Customer Reviews

If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812

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I am not sure what book the other reviewers read but I don't think it was If By Sea. This book is essentially a general history of the U.S. from the Revolution to the end of the War of 1812. Its general focus is on how the events of that period effected the formation of the U.S. Navy. Certainly not for serious naval readers and I did not find it to be tales of glory either.

If you are familiar with the era I think the book will bore you. Not due to the writing style which is straight forward if not very compelling. You get a great deal of set-up for each policy decision which if you know the era will be old hat. And even if you have read a few general histories I don't think you'll find much new here as regards the navy- I did not. (The page on the building frigates boilded down most of a chapter in the book Six Frigates)

Little attention is actually paid to the navy itself. Why were the politicians so split on a navy? We get the same explanations you'll read elsewhere: one side thought it was too expensive, a threat to liberty and would drag the U.S. into wars; the other a necessity to uphold American honor among nations. Nothing new here. In fact, there is little in the way of detailing and analyzing these points of view. They certainly merit both.

Further, there is a good deal of negative criticism heaped on naval tactics without any analysis as to why such tactical decisions where actually made. Example- author states the Bostonians could have overrun the British fleet in port at the outset of hostilities with quick hit and run tactics, boarding parties and small ships hiding numerous inlets. Why were those tactics not employed? No explanation is offered. This is not a miliarty history so even while battles are not described in any detail the tactics are criticized. Odd.

This was a missed opportunity. A scholarly analysis of the pro-navy and anti-navy factions certainly warrants attention. An academic approach to answering why a predominately maritime culture had such a hard time creating a navy would have been welcomed. Throw in the sections relating & contrasting the United Colonies/U.S. navy with various era's privateers, Washington's navy, revenue cutters and merchant marine and you would really have something.

I can't even recommend this book for people just starting out reading about the origins of the navy and/or the early U.S. There are better general histories of the era (The Glorious Cause; Alden's A History of the American Revolution) which will actually cover the navy debates. There are also some good books about the early navy (Fowler's Rebels Under Sail and his follow-up Jack Tars & Commodores, the recent Washington's Secret Navy and Six Frigates).

I read this book over the course of a week and my interest never flagged. If By Sea will last -- it tells the story of the push and pull that led to the birth of the American Navy with well-researched detail and with an interesting approach I haven't seen before. Daughan tells it in a way that will intrigue historians, academics, and military history buffs, but the book is written so clearly and well that even readers who don't know alot about the American Revolution will find it fascinating.

I enjoyed "If By Sea." It's well researched and well written. The author shows that one reason, among several, that the Colonies took time to GO NAVY was a shortage of funds. Only when they came together in a real union and managed to make an effort to pay off war debts, did they form a financial and political basis to build a fighting Navy. Early naval activity was mostly left to a needling effort by 'for profit' privateers. If we'd not changed our form of government and thought more broadly, we'd probably have ended up with the world view of the Barbary Pirates! Not until we began to do more than a needle-job on the seas were we able to climb out from under our nemesis. That was the beginning of a real, fighting Navy! I liked the book! I recommend it highly!

IF BY SEA is an important, substantive work and a pleasure to read. I'm in awe of Daughan's overall knowledge of naval, military, political, economic, and social developments across the Atlantic world from 1775 to 1815. The author tells the whole story of the navy's development, beginning with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 and ending with Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans in January, 1815. The entire panorama of people and events that influenced the navy's birth and shaped its future is presented in a form that's easy to comprehend and yet profound in its impact. It took forty years for the navy to establish itself as a national institution. There is no other book that depicts that difficult, suspense-filled period like this one. I highly recommend it.

This is a very readable book that sometimes goes like a thriller, and sometimes like a dime store novel. The rating is based on Daughan's sense of detail and his harnessing two or three threads at once into tidy storytelling.

What is most objectionable is his editorializing. A casual reader can open the book to any page pretty much to find "might have been," "could have been" or "would have been" summarizing Daughan's constant regression into a Monday morning quarterback, something inexcusable in a true historian. He drums the beat ad infinitum on his pet projects such as row-galleys. His interminable heckling on incompetents tends to grate on the nerves. Lastly, he puts thoughts or feelings into his actors without properly documenting where he got such notions. The book is not footnoted in the text -- you have to suppose that his authority is among the notes at the book's end. As often as not you read a remark that could only come from a diary or a personal letter, only to find no such documentation -- making me believe that Daughan only supposed (again) what "must have been" the actor's feelings.

A useful reference, at times a great story but too often comes across as untrustworthy.

Apparently this is an unsold and unread book (with only a single reader review), now being sold at a bargain price. Amazing! Author Daughan has written an excellent book covering the time from April 1775 through the end of the War of 1812 (1815). Perhaps the problem is the title, perhaps a lack of promotion, perhaps a lack of well-known heroic figures -- whatever, this book deserves a much better reception by the American reading public and American historians.

Revolutionary War books usually limit their naval coverage to Benedict Arnold's fight off Valcour Island on Lake Champlain and a note on John Paul Jones' famous words "I have not begun to fight" in his action on the Bonhomme Richard against the Serapis. The only books on my shelves on the Continental Navy is "Rebels Under Sail" by William M. Fowler, printed in 1976, "John Paul Jones" by Samuel Eliot Morison, printed in 1959, and "Blue Jackets of '76" by Willis Abbot and W.C. Jackson, printed 1888. To say the literature is sparse is a vast understatement. Yet no fewer than 43 ships served officially in the Continental Navy, not counting privateers, all but one being lost in the course of the war. One estimate (by Burrows in "Forgotten Patriots") of the naval personnel captured by the British from all vessels during the war was 10,000 men, some 40% of whom died in captivity. So the American naval eforts, though doomed against a vastly superior power, were by no means inconsequential.

