Caribbean, and the Murmansk Run . It is paign in terms of tonnage and U-boats also a story about those left behind-wives, sunk. I strongly recommend this book, as children, and parents. One of the most it exemplifies the dangers that the merchant remarkable characters in the story is the marine faced right off the US coast in the matriarch of the Hodge family, Henrierta, early days of the wa r and its overall contriwho has to maintain the family farm and butions to eventual Allied success. keep the clan together as the brothers face SALVATORE R. MERCOGLIANO, PttD hardship and death on the high seas. Buies C reek, North Carolina Geroux is able to captivate the reader from the outset with the death of the one Order and Disorder in the British Navy, of the brothers. One of the worst fears of 1793-1815: Control, Resistance, Flogthose who sent their loved ones to sea in ging, and Hanging by Thomas Malcomson the merchant marine was the not knowing, (Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, in particular, if their ships went missing or 2016, 303pp, maps, appen, biblio, notes, overdue. In the case of Dewey Hodge, his index, ISB N 978-1-78327-119-1; $120hc) wife, Edna, and their four children did not Order and D isorder in the British Navy know his fate, or at least that of his ship, is a studious examination of the application SS Onondaga, until American officials in of British naval leadership "by the book." Cuba sent word that Dewey's ring, along The time period examined in this work with some human remains, had been found includes various theaters of operation durin the belly of a shark caught off Cuba. The ing both war and peace. The thrust of the fare of Captain Hodge and Onondaga sets book is best summarized by a quote by in motion a story that spans the globe and historian Michel Foucault, which Malcomrocks back and forth from the storm-tossed son included in the final pages of the book: waves of the ocean to the quiet town of "Where there is power, there is resistance.. . Mathews, and exposes what it was like for where there is resistance, there is punishthe merchant mariners and their families ment." And as Hillel the Elder concluded, during the Second World War by showcas- "the rest is commentary." ing this small community. Malcomson organizes his analysis and While many books have been wrirten presentation of the subject into three parts: about the Bartle of the Atlantic and some "Authority's Tools for Creating Order," firsthand accounts of merchant ships have "Creating Disorder," and "The Responses recently come to light, Geroux details the to Disorder." Within each are chapters that issues that the civilian members of the mer- deal with a wide range of corresponding chant marine faced on a regular basis. He themes. The creation of order included audigs deep into the material to provide an thority, which emanated from a king's comextremely detailed narrative. Using official mission, the naval law, social hierarchical records, along with first- and second-hand organization, and a patronage system unaccounts from the participants and their derstood by all. Orderliness was enforced descendants to capture the action, fear, and by punishment, such as reprimand, demofrustration felt during wartime. It is hard tion, the lash, confinement in irons, and not to come away from The Mathews Men capital punishment. All of these penalties with a sense of awe in how these men con- are covered in derail as they pertain to the tinually faced danger and how this com- application ofleadership during this period munity rallied to support the cause. Yet, of British naval history. these ve teran mariners were not considered Disorderly conduct could include: cowmilitary veterans, and their plight is equal- ardice, disobeying orders, striking an ofly interesting as they sought medical care ficer, theft, drunkenness, and desertion. for injuries sustained during their service, The causes and remedies for each of these and for post-traumatic stress disorder after infractions often challenged the execution near-death encounters with U- boats. of leadership under trying circumstances. The Mathews Men is a great primer for Each is illustrated by historical references those interested in the role of the merchant and examples that demonstrate how some mariner during WWII, while also filling of the problems were either resolved or led in the gaps in many scholarly acco unts of to disaster. Control, however, was not just the U-boat war that only examine the cam- a top-down affair, but also a complex reci54
procity between officers and their crews. Of necessity, officers occasionally allowed indulgences to seamen and marines, but these served as a secondary source of power by rewarding people for their compliance. In that spirit, order came from many levels within the Royal Navy's hierarchy. Disorder could be found at each level of authority and throughout the fleet. All levels of the commissioned chain of command could opt to use the lash or the naval courts to impose their authority on their subordinates, bur the mariners and marines behaved as they saw fit-or dared- and not according to any rules. Thus, leadership in the British fleet depended on a careful negotiation between the superiors and the underlings. Order and Disorder in the British Navy, 1793-1815 is an erudite study of naval leadership during the latter days of the world 's most powerful and sophisticated sailing navy. A vast array of data is presented, along with many naval historians' interpretations of the causes, affects and consequences of shipboard order- and disorder. The work's 1,052 footnotes and an emphasis on statistical data are indications of the author's extensive research in producing this publication. Although the book is expensive, the scholarship contained therein makes it a worthy addition to any naval historian's library. DR.
Lours ARTHUR NORTO N
West Simsbury, Connecticut
The Tide: The Science and Stories Behind the Greatest Force on Earth by Hugh Aldersey-Williams (W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 2016, 368pp, illus, gloss, biblio, index, ISB N 978-0-393-24163-1; $27.95hc) The Tide broadens one's scholarly horizon in many unexpected ways. This reviewer, born and raised alongside the ocean, often thought about the sometimes-substantial vicissitudes of tidal effects. After reading Aldersey-Williams's wonderfully wide-sweeping work, one is not likely to look at the flood , ebb, neap, and spring tides in the same way again. The author explores the science as it relates to the great tidal forces, their relationship to coastal and planetary geography, basic and sophistica ted physics and their association with our history and literature. The author explores the legends of
SEA HISTORY 158, SPRING 2017