BOOK REVIEWS

Peter Andreas. Smuggler Nation: How been mostly forgotten, and that current Illicit Trade Made America. Oxford, UK: efforts to seal the border from smugglers Oxford University Press, www.oup.com, have “been more devoid of historical 2013. xiii+454 pages, illustrations, notes, memory, learning, and reflection” (329). index. US $29.95, cloth; ISBN 978-0-19- 974688-0. The scope is broad, organized chronologically and by commodity: the The New York Times recently reported that colonial era, early republic, westward the history of American capitalism is back, expansion, gilded age, and modern era. and that there is even a new book series on This ambitious approach leaves the book a that subject from Columbia University wide study rather than a deep one, allowing Press. While Smuggler Nation is not a part Andreas to paint the American past with a of that series, it certainly qualifies in its very broad brush indeed. A variety of goods breathless celebration of what it calls are considered, from “pot to porn” as the “contraband capitalism.” Political scientist author states (xi). Molasses, flour, enslaved Peter Andreas boldly proclaims that the Africans, pornography, industrial United States is a “smuggler nation” in this information, European manufactured goods, sweeping narrative of illicit American trade liquor, marijuana, Chinese immigrants, from colonial times to the present. In so cocaine, and Mexican immigrants. What is doing, he joins a long list of those who shocking is just how much of this follow Adam Smith’s feeling about such contraband was “live cargo,” especially traders: “The smuggler is a person who, people destined to do the most grueling though no doubt blamable for violating the labor in the nation. This includes enslaved laws of his country, is frequently incapable Africans before the Civil War, and later of violating those of natural justice, and illegal immigrants from China and Latin would have been in every respect an America, all valued for their cheap labour. excellent citizen had not the laws of his Today, that live cargo is more likely to be country made that a crime which nature Guatemalan or Cambodian infants, destined never meant to be so.” for childless couples in the developed The irony is, as Andreas points out, world. Also important, but few in number, that while the United States was born in part were the emigrants smuggled out of the as a result of illicit trade and grew United Kingdom, their brains stuffed with economically because of it, today it is the technical knowledge that helped initiate the world’s leading anti-smuggling crusader. industrial revolution in America. His conclusion is that “For better or for Smuggling is the constant, enforcement is worse, smuggling was an essential what changed, ranging from the anemic ingredient in the very birth and development British enforcement of mercantilist policies of America and its transformation into a to the present armies of armed federal global power.” Andreas’s argument is that agents interdicting illegal trade and past policy debates about illicit trade have immigration in the present time. This

The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXIII No. 4, (October 2013), 419-458 420 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord massive growth in the ability and desire of trade and travel, Andreas argues that the government to control trade is one of the government will never fully control its more alarming aspects of this book, and borders. Furthermore, the massive effort to represents a major shift in American secure the border, especially that with governance from laissez-faire policies to Mexico, has resulted in “enormous those of a security state. collateral damage,” including the death of While the early chapters on illegal immigrants, a militarized and violent colonial smuggling read like a textbook of southern border, and a dysfunctional fifty years ago, the author’s observations immigration system, not to mention a huge and arguments grow more interesting and number of people imprisoned for drug controversial when he addresses issues of violations. If smuggling does define and the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first shapes the nation, then the United States of century. This is especially true regarding the twenty-first century is far from the the “War on Drugs,” which Andreas egalitarian republic it professes to be. compares to the British crusade in the This book reads well, much like an nineteenth century against the slave trade, extended article in Atlantic magazine or one but where the British were freeing people, of its ilk, with the aim of informing and the war on drugs is about locking them up. provoking the educated reading public Using his historical perspective, he also rather than persuading scholars. It has been points out that what is illegal today may be widely but not deeply researched with the licit tomorrow, holding marijuana up as an help of a number of assistants, and Andreas example. Interestingly, Andreas portrays does not conceal his own thoughts on the war on drugs as a failed century-long contraband commerce, which are to remove effort to control citizens’ lives, and one that as much regulation as possible, and to end has notably failed, at an enormous cost to the war on drugs, using a mass of historical taxpayers and families. evidence to support his views rather than to The author’s conclusions are also arrive at an independent conclusion. worth noting as they regard globalization Joshua M. Smith and enforcement of international trade Port Washington, New York regulations. For Andreas, smuggling demonstrates that globalization is both limited and incomplete, and the United Julia Angster. Erdbeeren und Piraten: Die States lies at the heart of globalization’s Royal Navy und die Ordnung der Welt failures, aggressively exporting a “global 1770-1860. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & anti-smuggling agenda more than any other Ruprecht, www.v-r.de, 2012. 345 pp., nation.” It has bullied or cajoled much of illustrations, notes, index. €64,99, cloth; the world into supporting a dismal “War on ISBN 978-3-525-30037-4; eBook ISBN Drugs,” even as it has obstructed efforts to 978-3-647-30037-5. limit small weapons trafficking. True to Adam Smith’s vision of trade, Andreas It seems to be obligatory among English- argues that it is the existence of government language publishers nowadays to give their controls that make smugglers adapt and books a meaningless but catchy title, while devise creative and elaborate means of confining information about the contents to moving contraband across borders. Given a subtitle. Evidently the fashion has spread that government resources are limited, and to Germany: this is not really a book about that presumably the United States seeks to strawberries and pirates, though both are maintain an open society and promote licit mentioned, but about the Royal Navy and Book Reviews 421 the “ordering of the world.” It is concerned case the Admiralty learnt from its mistake, both with the activities of the Navy and subsequent Arctic expeditions overseas, especially in the Pacific and the embarked “ice-masters,” all of whom were Arctic, and with an understanding of their whalers. But these are details: overall the wider significance in the course of history. book can be used as a thorough guide to its Successive chapters describe in period, at a level of detail which only well- detail the Navy as an organization of state informed readers will be able to match. and as a society afloat; naval voyages of The book’s real interest and exploration from Cook to Franklin; the originality, however, lie not in the factual naval hydrographers; the naturalists and details but in the interpretative framework. other naval scientists; the contribution of The author’s central thesis is that naval the Navy to shaping what was later named officers set out to discover new oceans and anthropology; agriculture as an expression new worlds of scientific knowledge—but of a new economic order; and finally the they were not simply filling in blank spaces fight against Greek and Malay pirates. At on intellectual and physical maps. On the one level, this is a detailed analysis and contrary, they sailed as “scientific narrative of selected aspects of British naval gentlemen” of the late-Enlightenment era, history over almost a century, directed at already fully equipped with mental maps on German readers who may not be familiar which to locate their new discoveries. They with them. It is based on selective research took with them the Admiralty Manual of among manuscript collections, and wide Scientific Enquiry (an extraordinary reading in printed sources—though rather a omission from Professor Angster’s lot of them are cited as titles alone, without bibliography) which laid out a complete page numbers, and almost all the programme of research in every branch of publications of the Hakluyt Society are knowledge. The most characteristic conspicuously absent. The level of intellectual activity of the Enlightenment accuracy is high but not infallible: when was the imposing of order, the John Barrow was made a baronet he did not establishment of “systems” by which the become a nobleman; the Duke of Clarence chaos of new experience could be tamed. was installed in the revived office of Lord Botany was in the forefront of this work High Admiral in 1827, not “First Sea Lord, partly because Linneus had established the an equivalent of First Lord of the first and most comprehensive “system” of Admiralty”; the Ordnance Board was by no them all. Moreover, the Navy’s work means the same as a modern Ministry of exemplified the utilitarian and economic Defence; and the English term “civil law” aspects of discovery. Officers well does not refer to statutes. Occasionally the understood that they were the bearers of author falls back on stereotypes. On the progress to backward parts of the world, to failure of the first post-war Arctic which it was their duty to impart what a expedition, that of Ross and Parry in 1817, Parliamentary committee in 1837 called to take anyone with experience of ice “that civilization, that innocent commerce, navigation, she comments that the that knowledge and that faith with which it hierarchical and class-bound Navy could has pleased a gracious Providence to bless not contemplate entrusting its ships to a our own country.” They also knew that their whaling master rather than an officer and a own country stood to benefit from Progress gentleman—which rather overlooks the fact even more than everybody else. “Economic that captains had been putting their ships in botany” meant among other things the pilots’ hands for hundreds of years. In this transfer of plants around the world to 422 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord improve agriculture and promote economic still is. This is the theme and importance of growth. Sometimes, as with Captain this book. Some of its ideas will be familiar Bligh’s breadfruit trees, the transplants did to experts (notably from the Oxford History not flourish, but the effort endowed parts of of the British Empire), but this is a powerful the future British Empire with such crops as and elegant summary of them which tea, silk, rubber, sisal and quinine. In order deserves to be widely read and rapidly to promote agriculture and trade, it was translated. essential to establish property rights (still a N.A.M. Rodger staple of development economics to-day), Oxford, England so agricultural reform on land involved a new legal order, just as trade at sea called for ancient forms of private warfare to be H. V. Bowen, Elizabeth Mancke and John identified and suppressed as “piracy.” Both G. Reid (eds.). Britain's Oceanic Empire: literally and metaphorically, the Navy was Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, c.1550- imposing a new law and a new order on the 1850. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge world. The Admiralty chart was a practical University Press, www.cambridge.org, necessity for world-wide trade and 2012. 486 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, navigation, but it was also an expression of bibliography, index. US $84.99, UK £65.00, intellectual mastery; a grid centred on hardback; ISBN 978-1-107-02014-6; eBook Greenwich which contained and expressed ISBN 978-1-139-51249-7. British control of the geography of the floating world. The great age of “reform” The editors of Britain’s Oceanic Empire in Britain was also the great age of reform have marshaled together a host of leading overseas, as the beat of what Thackeray scholars whose work is as diverse as their called the “civilizing paddle wheel” points of origin. Their goal is to provide announced to the remotest islands the readers with a comparative study of vastly coming of Liberalism, progress and free different regions of the British Empire. trade. This has been a “work in progress” since Though settler colonies like New 2004 and was birthed from conferences, South Wales were founded in this period, numerous rounds of discussions among the this was more a matter of intellectual participants as well as input from some of influence and “informal empire” than of the world’s most respected scholars in direct rule. It extended over wide areas of imperial history. While the differences the world which were never part of the between these imperial spaces are obvious British Empire, and in fundamental ways it and undeniable, the comparative exercise shaped the whole modern world’s yields a cornucopia of insights into the understanding of itself. The author is surely nature of British rule on land and sea in the right to end her book after the Crimean War, early modern era and into more modern when the Royal Navy began to turn back times. towards the lost arts of naval war just as the At first, or even second glance, the British government began to turn back reader is struck by how different these towards the discredited idea of colonies regions are in terms of the climates, overseas. A new empire began to be indigenous populations, the nature of trade constructed—but thanks to the Navy, as well as a multiplicity of other factors. Britain already had intellectual control of This is expressed in the use of language to the world, understood and organized in discuss these regions as “worlds” unto Enlightenment terms, as to a great extent it themselves. Yet the editors and authors Book Reviews 423 assume that there must also be points of The theme of the third group of commonality that have been overlooked. To essays deals with diplomatic and military this end they explore a vast array of subjects interactions and explores the varied —everything from arguments about the relationships between the British and their legal and constitutional underpinnings of Irish, Amerindian, and Asian subjects: empire to British-indigenous contacts “Subjects, Clients, Allies or Mercenaries? within the empire, with its various The British Use of Irish and Amerindian incarnations. These chapters are grouped Military Power, 1500–1800” by Wayne E. into sections based on overarching themes Lee; “Diplomacy between Britons and used to explore the early modern Atlantic Native Americans, c.1600–1830” by Eric and Indian Ocean worlds. Hinderaker; “Diplomacy in India, 1526– The first section focuses on the 1858” by Michael H. Fisher; and “Army oceans and their “metropolitan circuits”. It Discipline, Military Cultures, and State features “Geographies of the British Formation in Colonial India, 1780–1860” Atlantic World” by Stephen J. Hornsby and by Douglas M. Peers. These essays make it “Britain in the Indian Ocean Region and clear that Britain’s subjects in the far-flung Beyond: Contours, Connections, and the empire were anything but passive Creation of a Global Maritime Empire” by participants in the British Empire. H. V. Bowen. These chapters emphasize the The fourth section concentrates on importance of British trade patterns and British imperial commercial and social navigation in the seventeenth and eighteenth relations and the consequences for North centuries. As Huw Bowen comments about America and India: “Seths and Sahibs: East India Company histories, the ‘”sea Negotiated Relationships between disappears almost entirely from view when Indigenous Capital and the East India the story reaches the mid-eighteenth Company” by Lakshmi Subramanian; “The century” (45) and this is true of this volume Commercial Economy of Eastern India as well. The “oceanic” part of empire under Early British rule” by Rajat Datta; features less and less in the subsequent “Anglo-Amerindian Commercial Relations” sections. For those of us drawn to the book by Paul Grant-Costa and Elizabeth Mancke; by its title and more interested in the seas and “Placing British Settlement in the than settlement, this is disappointing. Americas in Comparative Perspective” by The second section discusses Trevor Burnard. sovereignty, law and governance by way of The findings and the questions an examination of how the British asserted raised by editors in the introduction and their dominance over their subjects and afterword and the authors within their their territories outside of Europe. It respective chapters can’t possibly be includes “Imperial Constitutions: summed up in this short review. Suffice it to Sovereignty and law in the British Atlantic” say that Britain's Oceanic Empire is billed by Ken MacMillan; “Constitutions, Contact as a “pioneering comparative study of Zones, and Imperial Ricochets: Sovereignty British imperialism in the Atlantic and and Law in British Asia” by Robert Travers; Indian Ocean worlds.” The editors intended “Company, State, and Empire: Governance for the disparate chapters to be bound and Regulatory Frameworks in Asia” by together by the all-encompassing question Philip J. Stern; and “The Oriental Atlantic: of whether British Asia and the British Governance and Regulatory Frameworks in Atlantic were two worlds or one. (xi) Their the British Atlantic World” by Jerry desire was that the volume should exceed Bannister. the sum of its parts. Without question, it 424 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord has done that and more. Readers are given by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a vast number of vantage points from which (FDR). to gaze at this sprawling empire. As we Allied aims and strategy were might expect, however, some chapters offer agreed at a series of conferences known by more to the overriding vision of examining their location (and their code name). These “potential comparisons, contrasts, and conferences started before