Skip to main content

Full text of "Ubi sumus? : the state of naval and maritime history"

See other formats


*=--  / 


or,  st 


-3^ 


UBI  SUMUS  ? 

The  State  of  Naval  and  Maritime  History 

edited  by 
John  B.  Hattendorf 


UBI SUMUS? 


Naval  War  College 
Historical  Monograph  Series 

No.  11 

The  Historical  Monograph  series  are  book-length  studies  of  the  history  of 
naval  warfare,  edited  historical  documents,  conference  proceedings,  and  bibli- 
ographies. They  are  the  products  of  the  Naval  War  College's  historical  studies 
and  are  based,  wholly  or  in  part,  on  source  materials  in  the  College's  Naval 
Historical  Collection.  Financial  support  for  research  projects,  conference  support 
and  printing  is  provided  by  the  Naval  War  College  Foundation. 

Other  volumes  in  the  series  are: 

No.  1.  The  Writings  of  Stephen  B.  Luce,  edited  by  John  D.  Hayes  and  John  B. 
Hattendorf(1975). 

No.  2.  Charleston  Blockade:  The  Journals  of  John  B.  Marchand,  U.S.  Navy, 
1861-1862,  edited  by  Craig  L.  Symonds  (1976). 

No.  3.  Professors  of  War:  The  Naval  War  College  and  the  Development  of  the  Naval 
Profession,  by  Ronald  Spector  (1977). 

No.  4.  The  Blue  Sword:  The  Naval  War  College  and  the  American  Mission, 
1919-1941,  by  Michael  Vlahos  (1980). 

No.  5.  On  His  Majesty's  Service:  Observations  of  the  British  Home  Fleet  from  the 
Diary,  Reports,  and  Letters  of  Joseph  H.  Wellings,  Assistant  Naval  Attache,  London, 
1940-41,  edited  by  John  B.  Hattendorf  (1983). 

No.  6.  Angel  on  the  Yardarm:  The  Beginnings  of  Fleet  Radar  Defense  and  the  Kamikaze 
Threat,  by  John  Monsarrat  (1985). 

No.  7.  A  Bibliography  of  the  Works  of  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  compiled  by  John  B. 
Hattendorf  and  Lynn  C.  Hattendorf  (1986). 

No.  8.  The  Fraternity  of  the  Blue  Uniform:  Admiral  Richard  G.  Colbert,  U.S.  Navy, 
and  Allied  Naval  Cooperation,  by  Joel  J.  Sokolsky  (1991). 

No.  9.  The  Influence  of  History  on  Mahan:  The  Proceedings  of  a  Conference  Marking 
the  Centenary  of  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan' s  "The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  Upon 
History,  1660-1783,"  edited  by  John  B.  Hattendorf  (1991). 

No.  10.  Mahan  Is  Not  Enough:  The  Proceedings  of  a  Conference  on  the  Works  of  Sir 
Julian  Corbett  and  Admiral  Sir  Herbert  Richmond,  edited  by  James  Goldrick  and 
JohnB.  Hattendorf  (1993). 


UBISUMUS? 

The  State  of  Naval  and  Maritime  History 


Edited  by 
John  B.  Ha t ten  dor f 

Ernest  J.  King  Professor  of  Maritime  History 
Naval  War  College 


NAVAL  WAR  COLLEGE  PRESS 
Newport.  Rhode  Island 


1994 


The  cover  illustrations  are  from  the 

collections  of  the  Henry  Eccles  Library, 

Naval  War  College,  Newport,  Rhode  Island 

Front:  Paul  Hoste,  L'art  des  Armees  Navales 

ou  Traite  des  Evolutions  Navales  (Lyon,  1727). 

Back:  L'art  de  Naviguer  de  M.  Pierre  de  Medine 

Espagnol  (Rouen,  1607). 


Library  of  Congress  Cataloging-in-Publication  Data 

Ubi  sumus?:  the  state  of  naval  and  maritime  history/edited  by  John 
B.  Hattendorf. 

p.  cm. — (Naval  War  College  hisotrical  monograph  series;  no.  11) 

Includes  bibliographical  references 

ISBN  1-884733-04-2 

1.  Naval  art  and  science — History.     2.  Naval  history. 
3.  Navigation — History.     I.  Hattendorf,  John  B.     II.  Series:  U.S. 
Naval  War  College  historical  monograph  series;  no.  11. 
V27.U23  1994  94-34667 

359'.009— dc20  CIP 


Contents 

Acknowledgements rx 

Introduction 
Ubi  Sumus?  What  Is  the  State  of  Naval  and  Maritime 

History  Today?    1 

John  B.  Hattendorf 
Naval  War  College 

1.  The  Ancient  World    9 

Lionel  Casson 

New  York  University 

2.  Argentina 15 

Captain  Guillermo  J.  Montenegro 
Argentine  Navy,  Retired 

3.  Australia 23 

Commander  James  Goldrick 
Sub-Lieutenant  Alison  Vincent 
Royal  Australian  Navy 

4.  Belgium 33 

Christian  Koninckx 

President,  Royal  Belgian  Marine  Academy 
Brussels 

5.  Britain 41 

N.A.M.  Rodger 

National  Maritime  Museum,  Greenwich 

6.  Maritime  History  in  Canada:  The  Social  and 

Economic  Dimensions 59 

Lewis  R.  Fischer 
Gerald  E.  Panting 

Memorial  University  of  Newfoundland 

7.  The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy:  The  State 

of  the  Art 79 

Marc  Milner 

University  of  New  Brunswick 

8.  Chile 93 

Captain  Carlos  Tromben,  Chilean  Navy 
Oficina  de  Historia  Naval,  Valparaiso 


vi      Contents 

9.   Denmark 103 

Hans  Christian  Bjerg 
Military  Archives 
Rigsarkivet,  Copenhagen 

10.  Dominican  Republic    Ill 

Rear  Admiral  Cesar  A.  De  Windt  Lavandier 
Dominican  Republic  Navy  Retired 
Escuela  Naval,  Punta  Torrecilla 

11.  France    115 

Herve  Coutau-Begarie 
Paris 

12.  Germany    137 

Kapitan  zur  See  Dr.  Werner  Rahn,  German  Navy 
Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  Potsdam 

13.  India    159 

Captain  C.  Uday  Bhaskar,  Indian  Navy 

The  Institute  for  Defence  Studies  and  Analyses 
New  Dehli 

14.  Ireland 163 

John  E.  de  Courcy  Ireland 
Dalkey,  Co.  Dublin 

15.  Israel    169 

Meir  Sas 

Israeli  Nautical  College,  Acre 
Nadav  Kashtan 

National  Maritime  Museum,  Haifa 
Sarah  Arenson 

The  Man  and  Sea  Society 

16.  Twentieth  Century  Italy 175 

Brian  R.  Sullivan 

National  Defense  University,  Washington,  D.C. 

Comments  on  Brian  Sullivan's  "Twentieth  Century  Italy"  ....    191 
James  J.  Sadkovich 

University  of  Southern  Mississippi,  Hattiesburg 


Contents      vii 

17.  Japan 213 

Mark  R.  Peattie 

Hoover  Institution  on  War,  Revolution  and  Peace 

Stanford  University 
David  C.  Evans 

University  of  Richmond 

18.  Republic  of  Korea 223 

Kim  111  Sang 

Naval  War  College 
Chung  Mu  Dong,  Jinhae 

19.  The  Netherlands     227 

Jaap  R.  Bruijn 

Rijks  Universiteit  Leiden 

20.  New  Zealand 245 

Ian  McGibbon 
Gavin  McLean 

Historical  Branch 

Department  of  Internal  Affairs,  Wellington 

21.  Norway 253 

Captain  Tore  Prytz  Dahl,  Royal  Norwegian  Navy 
Sjokrigskolen,  Ytre  Laksevag 

22.  Pakistan 263 

Commodore  S.  Z.  Shamsie 
Pakistan  Navy,  Retired 

23.  Peru 269 

Commander  Jorge  Ortiz,  Peruvian  Navy 
Institutio  de  Estudios  Historico 
Maritimos  del  Peru 

24.  Poland 275 

Jerzy  Litwin 

Centralne  Muzeum  Morskie,  Gdask 
Commander  Dr.  Wincenty  Karawajczyk,  Polish  Navy 

Instytut  Nauk  Humanistycznych 

Akademia  Marnarki  Wojennej,  Gdynia 

25.  Portugal 295 

Commander  J.  A.  Rodrigues  Pereira,  Portuguese  Navy 
Academia  de  Marinha,  Lisbon 


vlii      Contents 

26.  Singapore    301 

Malcolm  H.  Murfett 

National  University  of  Singapore 

27.  South  Africa 313 

C.I.  Hamilton 

University  of  the  Witwatersrand,  Johannesburg 

28.  Spain 325 

Carla  Rahn  Phillips 

University  of  Minnesota 

29.  Sweden    345 

Jan  Glete 

Stockholms  Universitet 

30.  Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan    353 

Vice  Admiral  Liu  Ta-tsai,  Republic  of  China  Navy,  Retired 

Society  for  Strategic  Studies 

Republic  of  China 
Wang  Chia-chien 

National  Taiwan  Normal  University 

31.  The  State  of  American  Maritime  History  in  the  1990s 363 

Benjamin  W.  Labaree 

Munson  Institute  of  American  Maritime  History 
Mystic  Seaport,  Connecticut 

32.  Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred:  The  Current  State 

of  American  Naval  History 379 

Kenneth  J.  Hagan 

U.S.  Naval  Academy  Museum 

Annapolis 
Mark  R.  Shulman 

National  Strategy  Information  Center 

Washington,  D.C. 

33.  Beyond  Toddlerhood:  Thoughts  on  the  Future 

of  U.S.Naval  History 417 

David  Alan  Rosenberg 
Temple  University 


Acknowledgements 

I  would  like  to  thank  the  International  Security  Studies  program  at  Yale 
University  and  the  Lynde  and  Harry  Bradley  Foundation  for  hosting  the  first 
Yale-Naval  War  College  conference  on  naval  and  maritime  history  in  June  1993. 
I  am  especially  appreciative  of  the  work  and  enthusiastic  interest  of  Professor 
Paul  M.  Kennedy,  Mark  R.  Shulman,  and  Anne  Bitetti,  who  planted  the  seed 
for  this  volume. 

At  the  Naval  War  College,  Commander  John  W.  Kennedy,  Barbara  Prisk 
and  Jim  Collins  played  key  roles  in  making  preparations  for  the  conference.  For 
their  assistance  during  the  final  editing  of  the  papers,  I  am  particularly  grateful 
to  Lieutenant-Commander  J. T.  Dunigan,  Barbara  Prisk  and  Commander  Roger 
Lerseth  in  the  Advanced  Research  Department,  Pat  Goodrich  at  the  Naval  War 
College  Press,  Ian  Oliver,  Carole  Boiani,  Jerry  Lamothe  and  typesetters  Vicky 
Florendo  and  Allison  Sylvia  in  the  Visual  Information  and  Publishing  Branch. 

The  generous  support  of  a  donor  to  the  Naval  War  College  Foundation 
provided  for  publication  of  this  book. 

J.B.H. 


InirodLTiiclt 


ion 


Ubi  Sumus? 
What  Is  the  State  of  Naval  and  Maritime 

History  Today? 

John  B.  Hattendorf 


Navigators  need  to  ask  "Where  are  we?"  before  they  can  ask  "Where  are 
we  going?"  Thus,  the  purpose  of  this  volume  is,  to  let  naval  and  maritime 
historians  ask  "Ubi  sumus?"  rather  than  "Quo  vadimus?" 

A  number  of  specialists  in  the  United  States  have  been  deeply  concerned  that 
the  serious  historical  study  of  man's  relationships  to  and  activities  at  sea  has  not 
had  the  firm  institutional  support  that  we  believe  it  should  have.  In  1985,  a  group 
of  American  scholars  involved  in  maritime  studies  saw  that  the  field  was  close 
to  extinction  in  this  country  and  they  suggested  a  national  effort  to  revitalize  and 
to  coordinate  work  in  the  field.  In  response  to  this  initiative,  the  Council  of 
American  Maritime  Museums  established  a  committee  on  higher  education  to 
examine  the  issue.  In  1989,  the  committee  reported  that  public  education  in  the 
field  was  disadvantaged  and  that  there  was  a  general  lack  of  awareness  of  the  field 
within  the  academic  community.  For  maritime  museums,  the  lack  of  academic 
training  in  the  subject  was  a  serious,  and  even  a  critical,  issue.  Many  shared  the 
committee's  views  and  impressions  of  the  situation  in  the  United  States  and  have 
tried  to  take  steps  toward  a  remedy.  In  the  course  of  this,  we  have  had  little  exact 
knowledge  about  the  situation  in  other  countries;  our  careful  attention  to  them 
had  been  deflected  by  the  hurdles  of  language  and  national  boundaries.  At  best, 
we  have  known  only  what  we  have  gained  through  fragmentary  personal 
knowledge  and  our  own  experience  in  the  course  of  individual  research  and 
reading.  This  volume  is  an  attempt  to  take  a  step  toward  a  broader  and  more 
basic  analysis  of  the  field,  but  in  moving  in  this  direction  we  are  faced  with  a 
dilemma.  It  is  the  dilemma  that  nationality  forces  upon  us.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  are  organized  as  scholars  in  terms  of  national  structures,  language,  and 
institutions.  On  the  other  hand,  our  topic  ranges  across  national  borders  as  well 
as  across  standard  academic  boundaries. 


Council  of  American  Maritime  Museums,  Report  of  the  Higher  Education  Committee:  Survey  Results, 
Stuart  M.  Frank,  Chairman  (Sharon,  Mass.:  The  Kendall  Whaling  Museum,  April  1989). 


2      Introduction 

More  usually  than  not,  it  is  national  governments,  national  coordinating 
groups,  state-funded  museums,  universities  and  libraries,  foundations  and  navies, 
operating  within  the  context  of  one  country,  that  provide  our  wherewithal.  Our 
first  order  of  business,  therefore,  is  to  analyze  the  strengths  and  weaknesses  of 
maritime  and  naval  history  in  terms  of  scholarship,  scope  of  teaching,  supporting 
organizations,  publishing  houses,  journals,  and  any  other  way  in  which  our 
subject  organizes  itself.  Thus,  it  is  appropriate  to  ask  our  initial  questions  in 
national  terms.  We  have  asked  the  contributors  to  this  volume  to  answer  the 
following  broad  questions  insofar  as  they  apply  to  each  individual  country: 

Who  is  teaching  naval  and  maritime  history,  where  is  it  being  taught,  and 
what  facets  of  it  are  being  taught? 

Is  this  being  done  only  in  naval  and  merchant  marine  academies,  govern- 
ment offices,  and  museums,  or  is  it  being  done  also  in  universities? 

What  organizations  bring  these  studies  together,  or  fail  to:     museums, 
universities,  institutes,  historical  societies,  journals? 

What  are  the  major  intellectual  trends  in  the  literature  on  each  country's 
maritime  and  naval  history? 

What  period  of  history  or  aspects  are  covered  best,  and  which  are  in  need 
of  more  emphasis? 

Is  there  a  gulf  between  the  study  of  military  affairs  on  the  seas  and  of 
non-military  maritime  history? 

How  do  ideology  and  politics  shape  the  debates  about  maritime  and  naval 
history? 

The  answers  to  these  questions  provide  us  with  a  basis  for  our  enquiry  to 
proceed.  Yet,  in  some  cases,  these  answers  are  themselves  not  always  easy  to 
find.  As  one  naval  officer  in  an  Asian  country  wrote,  "I  seem  to  be  like  Don 
Quixote  since  such  a  task  does  not  seem  to  have  been  even  attempted  ever 
before." 

With  a  collection  of  responses  on  this  series  of  questions,  we  can  begin  to 
compare  and  contrast  the  situation  in  various  countries,  and  in  that  process,  move 
above  and  beyond  national  boundaries,  as  appropriate  to  our  subject.  In  doing 
this,  we  must  see  the  subject  of  maritime  and  naval  history  more  clearly.  While 
we  can  not  forget  its  national  dimensions,  we  must  be  aware  that  sea  history, 
maritime  trade  and  naval  rivalry  touch  on  several  nations  simultaneously.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  a  theme  that  brings  together  a  wide  variety  of  different  vantage 
points  and  disciplines.  Within  it,  we  find  a  dynamic  interaction  at  a  variety  of 
levels.  We  can  see  relationships  and  trends  between  technological  development 
and  industry,  the  formation  and  growth  of  sciences,  changing  economic  trends 


Hattendorf      3 

and  financial  instruments,  politics,  international  relations,  law,  theories  of 
economics  and  warfare,  sociological  and  anthropological  issues,  along  with 
reflections  of  cultural,  intellectual,  and  religious  impulses  with  additional 
perspectives  to  be  found  through  art  and  literature.  All  of  these  are  broad  subjects 
in  themselves,  worthy  of  study  in  their  own  right,  but  defining  them  through 
their  relationship  to  men  and  ships  at  sea  provides  us  with  a  distinct  series  of 
related  themes  that  we  can  follow  over  long  periods  of  history.  To  my  mind, 
this  broad  perspective  justifies  the  academic  pursuit  of  maritime  and  naval  affairs 
as  a  subject.  Lest  I  be  misunderstood,  I  hasten  to  emphasize  that  the  subject,  as 
I  see  it,  is  not  a  closed  category  of  human  activity.  Its  academic  legitimacy  is  to 
be  found  not  in  isolation  from  other  types  of  history  but  in  the  breadth  and  range 
of  historical  interconnections  which  one  can  intelligibly  make  in  following,  over 
time,  the  varied  developments  surrounding  ships,  sailors,  and  their  related 
enterprises. 

