VOYAGE TO THE EDGE OF MUTINY AND MURDER
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"Readers who long for the thrill of sailing around the Horn won't be disappointed. The description of th e death of the sailor John Warriner alone makes it worth the read."-Douglas Jerolimov, University of Virginia
A HARROWING TRUE STORY OF CAPTURE, TORTURE, SHIPWRECK, & SURVIVAL
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USS Pampanito's Unlikely Rescue of Allied POWs in WWII
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"We find ordeal and torment of a kind that afflicts the imagination. Unbelievably brave British and Australian POWs are its heroes. U.S. submarine crews are its angels. You and I are its beneficiaries." -Michael Gannon, author of Operation Drumbeat
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·~~~~~~~-- ~ UNIVERSITY PRESS OF FLORIDA 800.226.3822 j WWW.UPF.COM GAINESVILLE TALLA HASSEE TAMPA BOCA RATON PENSACOLA ORLANDO MIAMI JACKSONVILLE FORT MYERS SARASOTA
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to his project the sensibility of a student of George Washington 's Great Gamble-and American literature and the perspective of the Sea Battle that Won the American a sea service officer. Bo th are evident in this Revolution by Jam es L. N elson (McG rawHill, NY, 2010 , 376pp, illus, notes, biblio, work. Few H emingway scholars have taken index, IS BN 978-0-07-1 62679-8; $26.9 5hc) George Washington s Great Gamble tells serio usly the famous author's volunteer service o n anti submarine patrol in his the story of both the land and sea battles of thirty-six-foot fishing boat Pilar. Most accept 178 1, six years into the struggle fo r American the indictment of H em ingway's third wife, independence, that culminated in Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, M artha Gellhorn , V irginia. By 1780, W ashington that his efforts were 'The had come to the understanding little more than a HEM I NG w A Y that French naval power wo uld lark for the author PAT Ro Ls be the key to securing an Ameriand hi s drinkin g can victory. As he wrote to the cronies with gasoline Emrst Hetning•-ay and His H 11r1t for LJ.boau Comte de Rochambeau in July provided by the US of 1780 after his arrival at Newgovernment. port, Rhode Island, with French Mort does take troops and a fleet of warships: H emingw ay's en"In any operatio ns, and under all deavor seriously and circumstances, a decisive naval places it in context, superiori ty is to be considered part of the so-called as a fu ndam ental principl e, . "H ooligan N avy, " and the basis upon which every that force of volunhope of success must ultimately teer yachtsmen who depend." Author James N elson patrolled the East Coast of the U nited States and the G ulf of gives this statement the place of prominence Mexico during the darkest days of the Battle that it deserves. The "Sea Battle that Won the American of the Atlantic, before the US government was able to produce aircraft, blimps, and Revolurion" was the Battle of the V irginia sub chasers to do the job without them. Capes, fought in September of 178 1, w here M ort examines the submarine situ- the French naval victory sealed the fate of ation in the G ulf of M exico , focusing on th e British army under Lord Cornwallis at the north coas t of C uba-Hemingway's Yorktown . Was hi ngto n's "G reat Gamble" assigned patrol area-and expanding on was his decision to march southwards to Melanie Wiggins' Torpedoes in the Gulf Yorktown with most of his army, augmented (Texas A&M, 1995). M ort also scrutinizes by the French fo rces from Rhode Island, H emingway's audacious (some would say when he received word that the French fleet "harebrained") plan to attack a surfaced was coming north to the Chesapeake. H e U-boat with hand grenades and sm all arms. was relying on that fleet, under Admiral de H e finds it nearly suicidal but perfectly in G rasse, to block the British at the entrance to keeping with H emingway's mind-set and th e C hesapeake Bay. French naval forces had disappointed him before, bur if all went well world view. Most surprising of all is the sensitive this time, the Royal Navy would be unable and insightful examination of the juncture to come to Cornwallis's aid. In the end, all of H emingway the artist, H emingway the the elements came together fo r the Ame rican sailor and fish erman , and Hemingway the forces, as the naval superiori ty W ashington patriot. After the war Hemingway was so desperately needed ensured victory over awarded the bronze star medal. Many saw C ornwallis. This is award-winning author N elson 's it as pandering to the fame of the soon-to-be third non-fiction work on the naval aspects of Nobel Prize Winner. Yet after reading lhe Hemingway Patrols, the reader m ay reach the American Revolution , fa llowing Benedict a more nuanced judgment on this part of Arnolds Navy and George Washington s Secret Navy. I highly recommend it. Ernest H emingway's wartime service. R ONALD L. OSWALD JosEPH F. M EANY JR., PHD W ayne, New Jersey Albany, New Yo rk SEA H ISTORY 132, AUTUMN 2010