REVIEWS
CLASSIFIED ADS Peter Williams/Museum Services. N ew England 's premier resource for rhe resrorarion of maririme painrings. 30 Ipswich Sr. , Boston MA 022 15. By appoimmem: 61 7-536-4092 See our Websire: www.pererwilliams.org Art Prints. NYC Fireboars 16 x 20", $ 18 each.
Also available for commissioned work. Call Steve Whi te 718-317-5025, E-mail : fdnyarrisr @aol.com Marine Paintings by Robert W . Young. 4 11 Elliorr Sr. , Beverly MA 01915-2353. Free brochure. Website: hrrp: //shop.rownon li ne.com/ marinepainrings. Tel: 978-922-7469, E-mail: RY1 92 l @aol.com Model Restoration/Construction, Captain Norman Smith, Grear Island Model Shipyard, 106 Lombos Hole Road, Harpswell, ME 04079, 207-833-6670, E-mail: dysmirh@gwi.net Bob's Silver Heart and precious kisses on d1e Websire: handsonmysilverhearr.4all.cc Email: Disrefuno93@aol.com Steamboat Prints by Currier & Ives. T we n ry scenes. Dormann's Gifts, 330 Alby Sr., POB 473, AJron, IL, 62002. 61 8-462-2654 or 800 899-4438 . Websire: www.dormanns.com Email: dormanns@dormanns.com To place yourdassifiedadar$ l .60 perword, phone Marin ar 914-737-7878, exr. 235. Or you may mail your message and payment ro Sea Hisrory, Arm: Advertising Desk, PO Box 68 , Peekskill N Y 10566. OWNER'S STATEMENT Sraremem fil ed I 0/0 I /0 l requ ired by the Act of Aug. 12, 1970, Sec. 3685, T ide 39, US Code: Sen History is published quarterly ar 5 John Walsh Blvd., Peekski ll NY I 0566; minimum subscrip rion prjce is $ 17.50. Publisher and ediror-in-chief is Parrick j . Ga rvey: edicor is Juscine Ahlscrom; owner is Na riona l M ari rime Histori cal Sociery, a no n-profi t
corpo ra rion; all are locared ar 5 John Walsh Blvd., Peekskill NY I0566. Duri ng rhe 12 momhs preceding October 200 I rh e average number of (A) co pies primed each issue was
25,295; (B) paid and/o r requesred circularion was: ( I) ourside-coun ry mai l subscriptio ns I 1,866; (2) in-co un ry subscriptio ns O; (3) sales ch rough dea lers, ca rri ers, co umer
sales, orher non- USPS paid distriburion 85 1; (4) orher classes mailed rhrough USPS 64 0; (C) rora l paid and/o r requesred circularion was 13,357; (D) free distribution by mai l, samples, complimentary and orher I 0,949; (E) free d ist ributio n outside the mai ls 97; (F) rota! free d istrib utio n
was 11 ,046; (G) rora l distribution 24,4 03; (H) copies nor disrribu red 892; (I) rora l [of 15G and HJ 25,295; U) [)erce nrage paid a nd /or reques red circu lat ion 55% . The acrua l nu mbers for rhe single iss ue preceding O ctober 200 I
are: (A) ro ra l number printed was 25,000; (B) paid and/o r req uested circulatio n was ( I) ourside-co unry ma il subscrip-
tions 11,455; (2) in-counry subscriprions O; (3) sales rhro ugh dealers, ca rri ers, counter sales, other no n- USPS
paid disrriburion 466; (4) orher classes mailed rh rough USPS 630; (C) roral paid and /or requesred circulation was 12,55 1; (D) free distribution by mail, samples, complimenrary and other 11,545; (E) free d istribution ourside the mails O; (F) rora l free d isrriburion was 11 ,545; (G) ro ral disrriburion 24,096; (H) copies not distribu ted 904; (I) roral [of 15G and HJ 25,000; U) Percentage paid and/or requested circu lation 52%. I ce rri fy thar the above srarcmenrs are co rrect and complete. (s igned) Parrick J. G arvey, Presidcnr, Nati o nal M aririm e Histo rical Sociery.