At  universities  and  in  research  institutions,  it  is  appropriate  to  stress  the 
academic  value  of  our  field  and  to  discuss  its  state  in  terms  of  the  highest  historical 
scholarship.  At  the  same  time,  however,  there  is  a  different  level  of  attention  to 
the  subject  that  should  not  be  ignored.  Here,  I  want  to  draw  attention  to  the 
importance  which  seamen  themselves  place  on  naval  and  maritime  history.  Their 
focus  is  designed  to  serve  the  maritime  and  naval  profession.  In  this  sense,  it 
differs  somewhat  in  emphasis  and  in  objectives  from  that  of  the  academic,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  shares  much.  In  one  respect,  it  is  a  means  of  maintaining  an 
institutional  memory  for  the  organizations  involved.  On  a  larger  scale,  however, 
the  history  of  a  profession — for  a  professional  within  it — is  clearly  part  of  the 
specialized  body  of  knowledge  relating  to  its  professional  skills  and  practice  as 
well  as  a  tool  for  promoting  the  profession's  special  interests. 

Since  the  nineteenth  century,  navies  in  particular  have  cultivated  this  ap- 
proach. Naval  historians  such  as  Sir  John  Knox  Laughton,  Sir  Julian  Corbett, 
Captain  Mahan,  and  Admiral  Sir  Herbert  Richmond  were  certainly  among  the 
founding  fathers  of  this  method  in  the  Anglo-American  world.  Illustrating  the 
professional  mode,  Sir  Herbert  Richmond  identified  "three  classes  of  individuals 
to  whom  an  acquaintance  of  naval  history  is  needful:  the  general  public,  the 
statesman,  and  the  sea  officer." 

The  general  public,  he  said,  needs  to  understand  the  navy  as  an  integral  part 
of  national  and  general  history.  For  this  audience,  he  stressed  the  need  to  promote 
an  understanding  of  the  Navy's  role  in  maintaining  a  maritime  country's  security 
at  sea. 

The  statesman,  Richmond  said,  needs  to  understand  how  naval  power  has 
been  employed,  applied,  and  even  misapplied.  A  statesman  who  understands 

H.W.  Richmond,  "The  Importance  of  the  Study  of  Naval  History,"  The  Naval  Review,  27  (May 
1939),  pp.  201-18;  quote  from  p.  201.  The  article  was  reprinted  in  The  Naval  Review  68  (April  1980), 
pp.  139-50. 


4      Introduction 

these  issues  in  history,  Richmond  argued,  "would  be  more  capable  of  under- 
taking the  tremendous  responsibilities  attached  to  policy,  preparation  and 
direction  of  war  than  one  to  whom  naval  history  is  a  closed  book." 

The  sea  officer  will  gain  several  things  from  a  study  of  naval  history.  First,  he 
will  find  an  understanding  of  the  elements  of  the  use  of  sea  power.  From  this  he 
can  develop  a  foundation  upon  which  to  build  up  knowledge  of  naval  war, 
starting  from  a  record  of  practical  experience  rather  than  futuristic  speculation. 
The  officer  will  find  naval  history  a  groundwork  of  strategical  study  and  a  mental 
stimulant  that  will  serve  as  a  guide  to  conduct.  Moreover,  Richmond  suggested, 
a  study  of  tactics  from  the  age  of  sail  could  have  practical  value  for  the  modern 
officer  in  the  twentieth  century,  when  naval  weapons  and  equipment  changed 
beyond  recognition.  Even  though  the  tactics  of  earlier  times  are  themselves  of 
little  practical  use  to  the  present,  a  study  of  them  reveals  "the  principles  of  the 
use  of  force  and  human  nature,  which  expresses  itself  in  its  methods  of 
command."  For  the  professional  naval  officer,  the  study  of  naval  history  brings 
out  the  need  for  clear  thinking  on  a  wide  range  of  professional  issues,  while  at 
the  same  time  providing  illustration,  stimulation,  and  guidance  to  officers  on  the 
nature  and  character  of  naval  command. 

In  other  words,  from  a  professional  point  of  view,  the  general  public  should 
know  enough  about  the  history  of  naval  and  maritime  affairs  to  appreciate  and 
to  support  public  expenditure  on  current  programs;  the  statesman,  to  maintain, 
guide  and  use  it  appropriately;  the  sea  officer,  to  understand  the  nature  of  the 
issues  he  faces  and  to  absorb  the  ideals  of  the  profession.  Many  of  these  points 
are  ones  which  a  professional  academic  would  hesitate  to  endorse,  seeking 
instead  a  broader  and  more  dispassionate  understanding  of  the  maritime  dimen- 
sion in  human  affairs. 

This  book  of  essays  had  its  origin  in  a  two  and  a  half-day  joint  Yale-Naval 
War  College  conference  held  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  at  the  invitation  of 
Professor  Paul  M.  Kennedy.  This  conference  was  limited  by  time  and  resources 
to  focussing  on  the  naval  and  maritime  history  of  only  eight  countries:  Canada, 
France,  Germany,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Spain,  the  United  Kingdom,  and  the 
United  States.  Our  thought  in  organizing  this  meeting  was  to  have  time  for  an 
exchange  of  ideas.  Thus,  it  was  convenient  to  limit  both  the  size  of  our  group 
and  the  number  of  papers  presented.  To  encourage  our  discussion,  we  invited 
knowledgeable  commentators  to  stir  our  thoughts  on  the  issues,  perhaps  leading 
us  in  directions  we  had  not  previously  examined.  The  countries  that  we  chose 
for  the  conference  are  those  where  naval  and  maritime  studies  are  highly  active. 
Yet,  maritime  and  naval  history  is  still  so  specialized  a  field  that  we  found 
difficulty  in  finding  speakers  and  commentators  for  all  the  countries  we  wanted 

3  Ibid.,  p.  203. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  212. 


Hattendorf      5 

to  include.  At  the  same  time,  we  found  that  the  division  between  maritime  and 
naval  studies  in  North  America  was  so  great  that  many  specialists  were  unwilling 
to  cross  their  self-imposed  boundaries.  In  order  to  get  a  full  understanding  of 
the  issues  involved,  we  doubled  the  representation  of  papers  from  Canada  and 
the  United  States. 

Nevertheless,  despite  the  practical  restraints  on  what  we  could  achieve,  even 
in  a  very  intense  and  busy  conference,  the  papers  were  only  the  core  of  a  larger 
project.  Eight  North  American  and  European  countries  do  not  represent  the 
world!  To  supplement  our  ideas,  we  solicited  more  essays,  posing  the  same 
questions,  from  as  many  different  countries  as  we  could  locate  maritime  and 
naval  historians.  Some  did  not  respond;  others,  for  one  reason  or  another,  were 
unable  to  provide  essays.  Reluctantly,  we  have  had  to  accept  the  fact  that  we 
could  not  have  complete  representation  and  still  publish  a  timely  volume.  Thus, 
despite  the  omission  of  so  many  African  and  Middle  Eastern  countries  as  well  as 
Brazil,  The  People's  Republic  of  China,  Finland,  Greece,  Indonesia,  Mexico, 
the  Philippines,  Russia,  and  Turkey,  all  of  which  have  key  maritime  interests, 
this  volume  is  large  enough  to  suggest  some  of  the  main  trends  and  issues  in  the 
current  state  of  maritime  and  naval  history. 

As  we  look  across  the  scope  of  the  present  state  of  maritime  and  naval  history, 
we  find  a  variety  of  situations,  varying  from  country  to  country.  In  some,  there 
are  only  a  handful  of  professional  seamen  who  are  doing  the  heroic  work  of 
maintaining  this  field  of  historical  work.  Their  work  tends  to  center  in  the 
professional  service  academies,  staff  colleges,  or  in  contributions  from  retired 
officers  and  merchant  mariners.  In  other  countries,  the  professional  seamen  have 
made  links  with  academics  and  with  research  organizations  that  have  helped  to 
raise  historical  standards  and  broaden  out  understanding  of  events  at  sea.  In  other 
places,  it  is  the  museums  that  have  taken  the  lead  in  research  and  writing,  as  well 
is  in  educating  the  public  on  the  historical  role  of  sea  affairs.  In  a  few  places, 
maritime  and  naval  history  has  become  a  subject  for  research  and  courses  at  the 
university  level.  Yet,  perhaps,  nowhere  has  it  reached  the  highest  level  at  which 
we  would  like  to  have  it. 

Overall,  maritime  and  naval  history  is  an  area  with  tremendous  potential  for 
serious  historical  research,  yet  as  a  field,  it  often  lacks  methodological  standards. 
Professional  seamen  have  been  the  first  to  promote  study  in  this  area,  finding  it 
valuable  for  their  own  professional  concerns.  However,  when  interest  in  the 
field  expands,  too  often  it  consists  initially  of  only  a  fascination  with  ships  or  in 
some  romantic  notion  of  seafaring,  rather  than  in  broader,  historical  under- 
standing. In  order  for  the  general  study  of  maritime  and  naval  history  to  reach 
a  higher  level,  its  focus  must  break  out  beyond  a  confined,  self-contained  and 
self- referenced  view  to  make  links  with  wider  events  and  with  trends  of  broad, 
general  interest.  Indeed,  the  best  studies  in  naval  and  maritime  history,  up  to  this 
point,  are  those  that  specifically  use  naval  and  maritime  affairs  as  examples, 


6      Introduction 

extensions  or  variations  of  already  established  general  themes  in  topics  like  the 
history  of  science  and  technology  or  economic,  social,  political,  international  or 
intellectual  history.  Yet,  maritime  and  naval  history  affairs  are  more  than  just 
stray  examples.  Man's  activities  at  sea  involve  complex  interrelationships  of  many 
strands  in  human  affairs.  When  seen  together,  they  constitute  a  broad  theme 
within  general  history  that  should  be  neither  isolated  nor  ignored.  The  develop- 
ment, over  time,  in  the  technologies  of  ships,  the  range  of  the  nautical  sciences, 
the  skills  and  character  of  seamen,  form  the  central  strands  of  this  theme  as  one 
traces  its  interaction  with  other  areas  of  human  activity. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  essays  in  this  volume  suggest  both  the  strengths  and 
weaknesses  in  the  field  of  maritime  and  naval  history.  As  a  field,  it  is  generally 
underdeveloped  when  compared  to  other  historical  topics.  Nevertheless,  some 
very  important  basic  work  has  been  done  in  laying  the  foundations  for  proper 
study:  Significant  progress  has  been  made  in  establishing  some  key  bibliographies 
and  there  are  already  available  some  important  research  guides  to  manuscript 
materials.  Scholars  have  begun  to  publish  critical  editions  of  key  documents  and 
they  are  identifying,  where  available,  the  standard  works  which  new  research 
work  can  test  and  expand  upon.  Pressures  from  both  within  and  without  the 
maritime  community  are  slowly  opening  its  closed,  self-referenced  shell  that  was 
originally  so  valuable  for  early  professional  development.  The  wider  contacts 
and  perceptions  benefit  equally  the  modern  professional  seaman  as  well  as  the 
historian  who  wishes  to  observe  them.  In  order  to  use  them  effectively,  however, 
those  who  work  in  maritime  and  naval  history  must  be  more  fully  aware  of 
progress  that  is  being  made  toward  improving  methodology  in  the  field. 

The  teaching  area  is  the  least  developed  of  all.  Aside  from  professional 
academies  which  sometimes  still  deal  with  the  subject  only  in  outmoded 
hagiographic,  romantic,  or  nationalistic  styles,  there  are  only  a  very  a  few  serious 
academic  courses  that  examine  the  broad  historical  implications  of  the  subject. 
With  a  few  exceptions,  university  courses  have  tended  to  ignore  the  natural 
international  and  comparative  perspectives  that  maritime  and  naval  affairs 
naturally  involve.  Few  have  attempted  to  deal  in  the  alternative  patterns  to 
national  history  that  such  distinctive  features  of  the  subject  as  ocean  currents  and 
the  pattern  of  maritime  trade  might  suggest.  Some  of  the  rare  academic  chairs, 
designed  to  be  filled  by  scholars  who  should  be  leading  the  teaching  and  work 
in  the  maritime  and  naval  field  at  great  research  universities,  are  unfilled  or 
diverted  to  specialists  in  distantly  related  themes.  At  universities,  both  under- 
graduate and  graduate  students  approaching  the  broad  spectrum  of  historical 
issues  often  entirely  miss  the  maritime  dimension.  One  hopes  that,  as  methodol- 
ogy improves  and  more  researchers  and  writers  in  maritime  and  naval  history 

5  This  is  the  subject  of  another  volume  of  essays:  John  B.  Hattendorf,  ed.,  Doing  Naval  History:  Essays 
Toward  Improvement  (forthcoming). 


Hattendorf     7 

demonstrate  the  wider  dimensions  of  the  field,  they  will  provide  the  materials 
for  teaching. 

Where  are  we  with  the  field  of  maritime  and  naval  history?  It  is  among  the 
"youngsters"  in  the  historical  profession;  it  is  a  field  that  needs  to  become  more 
sophisticated.  By  and  large,  we  need  to  improve  our  methodologies  and 
techniques  as  well  as  to  consolidate  the  intellectual  foundations  for  our  field.  To 
do  that,  we  have  the  materials  at  hand.  The  following  essays,  however  incom- 
plete a  collection,  provide  one  basis  for  moving  forward.  These  essays  report 
where  we  are  now,  and  with  this  knowledge,  we  can  begin  to  look  for  new 
approaches  and  new  linkages  to  improve  the  quality  of  future  work  in  maritime 
and  naval  history. 


1 

The  Ancient  World 


Lionel  Casson 


The  history  of  the  sea  in  ancient  times  is  a  fledgling  discipline.  It  came  into 
being,  strictly  speaking,  only  in  the  twentieth  century.  To  date,  it  has 
dealt  almost  exclusively  with  the  technical  aspects  of  ships.  There  are  two  reasons 
for  this.  The  first  is  that,  in  this  century,  new  disciplines  were  developed,  such 
as  archaeology,  epigraphy,  numismatics,  art  history,  and,  most  importantly, 
marine  archeology  in  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  and  these  have  transformed 
our  knowledge  of  the  technical  aspects,  filling  in  what  hitherto  had  been  black 
holes.  Inevitably,  research  has  concentrated  on  these.  The  second  reason  is  that, 
for  the  ancient  world,  we  lack  information  on  which  to  base  meaningful  exploration  of 
larger  historical  aspects. 

Until  the  dramatic  revelations  of  Near  Eastern  archaeology,  for  the  many 
centuries  prior  to  ca.  1000  B.C.,  all  ancient  history,  not  merely  the  history  of  the 
sea,  was  a  blank.  And,  for  the  centuries  after  that,  naval  history  was  hindered  by 
a  long-standing  argument  concerning  the  oarage  of  ancient  war  galleys,  while 
maritime  history  was  hindered  by  widely  held  misconceptions  that  the  ancients 
used  only  relatively  small  sailing  ships,  that  they  clung  to  the  coasts,  that  they 
were  unable  to  sail  against  the  wind. 

Naval  History 

The  first  genuinely  scholarly  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  sea  was  Cecil 
Torr's  Ancient  Ships,  published  in  1895,  in  which  Torr  presented  all  the 
information  that  could  be  gleaned  from  Greek  and  Latin  writers.  For  maritime 
history  it  was  a  notable  contribution,  since  it  not  only  made  clear  that  the  ancients 
had  ships  of  considerable  size  but  provided  details  about  their  rig  and  equipment. 
Naval  history,  however,  was  another  matter.     The  standard  warship  of  the 

Lionel  Casson,  The  Ancient  Mariners,  2nd  ed.  (Princeton:  1991).  A  presentation  for  the  general  reader 
of  the  maritime  aspects  of  ancient  history  from  the  earliest  beginnings  to  the  end  of  the  ancient  world. 