America was connections” than others (xi). officially at war with a meeting at Placentia This volume represents a Bay, Newfoundland (Riviera) and Churchill movement away from individual historians went to America immediately after Pearl producing extremely narrow studies without Harbor for a series of conferences in contributing much to the “big historical Washington (Arcadia) in 1941-42. Further picture.” This is a very significant work in conferences followed, again at Washington terms of what it reveals about British (Argonaut) and Moscow (Bracelet) later in imperial history, but also in its collaborative 1942. But it was with the increasing tempo approach. We should applaud the intrepid of these from 1943 that this book is team of editors, authors, and advisors of principally concerned. That year there were Britain's Oceanic Empire for providing us a conferences at Casablanca (Symbol), buffet of food for thought on which another at Washington (Trident), at Quebec historians can dine on for years. It remains (Quadrant) and at the end of the year the to be seen whether their efforts spawn three meetings at Cairo (Sextant), Tehran similar group ventures and if it leads to a (Eureka) and back to Cairo. In many major re-examination of the history of the respects, Casablanca was one of the most early modern British world they desire (11). important as it was there that FDR announced the key war aim of Cheryl Fury “Unconditional Surrender” in order to avoid Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick any resurgence of Germany and Japan that could have occurred after a negotiated peace, and also to reaffirm the earlier Charles F. Brower. Defeating Japan: The “Germany First” principle. Joint Chiefs of Staff and Strategy in the Prior to each of these conferences Pacific War, 1943-1945. New York, NY: there were extensive discussions and Palgrave Macmillan, wwwpalgrave.com, arguments among the U.S. JCS and various 2012. xi+220 pp., illustrations, notes, sub-committees set up to review options. bibliography, index. UK £55.00, cloth; The Americans were acutely aware of being ISBN 978-1-13702-521-0. outmanoeuvred by the British in the early conferences which led to the adoption of the Many readers will be familiar with the oft- British “Mediterranean Strategy” and the used quotation that Britain and America are Torch landings in North Africa, rather than two countries divided by a common the Second Front that Stalin wanted and language. What they may be less familiar General George Marshall, the Army chief with is that during the Second World War on the JCS, was pushing for and this had they were two allies often divided by a implications for later conferences. But for common aim, or by the strategy to be now FDR was also aware that after all the adopted in pursuit of that aim. More marching and counter-marching, it was specifically, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff essential for U.S. troops to be fighting (JCS) were often divided themselves in how Germans somewhere in 1942 if the overall to achieve the political aims they were set aim of “Germany First” was to be Book Reviews 425 maintained. There was also heavy pressure, Stalin to become involved once Germany however, from Admiral Ernest King, the had been defeated. USN’s chief on the JCS for more resources Charles Brower, a retired Brigadier to be devoted to the Pacific, the main area General with 32 years’ service and latterly, a of USN activity. The events of Pearl career as a historian at Virginian Military Harbor had finally made the country realize Institute, is well placed to provide an it was in a real fight in the Pacific and, to analysis of these events. His previous paraphrase the President’s words, “a state of books include WWII in Europe: The Final war had existed since the attack on Year (ed.) and George C Marshall: Soldier December 7th.” It took six to twelve of the American Nation. months (much as Isoroku Yamamoto had What Brower has achieved with predicted) for the U.S. to stem the tide of this book is to present a remarkably detailed the early defeats at Wake Island, the record and assessment of the discussions Philippines, etc. Having fought the and arguments both prior to and at the Japanese to a standstill at Coral Sea, wartime conferences and meetings, the Midway and Guadalcanal, it was obviously positions adopted by the various parties and still going to require a considerable effort how compromises and readjustments were (and additional resources) to roll-back their achieved, often in spite of the influence of advance in both the western Pacific and S.E. the political leaders FDR and Churchill. Asia. What was needed was a plan. That he has managed to do this in only 152 But it was in the question of pages without missing any of the key events allocation of scarce resources, despite the is a remarkable achievement. He has done U.S.A.’s vast industrial production, that this partly by a very extensive series of problems often arose and compromises had endnotes which total 44 pages for only to be agreed. Many of these stemmed from seven chapters, three times longer than is American determination to limit the often found in books three times the size. Mediterranean “soft underbelly” approach His 14-page bibliography ranges from and allocate resources to the second front in manuscripts, records in the U.S. and U.K. Normandy to defeat Germany and to Nimitz National Archives, interviews, published and McArthur’s drives in the Pacific to government records and various other defeat Japan. An essential add-on to that works and articles. The list of these covers thrust was to defeat Japan in North Burma every major work by the various writers and reopen the Burma road to support who have dealt with this topic, usually at Chiang Kai-shek’s attempt to liberate China much greater length. There is also an eight- from the Japanese. page index, nine photographs of the main Although the title of the book refers participants and a series of maps which to the Pacific war, this needs to be read in provide a very useful illustration of the context as the War against Japan because of areas involved and the strategic direction. the Burma/China situation. FDR saw the What this book is not, is an account political importance of keeping Nationalist of the fighting between the U.S. and Japan. China involved in the war both as an ally Rather it is concerned with strategic against the Japanese, and for the post-war planning at the highest level and the future of that country and U.S. influence. fighting that took place among the JCS and This lasted until exasperation with the lack at the various conferences. It is clear from of active Chinese involvement led to a this that although the Western Allies were reappraisal of that aim, the recall of General united in their war aims, they were not Stilwell in 1944, and increasing pressure on united in the strategy of how to achieve 426 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord them. Furthermore, this was not simply a The Ebersdorf ship model is an conflict between Britain and the U.S. It was important historical find, known to science frequently a conflict between the individual since the late 1970s, and dating to the chiefs themselves. This culminated in the fourteenth century. It is part of the need for them to agree how to defeat Japan collection of the Collegiate Church in after Germany but before public war- Ebersdorf, Germany, situated far inland near weariness forced a rethink on unconditional Chemnitz in Saxony. The importance of surrender. Admiral King and the Army Air this ship model equals that of the model Force Chief, General Arnold, favoured siege from Mataró, near Barcelona dating from and bombardment, but Marshall favoured about 1450. It is the oldest known ship invasion as the only quick method of model in Northern Europe which is built bringing the war to an end, though all the like a real vessel. JCS and newly-appointed President Harry Written in two languages, the book S. Truman were worried about the estimates describes the legend around the ship model of casualties. In the event, other factors, (Steusloff), the history of its discovery like the Atomic Bomb and Soviet (Steusloff), and an extensive review of its involvement, proved the deciding feature building technique (Christensen). A brief but Brower uses the debate to illustrate the concluding chapter discusses the tempting extent to which the JCS recognized the idea of making a full-size replica essential connection between political aims (Steusloff). The first author, Steusloff, has and military strategy. It is in this part of the been a maritime ethnologist since the mid- book that Brower provides his most cogent 1970s. His co-author, Christensen, has been illustration of how the JCS, with the a leading maritime archaeologist since the addition of Admiral Leahy’s prodding on late 1960s. The two complement each other behalf of the president, had evolved from well: where the technical description is very purely military strategists to leaders who factual, the legend and the history of the understood the political implications of the find place it in context. schemes they were proposing. There is a legend linked to the ship If there is one point of criticism, it model in the Ebersdorf Collegiate church. is not of Brower but the publisher’s price of It is supposedly a votive model dedicated by £55 (U.K.) which many readers will baulk a knight who was saved from a raging storm at for seven chapters and 152 pages. They in the Mediterranean on his way home from should not, however, ignore the prodigious the Holy Land. He vowed to offer a model 44 pages of endnotes and bibliography of his ship filled with gold in thanksgiving; mentioned previously. Overall, it is a that ship model is now in Ebersdorf. While thoroughly intriguing analysis. the ship of legend was a Mediterranean ship, the votive ship was modeled after a John Francis Northern-European example. Greenwich, England In 1978, while working on a book about ship models in churches, Dr. Steusloff learned about the existence of the medieval A.E. Christensen & W. Steusloff. Das Ebersdorf ship model. His description of Ebersdorfer Schiffsmodell von 1400. The the find reads like diary entries, starting in Ebersdorf Ship Model of 1400. Bremerhaven: November 1977 and continuing up to 1983. Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum/Oceanum Steusloff first heard about the ship model in Verlag, 2012. 129 pp, illustrations. € 24,90, July 1978. It had been sent for conservation cloth; ISBN 978-3-86927-070-8. in Dresden in 1972, but was never touched Book Reviews 427 and eventually forgotten. It must be there is no single ship which matches the realized that this was during the period Ebersdorf model in all details. A lot of when Dresden was part of what was known information can be derived from the model, as the DDR or East Germany. It was more but there remain many ifs and buts. Even than a year before Steusloff could view the so, Christensen is able to conclude with model and confirm its late medieval North- several line drawings suggesting how the European style. He describes the condition model originally looked. in which he found the ship, grateful that it Where Steusloff discusses full-size was not repaired and slowly forgotten, ship (re)constructions in the last three rather than repaired or replaced like other pages, he does so mainly to describe a failed votive ship models in churches closer to the attempt to build “a life size Ebersdorf ship.” Baltic and North Sea coast. In 1988, The ship which seems to have been inspired Christensen, a Norwegian, examined it and by the Ebersdorf model is, however, over the next year it was restored and exhibited one-third longer than the original, to note for the first time. Interestingly, the just one detail. The approach in making it exhibition was held in Hamburg, West was semi-scientific. Unfortunately, the Germany, the same year the Berlin Wall fell. attempt to (re)construct the famous model in The model then returned to Ebersdorf, 18 true scale failed hopelessly. This is a sad years after it was first scheduled for “bonus chapter” to the book; it would have restoration. been better without. Half of the book is a discussion by The book contains an image on Christensen about the model-building every second page, taken from both the ship technique, existing parallels and its possible model itself and other relevant sources. The original appearance. The Ebersdorf model bilingual text is very important as the was built by an experienced ship builder, significance of this ship model reaches although there is evidence of shortcuts or beyond Germany. One might argue that the simplifications here and there. The iron engineering discussion alone could be nails, for example, are not to scale. From published as a large scientific article its characteristics it can be dated slightly (eliminating one language would save later than the famous Bremen Cog of 1380, length but appendices and literature would but cannot be assigned to a specific ship add again substantially). The subject is, type (cog or hulk). Radiocarbon dating however, merits publication as a book. The suggests a date around 1400 AD and some Ebersdorf ship model is unique and details could point to a Baltic, not North Sea deserves to be set extensively in context. origin. The model was in a bad state when This is a book many people will keep it was found, many pieces were missing or referring to for quite some time. damaged, therefore leaving many questions Roeland Paardekooper as to the original appearance unanswered. Eindhoven, The Netherlands Christensen describes the model in great detail, and also describes how he actually did the measuring. He often compares details of the model to iconography, Stephen Cobb. Preparing for Blockade historical and archaeological sources. 1885-1914: Naval Contingency for Christensen recognizes the strakes are cut Economic Warfare. Farnham and by an axe, and not sawn; the chapter is full Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, with such details. He lists archaeological www.ashgate.com, 2013. xxiv+349 pp., finds with comparable details but obviously, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, 428 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord illustrations, maps. UK £70, US $134.95, defined here nor used with precision. The hardback; ISBN 978-1-40943-419-1; wider political and diplomatic context of eBook; 978-1-40943-420-7. naval planning largely escapes him. The author discusses the French Jeune École, In this golden age of naval history, no but seems scarcely aware of the politics subject seems to attract so many historians without which it is impossible to make as British naval planning before the Great sense of its impact, either in France or War. Stephen Cobb’s book, with its curious Britain. He looks at British participation in title (“contingency” here seems to mean the second Hague Conference of 1907, but “strategy” or “planning”) is at least the seems to assume that there was a single fourth on the subject in little over a year, agreed British position—which was very far following Nicholas Lambert’s Planning from being the case. He has only a slight Armageddon, Shawn Grimes’s Strategy and understanding of international law and what War Planning, and Matthew Seligmann’s the Royal Navy intended to get from the The Royal Navy and the German Threat Hague and London conventions. (and there are more on the way). This is an There is a chapter on the uncomfortable situation for an author to professional education of late-Victorian find himself in. Inevitably Dr. Cobb has not officers, but it is superficial by comparison been able to take full account of these with the thorough analysis in Mary Jones’s almost simultaneous rival publications, 1999 Exeter thesis, which Cobb has not though he is aware of Seligmann’s consulted. He devotes two chapters to argument, and one page describing armed merchant cruisers, a subject on which Lambert’s book has been inserted, a good deal of research has been done over seemingly at the last minute. Inevitably, the past forty years, but he has not too, readers will compare these competing encountered all of it, and his treatment does interpretations, and all of them are likely to not penetrate far beneath the surface. He suffer by comparison with Lambert’s abandons his promising account of the 1906 extensive research and radical argument. naval manoeuvres to plunge down a minor Dr. Cobb’s book began life as a byway; the indemnity insurance policy 2007 doctoral thesis from King’s College, which the Admiralty took out to cover the London, and with so many new ideas put merchant ships which participated. Here forward since then, it is already looking Dr. Cobb insists that the underwriters’ rather dated. As a retired sociology lecturer, premium of 3s 9d “per cent”—meaning of Dr. Cobb does not seem altogether at ease course per hundred pounds insured— with history. Whereas the other authors all actually meant per ton insured; an absurdity offer a distinctive argument, this book is which reduces his explanation to an primarily descriptive, with long passages inextricable muddle. simply paraphrasing its sources, and its The pity is that there is some good brief attempts at analysis seem hesitant and research behind this book, and tantalizing unconvincing. In structure it reads as a references which the reader longs to follow semi-detached series of short studies of up. The 1906 manoeuvres, for example, aspects of naval planning, based on a were meant to meet Sir Arthur Wilson’s limited amount of original research and an demand that trade defence be exercised “at incomplete knowledge of the existing a scale of twelve inches to the foot.” They literature. Key terms like “blockade,” the were surely important; one could exchange disputed meaning of which lies at the heart a good deal of detail about liability of the British strategic debate, are neither insurance for a fuller and clearer treatment Book Reviews 429 than the manoeuvres receive here. If the Pennsylvania. The following chapters focus book had a firm structure and a clear on the ship itself and its fittings, the stern argument, then the significance of its storage area, the cargo, a lengthy underlying research could be understood. examination about the site’s key find, a life- As it is, its most useful contribution is sized bronze statue, and lastly, a concluding probably the extensive biographical chapter. While the entire volume itself is a appendix which constitutes a sort of “Who’s worthwhile read, each chapter does and can Who in British Naval Intelligence.” stand alone, which is a noteworthy aspect of this work. Individual chapters are N.A.M. Rodger enlightening and complete with Oxford, England comprehensive text, tables, artefact illustrations and footnotes, all specific to Cynthia Jones Eiseman and Brunilde certain interests. The benefit of this Sismondo Ridgway. The Porticello organization is that a reader does not have Shipwreck: A Mediterranean Merchant to wade through an entire book looking for Vessel of 415-385 B.C. College Station, TX: information since each chapter presents a Texas A&M University Press, single area of study and analysis. www.tamupress.com, 2012. xii+126 pp., The authors also succeed in using a illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. US variety of sources to clarify and solidify $74.