REVIEWS Salvage Man: Edward Ellsberg and the US Navy, by John Alden (Nava l Institute Press, Annapoli s MD, 1998, 3 l 5pp, illu s, notes, biblio, index , ISBN 155750-027-4; $37.50hc) "S hip torpedoed. Getto sea!" So reads a typical message to then Commander Ellsberg in a wo rking day (or ni ght) in hi s assignments as salvage leader in the E uropean TheaterofOperations in World War II. This experiencecaJTied him from ra ising su nken wrecks in the harbors of Abyss ini a, liberated by the British from Italy, to similar work in harbors taken by the British 8th Anny in North Africa, and fin all y to the beaches of Normandy, where he cleared up an unho ly mess in the placement of the Phoeni x ca issons for Operation Mulberry-the artificial harbors that enabled the Ang lo-A merican-Canadian armies to crack the wa ll of Hitler ' s Fortress Europe in the spring of 1944. l came to know Ellsberg ' s legendary feats from my father A lfred Stanford, who served as Dep uty Comm ander of the US Mulben-y. Admiral Cunningham, British commander in the Mediterranea n, saw how Ellsberg's method s wo rked , and also ho w he threw him self
into the work in person, and gave El ls berg high marks, supporting him through all diffi culties, including those with US Navy commanders who resented Ellsberg's abrasive ways. Fortunately, Cunningham was in England for the Normand y invasion in 1944, and hi s urgent operational memo written just two-anda-half weeks before the invas ion broke through the bureaucratic fog and brought the matter of unusable Phoeni x units to Winston Churchill's attention, which finally led to acti on. This was Ellsberg ' s shining moment, testing pumps that didn ' t function, taking no one's word for anything, training emergency crews, and commandeering needed equipment. Commander Alden' s technical serv ice in the US Navy enables him to picture clearl y and acc urately the complex probl ems E ll sberg dealt with in hi s Paul Bunyanesque way. Thi s fine biography traces Ellsberg's career from a to ugh childhood through graduating at the top of his class from the US a val Academy , and the salvage of the sunken American submarine S-51 in the 1920s, into a leading role in US Navy salvage in WWII. Alden brings thi s indomitable person to life in these pages, w ithout
gi lding any lilies. He carefu ll y compares different vers ions of critical events and catches the flavor of E ll sberg's talk as well as the rhythm of hi s walk, and what my fat her used to ca ll the sa intl y si mpli c ity of his character. P ETER STANFORD
Shipping and C ulture: The Norwegian Fish C lub ofSan Francisco, 1914-1996, by Olaf T. Engvig (The Fish Club, San Francisco CA, 1996, 19 l pp, illus, notes, index, ISB 0-9655451-0-5 ; $49hc) Cou ld you be interested in the story of a fishing cl ub founded by people of orwegian stock li ving in San Franc isco in 19 14, on the l OOth anni versary of Norwegian independence? It mi ght he lp if I to ld you that the club never goes fishing , it meets for weekly fish dinners at a restaurant called Jack's, and it has done wonders to keep ali ve seafaring connections that bind this hardy Scandinav ian race together in all corners of the ocean world. Take for instance, Roald Am undsen ' s Gj¢a, the hardy sloop in whi ch the expl o re r sa iled the Northwest Passage throu gh the Arctic waters between northern most Canada and the No rth Pole in
Old 6 Rare Maritime Books Bought and Sold • Exploration and voyages by sea; • Shipbuilding, seamanship and navigation; •Naval history •Whaling • Yachting and Cruising • Commercial fisheries • Lighthouses, pirates and shipwrecks • Logbooks, documents and manuscripts •Sea charts • Books relating to marine art, antiques and ship models
We are eager to purchase single volumes or e11tire collectio11s i11 these subject areas. Ten Pound Island Book Co. 76 L angsford Street, Gloucester, MA 01930 (978) 283-5299 email: tenpound@shore.net web: http://www.abaa-booknet.com/usa/ten.pound/ catalogue avai lable on request
since 1976
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SEA HISTORY 85 , SUMMER 1998