FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS—By Charles Lee Lewis, Assistant Professor, U. S. Naval Academy. Illustrated. L. C. Page and Company, Boston, 1924. $2.00.
Primarily written for youthful Americans yet of such a character that the oldest officer as well as the youngest recruit will find it stimulatingly interesting, this book should be read by every midshipman and copies should be found in every ship's library. It is a book that one enjoys re-reading. In these days of the sophisticated American youth such examples of self-sacrificing patriotism, accomplished through the loftiest ideals of courage, honor, chivalry and service, should be familiar to every school child throughout the Union. It is especially valuable in its historical perspective, for the plain unvarnished facts are not garbled to present a better picture. Excellent quotations from old songs and poems give a touch of the time to each sketch. The clear, smooth, pictureful style makes it easy to read not I." Jones had two marked traits: proneness to brood over misfortunes, and indomitable perseverance to gain his just deserts.
In making the choice of the twelve famous American naval officers, the author felt that not mere "achievements in battle" but "the work done by naval officers in the different fields of science, invention, exploration, historical research, and diplomacy" should govern the selection. The selections as a whole have been well made, though there have been omitted officers whose claims to recognition seem just as strong. In the sketch of John Paul Jones, the clear and comprehensive analysis of both his personal and professional character, with the striking picture of his early life, makes an unusually coherent and pointed biography. The effectiveness of the analysis is greatly heightened by the discussion of the two questions: (1) "Was he a pirate?" (2) Was he an "adventurer without any feeling of patriotism for America"? To the latter his biographer replies in the negative. To the former he replies in the words of Jones's own refutation: "Having been alluded to as a pirate, I looked up the authoritative definitions of that epithet, and found among them `Pirate—one who is at war with mankind.' I am holding a regular commission as a naval officer in an honorable service and making war only upon the armed enemies of my country. England is at war with America, France, Holland and Spain and engaged in provoking war in several colonies, and it seems to me that she is the pirate not I." Jones had two marked traits: proneness to brood over misfortunes, and indomitable perseverance to gain his just deserts.
Decatur, who was "more universally beloved during his lifetime" than any other American naval hero, showed not only "extraordinary talent as a military man and as a diplomatist" but also "singular ability as an administrator." "He was always the gallant and chivalrous leader; his men followed him as a matter of course. Moreover, his personal gallantry and chivalrous spirit gave a heroic tone to our Navy, which has come down as a heritage of inestimable value to this very day. Those who knew him well bear witness to the fact that he seemed to cast a strange spell over his seamen, even at first sight, and his generous and humane treatment of them only strengthened the attachment to him, which his personal magnetism had produced. He possessed the happy art of governing his men by their affections rather than by their fears."
The author, in his portrayal of Hull, has given us an interesting and vivid picture of stirring action and events, with much appreciation of human analysis. Hull's action at Portsmouth, England, when he refused to be bullied into submission by two British frigates, gives us much true light on the real character of our early officers—a character which, unfortunately, through the uncritical stressing in our school histories of the Leopard-Chesapeake affair, is by no means adequately appreciated. An interesting and amusing instance of British indignation over the defeat of the Guerriere by the Constitution discloses the keen reaction experienced by some of the British officers. "When the loss of the Guerriere was made known to a group of seventy or eighty English officers at Plymouth, a most extraordinary scene was enacted. One who was present, at table with the officers, furnished these details: 'The storm of fury, the broken glasses, curses, imprecations and tossing chairs were but the evidences that British pride was indelibly touched, and in the fury of rage all physical digestion was at an end.'" Hull's biography, which is one of the most effective of the twelve, strikingly epitomizes his worth with the final comment—"for was not he the first to break the spell of British supremacy on the high seas?"
Professor Lewis's description of Porter, whose very spirit seems reflected from the pages of the sketch, has been drawn with such life-like strokes that a character, which in the average naval history seems stressed out of all proportion to its historical significance, now takes on added interest. His life is considered as a "romantic drama of five acts," from his irresistible call to the sea to his appointment as American minister at Constantinople. His resignation from the Navy, in consequence of the unjust treatment meted out to him as a result of the Fajardo affair, ended a naval career which had always been marked by being in the thick of whatever was going on. The author's keen sympathy for Porter has led him into one of the few errors of judgment, that the thoughtful reader may criticize, when he makes a facetious slap at republics. This, with the very last sentence in the book, has no place in such a biography
The story of Macdonough seems rather thin in comparison to the sketches of Porter and Hull, though what is presented is well done, especially the selection of the closing quotation. The story of Farragut, too, is not as well sustained as the others; and that of Sims, though intensely interesting in regard to his early career and his faculty for constructive and beneficial criticism, becomes, during the World War period, an incomplete and uncomprehensive narrative of rather dry details.