L.  Casson,  Ships  and  Seamanship  in  the  Ancient  World,  2nd  ed.  (Princeton:  1986).  A  scholarly 
presentation  with  full  documentation  of  all  aspects  of  naval  technology. 

Lucien  Basch,  Le  musee  imaginaire  de  la  marine  antique  (Athens:  1987).  Over  1,100  figures  reproduce 
almost  all  the  representations  of  ships  that  have  survived  from  the  ancient  world. 

C.  Torr,  Aticient  Ships.  (Cambridge:  1895).  A  reprint  edition  (Chicago:  1964). 

'I 

William   L.    Rodgers,    Greek   and   Roman    Naval    Warfare.    (Annapolis:    1937;    reprinted    1980).    A 


1 0     The  Ancient  World 

ancient  world  was  a  galley  called  a  trieres  in  Greek  and  triremis  in  Latin — a  trireme 
in  our  nomenclature.  The  first  means  "three-fitted,"  the  second  "having  three 
oars,"  and  centuries  before  Torr  wrote,  authorities  had  been  arguing  hotly  over 
how  this  was  to  be  understood.  Most  held  that  the  tri-  indicated  there  were  three 
superimposed  levels  of  oarsmen,  and,  since  the  evidence  from  written  sources 
pointed  in  this  direction,  it  was  the  view  Torr  followed.  However,  a  British 
historian,  W.W.  Tarn,  who  wielded  a  skilled  pen  and  was  a  master  at  polemics, 
in  the  early  decades  of  this  century  convinced  the  scholarly  world  otherwise, 
that  such  an  arrangement  was  impossible,  that  triremes  must  have  had  a  single 
line  of  oars  arranged  in  clusters  of  three.  The  problem  was  complicated  by  the 
fact  that,  in  the  fourth  and  third  centuries  B.C.,  ever  bigger  war  galleys  bearing 
similar  nomenclature  came  into  being,  "four-fitteds,"  "five-fitteds,"  right  up  to 
a  brobdingnagian  "forty-fitted."  The  armchair  experts  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
preferring  logic  to  maritime  reality,  were  convinced  that,  since  a  trireme  was  a 
ship  with  three  levels  of  oars,  the  other  names  must  embody  this  principle,  and 
so  from  their  drawing  boards  came  reconstructions  of  ships  with  four  levels  of 
oars,  ships  with  five  levels,  and  so  on  up,  monstrosities  that  would  hardly  stand 
up  to  a  zephyr  to  say  nothing  of  the  rigors  of  a  sea  battle.  Tarn,  of  course,  insisted 
they  were  all  one-level,  even  though  this  produced  some  meaningless  arrange- 
ments. 

Tarn's  views  reigned  until  1941,  when  a  British  scholar,  John  Morrison, 
published  a  watershed  article  in  which,  exploiting  not  only  information  from 
ancient  writers  but  also  some  representations  that  he  convincingly  demonstrated 
were  of  triremes,  ended  the  argument:  the  trireme  did  indeed  have  three  levels 
of  oars,  the  uppermost  of  which  rowed  over  an  outrigger.  The  tri-  referred  to 
the  three  oarsmen  in  a  vertical  line:  the  oarsman  in  the  lowest  level,  the  oarsman 
in  the  middle  level  seated  above  him,  and  the  oarsman  in  the  topmost  level  seated 
more  or  less  over  the  one  in  the  middle.  Four  decades  later,  in  the  eighties, 
Morrison,  with  the  aid  of  naval  architect  John  Coates,  directed  the  building  of 
a  replica  of  a  trireme,  the  Olympias.  It  was  launched  in  1987  and  put  through 
trials  during  subsequent  years  with  spectacular  success. 

comprehensive  review  of  the  major  sea  battles  and  the  strategy  and  tactics  involved.  Much  of  the 
presentation  requires  revision  on  the  basis  of  the  evidence  that  has  become  available  since  the  time  of 
writing. 

Tarn's  chief  articles  have  been  reprinted  in  the  reprint  edition  of  Torr,  Ancient  Ships. 

5  J.  Morrison  and  R.  Williams,  Greek  Oared  Ships  900-322  B.  C.  (Cambridge:  1968).  A  fully  illustrated 
study  of  the  origin  and  development  of  the  Greek  war  galley  based  on  all  surviving  representations. 

6  J.  Morrison  and  J.  Coates,  The  Athenian  Trireme.  (Cambridge:  1986).  A  study  of  all  aspects  of  the 
trireme — its  development,  construction,  crews,  equipment,  use  in  battle.  A  chapter  is  devoted  to  the 
principles  on  which  the  building  of  the  replica  was  based. 

7  J.  Morrison  and  J.  Coates,  An  Athenian  Trireme  Reconstructed:  The  British  sea  trials  of  Olympias,  1987. 
BAR  [British  Archaeological  Reports]  International  Series,  486  (1989).  A  monograph  that  presents  the 
results  gained  in  the  earliest  trials.  See  also  P.  Lipke  in  Archaeology  (March- April  1988),  pp.  22-9. 


Casson      1 1 

What  of  the  bigger  ships,  the  "four-fitteds"  and  "five-fitteds"  and  so  on?  The 
ancients  never  went  beyond  three  levels  of  oars.  The  best  explanation  of  these 
galleys  is  that  they  had  several  men  to  each  oar  in  one,  two,  or  three  levels, 
although  exactly  how  many  is  a  matter  of  guesswork.  A  "four-fitted,"  for 
example,  may  have  had  three  levels  with  two  men  to  the  oar  in  the  topmost  and 
one  each  in  the  other  two.  A  "nine-fitted"  may  have  had  three  levels  with  three 
men  to  the  oar  in  each,  or  two  levels  with  five  to  the  oar  in  the  upper  level  and 
four  to  the  oar  in  the  lower.  The  huge  "forty-fitted"  was  probably  a  catamaran, 
with  three  levels  of  multiple-rower  oars  in  each  hull  (e.g.,  a  top  level  of  eight-man 
oars,  middle  level  of  seven-man  oars,  lowermost  level  of  five-man  oars). 

These  huge  war  galleys,  no  doubt  about  it,  did  exist  and — save  for  the  extraor- 
dinary "forty" — were  by  no  means  display  pieces  but  saw  action  in  many  a  battle; 
they  were  the  ancient  world's  equivalent  of  dreadnoughts.  This  has  been  put  beyond 
doubt  by  a  recent  dramatic  archaeological  find  and  the  solving  of  a  mystery  posed 
by  an  earlier  find.  The  dramatic  find  was  the  recovery  in  the  waters  off  Athlit,  a 
town  on  the  coast  of  Israel  near  Haifa,  of  the  ram  of  a  warship  (ancient  war  galleys 
had  a  projecting  forefoot  which  was  sheathed  in  bronze;  this,  the  ram  as  it  is  called, 
was  the  vessel's  key  weapon).  It  was  a  mighty  casting  with  an  overall  length  of  just 
under  seven  and  one-half  feet  and  weighing  somewhat  more  than  a  thousand 
pounds.  The  mysterious  earlier  find  was  a  series  of  curious  sockets  carved  in  a 
retaining  wall  that  formed  part  of  a  memorial  monument  set  up  by  the  Roman 
emperor  Augustus  to  commemorate  his  naval  victory  over  Mark  Antony  at  the 
Battle  of  Actium  in  31  B.C.  The  sockets  were  roughly  graduated  in  size;  the  biggest 
was  almost  two  meters  wide  and  three-quarters  of  a  meter  high.  We  know  that 
Augustus  had  included  in  the  monument  a  display  of  rams  removed  from  the  enemy 
ships  that  had  been  taken.  An  American  scholar,  William  Murray,  noticing  that  the 
ram  from  Athlit  would  fit  right  into  one  of  these  sockets,  realized  that  they  must 
have  held  the  rams  that  were  displayed  as  trophies;  they  varied  in  size  because 
they  held  rams  from  warships  of  different  sizes.  The  socket  nearest  in  size  to  fit 
the  Athlit  ram  shows  that  this,  for  all  its  weight  of  one  thousand  pounds,  must 
have  come  from  a  war  galley  of  relatively  modest  size,  a  "four-fitted"  or  a 
"five-fitted";  the  ram  that  fitted  into  the  largest  socket,  three  times  as  wide  and 
proportionately  bigger  all  around,  must  have  been  gargantuan. 

New  studies  have  clarified  how  warships  were  manned  (never  by  state-owned 
slaves  but  by  free  citizens  or  by  hired  rowers  who  were  very  well  paid),     built, 

L.  Casson  and  J.R.  Steffy,  ed.,  The  Athlit  Ram.  (College  Station:  Texas  A  &  M  University  Press, 
1991).  A  comprehensive  report  on  the  ram  found  off  Athlit. 

W.  Murray  and  P.  Petsas,  Octavian's  Campsite  Memorial  for  the  Actian  War.  Transactions  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  n.s.  79,  pt.  4,  (Philadelphia:  1989).  Includes  a  detailed  study  of  the 
sockets  that  held  the  trophy  rams. 

On  the  manning  of  warships,  see  Casson,  Ships  and  Seamanship  (1986),  chapter  13;  Morrison  and 
Coates,  The  Athenian  Trireme  (1986),  chapter  7;  Chester  Starr,  The  Roman  Imperial  Navy  31  B.C.-A.D. 
324,  2nd  ed.  (Cambridge:  1960),  chapters  3-5. 


1 2      The  Ancient  World 

1 1 
equipped,  and  maintained,     as  well  as  the  organization  of  the  major  fleets,  that 

1  0 

of  Athens  in  the  fifth  and  fourth  century  B.C.  and  that  of  Imperial  Rome  in 
the  first  three  centuries  A.D.  In  addition,  the  determining  of  the  nature  of  the 
oarage  of  ancient  war  galleys,  together  with  an  appreciation  of  their  size,  has 
made  possible  a  better  understanding  of  the  nature  of  naval  battles. 

Maritime  History 

The  development  around  the  middle  of  this  century  of  SCUBA  diving  has 
transformed  our  knowledge  of  ancient  sailing  ships,  throwing  light  on  critical 
areas  about  which  we  had  hitherto  been  totally  in  the  dark.  It  brought  into  being 
a  new  discipline,  marine  archaeology,  in  which  archaeologist-divers  locate  ancient 
wrecks  and  dig  those  that  repay  excavation  as  carefully  and  scientifically  as  their 
colleagues  on  land  dig  sites.  By  now  they  have  identified  and  studied  over  a 
thousand  ancient  wrecks,  most  in  more  or  less  preliminary  fashion,  but  a  few 
they  have  excavated  completely.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  if  a  wreck  had 
been  carrying  a  cargo  that  could  stand  up  to  erosion,  such  as  clay  shipping  jars 
or  slabs  of  building  stone  or  copper  ingots  and  the  like,  the  cargo  would  preserve 
from  destruction  the  portion  of  the  hull  it  lay  over — and  these  remains  have 
supplied  vital  information  about  an  area  which  hitherto  had  been  a  blank,  namely 
ancient  shipbuilding.  We  now  know  that  ancient  shipwrights  had  their  own 
special  way  of  assembling  a  hull.  They  did  not  start  with  a  skeleton  of  keel  and 
frames  and  clothe  this  with  planks,  as  has  been  Western  practice  since  at  least 

On  equipment  and  maintenance,  see  Casson,  Ships  and  Seamanship  (1986),  chapter  11,  part  3,  and 
chapter  16,  part  2;  Morrison  and  Coates,  Tlie  Athenian  Trireme  (1986),  chapters  8-9;  Morrison  and 
Williams,  Greek  Oared  Ships,  chapter  8. 

B.  Jordan,  The  Athenian  Navy  in  the  Classical  Period.  Classical  Studies,  vol.  13  (Berkeley:  University 
of  California  Publications,  1975).  A  presentation  of  what  is  known  about  the  organization  of  Athens' 
fleet  and  its  administration. 

Starr,  Roman  Imperial  Navy.  A  masterly  study  of  the  administration  and  organization  of  the  major 
fleets  based  in  Italy  and  the  provincial  fleets  based  around  the  Mediterranean  and  elsewhere.  In  addition, 
Starr  reviews  the  history  of  each. 

On  the  nature  of  sea  battles,  see  Morrison  and  Coates,  The  Athenian  Trireme  (1986),  chapters.  3-5; 
Casson  and  Steffy,  Athlit  Ram,  chapter  7;  Murray  and  Petsas,  Octavian's  Campsite,  chapter  6  on  the  battle 
of  Actium. 

P.  Gianfrotta  and  P.  Pomey,  Archeologia  Subacquea  (Milan:  1981).  A  comprehensive  review  of  the 
techniques  of  marine  archaeology  and  the  nature  of  their  findings.  See  also  International  Journal  of  Nautical 
Archaeology.  This  journal,  started  in  1972,  specializes  in  the  publication  of  articles  dealing  with  marine  archaeology. 

16  G.  Bass,  ed.,  A  History  of  Seafaring  Based  on  Underwater  Archaeology .  (London:  1972).  A  review  of 
underwater  finds  in  both  the  Old  and  New  World. 

A.  Parker,  Ancient  Shipwrecks  of  the  Mediterranean  &  the  Roman  Provinces.  BAR  International  Series, 
580  (1992).  An  invaluable  catalogue  of  over  1,250  wrecks  found  so  far,  giving  for  each  all  known  details 
and  a  comprehensive  bibliography.  A  series  of  terse  introductory  chapters  summarizes  marine 
archaeology's  key  findings  to  date. 

G.  Bass  and  F.  van  Doorninck,  Jr.,  Yassi  Ada.  I,  A  Seventh- Century  Byzantine  Shipivreck  (College 
Station:  Texas  A  &  M  University  Press,  1982).  A  comprehensive  report  of  the  results  of  a  full-scale 
excavation  of  a  small  freighter  that  went  down  off  the  southwest  coast  of  Asia  Minor  about  A.D.  625. 


Casson      1 3 

the  Middle  Ages.  They  started  with  the  creation  of  a  shell  of  planks  by  fastening 
each  plank  to  its  neighbors  by  multiple  mortise  and  tenon  joints  transfixed  by 
dowels,  and  then  strengthening  the  shell  with  the  insertion  of  frames.  The 
procedure  goes  back  certainly  to  the  fourteenth  century  B.C.,  and  very  likely 
earlier,  and  lasted  throughout  ancient  times.  During  the  best  period,  from  at  least 
the  fourth  century  B.C.  through  the  first  A.D.,  the  procedure  was  carried  out  with 
rigorous  care:  the  mortise  and  tenons  were  set  so  closely  that  at  times  they  were 
but  a  centimeter  or  so  apart,  the  tenons  fitted  snugly  in  the  mortises,  each  part 
above  and  below  the  seam  was  transfixed  by  a  dowel  to  keep  the  joint  from  ever 
coming  apart,  and  into  this  sturdy  shell  of  planking  was  inserted  a  complete  set 
of  frames.  One  wreck,  of  a  small  coastal  freighter  that  had  gone  down  around 
300  B.C.  off  Kyrenia  on  the  north  shore  of  Cyprus,  was  so  well  preserved  that 
its  excavators  were  able  to  construct  a  full-scale  replica,  Kyrenia  II;  in  a  series  of 
voyages  it  demonstrated  excellent  sailing  qualities,  including  the  ability  to  make 
good  progress  against  the  wind.  Not  only  merchant  vessels  but  war  galleys  were 
built  in  this  fashion,  as  was  revealed  by  the  bow  timbers  that  were  found  encased 
in  the  Athlit  ram. 

After  the  second  century  A.D.,  the  workmanship  gradually  got  more  careless: 
the  joints  were  placed  further  apart,  the  tenons  fitted  loosely,  and  the  frames 
were  set  further  apart.  A  wreck  of  the  seventh  century  A.D.  clearly  reveals  changes 
in  the  direction  of  skeleton-first  construction;  a  wreck  of  about  A.D.  1025  shows 
the  last  step,  full  skeleton-first  construction. 

Marine  archaeologists  have  been  busy  as  well  in  the  investigation  of  ancient 
harbors  and  have  provided  welcome  information  about  their  shape,  orientation, 
and  construction. 

Europe  and  the  British  Isles 

The  discovery  in  western  Europe  and  the  British  Isles  of  remains  of  boats  in 
or  along  lakes  and  rivers  has  supplied  firsthand  evidence  of  the  craft  used  there 
from  early  times  through  the  period  of  Roman  domination.  Finds  in  Britain 
reveal  that  as  early  as  the  second  millennium  B.C.,  skilled  boatbuilders  were 
constructing  planked  craft  at  least  16  m  long.  Finds  in  Europe  indicate  that 
boatbuilders  there  may  have  been  using  a  form  of  skeleton-first  construction  by 
at  least  the  first  century  A.D. 

