Reviews Able Seamen: The Lower Deck of the Royal Navy 1850-1939 by Brian Lavery (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2011, 368pp, appen, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-1-59114-730-5; $41.95hc) For centuries, men of the underclass volunteered or were impressed to serve the Royal Navy upon its lower deck as ordinary sailors. A ship was a means of transportation and a gun platform. Its officers were leaders responsible for where, when and how the vessel was deployed, bur its sailors gave the ship heart, vitality and functionality. Sailors were unconditionally loyal to their shipmates, ship, king, and country, bur those placed in command had to earn the sailors' fidelity and respect; success was nor guaran reed. Brian Lavery, curator emeritus of Greenwich's National Maritime Museum, has written a derailed history of the evolution of the sailor's life in the Royal Navy. The ships' hulls changed from wood to iron and sailors went from non-descript clothing to naval uniforms. A few ranks of authori ty were given to ordinary sailors, bur men of the lower deck rarely rose above their enlistment station. They rook mess beside their guns and slept in hammocks that swung over these same gun-decks. With the arrival of steam engines, seamen needed skills to operate and service the propulsion systems, man the increasingly sophisticated weapons, and use advanced signaling devices from semaphore to radio and other advanced electronics. They now had sleeping quarters, a dedicated mess, and ranks and distinctions contributing to a more highly proficient and motivated sailor class. They became truly "able seamen," adept at the new technologies and complexities of naval warfare-specialists who created an asronishing transition in social structure among those of the "lower deck." In spire of this, suffocating snobbery sustained crew segregation, the sequel of a strict naval hierarchy. Lavery's work distills a vast amount of historic information in which he used occasionally graphic primary source material and a profusion of noteworthy secondary sources. This is an absorbing and fascinating story about the evolution of the fabled "Jack Tar; " a tale of ninety years of historic and technological events that shaped a blue-
SEA HISTORY 140, AUTUMN 2012
water profession. This scholarly book is a major contribution to maritime and social history, the often forgotten life of ordinary sailors, the men whom British naval history is really all about. I highly recommend Able Seamen to both maritime historians and laymen with an interest in this captivating topic.
commanded by two sailors, Rene Malevergne, a French river pilot and resident of Port Lyautey (Kenitra) in French Morocco, and the master of SS Contessa, Captain William John. On orders of General Parton, the airfield at Casablanca, necessary for air support for the invasion, was to be taken by commandos delivered to the sire by the destroyer USS Dallas. Fuel and explosives for the P-40s assigned to that field were to be delivered by a merchant ship of draft shallow enough to cross the bar and navigate the River Sebou-the banana boar SS Contessa. John and the commander of the US Navy guard captained the Contessa, and Malevergne, carefully exfilrrared our of Africa for the mission, piloted both ships over the bar and up the treacherous twelve miles to the airfield. Twelve Desperate Miles sets our the details of an adventure as exciting as any spy or war novel. Readers will enjoy the tale even if they already know the outcome. DR. DAVID 0. WHITTEN Auburn, Alabama
Lours ARTHUR NoRTON
West Simsbury, Connecticut
Twelve Desperate Miles: The Epic WW7I Voyage of the SS Contessa by Tim Brady (Crown Publishers, New York, NY, 2012, 329pp, photos, maps, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-307-59037-4; $26hc) If the role of SS Contessa in World War II were offered as fiction it would be rejected our-of-hand as over-the-top, fantastic, unbelievable. The story has been told and retold in accounts of Operation Torch (the 1942 Allied assault on North Africa) but Tim Brady has set it our in delightful derail that makes for hard-to-put-down reading. Each participant in the unlikely exploit is identified and placed for action, and what a rogues' gallery of characters! Any drama starring General George Patton is bound to be intriguing, confusing and amusing. Supporting actors include Generals George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lucian Truscott, and Mark C lark and, as the movie makers say, a cast of thousands, all devoted to the mission of a banana boar. Despite the star power of generals, center stage of Twelve Desperate Miles is
THE GLENCANNON PRESS
NEW! The Troopships and Passenger Liners From A to Z ... Sea Of Troubles, The Lost Ships of Point Sur ... Dark Passages, Vanishing ships of the Pacific Ocean ... The Freighters From A to Z ... Hardluck Coast, west coast shipwrecks .. .An Act of Piracy, the SS Mayaguez ... ... more. FREE CATALOG 1-800-711-8985 Online catalog at www.glencannon.com
51