George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea [Hardcover]

James Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2008

In 1775 General George Washington secretly armed a handful of small ships and sent them to sea against the world's mightiest navy.

From the author of the critically acclaimed Benedict Arnold's Navy, here is the story of how America's first commander-in-chief--whose previous military experience had been entirely on land--nursed the fledgling American Revolution through a season of stalemate by sending troops to sea. Mining previously overlooked sources, James L. Nelson's swiftly moving narrative shows that George Washington deliberately withheld knowledge of his tiny navy from the Continental Congress for more than two critical months, and that he did so precisely because he knew Congress would not approve.

Mr. Nelson has taken an episode that occupies no more than a few paragraphs in other histories of the Revolution and, with convincing research and vivid narrative style, turned it into an important, marvelously readable book."
--Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle to Survive after Yorktown

"A gripping and fascinating book about the daring and heroic mariners who helped George Washington change the course of history and create a nation. Nelson wonderfully brings to life a largely forgotten but critically important piece of America's past."
--Eric Jay Dolin, author of Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

"The political machinations are as exciting as the blood-stirring ship actions in this meticulously researched story of the shadowy beginnings of American might on the seas."
--John Druett, author of Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"James Nelson is not the first historian to reveal this little-known albeit incredibly important aspect of our Revolution, but no one has done it more thoroughly or with greater literary grace."
--William M. Fowler, author of Empires at War

In July 1775, in his first inspection of the American encampment on the outskirts of Boston, the Continental Army's newly arrived commander-in-chief noted its haphazard design and shabby construction--clearly the work of men unprepared to face the world's most powerful fighting force. George Washington had inherited not only an army of woefully untrained and ill-equipped soldiers, but a daunting military prospect as well. To the east he could see the enemy's heavily fortified positions on Bunker Hill and a formidable naval presence on the river beyond. British-occupied Boston was defended by impressive redoubts that would easily repel any American assault, and Boston Harbor bristled with the masts of merchant ships delivering food, clothing, arms, ammunition, and other necessities to the British. Washington knew that the king's troops had all the arms and gunpowder they could want, whereas his own army lacked enough powder for even one hour of major combat. The Americans were in danger of losing a war before it had truly begun.

Despite his complete lack of naval experience, Washington recognized that harassing British merchant ships was his only means of carrying the fight to the enemy and sustaining an otherwise unsustainable stalemate. But he also knew that many in Congress still hoped for reconciliation with England, and in that climate Congressional approval for naval action was out of the question. So, without notifying Congress and with no real authority to do so, the general began arming small merchant schooners and sending them to sea to hunt down British transports “in the Service of the ministerial Army.”

In George Washington's Secret Navy, award-winning author James L. Nelson tells the fascinating tale of how America's first commander-in-chief launched America's first navy. Nelson introduces us to another side of a general known for his unprecedented respect for civilian authority. Here we meet a man whose singular act of independence helped keep the Revolution alive in 1775.

About the Author

James L. Nelson is the author of Benedict Arnold’s Navy, as well as several novels that take place during the age of the sailing navies. His first book of nonfiction was Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (April 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071493891
• ISBN-13: 978-0071493895
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #717,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in a log cabin in the sea-side town of Lewiston, Maine.... Okay, maybe not a log cabin. And maybe Lewiston isn't exactly a seaside town. Despite that, my interest in ships and the sea began early, reading Hornblower and building ship models. In high school I built a fifteen foot sailboat, and with a friend, an eighteen foot canoe.
I graduated from Lewiston High School in 1980, if not with honors then at least with a diploma. After a year of hitchhiking and motorcycling around the country, I attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, later transferring to UCLA Film School (Official Motto: '...but what I really want to do is direct...') , from which I graduated in 1986. After working in the television industry for two years, I realized that I could not stand a) the television industry, b) Los Angeles and c) being ashore. In 1988 I joined the crew of the Golden Hinde (rhymes with mind), a replica of Sir Francis Drake's vessel of 1577. There I met a foretop person named Lisa Page, whom I beat out for the job of bosun. Lisa vowed then and there to marry me and make me pay for that for the rest of my life.
Leaving the Hinde in Houston, Texas, I worked aboard the brig Lady Washington (after my time she played the Interceptor in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie) and the ship 'HMS' Rose, (Surprise in Master and Commander, also after my time) I sailed aboard Rose for two years, as Able Bodied Seaman and Third Mate.
In 1993, I 'swallowed the anchor.' Lisa Page, made good on her threat and we married that year. The following year I finished By Force of Arms, my first book. I've been a full-time writer since then, with fourteen books either published or in the process of being published. My books have sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain. My 2003 title Glory in the Name was selected as the winner of the American Library Association's W.Y. Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction.
Recently, my writing has expanded to include non-fiction. My first work of non-fiction was Reign of Iron, a detailed look at the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack (Virginia). More recently I completed a book about the Revolutionary war naval battle that took place on Lake Champlain. That book is called Benedict Arnold's Navy.
Lisa and I now live in Harpswell, Maine (which really is a seaside town), with our four children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad title, great book, July 3, 2008

By 

Whippis (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea (Hardcover)

I had just finished Patriot Pirates and was completely disappointed in it so it was with a bit of trepidation that I began this book. The title smacked of bad marketing but to my pleasant surprise the content was fantastic.

