reference (Sup- cerns over Lewis’ use of the auto- plement, vol. 2, p. 41). The problem- biographical entries, in the dictionar- atic biographical dictionaries appear ies edited by John Marshall (1820s) to have spread widely throughout and William O’Byrne (1849), as the other literature on naval officers. data for his profile did not severely A second problem with the two diminish Lewis’s place in the naval biographical dictionaries is that many historiography. Evan Wilson aims to of the personal accounts are from change this. The question is, is he officers who entered the navy during successful? the time period under study, many of It is the presence of Marshall and whom did not become lieutenants O’Byrne as Lewis’s source that pro- until late in the wars and never held vides Wilson with his starting point. command in the era. To counter this, The first problem with the naval bio- Wilson sampled from 1775 and 1805. graphical dictionaries, compiled in This captures those officers in com- 1820s and 1849 (as Wilson clearly mand at the beginning of the wars explains), is that only men still alive and those who passed the lieutenants’ at the time of the call for their biogra- exam in the midst of the war. In his phy could write one. Of those still sampling approach, Wilson avoids alive, some may not have been in- two of the major problems plaguing clined, or able to produce a short bio- the sources used by Lewis. All this graphy. Among those who did, the careful and improved data collection temptation to colour the narrative a serves as a solid foundation for the more admiral, self-promoting shade picture of the naval officers that Wil- casts a dark shadow over the reliabil- son builds. ity of both compilations. Wilson sets Wilson found that commissioned out to avoid this dilemma by officers were overwhelmingly from randomly sampling lieutenants from England, followed distantly by Scot- “Bruno Pappalardo’s index of lieuten- land, Ireland, other countries or colo- ants’ passing certificates” (229). He nies, and Wales. The majority en- then adds as much information as tered as midshipmen, captain’s ser- possible, about the officers’ back- vants or volunteer boys between the ground and careers, from official ages of 10 and 16 (18). Their early sources, starting with the information education was primarily at sea, with Book Reviews 333 some time served as able seamen. A surgeon, purser, chaplain, and master; few men came with merchant ship those who shared the wardroom with experience and a handful came via commissioned officers. Here, too, he the Royal Naval Academy. Training alters Lewis’ conclusions. Wilson was at the hands of the commissioned found that warrant officers “straddled officers and, if present, the school- the civilian and military worlds” (81). master aboard ship. After they had Many had relevant land experience learned every aspect of the ship and with their profession before shipping sailing, came the opportunity to take out. And many spent only part of the lieutenants’ exam. The next chal- their lives at sea, leaving at some lenge was to obtain a position as a point to return to a shore-based enter- lieutenant and then to keep it long prise. Some were quite well edu- enough to become a commander and cated. then post-captain. Most lieutenants A separate chapter addresses finished their careers without such patronage and promotion. According opportunities. to Wilson, while patronage was still Where Lewis found a significant critical to an officer’s career, at the number of members of the upper start, as well as when trying to class entering the navy, Wilson estab- achieve notice by more powerful lishes that the greatest supplier of patrons, ultimately talent (merit) was commissioned officers to the navy the key to advancement. This is a was the professional or middling rather positive perspective on patron- class, with few coming from the up- age, with no exploration of the grow- per classes. The navy offered the ing tension between the Admiralty professional and middling groups a and the local commanders over the place for their sons to rise in station, appointment of officers, that grew if they managed to achieve the rank during the period. of post-captain, live long enough to Separate chapters explore the be promoted to flag officer, and/or issues of pay and prize money, and either collect a king’s ransom in prize the commissioned officers claim to money, or be granted a government gentleman status. Post-captains of pension for great deeds done, or first- and second-rate ships were wounds suffered. But Wilson is clear definitely well off and could even that for most who entered as midship- survive on half-pay. The latter was men or captain’s servant, and even not really true for lieutenants or war- among those who made it to lieuten- rant officers, nor commanders of the ant, the chances of rising above that navy’s smaller vessels. The bounty station were slight. Success was of a large prize payout could enrich a limited by the number of openings, lieutenant, a commander or the war- the mediocrity of performance, death, rant officers, but captains benefited disability, lack of a patron early in most from prize money (at least prior one’s career, the coming of