REVIEWS based on personal observations and extensive interviews with key players. Tension created by the sometimes conflicting goals of salvage operations and archaeological preservation only added to the formidable challenges posed by weather, sea conditions, fiscal constraints, and the personalities of the leaders on both sides. Ironclad is smoothly written and soliclly documented. Ir is worth reading for its insights on the ship's battle with Virginia, for its record of the daunting challenges involved with recovering an archaeological gem from 240 feet beneath the ocean's surface, and for its epilogue describing the ongoing effort to identify the remains of two Monitor crewmen whose skeletons were recovered with the turret. CAPTAIN HAL SUTPHEN Kilmarnock, Virginia
historic cruise and, through extensive research, has given additional dimensions to Count von Luckner. Anyone worth his salt will enjoy this incredible but true yarn of sea, adventure, escape, and heroism-a tribute to a remarkable man. Trno HoLTKAMP West Simsbury, Connecticut
The Cruise of the Sea Eagle: The Amazing True Story Of Imperial Germany's Gentleman Pirate by Blaine Pardoe (Lyons Press, Gui lford, CT, 273pp, photos, photos, notes, appen, sources, index, ISBN 1-59228-694-1; $22.95hc). In 1916 the German navy picked Count Felix von Luckner to command an unusual raider-a four-masted sailing vessel! Disguised as a Norwegian ship, Seeadler (Sea Eagle) passed through the British blockade into the Atlantic. Von Luckner captured and sank a number of ships, but he brought the crews onboard his own ship as prisoners and treated them with respect. Eventually, the British caught on afte r he sent his prisoners to Rio via a captured ship. Pursued by British warships, vo n Luckner doubled Cape Horn and escaped into the Pacific. Here, Seeadler ended up on the rocks of an atoll, leaving both the German crew and their captives stranded. The irrepressible von Luckner sailed 2,500 miles toward Fiji in a open boat with a handful of his officers, but when they tried to seize a ship, the British captured him and sent him to a prison in New Zealand. From there he escaped, was caught, escaped again, and was caught again. As a young boy in Germany, I read von Luckner's Sea Devil: Adventures .from My Life and could not put it down. Blaine Pardoe has re-created the suspense of this
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A British Eyewitness at the Battle ofNew Orleans: The Memoir ofRoyal Navy Admiral Robert Aitchison, 1808-1827 Edited by Gene A. Smith (The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, 2004, 160pp, maps, illus, color plates, biblio , index, ISBN 0-917860-50-0, $ 15.95 pb) Considering the disastrous outcome of the Battle of New Orleans (from the British viewpoint, that is) and the death therein of many potential writers, Robert Aitchison's words echo in a very small library dedicated to the subject. Taking into account that forty years passed before Aitchison penned the recollections of his experience and that he was a marginal witness, at best, editor Gene Smith nonetheless recognized the val ue of bringing his retrospective to our attention. Aitchison joined the service on his thirteen th birthday and was "taken" aboard a vessel and entered as a volunteer (later midshipman). He did his best to see action and distinguish himself. In January 1815, as the Barde of New Orleans loomed, he wrote, "I was very unhappy at my chance of not getting up with the troops, but I
succeeded by hook or by crook, by being sent in charge of the Captain of the Fleet's gig ... with his valet & shoe brush." The day of the assault, he helped ferry Banking troops across the Mississippi. The battle, he stated, "was a disastrous affair from begi nning to end." Not long after the British gave up their attempt to take New Orleans, Aitchison was unexpectedly called before a board "to undergo [his] examination" for Lieutenant. The midshipman revealed his chagrin and nervousness; his requisite papers and logs were in a sea chest somewhere. "In the confusion and amidst all the dirt & dust I was obliged to seek out mine to clean myself and dress myself for this serious affair. I got away logs, certificates, and all in a high state of perspiration, my face, I imagine, covered with sand .... " This is the memoir at its best. Battles and personages are backdrops for a young subaltern copi ng with the ebb and Bow of history and life events. Aitchison's career would take him throughout tlle Mediterranean, Caribbean, and along the coast of North America. He participated in two major engagem ents: the Battle of New Orleans and the 1816 Battle of Algiers. Like many other officers, he was "on the beach" without ass ignment on half pay between conflicts (surviving more on fam ily wealth than on his own income), bur connections worked in his favor toward reassignment and advancement. He achieved the rank of Admiral as an Admiralty Office honorary postretirement promotion. Gene Smith has done a masterful job introducing and concluding A.itchison's words, and his voluminous footnotes help illuminate a fascinating period in history. PETER SORENSEN Old Mystic, Connecticut
Hitler's Admira/,s by George Henry Bennett and Roy Bennett (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2004. 249pp, index, ISBN 1-59114-061-7; $32.95) A British Admiralty mission arrived in Germany in May 1945 to interview selected captive German admirals . Initially tasked to interrogate senior officers, collect derails of technical developments and equipment, and make inquiries concern ing possible war crimes, the mission had to lower its expectations when the German
SEA HISTORY 113 , WINTER 2005-2006