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Yachts under sail, a collection of Photographs with a foreword by Alfred F- Loomis. The book designed by Gor- ^0n C. Aymar. New York: William borrow and Co. 1933. $3.00.
Ihe best clue to the quality of this ex- ^a°rdinary collection of photographs is Siven by the four pictures reproduced on PP-1376—79 of this issue. Surely no lover of Sad or the sea can view these without a keen esire to cast his eyes on the remaining 89 shown. Mr. Loomis, who selected the P °tographs and made it a labor of love, ls himself an ardent yachtsman, who was ^'th the Navy in the Adriatic during the °nd War, and is well known to readers the Proceedings by his article in the .ePtember, 1932, number, “Are There ny Sailors in the Navy?” which stirred Pvely discussion. This summer he has ^0l)e to Plymouth and Cowes in the yacht rPliant for the Fastnet race.
Yachts Under Sail is, with a few excep- l0lls, limited to American craft of the Post-War perfod Otherwise it has no in- lbltions. There are all types, from east c°ast, \yest coast, gulf, and lakes, in fair father and foul, the test for inclusion be- as Mr. Loomis says, the feeling as he Qoked at them, “I’d like to have been
ere!”—or sometimes, “I’m glad I was
Hot!”
THE SANDWICH PAPERS; PRIVATE PAPERS OF JOHN, EARL OF SANDWICH, FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY, 1771-1782. Edited by G. R. Barnes and J. H. Owen. 1933. Vol. II. London: Publications of the Navy Records Society. Vol. 70. 05s. 6d.
Reviewed by Louis H. Bolander
John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, whose correspondence as First Lord of the Admiralty is here published, was a most colorful personage. Though his private life was not beyond reproach, he was an able administrator, and guided Britain’s naval destinies through a period of utmost peril for the Empire. Sir John Barrow, the biographer of Admiral Howe, considered him “A man of first-rate abilities, and one of the most active and well- informed that ever filled the high office of First Lord of the Admiralty.” His contemporaries upheld this judgment for when his removal was brought to vote in the House of Lords, the opposition was overwhelmingly defeated.
The editors of this second volume (the first was reviewed in the July, 1932, issue of the Proceedings) are to be congratulated in bringing to their task the same high order of meticulous scholarship that was exhibited in the previous volume.
The papers here presented cover a most important period in American and English history—from March, 1778, to May, 1779. The French Alliance with the revolting American colonies had just been consummated, and England was preparing feverishly for another French war, now rendered inevitable. Sandwich, as head of the Admiralty, was the nerve center of all naval activity, and on his shoulders fell the burden of making ready England’s fleet for war. His letters to and from high- ranking officers like Keppel, Palliser, Howe, Barrington, Hotham, and others throw a new and interesting light on the history of the British Navy during this crucial time. Sandwich’s difficulties were enormous. There was a decided lack of frigates and smaller vessels; and though England could boast great numbers of thoroughbred seamen, the merchant service lured them with higher pay, and the privateers with promises of generous shares of prize money. To man his ships he was compelled to offer large bounties, to declare an embargo on merchant shipping, a hazardous policy, or to resort to the press gang.
The correspondence growing out of the court-martial of Admiral Keppel for his indecisive battle with the French under d’Orvilliers off Ushant is particularly interesting, together with the First Lord’s letters on the subsequent court-martial of Vice-Admiral Hugh Palliser for his conduct in the same engagement. The editors supply the reader with copious notes so that he may be properly informed of the entire proceedings.
One of the most picturesque adventurers in all the naval history of the Revolution, that saucy fellow, Gustavus Conyngham, crops up in this correspondence. An Englishman, Mr. Charles Stuart, with the British fleet, writes home: “The famous (or rather infamous) Conyngham was attending d’Estaing in a Yankee privateer sloop of 14 guns, and had the impudence to fire at us, but he took care to do it out of gunshot.” From our knowledge of Captain Conyngham and his activities, we would judge that it would make little difference to him whether or not he was in range of hostile guns. To American readers the fourth chapter will be of special interest as the letters here deal exclusively with naval affairs in American waters during the year 1778. They show the perplexities and difficulties with which Admiral Howe and his aids were confronted waging war so far from home ports.
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