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rant and entertaining book. Taking five exciting, often rollicking, true adventures at sea, spanning from the American Revolution to the Civil W ar, and from 80 ° N to 40 ° S, Petrie describes each of these sea fights, captures and incidents of dashing quasi-skullduggery in colorful terms. H e follows each adventure with a lucid and thorough explan ation of the points of international law that are involved . The capture of the Sco ttish whaler Eliza Swan by the American fri gate President in 1813 was follo wed by canny negotiation at sea between the whaler's Sco ts skipper and Sco ttish -Ameri can Co mmodore J o hn Rodgers. As a res ult, the whaler was ransomed by bills of exchange, co llectible fro m the ship 's owners. At the end of this chapter the reader finds that he has effortl essly learned about prize-taking, ransomin g and the proper use of cartels. T he other stories and their letters are equally fasc inating. T he epilogue and appendix contain solid meat for the serious student of the prize game; this book will change the way maritime histori ans view these subj ects.
some two thousand miles beyond our co ntinental sho res in the early part of this century. A class ic is the construction of Dry D ock # 1, a huge excavation into some very unstable so il th at was the legendary home ofKa'ahupahau, the shark goddess. D isturbing her was Pilikia-H awaiian for tro uble. Planning began in 1907; afrer four yea rs and $4-million wo rth of construction work, the whole dock imploded in fo ur minutes in 19 13. It was finally completed in 19 19 for an additional $5 million and an apology to the shark goddess. Since then it has operated perfectly for more than eigh ty yea rs. Pearl is indeed a definitive history, at tim es a little tedious to read with its infinite amounts of detail , but rewarding of the effo rt. T he substantial appendices, listing H awaiian rulers, governors, secretaries of the Navy, CNO s, Pacific Squadron commanders, Pearl H arbor base commanders, and a large bibliography make this a very useful wo rk. TOWNSEN D H O RNOR
O sterville, Massachusetts
Pearl: The History of the United States Navy in Pearl Harbor, by Lyndall Landauer and Donald Landauer (Flying Cloud Press, Institute fo r lvlarine Information, South Lake Tah oe CA, 1999, 434pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 0-933 18506-5; $19.95 pb) Pearl offers a good deal more than its tide suggests. In the co urse of telling the histo ry of the U ni ted States Navyand Pearl H arbor, the backgro und of alm ost every related subject is covered. T he history of the Hawaiian people and their culture, first b ro ught to light in 1778 by Cap tain Coo k, is discussed with emphas is on their inevitable clash with New England whalers, American missionaries, several fo reign powers that fro m time to time coveted the islands, and the US Navy. T he interaction of native H awaiian dynas ti c political power vs. descendants of the missionari es vs. the US Congress as it diddled over th e question ofstateh ood- finallyachieved in 1959 after abo u t o ne hund red yea rs of consideration- is fasc inati ng. Bes ide the sometimes comic-opera politi cal narrative are some marvelous stories of our Navy's pro blems building a base
SEA HISTORY 90, AUTUMN 1999
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PC Patrol Craft of World War II A History of the Ships and Their Crews Wm. J. Veigele, PhD, USNR, Ret. .---~~--~
Includes a li st of every PC, how they were built, detail s . of their des ign, 150 photos · and drawin gs, 33 tabl es on des ign, construction,battl es, losses. Read about their exploits and what happened to them after the war. Hard cover, 400 pages. Send $39.95 + $4.75 s/h. (A dd $ 1.75 fo r each add' ! book to sa me address.) CA orders add $3. 10 tax. Astral Publishing Co. , Dept H, PO Box 3955, Santa Barbara CA 93 130-3955 Sec: http://members.aol.com/wveigcle/pcraft/pcra ft. htm
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The Fatal Cruise of the Argus: Two Captains in the War of 1812, by Ira D ye (Naval Institute Press, A nnapolis M D , 1994, 388pp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 155 750-175 -0; $3 7.95hc) T he tide of this fin e work belies its co ntents; the reader will learn about a grea t deal more than just the commerce raiding cruise of the US brig A rgus. Indeed, included in this volum e is a cras h course in the W ar of 1812- from the perspectives of W illi am Henry Allen, USN, and John Fo rdyce M aples , RN . The research is impeccable and well documented. The annotations and bibliography will lead the interested reader into detail of a way oflife of the fa bled iron men and wooden ships. Each of the captains is committed to bis cause, and in reading each man's story, we find out why. Dye bas brought these men to li fe in a way that makes his work read not like th e precise histo ry that it is, but like a novel based on history. The good news fo r the reader is that each of the men, Allen and M aples, participated in most of the major events of the War of 18 12 and the events which led up to it. D ye writes of confrontatio ns including the Leopardi Chesapeake affair and the capture by D ecatur of H MS Macedo-
The American Neptune Enjoy the leading scholarly journal of maritime history and arts in the US . The American Neptune, a quarterl y publication of the Peabody Essex Museum, is a great read for co ll ectors, model makers, and all who love ships and the sea. We offer Sea History readers an opportunity to subscribe to The American Neptune for $3 3, a $6 savings over our regular subscription rate ($36 for non-US residents. Institutions : call for rates) . To start your subscription , send a check or money order to :
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