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-60344-522-1. their research, which is necessary for two reasons. The first is that the dispersal and This publication is the final report of the history of the artefacts on the site make it excavation, recording, conservation, and extremely difficult to assign any research of a Mediterranean shipwreck provenance, thus the integrity of the site and located in the Straits of Messina just off the associated items are challenged. Lying at a Italian mainland, which dates to the Classic depth of approximately 30 metres amid a period. The documentation in this text scattering of huge rocks, it is evident that includes a detailed analysis of what remains the ship suffered a brutal sinking which tore of the ship’s hull and of the items associated the hull to apart once it struck the bottom. with the site. As a result, the report The wreck is located in the Straits of provides a complete catalogue of artefacts Messina, an area known for treacherous along with illustrations and historic use of waters and turbulent currents, which also those artefacts. The purpose of this volume contributed to the destruction of the ship is to bring to light the archaeology and and dispersal of artefacts. In addition, the evidence of early Mediterranean ship area had served as a ship anchorage for construction, sailing technology and trade in centuries, thus anchors and other lost items commodities spanning many cultures, from earlier ships interfering with an especially that of Classical Greece. exacting study of the Porticello shipwreck. Beyond the acknowledgements, Lastly, the looters who initially found the bibliography and index, the chapters of the site had several months to ransack it and volume are presented in a clearly defined move items around. Therefore, the use of and orderly fashion. The first of the six outside sources is necessary in order to chapters details the vessel’s discovery by apply any sort of context to the site and its looters, its eventual seizure by local artefacts. authorities and subsequent study by The second reason for using responsible academics from Italy and outside sources is that with so little faculty from the University of remaining of the ship’s hull, it is necessary 430 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord to use the work and reports from other sites Edda Frankot. “Of Laws of Ships and contemporaneous with the Porticello Wreck Shipmen”. Medieval Maritime Law and its to bring it into context. The independent Practice in Urban Northern Europe. sources used are from esteemed Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press, archaeologists and other experts whose www.euppublishing.com, 2012. Scottish proficiency provides an excellent nexus Historical Monograph Series, No.20. xiv + between the Porticello Wreck and other 223 pp., illustrations, maps, tables, notes, wrecks and sites. Therefore, the authors bibliography, index. UK £45.00, cloth; avoid basing their conclusions on pure ISBN 978-0-7486-4624-1. conjecture and minimal physical evidence. In turn, this work becomes not simply a Edda Frankot sets out to investigate the report on what was found on the site but, in concept of a common law of the sea in Late reality, a good and sufficient comparative Medieval Northern Europe, in part from a study of an entire maritime era and genre. Scottish perspective. Her materials are the In the end, the authors are successful in sea laws, i.e. usually coherent bodies of law placing their work on solid footing and dealing with such necessary nautical matters making it clear that what was found on the as shipwreck, salvage, freight charges and site could be intrusive. crew wages, and also the extant records of Another aspect that gives this court cases that employed them. A broad- volume authority and legitimacy are the based approach, in which she examines sea authors themselves. Both authors are law through a lens that spans Scotland, successful archaeologists and have written Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Germany, numerous publications on archaeological as is a welcome feature in a world of tightly well as other subjects. The result is a work focused monographs. assembled by a team whose level of The work covers the period 1200 to knowledge and professionalism establishes 1500 AD, with some concentration towards the legitimacy and credibility of this work. the end of this span, which was marked by In conclusion, the book is not increased codification and dissemination of meant for the general audience; however, sea laws. What did not increase, however, the information derived from the was uniformity. While the customary and discussions serves as an excellent repository well-known sea law the Rôles d'Oléron was of information for those from many used by certain voluntary associations and disciplines. Students and aficionados of enforced in some regions—most famously classical Greek archaeology, art, and England—its use across northern seas was economy will do well by adding this far from consistent. Frankot demonstrates, monograph to their shelves. Those with impressive attention to detail, that a individuals interested in the classical period broad range of different sea laws were of early Mediterranean trade and history established over the period. Most of these will also benefit from having this work arose as a natural consequence of available to them. Finally, archaeologists autonomous urban authorities. and maritime historians will find the text, Frankot is at pains to emphasize tables and illustrations useful as a volume of that similar legal norms may arise because comparative study. certain conditions call for similar solutions, and not necessarily because they spring Wayne Abrahamson from a common source. In chapter two, she Pensacola, Florida analyses three important areas of marine jurisprudence in Northern Europe: Book Reviews 431 shipwreck, ship collisions, and jettison (the the sea, albeit on different scales. They practice of throwing cargo overboard to depended on maritime commerce, either as lighten a ship's load in dangerous entrepôts or commodity exporters, and their conditions). Her survey, which compares commerce in turn required laws. These the Rôles d'Oléron with the laws of were to be found in their archives, but, as by Hamburg, Wisby, Kampen and others, now the reader will expect, there was emphasizes the differences between them. considerable diversity across the five towns. For example, the law of Wisby, in common Frankot makes it clear that no single legal with the Rôles d'Oléron, required a captain norm prevailed over the seas of Northern to consult with his merchants before Europe in the medieval era. Not only did throwing cargo overboard in harsh cities maintain different laws, they did not conditions, but this regulation is not found consistently apply them, even in their own in most of the other urban sea laws. courts. The judicial system described in Likewise, compensation for jettisoned chapter seven emerges as governed as much goods was calculated on the value of the by common sense and oral practice as by lost cargo, but in some cases this was based written laws. on their estimated sale price in the ship's Frankot is more interested in city of origin, and in others, at its demonstrating diversity than in analyzing its destination. Incidental details in the codes origins, although she gives the matter some provide valuable insight into shipping cursory attention in chapter five and the practices, as when we hear of captains of conclusion. This reviewer might have older ships allowing themselves to be struck preferred more investigation of the social by other vessels in order to collect the dynamics distinguishing the adoption of compensation. Despite many differences in customary sea law in some regions and detail, however, one commonality that local variants in others, as well as more emerges from the various sea laws is an discussion of how sea law, initially a increase in shared liability over time. This distinct body, came to be assimilated to development, in which damages were local urban law, a process suggesting a shared more evenly between shipowners, consolidation of the cities' nautical identity. captains, and merchants, would seem to From the onset, Frankot sets herself have arisen from changing social against the idea of a common international conditions, but Frankot does not investigate law of the sea in medieval northern Europe, the matter in detail. while simultaneously insisting on the In chapters three to seven, Frankot necessity of examining maritime law in a turns from the content of the sea laws to European context. She evidently intends their enforcement in local courts. This is her work as a corrective to a historiographic the meat of the book, and makes for a dense tradition that has perhaps overemphasized but informative read. It is based on archival the importance of customary sea laws, a work with court records and sea law heritage derived–although it is not manuscripts in five towns: Aberdeen, discussed–from the universalizing attitude Kampen, Lübeck, Reval, and Danzig. This enshrined in the nineteenth- and twentieth- quintet is diverse in place and politics: century Custom of the Sea and Admiralty Aberdeen was part of the Scottish Kingdom, Law. The tension between local and large- Lübeck the leading town of the Hanseatic scale serves as a useful critical approach, as League, Danzig a football kicked between she can consistently compare local law and Poland and the Order of Teutonic Knights. practice against the (supposed) international But all five shared a like relationship with norms of such customary law as the Rôles 432 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord d'Oléron. If her conclusion, that in diverse Maritime Museum website, where you can maritime cities there existed a great key in the SLR identification number for a diversity of law and legal customs, is no specific model in the book to bring up a surprise, the book is nonetheless valuable as detailed description of the model, and all a study of an underappreciated aspect of other photos of the model in the NMM files. medieval legal and maritime history. This combination makes it a very useful tool for additional research whether it is Romney Smith related to this book or not. London, Ontario The book contains six chapters: i) Prehistory 1600 - 1689. Lord Torrington's Robert Gardiner. The Sailing Frigate. A Specification; ii) Guerre de Course 1689 - History in Ship Models. Barnsley, S. Yorks.: 1713. Lord Danby's Maggot; iii) The Seaforth Publishing, www.seaforthpub Establishment Era1706 - 1748. The Frigate lishing.com, 2012. 128 pp., illustrations, about 1720 and the development of the stern tables, further reading. UK £25.00, cloth; in Establishment sixth rates; iv) The True ISBN 978-1-84832-160-1. Frigate 1748 - 1778. Development of the Head. The true Frigate of about 1760. This book is beautifully illustrated with Structure; v) The Heavy Frigate 1778 - outstanding photographs of many superb 1815. Coppering and Carronades. The models of frigates that were in use Frigate about 1795. Filling in the Waist. throughout the period under discussion. Ships Boats. Sweeps and Sweep Ports; vi) The models are either in the National The Last Generation 1815- 1850. The Maritime Museum Collection in England, in Frigate about 1825. Round and Elliptical United States Naval Academy Museum at Sterns. Inside a Frigate. A postscript and a Annapolis, Maryland, and one in the very handy section on further reading Thomson Collection in The Art Gallery of follows, including an article in Historical Ontario in Toronto. Gardiner has done a Research by A.D. Thrush “In Pursuit of the wonderful job of researching what had to Frigate” and another by R.C. Anderson in have been a difficult subject, especially for the Mariner's Mirror “The Ancestry of the the early years. Nonetheless, he has Eighteenth-Century Frigate” filling in the presented his findings clearly, logically and earlier frigate history. From there Gardiner in an easy to read manner. goes on to list numerous published books I was surprised to find that the and texts on the frigates. book does not use footnotes, instead it Gardiner provides an explanation provides access to material specific to this of the term frigate, which he indicates has book through the Seaforth Publishing its origin in the Mediterranean, and was Website, allowing readers to pursue a given generally applied to vessels that were small, aspect further. The concept ties the book to fast, and lightly armed, all characteristics of the original research sources, quotations and subsequent ships called frigates. England the like, while continuing to follow the was to appreciate their effectiveness when thread in the book; an interesting and useful Spanish privateers (known as Dunkirk feature. Presumably, this makes the book frigates) operating out of Spanish-controlled more compact and lower in cost, while Flemish ports seized in excess of 300 providing all readers with information more British merchant ships during the 1625 - easily than researching the same material on 1630 war with Spain. This was about one- far larger and more broadly based websites. fifth of the English merchant fleet at that There is also access to the National time. Unfortunately, the King's navy, while Book Reviews 433 well equipped with heavier vessels, had no successive design changes, not necessarily smaller ships that could combat these fast for the better. The book is highly frigates specifically designed for “fight or recommended to those interested in the flight.” Even when they were fleeing under subject, but more importantly to model oars or sweeps, the English could not catch builders contemplating building any English them with their powerful navy. Clearly, a frigate. new class of naval vessel was in order. N. Roger Cole After the war, two Spanish frigates Scarborough, Ontario were arrested by the English when their crews were accused of piracy. This was the first time the navy had had a chance to Robert Haywood and Roberta Spivak. examine Spanish, or Dunkirk, frigates. One Maritime Piracy. Abingdon, UK: of them, Swan, was to become the model Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, No. 63, for two vessels ordered by the King, when “Global Institutions”. www.routledge.com, he instructed 2012. 156 pp. illustrations, maps, tables, Phineas Pett to design and build notes, bibliography, index. UK £10.99, Greyhound and Roebuck, each displacing paper; ISBN978-0-415-78198-5. around 120 tons. During the the Civil War in 1642, Haywood and Spivak’s book provides a Charles I's navy sided with the good introduction into how piracy emerged Parliamentary forces, with the country in the post-Second World War period, and facing a repetition of the war on trade. Once why the traditional techniques of again the navy was unprepared when the suppression have become anachronistic. It Royalists, unable to assemble a battle fleet, describes the current methods undertaken to commissioned fast privateers, including suppress piracy, and explains their failure. Dunkirk frigates. In 1645, a new class of The authors also detail several proposals frigates was ordered by the government; that countries, companies and foundations Nonsuch, Adventure and Assurance were have proposed. 