George Washington's Secret Navy

I have just finished reading this book by James L.Nelson about naval activities in the early days of the American War of Independence. It seemed to be very well researched and was an interesting read.

Years ago when I read Kent's Bolitho novel Sloop of War I found it interesting because I did not really know much about American History and since then I have enjoyed books which shed some light on American naval activities. I found this book to be very educational about events surrounding the siege of Boston. If there is a down side, it is that it assumes a certain basic knowledge of American History. The phrase 'after Lexington and Concord' appeared a number of times and I eventually had to research these on the web. A brief summary of early revolutionary events in the prologue would have helped overseas readers. However that did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

Interesting. I've read the Biddlecomb series which dealt somewhat with the same topic from a fictional standpoint (I wish he'd write more for that series ... stupid publishers ).
I'll have to seek this one out.

Just came accross an interesting podcast by the author talking about events surrounding this book. It's nearly an hour long but if you've got the time well worth watching.

http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2009/03-14-james-nelson.jsp

George Washington’s Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea, by James L. Nelson has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for excellence in naval literature. The book is published by McGraw-Hill Professional.

Presented annually by the Naval Order of the United States, the Morison Award is given to the author “who by his published writings has made a substantial contribution to the preservation of the history and traditions of the United States Navy.”

For full article see maritimetoday.com

I read the book a few months ago and found it well-written and researched.

It was interesting to see difficulty Washington had dealing with the privateering ethos of captains & crews as he attempted to hamper supplies going into Boston in 1775.