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If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 | 
 enlarge | Author: George Daughan
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $7.92
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 202928
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 0465016073
Dewey Decimal Number: 359.0097309033
EAN: 9780465016075
ASIN: 0465016073
Publication Date: May 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: New Book. Fast Shipping. May have small remainder mark.
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Product Description
The American Revolution-and thus the history of the United States-began not on land but on the sea. Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride not by jumping on a horse, but by scrambling into a skiff with two other brave patriots to cross Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Revere and his companions rowed with muffled oars to avoid capture by the British warships closely guarding the harbor. As they paddled silently, Revere’s neighbor was flashing two lanterns from the belfry of Old North Church, signaling patriots in Charlestown that the redcoats were crossing the Charles River in longboats. In every major Revolutionary battle thereafter the sea would play a vital, if historically neglected, role. When the American colonies took up arms against Great Britain, they were confronting the greatest sea-power of the age. And it was during the War of Independence that the American Navy was born. But following the British naval model proved crushingly expensive, and the Founding Fathers fought viciously for decades over whether or not the fledgling republic truly needed a deep-water fleet. The debate ended only when the Federal Navy proved indispensable during the War of 1812. Drawing on decades of prodigious research, historian George C. Daughan chronicles the embattled origins of the U.S. Navy. From the bloody and gunpowder-drenched battles fought by American sailors on lakes and high seas to the fierce rhetorical combat waged by the Founders in Congress, If By Sea charts the course by which the Navy became a vital and celebrated American institution.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
If By Sea August 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm only about half way through it, but it is an interesting read. Daughan has an incredible amount of detail in the book. However, it is a history book, not a novel, and may be tedious to someone not interested in the American Revolution.
 The origins of the US Navy August 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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. LeinerThe End of Barbary Terror
Richard ZacksThe Pirate Coast
Ian W. TollSix Frigates
A. B. C. WhippleTo the Shores of Tripoli
John R. EltingAmateurs, 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.
A true milestone August 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
 What book did you guys read? July 29, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
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).
IF BY SEA July 24, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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!
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