REVIEWS nations to help drive the scenes forward" (p308). Wright and Zo by relate how difficult it was to obtain information on Etheridge's career in the army, but quote him giving orders during a battle without a citation (p 100). The result is not a creditable history of the Pea Island Station. Four errors concerning the USLSS are found on page 15. In fact, very few chapters on the USLSS, or the USCG, are free from mistakes . So many little mistakes throughout bring into question the validity of the whole book. In short, the authors were wrecked upon the rocks of scholarship, with no one from the Pea Island Station to rescue them . DR. D ENNIS NOBLE Sequim, W ashington Find and Destroy: Antisubmarine Warfare in World War I, by Dwight R. Messimer (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2001, 352 pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio , index, ISBN 1-5575 0-447 -4; $37.5 0hc) Germany, for various reasons, as the author of Find and Destroy points out, did not take fu ll advantage of submarine potential during the first World War. Despite this, their still relatively primitive subs exacted a toll on Allied shipping, resulting in an array of countermeasures which met with varied success. The author describes and evaluates rhe development, use and effectiveness of various countermeasures, gathering information from British and German declassifed documents. H e enlivens his straightforward narrative with the reaction of German sub commanders to the threat of antisubmarine warfare-including stories such as that of the men, trapped in a disabled submarine on rhe bottom, who go t our and made their way to the surface. Accounts of rhe ill-fated British raids on Zeebrugge and O stend also complement the sto ry. The countermeasures were deadly to so many German U-boats that one wonders today what motivated the men who ventured out in rhem . ARTHUR KELLNER Roseland, New Jersey The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream, by Kirkpatrick Sale (The Free Press, Simon & Schuster,
54
New York NY, 2001 , 242pp, notes, sources, index, ISBN 0-684-86715-X; $24 hc) Sale has succeeded in bringing forth a thoughtful and entertaining biography that readresses earlier inaccurate and romantic treatments of the father of the American commercial steamboat industry. H e deftly portrays the conflicted private man whose vision and drive so impacted Am erica's commercial and military destiny, telling the fascinating sto ry of Robert Fulton's ambition, avarice, finan cial and arristic insecurity, sexual adventurism, and eventual triumph as one of the most imporrant American inventors and entrepreneurs of the 1800s. The author clearly makes a solid case that Fulton served as the de facto catalys t for the American Industri al Revolution and was indirectly responsible for the rapid expansion into the Miss issippi Rive r valley that inadvertently further entrenched the institution of slavery. The author captured this reader, and novice historians and serious scholars alike will wish to add this quality work to th eir libraries. ]AMES P. H ERSON, JR. , PhD, LT COL (USA) Fort Eustis, Virginia The Splendid Little War: The Dramatic Story of the Spanish-American War, by Frank Freidel (Burford Books, 2002 , orig 1958 , 256 pp, illus, biblio, index, !SB 158080-093-9; $ 18 .95 pb) The timel y reissue of this close-in, gritty reporting on the four-month US war with Spain in 1898 is ably related to today's concerns in a foreword by Mark Clodfelter of th e National War College-parricularly in the mix of humane and strategic interests which marked America's entry onto the world stage. PS A Great Fleet of Ships: The Canadian Forts & Parks, by S. C. Heal (Vanwell Publi shing Ltd ., St. Catharines ON , Canada, 1999, 3 12pp, illus, biblio, index, !SB 1-55125-023-3; $45hc) World War II had been raging in Europe for over a yea r when a British purchasing mission visited the US and Canada to co ntract for the first hulls in what evolved into the American Liberty ships and the Canadian-built Fort (British flag) and Park (Ca nadian flag) ships. In light of the essential role played by these 3123 vessels built
in No rth America, this v1s1t was timely indeed. The Canadian con tin gent, amounting to 13 percent of total North American production-a critically important co ntribution!-is fully documented and illustrated in this authoritative account, with the careers of the Canadian merchant navy ships recounted in fascinating derail. PS The Early Republic and the Sea: Essays on the Naval and Maritime History of the Early United States, edited by William S. Dudley and Michael J . Crawford (Brassey's, Inc. , Washingto n D C, 2001 , 27lpp, illus, notes, index, ISBN 1-57488372-0; $35hc) These essays from the NASOH (North American Society fo r Oceanic History) conferences of 1996-98 co mbine subj ects ranging from Robert Morris 's vital role in financing the navy of the yo ung American Republic to the later opening of the China trade and the supression of the slave tradesubjects surely vital to an understanding of America's involvement with the world by sea, presented with co lor , ve rve and thought-provoking authenticity. PS NEW&NOTED Warships in Miniature: A Guide to Naval Waterline Shipmodelling in 1:1200 Scale, by Michael Ai nsworth (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2001 , 224pp, illus, ap pen, index, ISBN 1-5575 0-437-7; $45 hc) Dancing with the Tide: Watermen of the Chesapeake, by Mick Blackisrone (Tidewater Publishers, Co rnell Maritime Press, Inc., Centreville MD, 2001 , 284pp, illus, index, ISBN 0-87033-532-4; $24.95hc) Storm Warriors, by Elisa Carbone (Alfred A. Knopf, New Yo rk NY, 2001, 169pp, ISBN 0-375 -80664-4; $ l 6 .95hc) Ficrion for yo ung adults bringing to life the courage and heroism of th e African-American crew of the Pea Island lifesaving station. American Maritime Prisoners in the Revolutionary War: The Captivity of William Russell, by Francis D. Cogliano (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2001 , 240pp, notes, biblio, index, ISB N 155750-194-7; $4 5hc) Traditions and Tales of the Navy, by Marrin Davis (Pictorial Histo ries Publishing Co., Inc., Missoula MT, 2001 , 251 pp, illus; $ 19.95pb) National Geographic Atlas of the Ocean:
SEA HISTORY 100, SPRING 2002