32-gun vessels of about 380 tons and The book’s seven chapters resembled some of the Dunkirk frigates. concentrate (rightly, given the nature of the A model of Tiger (1681) is referred series on global problems to which it to as a galley frigate, as it was equipped to belongs) on current and future possibilities handle oars (sweeps). It is the first model to (six of seven chapters). The authors lack an provide a look at the configuration of a appreciation of the complexities of frigate of that time period. The next ships, medieval and early modern maritime law, however, were rapidly and radically occasionally repeating the old fallacy that modified. From this model Gardiner privateers were pirates. Briefly, they do not continues his study using models to understand the concepts of letters of marque describe the changes through time, ending or letters of reprisal and their relationship to with Warrior which, while being iron- the strategic concept of guerre de course, hulled and armoured, and propelled by a and the absence of maritime insurance or combination of steam and sail, was still international arbitration respectively. Thus, classified as a frigate; it was the most chapter two on history could be ignored, powerful ship in the Royal Navy. and those interested in the subject should Gardiner, in the chapter sequence consult S. Murdoch’s Terror of the Seas, M. listed above, introduces the political context Rediker’s books and J.A. Wombwell’s of the development of the frigate, and history of anti-piracy. On the other hand, if 434 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord one wants to understand the challenges addition, there was no discussion of craft faced in dealing with current pirates, procurement—do the pirates build, buy or chapters three to six give a good overview. steal their boats? If, as seems likely, pirates Three themes running throughout need little in the way of a logistic tail, then the book explain why the pre-Second World targeting their bases is pointless. Finally, War responses to piracy no longer apply. what role does international banking play in One is that the countries that emerged after the payment and receipt of ransoms, and the end of European colonialism have could interrupting that disincentivise greater sensitivity to their sovereign rights. piracy? Furthermore, while the authors If these new countries are weak or failed discuss the possibility of a privately- states, or open to corruption, then the operated Convoy Escort Program working established solution of depriving pirates of under the legal cover of the flag states, they their land bases as a step in eliminating the do not discuss a naval convoy program. It issue is unavailable. The second is that would seem that the private escorts and the international law now recognizes basic pirates would have an equality of force. If human rights, which accords those accused the aim is to curtail attacks, then maritime of piracy due process. That means history from the 1600s onwards shows that establishing and maintaining judicial and merchant shipping sailing in convoy with correctional facilities for alleged pirates. powerful escorts is generally immune to The third issue is that multilateral and attack unless the attackers are willing to bilateral agreements between international endure horrendous casualties. Perhaps the bodies, countries and commercial concerns financial and human costs have not reached must be promulgated. In addition, shipping the threshold for the naval option? companies seem to find it more convenient Although employees of one of the to pay ransoms than to disrupt manning institutions—One Earth Future Foundation schedules and thus, shipping schedules, by —that has proposed an approach to providing time for merchant seamen to reducing piracy, the authors’ tone is appear in court. If the legal and physical evenhanded and their case presented in a problems in prosecuting accused pirates clear fashion. They demonstrate a broad were resolved, without allowing taped or and deep knowledge of the various aspects remote testimony, then those efforts would (legal, governmental, institutional, and be pointless. The prevalence of ships corporate) of anti-piracy initiatives. sailing under open registry removes the Haywood and Spivak rightly observe that protection previously provided by a flag and some of the anti-piracy initiatives seem creates legal problems. more involved with justifying continued The book has a few troubling gaps. existence than in limiting or eradicating While it starts with the premise of piracy. The book includes a number of examining piracy as a global phenomenon, relevant maps and charts. Unfortunately, it chiefly concentrates on the problem off the notes appear at the end, and the Somalia with far fewer references to the bibliography is an annotated one of only Straits of Malacca and the Nigerian coast. fourteen books. The superficial discussion of pirate logistics The book addresses an issue for ignores the premise of knowing one’s those with interests in international enemy. For instance, given the small size of relations, economics and maritime law. most pirate craft, do ports even matter? It Faculty looking for a short introduction for seems a beach and trailer is all most of them related courses will find this book will need for launching and retrieval. In stimulate discussion. As stated above, those Book Reviews 435 desiring an overview and analysis of the The British found that although there was a pre-1860 history should examine other great demand for Chinese goods at home, sources. Queen Victoria’s empire had little of interest to the Chinese to exchange except for opium. Edward M. Furgol This addictive drug spread into the Silver Spring, Maryland population and led to the Opium Wars (1839- 42 and 1856-1860). Robert Erwin Johnson. Far China Station: Chinese officials wanted to end the The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800-1898. drug trafficking to its people and confiscated Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, approximately 20,000 chests of opium from www.nip.org, 2013. xii+308 pp., British traders. The British government illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, objected to this seizure and used its military index. US $19.49, paper: ISBN 978-1- to redress what it considered a wrongful 59114-409-0. seizure, plus to uphold its imperial honour and its commitment to global free trade. In In 1784, the merchant ship Empress of China order to maintain its prestige abroad, Britain inaugurated America’s China maritime trade. decided to go to war. The Royal Navy used During the nineteenth century it became their broadsides against Chinese wooden- evident that the merchantmen of the United hulled vessels, fortifications at river mouths States needed their markets expanded and and the brick walls that protected its cities. protected. Far China Station: The U.S. Navy On land, Chinese bows and arrows and in Asian Waters scrutinizes the genesis and primitive firelocks were no match for British development of the United States Navy’s muskets and artillery. Decisive British East Indian Squadron. There were victories undermined the authority of the exasperating misunderstandings between the Qing Dynasty that eventually lost control of Americans and the Chinese due to vast a population of 300 million. cultural and language differences, poorly As a result of the peace treaty, the chartered, dangerous waters, ubiquitous British received virtually everything that they piracy, and rivalries from America’s western wished regarding entry into the Chinese allies. Moreover, the Royal Navy had the lands and markets. The Americans mostly largest and most powerful force in the area. sat on the sidelines during this conflict, but, Americans wisely displayed deference to by being allied with the British, “the Yanks” their former British foes. Finally, the British, also gained access to the Chinese market Dutch and French competed with the place. Americans for Asian goods and services. Johnson details the events that American naval forces avoided established America’s trade relationship that armed skirmishes. Those that did occur were was helped by its naval presence. Naval undertaken reluctantly and were generally on officers, such as Commodores Matthew a small scale. This was in contrast with some Galbraith Perry and Robert W. Shufeldt, of the other western navies that were on the negotiated treaties with Japan and Korea, Far Eastern station at the same time. while a succession of commanders, such as Britain’s Royal Navy was the James Biddle, and American diplomats did world’s dominant oceanic force during this the same with the vast and disparate Chinese period of history and it provided an empire over time. important measure of security needed to The American squadron’s primary establish and develop trade. This trade mission was to “show the flag” in the Far development, however, proved problematic. East, but it also provided active service and 436 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord sea-training for the navy’s officers and men. those stationed at home. An even bigger The squadron saw little action except to quell problem stemmed from rampant alcoholism. small isolated instances of belligerency— “The bottle” offered an escape from the angry mobs and Japanese rebels. The monotony of the sea duty, but caused the chapters covering the U.S. Civil War and demise (disease, dementia, death or Spanish American War, when the squadron dismissal) of many otherwise competent was so far from the action theaters, were personnel. As alcohol and disease decimated illuminating. The most persistent problem American crews, Chinese and Malays were was piracy; attacks from innocent-appearing recruited as replacements. Many proved to junks or from shore-based boats that could be undisciplined. An Admiral at one point not be followed into shallow waters. These “asked for one-hundred [American] marines, tactics still persist today in remote parts of stating that [his] flagship could not turn out a Southeast Asia. respectable guard to honor visiting In the West, American Navy vessels dignitaries” (174). were asked to stay close to friendly ports Professor Johnson has collected and and, in the case of the coal-burning navy, summarized a great deal of disparate naval economize on coal consumption. The Navy history data into a scholarly publication. The Department however made an exception in bibliographic section, notes and index were the vast Asiatic Theater. There the vessels very useful for further reference. The author were ordered to cruise actively to enhance occasionally provided background seamanship skills and heighten military information that could be considered preparedness. historical minutia. For example: Secretary of There were problems, however. the Navy, Gideon Welles, had a penchant for Unusual Asiatic illness took a heavy toll on naming American naval vessels after New the officers and men. Common sexually England’s native tribes; U.S. exports to transmitted diseases appeared among those imports from China in 1831-1832 were a who were allowed liberty in some ports. roughly 1 to 3.4 ratio as compared to the Local food and water was occasionally current 1 to 4 ratio. About 180 years has unsanitary or contaminated. The vessels that produced little change. made up “the sailing navy” of the early part Johnson writes with precision, but of the nineteenth century had difficulty he lacks a compelling narrative style. The reaching the populous inland riverine cities book’s presentation is plodding and at times, that served as trading centres. Vessel designs tedious. The information almost drips like that were appropriate for coastal blockading Chinese water torture upon the reader from or American riverine patrol duty had page to page with few stories to make the difficulties serving a similar use in Asiatic described events memorable. The work, waters. though scholarly, appears literarily As the navy switched to steam monochromatic. It is more of a reference power around the American Civil War era, source about a specific period of American adequate supplies of coal were hard to find. naval history, but hardly a “page turner”; a When boilers broke down, an all-too- useful, noteworthy effort, but an unexciting common event, there was difficulty in read. finding or reaching repair facilities. The Louis Arthur Norton Western pacific climate offered the challenge West Simsbury, Connecticut of devastating monsoons and typhoons. Vessels seemed to be plagued with all manner of structural damage more often than Book Reviews 437 Ian Johnston and Ian Buxton. The England. This book on naval warship Battleship Builders. Constructing and construction is, thus, a study of an industry Arming British Capital Ships. Annapolis, that had a huge impact on hundreds of MD.: Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org, thousands of lives every day. These 2013. 320 pp., illustrations, tables, corporations have now all but vanished. appendices, notes, bibliography, index. US Yet, the authors are clear, the records for $68.95, cloth; ISBN 978-1-59114-027-6. such vast industrial undertakings are relatively scarce. Due to the collapse of the Naval historians quite naturally are drawn industry and the heavy bombing of the to ships. The method by which command Second World War, very few records have of the sea is gained and the venue for so survived so this study represents the much human activity, the ship is a focal reconstruction of a history almost point of study and often a visible connection completely lost. with the past. HMS Victory and the USS Divided into thirteen chapters Constitution are perfect examples of many supported by three appendices, the text preserved warships that act as a bridge to examines the industry in careful detail. our maritime heritage. While scholars often After a relatively short introduction, the talk about a specific ship and its authors set the context of naval construction and crew, very rarely is the development and construction in two industry of ship building the focal point of chapters spanning the period from 1860 to discussion. So when a book appears that is 1945. These two chapters provide a good focused on the builders of warships, general narrative of warship development especially the capital-class warships built and construction in the period, including for England from 1900 to the end of the details of the naval rivalry with Germany Second World War, it is a truly rare thing. and naval construction budgets. The Without a doubt, this helps distinguish The following chapter examines the main Battleship Builders as a unique and valuable builders, providing a short history of each. resource. The next eight chapters break down warship Johnston and Buxton do not focus construction into its constituent parts, on the ships in the classic sense, but rather including design, construction elements on the industry that produced them. The such as forgings and castings, launching, ships become an avenue into understanding and fitting out. There is also discussion of the complex industrial relationships that the facilities needed for construction, created some of the largest ship-building including cranes and gantries, and specific companies in the world. The names of company facilities. Chapters seven through these companies stand out as a who’s who twelve provide greater detail on specific of warship and naval construction. Sir W. issues like armour and steel, armament, G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. Ltd and money, and manpower. The section on Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd. are excellent armament and gun construction provides examples of what, in their day, were the some fascinating information on the equivalent of major modern industries like fabrication of not just large calibre guns and Chrysler and Ford. These companies had turrets, but also ammunition production. vast networks of factories and suppliers that Well documented, and lavishly appointed were essential for the massive amount of with charts, maps and rare images, the book material needed to produce ships of this size provides the reader with a fascinating look and complexity. In the process, they were into ship construction from the ground up. major employers throughout most of The book fills an important niche in 438 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord the literature on the technological Sciences in 2004. Several cover subjects dimension of war and society studies. that are at least broadly familiar, like Martin William McNeill’s Pursuit of Power (1982), Slama’s “The Hadhrami Diaspora as Agent for example, demonstrated the importance of Change” (since treated in greater detail in of the iron and steel ship-building industry Engseng Ho’s The Graves of Tarim: to rapid technical development in the Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian period. Johnston and Buxton’s book Ocean), Dejanirah Couto’s “Hormuz under represents a detailed case-study of this the Portuguese Protectorate” in the early industry that both supports and is supported sixteenth century, and Giorgio Rota’s by McNeill’s writings. They are a natural “Diplomatic Relations between the Safavids fit. and Siam in the 17th Century.” But the first One aspect of McNeill’s work, the essay signals the start of a journey into impact of combat experience on ship some exotic areas. design, is not fully treated by Johnston and Zoltán Biedermann’s “An Island Buxton. While there is some discussion of under the Influence: Soqotra at the Jutland and its implications, there is no real Crossroads of Egypt, Persia and India from effort to explore the feedback loop from the Antiquity to the Early Modern Age,” is a users of technology, to the designers, and crisp history of an island that was long an the builders. More generally, the book begs important link in Indian Ocean trade. questions about the production of other ship Christianity reached the island from types, such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, Ethiopia by the fifth century, and Islam did destroyers. Thus, the book suggests by its not replace it there for a thousand years. example vast potential areas of work that Even so, thanks to “a set of rather peculiar still need to be done. and even ironic twists and turns, both Kishn For anyone interested in the field, [in Yemen] and Soqotra entered a complex this book is highly recommended. It supra-regional sphere of ‘Oriental allies of preserves and presents to the reader a the West’” against the Ottomans (23), and window into an industry all but lost to allowed the Portuguese to call there into the history. In the process it is helping to 1600s. reconstruct at least part of the lives of the With its chronological sweep, this hundreds of thousands who worked in the essay seems a fitting start to the volume, but companies and their communities. Soqotra’s connection to China is shaky, and one is led to consider whether the silk road Rob Dienesch of the sea is synonymous with the monsoon Windsor, Ontario seas. In fact only one of the articles in Ralph Kauz (ed.). Aspects of the Maritime part one, “The Iranian and Arabian Sides,” Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the has much to say about China. Ralph Kauz’s East China Sea. East Asian Maritime “A Kazaruni Network?” examines the History 10. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, commercial diaspora of a Sufi order from www.harrassowitz.org, 2010. vi+193 pp., the Red Sea to China in the eleventh to Euro €49.40 (CHF 83.00; approx. US fifteenth centuries. Its origins roughly $53.00), cloth; ISBN: 978-3-447-06103-2. coincide with that of the Jewish karimi network in the western Indian Ocean, but This fascinating collection of papers had its the Kazaruni survived longer and their reach genesis in a workshop at the Institute of was greater. One of their most important Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy contributions to long-distance trade seems Book Reviews 439 to have been the establishment of at the Victoria and Albert Museum, offers a hanaqahs, or hospices, that could be found brisk survey of Chinese influence on the from Iran to Zaiton (Quanzhou) and which, design and manufacture of Iranian and Iraqi Kauz proposes, “formed a network ceramics. Most intriguing is the likelihood providing various services for the that Muslim shippers exported cobalt from merchants” (69). Southwest Asia to China and there One of the great strengths of the “commissioned blue-and-white wares collection is its attention to individuals who decorated in the Iraqi manner from their rarely get much play. Kauz’s second Chinese source, to whom they delivered the contribution is an amusing study of a late- cobalt, and that their aim was to supply the fifteenth-century envoy named Paliuwan market in their home country” (110)—in the who “caused considerable headache to ninth century! China’s officials” (160). The Samarqandi Stanley’s article follows one that envoy travelled to China by land but also considers cross-cultural influence. convinced officials to let him sail from Morris Rossabi’s “Tabriz and Yuan China” Guangzhou to Melaka. The Chinese were treats the Ilkhanid capital as a cosmopolitan happy to see him go, but he seems to have bridge between east and west. Internecine returned to Guangzhou in 1489 and possibly disputes among various Mongol-dominated again in 1492, this time representing Khalaj states meant that much of the trade between (or its merchants) in eastern Afghanistan, or China and Iran was conducted by sea rather Gujarat in India. than overland. (Marco Polo returned to the In the same vein, Geoff Wade’s west from China with a fleet bearing a Yuan “On ‘Ba-la-xi’ and the Parsis during the bride for the Ilkhan.) Ming Dynasty” centers on an envoy named But it is jarring for an essay on the Sha-ta-bai who reached Guangzhou in 1511. fourteenth century to precede one on the Ba-la-xi is an ethnonym denoting someone ninth, and the book’s primary weakness is of Parsi or Persian origin, and Wade its division into three sections: “The Iranian concentrates on establishing the origins of and Arabian Sides,” “The Poles: Iran and Sha-ta-bai, who in all likelihood was China,” and “China’s Perspective.” There is associated with a community of Zoroastrian a certain sense to this, but merchants based in northern or western Schottenhammer’s article would seem better India (175). situated in part three than part two. Angela Schottenhammer’s Regardless, a thematic—and loosely “Transfer of Xiangyao [incense and chronological—order might have been medicinals] from Iran and Arabia to China preferable to a geocentric one that ignores —A Reinvestigation of Entries in the chronology. Youyang zazu” (863) is a more traditional So, Kauz might have grouped Liu analysis of commodity exchange, in the Yingsheng’s “A Lingua Franca along the style of Edward H. Schafer’s Golden Silk Road: Persian Language in China Peaches of Samarkand. But she is firmly between the 14th and 16th Centuries” with grounded in the problem of the provenance Wade’s “On ‘Ba-la-xi’” and “The Li and Pu of the goods enumerated, and in particular Surnames in East Asia—Middle East the involvement of Iranian traders in their Maritime Silk Road Interactions during the transport. 10th–12th Centuries.” “Patterns of Exchange in the Kauz’s introduction cautions that Decorative Arts between China and South- the delay in publication means that some of west Asia,” by Tim Stanley, a senior curator the authors’ conclusions may have been 440 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord superseded by more recent research. Even to gather their belongings to join Bligh in so, Max Deeg’s otherwise valuable the boat, but were kept from retuning to the “Maritime Routes in the Indian Ocean in deck and thus, missed the opportunity to Early Times According to Chinese Buddhist clearly identify with Bligh and avoid guilt Texts” incorrectly repeats that in antiquity by association with the mutineers. “open sea sailing was only enforced on Heywood asked that his desire to go with seafarers by catastrophic weather Bligh be made known to the captain, but conditions,” or that “the ‘discovery’ of that request was not granted. Midshipman monsoon sailing” (153) occurred in the first Heywood and several others left the Bounty century BCE. His uncritical reference to as it returned to Tahiti on its search for a “Indianization” in Southeast Asia (158) also safe place for the mutineers to hide. When seems dated. HMS Pandora arrived at Tahiti in March Harrassowitz has given the book 1791, Heywood went out to the ship with short shrift. The editing is subpar, there are the thought of rescue. Instead, he was neither maps nor an index, and the company stripped, placed in irons and housed in a website inexcusably claims that the book’s cage on the main deck. His passage back to “time frame ranges from the 14th to the 17th England was one of humiliation, century.” These criticisms notwithstanding, deprivation and near death. Bligh had this book is a trove of recent research and survived and named Heywood to be among thinking about the nature of cross-cultural the mutineers. Peter Heywood would interaction on the monsoon seas. endure a court martial resulting in a sentence of death, followed none too swiftly Lincoln Paine by a Royal pardon. Portland, Maine A small cottage industry has produced countless books, articles and three Donald A. Maxton and Rolf E. Du Rietz Hollywood films about the mutiny on the (eds). Innocent on the Bounty. The Court- Bounty. Writers have argued over the Martial and Pardon of Midshipman Peter causes of the affair, the relationships Heywood in Letters. Peter Heywood & between the key figures and the nature of Nessy Heywood. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Bligh’s and Christian’s personalities. This & Co. Inc. www.mcfarlandpub.com , 2013. book is a transcript of a rare family vii+230 pp., illustrations, appendices, notes, generated document that focuses on the bibliography, index. US $45 paper; ISBN correspondence between Peter Heywood 978-0-7864-7266-6. and his sister Nester (Nessy) Heywood, from the time of his return to England to On 28 April 1789, young Midshipman Peter stand trial through his pardon. It offers a Heywood awoke into the chaotic world of unique perspective to the story. mutiny. As he came on deck he saw a bound Editors Donald A. Maxton and Rolf Captain Bligh, his power usurped, facing a E. Du Rietz have both written previously on raging Fletcher Christian, leading the revolt. the mutiny. They begin this book with a Heywood was in the centre of perhaps the brief overview of the event which focuses most famous single-ship mutiny in the on Heywood’s experience. This history of the Royal Navy. Bligh and 18 introduction also informs the reader on the others were forced into one of the ship’s relationship between Peter and Nessy and boats, to be set adrift in the South Pacific, a their many supporters (both familial and fate most thought would end in their death. friends in places of power). Peter and Peter and another midshipman went below Nessy were born and raised on the Isle of Book Reviews 441 Man, so this document also bears on Manx martial are numbers 14, 35, 79b and 91 (35- history, providing a view into late- 43, 67-70, 111-116 and 127-131, eighteenth century social life and family respectively). The first two contain relations. The introduction is followed by a narratives of the mutiny, Tahiti, and the “Textual Postscript” which describes the Pandora; the first letter to his mother, the origins of the document. It is a collection of second to his sister. The third letter letters, primarily between Peter and Nessy, contains Peter’s defence statement at his although other family members and friends court martial. The fourth is an insert in are present as are others whose help is which Heywood responds to each element sought during the ordeal, including William of the prosecution’s case. This insert was Bligh (who was not helpful). The letters sent to Lord Chatham, by Nessy on 11 and poems were assembled by a family October 1792, 12 days before Peter’s member after the event and transcribed into pardon, a fact noted by the original compiler a number of copies (of which only five are and hinted to be the cause of the pardon. known to exist) and disbursed to the family. The section of letters ends with news of The copy published here is held by the Nessy’s untimely death in 1793. Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. The articulate letters are largely left Some of the letters have made their way to speak for themselves. The few into various accounts of the mutiny but this annotations are from the original compiler. is the first full publication of all the The correspondence gives the reader insight material. into late-eighteenth- century social life, The remainder of the book is social order and a glimpse at naval courts separated into two parts and three additional martial. On the last point there are letters appendices. Part one contains 114 letters, of on Peter’s legal defence and the severity of which 35 were written by Nessy and 34 by the court martial system (see letters 33, 59, Peter (mainly to each other). Another 22 76, 79, pp. 66-67, 92-93, 107, 110-111 were addressed to Nessy and 17 to Peter by respectively). other people involved in the story. The Part two is a collection of poetry, as correspondence reflects the rising and verse often accompanied the letters between falling hopes of a family being reunited correspondents. Forty-six efforts are found with its long-absent brother/son. Nessy’s in this section, including short verse, letters reveal the incredible affection she felt sonnets, acoustics, and longer poems. They for her brother and her unflappable are penned mainly by Nessy, with a few by determination to see him vindicated and in Peter (in particular a long poem written on the face of the guilty verdict and death Tahiti describing his ordeal to date, sentence, pardoned. To Peter, her letters are February 1790) and several family friends. filled with affection and encouragement to Two other poems, for some unexplained believe that he will be freed. Nessy used reason are placed in part one. The poetry is deference, her status as “a sorrowful and representative of popular verse at that time, mourning sister” (127) and her mother’s an activity that many people engaged in, but widowhood to great effect, when writing to few of whom are still known for today. those in authority who could help. Peter’s They are emotion laden, celebratory or letters reveal a young man sure of his mournful, and serve to reinforce the sense innocence but accepting of whatever comes of strong emotional bound between Peter his way. His ordeal on the Pandora and his sister. certainly shaped his character. The letters Appendix 1 contains eight edited directly related to the mutiny and court letters, some of which appear to have been 442 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord previously published in whole or in part. A Matthew McCarthy. Privateering, Piracy letter from Peter Heywood to Mrs. Bligh is and British Policy Spanish America 1810- the highlight, adding nothing beyond 1830. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, evidence of an attempt between the two to www.boydellandbrewer.com, 2013. x+184 communicate. The second appendix is a pp., figures, notes, bibliography, index. US handy, annotated list of the key people $115.00, hardback; ISBN 978-1-84383-861- involved in the story and appearing in the 6. letters. The final appendix is a brief summary of Peter Heywood’s naval career. During the Spanish American Wars of Returning to the service he vowed to, and Independence, both the Spanish and the did, serve King and country faithfully for the insurgent governments employed privateers next 23 years (1793 – 1816) retiring as a to supplement their meagre naval forces. captain. Pirates operating from the northwest coast There are 23 black and white images of Cuba further complicated the issues of and one map spread throughout the text. prize taking. Britain, attempting to avoid They range from portraits of the young taking sides in the Spanish American Nessy and two of an older Peter, through conflict, faced a challenge trying to remain their family home, ships, and other people neutral and protect its mercantile and involved in the story. One image is repeated political interests in both Europe and three times. It is one of two small drawings Spanish America. Peter made in a letter to his sister where he describes the shipwreck of HMS Pandora. The author, Matthew McCarthy, The actual shipwreck is the one selected to received his PhD from the University of appear three times (68, 69 and 168), an Hull in 2011 and is currently research unnecessary repetition. His drawings within officer at the university’s Maritime the letter do remind the reader of the talent Historical Studies Centre. He indicates that many naval officers had to represent the the subject of privateering and piracy during world into which they sailed in words, the Spanish American Wars of sketches and watercolours. Endnotes appear Independence has been largely ignored by for the introduction and third appendix. A historians, even though the wars had a solid bibliography on the mutiny, Bligh and strong impact on the diplomatic decisions of Heywood rounds out the book. The index is the period and the development of thorough and very useful. international maritime law. McCarthy’s This book is about how Peter introduction discusses the deficiencies of Heywood, his sister Nester Heywood and earlier studies of this period and how he their family and supporters dealt with his intends to begin filling the gaps. In his alleged involvement in the mutiny aboard initial chapter, he reviews Britain’s HMS Bounty, not so much the mutiny itself commercial and political interests in nor the details of his trial. The book will Spanish America. From the late fifteenth appeal to the Bounty specialist who does not century, Spain had claimed a monopoly on have a copy of the original manuscript of all commercial trade with her colonies in the correspondence, those interested in the New World. As a result of the social history of this era and those focused Napoleonic Wars, Spain relaxed its on Manx (Isle of Man) history. monopoly and afterwards permitted Britain to trade with the Spanish colonies. With the Thomas Malcomson outbreak of the Wars of Independence, Toronto, Ontario however, Britain declared herself a neutral Book Reviews 443 nation with the right to trade with the by licensing non-Hispanic citizens as insurgent states and with only contraband, privateers—the most conspicuous were attempting to run a blockade, and the North Americans and those often from transportation of enemy property subject to Baltimore—and by permitting captured seizure. British trade with South America vessels to be brought in and sold in their was essential to the expansion of her ports of neutral countries. Spain, on the economy. By 1808, this trade accounted for other hand, attempted to re-instate its six percent of her total exports. Politically, monopoly on all trade in Spanish American the British foreign secretary, Robert waters, and as a result many neutral British Castlereagh, and his successor, George vessels were stopped and seized. In the Canning, had to deal with the insurgents and third chapter, the author elaborates in great Spanish prize taking as well Cuban-based detail the financial losses suffered by British pirates. British merchants claimed their shipowners and merchants. McCarthy’s vessels were being seized by privateers and research for the years 1817-1820, the height sent to admiralty courts that were often of privateering and Cuban piracy, indicates capricious in their decisions as to legal that 1688 prize actions were instituted. Of seizures. The new insurgent states often these, 336 involved British ships with 227 had little control over their privateer fleets. seizures identified as to the nationality of The foreign secretaries had to weigh the the predatory vessel. The author further fallout from interference with the prize analyzes the type of seizure and its courts against keeping on friendly terms resolution, if any, in foreign prize courts. with the insurgents should these states Details are given for many vessels and eventually become independent. In order to merchants by name. In addition to the maintain a balance of power in Europe, it losses suffered by the merchants, McCarthy was necessary to keep the support of Spain. also investigates the increase of insurance The depredations of the Cuban-based rates. In his final analysis, however, pirates presented British diplomats with the McCarthy comments that the British losses problem of renegades who lived on Cuban to privateering and piracy had minimal soil and ventured forth only to attack impact on overall British economics. merchant vessels and return to Spanish In chapters four through seven, Cuban soil. The real solution to the McCarthy reviews the British response to problem would mean landing in Spanish insurgent and Spanish privateering and territory. Cuban piracy by the Foreign Office. Chapters two and three deal Foreign Secretaries Castlereagh and respectively with a history of privateering Canning responded with different strategies and piracy in Spanish-American waters and to each of the three problems. Britain had accounts of search and seizures of specific not recognized any of the insurgent British vessels and the economic problems countries as independent and therefore had a these acts caused for merchants and problem of dealing with the insurgents shipowners. In reviewing the history of government to government. In addition privateering, McCarthy concludes that, Britain did not wish to antagonize the initially, both Spain and the insurgent states insurgents and hinder trade opportunities in operated by the established international the present and future. The response to the rules. Prizes were brought into admiralty insurgent privateering was to direct the courts and cases adjudicated in the accepted British consuls in each insurgent state to manner. As the wars dragged on, the investigate each case of search and or insurgents diverged from accepted standards seizure as the particular case was 444 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord adjudicated by the insurgent courts. The commission. consuls, with guidance from the Foreign Britain’s’ response to Cuban piracy Office, would then press the insurgent presented a third type of problem. The governments to settle the British claim. In pirates were not a fixed state yet they dealing with Spanish privateers the situation inhabited Spanish soil. To subdue the could be dealt with government to pirates, Britain would have to invade government. Spain claimed their privateers Spanish territory or establish a naval were acting legally since Spain had re- presence. Not wishing to endanger the activated its trade monopoly in Spanish Anglo-Spanish Alliance, Britain sent a naval America, blockaded certain insurgent ports, squadron which with the cooperation of a and insisted on their right to seize goods of United States squadron soon solved the insurgent merchants carried on neutral problem without violating Spanish territory. British ships. Britain had two major Matthew McCarthy’s text is deftly considerations in dealing with Spain. First researched and well written. His footnotes Britain needed to retain the Anglo-Spanish are extensive, covering sources in Spain, Alliance in order not to upset the balance of Great Britain, South America, and the power in Europe and Britain needed to United States. A reader seeking stories of enforce its neutral status in order to ship-against-ship engagements and lively maintain trade with the insurgents. When biographies of privateers may not find this appeals to Spain appeared to have no effect book to their liking. Readers interested in on Spanish policy, the Foreign Office the diplomatic and economic problems played its two “trump cards” — deploying a caused by the privateers and pirates and the British naval squadron to Spanish America solutions developed to assure a degree of and then rejecting neutral status and stability will want to add McCarthy’s work recognizing the insurgent states. The to their libraries. strategy was successful and Spain backed Fred Hopkins down. What remained, however, was the Linthicum., Maryland settlement of British claims against Spain for privateering actions against British shipping. In January 1823, Spain proposed Andrea Mehrländer. Mit Kurs auf the joint Anglo-Spanish Claims Charleston, S.C. Kapitän Heinrich Wieting Commission to consider all British claims und die Auswanderung nach South against Spain. The plan was accepted in Carolina im 19. Jahrhundert. German March of 1823 and a four-person mixed maritime studies, Vols 13-14. Bremen: commission was established. By October Hauschild Verlag, www.dsm.museum, 2011. 