On  ancient  shipbuilding,  see  Casson,  Ancient  Mariners  (1991),  chapters  3,  14;  Casson,  Ships  and 
Seamanship  (1986),  chapter  10;  Casson,  "Greek  and  Roman  shipbuilding:  New  Findings,"  The  American 
Neptune,  45  (1985),  pp.  10-9.  On  Kyrenia  II,  see  Casson,  Ancient  Mariners  (1991),  p.  113  with 
bibliography,  p.  227  and  illustration,  fig.  30.  On  the  wreck  of  the  7th  century  A.D.,  see  Bass  and  van 
Doorninck,  YassiAda.  On  the  wreck  of  A.D.  1025,  see  F.  van  Doorninck  and  J.  R.  Steffy  in  International 
Journal  of  Nautical  Archaeology,  11  (1982),  pp.  7-34;  on  pp.  26-8,  StefFy  provides  a  brief,  but  invaluable, 
survey  of  the  gradual  change  in  the  ancients'  method  of  shipbuilding. 

1  ft 

On  harbors,  see  Casson,  Ships  and  Seamanship  (1986),  chapter  16. 

E.  Wright,  The  Ferriby  Boats:  Seacraft  of  the  Bronze  Age  (London:  1990).  A  detailed  report  on  the 


1 4     The  Ancient  World 

Sea  Power 

As  the  above  reveals,  the  emphasis  in  this  century  has  been  upon  the  technical 
aspects  of  maritime  history:  shipbuilding,  harbor  construction,  naval  tactics,  fleet 
organization,  etc.  These  subjects  had  hitherto  been  either  totally  or  imperfectly 
known,  and  the  emergence  of  fresh  evidence  provided  by  the  newly  developed 
technologies  understandably  gave  them  a  leading  role  in  scholarly  research.  But 
the  larger  historical  issues  have  not  been  ignored.  A  recent  study,  following  in 
Mahan's  footsteps,  surveys  the  influence  of  sea  power  on  ancient  history.  A  small 
book,  it  says  just  about  all  that  one  can  currently  and  safely  say  on  the  subject. 


remains  of  several  boats  dating  ca.  1300  B.C.,  including  one  that  was  16  m  long,  that  were  found 
along  the  Humber  River.  They  were  made  in  skilled  fashion  of  massive  oak  planks,  bound  edge  to  edge 
by  lashings  of  yew  withes. 

P.Johnstone,  The  Sea-craft  of  Prehistory  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  1980).  A  worldwide  survey,  with  chapters 
1 1  and  12  dealing  with  the  British  Isles  and  Europe. 
20   Chester  G.  Starr,  The  Influetice  of  Sea  Power  on  Ancient  History  (New  York:  1989). 


Argentina 


T 


Captain  Guillermo  J.  Montenegro 
Argentine  Navy,  Retired 


he  state  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in  Argentina  is  characterized  by  two 
general  features: 

First,  research  and  publication  on  Argentine  naval  and  maritime  history 
has  had,  and  still  has,  a  strong  emphasis  on  early  nineteenth  century  naval 
history. 

Second,  naval  and  maritime  history  has  remained  mainly  inside  the  realm 
of  the  sea-oriented  community  and  with  only  a  limited  projection  into  the 
outside  world. 

There  are  several  reasons  for  the  preeminence  of  studies  on  early  nineteenth 
century  naval  history: 

•  A  long  period  of  Argentine  noninvolvement  in  international  wars, 
between  the  Wars  of  Independence  and  the  War  against  Brazil  (1810— 
1828),  and  ending  in  1982  with  the  Falklands/Malvinas  War.  In  this  long 
period,  the  only  exceptions  were  the  Anglo-French  interventions  in  the 
1830s  and  1840s  and  the  so-called  War  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  involving 
Brazil,  Uruguay,  and  Argentina  against  Paraguay  in  1864—70. 

•  A  national  sense  of  naval  success  in  the  early  nineteenth  century  wars. 

•  A  very  limited  naval  participation  in  the  civil  wars  that  harried  Argentina 
later  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

•  A  very  limited  maritime  development  in  the  merchant  marine,  fishing 
and  shipbuilding  industries  until  the  1940s. 

In  spite  of  Argentina's  geographical  location  and  strong  dependence  on  sea 
communications,  Argentineans  were  not,  and  still  are  not,  strongly  sea-minded 

4 

people.  Using  Mahan's  concepts,     Argentina  has  a  large,  fertile  territory,  a 
comparatively  small  population,  but  the  lack  of  natural  harbors  has  worked 

1      Alfred  T.  Mahan,  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History,  1660-1783  (Boston:  Little  Brown  &  Co., 
1890),  pp.  35-39. 


16     Argentina 

against  a  smooth,  self-sustained  maritime  development.  This  has  led  to  the  navy's 
initiatives,  or  navy-sponsored  initiatives,  to  try  to  educate  the  public  about  the 
significance  of  sea  power.  The  initiative  in  using  naval  and  maritime  history  as 
a  means  of  giving  an  overall  view  of  early  Argentine  naval  history  came  from  a 
civilian,  Anjel  Justiniano  Carranza,  whose  four  volume  work  was  published  in 
1914—16.  It  covered  the  Wars  of  Independence  and  the  War  against  Brazil.  It 
was,  and  perhaps  still  is,  the  main  reference  work  on  that  period.  Later  on, 
Teodoro  Caillet-Bois,  a  retired  naval  officer  working  on  an  individual  initiative 
basis  wrote  his  well-balanced  summary  of  Argentine  naval  history,  with  some 
hints  on  the  maritime  field,  covering  the  period  from  colonial  times  up  to  the 
late  1920s.  A  third  pioneer  was  Hector  R.  Ratto,  also  a  retired  naval  officer, 
who  published  some  works  on  early  nineteenth  century  naval  heroes.  Villegas 
Basavilbaso,  a  former  naval  officer  who  went  into  the  practice  of  law,  made  an 
important  contribution  in  a  small  booklet  of  35  pages,  putting  a  Mahanian  touch 
on  the  history  of  the  wars  of  Argentine  Independence.  In  parallel  with  these 
efforts,  the  Centro  Naval  (Naval  Club),  published  some  firsthand  accounts  by 
participants  in  early  nineteenth  century  wars.  There  was  an  American  author, 
Lewis  W.  Bealer,  who  also  made  a  contribution  to  early  Argentine  naval  history 
by  writing  about  the  corsairs  of  Buenos  Aires. 

The  mid- 1930s  also  witnessed  the  publication  of  the  first  significant  work  that 
focused  on  late  nineteenth  and  early  twentieth  century  Argentine  naval  history: 

o 

Los  Viajes  de  la  "Sarmiento, "  depicting  the  twenty-nine  round-the-world 
midshipmen  training  cruises  performed  by  the  well  known  square-rigger,  ARA 
Presidente  Sarmiento,  between  1899  and  1931. 

In  addition  to  these  publications,  the  Naval  Museum,  settled  in  1892  in 
downtown  Buenos  Aires  and  later  moved  to  El  Tigre,  on  the  outskirts  of  Buenos 
Aires  in  the  early  1940s,  gave  an  increasing  momentum  to  spread  the  knowledge 
of  naval  and  maritime  history. 

Besides  researching,  publishing,  and  spreading  Argentine  naval  and  maritime 
history,  there  was  a  deep  interest  within  Argentine  naval  circles  in  foreign, 

Anjel  J.  Carranza,  Campanas  Nauales  de  la  Republica  Argentina,  4  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Ministerio  de 
Marina,  1914-16). 

Teodoro  Caillet-Bois,  Ensayo  de  Historia  Naval  Argentina  (Buenos  Aires,  1929). 
4     Hector  R.  Ratto,  Hombres  de  Mar  en  la  Historia  Argentina  (Buenos  Aires:  Circulo  Militar,  1934); 
Hector  R.  Ratto,  Historia  de  Browti,  2  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Facultad,  1939). 

Benjamin  Villegas  Basavilbaso,  La  Injlueticia  del  Dominio  del  Mar  en  las  Guerras  de  EmancipaciSn  Argentina 
(Buenos  Aires:  Ministerio  de  Marina,  1935). 

6  Antonio  Somellera,  La  Ultima  Campana  de  la  Guerra  con  el  Brasil  (Buenos  Aires:  Centro  Naval,  1930); 
Memorias  del  Almirante  Guillermo  Broiim  sobre  las  Operaciones  Nauales  de  la  Escuadra  Argentina  de  1814  a 
1828  (Buenos  Aires:  Centro  Naval,  1936). 

Lewis  W.  Bealer,  Los  Corsarios  de  Buenos  Aires  (Buenos  Aires:  Imprenta  Coni,  1937).  The  original 
is  a  Ph.D.  dissertation,  University  of  California,  1935. 

Los  Viajes  de  la  Sarmiento  (Buenos  Aires:  Ediciones  Argentinas,  1931). 


Montenegro      17 

contemporary  naval  history.  The  Russo-Japanese  War  and  the  First  World  War 
provided  the  subject  for  a  massive  amount  of  foreign  literature  which,  in  many 
cases,  was  translated  and  published  either  by  the  Centro  Naval  (Navy  Club),  the 
Naval  War  College  (which  was  founded  in  1934),  or  the  Navy  General  Staff. 
In  addition  to  purely  historical  works,  contemporary  authors  dealing  with  naval 
and  maritime  strategy,  such  as  Mahan,  Corbett,  Wegener,  Groos,  Di  Giamber- 

nardino,  and  Castex,  were  also  translated  and  published  by  the  same  naval-related 

9 
presses. 

Two  main  naval-related  periodicals  were  publishing,  and  still  publish,  a 
reasonable  amount  of  historical  work.  One  is  the  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval  (Naval 
Club  Bulletin),  founded  in  1882,  which  publishes  primarily  original  works  and 
is  a  good  source  of  Argentine  naval  and  maritime  history,  as  well  as  foreign  naval 
affairs.  The  second  periodical  is  the  Revista  de  Publicaciones  Navales  (Naval 
Publications  Review),  founded  in  1902.  It  is  published  by  the  Navy  General 
Staff  and  is  intended  primarily  for  reproducing  translations  of  significant  articles 
appearing  in  foreign  periodicals.  As  the  reader  may  imagine,  the  1920s  and  1930s 
were  full  of  essays  about  the  First  World  War  (including  translations  of  some 
chapters  of  Corbett's  Naval  Operations). 

Historical  literature  about  the  Russo-Japanese  War  deserves  special  mention. 
On  the  eve  of  the  war,  Argentina  sold  to  Japan  two  armored  cruisers  that  were 
being  built  in  Italy  for  the  Argentine  Navy.  The  ships  became  HIJMS  Nisshin 
and  HIJMS  Kasuga.  Commander  Manuel  Domecq  Garcia,  senior  Argentine 
officer  supervising  construction  in  Italy,  traveled  to  Japan  and  was  present  in 
several  actions,  including  the  battle  of  Tsushima.  Domecq  Garcia  wrote  a 
five-volume  report  which  was  printed  by  the  Argentine  Navy  as  classified  matter 
and  distributed  amongst  serving  officers  in  the  mid-1 9 10s;  and,  it  still  remains 
one  of  the  most  interesting  reports  by  a  qualified,  neutral  witness. 

Another  impulse  came  from  the  Navy  League,  founded  in  1933,  which 
worked  hard  to  acquaint  the  general  public  with  concepts  such  as  sea  power,  sea 
interests,  the  navy  itself,  naval  traditions  and,  of  course,  maritime  history.  The 

Alfred  T.  Mahan,  Injluencia  del  Poder  Naval  en  la  Historia.  1660-1783,  2  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Escuela 
de  Guerra  Naval,  1935);  Alfred  T.  Mahan,  Estrategia  Naval,  2  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Escuela  de  Guerra 
Naval,  1935);  Julian  S.  Corbett,  Algunos  Principios  de  Estrategia  Maritima  (Buenos  Aires:  Escuela  de  Guerra 
Naval,  1936);  Wolfgang  Wegener,  La  Estrategia  Naval  en  la  Guerra  Mundial  (Buenos  Aires:  Estado  Mayor 
General,  1935);  Otto  Gross,  ha  Doctrina  de  la  Guerra  Maritima  segun  las  Ensehanzas  de  la  Guerra  Mundial 
(Buenos  Aires:  Estado  Mayor  General,  1935);  Oscar  Di  Giambernardino,  El  arte  de  la  Guerra  en  el  Mar 
(Buenos  Aires:  Estado  Mayor  General,  1940);  Raoul  Castex,  Teorias  Estrategicas,  5  vols.  (Buenos  Aires: 
Escuela  de  Guerra  Naval,  1938-1942). 

Julian  S.  Corbett,  "La  Batalla  de  Las  Malvinas"  (Chaps.  28  and  29  in  Naval  Operations,  vol.  1)  Revista 
de  Publicaciones  Navales  (Buenos  Aires),  440  (July-September  1937),  pp.  409-43;  Julian  S.  Corbett,  "La 
Batalla  de  Coronel"  (Chap.  25  in  Naval  Operations,  vol.  1),  Revista  de  Publicaciones  Navales  (Buenos  Aires), 
441  (October-December  1937),  pp.  677-91. 

Manuel  Domecq  Garcia,  Guerra  Ruso-Japonesa  1904-05,  5  vols.  ([Buenos  Aires:  Ministerio  de 
Marina],  1917). 


1 8     Argentina 

Navy  League  started  its  own  periodical,  Marina,  in  1934,  which  deals  with  both 
naval  and  maritime  affairs,  and,  given  its  life  span,  it  provides  an  interesting  record 
for  prospective  researchers. 

The  Second  World  War  produced  a  massive  array  of  foreign  naval  historical 
works,  but  this  time  the  Argentine  Navy's  participation  was  less  significant  in 
translating  and  publishing  this  literature  than  it  was  after  the  First  World  War. 
The  "classic"  periodicals,  (i.e.,  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval  and  Revista  de  Publicaciones 
Navales)  kept  on  printing  a  large  number  of  papers  relating  to  the  Second  World 
War,  some  by  Argentine  authors.  On  the  naval  side,  Muratorio  Posse's  history 
of  naval  operations  during  the  war  was  the  main  work,  intended  primarily  as  a 
textbook  for  the  Naval  War  College. 

The  Navy-sponsored  Instituto  Browniano  was  founded  in  1948.  Its  main  task 

1  'K 

is  to  improve  the  knowledge  about  William  Brown,  his  deeds  and  his  times. 
This  Institute  started  publishing  its  own  periodical,  Boletin  del  Instituto  Browniano, 
in  1950.  Later  on,  in  1953,  its  name  was  changed  to  Revista  del  Mar.  The 
commemoration  of  the  centennial  of  Admiral  Brown's  death  in  1957  led  to  the 
creation  of  a  Naval  Historical  Center.  This  office  started  a  long  line  of  publica- 
tions. Among  the  first  we  may  cite  a  new  edition  of  Carranza's  Campanas 
Navales,  as  well  as  Burzio's  Armada  Nacional-Resefia  Historica  de  su  Origen  y 
Desarrollo  Organico  and  Historia  del  Torpedo  y  sus  Buques  en  la  Armada  Argentina, 
Entraigas'  Piedra  Buena-Caballero  del  Mar,  and  Lenzi's  Carlos  Maria  Moyano- 
Marino,  Explorador  y  Qobernante.  The  Naval  Historical  Center  not  only  central- 
ized historical  research  and  publishing,  but  also  took  charge  of  the  Navy  Museum 
and  two  historic  ships:  The  aforementioned  ARA  Presidente  Sarmiento  (former 
midshipmen  training  square-rigger)  and  the  corvette  ARA.  Uruguay  (a  sail  and 
steam-propelled  vessel  which  rescued  the  Swedish  Nordenskjold  expedition 
from  the  Antarctica  in  1904). 

*2  See  Guillermo  J.  Montenegro,  "Research  about  the  History  of  the  Second  World  War  in  Argentina" 
in  Neue  Forschungen  zum  Zweiten  Weltkrieg,  ed.  Jiirgen  Rohwer  and  Hildegard  Muller  (Koblenz:  Bernard 
und  Graefe  Verlag,  1990),  pp.  10-12. 

William  Brown  was  an  Irish  Catholic  who  came  to  the  Argentine  service  in  the  early  1810s  and 
distinguished  himself  as  a  leader  and  fighter  in  the  Wars  of  Independence  and  in  the  war  against  Brazil. 
He  settled  in  Argentina,  serving  his  adopted  country  loyally  until  his  death.  He  is  regarded  as  Argentina's 
chief  naval  hero. 

14  Anjel  J.  Carranza,  Campanas  Navales  de  la  Republica  Argentina,  4  vols.,  2nd  ed.  (Buenos  Aires: 
Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1962). 