peace, or to 1808 changes in prize distribu- some combination of these factors. tion). Wilson notes that few lieuten- Wilson identifies commissioned offi- ants and warrant officers earned the cers as men well trained, examined, kind of prize money that could set and dedicated to a career in the navy. them up for the rest of their life. The Wilson, like Lewis, examines the status as gentleman was important, background and careers of warrant even critical, in a naval officer’s ca- officers, but his is the first study of reer. Upper class officers and others this group using a randomly created with a classical education previous to database. He focuses only on the their entry into the navy were more 334 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord easily seen as gentleman. Those could be made for sampling from from the professional, or middle those who passed their lieutenant’s class, who went to sea early and did exam in 1795 (shortly after the start not have a classical education, had a of the French Revolutionary War), as harder time fully conforming to the they could potentially have their ca- expectations of a gentleman. Wilson reer throughout the period. Wilson demonstrates that the air of gentility includes a list of the names of the was a persona sought by officers. warrant and commissioned officers in Self-education, wealth, martial expe- the study. rience, and medals all played a role Ten images are placed through- creating the effect. The problem out the book. Three reflect aspects of commissioned officers faced was the the commissioned officer’s career time they spent in skill development (unemployment, social space on (an activity perceived as suited to board ship, and patronage), there are tradesmen, not gentleman). five examples of officers being Comparison between British painted in a manner to solidify their officers and those of the British mili- claim to be members of the socially tary and other nations is captured in a elite, and two on Nelson. Set through- very interesting chapter. It is more of out the text, 17 figures and 11 tables a beginning in this area of research illustrate Wilson’s discussion of his than a final statement. Unlike British statistical analysis. They are clear and military officers, naval officers could easy to read. The book’s index is not purchase their rank and were quite usable, the bibliography is com- required to have a more extensive plete. The archival sources will prove practical skill-training period. Wil- helpful to future researchers. son found many variations in the way As noted above, Wilson’s goal different European nations created was to replace Lewis’ picture of the their naval officers. Some focused on commissioned and warrant officer raising them to gentleman status, with a more accurate one. He has while providing a trained cadre to run presented a strong case for adjusting the ship, others trained men to be our idea of the background, the career sailors and gentlemen. path, prospects and social standing of A minor issue is that in studying warrant and commissioned officers those who passed their lieutenant’s between 1775 and 1815. This book exam, Wilson does not explore those will appeal to people studying the who never rose above the level of Royal Navy of the long eighteenth midshipman. His assessment of the century, the development of naval midshipman or captains’ servants is officers, and the ideas of “nobility”Ó based on those who were successful and “gentleman”. The question now in moving forward. Lewis did sketch arises, will Wilson become the new an overview of the sailor (chapter 8) Lewis? but Wilson avoids this, focusing only on the commissioned and select war- Thomas Malcomson rant officers. Given the scale of his Toronto, Ontario project, this choice was for the best. An appendix offers a thorough explanation of his reasons for, and Christopher Wright. Arctic Cargo. A method of sampling officers for the History of Marine Transportation in study. Drawing on men from 1775 Canada’s North. Montreal QC: self and 1805 provides enough data to published. www.arcticcargo.ca, 2016. address his questions. An argument iv+571 pp., illustrations, maps, ta- Book Reviews 335 bles, appendices, notes, bibliography, 1931 but high insurance premiums index. CDN $44.95, paper; ISBN and other factors cancelled out the 978-0-9952526-0-9. advantage of a somewhat shorter distance to European discharge ports. As the author points out in his fore- The story of Arctic resource ex- word, while much has been written traction appears in chapter 9, begin- about the Arctic, no one has specifi- ning inauspiciously with Martin cally addressed Arctic transportation Frobisher bringing 1300 tons of use- and trade. Who has used marine and less rock to England during the years river transportation? What were the 1576-1578. Originally searching for routes followed? Over the last four the Northwest Passage, Frobisher was hundred years, what were the cargoes stricken by gold fever when he found taken in and out? After a career as an some heavy rock that he mistakenly analyst and economist specialising in thought contained gold. Wright doc- marine issues and retiring as the prin- uments the subsequent attempts to cipal analyst of a