1823, the commission was at work 2 vols in slipcase, Pt. 1, 368 pp., Pt. 2, 288 establishing rules, procedures, and methods pp., illustrations, maps, tables, notes, of payment. While progress was being bibliography, indices. Euro €68.00, made slowly, France invaded Spain and re- hardback; ISBN 978-3-89757-517-2. established the monarchy. Ferdinand VII immediately cancelled all the commission’s With the end of the Napoleonic era in 1815, agreements. Not until August 1824 did the European nations decided on the continent’s commissioners begin work and all of the future. One of the outcomes of the settlements were not reached until i829. As Congress of Vienna was the formation of with the insurgent privateer settlements the confederation of 39 German states. In McCarthy gives detailed analysis of the the same year, the German authorities individual claims brought before the introduced the freedom of emigration. Bad Book Reviews 445 harvests and famines, the need for more his command. Between 1850 and 1858 religious freedom or better economic Wieting managed to monopolise the opportunities motivated thousands of people passenger traffic from Bremerhaven to to come to America and start a new chapter Charleston. These years were the most in their life. profitable for Gloystein and for the Although Heinrich Wieting, born in company’s best captain. the German town of Rönnebeck near Heinrich Wieting also set up a Bremen in 1815, never settled down in private business network in Charleston. America, at the end of his life he knew what Since Gloystein traded cotton, rice and that drive for life, liberty and the pursuit of tobacco, Wieting concentrated on the goods happiness was all about. As a captain of German immigrants in Charleston missed emigrant trade ships, he transported most from Germany; for example ham, thousands of Germans to North America cheese, potatoes, liquor, herring and wine. and Charleston in particular. In keeping To Bremen Wieting transported goods like with family tradition, at the age of fourteen rice, tobacco, sugar, soap and bricks. His Heinrich Wieting went to sea. The business was profitable, and with the money following year he made his second journey he earned he invested in a house, in the on board the brigantine Georg Heinrich of business of one of his brothers and in stocks the Gloystein & Söhne shipping company. of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. In 1833, after his fifth cruise to Argentina Wieting left Charleston in May and Cuba, Wieting returned home and 1861 on board Copernicus. In the months began his studies at a nautical college. In before the tension between Union and January 1836, he was on board the Johann Confederate states had increased. On 9 Friedrich as second mate for his former January 1861, shots were fired at a Union employer, Gloystein, a relationship that ship entering the port of Charleston. A lasted 32 years. couple of months later, the Union-held Fort Heinrich Wieting anchored his ship Sumter at the entrance of Charleston Johann Friedrich in Charleston for the first harbour was targeted by shore batteries in time in 1842. Charleston was a port for the harbour. The fort’s defenders trading tobacco, wood, cotton, leather and surrendered after a 34-hour bombardment rice. It was a centre for contacts and trade and it was occupied by Confederate army finance. A journey from Bremerhaven to forces. War was a fact. In 1860, 1944 Charleston usually took five to six weeks, Germans comprised 31 percent of so by then, Wieting knew most of his Charleston’s population and roughly one in passengers. The German community in five of them voluntarily served in ethnic Charleston was relatively homogeneous and German army units of the Confederacy. well-off, developing into a “little Germany” Throughout the war the Union attempted with an extensive network of institutes and several attacks on Charleston by sea and organizations of a political, military, land, but with limited success. The final cultural, sporting and social nature. blow was delivered early in1865 by the On 24 October 1850, Wieting’s Union’s long-range artillery that devastated ship, the bark Johann Friedrich, was en large parts of the city. route from Bremerhaven to Charleston with Wieting would have to wait six- 125 passengers and a crew of 14 when it and-a-half years before he could return to grounded off Harwich, U.K. Although the Charleston. By then, his world was ship was lost, all on board survived. In changed, he was financially ruined, and his April 1851, Wieting had the Copernicus at brilliant career was over. During the war, 446 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord Gloystein did not manage to compensate for history of the United States of America. the loss of the market in the South. Wieting Jacob Bart Hak entered the port of Charleston twice after Leiden, The Netherlands the war, in 1867 and on 29 November 1868 with the Gauss, his third vessel. On 2 December 1868, Captain Heinrich Wieting David Miller. Langsdorff and the Battle of the died of typhoid in Charleston, leaving River Plate. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen & Sword, behind his wife Therese with eight children, www.pen-and-sword.com, 2013. 224 pp., and unaware that Georg Wilhelm Gloystein illustrations, maps, tables, appendices, had died some two weeks earlier. In 1869 bibliography, index. US $36.95, cloth; ISBN Nicolaus Gloystein & Söhne ceased to exist. 978-1-84884-490-2. (Distributed in the US by The sources used for this book Naval Institute Press, www.nip.org) consisted mainly of letters, a total of 371 letters on business and shipping written The Battle of the River Plate of 13 December between 1847 and 1860. To this already 1939 and the subsequent diplomatic intrigues rich source on information, 27 private in Montevideo, Uruguay, have attracted much letters from and to Heinrich Wieting were scholarly attention. Even before the end of added. They contain a wide variety of the Second World War, official and then information on shipping, brokers, finances, historical accounts in English, and to a lesser agents, passengers, cargo, and repairs. The extent in German and in Spanish, describing letters also show what life was like on the eventual destruction of the Graf Spee board, from journeys taken, ports, accidents found their way into print (and in 1956, the on board, deaths, storms, damage, sinking, movie screen), a trend that continues. Such to incidents of bad behaviour like desertion, scholarly and public interest is not surprising, insubordination, theft, suicide, loose given that the encounter gave Britain its most tongues, drinking, good for nothings, significant naval victory of the war prior to the stowaways and punishment on board. sinking of the Bismarck in 1941, and is The letters also give insight in arguably the most noteworthy naval battle in personal lives of Heinrich Wieting, his the South Atlantic in the twentieth century. family and friends, their children, careers, Most English-language accounts of houses, and their businesses. In Wieting’s the event either emphasize the British case, they reveal another side of this perspective or balance the narrative between experienced captain and business man who, the British and the German perspectives. on occasion, found time to draw and write There is a well-trodden path, namely studies poetry. by Dudley Pope and more recently Richard In this book, the author succeeded Woodman and Eric J. Grove, among others, in providing insight into the life and times that narrate the course and results of the of Heinrich Wieting and the German engagement in the South Atlantic, most of immigrants who added their lives, which make the Germans secondary businesses and beliefs to the history of participants at best. Not in Langsdorff and Charleston between 1840 and 1870. the Battle of the River Plate. Rather, the Excellent use is made of sources, both major substantive contribution that David written as well as illustrated, like Miller makes to the literature of the battle and photographs, lithographs, drawings, subsequent diplomatic intrigues in paintings and maps, all adding to a dynamic Montevideo is that he views them from the layout. This book is a valuable contribution German perspective, focusing on the “the to maritime history and most certainly to the commanding officer of the Graf Spee, Book Reviews 447 Kapitän zur See Hans Langsdorff, and the treatment of his prey as “firm but fair,” (108) unique succession of challenges he had to and pays more strict attention to Langsdorff’s face” (xii), especially in strategic and tactical method of operation in these raids than do decision-making. prior studies. Miller asserts that Langsdorff After a brief biography of disobeyed orders and attacked the British Langsdorff, a man who impresses the author triumvirate of warships on the day of battle as “decent, honourable, and compassionate” because of faulty intelligence as to the (xvi), Miller covers what lessons Germany composition of the group and his misplaced learned about surface raiding from the First confidence in his ship. During the battle, World War. Miller lists almost Miller praises Langsdorff’s command, even encyclopaedically the numerous vessels that while critiquing his decisions to view the targeted Allied commerce in that conflict and carnage from the foretop and to use his argues that the war taught Germans the value ineffectual 15-cm guns. No other option but of logistics in surface raiding and, ultimately, the run to Montevideo was “really viable” that it was a low risk, high reward venture; it (138) Miller correctly claims, and took few resources to attack merchant ships Langsdorff’s decision to scuttle the Graf Spee but diverted significant resources from the was his “only possible choice” (171). Finally, enemy. As such, raiding became an important the author treats Langsdorff’s famous Buenos part of German naval strategy early in the Aires suicide as honourable, if slightly Second World War. misguided. Afterwards, Miller offers a As compared to other studies of the comprehensive, if dry, discussion of the three battle off Uruguay’s coast, Langsdorff and the Deutschland-class ships, including the Graf Battle of the River Plate focuses almost Spee. He adroitly recounts the ships’ design, exclusively on German strategy and tactics. armament, propulsion systems, aircraft and Miller offers copious details about the crew capabilities, communications and Deutschland-class ship’s capabilities, its logistics. He concludes firstly, that the raiding activities and German decision- English-language term for the ships as making during the battle somewhat better and “pocket battleships” was “undeserved” (38) more thoroughly than prior studies. In because the ships effectively were little more discussing the ship’s war cruise, for example, than armoured cruisers (Woodman argues the author examines Landgsdorff’s options at likewise). The Graf Spee, Miller writes, was each crucial juncture. The result is a readable “a product of restrictions imposed by the examination of the battle and Langsdorff. Versailles Treaty, combined with the German Otherwise, there is little new here that Grove, desire to squeeze the absolute maximum into especially, has not already explored. a relatively small hull” (81). Thus, the reader The book has two faults, the first of is to infer, Langsdorff was at a greater which is the substantial issue of sources. disadvantage than if he truly had a battleship. Miller lacks many reference notes, but seems The final section narrates the war to rely heavily on published memoirs by the cruise of the Graf Spree from its departure in Graf Spee’s intelligence officer, Friedrich August 1939 to its scuttling four months later. Rasenack, and of Patrick Dove, a British The prose here is engaging, even if the captain imprisoned aboard the ship. material is well-studied elsewhere. Relative According to his bibliography, the only to previous authors, Miller more archive consulted was the National Archives systematically examines the course of the in Kew. It concerns this reader to find that a Graf Spree’s raiding in the Atlantic and Indian book about the German side of a battle was Oceans, generally portraying Lansgdorff’s constructed from British archival materials 448 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord without recourse to unpublished German refueling. Gangs of stevedores largely using documents, many of which Grove used. manual winches and pulleys loaded and Secondly, there are a few errors a copy editor unloaded vessels over many days (or weeks) should have caught, viz. “Port Arthur, New onto horse-drawn wagons that traveled on Mexico” (85) even as Port Arthur is in Texas. unpaved roads. Communications to and Likewise, the First World War-era ship between ports and vessels at sea was Karlsruhe exploded in November 1914 and it rudimentary. Nationalism in the shipping sank completely “just before 1900” (7). companies was intense. The Panama Canal In sum, Langsdorff and the Battle of would open in 1914 forever changing the River Plate treads very little new water in worldwide shipping distances. its examination of German strategic and Fast-forward to the end of the tactical decision making during an important century, container ships, “RoRos” (Roll on- naval engagement and does so with few Roll off) and other specialized vessels now German sources. It may be an admirable aim ply the seas with minimal crews and burn to understand Kapitän Hans Langsdorff and automatically-fed bunker fuel. The vessels German actions in the South Atlantic better move around the globe using GPS within than previous studies but a more robust well-managed sea routes to and from vast, examination of German primary sources sophisticated container terminals. A few would tell a fuller story and perhaps would highly trained men, as opposed to stevedore alter conclusions. As it stands, Grove should teams, unload and load in hours using gigantic still remain the standard study of the battle. gantry cranes to lift two different standard- sized types of containers directly from or onto James C. Knarr trucks or trains that move the cargo quickly to Fort Worth, Texas markets. This occurs in globalized transnational networks employing rapid Michael B. Miller. Europe and the Maritime communication where most goods arrive at World: A Twentieth-Century History. New consumers on a “just in time” schedule. The York, NY: Cambridge University Press, industrial revolution happened over a period www.cambridgeu during which there were two world wars, a press.org, 2012. 435 pp., abbreviations, vast shift in human populations and incredible bibliography, illustrations, footnotes, index. changes in technology and business practices. US $99.00, cloth; ISBN- 978-1-107-02455-7. Chronicling these events provides a fascinating story and, because it has so many Many oceanic historians postulate that “moving parts,” a challenge to write about maritime history both drives and reflects cohesively and clearly. global history. Europe and the Maritime The book is divided into two parts: World provides strong evidence for this the first recounts the structure and function of hypothesis through an erudite narrative of maritime commerce up until the 1960s, twentieth century European seaborne including both world wars. The chapters commerce. examine five sectors—ports, shipping, trading At the turn of the twentieth century, with intermediaries (middlemen) and finally, maritime commerce was still heavily labour the maritime culture that extended throughout dependent. The few surviving sailing ships the globe. Part two chronologically carried heavy, non-perishable bulk progresses through the changes in maritime commodities. Steamship engines were mostly affairs from the turn of the twentieth century coal-fired requiring many stokers, colliers to the present, including containerization and and/or strategically located coaling stations for the cruise industry. Book Reviews 449 World shipping and trade functioned Decreased turnaround time into and out of as an integral network of complex logistics. ports and controlled overhead made shipping “Maritime” in the book’s title means related to costs of little consequence in the total scheme the sea but more broadly, it implies all trade at of economic decisions thus leading to trade seaports, riverine ports, and the complex globalization. “The Barbie doll created out of overland byways that delivered goods to and hair from Japan, plastic from Taiwan, cloths from markets to a nation’s population. from China, molds from America or Europe, Miller’s book focuses upon how the (mostly) and assembled in Indonesia, Malaysia and European maritime world operated and China, . . . [packaged in] Hong Kong where coordinated the world’s flow of trading goods they were . . . then ultimately shipped back in and services, the circulation of immigrants containers] to America” (343). and their ideas, and the evolution of This book is an investigation of how businesses that steadily marched toward maritime history contributed to modernity. It globalization. Globalization entailed the is the story of the mechanics, the turning and interchange and connectivity of integrated meshing of a European society based upon markets and the exchange of innovations, new ocean commerce that led to an intricate web and improved products, and more efficient of globalization. The seas mattered in the delivery of raw materials, parts or finished twentieth century, including times of peace products in a highly competitive world. and war, and contributed mightily to the Historically, long-distance travel and economic life of the entire world. trade operated in a relatively stable, This is a complex but masterfully government-protected, hierarchal milieu of organized and a well-written book. Certainly, international banks, shipping and trading academic jargon, acronyms and side issues companies. The vessels, routes, ports, and abound, yet Miller presents a huge amount of trading links added up to world integration. well-referenced information allowing the “Port networks were geographical, physical reader to look at problems in the evolution of (railroads, waterways), and human, and the the maritime industry in a new light. At times latter split into business networks, or port Europe and the Maritime World is a challenge operatives stationed in hinterlands and to read but overall it is quite rewarding. I markets abroad. Shipping networks were recommend this book to all scholars of the route networks . . .with ties with shipyards, maritime shipping industry. railroads, . . . port directors, . . . customhouses, Louis Arthur Norton travel agencies, government officials and West Simsbury, Connecticut other shipping companies . . .The overlap between shipping, trading, and port networks was so great that it was possible to speak of Robert W. H. Miller. One Firm Anchor: The networks within networks” (17). Church and the Merchant Seafarer. As the century concluded, ports Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press, and/or terminals required large installations www.lutterworth.com, 2012. 