Humberto  F.  Burzio,  Armada  Nacional-Resefia  Historica  de  su  Origen  y  Desarrollo  Organico 
(Buenos  Aires:  Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1960);  Humberto  F.  Burzio,  Historia  del 
Torpedo  y  sus  Buques  en  la  Armada  Argentina  1874-1900  (Buenos  Aires:  Departamento  de  Estudios 
Historicos  Navales,  1968);  Raul  A.  Entraigas,  Piedra  Buena.  Caballero  del  Mar  (Buenos  Aires: 
Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1966);  Juan  H.  Lenzi,  Carlos  Maria  Moyano:  Marino, 
Explorador  y  Gobernante  (Buenos  Aires:  Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1962).  Luis  Piedra 
Buena  and  Carlos  Maria  Moyano  were  two  pioneers  involved  in  nation-building  on  the  Patagonia  area, 
the  southern  tip  of  Argentina,  during  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


Montenegro      19 

Works  dealing  with  maritime  history  are  not  so  numerous  as  the  naval  ones. 
Some  focus  on  subjects  such  as  the  merchant  marine  and  harbors,  giving 
historical  information  as  a  by-product.  In  this  first  group,  we  may  cite  works  by 
Russo  and  Ortiz.  A  second  group  is  of  purely  historical  works,  such  as  those 
by  Pinasco,  Madero,  and  Gonzalez  Climent. 

The  Naval  Historical  Center  undertook  a  significant  effort  to  commemorate 
the  Centennial  of  the  Escuela  Naval  Militar  (Naval  Academy)  in  1972.  Two 
major  works  deserve  mention:  Historia  de  la  Escuela  Naval  Militar  and  Apuntes 

1 8 

sobre  los  Buques  de  la  Armada  Argentina.  As  the  reader  may  imagine,  both  dealt 
extensively  with  late  nineteenth  and  twentieth  century  naval  history.  The  late 
1970s  and  early  1980s  gave  way  to  a  series  of  works  dealing  with  special  aspects 
of  twentieth  century  Argentine  naval  history.  Among  them  were  two  articles 
published  in  German,  "Latin  American  Dreadnoughts,"  by  the  American 
historian,  Robert  Scheina,  as  well  as  this  author's  "The  Argentine  Navy  since 
1945,"'  and  Arguindeguy 's  history  of  naval  aviation.  The  Naval  Historical 
Center  started  a  massive  work  in  1980:  the  ten-volume  Historia  Maritima 
Argentina,  covering  both  naval  and  maritime  fields  since  early  Spanish  dis- 
coveries up  to  current  times.. 

Among  the  periodicals,  there  are  two  more  sources  of  interest  to  the  historian. 
The  first  is  the  "Foreign  Navies'  Section"  in  the  March  issues  of  U.S.  Naval 
Institute's  Proceedings.  This  section  has  been  published  since  1980  and  regularly 
carries  references  to  the  Argentine  Navy.  The  second  is  Boletin  de  la  Escuela  de 
Guerra  Naval,  started  by  the  Argentine  Naval  War  College  in  1969  (later  on,  in 
1979,  its  name  was  changed  to  Revista  de  la  Escuela  de  Guerra  Naval).  In  the  same 
style  as  the  U.S.  Navy's  Naval  War  College  Review,  it  has  a  varying  portion  of  its 
pages  dealing  with  historical  issues,  both  Argentine  and  foreign.  Another 
broad-scope  work  edited  by  the  then  Director  of  Naval  History  was  published 

Luis  A.  Russo,  La  Marina  Mercante  Argentina  (Buenos  Aires:  Facultad  de  Ciencias  Economicas,  1938); 
Ricardo  M.  Ortiz,  Valor  Economico  de  los  Puertos  Argentinos  (Buenos  Aires:  Losada,1943). 

1  7 

Eduardo  H.  Pinasco,  El  Puerto  de  Buenos  Aires:  Contribucion  al  Estudio  de  su  Historia  1536-1898 
(Buenos  Aires:  L.  Lopez  y  Cia.,  1942);  Guillermo  Madero,  Historia  del  Puerto  de  Buenos  Aires  (Buenos 
Aires,  1955);  Aurelio  Gonzalez  Climent,  Historia  de  la  Industria  Naval  Argentina  (Buenos  Aires:  Astilleros 
y  Fabricas  Navales  del  Estado,  1973);  Aurelio  Gonzalez  Climent  and  Anselmo  Gonzalez  Climent, 
Historia  de  la  Marina  Mercante  Argentina,  19  vols.  (Buenos  Aires,  1972—74). 

1  ft 

Humberto  F.  Burzio,  Historia  de  la  Escuela  Naval  Militar,  3  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Departamento  de 
Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1972);  Pablo  E.  Arguindeguy,  Apuntes  sobre  los  Buques  de  la  Armada  Argentina, 
7  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1972). 

Robert  L.  Scheina,  "Lateinamerikanische  Dreadnoughts"  Marine  Rundschau,  9  (1979),  pp.  571-80. 

Guillermo  J.  Montenegro,  "Die  Argentinische  Marine  seit  1945,"  Marine  Rundschau,  6  (1978),  pp. 
375-97. 

Pablo  E.  Arguindeguy,  Historia  de  la  Aviacion  Naval  Argentina,  2  vols.  (Buenos  Aires:  Departamento 
de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1980). 

'   Laurio  H.  Destefani,  ed.,  Historia  Maritima  Argentina,  9  vols,  to  date,  vol.  10  in  press  (Buenos  Aires: 
Departamento  de  Estudios  Historicos  Navales,  1980-1993). 


20     Argentina 

in  1984.  It  is  essentially  an  illustrated  summary  of  Argentine  history,  depicting 
the  contemporary  naval  participation. 

The  naval  side  of  the  Falklands/Malvinas  War  (1982)  provided  a  large  amount 
of  British  and  American  published  works,  but  Argentine  production  has  not 
been  so  significant.  The  main  sources  for  the  Argentine  side  of  the  naval  war  are 
several  papers  published  by  participating  naval  officers  in  Boletin  del  Centro 
Naval,  plus  Busser's  book  on  "Operation  Rosario."  Other  good  sources 
showing  an  Argentine  viewpoint  are  Scheina's  article  on  "The  Malvinas  Cam- 
paign"  and  the  chapters  in  his  general  history  Latin  America.  In  addition,  volume 
10  of  Historia  Maritima  Argentina  has  a  chapter  on  the  Argentine  naval 
participation  in  the  war. 

Scheina's  Latin  America:  A  Naval  History  gives  very  good  coverage  of  twentieth 
century  Argentine  naval  history,  including  the  navy's  intervention  in  Argentine 
internal  politics  in  the  mid-1950s.  A  recently  begun  project  is  going  to  fill  an 
important  gap  in  modern  Argentine  naval  history:  a  history  of  the  Naval  War 
College.  As  mentioned  before,  the  college  was  founded  in  1934  and  its 
development  and  its  up  and  downs,  have  paralleled  the  Navy  itself. 

Naval  and  maritime  history  in  Argentina  is  taught  mainly  at  the  navy's 
academies  and  schools.  The  institutions  at  which  it  is  taught  are:  the  Naval  War 
College,  the  Naval  Postgraduate  School,  the  Naval  Academy,  and  four  navy-run 
high  schools  (called  "Liceos  Navales"  in  Argentina).  A  word  should  be  said  about 
the  focus  of  this  teaching.  Due  to  the  fact  that,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Falklands/Malvinas  War,  there  was  no  actual  Argentine  war  experience  during 
this  century,  the  analysis  of  World  War  II  campaigns  receive  a  good  deal  of 
attention,  especially  at  the  War  College  and  Postgraduate  School  level.  As  the 

Enrique  Gonzalez  Lonzieme,  ed.,  Evocation  hacia  el  Futuro.  La  Armada  en  la  Vida  de  los  Argentinos 
(Buenos  Aires:  Instituto  de  Publicaciones  Navales,  1984). 

Luis  Anselmi,  "La  Aviacion  Naval  en  las  Malvinas"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  735  (April-June  1983),  pp. 
1 17—38;  Rodolfo  Castro  Fox,  "La  Tercera  Escuadrilla  de  Caza  y  Ataque  durante  el  Conflicto  del  Atlantico 
Sur  (1982),"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  734  (January-March  1983),  pp.  1-9;  Jorge  Colombo,  "Operaciones 
de  aviones  navales  Super  Etendard  en  la  guerra  de  las  Malvinas,"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  17>2> 
(October-December  1982),  pp.  319—30;  Carlos  Molteni,  "Malvinas  .  .  .  Asi  lo  vivi  yo,"  Boletin  del  Centro 
Naval,  736  (July-September  1983),  pp.  223—42;  Norberto  Pereiro,  "La  Segunda  Escuadrilla  Aeronaval  de 
Sosten  Logistico  Movil.  Campana  Aerea  en  Malvinas"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  739  (April-June  1984),  pp. 
185—95;  Miguel  Pita,  "Operaciones  en  la  Guerra  del  Adantico  Sur  en  1982.  Intervention  de  la  Brigada  de 
Infanteria  de  Marina  No.  1,"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  739  (April-June  1984),  pp.  117-54;  Carlos  Robacio, 
"El  Batallon  de  Infanteria  de  Marina  No.  5  en  las  Malvinas,"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  735  (April-June  1983), 
pp.  139—62;  Cesar  Trombetta,  "Ocupacion  de  las  Islas  Georgjas  durante  el  conflicto  del  Atlantico  Sur  en 
1982,"  Boletin  del  Centro  Naval,  735  (April-June  1983),  pp.  107-15. 

Carlos  Busser,  ed.,  Operation  Rosario  (Buenos  Aires:  Atlantida,  1984). 
26   Robert  L.  Scheina,  "The  Malvinas  Campaign"  USNI  Proceedings,  109  (May  1983),  pp.  98-117; 
Robert  L.  Scheina,  Latin  America:  A  Naval  History,  1810-1987  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1987), 
Chapters  14  and  15. 

"El  Conflicto  Armado  de  1982  con  Gran  Bretana  por  las  Islas  Malvinas,"  Chapter  18  in  Historia 
Maritima  Argentina,  ed.  Laurio  H.  Destefani,  vol.  10  in  press. 


Montenegro     21 

reader  may  imagine,  the  Falklands/Malvinas  War  is  also  a  principal  field  of  study 
for  those  colleges.  For  both  World  War  II  and  the  Falklands/Malvinas  War,  the 
naval  schools  and  colleges  emphasize  "the  lessons,"  and  not  only  "the  facts."  In 
recent  times  there  has  been  a  promising  departure  from  this  state  of  affairs:  In 
1990,  the  Catholic  University  of  Buenos  Aires  and  the  Navy  League  started  a 
jointly  sponsored,  two-year  postgraduate  course  on  "Sea  Sciences."  One  of  the 
subjects  of  the  curriculum  in  this  course  is  "Naval  and  Maritime  History"  (this 
is  the  word-by- word  translation  of  the  actual  name  in  Spanish).  The  course  is 
given  at  the  Catholic  University  to  students  who  are  mainly  civilians.  Perhaps 
this  is  a  short  step,  but  it  is  a  positive  one  towards  moving  naval  and  maritime 
history  a  little  closer  to  the  academic  community. 

As  the  reader  may  recognize,  when  approaching  the  end  of  this  paper,  naval 
and  maritime  history  has  remained  mainly  inside  the  realm  of  the  sea-oriented 
community  and  has  had  a  limited  projection  into  the  outside  world.  At  the  same 
time,  research  and  publication  on  Argentine  naval  and  maritime  history  is  still 
dominated  by  a  strong  emphasis  on  the  early  nineteenth  century.  There  is  still 
a  long  way  to  go  to  fill  the  gaps  in  Argentine  naval  and  maritime  history,  to 
integrate  both  of  them,  and  to  take  naval  and  maritime  history  out  of  the 
professional,  sea-oriented  world  and  on  to  the  general  public.  This  is  a  significant 
challenge  facing  current  and  future  Argentinians,  as  well  as  motivated  foreign 
naval  and  maritime  historians. 


Two  main  references  for  future  researchers  are:  Robert  L.  Scheina,  "Unexplored  Opportunities  in 
Latin  American  Maritime  History,"  The  Americas,  XLVIII  (January  1992),  pp.  397-406,  and  Hector  J. 
Tanzi,  "Historiografia  Naval"  Chapter  15  in  Historia  Maritima  Argentina,  ed.  Laurio  H.  Destefani,  vol. 
10  in  press. 


/\USircMlcl 


Commander  James  Goldrick  and  Sub-Lieutenant  Alison  Vincent 

Royal  Australian  Navy 


This  paper  aims  to  examine  the  status  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in 
Australia.  Its  scope  extends  not  only  to  the  research  and  teaching  activities 
of  tertiary  institutions,  but  to  work  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal 
Australian  Navy  and  other  government  organizations,  by  maritime  museums, 
and  by  societies  and  individuals,  both  professional  and  amateur.  This  survey 
highlights  matters  of  importance  rather  than  attempting  a  comprehensive 
coverage  of  the  field  and  seeks  to  suggest  the  likely  directions  of  further  activity 
in  the  field. 

The  Navy  and  Naval  History 

The  attitude  of  the  Royal  Australian  Navy  to  historical  studies  tends  to 
ambivalence.  Although  the  RAN  derives  from  the  Royal  Navy,  and  in  tradition, 
organization,  and  culture  is  closely  related  to  it,  the  RAN  has  long  been 
uncomfortable  with  the  apparent  inconsistencies  between  much  of  the  naval 
ethos  and  the  developing  Australian  identity.  This  discomfort  has  been  magnified 
by  the  fact  that  most  of  the  active  operations  of  the  RAN  were  conducted  on 
the  basis  of  integration  into  the  Royal  Navy's  or  the  United  States  Navy's 
operations,  without  a  specific  national  identity  above  the  level  of  individual  ships 


About  the  authors:  James  Goldrick  is  a  warfare  specialist  commander  in  the  RAN, 
presently  in  charge  of  the  Navy's  warfare  officer  training  and  tactical  development  at 
HMAS  Watson.  Having  earned  a  BA  (UNSW)  and  MLitt  (University  of  New  England), 
he  has  contributed  articles  to  a  variety  of  journals  on  contemporary  and  historical  naval 
topics.  His  first  book,  The  King's  Ships  Were  at  Sea:  The  War  in  the  North  Sea  August 
1914-February  1915,  was  published  by  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  in  1984.  Edited  works 
include  With  the  Battle  Cruisers  (1987),  and  co-editor  of  Reflections  on  the  Royal  Australian 
Navy  (1991),  and  Mahan  Is  Not  Enough  (1993).  Alison  Vincent  is  a  Sub-Lieutenant 
presently  completing  seaman  officer  training  at  HMAS  Watson.  She  graduated  BA 
(Honours)  from  University  College  of  the  University  of  NSW  (the  Australian  Defence 
Force  Academy)  in  1991,  her  thesis  being  "Women  are  Here  to  Stay:  The  Reintroduc- 
tion  of  the  Australian  Women's  Services,  1942-1955." 


24     Australia 

or  small  squadrons.  Thus,  anniversaries  which  could  be  claimed  by  the  RAN  as 
significant  to  its  history — such  as  the  Battle  of  Cape  Matapan  (1941),  Lingayen 
Gulf  (1945),  or  the  Korean  War  (1951—53) — are  more  often  seen  as  belonging 
to  the  larger  navies  with  which  the  RAN  operated. 

The  history  of  the  RAN  has  also  been  one  of  mixed  success.  Much  of  the 
Navy's  effort  in  both  wars  went  to  trade  protection  work  in  subsidiary  theaters 
which,  while  extremely  important,  was  hardly  glamorous  or  exciting.  When  the 
RAN  was  involved  in  first-line  operations,  particularly  during  the  Second  World 
War,  this  came  at  a  time  when  naval  forces  were  hard-pressed  and  heavy  losses 
were  experienced  in  holding  the  line  against  the  Germans  and  the  Japanese. 
Although  there  have  been  considerable  efforts  in  recent  years  to  focus  the 
traditions  of  the  Navy  on  events  such  as  the  sinking  of  the  Emden  and  the 
successful  passage  by  HMA  Submarine  AE2  of  the  Dardanelles  in  1915,  there 
remains  a  certain  reticence  on  the  subject. 