major consulting establish mines in the North. In the group, Christopher Wright set out to nineteenth and early-twentieth centu- fill that gap with this volume. ries various modest mining activities The first two chapters provide the had some success, but large-scale background and a preview. Until mineral extraction had to wait until about 1950, Inuit society was largely recent years. Many different mineral nomadic, following the game on land ores can be found in the Arctic. and sea or under the ice. Gradually, When working for a consulting com- however, permanent settlements grew pany in the 1970s, Wright personally up around Hudson Bay Company developed the plans for mining and posts and other trading endeavours, shipping a high grade of asbestos to religious missions and government Europe from the Ungava area. This established centres. Today, the tradi- activity is now terminated; however, tional nomadic life is not likely to re- metal ores, such as nickel, zinc and emerge unless we in the south totally lead, often mixed, were found in destroy our civilisation. With Chapter large quantities in Rankin Inlet, at 3, Wright describes the entry into the Nanisivik on Baffin Island, and in the Arctic of the whalers, the fur compa- Polaris mine at Little Cornwallis nies, the missionaries and govern- Island. There is certainly a lot more ment expeditions that were intended waiting to be discovered. to reinforce the sovereignty of Can- The other Arctic resource was ada. Chapter 7 discusses the various oil. From 1972 to 1980, oil compa- routes, from the East, the West and nies financed innovative attempts to via the Mackenzie River, followed by discover the possibility of underwater a chapter detailing the complex story wells, like those now common in of the establishment of Churchill as a more southern latitudes. This activity grain exporting port. For a long time, in the Beaufort Sea peaked in the the clearly inferior, indeed impossi- early 1980s but was eventually ble, location of Nelson, British Co- thwarted by the problem of ice and lumbia, was favoured by some bu- these projects were put on hold. reaucrats. In fact, the last section of Canadian Arctic oil may be consid- the railway being constructed was ered a reserve resource, although a heading towards Nelson until it was small amount has been shipped from diverted to Churchill. Wright states Bent Horn. Although the trial voy- that Churchill never lived up to its age of the American supertanker promise as a grain port. It opened in Manhattan in 1969 was considered 336 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord successful, oil from the north slope of ports, populations, companies, ships, Alaska is brought south by pipeline. itineraries, goods shipped in and The next chapter looks at defence shipped out, catalogued by place, by and military endeavours. In the Sec- purpose and by year. In the appendi- ond World War, the United States ces—more tables! This is not a criti- built weather stations in the Arctic to cism. It is what makes the book uni- support the air delivery of warplanes que and was really the only way to to Britain and provide weather data to fulfil the author’s intentions. Arctic assist Atlantic convoys. During the Cargoes is not light reading, but a Cold War, the U.S. and Canada built valuable reference book that should the early warning radar lines which be on the shelves of professional and required a large amount of shipping, academic libraries. mostly American. This prompted Canada to increase its Department of C. Douglas Maginley Transport fleet, especially icebreak- Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia ers, and led to the formation of the Coast Guard in 1962. A long Chapter 11 is devoted to Malcolm Wright. British and the annual sealift of food and other Commonwealth Warship Camouflage supplies to the various settlements of WWII, Volume 3: Cruisers, Mine- throughout the Arctic. Wright layers and Armed Merchant Cruisers. reaches back to the earliest days (sup- Barnsley, S. Yorks., Seaforth Pub- plies for the first Hudson Bay Com- lishing. www.pen-and-sword.org, pany’s posts) through to the nine- 2016. 192 pp., illustrations, notes. teenth century. One or two ships a bibliography, symbols. UK £30.00, year sufficed in the 1920s and 1930s, cloth. ISBN 978-1-84832-253-0. but these tasks greatly increased after the war in 1945. During the 1950s Broadly speaking the books on aca- and early sixties, the Department of demic’s shelf will split into three Transport’s Canadian Marine Service categories, the highly academic, the and then the Coast Guard provided good general work and the specialist much of the lift capability. From reference. This book certainly fits it 1950 to 1970 the Eastern Arctic Pa- the latter, but it does it so well that trol ship CCGS C. D. Howe visited as even though it could have come many settlements as possible each across as disjointed or terribly sec- year delivering cargo as well as pro- tional, instead it actually is nice to viding medical and dental care. Ice- read. This is a book which whilst breakers also brought supplies and a should be on every academic who number of former landing ships were studies navies in WWII book shelf, it purchased, proving most useful in the should also be on anyone who is just ports with great tidal variation. After interested in that period’s shelves as 1970, Canadian commercial ships well. This is leaving aside its utility provided most of the cargo lift capa- to modellers and war gamers, who bility. would find this work indispensable in It would be natural to ask: how their pursuit of realism. This work can all this diverse information possi- though is strange in a way, for an bly be presented to the reader? The academic review, as its purpose is not answer lies in the author’s back- so much its words, as its illustrations, ground as an analyst and the solution and so that’s where this review will is in tables—lots and lots of tables start. comparing everything conceivable: Book Reviews 337

