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things nautical. Sailing on Friday re- including the present, as "clumsy," an flects his dedication to chronicling 220 accurate but perhaps understated label. Five incremental extensions of the years of American maritime history in a manner that is direct, forthright and American coastline from Maine to compelling. Butler divides those 220 Alaska also. are recorded, as are the years into 16 time segments that flow openings of the Chesapeake and Delasmoothly forward from 1776 to the ware, Erie and Panama canals and the present and reflect the American mer- locks at Sault Sainte Marie, as well as chant fleet's "shifting fortunes , periods the contribution of these splendid works of growth , decline , or significant to America 's status as a maritime nation. The contributions of maritime lachange." It reads like a novel, albeit one that is bor and of international laws governing supersaturated with the names of famil- the terms of service of seamen in ships iar heroes, explorers, entrepreneurs, pa- occupy a large portion of the latter half triots , inventors, statesmen, and famous of the book, and he does not slight the ships. Butthe researcher will find ample heroic service of American seafarers in source material in a very complete bib- two world wars , Korea, Vietnam , the liography, which is further enhanced by Gulf War, and lesser military actions the author 's notes on the contents of and international crises. This is a must various sources and his suggestions for read for both the professional mariner additional reading. These appendices and the American maritime history buff. CAPT. ROBERT W. KESTELOOT, may very well be, in fact, one of the USN (RET.) most valuable aspects of the author 's superb recounting of two centuries of This review has been exce1pted with permission from Sea Power, July 1997. American maritime history. Sailing on Friday traces the birth of the American merchant marine through The Schooner: Its Design and Develits ascension to maritime supremacy and opment from 1600 to the Present, by subsequent decline-a cycle that repeats David R. MacGregor (Naval Institute itself more than once and is, hopefully, Press, Annapolis MD, 1997, 19lpp, illus, not yet ended (not, at least, until another reading li st, index , ISBN 1-55750-847period of ascension has been completed). X; $42.95hc) As with all of David MacGregor 's The opening chapters relate the initial growth of the "Merchant Princes," fore- books, it is readily apparent that he is a most among them the Derby and Crown- knowing author and enjoys his work. I inshield families, seafarers and traders once had the pleasure of visiting him in who understood globalization better than his London studio. His collection of drawings and photographs must be the most people today . There is an ample amount of salt and largest and best of any maritime author. a wealth of nautical lore in every chap- The illustrations in The Schooner repreter. Advances in celestial navigation, sent the best of this class of vessel culled techniques of dead reckoning, the art of from his vast collection. This is an updated and larger-format heaving a deep-sea lead , the hazards of furling topsails, and the living condi - version of his earlier Schooners in Four tions when sailing through the Roaring Centuries , published in 1982. It also Forties or the disease-ridden tropics all includes an additional chapter describare vividly told in the early chapters. ing naval schooners that were built, capThe transitions from sail to steam and tured or purchased by the British navy. from wood to iron are duly chronicled- Other chapters include colonial America, and contrasted with the fact that America shallops and chebacco boats, privateers, trailed the rest of the world in adapting Victorian schooners, pi lot schooners and to steam, but used the speed of its fa- the school ships sailing today . All of the mous clipper ships to counter the steady plans included in the book are available but slow pace of the foreign steam pack- directly from the author as well. Many of the photographs chosen for ets. When British steamships caused freight rates to drop, American clipper reproduction are necessarily very old ships requested and received govern- and often in poor condition. However, ment subsidies for the carriage of mail , their content of rare details, occasions a cargo that took little room but yielded and historic worth make the book an high revenues. Butler describes the en- absolute must for artists, model makers tire history of government maritime in- and lovers of this vanishing rig. The tervention through the years, up to and photographs are augmented with line SEA HISTORY 83 , WINTER 1997-98