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Sr. Croix, and the autho r's jo urney to the Gold Coast in 1995 . Svalesen 's pilgrimage to the contemporary Gold Coast resulted in shock and reflection, and a reconsideration of rhe rol e of the Danes in the slave trade and the part played by th e Fredensborg. T he impressive walls of Fort Christiansborg, Fort Elmina or Cape Coast Castle where slaves we re held for embarkation to the Caribbean and elsewhere stand as monum ents to the slave expenence. Public outreach is a key elem ent in the archaeology of the Fredensborg. Products include two books, a book for children , a monument commemoratin g th e ship unveiled by representati ves of G hana, and a traveling exhibit o rganized by the N o1wegian M aritime Museum with exhibits in Sr. Croix and G hana. The discovery of the Fredensborg put D enm ark and N orway o n the Slave Ro ute Proj ect of U N ESCO . U nderwater archaeology provided the m eans to illuminate a fo rgo tten chapter in the history of the transArl antic slave trade. TI MOT H Y
J. R UNYAN
East Carolina U ni versity G reenvill e, No rth Carolina The Price of Disobedience: The Battle of the River Plate Reconsidered, by Eric ]. Grove (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2000, 189 pp, illus, notes, index, !SB 1-5 5750-429-6; $32.95 hc) In this new assessm ent of the almost forgotten Barrie of the Ri ve r Plate, fou ght in D ecember 1939 between the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the British heavy cruiser Exeter with the rwo light cruisers Aj ax and Achilles, the autho r foc uses o n the specifi c o rders given to the German captain , H ans Wilhelm Langsdorff-"Co mbat action, even agai nst inferior forces [is] not an aim in itsel f and is therefore not ro be soughr"-and his decision ro disregard th em. GrafSpee, designed as a co mmerce raider that could outrun any ship that could outgun her and o urgun any speedi er ship, had sail ed out undetected in ro the Atlantic fro m Kiel ten days before th e war started in September 1939 . Langsdorff' s missio n was to attack m erchant shipping, and in the next few m onths she m anaged to find and sink nine lightly arm ed o r unarmed British merchant ships, fortunatel y without loss of li fe, in the South Atlantic and Indian
O ceans. Pi ckin gs we re slim, however, and Langsdorff moved to So uth America, to th e Rive r Plate area, where ships laden with meat and grain would provide rich cargoes. W a tching and waiting th ere was th e commander of rhe SourhAn1erican Srario n of rhe South Atlantic Division of rh e Royal Navy , Co mm o d o re H e nr y " Bo bb y" H arwood. Appointed in 193 6, he had char m ed his way up and down rhe east coast of South An1erica, making fri ends wherever he we nt. Aware of Graf Spee's trail of sinkings, Harwood surmised th at Langsdorff would head for the richer h unring grounds th at he patro ll ed. And he would be there ro meet rhe German ship . Sure enough, by daw n's earl y light on 13 D ecember, the two enemies spotted each orher and in less than 90 minutes all fo ur ships were badly battered, so bad ly that the wounded Langsdorffbroke off th e actio n and headed for Montevideo, a neutral po rt where he hoped to make his ship seawo rth y. T he Exeter, too, was not fir to fi ght and was sent back to base in th e Falkland Islands. M eanwhile the two light cruisers patro ll ed the estuary to keep th e battleship bottled up . Fo r th e next few days H a1wood's prewar schmoozing paid off. N othing seem ed to go rh e way rhe Ge rmans had hoped . Whil e repairs were being made, British fo rces were gathering and U ruguayan autho rities fo rced the o nly partially repaired GrafSpee to leave the port. As a result, late on 17 D ecember, sh e pull ed our in to th e Montevideo channel, lighters rook off th e crew, and the crew blew the ship up . She serried into the silt where she remained two years later when I was there. T he crew was taken to Buenos Aires and interned. After they had been settled in , Langsdorff sho t himself: he paid rhe price of disobedience with his life. M any of the Bri rish merchant crews who had been held cap rive on the Graf Spee felt Langsdorff to be a decent and hono rable man and attended his fun eral. T he autho r uses Langsdorff s journals as well as other primary documents to assess his actions and his decision to co mmit suicide in rhe face of the consequences of his decisio n. H e also provides a close examina tion of the actions of German and Britis h n avies in the early days of the wa r. G EOFFREYF I ELD I G
Towson , Maryland
SEA HJSTORY 99, WINTER 200 1- 02