The true 'last gasp' of the age of wooden ships and iron men came in the early 1800s. It was a time when the Royal Navy was at its peak in terms of being a major fighting power and it was often expected that any engagement would result in a British victory. As they were at war with both France and Spain, there was a real shortage of personnel to man their ships. During this time, it was not unusual at all for Royal Navy ships to stop British merchant ships and impress portions of their crews to take care of this manning shortage.

This led to many Americans being forced into service as one could not readily distinguish between Britons and Americans at the time. Both looked the same, dressed the same and spoke with the same accents. However, it was getting to be a bit much for the US government and so a series of 'acts' were established that eventually put the US and the UK at odds, precipitating the War of 1812.

Moving to a slightly different tangent, during this time period, the most desirable ship to captain was the Frigate. These ships were well gunned, fast and maneuverable. They also frequently operated alone without the baggage of having an admiral around to tell the captain what to do, unlike the larger ships of the line. It was every frigate captain's dream to have one on one combat with an enemy frigate. This would allow his skills and that of his crew to be put to the test and give the captain major bragging rights and prestige.

During the War of 1812, there were four major frigate duels between the US and British ships. Three of them were American victories. This was due to the design and firepower of American ships as well as the skill of the crews and captain. In the one loss, the captain was overconfident and did not use the benefits of his ship to their best advantage. All of these duels were relatively short and all resulted in a decisive victory for the winning ship.

In his book on frigate battles of this period, author Mark Lardas covers the background to the war, the design of the ships and the training given to the crews. The four battles are fully covered so that we can understand how each ship performed during these times. The book is superbly illustrated with period painting and drawings and there is a statistical analysis of each of the battles. 

In all, a superlative inclusion to this series. It is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and is one that I know you will find a delight as well.

October 2009

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