364 pp., supplemented by elaborate networks. Skilled bibliography, index. UK £25.00, paper ; managers within shipping companies at these ISBN: 9780718892906 ports determined how well the transport operation worked locally and globally. The It has been twenty-five years since Roald systems that they constructed for successfully Kverndal’s influential work Seamen’s navigating these diverse networks determined Missions: Their Origin and Early Growth profitability. The advent of the cargo appeared, giving those interested in religion, container and computerization cut theft. missions, and the sea an excellent study of 450 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord that specialized portion of maritime and out of the maritime economy. Early religious history. The present volume goes Christians, Marcion and Tertullian, had ties to beyond Kverndal’s work with respect to the the sea and by the time of Athanasius (d. 373), British seaman and provides what should Christians in Alexandria had very definite become a standard work for those interested links to the grain trade and fleet. This early in religion and the merchant seafarer. chapter provides a good summary of the Even though some of the twelve maritime metaphors and imagery used by the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were fishermen Church Fathers. While there was not a and the New Testament records the shipwreck dedicated ministry to seafarers, the sea was of the Apostle Paul (Acts 27-28), the concept part of the early Christian experience and of a mission to seamen is a relatively late understanding of the world. endeavour in the history of Christianity. Yet, Five chapters are devoted to as author R. W. H. Miller adeptly medieval seafaring and the centuries leading demonstrates, Christian history is not devoid up to the nineteenth century. In these, Miller of ministry to seafarers. It is largely a post- surveys the demographics and difficulty of Reformation phenomenon, and more sources for studying the medieval maritime specifically, a nineteenth-century effort that world. Notable in this era were Christian- arose sometimes out of the economic interests Viking and Christian-Muslim interactions. of ship owners and merchants, and sometimes Christian and Church involvement in ports out of spiritual and pastoral concern arising was significant as was the assistance to from the gospel mandate of evangelism. The seafarers of lights and landmarks that were work focuses primarily on efforts in British often maintained by religious orders and ministries that paralleled the rise of the British individuals. In later centuries, the presence of Empire and the dominance of the British accommodations ashore for the seafarer as merchant fleet in the nineteenth century. As well as physical safety and spiritual shelter for indicated in the title, the emphasis is on the mariners increased and showed the beginning merchant seafarer and readers desiring of a dedicated maritime ministry. Chapters on information on naval religion, Royal Navy or devotion to saints by seafarers and the rise of otherwise, will need to look elsewhere (as in religious and secular law pertaining to the sea Richard Blake’s 2008 study Evangelicals in are extremely helpful. Chapter 5, “Religious the Royal Navy, 1775-1815). Practice at Sea” studies topics such as crusade Following an introduction and clergy at sea, religious life aboard ships, chapter on the early Christian Church and the identity of Christians at sea, and the Bible and seafarer, Miller’s work is divided into four Mass at sea showing the growth and sections: the Medieval Scene; the Nineteenth development of distinctive practices. Chapter Century, Nineteenth-Century Catholic Work, 6 provides an overview of the three centuries and Twentieth-Century Catholic Work, all during and following the Reformation. followed by a helpful bibliography and index. Worthy of a separate study of its own, In early Christianity, the seafarers during these centuries traversed the Mediterranean was the focus of the maritime oceans of the world creating the world that experience. While Christianity spread would come to be dominated by the British westward to the British Isles and eastward to Empire in the nineteenth century. Sri Lanka, India, and China, the greatest The core of Miller’s study is the interaction was in the Mediterranean with four section titled simply “The Nineteenth of the five great patriarchal sees being Century,” comprised of nine chapters: The important ports (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Nineteenth-Century Revival, Early Anglican and Constantinople) leaving only Jerusalem Societies, The Church Congresses, The Book Reviews 451 Missions to Seamen, St Andrew’s Waterside but ever-changing maritime community and Church Mission, The Gibraltar Mission to maritime industry. He has provided readers Seamen, American Work, The Religious with a rich and timely overview and history of Orders, and Work Among Fishermen. Here Christian outreach to “those who go down to Miller shows the strength and diversity, the sea in ships” (Psalm 107:23). It is a book successes and failures of British and other well worth reading. efforts among merchant mariners, both Timothy J. Demy Roman Catholic and Protestant. Noteworthy Middletown, Rhode Island among the individuals and organizations studied in these chapters is the brief Gene Smith. The Slaves’ Gamble. Choosing presentation on the Salvation Navy, Sides in the War of 1812. New York, NY: organizational child of the more widely Palgrave Macmillan, www.palgrave.com, recognized Salvation Army. In the early years 2013. viii+255 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, of the nineteenth century, it was Protestant index. US $27.00, CDN $31.00, cloth; ISBN Bible and tract societies as well as the work of 978-0-230-34208-8. individual Quakers and other mission organizations and societies that flourished, In The Slaves’ Gamble. Choosing Sides in the providing ministry to merchant seafarers (and War of 1812, Gene Allen Smith tackles the convict transports). By mid-century these had history of African Americans’ experience coalesced into several larger organizations and during the War of 1812. This complex story served as a catalyst for more attention from has not been as widely explored as other the Church of England and other aspects of this war. Past historians have dwelt denominations. Beginning in 1809, on the role of free American Blacks’ in the groundbreaking and notable work that served United States militia, regular army or the navy as a model for future Protestant and Catholic during the conflict, or on the American Blacks efforts was that of Baptist minister George who escaped slavery in the Chesapeake Bay Charles Smith. Smith founded mission area by running to the British ships of war that organizations such as the Port of London came to conduct raids during 1813 and 1814. Society and the nondenominational British Smith shatters this dichotomous focus by and Foreign Seamen’s Friend Society and weaving individual stories of African Bethel Union. His pioneering work inspired Americans weighing a variety of options as similar activities in Norway, Denmark, the war came to touch their lives, into the Sweden, Finland, and Germany. larger narrative of political, social and military Significant and specific attention is events of the war. His work casts a new given the three chapters comprising the perspective on the place and experience of section “Nineteenth-Century Catholic Work” African Americans in the early republic at the comprised of: Fr Goldie SJ and the CTS start of the nineteenth century. For most, that [Catholic Truth Society], The Work for place was as a slave, and for a few, as free Catholic Bluejackets, and The Œuvres de persons, but often with a nebulous claim on Mer. the rights of citizenship. The experience was The final section “Twentieth-Century that of a person shaping their destiny as much Catholic Work” devotes three chapters to as possible by assessing their choices within work before the First World War, Peter Anson the changing context of the war and their (1889-1975), and Catholic Work after Anson. place as a slave or free person. Miller aptly shows the ability of The first chapter reviews the use of those promoting religious outreach to Blacks as soldiers in North America during merchant seafarers to adapt to the ever-present the long eighteenth century (up to 1800). The 452 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord British came to accept Black soldiers fairly Indians helped the weak Spanish forces quickly, raising them from among their own defend the colony from the invaders. The war slaves in the West Indies and from African ended with tensions remaining and the British slaves, whose freedom was promised after shifting their attention to the region to strike their period of service. Smith describes the further at the Americans with whom they were formation of the West India Regiment, at war. consisting of Black troops led by white British Chapters 4 and 5 address the African officers. As the American Revolution Americans’ experience in the Chesapeake Bay unfolded, the idea of arming slaves caused the theatre during the War of 1812. Chapter four slave-owning freedom fighters a fair bit of gives an overview of the events of 1813 and turmoil. Eventually, free Blacks were allowed 1814, with the British conducting raids along to serve in the patriot army, while slaves were the shore of the bay. American Blacks began not. British efforts to recruit rebel-owned to escape slavery as soon as the British slaves are discussed as is the Spanish use of appeared, fleeing directly to their ships, or slaves and free men of African descent as coming away with landing parties in ever soldiers in Florida during the era. Spanish increasing numbers. This chapter details the Florida served as a haven for escaped exodus and the American response, primarily American slaves who, in turn, served in one of great fear, but also the removal of Spanish units to protect their freedom. slaves from shoreline areas, an increase in Chapter 2 examines the Great Lakes patrols to interdict escapees and efforts to region as war loomed between Britain and negotiate with the British and their former America. Smith lays out the causes of the slaves for the ex-slaves’ return (the latter war, the escalating tensions and the early war almost always failing). The British presence campaigns, covering 1807 through 1813. The allowed entire families to exit slavery, which movement of Black slaves and settlers across was not the usual case before the appearance the border is discussed noting that in the of the Royal Navy, in 1813. 1780s enslaved Blacks in Upper Canada fled Chapter 5 deals with the British to the Michigan territory. In describing the attacks against Washington and Baltimore. ample presence of Black sailors in merchant We read of more Blacks escaping slavery, but vessels and U.S. ships of war, Smith reminds also of African Americans staying in slavery the reader that three of the four men taken and not leaving with the invader. Free Blacks from the Chesapeake by the HMS Leopard in took an active part in the defence of 1807 were free African Americans and Baltimore. Cochrane’s April 1814 eventually returned to the United States. proclamation, inviting slaves to run to the During the War of 1812, the use of Blacks in British and receive freedom and Cockburn’s the navy and militia became routine and their organization of an ex-slave Black Colonial service often received praise from their Marine company take centre stage. The commanding officers. arming of the former slaves caused further The Florida Patriot War (1812-1814) panic among the Americans as it raised the is the topic of the third chapter. American spectre of a bloody slave revolt. No slave expansionists’ desire to seize Spanish-held revolt was intended and the Colonial Marine Florida, to defeat the Indians standing in the did not rise above 400 in strength during the way of American settlement of Alabama, war. The Colonial Marine, however, was an Georgia and Mississippi and to recapture effective force involved in shore raids and at escaped slaves who had fled to Spanish Washington and Baltimore. protection was the inspiration for the conflict. Chapter 6 returns to the southern The free Blacks, escaped slaves and Seminole border lands and the presence of the British to Book Reviews 453 lead the free Blacks and Creek Indians against the United States Army again until the Civil the American southern frontier. It follows the War. Those runaway and free Blacks in action from August 1814 through the years Northern Florida who did not leave with the immediately after the war, covering the British after the war were hunted down over British failure to control West Florida, the the next twenty years and either killed or re- American victory at New Orleans and the enslaved, as Florida was gradually seized by British invasion of Cumberland Island on the the Americans. Georgia coast. American Blacks fleeing Gene Smith inserts at least one story slavery in Florida assisted the British in their of a person (and their family) into each of the effort to control the northern area of Florida larger overarching narratives in chapters 2 and harass American plantation owners in the through 7. I have avoided describing them as southern Mississippi territory and Georgia. not to spoil their effect by indicating their Smith details the British West India outcomes. The individual stories Smith uses Regiment’s presence at New Orleans, as well keenly demonstrate the twisting paths, the as the African Americans (both free and slave) positive potentials or the life-threatening who helped defend New Orleans. The last negative outcomes faced by the African British invasion of the war took place at Americans attempting to navigate through Cumberland Island and resulted in the freeing their personal context within the often frenetic of 1500 more slaves. As with the conflict in ongoing larger events. The outcomes are not the Chesapeake, war along the southern always positive. border lands provided a range of opportunities This is a well written work, but there for African Americans to alter the course of are several small bumps. In chapter 4 we are their lives. told that Cockburn used his “…black The final chapter discusses the marines” in a raid on 3 May 1813, but the ex- destinations of the African Americans who slave Colonial Marines was not formed until fled slavery. It begins by describing the April 1814 (91). In describing the defense of “massacre” at Dartmoor Prison in 1815 and New Orleans, Smith declares that, “Jackson the role played by Black American seafarers cobbled together a heterogeneous army that in the prison and the riot. Smith suggests that embodied the first genuine American fighting 3,000 to 4,500 people escaped slavery during force…” (166). He does list the wide range of the war, a small dent in the much larger groups (pirates, slaves, French Louisiana American slave population. Bermuda served Creoles to regular troops) but “the first as a clearing place for shifting the American genuine American fighting force…” seems to Blacks to vessels that would carry them to be a bit of an enthusiastic overstatement. He their new homes. Nova Scotia received the states that the first wave of Blacks reaching lion’s share, with some going to Britain, Halifax arrived in September 1813, when in Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Barbados. Those fact, they were there by early summer (194). who served in the Black Colonial marine unit In discussing the destinations of the American for the British were settled with their families Blacks who escaped slavery, Smith tells of the on Trinidad. In each location, the escaped 5th West India Regiments’ settlement in Belize slaves were settled as free people. Although (202-3). This is interesting, but American their experiences were difficult, most Blacks refused to serve in any unit of the West established lives that supported them and their India Regiment (as noted on 192-193) and so families, and built viable communities. In this diversion adds a touch of confusion to an America, slave owners “doubled down” on otherwise clear story. their investment in a slave-based society. Twelve illustrations are spread Black Americans were not allowed to serve in throughout the book, usually on the page for 454 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord which they provide graphic support. Some It would be easy to say that Midway broke the have been seen many times before but there back of the IJN; indeed, that is the popular are some new views, for example, the print of image of the Pacific War. Melville Island from the mid-nineteenth Despite Japan’s severe losses in century (195). One image seems to be ships, aircraft, aircrew and ships’ crew at mistitled. The editorial cartoon depicting the Midway, the IJN still possessed tremendous British burning Washington and offering combat capability and inflicted major losses freedom to the slaves is titled “Slaves Burning on the USN in sea battles subsequent to Washington” (123) which is not what the text Midway. This addition to the Osprey describes as occurring (125), nor is it what is Campaign Series, Santa Cruz 1942: Carrier shown in the image. The maps are among the duel in the South Pacific, by Mark Stille, best I have ever seen in any book on the war. relates one of those battles which was both a They contain the historically correct names, tactical victory and a strategic loss for the IJN. are clearly drawn, labeled and provide a visual In early August 1942, American that supports the surrounding text. The only Marines landed on the islands of Tulagi, concern is due more to my failing eye sight Guadalcanal and Gavutu-Tanambogo in the perhaps, but the map of the Southern Coast Solomon Islands and quickly secured them. (146) could be larger as the tiny print is very The American offensive was in response to a hard to read. The endnotes are thorough, perceived Japanese threat to Australia and revealing Smith’s use of a wide range of both New Zealand and the communication lines primary and secondary sources to build his between those dominions and the United case. States. Further, the USN chief of naval This is a book to be read by all operations, Admiral Ernest J. King, urged an interested in the War of 1812, early American immediate offensive after Midway. The IJN history and the experience of African high command was determined to stop the Americans in the United States. For those U.S. offensive would be stopped. Many specializing in maritime studies, it offers books have been written about the land battle insight into the brief intersection between for Guadalcanal; less has been written about African Americans escaping slavery and the the savage naval battles that attended the British Navy serving as a bridge to freedom. Guadalcanal campaign. The Battle of Santa Cruz, on 26 October 1942, was one of those. Thomas Malcomson During the period 24 August-25 Toronto, Ontario October 1942, the IJN made numerous efforts Mark Stille. Santa Cruz 1942: Carrier duel to drive the Americans off Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Oxford: Osprey accompanied by land attacks on American Publishing, www. ospreypublishing.com, positions. In the Battle of the Eastern 2012. 