The  other  factor  which  has  tended  to  overwhelm  official  support  for  naval 
history  has  been  the  deliberate  concentration  of  the  Australian  War  Memorial 
(AWM)  on  the  activities  of  the  First  and  Second  Australian  Imperial  Force  (AIF). 
Charged  with  both  a  memorial  role  and  a  duty  as  a  museum  and  center  for  the 
production  of  the  country's  official  war  histories,  the  AWM  was  set  on  its  path 
by  the  remarkable  C.E.W.  Bean,  a  journalist  who  was  the  official  historian  of  the 
First  AIF.  The  slant  towards  the  Army  was  not  unreasonable,  considering  the 
scale  of  Australia's  contribution  to  the  land  conflict  in  both  world  wars,  and  it 
was  certainly  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  men  and  women  involved. 

Unfortunately,  the  fact  that  the  official  history  task  went  in  its  entirety  to  the 
AWM  prevented  the  RAN — and  the  other  services- — from  developing  a  histori- 
cal branch  in  the  sense  understood  in  the  United  States  or  Canada.  Competent 

1  9 

and  comprehensive  histories  of  the  RAN  in  the  First   and  Second  World  Wars 

were  produced  in  good  time,  but  these  were  commissioned  works  and  the 
authors'  formal  involvement  with  naval  historical  studies  ended  with  publication 
of  their  books.  Since  the  RAN  lacked  the  internal  capacity  to  produce  staff 
histories,  there  was  never  any  development  of  a  historical  analyses  section. 
Significantly,  there  was  never  any  significant  attempt  to  supplement  the  British 
naval  staff  monographs  with  the  Australian  perspective  of  operations  in  the 
Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans. 

Small  and  undermanned,  the  Directorate  of  Naval  History  within  Navy 
Office  came  to  function  as  a  source  of  information,  not  a  center  for  analyses.  A 
succession  of  historical  officers  became  highly  expert  in  their  ability  to  locate 

1  A.  W.  Jose,  The  Royal  Australian  Navy,  The  Official  History  of  Australia  in  the  War  of  1914-1918, 
series  ed.,  Robert  O'Neill,  vol.  9  (St  Lucia:  University  of  Queensland  Press  in  association  with  the 
Australian  War  Memorial,  1987).  Reprint  edition  with  minor  corrections. 

2  G.  Hermon  Gill,  Royal  Australian  Navy,  1939-1945,  The  Official  History  of  Australia  in  the  War 
of  1939-1945  (Canberra:  Austrailian  War  Memorial,  1957,  1968),  2  volumes. 


Goldrlck  and  Vincent     25 

and  distribute  responses  to  specific  questions  of  fact,  but  there  were  never  the 
resources  to  do  more.  There  were  some  attempts  to  centralize  the  historical 
effort  within  the  Department  of  Defence,  but  the  reality  of  the  Directorate's 
role  is  now  recognized  by  its  incorporation  as  a  section  of  the  Directorate  of 
Public  Information. 

More  coherent  interest  in  historical  studies  began  to  emerge  with  the 
formation  of  the  Australian  Naval  institute  in  1975  by  a  group  of  naval  officers. 
While  concerned  primarily  with  contemporary  issues,  the  institute  resulted  from 
an  increasing  belief  within  the  Navy  that  the  service  required  the  development 
of  a  more  active  intellectual  life.  It  accompanied  moves  within  the  RAN  to 
extend  the  nascent  degree  program  to  more  junior  officers  and  to  allow  more 
arts  degrees  within  a  training  scheme  which  had  hitherto  naturally  emphasized 
technical  studies.  It  was  in  the  1970s,  too,  that  naval  history  became  a  formal 
part  of  the  diploma-level  Creswell  Course  which  was  undertaken  by  career 
seamen  and  supply  officers  not  chosen  for  degree  studies.  This  elective  within 
the  course  did  not,  however,  lead  to  further  courses,  and  it  remained  a  purely 
in-house  activity  until  the  end  of  the  diploma  program  a  decade  later.  More 
recent  efforts  in  this  area  fall  more  properly  within  the  frame  of  the  following 
discussion  of  Australian  tertiary  institutions. 

What  did  occur  within  the  Journal  of  the  Australian  Naval  Institute  was  the 
publication  of  a  small  but  steady  stream  of  articles  with  historical  focus.  It  was 
not  the  articles  themselves  that  were  so  greatly  important,  but  the  interest  in 
history  that  they  generated  within  the  Service.  When  a  Maritime  Studies 
Program  was  created  within  Navy  OSice  under  the  direction  of  Commodore 
W.S.G.  Bateman  in  the  late  1980s,  this  included  naval  historical  studies  within 
its  charter  as  part  of  an  attempt  to  improve  the  RAN's  "corporate  memory."  At 
the  same  time,  the  Australian  Naval  Institute  embarked  on  a  small  oral  history 
program,  which  is  now  beginning  to  bear  fruit. 

Efforts  by  a  number  of  naval  officers  and  the  support  of  the  then  Chief  of 
Naval  Staff  in  combination  with  the  staff  of  the  Australian  War  Memorial 
brought  about  a  Naval  History  Seminar  in  1989.  This  combined  effort  enjoyed 
international  participation  and  the  proceedings  were  published  in  1991 .  Shortly 
afterwards,  a  naval  history  workshop  on  the  future  of  naval  historical  studies  was 
staged  in  Sydney. 

It  is  too  early  to  assess  the  direct  results  of  this  workshop,  which  canvassed  a 
range  of  issues.  The  key  gap  that  has  been  identified,  however,  is  the  Navy's 

Published  quarterly.  Membership  in  the  Australian  Naval  Institute  is  available  by  writing  to: 
The  Secretary,  Australian  Naval  Institute,  PO  Box  18,  Campbell  ACT  2601,  Australia 

The  oral  history  has  so  far  concentrated  on  former  Chiefs  of  Naval  Staff  and  interviews  have  been 
conducted  with  Admiral  Sir  Victor  Smith  and  Vice  Admiral  Sir  Richard  Peek. 

T.R.  Frame,  J.V.P.  Goldrick,  and  P.D.  Jones,  Reflections  on  the  Royal  Australian  Navy  (Sydney: 
Kangaroo  Press,  1991). 


26      Australia 

lack  of  a  historical  section  that  can  focus  not  on  public  information  services  but 
on  research  and  advice  to  policymakers.  At  the  time  of  this  writing,  the  subject 
remains  under  discussion  within  Navy  Office.  One  project  that  is  in  hand  is  a 
history  of  Australian  naval  policy  since  Federation.  Sponsored  by  the  Chief  of 
Naval  Staff,  this  work  is  intended  to  provide  a  comprehensive  treatment  of  the 
factors  and  considerations  which  have  driven  the  development  of  policy  in  the 
last  eighty  years. 

Non-Government  Organizations-— Naval 

The  Naval  Historical  Society  of  Australia  was  incorporated  in  Sydney  in  1968 
and  included  several  state  chapters.  Formed  by  a  band  of  retired  officers,  sailors, 
and  naval  enthusiasts,  the  Society  did  much  to  highlight  interest  in  RAN  history 
through  its  association  with  several  memorials,  a  museum  at  Garden  Island 
Dockyard,  and  the  publication  of  a  series  of  ships'  histories,  as  well  as  a  regular 
journal — the  publication  of  which  continues  to  this  day.  The  early  promise  of 
the  Society  to  become  a  focus  for  naval  historical  studies  was  not,  however, 
fulfilled,  largely  because  the  organization  remained  preoccupied  with  the  inter- 
ests of  veterans  and  enthusiasts.  Australia's  small  population  and  the  great 
distances  between  its  chapters  stifled  initiative  for  joint  action.  Thus,  the  Society 
never  acquired  a  substantial  membership  and  therefore  lacked  the  funds  necessary 
to  realize  professional  standing. 

The  same  difficulties  apply  to  the  various  naval  museum  ships  such  as  the 
River-class  frigate  Diamantina  in  Brisbane  and  the  Bathurst-class  corvette 
Castlemaine  in  Melbourne.  The  small  societies  of  enthusiasts  who  have  done  the 
remarkable  work  in  preserving  and  displaying  these  ships  are  too  small  to  conduct 
or  sponsor  other  historical  activity  and  their  focus  remains  very  much  upon  the 
ships  and  their  crews. 

A  number  of  efforts  have  been  made  by  professional  associations  to  produce 
histories  of  their  branch  or  specialization.  They,  too,  have  suffered  from  a  lack 
of  resources.  Unable  to  employ  professional  researchers  or  writers,  these  semi- 
official histories  have  tended  to  be  produced  in  a  form  that  is  of  interest  only  to 
association  members.  For  the  naval  historian,  there  is  much  good  material  but 
little  more  than  that. 

Non-Government  Organizations — Maritime 

The  leading  organization  in  Australian  maritime  historical  studies  is  undoubtedly 
the  Australian  Association  for  Maritime  History,  formed  in  May  1978.  This  body 
of  over  four  hundred  members  has  strong  academic  connections  and  is  affiliated 
with  the  International  Commission  of  Maritime  History.  Apart  from  sponsoring 

6  A  history  of  the  Radar  branch  has  been  written  but  not  published,  while  the  Anti-Submarine 
Officers'  Association  is  in  the  course  of  producing  a  1939-45  history  of  HMAS  Rushcutter  and  the 
antisubmarine  warfare  branch. 


Goldrlck  and  Vincent     27 

many  historical  studies,  the  Association  publishes  the  internationally  circulated 
journal,  Great  Circle,  which  has  achieved  a  sound  reputation  in  historical  circles 
and  functions  as  the  public  forum  for  Australian  maritime  history,  garnering  high 
quality  contributions  from  both  Australia  and  overseas.  The  subject  matter  covers 
a  wide  spectrum  of  maritime  affairs,  although  it  has — to  the  chagrin  of  the  editor, 
Dr.  Gray  don  Henning  of  the  University  of  New  England — enjoyed  relatively 
little  support  in  the  way  of  articles  on  Australian  naval  history.  The  Association 
publishes  a  quarterly  newsletter  and  has  sponsored  several  books,  including 
Shipping  Arrivals  and  Departures,  Sydney,  and  the  essay  series,  Minor  Ports  of 
Australia. 

The  Association's  intent,  which  is  to  improve  the  status  of  maritime  history 
studies,  is  demonstrated  by  its  sponsorship  of  a  conference  on  "New  Directions 
in  Maritime  History"  held  in  Fremantle,  the  port  of  Perth,  in  December 
1993 — the  focal  point  of  a  week  of  activities  staged  under  Western  Australia's 
Maritime  Year  1993  program.  The  organizers  noted  that  the  conference  "is 
proposed  to  provide  a  full  coverage  of  all  major  aspects  of  maritime  history." 

The  Australian  branches  of  the  World  Ship  Society  also  deserve  mention. 
This  organization  enjoys  a  healthy  membership  across  the  nation.  While  its  focus 
is  very  much  on  the  ships  themselves,  the  Society  has  published  a  number  of 
very  useful  monographs  and  represents  a  largely  untapped  source  of  data,  both 
in  the  records  and  photographs  held  and  in  the  membership  itself. 

Government  Organizations 

The  Australian  War  Memorial  holds  responsibility  for  official  histories  and 
for  the  preservation  and  display  of  war  relics.  Official  histories  that  address  the 
naval  component  in  the  Vietnam  War  and  the  confrontation  with  Malaysia  are 
now  in  the  course  of  preparation.  The  bias  towards  the  Army  in  the  Memorial's 
displays  has  steadily  declined,  putting  the  roles  of  both  the  RAN  and  Royal 
Australian  Air  Force  into  perspective,  and  the  Memorial  sponsors  naval  research 
projects  whenever  it  can.  The  truth  is  that  few  scholars  have  offered  substantial 

"7 

proposals  to  the  Memorial,    and  there  has  been  little  more  success  with  amateur 

Q 

efforts,  several  of  which  have  been  funded.  Apart  from  the  1989  Naval  History 
Seminar,  the  annual  history  conferences  of  the  War  Memorial  have  enjoyed  only 
very  limited  participation  by  naval  historians. 

The  Australian  National  Maritime  Museum  at  Darling  Harbour  in  Sydney 
was  long  in  gestation  and  was  also  the  subject  of  some  controversy  because  of 
cost  over-runs  in  the  construction  of  the  museum  buildings.  Since  its  recent 
opening,  however,  the  museum  has  definitely  proved  to  be  a  public  success.  It 

The  major  success  has  been  Where  Fate  Calls,  the  book  on  the  Voyager  disaster  of  1964  written  by 
Tom  Frame  as  the  product  of  his  PhD  thesis  at  the  Australian  Defence  Force  Academy. 

Projects  on  the  World  War  II  career  of  the  cruiser  Australia  (1985),  the  earlier  Pioneer  (1986),  and 
Australia  in  the  Boxer  Rebellion  (1980)  have  not  produced  concrete  results. 


28     Australia 

has  succeeded  in  producing  an  exhibit  program  that  reflects  a  fair  balance  in  both 
traditional  and  more  recent  historical  studies  and  covers  both  naval  and  maritime 
issues.  The  museum's  interest  in  naval  matters  was  displayed  by  its  support  for 
the  1989  Naval  History  Seminar  and  its  sponsorship  of  a  1992  conference  on 
the  Battle  of  the  Coral  Sea.  Several  recent  publications  of  works  on  maritime 
subjects  reflect  the  broad  approach  taken  by  the  museum,  which  will  likely 
become  a  center  for  historical  work  in  the  future.  A  particularly  encouraging 
sign  is  the  museum's  readiness  to  cooperate  with  other  government  organizations 
and  with  bodies  such  as  the  Australian  Association  for  Maritime  History. 

Tertiary  Institutions 

Maritime  historical  studies  are  in  a  generally  healthy  but  limited  state  in 
Australia.  Maritime  history  is  quite  often  included  as  an  aspect  of  study  in 
economic,  colonial,  and  Asian  history,  reflecting  the  nature  of  Australia's  origins 
and  environment.  While  few  universities  run  complete  courses,  many  teach 
maritime  history  as  a  component  of  other  areas,  although  far  fewer  are  active  in 
naval  history. 

The  topics  that  the  various  history  departments  teach  tend,  naturally,  to  reflect 
the  specialties  and  interests  of  the  academics  concerned,  and  there  is  wide  variety 
in  the  approaches  adopted  by  the  six  institutions,  which  do  place  emphasis  on 
maritime  or  naval  history  within  their  teaching  programs;  they  are  the  Australian 
Defence  Force  Academy  (University  College  of  the  University  of  New  South 
Wales) (AD FA),  the  Australian  National  University  (ANU),  the  University  of 
Sydney,  the  University  of  Western  Australia  (UWA),  the  University  of  New 
England  (UNE)  and  Bond  University. 

Although  it  has  an  obvious  interest  in  defence-related  subjects,  ADFA  attempts 
a  balanced  approach  to  naval  and  maritime  history.  In  1994,  the  academy's 
history  department  will  introduce  Australia's  first  undergraduate  course  on 
specifically  naval  history.  This  will  be  taught  by  Dr.  Malcolm  Murfett,  a  visiting 
lecturer  from  the  University  of  Singapore  and  is  to  be  a  survey  of  the  age  of 
steam,  covering  the  international  naval  history  of  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth 
centuries.  Naval  history  is  also  used  as  a  component  of  politics  units,  notably  in 
the  undergraduate  course  on  the  "Politics  of  Australian  Defence  Policy." 
Postgraduate  courses  include  several  for  the  Master  of  Defence  Studies  program, 
such  as  "Seapower  and  Australian  Society"  (Dr.  Anthony  Bergin  and  Com- 
modore W.S.G.  Bateman),  "Australian  Defence  Since  Vietnam"  (Dr.  Graeme 
Cheeseman),  "Armed  Forces  and  Society"  (Dr.  Hugh  Smith)  and  "Problems  in 
the  History  of  Australian  Defence  and  Foreign  Policy"  (Professor  John  Mc- 
Carthy). Some  undergraduate  courses  include  a  component  of  foreign  naval  and 
maritime  history,  such  as  Dr.  Stuart  Lone's  courses  on  Japanese  and  Chinese 

In  the  case  of  the  latter,  the  museum  and  the  AAMH  are  cooperating  to  produce  an  index  to  vessel 
illustrations  within  The  Illustrated  London  Neivs  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


Goldrick  and  Vincent     29 

history.  A  purely  maritime  course  is  offered  on  the  maritime  history  of  Southeast 
Asia  from  the  eighteenth  to  the  early  twentieth  centuries  under  the  tutelage  of 
Dr.  Charles  Glynn-Daniel. 

The  other  universities  place  more  emphasis  on  maritime  history.  The  Univer- 
sity of  New  England,  however,  teaches  some  naval  history  components  in  its 
courses  and  will  increase  its  coverage  with  the  introduction  of  a  Master  of 
Defence  Studies  course  in  1994.  The  University  of  Sydney  conducts  under- 
graduate courses  such  as  "Technology  and  Imperialism  under  the  Southern 
Cross"  (Dr.  Macleod),  "The  Sea  and  History"  (Associate  Professor  S.M.Jack) 
and  "Australia  and  the  World"  (Associate  Professor  Meaney),  while  The 
Australian  National  University  offers  "Whaling  History"  (H.C.  Forster).  At 
Bond  University,  Dr.  Ian  Cowman  conducts  an  undergraduate  course  on 
"Strategic  Policy  in  Australia's  Relations,"  which  has  a  naval  component. 

