Showing posts with label whaling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whaling. Show all posts

Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama Review

Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama
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"Wolf of the Deep" is about the most successful commerce raider (read 'privateer') in the history of war at sea. The fact that Raphael Semmes was a captain in the Confederate Navy just adds more to the emotional appeal.
It turns out the Confederacy might have won after all, if it had done more commerce raiding. Semmes' raids alone were enough to cause hundreds of shipowners to sell their cargoes at a loss, or even the ships themselves, to avoid losing them as United States vessels. Semmes caused consternation out of all proportion to being one captain with one ship.
Stephen Fox tells the story with gusto, including lots of pictures, quotes from newspapers of the time, and different perspectives including pro-confederacy and anti-confederacy Brits as well as Americans. The Civil War is where Americans learned to fight with modern technology and transportation logistics - sadly, using each other; but learn they did.
For romance, for military adventure, for political buffoonery, for history: Wolf of the Deep appeals on all levels while telling a right good story. Amazingly, Captain Semmes retired and died in bed after all this brouhaha. You can see a statue dedicated in his honor in Mobile, Alabama.

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The Lost Fleet: A Yankee Whaler's Struggle Against the Confederate Navy and Arctic Disaster Review

The Lost Fleet: A Yankee Whaler's Struggle Against the Confederate Navy and Arctic Disaster
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Songini's new book shows a gritty world almost unimaginable by today's standards. A sea captain persuades his wife to join him in the pursuit of the world's largest animals, which are hunted and rendered before her eyes, ears and nose. She is pregnant, gives birth at sea and recuperates with her new son on an island under the care of a Christian missionary who entertains her with stories about the native cannibals. And this is only the first chapter. You might think it is fiction, but there is a bibliography. Still, the book doesn't seem to be too sensational, nor too academic. I'm liking the balance between the two extremes.

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