96 pp., illustrations, maps, chronology, Solomons, 24 August 1942, the USN sank the bibliography, index. US $21.95, UK £14.00, Japanese aircraft carrier Ryujo, while IJN CDN $22.95, paper; ISBN 978-1-84908-605- aircraft damaged the aircraft carrier USS 9. Enterprise. In subsequent actions, the IJN damaged the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga Historians have identified the Battle and sank another, USS Wasp. At this point in of Midway in June 1942, as the turning point the Pacific War, the U.S. was left with two in the Pacific Theatre in World War Two. In aircraft carriers, Enterprise (damaged) and that battle, the U.S. Navy (USN) sank four USS Hornet. aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy The Battle of Santa Cruz began at (IJN) for the loss of one USN aircraft carrier. 02:40 hours on 26 October 1942, when a USN Book Reviews 455 patrol plane spotted an IJN carrier force. Zero, was superior in speed and During the next 20 hours, both sides launched maneuverability to the U.S. F4F Wildcat, but air strikes against the respective enemy fleets. inferior to the American fighter in ruggedness The combat was furious and lasted well into —a distinction which saved many American the night. The result was an immediate pilots’ lives in this and other battles. The catastrophic loss for the USN: USS Hornet USN’s fighter defense, torpedoes, and air was sunk, the USS Enterprise and the strike coordination, however, was less battleship USS South Dakota were damaged effective. Stille points out that the IJN had and a destroyer, USS Porter, was sunk as learned much in damage control from well. The US also lost 80 aircraft and 22 Midway but was still inflexible in one respect: aircrew. With only one operational aircraft the ability to move aircraft from one ship to carrier (the damaged Enterprise), the USN’s another. The remaining IJN carrier in the position near Guadalcanal was tenuous area, Zuikaku, was left with a partial air group. indeed. The aircraft still operational from Shokaku The IJN did not escape Santa Cruz and Zuiho could have been used to fill up unscathed. Two carriers, Shokaku and Zuiho, Zuikaku’s air group. and the heavy cruiser Chikuma were severely The result of the Battle of Santa Cruz damaged and required extensive repairs in was mixed for both sides. Japan launched its Japan. In addition, the IJN lost 99 aircraft and finest air attacks of the Pacific War and 145 air crewmen—more than they had lost at deprived the USN of all but one aircraft Midway. The lost aircraft could be replaced, carrier in the South Pacific. For the USN, the but aircrews took time to train. This is why American airpower on Guadalcanal’s Santa Cruz has gone down in history as a Henderson Field was left largely untouched Japanese tactical victory but a strategic loss. and the Japanese were ultimately forced to Stille’s account of the Santa Cruz evacuate their remaining forces from battle is quite thorough. In keeping with the Guadalcanal in February 1943. The result of Osprey Campaign series format, the author Santa Cruz was thus a catastrophic tactical discusses the qualities of the opposing loss for America but an equally catastrophic commanders, from King of the USN and strategic loss for the Japanese. Yamamoto of the IJN down to the individual Stille’s book is well-detailed and ship commanders. Following that is a chapter, serves as a useful guide to this often- laden with good detail, on the qualities of the overlooked sea battle. It is recommended for ships and aircraft involved in the battle. The a wide range of readership. plans of the USN and IJN are related in the next chapter and the battle itself is given its Robert L. Shoop own chapter, the longest of the book at 42 Colorado Springs, Colorado pages. The aftermath of Santa Cruz is detailed and a bibliography is included. The Peter A. Ward. British Naval Power in the book is well-illustrated with many excellent East 1794-1805. The Command of Admiral photographs of the people, ships, and Peter Rainier. Rochester, NY: Boydell & equipment, charts of ship movements and Brewer, www.boydellandbrewer.com, 2013. carrier attacks, and excellent plates of critical xiii +235 pp., maps, appendices, notes, moments of the battle. bibliography, index. US $115.00, hardback; Stille’s book is analytical as well as ISBN 978-1-84383-848-7. narrative. He points out the differences between American and Japanese aircraft. For In 1763, the Seven Years War ended with the example, the famed IJN fighter, the A6M decisive defeat of the French in North 456 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord America and India leaving Britain as the pre- when the Admiralty dispatched an officer eminent European colonial power. overland to warn that Bonaparte was in the Nevertheless, the cautious British government Orient, Rainier was criticized for not taking anticipated that the National Convention of the threat seriously enough. France would declare war on Britain within The unique position of the English one or two decades. EIC made it the main channel through which This is the eighth book in a series of trade passed between Europe and Asia. The high-quality studies published under the company was sending 20 to 30 large ships banner of Worlds of the East India Company. each year to the east, but its relations with the The author, Peter A. Ward, had a professional Royal Navy were not always clear. Britain’s career in personnel management with imperial, commercial, maritime and military technology companies overseas. His initial role in the east benefited from Rainier’s idea was to research Admiral Rainier, but the skilled diplomacy, one positive result of which project developed over several years into a was that the myriad of independent rulers in fascination with Rainier’s pivotal role in India were kept on Britain’s side, ensuring Britain’s commercial, imperial, maritime and their long-term co-operation. military history. This book is based on Ward’s Rainier’s success in advancing PhD studies in naval history at the University British interests in India may have been due to of Exeter. his appointment coinciding with the tenure of Peter Rainier’s rise through the ranks Lord Richard Wellesley as governor-general. was steady, beginning with his 1768 To protect naval intelligence, Rainier appointment as lieutenant, then as captain in communicated with the Admiralty in code, but 1778, rear-admiral in 1795, vice-admiral in soon had to inform Lord Dundas, the secretary 1799 and admiral in 1805. In September of state for war, that his signal books had 1794, Rainier, now knighted, received orders fallen into French hands and were now from the Admiralty to watch the Red Sea ports worthless. When Bonaparte invaded Egypt in that might be used by the French navy. His 1798, Rainier acted without orders from the voyage from England to Madras took only Admiralty, in spite of complaining afterwards nineteen weeks, without any stops en route. about having had insufficient information The morale of the Royal Navy at that from India and Canton. time was at low ebb and the author describes In 1796, the cost of freight fell when how inflation further reduced the value of the London-based East India Company re- wages that had been static for almost a introduced free and open competition. century. In city streets, press-gangs drove Rainier exploited this to secure British workers into the armed forces and around the interests in the East and enhance relations ports and docks disenchanted seamen with India. Protection of trade was regularly organized mutinies that eventually forced the threatened by enemy privateers but he ensured Admiralty to declare a general mobilization. that the EIC retained its monopoly east of the Rainier’s posting in the East Cape of Good Hope until 1814. When enhanced his managerial and diplomatic skills Rainier finally returned to England, it was as he cooperated with the private joint-stock with £300,000 in prize money. English East India Company (EIC), which Peter Ward’s excellent and enjoyable effectively ruled British India. His broad book describes the enormous difficulties that knowledge of naval warfare, coupled with a Admiral Rainier faced in the 1790s. It also deep understanding of strategic issues facing explains how British interests in the East were the Royal Navy in India encouraged him to secured while avoiding the need to fight a make decisions based on British interests. Yet major battle. Yet whatever the causes of Book Reviews 457 Britain’s success, none was more significant major operations, such as Normandy, to one- than the role played by the Royal Navy. day attacks such as that on the Italian Fleet at Ward has painstakingly trawled Taranto. Now we are seeing some of the through the archives of the National Maritime missing bits filled in through personal Museum, the National Archives, the British memoirs, biographies of the more minor Library and the University of Exeter to players, and a focus on lesser-known although uncover the extensive fund of correspondence sometimes significant operations. This very and documents on which this book is based. extensively researched biography of Basil His excellent bibliography, careful choice of Charles Godfrey Place, VC, CB, CVO, DSC graphs, and appendices on trade statistics offers a useful contribution to the corpus of include many maps and references to such individual stories. Place is reasonably electronic sources. known in naval circles for a single event—the In recent years, the debate midget submarine X-7 attack on the surrounding British naval power in the East monstrous German battleship Tirpitz moored has attracted the attention of scholars from in Kaa Fjord, north Norway, on 22 September different disciplinary backgrounds, but with a 1943—which earned him the Victoria Cross. common interest in examining relations To a large extent, this is the reason for his between Britain and India, Indonesia and biography, although he spent the rest of his China. The author concedes that as trade working life with the Royal Navy, retiring as a grew, wealth was created which flowed back rear admiral in June 1970. Paul Watkins, a to Britain, and that in spite of Rainier’s veterinary surgeon with an interest in naval success at sea, he remained modestly and VC history, has obviously done a major ambitious but he was not a visionary. research job to produce this biography. His Peter Ward echoes Nicholas seven pages of notes refer to dozens of ships’ Rodger’s claim in 2004 that the definitive logs, official war diaries, Form 206 Officers history of what he calls “The Great Wars” in Reports, quotations from other broader the East has yet to be written. If so, then this histories and newspaper articles. Place’s post- attractively presented book probably war career is illuminated with correspondence accomplishes it. In spite of being rather from those who knew him in those years. expensive, it should be on the shelves of naval Godfrey Place was born in England and economic historians, and readers with an in 1921, but moved with his family to interest in maritime or early colonial history. Uganda, Nigeria and Rhodesia where his father was a district magistrate and judge. Michael Clark Place moved back and forth between these London, England locales and England until joining the RN in 1935. “Why the RN?” No reason is given for Paul Watkins. Midget Submarine his choice, although his father served in the Commander. The Life of Godfrey Place, VC. Army in the First World War. After the Barnsley. S. Yorks: Pen and Sword Books, normal training in cruisers and an armed www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, 2012. xii + 244 merchant cruiser in 1939 as a cadet, he did pp., illustrations, appendices, notes, sub-lieutenant’s courses, and volunteered for bibliography, index. UK £19.99, US $39.95, submarines, serving for two years in various cloth; ISBN 978-1-84884-800-9. U-class boats and as liaison officer in the Polish S/M Sokol. This is where I found The Second World War at sea has been another problem with this largely useful tale; thoroughly covered in several thousand books, “Why submarines?” Whether Place or his from the general strategic to the tactical, from family didn’t allow access to any significant 458 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord correspondence from him, or there is none, we couple of years in frigates as navigator, Place have only the notation “Appointed to HMS opted to transfer to the Fleet Air Arm for a Elfin ... to train for service in submarines.” complete career change, starting at once to (31) Only later, in more senior post-war train as a pilot of fixed-wing fighters. Again appointments are there a few clues as to we are not told why in the world he chose that Place’s thoughts about the course of his career. route. He qualified easily with good reports, Thus, apart from several official comments and by the outbreak of the Korean War was from reviewing officers, it is difficult to assess combat flying as a very junior pilot aboard what kind of a person Place actually was, or HMS Glory, although, by then, a commander why he chose certain paths. Relying on in rank. Pace seems to have done well, was “official” reports is a very weak reed upon accepted by both peers and seamen working which to base a biography. In fact, the story with him, and rarely made anything of his VC, would have been better served by a more although others did, particularly the media. rigorous editor to pare back extraneous detail Subsequently, he was appointed in command about ships, people and even operations. of the destroyer Tumult, as executive officer of The description of Operation Source, a carrier, went to a couple of staff the planning, training and execution of the appointments at sea in carriers and at the attack on Tirpitz that so obsessed Churchill Admiralty, took up more commands, then and the Admiralty makes the book both became CO of the boys’ training school, HMS interesting and valuable. Two of four small Ganges. This he liked, as he felt such training submarines actually survived to attack the was a valuable prelude to life in the RN. He battleship. The description of the trials in nearly turned down his last appointment as Scotland, towing by fleet submarines to the admiral commanding reserves and director site and the attacks themselves gives a good general naval recruiting since, as we are told indication of how hazardous the whole thing several times, he was not in favour of Naval was. One boat disappeared without trace en Reserves, believing that the Navy should only route, and two attacking boats were lost be run by professionals. This conviction and before they could penetrate the protective his difficulties with his seniors on more than nets. The end, however, was assessed to one occasion give us some clues as to his have justified the means. Tirpitz was put out inner thoughts. But these we must garner of action for many months and, while still from sparse references, not from anything immobilized, fell victim to RAF bombs. Of Place himself actually recorded. the four men in X-7, only Place and Sub- In 1970 Pace retired, still well Lieutenant Aiken survived. This part of the thought of in most circles, and for the next 23 tale is an excellent and detailed narration of years dedicated his time to his chairmanship that valiant operation from the viewpoint of of the VC and GC Association. He died in the attackers. December 1995. This is an interesting tale of Taken by the Germans as prisoners a very young hero who went on to spend 28 of war, Place and the others survived the war years in the service, gaining rank and awards in pretty well-known difficult conditions. in the days of Empire East of Suez. The meat Repatriated in April 1945, and reunited with is in the Operation Source description, and of his wife with whom he had spent only a few Place’s part in the challenges faced by the weeks 18 months earlier, Pace soon applied to post-war Royal Navy. return to the submarine service. In a Fraser M. McKee thoroughly unappreciative gesture, the RN Toronto, Ontario told him if he returned to submarines he would lose 18 months seniority! After a