REVIEWS THE GLENCANNON PRESS MARITIME BOOKS NEW! THE LAST BIG-GUN NAVAL BATILE •• USS Maryland at Surigao Strait, an eyewitness account. ALSO NEW! Vol. 5 of the Mr Glencannon stories ... & more. FREE CATALOG. Box 633, Benicia, CA 94510 800-711-8985 www.glencannon .com
writes to rhe effect rhar "that subj ect needs more work" - presumably by som eone else. To his credit, Harding has packed this small volume with a huge number of facts, most of which could be expanded considerably. To a researcher with interest in rhis period, here is a concise source with a quite complete index. A lengthy section of notes and a selected bibliography offer a vast storehouse of source material. WILLIAM H . WHITE
Rumson, New Jersey
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PC Patrol Craft of World War II A History of the Ships and Their Crews Wm. J. Veigele, P hD, USNR, Ret. 1---~---~
Includes a list of every PC,
•f.. ' how they were built, detail s • r ::: _ of their design,150 photos
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design, construction.battles, losses. Read about their exploits and what happened to them after the war. Hard cover, 400 pages. Send $39.95 + $4.75 s/h. (Add $ 1.75 for each add ' ! book to same address.) CA orders add $3. 10 tax. Astral Publishing Co., Dept H, PO Box 3955, San ta Barbara CA 93130-3955 See: http: //members.aol.com/wveigele/pcraft/pcraft.htm
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JackTar:ASailor'sLife, 1750- 1910, by J. Well es H enderson and Rodney P. Carlisle (An tique Collector's Club,Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, 1999, 288pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 1-851 49-326-3; $65hc) A towering seven-foot Jack Tar woodcarving considered one of the 100 finest pieces of folk arr greets us on the cover of the richly illustrated book which accompanies rhe exhibit "Life of a Sailor" at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. The book covers a significant portion of the exhibit, part of rhe vas t collection of]. Welles H enderson, a retired lawyer and founder of the ISM, then the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, in 1960. He started his nautical collection in 1927 as a young boy when he donated fifty cents to help save USS Constitution and received a small anchor as a m emento . H e spent a lifetime building what is today regarded as the finest private collection of maritime art, artifacts and manuscripts in rhe world relating to the lives of ordinary seamen. One of the m ost unusual and rarest items is the priceless Hodge diary, an ill ustrated journal account of a British sailor from about 179 0 to 1833. George Hodge sketched ordinary and extraordinary events, from his own impressm ent, capture and prisoner exchange to sea battles to isolation on a deserted island . His drawings cover a wide spectrum of experiences of the common sailor. This is an extraordinary volume wirh extensive bibliography, an excellent reference guide to nautical treasures and detailed source notes throughout. GINGER MARSHALL MARTUS Vincentown, New Jersey The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, N ight Actio n, 13 November 1942, by James W. Grace (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis
MD, 1999, 234pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio , index, ISBN 1-5575 0-32 7 -3 ; $32.95 hc) If one did not read rhe author's bio on the dust cover un ti! after reading this book, he or she would b e very surprised to learn that this is a first book written by a retired high school history reacher. The book contains a wealth of information about the little-publicized bur immensely important battle, carefully organized, extensively documented, and presented largely from rhe point of view of the surviving participants of both sides. Grace sets the stage by discussing the strategic importance of G uadalcanal in general and the mission and the cruisers and destroyers under rhe command ofRear Admirals Callaghan and Scott in particular. T heir mission was to prevent the bombardment of Guadalcanal's H enderson Field by rhe ImperialJapaneseNavy's bombardment group under the command of Admiral Abe. The US Navy had the dual advantage of advance knowledge of the Japanese intentions and the relatively new detection device: radar. The Japanese had the advantage of heavier ships and more guns. This was to be a battle of Japanese battleships and destroyers versus American cruisers and destroyers, a battle that wo uld be expected to go to rhe navy with the greater foe power. This book details the wh ys and hows of rhe surprising American victory. BRADFORD D. SMITH
Pleasanrville, New York The Battle for Baltimore, 1814, by Joseph A. Whirehorne (Nautical and Aviation Publishing Co. of America, Baltimore MD, 1997, 270pp., illus, maps, biblio, appen , ind ex, ISBN 1-8 77853-23 -2; $29.95hc) On 24-25 August 1814, the British invaded America for the second time. This rime rhey burned much of our nation's capital, and then withdrew. Less than one month later, on 13 September, the British fleer, anchored in rhe Patapsco River, began a rwenry-four-hour bombardment of the area aro und Baltimore and, specifically, Fort McHenry. This rime, the attack was repulsed and the British re-embarked their troops to return to the southern end of rhe Bay, after quirting rhe Chesapeake entirely on 19 October. They headed for
SEA HISTORY 91, WINTER 1999-2000