The undeclared naval war against France is normally not even mentioned in history books, and if it wasn't for the Marine Hymn (..."from the shores of Tripoli..."), Decatur and Preble's campaigns against the Barbary states would likewise be forgotten. (See "The End of the Barbary Terror" by Leiner and "Blue Jackets of '76: A History of the Naval Battles of the American Revolution Together with a Narrative of the War with Tripoli" by Abbot and Jackson.)

The War of 1812 was another American naval disaster, but not without its heroes. Everyone knows of the Constitution and the Guerriere, Perry's victory in Put In Bay on Lake Erie and MacDonough's victory on Lake Champlain, but who remembers the Wasp and Captain Blakeley or the other intrepid blue water sailers such as Rodgers, Bainbridge, Stewart or Decatur? (See "Captain Blakeley and the Wasp" by Duffy.) After a respectable performance by a few American frigates, the American Navy was swept from the seas (except for some pesky privateers.)

Anyway, this work brings all that back to life in a much needed modern book on early American Naval history.

Beginning with the British excursion to Lexington and Concord, the author points up the lack of understanding by American leaders for a navy to confront Great Britain. The Revolutionary War comprises some 40% of the book, and the coverage of naval activities is deftly woven into the fabric of the war in general. In fact, it is this integration of naval activities with the land actions that makes this work such a good read. If the lack of victories is depressing, it was not from want of trying -- the reader must remember that Great Britain single handedly could overmatch all other maritime powers put together at the time. However, the decisions of the Marine Committee charged with conducting the naval war were nothing short of feckless and totally wrongheaded. The committee was inept and incompetent, and the sailors paid the price. Added to that was the cowardness and incompetence of leaders like Saltonstall, Whipple and Thompson, which caused unwarranted losses. Indeed, although the author covers many almost unknown naval actions, the constant defeats almost make for depressing reading.

The author campaigns for the use of whaleboats and small gunboats in the Revolutionary War, showing that they were used to good effect by officers like O'Brien and Dougherty and should have been used to harrass the British over the entire coastline. That did not happen, however, as the Marine Committee chose to squander its assets by sending most of its ships to Europe to harrass the British in its home waters. Meanwhile, little support was given to Washington and the patriot armies in the US.

John Adams essentially laid the groundwork for the US Navy concentrating on frigates instead of attempting to compete with the British in ships of the line. This strategy served the US Navy well until the War of 1812 in spite of Jefferson's disasterous gutting of the Navy in favor of coastal gunboats that proved to be worthless in 1812 when the British simply blew them out of the water. This little-known aspect of history is fully developed by the author. By 1807 sixty-nine gunboats had been built, and the frigate fleet was reduced to five vessels in 1806, only one of which was a frigate. Jefferson also reduced the army, perferring to rely on militia, following the policies he had established as governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War that almost caused him to be captured by the British. One is tempted to conclude that Jefferson set the standard for liberals to perform poorly in providing military prepardness for national defense.

Then comes the re-establishment of the frigate fleet and the War of 1812. For a while the Navy acquited itself honorably, but by 1814 was blockaded in American ports due to the overwhelming power of the British Navy. As during the Revolutionary war, however, the blue water navy went down fighting, and the author's accounts make exciting reading. The major contribution here was the over 500 privateers that took a heavy toll of British merchant shipping. But it was on the inland waters of Lake Erie and Lake Champlain that the Navy excelled and allowed the US to win its second war for independence, and these actions too are thoroughly covered.

Throughout all of this the author's writing style is crisp and easy to follow. The treatment if fair and balanced, showing triumphs and defeats with equal coverage. There were a large number of political errors made by the founding fathers with respect to the Navy, but the sacrifice of its sailors built a tradition that paved the way for the naval power that the US became in World War II.

I highly recommend this book, although I may be swimming upstream judging from its lack of reader acceptance. Hopefully that will change in the near future. This is an overlooked part of American history that is well worth telling.

Much more than expected, research was quite varied and relies on the historical data of the historical individuals being studied. Well written, historically accurate and a good read.

Chocked full of information one would NEVER receive in today's educational system (leastwise hereabouts), easy to read, well-written, and simply a superb source for details valuable to instilling an understanding of the struggles this great nation endured.
The author's details also led this reader to a much better understanding of the personalities and lives of our predecessors. An incredible text!

This is a new book on United States history just released in 2008. It is exceptionally well researched and well written, and provides some fascinating history. Besides covering some of the more obscure actions during the American Revolution, it carries through into the early politics of the United States including the personality clashes between some of our country's well known founders. There was a lot of activity involving France and England, and events led to the quasi-war (undeclared) with France during John Adams' tenure as president. New American frigates fought and captured French frigates and cleared the seas of French pirates and privateers who had been preying on American shipping. Events in the history carry through into the War of 1812 up to the Battle of New Orleans. The book has a glossary of terms, extensive source notes, a bibliography, and an index. I would most certainly recommend it to anyone studying naval history and/or early United States history.

If By Sea by George Daughan tells the story of the US Navy from the Revolution to the War of 1812 (1775-1815). The book covers the political, strategic, and tactical issues of the era, as well as the actual operations. Prof. Daughan has an extensive background. This book flows well, but still gets the facts in.

I read this book along with two other works, George Washington's Secret Navy (James L. Nelson) and Patriot Pirates (Robert H. Patton). Nelson's book recounts the 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. Patton's book follows the privateers through the revolution. Together with Daughan'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.