| This controversial book was first published in June 1817 in response to the exaggerated and false accounts then circulating in America and Britain regarding the apparent recent successes of the United States Navy over the Royal Navy in fights between vessels of supposedly equal force. In single-ship actions, such as the USS Constitution's capture of HMS Guerriere, and the US United States's fight with HMS Macedonian, the Americans had the upper hand. William James, a lawyer-turned-historian, was not convinced by the American accounts. He applied himself to assembling the facts and proved that, despite the 'powder puff' history of American writers, 'no American ship of war, after all, captured a British ship of war, of the same force; but that the reverse has occurred, and might have occurred, again and again - had Americans been as willing to fight, and they still are to boast'. The work was an immediate success, being adopted by the Royal Navy and lauded by many British officers who served in the naval war against America. it remains a fundamental account of this conflict, and is a timeless classic that marked a significant step forward in the application of rigorous historical methodology. The distinguished naval historian Andrew Lambert here presents this key text whole with a new introduction, while the appendices, which contain a wealth of correspondence and eyewitness accounts of the many famous actions of war, are reproduced in full. Contents:
Introduction
Preface
Errata
1. American Naval Histories
2. War of 1776
3. The United States and France
4. United States of America Declare War Against Great Britain
5. Inactive State of the British Navy Since the Battle of Trafalgar
6. Frolic Leaves Jamaica for Honduras
7. Java Commissioned and Fitted for an East India Voyage
8. British Official Account of the Peacock and Hornet's Action not Published
9. Shannon and Tenedos Reconnoitre Boston
10. Commodore Rodgers's Account of His Chase off the North Cape
11. Pelican Arrives at, at Suddenly Departs from Cork
12. Description of Lake Erie
13. Phoebe Leaves England
14. Gross Libel Upon the Officers and Crew of the Plantaganet
15. Epervier Captures the Alfred
16. Gallant Boat-Attack at the Mouth of Rappahannock
17. Lake Erie
18. President, Accompanied by a Store-ship leaves New York for the Bay of Bengal
19. Levant and Cyane Sail from Gibraltar
20. St Lawrence Schooner
21. American List of the Naval Triumphs ad Captures on Each Side
Appendixes
Index |
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