Customer Reviews

From Annapolis to Scapa Flow: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach Sr

5 star:		(2)
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Edward L. Beach, Sr., recounts his amazing Navy career. Ten years after he retired, he writes of these events with the clarity of someone who lived them just yesterday. His tale of the Battle of Manila Bay is an excellent first-hand account from a different perspective. The only thing he saw during the battle were the boots of a shipmate in the grating above him, thus his title "The Battle of Irwin's Boots." He tells of the sinking of the Memphis, a cruiser under his command. (His son, Beach, Jr., tells this in a recently published book.) Every account throughout the book is a tale told by this humble sailor that was just doing his job.
It is most incredible that nearly every important Naval and Marine Corps personality of the first half of the 20th century crossed paths with this sailor. Before they made a name for themselves later in life, he knew two future Marine Corps Commandants, four star admirals, CNO's, and Navy Secretaries. He met both Roosevelts, vice presidents, Senators, mayors and other political leaders.
The only drawback of the book (and a minor one at that) is the rather lengthy discussions about his workings in Haiti. These were important issues to the US and to the Navy in the early 1900's and Beach's impact was probably quite large. It just made for some slow reading in the middle of the book. This was not bad enough to change my rating to four stars, but I couldn't pick four-and-a-half.
His son, Edward L. Beach, Jr., (Run Silent, Run Deep) adds just enough comments to provide a little backgound without overwhelming his Dad's words.
This is an excellent autobiography of a man who truly loved the "soul of the Navy" and was very proud to serve his country.

For true history buffs, this is a delight. Edward L. Beach, Jr., the author of "Run Silent, Run Deep" among others, has done a terrific job of editing and annotating his father's diary. I did not realize that both father and son were not only brave naval officers, but successful authors. As an amateur historian of the Philippine-American War, Beach Sr.'s account of the Battle of Manila Bay shed light on a mystery that has concerned a number of prior accounts of the battle: Was Dewey both reckless and lucky in evading the Spanish shore batteries on Corregidor Island when he slipped into Manila Bay? I'll leave it to the reader to discover the answer. And, I did like the section on Haiti, particularly in light of the recent history of that country.