George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea [Paperback]

I had just finished Patriot Pirates and was completely disappointed in it so it was with a bit of trepidation that I began this book. The title smacked of bad marketing but to my pleasant surprise the content was fantastic.

The story of the Siege of Boston has been told many times but never from the naval perspective. The author makes an interesting read and a compelling case out of Gen. Washington's slow embrace of sea power as a lever against the British. The existence of both Washington's small fleet of essentially privateers and Congress's eventual authorization of an actual navy was a surprise to me. Though I have read a few naval histories I had never come across this fact. He consistently refers back to his thesis of the fleet's impact on the siege by giving a fair assesment of the actual vs. psychological impact of the naval action. He pays mind to the benefits to the Continental Army and the detriment to the British of the seized material. The author blends the large scale operation of ousting the British from Boston with the small scale dramas of fitting out ships and several of there engagements. Good attention is paid to the characters other than the name brands guys (Washington, Knox, Greene, etc) whom you can read about else(every)where.

I think both enjoyable to the novice reader as well as someone with a good level of knowledge of the era or naval history. I would recommend that if you are not familiar with ships of the age you have a handy guide to naval terminology as it is used quite freely without a glossary. Probably will not distract from your enjoyment but you may not get as much from the reading.

I am looking forward to his prior book Benedict Arnold's Navy. Now if someone could just write a history of the occupation of Boston, and not just the highlights and the siege, I'd be really happy.

In George Washington's Secret Navy, James L. Nelson tells the story of the beginnings of American sea power in the Revolution. The book covers 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. Like Nelson's Benedict Arnold's Navy, this work is well written, very detailed, and shows the authors expertise.

I'm in the midst of two other works, Patriot Pirates (Robert H. Patton) and If By Sea (George Daughan). Patton's book follows the privateers through the revolution. Daughan's recounts the US Navy from 1775 t0 1815. Together with Nelson'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. Leiner The End of Barbary Terror
Richard Zacks The Pirate Coast
Ian W. Toll Six Frigates
A. B. C. Whipple To the Shores of Tripoli
John R. Elting Amateurs, 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.

I have to admit, while I'm a huge fan of James L. Nelson's fiction novels (and I can't wait for another one), it's a real pleasure to read serious non-fiction written by someone with his talent who can, pardon the cliche, make history come alive. From Washington's ride to review his troops to the British finally leaving Boston, the book equally delights and educates. For serious history buffs (which I'm not), the book gives insight to an indispensable but little known sliver of the American Revolution. For those who just want a great read, with drama, action, and a fair amount of comedy (the U.S. Navy's origins were filled with blunders and mishaps), George Washington's Secret Navy is the perfect nighttime read.