REVIEWS century. While there are some distractions, in particular a chapter on mountain climbing that breaks up the Aow of the text, Atlantic is, nonetheless, capti va ting. The book is handso mely illustrated with photographs of the participants (both boats and captains), lin e drawings of the vessels, and technical specifications. Scott Cookman brings the race to life and the reader will become immersed in the event and anticipating the end of the book to discover who is the true winn er of the C up. SALVATORE R. M ERCOGL!A 0 Bui es C reek, N orth Carolina
The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942, by Bernard Edwards (Pen & Swo rd Books, Barnesley UK, 2002, 2 10 pp, illus, biblio, index, ISBN 0-85 052-898-4; $32.95 hc) As a merchant mariner with over fo rty years of experience, Bernard Edwards is intimately aware of the dangers fac ing ships at sea. In this co mpelling tale of Arctic convoys to and from Russ ia berween March and N ovember 1942, he offers a detail ed, day-by-day acco unt of three "M urmansk runs" durin g a particularly low point in Allied fo rtun es. Although the story has been told many times before, Edwards relates th e experi ence of merchant ships in the Arcti c with precision, describing the dangers of sto rmy weather, enem y ac tion and Soviet indi ffere nce in a co ncise and readable style. The Road to Russia is not cutting-edge history. Written as a straightfo rwa rd narrative, the book relies entirely on secondary sources and is unsurprisingly co nve nti onal as a result. Larger issues relatin g to th e Battle of th e Atlantic, such as the intelli gence wa r or shipping logisti cs are passed over with little analysis. The German side of rhestotycould have been told with more detail if Edwards had consulted Germany
and the Second World War: The Global War (O xfo rd U niv. Press, 2001 ). Read with those caveats in mind, however, the story is cogentl y w ritten and full of th ose little details reminiscent of a Patrick O'B rian tale. O ne wishes Edwards had spent more rime on th e little-known derails, such as where to get a beer on Loch Ewe or the implications of failing to sail with enough antifreeze fo r powered gun mounts, which provide th e book with its only originali ty. DR. TIMOTHY FRANCIS
Naval Histo rical Center
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Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom: A Shipwrecked Cargo for Gold Rush California , by T homas N. Layton (S tanfor d U niversity Press, Stanfo rd CA, 2002, xv+ 269 pp, illus, maps, ap pen, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8047-4 175- 1; $2 1. 95 pb) In the openi ng chapte r of th is attracti vely produced book, T homas Layton, an anth ropologist at San Jose State U nive rsity, describes an incident that impelled a sea-change in his career. In 1984, during a ro utine dig at a late-prehistoric Pomo Ind ian sire, his students un covered fragments of porcelain . The M ito m Pomo were a basket-making-not a pottery-makin gpeople, and so this ra ised an intriguing anomaly. Layto n fo und that the shards had come from the Frolic-a Baltimore-buil t opium clipperthat, in 1850, wrecked no rth of San Francisco with the total loss of its cargo of Oriental goods-and became engrossed in unraveli ng the mys tery. To do it, he metam orphosed into a maritime hi sto ri an, carrying with him not just a new perspecti ve, bur remarkable energy as well . T hat same year, he laun ched the highl y acclaimed Frolic Ship wreck Proj ect. Fo ur museum exhibi ts fo llowed, along with an h istorical dramatization, a program fo r T he Learning C hannel, a fo urth-grade curri cu lum , and a raft of awards. T his passion fo r the story behind the wreck also led to the publication of Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom-a sequel to an earlier volume, The Voyage of the Frolic (1 997). T his posed a p roblem fo r me. It did nor seem fair to review the second without having read th e first, but Frolic is not available in New Zealand. A plea posted on an internet maritime history discussion list led to fo ur off-list replies, all fro m respected maritime histo rians, who ass ured me that The Voyage ofthe Frolic is a "major co ntribution to maritime histo ri cal writing." Also, mos t unexpectedly, the autho r sent me a copy, having learned thro ugh the grapevine th at I wanted one. I am pleased that he did so: not onl y did it mean I co uld wri te a balanced review, but I enj oyed The Voyage of the Frolic immensely. In this ini tial volu me, Layton describes the building of the ship, New England's in vo lve ment in th e opium trade, and, fi nally, the wrecking. T he book is then ro unded off with a discussion of the histori cal, ethnological, and preservation
issues involved. T hough strictly informati ve in style, the enthusiasm that imbues every page makes it as readable as a novel. In Gifts, Layto n develops the story furth er, by explorin g the origi ns of di rect commerce berween C hi na and Cali fo rn ia, and discuss ing the implications of transporting artifacts from one culture to another. Inescapably, there is a lot of repetition, but the style of tell ing is diffe ren t. W hile Gifts is ch aracterized by the same drive and enth usiasm that makes Frolic noteworthy, it is more consciously novelistic: the participants in the drama are given center stage, along with fic tional dialogue. It is a curious experiment, the novelty of which may appeal to some, while others might find that the dramatization distracts from Layton 's impressive scholars hi p, despi te three substa ntial appendices and fifteen pages of detailed notes. I do strongly recommend that anyone who reads Gifts from the Celestial Kingdom read The Voyage ofthe Frolic as well, so that a well-founded personal judge ment can be made. ] OAN D RUETT
Wellington, New Zealand
The Way of A Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days ofSail, by Derek Lundy (Ecco, New York NY, 2003, 450 pp, ISBN 0-06-621012-7; $25.95 hc) No t to be confused with Alan Villi ers's 1953 book of the same ride, in thi s book Derek Lu ndy, a proven mas ter of the maritime sto ry, has p rod uced yet another win ner! Hi s curiosity was piqued by fami ly tales of a great-great uncle, Benjami n Lundy, who had em igrated from Ireland, shipp ing out as a deck hand on a fourmas red steel colli er in th e 1890s. The exact details of that passage, fro m Live rpoo l to th e C hilea n coast byway of Cape Horn, are long lost, bur Lundy did an admirable job of recrea ti ng it fo r today's reader. As a sea story, complete with a Bay of Biscay ga le, wall owing in the doldrum s, a kn ock-down that dangerously sh ifts cargo, a coal fire, a hard-driving captain abetted by h is to ugh Ya nkee mate, and the relen tless fury of"Cape Stiff'' storms, it rivals any of the best. More than a story, however, The Way ofa Ship is the product of meticulous research. Lundy weaves historical facts th ro ughout th e tale, providi ng a disturbing acco un t of the magnitude of men and ships lost in that era. By the end, he has taken us SEA HISTORY J05 , AUTUMN 2003
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