BOOK REVIEWS Greg Bailey (ed.). “The Voyage of the F.H. overall themes. The third section is a very Moore” and other 19th Century Whaling short account by a passenger on a whaling Accounts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & voyage, followed by the much more Company Inc., www.mcfarlandpub.com, comprehensive excerpts from Etchings of a 2014. viii+205 pp., index. US $39.95, Whaling Cruise by J. Ross Browne. The paper; ISBN 978-0-7864-7866-8. excerpts from Etchings do present more of an introduction to whaling, but these are All too often, whaling is represented solely hidden away in a fourth chapter and would by the story of Moby Dick; one very long really have been much better positioned at voyage to the Pacific under a tyrannical the beginning. The book is rounded out by captain. But voyage length, destination, the promising, but again fragmented, captain, and a myriad of other factors all memoirs of a New England whaling varied from voyage to voyage. The diaries captain. and memoirs presented in “The Voyage of Although none of the works (apart the F.H. Moore” and Other 19th Century from Browne’s) could stand alone, together Whaling Accounts help “complicate” this they help support the author’s singular view of whaling. They present a multi- theme that whaling was a necessary, every- faceted view of the New England whaling day part of nineteenth century life. He trade by following a boat-steerer, passenger, seeks to present the “human side of an greenhorn, and captain to the Caribbean, inhumane trade” that is “ugly, repugnant, North Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, and Arctic but also fascinating”(3). In this goal, he is Ocean where they hunted black fish, sperm successful; the collected stories do present a whales, and right whales. relatable view of the trade. This is by no means, however, an While this is the only theme that introductory piece on whaling. The lack of Bailey articulates, he appears to have supporting interpretation of the sources or focused on several main themes: the lack of even a glossary of maritime and whaling whales and resulting boredom; the mix of terms makes the collection challenging for comradeship and conflict; race relations; someone with little background in the trade. and temperance. Whaling is perhaps a The Voyage of the F.H Moore by Samuel misleading name for the trade; it only Grant Williams, is the collection’s raison occupies the crew for a very small fraction d’être; it has never been published before of each voyage. While the excitement of and this, along with its contents – a landing a whale is displayed in the excerpts, reasonable informative account of a it is balanced with long periods of looking Caribbean whaling trip – spurred editor for whales or chores such as mending, Greg Bailey to build a book around it. The cleaning and processing the blubber. In this second piece by Williams, though, is quite instance, Bailey has done well; he’s resisted fragmented, with many illegible words and the urge to concentrate on the “exciting” disconnected stories; it adds little to the parts and includes much of the everyday life The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXV No. 1, (January 2015), 69-115 70 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord of the whalers, furthering his theme of this character [temperance], is much greater humanity. in this service that in any other departments Long periods of boredom result in of our marine”(90). the theme of comradeship and conflict. In This collection presents an all of the voyages presented, the crews were interesting, if fragmented, view on between a dozen to two dozen men, all nineteenth century whaling. Standing confined on relatively small boats for alone, it may not fully inform a reader, but months on end–close friendships and could add to the literature already existing fraught animosities were inevitable. on the trade. It is a pity that many of the Browne gives many examples of both: his themes are not more fully drawn out, but it friendship with “W”; his problems with the does provides an excellent resource for mulatto cook and the Portuguese crew; and those looking to do so. his winning over other crew members with Kate Jordan his sketches. Melbourne, Australia As mentioned by Browne, conflicts sometimes resulted from the mixing of cultures on the ships. Whaling crews were David Bates and Robert Liddiard (eds.) often international, composed of men from East Anglia and its North Sea World in the multi-cultural home ports and men that were Middle Ages. Rochester, NY: Boydell picked up to replace crew members who Press, www.boydellandbrewer.com, 2013. had taken ill or deserted. Williams had two xiv+349 pp., illustrations, maps, tables, Cape Verde Island Portuguese and a number notes, index. US $99.00, hardback; ISBN of black sailors, including a large West 978-1-84383-846-3. Indian. Editor Bailey, in one of the few “helping hands” he grants the reader, Historians have long sought to discover the comments that the “black members of the origins of the British and Irish peoples – crew did not even merit the mention of their who they were and where they came from. names in the log book”(57). Browne is This subject still remains a popular one for particularly scathing in his treatment of the study, particularly the early development of Portuguese onboard, disliking their the North Sea World, which has fascinated appearance, attitude and musical abilities. students and professional historians as well Boredom, friendships, conflict, and as general readers of economic and mixed crews are all to be expected. What maritime history. was surprising is the prevalence of The co-authors of this beautifully temperance. Sailors of any kind are presented collection of essays on the North assumed to like their tipple. But in three of Sea in the Middle-Ages, Professor David the excerpts, the boats are declared for the Bates and Dr. Robert Liddiard, are attached temperance movement, if not the men to the University of East Anglia, the former themselves. In Williams’ account, he notes being the Professorial Fellow in History and the mates coming from their Christmas the latter a Senior Lecturer in History. They dinner looking as if they had been drinking have produced an intelligent and stimulating despite of their declaration as a temperance book, featuring contributions by 18 scholars vessel; he also tells of crew members who delivered papers on different elements trading their shirts for gin on an island. of this topic at the “East Anglia and its Passenger Francis Allyn Olmsted North Sea World” conference in 2010. comments: “To the credit of the American Each of the contributors to this Whale Fishery...the proportion of vessels of book explains in detail how East Anglia had Book Reviews 71 been a distinctive region since the Middle Anglo Norman period, and claim that the Ages. They examine the development of nature of the stone buildings in Romanesque trade between Iceland, Denmark, the East Anglia indicates the inhabitants’ Netherlands and Belgium from AD 580 to relative sophistication. Describing the AD 675 and show how, for the most part, Flemish influence on English Manuscript relations between these maritime Painting in the late fourteenth century, the neighbours were peaceful – until, that is, the authors compare it with pre-Viking so-called Age of Northmen (AD 600 to AD everyday artefacts including coinage and 1100), when the God-fearing Christians of their detailed maps of the “North Sea Western Europe faced the pagan Northmen World.” Thus it seems that not only was in what has described as “the wrath of God trade of great importance to the region, but let loose” (Cunliffe 2013). it resulted in almost thirty years of respite The editors have skillfully chosen from Viking raids. representative case studies on economic According to other sources, English relations with Flanders during the Anglo- rural society was highly differentiated and Norman period, which describe the extent to contained a large minority of substantial which North Sea maritime neighbours households by the fifteenth century developed enduring economic links in a (Wrightson 2000). Similarly, in the distinctive community of trading partners. seventeenth century, entrepreneurial A Germanic settlement in eastern Britain initiatives with a narrow geographic radius was firmly established by AD 600 and, were hampered by transport, following the battle of Catterick in the same communication and other obstacles. In year, they crossed the Tees and moved Europe, for example, high tolls and poor northwards, reaching almost to the Firth of roads limited the transport of goods (Munck Forth. 1990). Although transport costs were not the only expense, it was only in the late The year AD 866 has been nineteenth century that traffic in the North highlighted as the turning point when a Sea reached 5.5 million tons (Hobsbawm movement of the population from Mercia 1975). into Northumbria marked a new phase of Histories of medieval East Anglia Viking control at the heart of East Anglia. have not often been attempted, especially While contemporary sources usually refer to ones that commence as early as the Ice-Age the Scandinavian raiders and settlers as and centre on a region bound together by Northmen, they have since become more little more than the shared frontier of the popularly known as Vikings. Their raids sea. This fascinating book will be enjoyed engulfed Britain and Ireland and spread by readers of economic and maritime insidiously along Europe’s Atlantic coasts history for its clear explanation of the and estuaries. They founded settlements in development of East Anglia from medieval Britain, France, Iceland and Greenland times to its status as a distinctive region of (eventually exploring as far as the coast of the British Isles.