Reviews Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America by David Hackett Fischer (New York, Simon & Schuster, 2008, 834pp, illus, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-4165-9332-4, $40hc)
both remarkable achievements and many failures and defeats, errors rhar sometimes cost lives. Yer he managed to keep peace berween a wide range of disparate factions (religious, social, racial, and economic) not by force, but by reason. Although criticized by his rivals, Champlain was widely respected for his temperament, rectitude, and leadership style. This is an extraordinary book, very well written-scholarly, yet fast paced. Fischer's extensive appendices and rhe derailed history of eastern Canada are worth the price of rhe book alone. I highly recommend Champlain's Dream as an excellent addition to any maritime historian's library. Louis A. NORTON West Simsbury, Connecticut
Eight Thousand Years of Maltese Maritime History. Trade, Piracy, and Naval Warfare in the Central Mediterranean
David Hackett Fischer's Champlain's Dream is a fascinating biography of the person who established "New France" on the shores of North America, in the place we now call eastern Canada. Samuel de Champlain, a mariner, explorer, and cartographer, rose through the ranks to command a fleet of vessels engaged in colonizing the New World. Berween 1599 and 1633, he made rwenty-seven Atlantic crossings and hundreds of North, Central, and South American coastal and riverine explorations-without losing a ship. Champlain lived during rhe nine violent French Wars of Religion, which produced unspeakable atrocities. Remarkably, Champlain strove to achieve peace among the Indian nations by living among rhem and working to create a lasting basis for peace, even in rhe face of incredible acts of inhumanity. His leadership was based upon an unusual principle he called prevoyance-roughly, meticulous preparation for the unexpected in rhe face of uncertainty. Champlain's most lasting achievement was populating New France and establishing rhe francophone Quebecois, Acadien, and Meris that echoed Champ lain's world. During his life he had SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009
by Ayse Devrim Arauz (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 2008 , 379pp, notes, maps, tables, appen, biblio, index, ISB N 978-0-8130-3179-8; $69.95hc). One can argue rhar rhere is no place more central to Mediterranean maritime history rhan Maira. Srraregically located near the geographical center of rhar historic sea, Malta is at the division of irs eastern and western basins. The Phoenicians claimed Malta from their base in Carthage, then rhe Romans, Arabs, Normans, Genoese, the Knights of St. John, and the French under Napoleon, who we re forced out by rhe British in 1800. Malra became a srare within rhe British Commonwealth in 1964, and in 1974 ir became a republic wirh irs own president. My own awareness of Malta derives, as it probably does for many people, from the association wirh the Order of St. John, founded at Jerusalem in the eleventh century to care for pilgrims. Unlike the Knights Templar, who came to a disastrous end in rhe early fourteenth century, rhe Order of St. John continued after rhe fall of Jerusalem on island bases ar Rhodes and rhen Malta. A good friend, Professor Lionel Burler, principal of Royal Holloway College, was librarian at St. John's Gate in London. His enthusiasm to invesrigare the history of rhe Order prompted his many trips to Valletta to explore rhe archives . We discussed
the maritime history of Malta and what important historic resources might be found beneath Maltese waters. The prospects would appear excellent for the discovery of significant archaeological finds submerged off the coasts. Nautical archaeologist Ayse Arauz undertook a survey of rhe submerged cultural resources, primarily shipwrecks, focused around the islands of Malta and Gazo. The work was done with the support of rhe Institute of Nautical Archaeology ar Texas A&M University. Surprisingly, rhe results were disappointing. While rhe historical literature suggests numerous shipwrecks, few were discovered after three seasons (1999-2001) of remote sensing surveys using a magnetometer and side-scan sonar, an ROV, or scuba diving. The meager results can be explained by rhe facr rhar shipwrecks might be buried, or are located in deeper water. For Arauz, a further explanation and review of Maltese history was in order. This thoroughly researched book is rhe result of rhat investigation. Ara uz concludes that Maira is indeed important, bur rhar "rhe inflated importance of rhe islands in modern history is largely an ourgrowrh of rhe exaggerated importance amibured to rhe Order of St. John on the world stage." Of rhe islanders themselves, she concludes that "[r]he indigenous Maltese people are nearly absent from rhe historical record and are nor recognizable as a co hesive gro up having a national identity until rhe rime of rhe British rule in rhe !are nineteenth and early rwentierh centuries." This fresh analysis of Maltese maritime history from rhe perspective of a nautical archaeologist challenges conventional interpretations or impressions. Thar said, rhe author does nor relegate Malta's historical significance to rhe dust bin. Several well-documented chapters (there are sixty pages of notes)
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