In tracing the career of Oliver Hazard Perry we see the importance of merchant service to our early officers. Many, too, were brought up in a sea atmosphere, and a great number had ancestors who had suffered in the old British prison ship Jersey. This last circumstance seemed to be an additional incentive to fight against England in the War of 1812, at least in the case of Porter. The account of the battle of Lake Erie is unusually clear and the significance of the psychological effect of the victory upon the English is suggested by the comment, "never before, since England had created a navy, had an entire British fleet or squadron been captured."
It is not so much the outstanding achievements of M. C. Perry and Dewey, which were accomplished in the Far East and which are generally well known and appreciated, but rather their less conspicuous work that is of especial interest to the reader. Dewey's professional qualifications are seen in his transformation of the Colorado, during the Civil War, from an unhappy to a happy ship and in his sense of mortification at being ordered to the China station, via the Mediterranean, in 1882, in the old tub Juniata, when he said: "I was going in a relic of a past epoch of naval warfare, which you would have expected to see flying the flag of some tenth-rate power. She was as much out of date as the stage-coach. While Europe was building armored battleships and fast cruisers, we were making no additions to our Navy. Italy, Spain, and Holland were each stronger on the sea than the United States." To correct this deplorable state of things he did much. Perry's services, other than the opening of Japan, make a most remarkable list. Professor Lewis enumerates the following as some of the distinctive things that he accomplished: "He chose the location of the first free black settlement in Liberia; he was, to the end of his life, one of the leading educators of the United Sates Navy; he was the father of our steam Navy; he first demonstrated the efficiency of the ram as a weapon of offense in naval warfare; he founded the naval apprenticeship system, and the naval brigade; he was an active instrument in assisting to extirpate the foreign slave trade on the West Coast of Africa; his methods helped to remove dueling, the grog ration, and flogging out of the Navy; and he commanded, in 1847, the largest squadron which, up to that date, had ever assembled under the American flag, in the Gulf of Mexico, and this fleet, under his command, materially aided the army in its rapid subjugation of Mexico." Perry's life was, indeed, filled with constructive accomplishments.
The two remaining officers that complete the selected group both became famous through their research and exploration in unknown realms; Mahan in the realm of historical research, specializing in the field of the history and philosophy of sea power, and Peary in the realm of the frozen North, specializing in the field of progressive adaptability to the Arctic conditions, through the development of the "Peary System." Both became the recognized leaders in their respective fields and their accomplishments have not been equalled. Mahan's widespread influence upon the development of modern navies, especially upon Germany, has had a great effect upon the history of the world. He, himself, it seems, worried over the character of the German reaction to his philosophy of sea power. Peary's chief contribution, outside of his final achievement, is found in the fundamental basis of the "Peary System,"—the constant and untiring study of the problem in hand, accompanied by the patient willingness to sacrifice speed for effective solution.
H. F. S.
DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINERY—By Erich Hausmann, E.E., Sc.D. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York. $4.50.
This book constitutes a revision of two separate volumes, Direct Current Machines, and Alternating Current Machines, written in 1900 and 1902, jointly by Dr. Samuel Sheldon and Dr. Erich Hausmann, the present author, who is professor of physics and professor of electrical communication at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, president of the New York Electrical Society, Fellow of the A.I.E.E.
The author has successfully combined the material of the previous volumes with modern developments and has produced in a single compact volume the essential features of Dynamo Electric Machinery. The sub-divisions are fewer than sometime; made but appear to be an advantage in that the material is better centralized and treated from a more general viewpoint.
The illustrations are numerous, well chosen, and include cuts of modern machines, clear typical wiring digrams, and a few well drawn characteristic curves for various machines and electrical appliances. The subject of Inductance and Capacity and its use in electrical circuits is especially well treated. A limited mathematical treatment is given to this subject sufficient to show the principles underlying the calculation of these properties in a circuit.
Several pages are devoted to wave form (a subject which is usually passed over in a single paragraph) with both mathematical and graphical treatment. The chapter on Transformers is unusually complete with illustrations of a large number of commercial types, both as a unit, disassembled, and in cross section. The location of this chapter before the chapter on Alternators is, however, of questionable value, but was evidently done to enable the study of A. C. motors to follow directly after that on Alternators.
The book is divided approximately as follows: Elements of Electricity and Magnetism, one tenth; Direct Current Machinery, three tenths; Elements of A. C., two tenths; Alternating Current Machinery, three tenths, and Conversion, one tenth. The book is thus seen to be a textbook more largely of A. C. than D. C. and treating the subject more fully from a practical standpoint than from a theoretical one. As the title suggests, the subjects of batteries, communication and electrostatics are not included.
D. G. H.