Customer Reviews

The Old Merchant Marine: A Chronicle of American Ships and Sailors

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"The Old Merchant Marine" contained "romantic" (to use the author's term) stories about the adventures to be had at sea for brave Americans in the 1700's & 1800's. The stories were exciting and contained quotes from sea journals. Some general information could be gleaned from the stories about trade routes, crew sizes, ship types, and profits, but that wasn't the focus. The author assumed that the reader knew about sailing ships, so he freely used technical terms without explaining them. The book was written in a "popular" rather than "scholarly" style. I'd recommend this book to those who enjoy reading about adventures at sea.


Chapter 1 was about American seaman and pirates in the 1600's. Chapter 2 was about the 1700's up until the American Revolution and talked about merchants, whalers, and privateers. Chapter 3 was mostly about the American navy and privateers during the American Revolution. Chapter 4 was about captains of merchantmen after the Revolution, especially those out of Salem Port. Chapter 5 was about merchantmen out of other ports after the Revolution. Chapter 6 was about the post-Revolution perils faced by sailors on merchantmen and the Federal legislation passed to help promote and protect the American sea trade. Chapter 7 was about American privateers during the War of 1812. Chapter 8 was about packet ships and the early days of steam ships (covered 1816-1859). Chapter 9 was about clipper ships (covered 1832-1869). Chapter 10 was about fishermen and domestic shipping from colonial days to 1919.