REVIEWS were put ashore, previous passen gers, families of the lost crewmen, and staff of Windjammer Barefoot C ruises to gain the familiari ty evident in his story. And h e must have become somethin g of an expert on hurricanes as well. The Ship and the Storm is highly accurate, completely credible, and pe rsonal. T he characters are real and there is precious little guesswork that occurs in telling this story. And Carrier does not get caught in the trap of techno-speak; he clearl y explains anything that might co nfuse or cause the reader to skip. Go and get this page-turner and settle down to an unforgettable tale of seamanship , feroc ious weather, bad luck, and error. Yo u won' t be ab le ro put it down. W ILLIAM H. WHITE Rumson, New J ersey Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson (Vintage Books, Random House, Inc., New York NY, 1999, 323pp, notes, sources, index, ISBN 0-375-70827-8; $ l 3pb) This blow- by-blow accou nt tracks the 1900 Galvesto n hurricane fro m its birth as a bit of unsettled weather in the South Atlantic on 27 A ugust to its destructive passage through Galvesto n on 8 September and its awful aftermath later that m o nth. More than 6, 000 people in Galvesto n los t their li ves, and a large portion of the city was destroyed, forever affecting its eco nomic growth. It is ge nerally regarded as the most destructive hurricane in history. Larson brings in fasc inating information o n the Weather Bureau's early days, includingcompetition with C uban weather forecaste rs that prevented early warni ng of the hurricane's track, and assumptions abo ut what a hurricane co uld and co uld not possibly do. For example, it was a given that A tlantic hurricanes could never cross into the G ulf of Mexico-because none was known to have done so, before this o ne! T he a uth or' s meticulous research coupled with his presentation of what we now know about such storms produces a vivid story that is hard to put down. Our nation's confidence at that time in its industrial dominance over nature meets the ultimate sto rm , and the result is both fascinating and humbling. TOWNSEND H ORNOR Ostervill e, Massachusetts
SEA HISTORY 96, SPRING 2001
She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea, by Joan Druett (Simon & Schuster, New York NY, 2000 , 269pp, illus, sources, index, ISBN 0-684-85690-5; $26hc) Joan Druett continues her womenaga inst-the-sea saga with She Captains, a follow-up to Hen Frigates. The latter, now avai lab le in paperback, co ntains the tales of wo men growing up and/or wo rking on the sea, and of those marrying into a seafaring life. It was to most read ers a long overdue remind er ora revelation . Her current effort strains to cover the waterfront. Incl uded are thumbnails of C leopatra and Emma Hamilton right alongside the usual suspects, pirates Bonny and Read. One of the au thor's intentions was the "sifting of m yth fro m reali ty." What follows is heavy on the compilation and ligh t o n the sifting. Anyo ne looki ng for a wide su rvey of the subj ect w ill not be disappointed. PETER SORENSEN NEW&NOTED The Lusitania: The Life, Loss, and Legacy of an Ocean Legend, by Daniel Allen Buder (Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA, 2000, 304pp, illus, appen, notes, gloss, biblio, index, ISBN 0-811 7-0989-2; $29.95hc) Sea Stories of Cape Cod and the Islands, by Admont G ulick C lark (Lower Cape Publishing, Orleans MA, 2000, 288pp, illus, appen, biblio, index, ISBN 0-93697217-3; $39.95hc) Available from On Cape Publications, 508 362-9335. The American Line, 1871-1902, by William Henry Flayhart III (W.W. Norton & Company, New York NY & London GB, 2000 , 4 04 pp , illus, notes, bib Iio, index, ISBN 0-39 3-04710-5; $39 .95hc) Technological Change and the United States Navy, 1865-1945, by William M. McBride Qohns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD, 2000, 346 pp, illus, no tes, index, ISBN 0-8018-6486-0; $45 hc) Anatomy of the Ship: The 100-Gun Ship Victory, revised edition, by John McKay (Naval Institute Press, Annapo lis MD, 2000, orig 1987, 11 9pp, illus, ISBN 15575 0-4 18-0; $39.95 hc) Last of the Boom Ships: Oral Histories of the US Merchant Marine, 1927-2000, by Jim Whalen (1st Books Library, 2000, 182pp, g loss, ISBN 1-5872 1-733-3; $9 .95pb (8 00 839-8640); $4.95 E-book (www. l stbooks.com))
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