at the foot of Market Street. The city's powe r of survival is evoked in a dram atic photograph of the eight-year-o ld rower standin g triumphant ove r fallen build ings, amid black clouds of smoke, dur ing th e terrib le earthquake of 1906. Karl Kortum 's photos of the "Freeway to Nowhe re" that cut across th e Ferry Building's face dramatically show another threat, met by Mrs. Olmsted and others who rallied under Jean Kortum 's leadership to tear down this cityblighting structure and rejo in Sa n Fra ncisco to the wa terfront that gave it birth . PS
the meeting of that ship and HMS Java off the coast ofBrazi l in 181 2, then back ro the Mediterranean. W hil e not written for a scholarly audience, this effort is a worthy addition to any m aritime hi srorian 's library as it does deliver the sro ry of Essex and, throu gh that, th e srory of her more fa mo us captains. As for the "birth of th e America n Navy, " there are o ther more signifi cant so urces which do a more credibl e jo b of detailing the ea rly days of American fi ghtin g sai l. WI LLIAM H. WHlTE
T h e U SS Essex and the Bir th of the American N avy, by Frances Diane Ro botti and James V iscovi (Adams M edi a Co rp ., Ho lbrook, Massachusetts, 1999, 304pp , illus, glossary, biblio, !SB 1-58062-1 120; $22 .95 hc) The story of the Sal em friga te USS Essex, bui lt 200 years ago in Salem , M assachusetts, as the first frigate of the Ameri can Navy in its infancy, is an exciting o ne; som e of th e most famous names in the an nals of th e US Navy cut their teeth on her quarterdeck and brought the sh ip and th e Navy both fame and, in so me cases, fortun e. Such men as Bainbridge, P reble, Barron and Porter, the fa th ers of the service, we re her first captains, and yo un g D av id Farragut served aboard as a midshipman. From her building by subscription to her ignominious end as a British prison hu lk, the ship created a lege nd for herself and her crews , and M s. Rob o tti and Mr. Viscovi have cold the tale reaso nably well in this volume. U nfortunately, in trying also ro tell the tale of the ea rl y days of the American Navy, they have undertaken a task well beyo nd the capacity of a o ne-volume effo rt, and ge nerally beyo nd their own capacity to provide a meanin gful narrative of this rich and va ried hisrory. Bein g by their own admi ss ion "landlubbers," th ey di strac t themselves and their readers by sropp ing to exp lain a host of nautical terms, cusro ms and phrases whi ch are often cove red by their glossary and which , for the most part, are well undersrood by their intended audience. And so me of th eir ex planations are simplifi ed ro the point ofbeing misleadin g. Additi o nall y, their digressio ns detract from th e chron o logy of their history; fo r exam pl e, whil e telli ng the story of USS Constitution in Tripoli in 1805 , th ey jump to
T itanic Voices: M emo ries from the Fateful Voyage, edited by Dona ld H yslop, Alastair Fo rsyth and Sheila Jemim a (S t. Martin's Press, New York, 1999, 296pp, illus, biblio, ISB 03 12 174284; $29.95 hc; ISB 0-312-2 1792-7; $ 16.95pb) Of the many titles inspired by the success ofThat Movi e, this book is truly a class act. Original ly published in 1994 by the Southampron C ity Council , Titanic Voices covers the sto ry in detail from beginning to end: the Wh ite Star Line and its showp iece, the Titanic; life aboard ship for passe nge rs and crew; testimony, letters and contemporaty news reports of rhe event; and rhe aftermath and tri al. Equally impressive is the collection of ph orographs, drawings and docum ents rhar fi ll nearl y every page.
SEA HISTORY 89, SUMMER 1999
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PC Patrol Craft of World War II A History of the Ships and Their Crews W m . J . Veigele, PhD, USNR , R et. f-----r---~
Incl udes a li st of every PC, how they were built, detail s • _ of their desig n, 150 photos and drawings , 33 tabl es o n design. construction,battles, - - losses. Read about the ir expl o its and what happened to the m after the war. Hard cover, 400 pages. Send $39.95 + $4.75 s/h. (A dd $ l.75 fo r each add ' l book to same address .) CA orders add $3. 10 tax. Astral P u b lishing Co., Dept H, PO Box 3955,
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T h e P ersisten ce of Sail in the Age of Steam: U nderwater Eviden ce fro m the Dry T ortugas, by Donna J . Souza (Plenum Press, New York, 1998, 189 pp, ill us , ap pen, glossary, ind ex, ISBN 0-306-458438; $4 2.50hc) Several sites in rhe Dry Torrugas document a rime of transition in the maritime industry in the late 1800s and ea rly 1900s as owners and crews of sailing vessels competed with steamers by adapting technological advances to their needs and by engaging in high-ri sk behaviors that could put crews, ships and cargoes in jeopardy. D etailed examinations ofseveral abandoned and wrecked ships and enough charts to satisfy a diehard scientist co mb ine with a firm grasp of social and technological hisrory ro make this book a useful and lucid examination of a microcosm of maritime history. J UST INE AHLSTRO/vl
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