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GHOST FLEET OF MALLOWS BAY And Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake by Donald G. Shomette A trilogy of underwater excavations Learn about a World War I fleet buried in the country ' s largest ship graveyard
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Maritime History, Volume 2: The Eighteenth Century and The Classic AgeofSail , edited by John B. Hattendorf (Kre iger Publi shing Company , Mal aba r FL, 1997, 304pp, illus, index , ISBN 089464-944-2; $26.50pb) This fin e volume records the work resulting from the Summer Institute in Early Modern Maritime Hi story at the John Carter Brown Library in 1993. It matches the hi gh level of hi storiography establi shed by the preceding volume in the series , Th e Age of Discovery ( 1996). In thi s in stallment the authors ex plore four topics: the Second Age of Di scovery in the Pacifi c; the Science and Practice of Navi gation ; the Strugg le for Empire and the Maritime Legacy of Empire. The first papers take up the remarkabl y slow exp loitation of new discoveries once Spain reached South America and went out into the Pac ific. For example, there were few voyages aro und Cape Horn until George Anson ' s frightful expedition in the earl y 1740s. In the late 18th century , the standard for wo rld voyaging was set in the Pacific by Captain James Cook. Exce llent material on the naval ex peri ence is contrihuted hy British scholars . A. M. Rodger and R. J. B. Kni ght. The period under di scuss ion ends with the Napoleonic Wars and Great Britain ' s establishment of undi sputed and indisputable mastery of the seas. With 50 percent of the world ' s warships under the ir command, they established freedom of the seas wherever the water was deep enough to float a British 74. This Pax Britannica played a vita l ro le in opening our ocean world . PETER STA FORD
Tall Ships-An International Guide, by Thad Ko za (Tide-Mark Press, East Hartford CT, I 76pp , illus. g loss, biblio, index, ISBN 1-55949-313-5 ; $39.95hc) This lush, pictorial volume is full of pulse-quickening sa iling ship images, featuring the most prominent sail training vesse ls pl y in g the seas today. As testimony to the ardor of the author ' s pursuit, a ll but four of the 170 im ages in the book are hi s own. A peripatetic ship chroni cler who haunts the sea festivals and shipya rds of orth America ' s coastline, Koza is a frequent participant in the annual C utty Sark Tall Ships ' Races in Europe and other international events. In variabl y he comes away with excepti onal sea- leve l images. For each of the 150 ships covered ,
Ko za has included a brief hi story that often observes a salient detail or hi ghli ghts an interesting event. Each has a co lor portrait and some have a second inset picture of a compelling ship feature, such as the triple ship 's wheel of Portuga l' s Sag res II , the weathered bell on Chil e 's Esmeralda, or the golden haired fema le fi gurehead gracing the bow of Denmark 's Kaskelot. Readers are not left to contemplate the beauty of the ships in iso lation . Pamela Wuerth , executi ve director of the American Sail T ra ining Association, writes persuasively in her foreword abo ut the modern-day role and attraction of sa il training. Koza then provides details on the types of tall ships sai ling today , the ir owners and operators , who sa il s aboa rd them, and occasions when they can be seen together, rac ing or rallying. When perusing guides of thi s sort, there will always be questions abo ut the se lection of vessels. It is imposs ibl e to inc lude every ship with a sail training program and the occasional mi ssing comrade does not detrac t from the va lue of the vo lume. Tall Ships is a vi sual treat and its concise text and essays offer in sight into the unique and important place these beautifully-crafted ex pressions of human industry and endeavor occupy in the maritime world. K EV IN H A YOON
The Golden Rock: An Episode of the American War of Independence , by Ronald Hurst ( ava l In stitute Press, Annapolis MD , 1996, 280pp, illu s, index , ISBN 1-55750-338-9; $29.95hc) A small Caribbean island- the pri zed Go lden Rock of St. Eustatiu s -i the foca l po int of thi s extraordinari ly well written and well researched volume. The Dutch entrepot was the richest trading center of the Caribbean . When , on 16 November 1776, the commande r of the port 's battery acknowledged the arriva l of a ship with an unknown flag-the American standard- St. Eustatius became the first foreign territory to officiall y recogni ze the new nati on. The c iti zens of the island conducted a flourishing business sell ing munition s and other badl y needed supplies to the re bels. At war with their co lonies across the Atlantic and the two major Continental powers at home (France and Spain), the British government declared war again st the Dutch in 1780, in part to stop thi s flow of war supplies to their rebelliou s co lonies. The tran sA tlantic confli ct had
SEA HISTORY 81 , SPRING/SUMMER 1997