Perhaps  most  prominent  is  the  University  of  Western  Australia,  due  largely 
to  the  energies  of  Professor  Frank  Broeze,  who  can  fairly  be  described  as  a  driving 
force  in  Australian  maritime  historical  studies.  Until  1988,  Professor  Broeze 
taught  a  full-year  course  that  incorporated  three  areas:  the  British  Empire,  Britain 
being  overtaken  by  the  USA,  and  the  American  Empire.  The  course  covered 
naval  development  and  merchant  shipping,  set  within  a  framework  of  interna- 
tional political,  technological,  and  economic  change.  Due  to  changes  in  univer- 
sity rules,  Professor  Broeze  now  teaches  a  semester-long  course  on  "Maritime 
Australia."  This  study  covers  a  wide  variety  of  subjects,  from  ports  and  port  cities 
to  overseas  trade  and  the  Australian  "surf  culture." 

Research  and  Publication 

The  extent  of  academic  research  and  publication  within  Australia  is  rather 
wider  than  indicated  by  the  availability  of  undergraduate  and  postgraduate 
courses.  In  a  survey  of  maritime  history  in  Australia,  published  in  the  Australian 
Historical  Association  Bulletin  in  late  1990,  Frank  Broeze  noted  that  the  numbers 
of  active  researchers  are  increasing  rapidly.  Broeze  suggested  that  Professor 
Geoffrey  Blainey's  book,  The  Tyranny  of  Distance  (Melbourne,  1966),  was 
seminal  in  focusing  attention  on  the  significance  of  the  maritime  element  in 
Australia's  development;  his  thorough  survey  of  works  in  the  field  since  that  date 
indicates  that  exploration,  shipping,  and  ports  have  been  his  primary  topics. 

Broeze  also  suggested  that  "gaping  holes"  in  both  maritime  and  naval  history 
exist  in  regard  to  social  and  cultural  history  and  that  much  work  remains  to  be 
done  in  these  areas.  Australian  historians  need  to  continue  the  limited  efforts 
made  so  far  to  connect  Australian  maritime  history  with  that  of  the  greater 
Pacific,  Indian  Ocean,  and  Southeast  Asian  regions. 

The  authors  note  their  debt  to  Professor  Broeze  for  his  assistance  with  compilation  of  this  paper. 

Frank  Broeze,  "Maritime  History  in  Australia,"  Australian  Historical  Association  Bulletin,  Numbers 
64-65,  October-December  1990.  pp.43-53. 


30      Australia 

That  research  activity  has  increased  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  other  journals 
in  addition  to  Great  Circle  are  publishing  maritime  material.  In  September  1992, 
the  Australian  Economic  History  Review  published  an  issue  entitled  "Land  and  Sea," 
which  featured  five  articles  on  shipping  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  Five 
more  articles  were  published  on  maritime  topics  in  Studies  in  Western  Australian 
History. 

There  is,  however,  a  dearth  of  research  in  non-military  academic  circles  into 
naval  subjects.  The  Australian  Historical  Association  annually  prints  a  bulletin 
showing  topics  under  research  in  universities.  In  1992,  there  were  virtually  no 
naval  projects  listed.  Perhaps  the  only  university  faculty  member  working  in  the 
field  without  direct  professional  connections  to  the  Defence  Force  is  Ian 

1  *K 

Cowman  of  Bond  University,  who  is  researching  a  history  of  the  RAN. 

Books 

The  distinction  between  professional  academic  publications  and  those  of 
amateurs  becomes  less  discernible  when  the  focus  shifts  from  articles  to  books. 
Apart  from  the  healthy  number  of  authors  within  the  universities  themselves, 
several  retired  academics  continue  to  produce  good  work,  and  this  is  supple- 
mented by  authors  who,  although  not  possessing  formal  training,  are,  nonethe- 
less, highly  capable  historians.  An  attempt  to  recite  a  complete  history  of 
maritime  publications  in  the  last  two  decades  would  necessarily  be  incomplete, 
but  a  few  are  worth  mentioning.  Professor  John  Bach's  two  books  are 
important  works,  as  is  Frank  Horner's  study  of  French  exploration,  and 
Marsden  Horden's  acclaimed  study  on  Stokes.  Professor  Oskar  Spate  com- 
pleted his  three-volume  history  of  the  Pacific     in  1988.  Alan  Frost  produced 

1 R  ■ 

his  study  on  the  early  settlement     in  1980,  a  work  complemented  by  Margaret 

Steven  in  1983.     Tom  Frame's  study  of  the  Melbourne-  Voyager  collision     was, 

by  any  standards,  a  best-seller  and  is  shortly  to  appear  in  paperback.  Other  naval 

12  Volume  13  (1992). 

Ian  Cowman  presented  a  paper  at  the  Institute  of  Historical  Research  in  London  in  February  1991 
entitled  "Indecent  Obsession:  Australia's  Search  for  a  Blue  Water  Navy." 

John  P.S.  Bach,  A  Maritime  History  of  Australia  (Melbourne,  Australia:  Nelson,  1976);  John  P.S.  Bach, 
The  Australia  Station:  A  History  of  the  Royal  Navy  in  the  South  West  Pacific,  1821-1913  (Kensington, 
N.S.W.:  New  South  Wales  Univ.  Press,  1986). 

F.B.  Horden,  The  French  Reconnaissance:  Baudin  in  Australia  1801-1903  (Carlton,  Vic:  Melbourne 
Univ.  Press,  1987). 

Marsden  Horden,  Mariners  are  Wanted!  John  Lort  Stokes  and  HMS  Beagle  in  Australia  1837-1843 
(Carlton,  Vic:  Melbourne  Univ.  Press,  1989). 
17    O.H.H.  Spate,  The  Pacific  Since  Magellan  (Canberra:  Australian  National  Univ.  Press,  1979-1988). 

Alan  Frost,  Convicts  and  Empire:  A  Naval  Question  1116-1811  (Melbourne  and  New  York:  Oxford 
Univ.  Press,  1980). 

Margaret  Steven,  Trade,  Tactics  and  Territory  (Carlton,  Vic:  Melbourne  Univ.  Press,  1983). 

T.R.  Frame,  Where  Fate  Calls:  The  HMAS  Voyager  Tragedy  (Sydney:  Hodder  and  Stoughton,  1992). 


Goldrlck  and  Vincent     31 
works  of  interest  include  Robert  Hyslop's  two  volumes  on  naval  adrninistra- 

0 1  00 

tion  as  well  as  Ray  Jones'  work,  which  covers  the  development  of  Australian 
naval  aviation  up  until  1944  and  which  nearly  constitutes  a  history  of  operational 
policy  in  the  inter- war  years. 

These  scholarly  books  are  supplemented  by  a  number  of  more  or  less  popular 
works.  While  the  majority  of  academic  publications  within  Australia  are  essen- 
tially maritime  in  nature,  it  is  ironic  that  the  "popular"  effort  tends  more  towards 
naval  subjects,  either  dealing  with  ships  or  war  history.  The  retired  journalist 
Frank  Walker  has  produced  books  on  the  Australian  involvement  in  midget 
submarine  attacks  on  the  Tirpitz  and  the  sinking  of  HMAS  Armidale.  Other  recent 

works  have  dealt  with  subjects  such  as  the  Japanese  submarine  campaign  against  Australia 

23 
and  the  disastrous  battle  of  Savo  Island. 

Enthusiasts  such  as  Ross  Gillett  and  John  Bastock  have  produced  a  number 

of  beautifully  illustrated  and  comprehensive  guides  to  Australian  warships,  useful 

reference  material  for  any  historian.  This  emphasis  on  pictorial  work  is  a  feature 

of  the  Australian  popular  scene,  and,  although  a  maritime  and  naval  photographic 

data  base  has  yet  to  be  assembled,  the  country  is  particularly  rich  in  such  material. 

Facing  the  Future 

The  striking  feature  of  any  survey  of  the  maritime  and  naval  historical  scenes 
in  Australia  is  the  fragmentation  of  activity  and  the  division  between  military 
and  civil  spheres.  The  Australian  Association  for  Maritime  History  has  done 
much  good  work  to  bring  together  the  maritime  historians,  and  both  its  work 
and  that  of  the  National  Maritime  Museum  will  continue  this  process.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  assert  that  maritime  history  is  now  a  thriving  section  of  the  discipline 
and  is  gaining  increasing  attention.  Its  broad  appeal  will  continue  to  draw  interest 
from  special  interest  groups  ranging  from  economists  to  conservationists  to 
merchant  mariners. 

The  difficulty  will  be  to  bring  naval  history  into  the  mainstream  of  historical 
work.  One  of  the  obstacles  to  this  process  may  be  ideological;  there  are  strong 
anti-military  sentiments  within  much  of  Australian  society  and  within  intellec- 
tual circles  in  particular.  The  growth  of  conservation  and  peace  organizations 
has  led  to  increased  interest  in  related  topics,  such  as  whaling  and,  for  many,  an 
aversion  to  military  history  as  a  whole.  Such  aversions  can  be  overcome  only  if 
naval  historians  produce  a  far  greater  volume  of  substantial  work  than  has 

21  Robert  Hyslop,  Australian  Naval  Administration  1900-1939  (Melbourne:  Hawthorne  Press,  1973) 
and  Robert  Hyslop,  Aye  Aye,  Minister:  Australian  Naval  Administration  1949-1959  (Canberra:  AGPS, 
cl990). 

Ray  Jones,  Seagulls,  Cruisers  and  Catapults:  Australian  Naval  Aviation,  1913-1944  (Hobart:  Pelorus, 
cl989). 

Denis  and  Peggy  Warner  with  Sadao  Seno,  Disaster  in  the  Pacific  (Sydney:  Allen  &  Unwin  and 
Annapolis:  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Press,  1992). 


32     Australia 

occurred  to  date.  The  gaps  in  social  and  cultural  studies  which  Professor  Broeze 
has  noted  are  particularly  acute  in  the  history  of  the  Royal  Australian  Navy  and 
efforts  will  have  to  be  made  to  supplement  the  present  activity,  albeit  limited, 
in  the  areas  of  naval  policy  and  technical  development.  The  process  is  beginning 
in  a  small  way,  largely  under  the  auspices  of  the  Australian  Defence  Force 
Academy,  and  there  remains  much  to  be  done.  Critical  to  this  process  will  be 
the  support  that  the  Royal  Australian  Navy  itself  can  give  to  historical  studies. 


Belgium 


Christian  Koninckx 


To  present  and  comment  on  a  survey  of  maritime  historiography,  the  very 
least  one  needs  at  one's  disposal  is  an  inventory  summing  up,  preferably 
in  a  methodic  way,  monographs,  articles,  and  reference  works.  Only  then  does 
a  first  evaluation  of  the  printed  output  on  maritime  history  become  possible. 
Without  a  minimum  of  quantitative  data,  even  the  slightest  analysis  is  unthink- 
able if  it  is  to  avoid  being  criticized  as  impressionable  or  unscientific.  In  short, 
an  adequate  and  reasoned  bibliography  has  to  be  available. 

When  a  scientific  committee  was  set  up  in  November  1979  within  the  Royal 
Belgian  Academy  of  Sciences  to  promote  research  into  Belgium's  maritime 
history,  one  of  the  most  important  tasks  facing  it  was  to  draw  up  a  bibliography 
of  published  literature  relating  to  all  aspects  of  shipping,  with  special  reference 
to  Belgium,  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day.  In  so  doing,  the  committee 
was  carrying  on  the  tradition  of  the  series,  Bibliographie  de  l'histoire  des  grandes 
routes  maritimes,  which  had  already  appeared.  Apart  from  the  practical  ad- 
vantages of  such  a  bibliography  to  research  fellows  and  people  interested  in 
maritime  history  in  general,  once  completed,  it  would  make  it  possible  to 
determine  just  how  far  research  had  progressed.  Gaps  could  be  traced  and  future 
research  could  be  stimulated  and  pushed  in  new  directions  in  order  to  fill  those 
gaps.  It  is  perhaps  not  superfluous  to  note  that  a  bibliography  really  does  offer  a 
possibility  for  evaluation,  although  it  is  all  too  often  neglected.  In  addition,  all 

Wetenschappelijk  Comite  voor  Maritieme  Geschiedenis  van  de  Koninklijke  Academie  voor  Wctenschappen 
Letteren  &  Schone  kunsten  van  Belgie  (Brussels).  This  Committee  represents  Belgium  in  the  International 
Commission  for  Maritime  History.  In  fact,  the  Committee  was  not  the  only  one  and  even  not  the  first 
to  promote  maritime  historical  research  in  Belgium.  The  Royal  Belgian  Marine  Academy,  founded  in 
1935,  includes  a  section  for  Maritime  History  &  Archeology,  which  has  been  active  since  that  time,  if 
not  the  most  active  of  the  Marine  Academy's  five  sections. 

Bibliographie  de  l'Histoire  des  Grandes  Routes  Maritimes,  edited  by  Charles  Verlinden: 

Tome  I:  Allemagne,  Danemark,  Frame,  Pologne  by  H.  Kellenbenz,  K.  Glamann,  M.  de  la  Ronciere,  R. 
Herve  and  M.  Malowist  in  Boletin  International  de  Bibliografia  Luso-Brasileira,  vol.  IX,  nos.  2  and  3  (1968). 

Tome  II:  Etats-Unis  d'Amerique  by  Philip  Lundeberg  in  ibid.,  vol.  X,  no.  4.  (1969)  and  vol.  XI,  no.  1, 
(1970). 

Tome  III:  Espagne,  Greceby  F.  Perez-Emid  and  F.  Morales  Padron  in  ibid.,  vol.  XIII,  nos.  1  and  2  (1972). 

Tome  W .Grande  Bretagne  by  W.E.  Minchinton  in  ibid.,  vol.  XIV,  nos.  1,  2,  and  3  (1973). 

Tome  V:  Ocean  Indien  by  M.  Roda  (Saint-Denis-de-la-Reunion,  1976). 


34      Belgium 

of  us   who   are   involved  in  maritime   history  must  take   advantage   of  the 
conclusions  of  workshops  or  seminars. 

Methodology 

As  happens  whenever  a  historical  bibliography  is  compiled,  a  number  of 
methodological  problems  arise.  From  the  very  beginning,  one  must  set  limits 
on  the  time  span  and  geographical  areas  to  be  covered,  as  well  as  to  consider  the 
classification  and  the  types  of  publications  to  be  included.  Where  a  maritime 
bibliography  is  concerned,  one  has  to  cope  with  similar  methodological 
problems.  Because  of  Belgium's  general  history,  the  case  of  Belgian  maritime 
historiography  is  certainly  not  an  easy  one. 

In  fact,  the  problem  of  the  delimiting  periods  of  time  is  very  closely  connected 
with  the  geographical  frame  of  reference.  Throughout  the  ages,  the  provinces 
constituting  present-day  Belgium — call  them  regions,  if  you  please — have 
frequently  formed  part  of  larger  political  entities.  However,  we  consider  his- 
toriography as  Belgian,  even  when  it  deals  with  history  before  Belgium  became 
a  sovereign  and  independent  state  in  1830,  as  a  result  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
in  1815.  But  this  does  not  make  it  any  easier  to  evaluate  the  specific  role  played 
by  Belgians  among  all  the  activities  within  and  contributions  to  the  domain  of 
shipping,  even  though  they  may  have  been  "Belgians"  avant  la  lettre.  To  mention 
only  a  few,  albeit  very  significant  examples,  the  "Belgian"  world  of  shipping  and 
that  of  these  foreign  powers  were  closely  interwoven  as  part  of  the  Burgundian 
empire  (1419—1477),  subsequently  under  the  rule  of  the  Austrian  (1477—1555) 
and  Spanish  Habsburgers  (1555—1716),  for  a  long  time  unified  with  the  northern 
Netherlands,  later  still  under  Austrian  regime,  then  called  Austrian  or  Southern 
Netherlands  (1716-1795),  under  French  domination  (1796-1814),  and  then, 
once  again  united,  for  the  last  but  very  short  time,  with  the  Northern  Netherlands 
(1815—1830),  and  finally,  under  German  occupation  in  the  two  world  wars. 

Consequently,  it  was  not  always  possible  to  draw  a  clear  distinction  between 
genuinely  local  aspects  and  influences  from  abroad  with  a  view  to  making  an 
inventory  of  everything  in  print.  In  doubtful  cases,  therefore,  it  was  wisely 
decided  to  include  the  publications. 

