Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The book lacks notes, references, bibliography, and index, which is indicative of its quality. This is a remarkably poor book and I strongly suggest that you pass it by. There are numerous other texts - including several fine, recent ones (for instance: The Six Frigates (Ian Toll)) - concerning the US Navy in the War of 1812, any of which are better "reads". The author appears to have been highly confused, or disinclined to study the ship's history: he virtually ignored the numerous, fine discussions by James Fenimore Cooper, Theodore Roosevelt, the official history of the US Navy (Edward Beach), and numerous other recent authors regarding the HMS Shannon - USS Chesapeake action, and yet he lavished words and photographs on an unofficial visit of a handful of enlisted Air National Guardsmen to the gravesites of some of the Chesapeake USN POWs in Canada. Amazingly, he also went to some considerable length comparing this early 19th Century frigate duel to - of all things - a massive early 20th Century land battle on the Western Front in France late in WW I (the connection: the captured Chesapeake was first brought to Canada and the land battle in France had involved Canadians)! He expresses astonishment that the US Navy will not name another vessel "Chesapeake" - a ship surrendered twice to the British, thus a remarkably "unlucky" name among sailors - and that the US Ambassador to Britain did not answer an invitation to celebrate (!) the capture of the ship at the site of a few of the original planks, now an endangered antique flour mill in England. In short, the author appears to have little understanding/appreciation of American emotional sensibilities. In conclusion: this is a very sub-standard work in its field. You can spend your time better, and your money more wisely.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Enduring Journey of the USS Chesapeake: Navigating the Common History of Three Nations
As the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 is observed in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, one of its most important artifacts sits relatively intact and unknown in England. The USS Chesapeake was launched in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1799, and captured by the British in one of the most storied naval battles of the War of 1812. Though broken up in Portsmouth, England in 1819, she endures more than any of the other American warships of her day, including the USS Constitution. Since 1820, the uncut and unaltered timbers of the Chesapeake have survived as the structure of a flour mill beside the Meon River in Wickham, Hampshire County, UK. When the Chesapeake Mill became obsolete and abandoned in the 1970s, the ship was in danger of being broken up once again. Then, at the beginning of the 21st century, the forces of historic preservation returned her to life in another form.
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