The story of the Siege of Boston has been told many times but never from the naval perspective. The author makes an interesting read and a compelling case out of Gen. Washington's slow embrace of sea power as a lever against the British. The existence of both Washington's small fleet of essentially privateers and Congress's eventual authorization of an actual navy was a surprise to me. Though I have read a few naval histories I had never come across this fact. He consistently refers back to his thesis of the fleet's impact on the siege by giving a fair assesment of the actual vs. psychological impact of the naval action. He pays mind to the benefits to the Continental Army and the detriment to the British of the seized material. The author blends the large scale operation of ousting the British from Boston with the small scale dramas of fitting out ships and several of there engagements. Good attention is paid to the characters other than the name brands guys (Washington, Knox, Greene, etc) whom you can read about else(every)where.

I think both enjoyable to the novice reader as well as someone with a good level of knowledge of the era or naval history. I would recommend that if you are not familiar with ships of the age you have a handy guide to naval terminology as it is used quite freely without a glossary. Probably will not distract from your enjoyment but you may not get as much from the reading.

I am looking forward to his prior book Benedict Arnold's Navy. Now if someone could just write a history of the occupation of Boston, and not just the highlights and the siege, I'd be really happy.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early American Sea Power, July 29, 2008

By 

J. Crivelli "SOLTC" (NY, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea (Hardcover)

In George Washington's Secret Navy, James L. Nelson tells the story of the beginnings of American sea power in the Revolution. The book covers the Siege of Boston (June 1775 to March 1776) when Washington took over the nascent Continental Army and quickly realized that he didn't have the assets to do more that continue the siege. He proceeded to arm several small schooners to interdict the British maritime supply lines. These five ships were the beginning of American maritime operations which eventually included the Continental Navy and privateers in an Atlantic campaign. Like Nelson's Benedict Arnold's Navy, this work is well written, very detailed, and shows the authors expertise.

I'm in the midst of two other works, Patriot Pirates (Robert H. Patton) and If By Sea (George Daughan). Patton's book follows the privateers through the revolution. Daughan's recounts the US Navy from 1775 t0 1815. Together with Nelson's book, this is a full history of Early American sea power.

I'd add the following works for a library on this subject:

Frederick C. Leiner The End of Barbary Terror
Richard Zacks The Pirate Coast
Ian W. Toll Six Frigates
A. B. C. Whipple To the Shores of Tripoli
John R. Elting Amateurs, To Arms!

In the past year I've read several excellent books about pirates and privateers.
My interest was originally sparked in 1995 with David Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag" because this book pictured the privateers/pirates as sea-going guerrillas.

The 3 books mentioned above have one flaw. They don't provide any context for American attitudes toward privateers, smugglers, etc. The American coastal communities were very familiar with privateers and their business. Until the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) few Royal Navy ships came to North America. American's were used to doing for themselves, and making a profit therein.

When the Revolution came, Americans were ready to bring the "fight" to the enemy. If this activity mostly involved taking merchant ships as prizes, so much the better.

The following are worth reading:
Peter Earle Pirate Wars
The Sack of Panama
Stephan Talty Empire of Blue Water
Benerson Little The Sea Rover's Practice
The Buccaneer's Realm
Colin Woodard The Republic of Pirates
Together these works cover piracy from the late 16th to the early 19th Century.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating History, A Great Read, September 26, 2008

By 

MLB (Oak Park, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea (Hardcover)

I have to admit, while I'm a huge fan of James L. Nelson's fiction novels (and I can't wait for another one), it's a real pleasure to read serious non-fiction written by someone with his talent who can, pardon the cliche, make history come alive. From Washington's ride to review his troops to the British finally leaving Boston, the book equally delights and educates. For serious history buffs (which I'm not), the book gives insight to an indispensable but little known sliver of the American Revolution. For those who just want a great read, with drama, action, and a fair amount of comedy (the U.S. Navy's origins were filled with blunders and mishaps), George Washington's Secret Navy is the perfect nighttime read.