of the American contributi on to the Royal Navy's success. The 50 destroyers lenr, or sh all I say given, to the Royal Navy are glossed over as is the signifi cance of A merican aircraft which finally bro ught the Fleet Air Arm into parity with Ax is aircraft. Additionally, insufficienr mention is made of the construction of esco rt carriers in American yards, whi ch permitted the Royal Navy to truly possess blue-water naval aviation. Furthermo re, the Royal Ca nadian Navy's contribution is hardly m enri o ned and there is not even an index entry fo r Canada! Surely th e Royal Navy did not wi n World War II at sea solely through its own efforts. Fo r a balanced treatm ent of the Ro yal Navy in World War II readers will wanr to come abreast of Co rrelli Barn ett, Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War and leave Jackso n to leewa rd. H AROLD N. B OYER
Florence, So uth Carolina US Carriers at War, 2nd rev. editi o n, by Peter Ki lduff (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD , 1997, l 28 pp , illus, bibli o, ISBN 1-55 75 0-858-5; $34.95 hc) First published in 1981 a nd rev ised for this edition, aviation histo rian Pete r Ki lduff has provided a brief overview of carrier warfare during th e seco nd wo rld war. H e reviews ca rrier development in th e Un ited States leadin g up to th e war a nd rh en looks ar va rious battles and individual carriers in an attempt to prov ide the reader with a glimpse of what this parti cular type of warfare was li ke during those dark days berween 1941and 1945. T he title of this book is really a misnomer for ir sho uld have been tided an "oral histo ry" of ca rri ers at war. Each chapter hi ghlights a particul ar pilot w ho had firsthand experience in a parti cul ar battl e, type of plan e, o r carrier, with li ttle overall structure lin king the chapters. T he text is acco mpanied by many photographs which co mplement and improve the boo k. T here is insufficient backgro und information in each chapter to guide the beginning reader and too much oral histo ry for the scholar lookin g for new in terprerarions and co nclusions. One only h as to look to works by Clark Reynolds, Norma n Po lmar, Andrew Faltum or Barrett Tillman, to name bur a few, to find excellenr wo rks on carrier warfare during WWII. T his book conrrib-
SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999
ures nothin g new to rhe historiography of that struggle. H AROLD N. BOYER
Wake of the lnvercauld, by Madelene Ferguso n Allen (McG ill-Queen's U niversity Press, Montreal QC, Kingston ON, London GB, Buffalo NY, 1997, 256pp, illus, appen, index, ISBN 0-7735- 1688-3; $45 hc) Bleak and uninhabited, the Auckland Islands group lies 290 miles south of New Zealand, berwee n 30° and 55 °, squarely in the track of sa iling vessels bound aro und Cape H o rn from Australia. T he steep cliffs o n th e weste rn side of Auckland Island, the gro up's largest, have claimed nin e vessels that are kn own and probably man y ochers. T his book is the sto ry of one of those shi ps and her crew's struggle for survival. The new, Aberdeen-built ship I nvercauld loaded in London in January 1864 for Melbo urn e and after discharging th ere departed in ballast for Callao . As was custom ary for sa ilin g vessels, she headed south of New Zealand to take advantage of the stron g weste rlies in those latitudes before heading north. On 10 May 1864, seven days after sailin g from Melbourne, the I nvercauld was w recked on Auckland Island. Of the 25 on boa rd, six were drowned ; the others, after getting ashore, found themselves at the bottom of a cliff 1,000 feet in height with o nly the clothes they were wearing, and with almost no food. T he strenuous climb to the top revealed a treeless landscape with shrubbery so dense they were co mpelled to walk on top of it and weather of the worst kind: heavy rain and w ind, snow and bitter co ld- Roarin g Forties weather, in fact. The island provided o nl y meager fa re, an d within a co uple of monrhs, 16 had succumbed to ex posure and starvatio n. The survivors-Ca ptain Geo rge Dal ga rn o, C hi ef Mate And rew Sm ith and sea man Robert Holding-moved to a smaller island , one of those enclos ing rhe harbo r to the north which afforded a possibi li ty of rescue. T hirteen months after th e wreck rh eywere taken off by a ship which had put in for repair. All three men left acco unts of the experience, the captain 's bein g the briefes t and Holding's the lengthi est and with the greates t derail; all are included here. Holding's accounr, written in his old age in Ca nada, came into the hands of his great-great-
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Brass pormoles, Robinson telegraph, liferings, lobster traps & buoys, large anchors, rwrning lights. Anchors Aweigh, 440-774-6700. Searching for any and all arcifacrs from me William Fletcher Weld Company, esp. house Aag. Contact Sprague Theobald, 10 L'lkeview Ave., Newport, RI 02840, 401-847-6021, e-mail:splank2@aol.com. Boating Magazines: Nautical Quarterly complete $400.00, ClassicBoatingall mrough 12/96, $200.00, Wooden Boat complete, $450.00, Lany 716-3462577. Historic model kits-CG Boars/Ships, Liberty & Victory Ships, tugboats & lighrvessel catalog $2.00. Plus historical book"Shipsofcl1e U.S. Merchant Fleet 1939- 1968" wicl1 photographs of all cypes of ships when cl1eAmerican Merchan t Marine was at its peak fo r $20.00 (includes S&H). Check or money order to J.A. Culver, 94 Marshview Circle, Seabrook, NH 03874.
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