From first glance at the ‘C’ class at the different stages through her cruiser on the front cover, HMS life, often providing both port and Caledon, beautifully illustrated in full starboard views. These illustrations painted colour, clouds, smoke, cam- are further brought to life by descrip- ouflage, water, all done in impecca- tions that are alongside them, for ble detail, and in the bottom right example on p.81 “Around August corner, the faintest Mal Wright, the 1942, London had her scheme simpli- impression given is one of not just fied and changed to 507c and 507b competency but pride in the work and for easier crew maintenance. Note the presentation of it. It speaks great that the patter of the 507b is similar things of the partnership between the to the areas of MS1 previously car- author and the editing/publishing ried, with B5 eliminated. There were team, as this is a lot of colour ink a few changes to the shape of the used. The quality of the presentations patters, but they generally followed lives up to the standard set by this the same lines. The decks remained cover, in fact several possibly exceed grey. The number of light AA guns it in terms of scalability from image. had not changed, but those by the What is certain, is that if presented front of the bridge were raised up with a photograph from WWII, a higher for better coverage…” and it reader would be able to narrow down goes on. These are incredibly detailed date range considerably simply by descriptions that provide context that using this book. Furthermore next to can both further illuminate image, but each image there is a little history, an also help the researcher to again re- explanation of the ship, its service, fine down what they might be look- and why it’s the colour it is at that ing at. time. The award for possibly the most HMS Rawlapindi (p.191) is a striking image in the book, goes to fine example of this, the image pro- one of its most unassuming, the stark vided is clear, and it’s pure rendition black and white (Dec 41-Dec 42) of somehow emotive; especially when HMS Manxman, an Abdiel class placed next to its history. A history minelayer, on p.179. The edges are so that describes how even though she precise, the detail so delicate, even was terribly outclassed, she engaged the portholes are clearly defined. the German battlecruisers Scharn- That this was the camouflage chosen horst and Gneisenau, actually manag- for a ship which would operate inde- ing to score a hit before she was pendently in the Mediterranean and sunk, taking 266 men to the bottom Indian Ocean, might seem strange but with her. Including, although Wright dazzle camouflage like this was sup- doesn’t mention this, Ludovic Ken- posed to break up a ships outline; it nedy’s father (Sub-Lieutenant; a was like this that Manxman would Personal Record of the War at Sea, carry out a solo supply run to Malta 1942) who was the Captain of Rawla- when no other ship had got through pindi. in three months (p.179). The award For ships though with longer for most delicate must go to HMS wartime careers, their records can Suffolk (May 41), a Kent class heavy span many pages, for example HMS cruiser, on p.67. The blend and place- London starts off with her 1932 ments on green, especially the port- scheme on p.79, and finished with her side view must have required a very 1949 scheme on p.82 – there 14 im- delicate brush. This picture encapsu- ages of her in total over these pages, lates what must have been this works each showing her and how she looked motto, ‘if it’s worth doing, it’s worth 338 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord doing perfectly’. The camouflage of course was the Admiralty designed disruptive camouflage scheme, a scheme the intention of which “was not to hide the ship, but to make it difficult for the viewer to tell what is was, as well as the details of its course and distance” (p.67) – put another way, this was camouflage designed for anti-raider, whether surface or subsurface, duties. Some- thing which in 1941, the year of Bis- marck’s cruise (Suffolk playing an important part in the chase) was of critical importance. Overall, this review has managed to touch on just five of the one hun- dred and twenty one ships featured, so therefore hasn’t even scraped the surface of this very inclusive, and exhaustive reference; a reference which as has already been said is a very good read, and therefore a must buy.

Alex Clarke Epsom, Surrey