New&Noted bargained for. Capcain Henry's career began, as did so many others of his generation: as a teenager, he lefc school in the last year of World War II to join the navy. He served for a year and a half and then wenc home to finish high school. Wich diplomas in hand, 1homas Henry and his younger brocher Pac sec off for che town of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, home of the Massachusetts Maricime Academy. Then, che Academy had only one building ashore and che US Training Ship Charleston, a recencly recired "Erie" class naval gunboac, which served as classroom, dormitory, and, of course, as an active craining vessel char wenc to sea wich che Academy cadecs for chree months every wincer. So began his seagoing career and so scares his book. Whac follows are advencures, some dramacic and many amusing, char took him across che wo rld's oceans, visicing pores and lands far fcom hom e and exocic, to say che least. His story, retold quire candidly, cakes him from his ceens to his eighciech birchday and covers his experience in che navy, as a merchanc marine cadec, and evencually as mascer. He sailed wich che Uniced Scares Lines, including rime spenc on che bridge of che famo us SS United States, and advanced to mascer, commanding massive sh ips across deep oceans and navigacing in cighc harbors. Capcain Henry shares his perspeccives on different cypes of ships, protocol, rourines, his shipmaces, and comparing cargo ships to passenger ships. Noc only does chis man have a story to cell, buc he recouncs ic with honescy, humor, and whole loc of respecc for che sea, seafaring, and shipmaces. A Joe of octogenarians have greac stories to cell, and we should cake che cime to liscen. If you don'c know any, gee your hands on Capcain Henry's book and you won'c regrec ic. DEIRDRE O'REGAN Cape Cod, Massachusetcs
John Prentiss Benson: American Marine Artist by Nicholas Baker and Margarec M. Bens (Baker Marine Publicacions, 2009, 136pp, illus and color places, biblio, index of paincings, ISBN 978-0-98211761-0-8; $65hc) The name John Prenciss Benson (1865- 1947) may be a lesser-known one in the world of marine arc, yet his skillful
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rendering of ships, boats, the seaside, and particularly the sea itself, make his work hauntingly fami liar to anyone who's ever spent time on the water. Whether leafing through the color places or doing a more careful scudy, you are lefc chinking, "I must have seen this painter's work before." This affeccionacely wriccen and beautifully illuscraced book is a welcome incroduccion to chis calenced American artisc. A pair of authors virtually awash in Benson's work and history-Mr. Baker's lace wife, Joan Prenciss Benson Baker, was John Benson's granddaughter, and Ms. Betts also holds family ties to the artist and his work-Baker and Beccs ably incroduce the story of chis son of Salem, Massachusects, who sec aside a successful career in architecture in his 50s to become a full-time arcist. In addition to this vividly descriptive overview of Mr. Benson's marine arc, the authors have compiled a three-volume catalogue raisonne, 1he Artistic Legacy ofJohn Prentiss Benson.
This book, a complemencary piece to char larger compendium, includes 43 pages of incroductory material on che artisc, chronicling his life and work. The aucho rs' admiration and devotion to the artist becomes apparenc in the charming narracive of Benson's life and the rich descripcions readily lavished on his lovely canvases. Some of the most incriguing images are of che artist in his various scudios and his meticulous logbooks cracking his 750 or more original works. These personal images in the introduction lend concext to Benson's arc, as much as the text surrounding ic. The arciscic commentary by John G. Hagen also adds scope and depch to the color places char follow, 92 in all. Benson painced concemporary crafc chat he would have seen near his wacerfronc residences in places such as Salem, New York, Bermuda, and Maine. His canvases are all che more remarkable when yo u discover char "[e]very paincing came ouc of [his] visual memory. He never worked oucdoors." His command of capturing a range of sea scares and abilicy to depict vessels from history from inside his scudio is genuinely impressive, and this richly illustrated book lives up to the cask of reproducing chem and his story. CATHY GREEN
Alpena, Michigan
Cape Cod Bay: A History of Salt & Sea by Theresa Mitchell Barbo (The History Press, Charlescon, SC, 2008, 128pp, ISBN 978 1596295025; $21.99pb) Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2008, 336pp, ISBN 9780743260800; $30hc) From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations Since 1776 by George C. Herring (Oxford Universicy Press, NY, 2008, l,035pp, IS BN 9780 195078220; $35hc) "The Gulf Stream" Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic by Scan Ulanski (University ofNorch Carolina Press, 240pp, ISBN 9780807832172; $28 hc) Gustavus l-asa Fox of the Union Navy: A Biography by Ari Hoogenboom (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2008, 387pp, ISBN 9780801889868; $40hc) Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries-Old Indian Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds by Blanche Rocha D'Souza (Michigan State Universicy Press, East Lansing, 2008, 208pp, ISBN 97899667 12325, $29.95hc) Pirate Hunter: The Life of Captain Woodes Rogers by G raham Thomas (Pen & Sword Books, South Yorkshire, UK, 2008, 176pp, ISBN 978 1844158089; $30hc) The Pirates' Pact: The Secret Alliance Between History's Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America by Douglas R. Burgess Jr. (McGraw Hill, NY, 2008, 30lpp, ISBN 9780071474764; $26.95) Ships' Graveyards: Abandoned l.liatercraft and the Archaeological Site Formation Process by Nathan Richards (Universicy of Florida Press, Gainesville, 2008, 304pp, illus, no tes, biblio, index, ISBN 97808 1 3032573;$65h~
When Fortume Frowns, a novel by Willi am H. Wlhite (Tiller Publishing, Sc. M ichaels, lw1D, 2008, 343pp, ISBN 978188867 1:247, pb) SEA HIISTORY 126, SPRTNG 2009