IEWS Joshua Barney: Hero of the Revolution and 1812, by Louis Arthur Norton (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD , 2000 , 245pp, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 1-55750490-3; $32.95 hc) Joshua Barney was one of the few men involved in the birth and infancy of our country who did not fade away to relative obscurity after the American Revolution. He continued to stay involved and, in what turned out to be his final action agai nst the British, was the hero of Bladensburg immediately before the British burned the nation's capital. He was, in fact, the one American officer who, with his men, stood his ground and gave the British their sole fight in the action, and both sides referred to him as an exceptional leader. Unfortunately, Barney is not generally considered a hero of both the revolution and the War of 1812 as he should be, probably because he went to work for the French between the two American wars. His decision was a model of bad timing: in 1798, America went to war against the French, and Barney was on the wrong side. Norton has done a fine job of researching this colorful patriot. He provides insight to his character and mind set and shines a bright light on a neglected figure who helped shape the yo ung Republic. The material is presented in a most readable manner. A few editorial errors and some convoluted sentence structure detract only slightly from the pleasure of reading this book, which serves as more than just a biography. Indeed, it offers a crash course in American and European history from 1775 through about 1815, a period roiling with momentous events. WILLlAM H. WHITE Rumson, New Jersey
Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars, by Robert Gardiner (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2000, 208pp, illus, notes, biblio, gloss, index, ISBN 1-5575 0-288-9; $59.95hc) In his third book about frigates, Robert Gardiner delivers a unique combination: immutable truths about the naval component of maritime power interwoven with details of one of the most intriguing ship types in naval history. His knowledge of the subject is more than impressive. As interesting as the author's technical knowledge is his ability to place design, construe42
tion, armament and performance details in a broad and provocative perspective. The book's large format accommodates more than 220 illustrations and tables that happily are interwoven with the text. Twelve chapters provide illuminating commentary on the particulars of square-rigged frigate technology, including derails as precise as how excessive tumblehome compromised the strength of a sail rig by reducing rhe spread of irs shrouds. Bur rhe steady flow of rhose details is constantly related to larger points, such as how compromises in British frigate design during rhe Napoleonic Wars were driven by overall naval strategy. Thus, for example, Gardiner establishes rhat rhe designs developed for Britain's frigates during the period were influenced as much by rhe need for range and endurance as by a need for hull speed. In rhe process, he debunks the popular wisdom rhar French ship design was superior to British. This book dramatically reminds us of important constants of maritime power. These include challenges (such as determining a rational "high-low mix" of ships) and ever-present realities (such as rhe symbiotic relationship between naval power and economic muscle). Arguably rhe most important of those constants waylays rhe reader in the last chapter, "Frigates in Action, " wirh rhe sraremenr, "the crew was rhe frigate's most flexible asset." RADM JOSEPH CALLO, USNR (RET) Kansas City, Missouri
Captain Ahab Had A Wife: New England Women and the Whalefishery, 1720-1870, by Lisa Norling (Universiry of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC and London UK, 2000, 372pp, illus, no res, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8078-2561-1; $45hc; !SB 0-8078-4870-0 ; $19.95pb) Lisa Norling has produced a thorough and penetrating history of the whaling masters' wives of Southern New England and rhe complex culture created through their interactions wirh their often absent husbands and each other. Nantucket is the nexus of much of the book, starting in the 1660s when rhe island was firsr serried. The changes in its societal structure as whaling shifted from onshore to deepwarer to rhe far oceans is a fascinating story. As voyages srrerched from months to years, rhe matriarchal leadership of rhe
whaling masters' families and rhe maritime paternalism of rhe economic system are well explored. A limitation in rhe system was rhe concept of coverture, whereby a woman's identity upon her marriage became covered by her husband's, such that she could not own property, keep her own wages, nor serve as rhe legal guardian of her children. Debt could only accrue against rhe husband, who might nor be home for several years. Nanrucker society was also shaped by a strong Quaker presence, wirh irs own strictures on behavior and rradirion of equality between men and women. The social structure ashore of necessity reflected that afloat. In the early days the officers and crew were typically from local family groups, whereas later crews were increasingly made up of foreigners and farm boys from the hinterlands with no local ties. By the 1820s the longer whaling voyages in larger, deeper ships req uiring more men and more water at the harbor entrance necessitated the move from Nantucket to New Bedford, a much larger and more open community. While in the 18th century rhe departure of whaling fleets left homeports such as Nantucket disproportionately female, in mid 19th-century New Bedford only some ren percent of rhe men actually wenr to sea. And as rhe business became larger and better organized, factors or agents rhat owned shares in rhe ships and provided the capital ro operate them came between the officers and crews, and between rhe wives and their sources of support. Thus, many of rhe matriarchal, Quaker and Victorian concepts rhar had shaped the New England whaling communities were diluted. TOWNSEND HORNOR Osterville, Massachusetts
In Armageddon's Shadow: The Civil War and Canada's Maritime Provinces, by Greg Marquis (McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal QC, 2000 (pb), 1998 (he), 389pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 0-7735-1792-8; $65hc; ISBN 0-77352079-1; $27.95pb) The Maritime Colonies (they were not yer part of rhe greater Dominion of Canada) viewed rhe US Civil War with a degree of ambivalence thar produced internal turmoil and occasional cases of international con flier. Officially constrained by Britain's policy of neutrality between rhe combatSEA HISTORY 97 , SUMMER 2001