Regardless  of  the  foreign  rulers — in  some  circumstances  the  interpretation 
given  to  the  term  "foreign"  may  be  open  for  discussion — we  may  not  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  Belgian  provinces  were  not  always  the  same  entities  as  those 
recognized  today.  For  many  a  year,  our  provinces,  or  part  of  them,  were  ceded, 
removed,  or  annexed.  While  this  may  be  of  less  importance  regarding  the 
maritime  history  of  the  inland  provinces — except  in  the  case  of  inland  naviga- 
tion— the  case  is  quite  different  with  regard  to  the  coastal  areas.  For  example, 
one  need  look  no  further  than  to  Zeeland  Flanders  and  French  Flanders  or  to 
Dunkirk  in  the  South.  The  same  kind  of  problem  arises  when  considering  the 
former  colonies  and  overseas  territories.  Accordingly,  the  bibliography  also 


Koninckx      35 

includes  literature  relating  to  these  areas,  including  the  independent  Congo, 
subsequently  the  Belgian  Congo  (1909)  and,  from  1960,  the  Republic  of  the 
Congo  (called  Zaire  from  1971  onwards),  the  mandated  territories  of  Rwanda 
and  Burundi  (1923—1962),  the  short-lived  18th  century  Banquibazar  factory  in 
Bengal,  the  polar  stations  in  Antarctica  (1897—  ),  and  so  on. 

In  short,  literature  on  the  whole  world  of  ships  and  shipping  was  taken  into 
consideration,  so  long  as  there  was  some  clear  relation  with  our  part  of  the  globe, 
either  as  a  collective  entity  or  through  the  presence  of  individuals  from  our 
regions.  Because  it  is  clear  that  maritime  activities,  in  general,  develop  beyond 
national  frontiers,  there  will  be  a  great  difficulty  in  the  future  in  supporting  the 
idea  of  a  national  historiography. 

Classification 

Another  methodological  aspect  is  related  to  the  classification  of  the  printed 
works  on  maritime  history.  The  committee  classified  them  under  thirteen 
headings,  convinced  that  this  could  be  done  in  other  ways  too.  No  classification 
can  give  complete  satisfaction,  and  ours  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  But  the 
system  finally  adopted  is  modelled  partly  on  that  used  for  the  catalogue  in  the 
library  of  the  National  Maritime  Museum  in  Antwerp,  and  partly  on  that  of  the 
contents  of  the  monumental  Maritieme  Geschiedenis  der  Nederlanden  (Bussum, 
1976—1979,  4  vols.).  This  major  work  stressed  precisely  how  difficult  it  is  to 
write  Belgian  maritime  history  without  considering  together  the  southern 
(Belgium)  and  northern  Netherlands  (Holland). 

The  main  headings  of  the  bibliography  are  as  follows: 

I.  Generalities;  II.  Shipbuilding;  III.  Merchant  shipping;  IV.  Naval  shipping; 
V.  Fisheries;  VI.  Inland  navigation;  VII.  Ports  and  harbours;  VIII.  Seafarers;  IX. 
Voyages  of  discovery  and  shipping  routes;  X.  Navigation;  XI.  Maritime  law; 
XII.  Education — science — culture;  XIII.  Personalia. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  measure  of  overlap  among  certain  of  the  main  sections. 
For  instance,  merchant  and  naval  shipping  were  for  a  long  time  closely  linked; 
it  is  only  in  more  recent  times  that  the  distinction  has  become  clearer.  The  same 
can  be  said  of  inland  and  oceangoing  shipping  proper.  In  former  times  especially, 
though  it  is  true  even  today,  it  was  not  always  possible  to  make  a  clear  distinction 
between  the  two.  Coastal  vessels  can  penetrate  deep  into  inland  waterways,  just 
as  inland  vessels  occasionally  sail  in  coastal  waters.  This  is  closely  bound  up  with 
the  type  of  vessel  used,  but  also  with  the  depth  of  navigable  waterways  and  with 
the  increased  dredging  of  ship  canals  to  allow  oceangoing  ships  deeper  into  the 
hinterland.  Canal-building  started  under  Grand-Duke  Albert  of  Austria,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  16th  century,  to  link  the  major  cities  with  the  North  Sea, 
circumventing  Dutch  obstruction  of  the  Scheldt. 

For  example,  Rio  Nunez  in  Guinea  (1848-1852)  and  Belgian  occupation  forces  in  the  Rhincland 
(FRG)  from  1945  on. 


36      Belgium 

The  problem  of  overlap  is  even  more  acute  in  connection  with  overseas 
territories.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Belgian  Congo,  since,  in  its  dealings  with 
the  homeland,  just  about  all  the  strongest  and  most  important  links  were  built 
up  through  maritime  activity. 

Evaluation  of  the  Maritime  Historiography 

In  processing  the  items  for  the  bibliography,  the  committee  discovered  that 
Belgian  maritime  historiography  has  mainly  focused  on  ports  and  harbours, 
accounting  for  close  to  30  percent  of  the  total  production.  This  is  not  surprising 
perhaps,  since  Belgian  ports  have  always  played,  as  they  still  do,  a  continuing 
role  in  the  maritime  activity  of  the  country.  Even  when  foreign  powers  were 
ruling  the  country  controlling  or  supervising  the  maritime  traffic,  ports  and 
harbours  were  free  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent  to  develop  their  activities.  Not 
infrequently,  the  existence  of  Belgian  ports,  serving  a  wide  hinterland,  made 
them  keenly  pursued  objectives  if  not  targets. 

The  bibliographic  heading  "Ports  and  Harbours"  includes  port  policy,  port 
authority,  infrastructure  and  equipment,  port  activities  and  pilotage  as  well. 
Because  of  their  important  networks,  inland  waterways  and  inland  ports  were 
included  here,  too.  The  particular  attention  paid  to  the  history  of  ports  is  not 
surprising  at  all,  since  Belgium's  economy  was  and  still  is  highly  dependent  on 
its  maritime  traffic  and  on  its  easy  connections  with  neighbouring  countries. 
Thanks  to  a  favourable  topography,  facilitating  the  development  of  inland 
navigation  on  the  Scheldt  and  the  Meuse,  which  are  linked  in  turn  by  adequate 
canals,  it  is  possible  to  reach  from  the  sea,  the  Ruhr  in  Germany,  the  Swiss  border 
via  the  Rhine,  and,  closer  to  home,  the  coal  mines  in  Wallonia,  where  the 
industrial  revolution  started  on  the  Continent.  It  is  not  necessary,  perhaps,  to 
underline  the  fact  that  the  port  of  Antwerp  was  studied  in  depth;  but  Bruges  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  Zeebrugge  in  more  recent  times,  and  Ghent,  too,  were  not 
overlooked.  Attention  was  paid  to  Liege,  which,  like  Antwerp,  is  located  at  one 
of  the  extremities  of  the  well-known  Albert  Canal,  Unking  the  sea,  the  Scheldt, 
and  the  heavy  industrial  areas  inland.  Studies  were  also  made  of  Matadi,  the  outer 
harbour  of  Leopoldville-Kinshasa,  although  its  historiography  cannot  be  com- 
pared with  the  research  carried  out  on  the  metropolitan  ports. 

The  arguments  presented  to  explain  the  interest  shown  by  historians  in  ports 
and  harbours  are  reinforced  by  quantifying  the  historiography:  Studies  on 
merchant  shipping  comprise  11.2  percent  of  the  total,  with  9.85  percent  devoted 
to  inland  navigation.  This  illustrates,  once  more,  the  evidence  of  Belgium's 
dependence  on  a  maritime  economy,  based  on  a  well-developed  network  of 
inland  waterways  that  in  turn  have  stimulated  inland  navigation  for  two 
centuries.  One  can,  perhaps,  observe  the  paradox  more  clearly  if  inland  naviga- 
tion is  included  in  maritime  historiography.  Indeed,  there  are  arguments  for  and 
against  doing  so.  We  have  taken  this  into  consideration  in  the  present  paper, 


Koninckx      37 

because  the  heading  appears  in  the  already  mentioned  bibliography,  although 
personally  we  believe  that  inland  navigation  is  not  part  of  maritime  history,  in 
a  strict  sense,  and  subsequently  it  is  hard  to  insert  it  in  the  framework  of  maritime 
historiography.  It  is  true,  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  that  in  earlier  times 
the  distinction  between  inland  and  oceangoing  shipping  was  sometimes  unclear. 
But  when  looking  at  what  is  listed  under  the  heading  "Inland  Navigation," 
focusing  as  it  does  on  inland  shipping  during  the  last  century,  on  inland  shipping 
to  neighbouring  European  countries  on  the  Rhine  and  in  the  colonies,  repre- 
senting all  in  all  the  majority  of  the  items,  we  feel  bound  to  assert  that  the 
terminology  of  maritime  historiography  is  no  longer  appropriate.  Once  again, 
we  are  convinced  that  inland  navigation  would  fit  far  more  neatly  into  the 
framework  of  economic  history. 

One  cannot  make  the  same  remark  when  speaking  about  merchant  shipping. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  a  large  quantitiy  of  publications  deal  with  shipping  during 
the  19th  and  20th  centuries.  Navigation  on  the  Scheldt  became  free  from  1863 
on — we  recall  that  the  Scheldt  had  been  officially  obstructed  by  the  Dutch  since 
1648 — and  the  gate  to  the  seven  seas  opened  only  gradually  for  Antwerp.  This 
development  was  amplified  by  the  colonial  era,  starting  from  the  end  of  the  19th 
century  as  far  as  Belgium  is  concerned. 

It  is  appalling,  however,  to  note  the  exaggerated  interest  historians  have 
shown  in  the  history  of  the  18th-century  East  India  Company  at  Ostend,  called 
the  Ostend  Company  even  though  its  Board  of  Trade  was  located  in  Antwerp. 
Appalling,  because  this  company  was  very  short-lived.  It  is  little  wonder,  then, 
that  its  historiography  should  exaggerate  its  significance  a  little,  compared  to  the 
great  East  India  companies,  abroad.  However,  the  Ostend  Company  remains 
important  for  the  country,  and  the  huge  interest  shown  in  it  can  be  explained 
by  the  availability  of  sources,  since  the  archives  are  still  preserved.  However, 
interest  in  this  topic  contributes  to  the  fact  that  maritime  economic  historiog- 
raphy is  dominant. 

Looking  at  the  other  categories  of  Belgian  maritime  historiography:  ship- 
building (4.57  percent),  naval  shipping  (4.97  percent),  seafarers  (4.75  percent), 
discoveries  (4.88  percent),  navigation  techniques  (4.5  percent),  maritime  law 
(3.9  percent),  we  observe  that  historical  research  seems  to  have  been  directly 
proportional  (see  the  diagram:  Belgian  Maritime  History).  Somewhat  greater 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  study  of  fisheries  (6.29  percent)  and  to  the  topic 
of  education,  science  and  culture  (5.89  percent).  The  minor  role  played  by 
naval  history  is  self-explanatory  due  to  the  many  foreign  rulers;  privateering  was 
included  here,  also.  In  fact,  a  genuine  Belgian  Navy  did  not  exist  before  the  end 

Percentages  are  related  to  the  number  of  publications.  If  not  the  most  ideal  method,  the  approach 
is  quite  valuable  as  offering  indications.  Publications  published  from  the  19th  century  until  the  eighties 
of  the  20th  century  were  considered. 

Although  we  do  not  mention  the  subheadings  here,  all  bibliographical  items  have  been  computed. 


38      Belgium 


BELGIAN  MARITIME  HISTORY 


EDUCATION/SCIENCE/CULTURE 

MARITIME  LAW     589% 

3  90% 
NAVIGATION 
4.50% 
DISCOVERY  &  SAIL 
ROUTES  4.88% 

SEAFARERS 

4.75% 

NAVAL  SHIPPING 
4.97% 

FISHERIES 
6.29% 


INLAND  NAVIGATION 
9.85% 


GENERALITIES 
7.03% 

SHIPBUILDING/SHIPS 

4.57% 


MERCHANT  SHIPPING 
11.20% 


PERSONALIA 
2.58% 


PORTS  &  HARBOURS 
29.60% 


of  the  Second  World  War.  Concerning  Belgian  participation  in  discoveries,  the 
same  remark  can  be  made;  maritime  history  in  this  category  is  principally  limited 
to  the  contemporary  period. 

This  very  brief  survey  of  Belgian  maritime  historiography  cannot  be  con- 
cluded without  a  word  about  the  heading  "generalities,"  which  includes  such 
works  as  encyclopedias,  reference  works,  dictionaries,  bibliographies,  inven- 
tories, catalogues,  and  so  on;  these  works  are  the  necessary  tools  for  successful 
historical  research.  However,  only  Belgian  production  was  taken  into  account 
here.  We  do  not  intend  to  analyse  every  subheading,  but  something  has  to  be 
said  about  the  inventories  of  records. 

Looking  at  these,  we  observe  that  many  important  record  collections  had 
already  been  inventoried,  even  those  of  foreign  repositories.  This  is  the  case  of 
records  kept  in  Paris  concerning  Belgian  maritime  history,  as  well  as  in  Genoa, 
Venice,  Florence,  and  Simancas,  to  cite  just  a  few  examples.  But  limiting 
ourselves  to  records  kept  in  Belgium,  we  have  to  conclude  that  there  is  still  a 
great  many  records  available. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  inclined  to  state  that  maritime  historical  research  has  not 
made  much  progress  in  Belgium,  in  relation  to  what  has  been  achieved  in  the 
Netherlands,  a  country  of  comparable  size.  But,  it  can  be  stressed  that  there  is 
now  a  Belgium  maritime  bibliography,  which  is  not  yet  the  case  in  the  Netherlands. 


Koninckx     39 

Perhaps,  there  is  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  maritime  history,  in  general.  Further, 
we  have  to  point  out  the  striking  lack  of  maritime  history  in  the  programmes  of 
Belgian  universities  and  even  in  that  of  the  Nautical  College  at  Antwerp.  When 
one  considers  scientific  research  in  this  area,  it  has  to  be  said  that  it  is  very  much 
limited  to  associations  outside  the  universities,  such  as  the  Royal  Belgian  Marine 
Academy  at  Antwerp  and  the  Scientific  Committee  for  Maritime  History  in 
Brussels.  However,  the  people  involved  are  often  members  of  both  associations, 
simultaneously.  In  addition,  there  is,  of  course,  the  National  Maritime  Museum 
at  Antwerp,  housing  in  fact  the  Maritime  Academy,  and  from  which  historical 

Q 

maritime  research  is  also  promoted. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  hardly  surprising  that  maritime  history  in  Belgium 
is  stagnating  and  still  in  its  infancy.  If  this  is  a  quite  pessimistic  view,  our 
survey — and  by  the  way,  the  bibliography,  itself — offered  the  opportunity  to 
make  this  statement. 


Since  1935,  the  Academy  has  published  a  yearbook  dealing  mainly  with  maritime  history. 
The  Committee  established  a  series,  entitled  Collectanea  Maritima,  in  which  five  volumes  have  already 
been  published: 

Vol.  I:  Bibliography  of  Belgian  Maritime  History  (Brussels,  1984),  on  which  the  present  paper  is  based. 

Vol.  II:  Source  Material  for  the  History  of  Antwerp  Shipping  Particularly  the  England  Trade  1404-1485,  by 
G.  Asaert  (Brussels,  1985). 

Vol  III:  Nautisch  en  Hydrografische  kennis  in  Belgie  en  Zaire.  Historische  Bijdragen  (Brussels,  1987),  with 
English  summaries. 

Vol.  IV:  Bijdragen  tot  de  intemationale  maritieme geschiedenis  (Brussels,  1988),  with  English  summaries. 

Vol.  V:  Proceedings  of  the  international  colloquim:  "Industrial  Revolutions  and  the  Sea"  (Brussels,  1991). 

o 

Nationa  Scheepvaartmuseum ,  Antwerpen,  by  A.  de  Vos,  Coll.  Musea  Nostra,  vol.  17,  (Brussels,  1989). 


Britain 


N.A.M.  Rodger 


The  most  important  single  fact  about  naval  and  maritime  history  in  Britain 
today  is  conveyed  by  the  awkward  form  of  words  which  it  is  necessary  to 
adopt  as  a  title.  "Naval  and  maritime"  history  is  widely  conceived  as  an  amalgam 
or  an  uncomfortable  hybrid  of  two  distinct  subjects,  and  not  everybody  would 
accept  that  the  connections  between  the  two  are  or  ought  to  be  very  close.  This 
seems  to  be  a  peculiarity  of  the  English-speaking  world,  and  it  can  be  difficult 
to  find  words  in  English  to  express  the  unified  subject  of  maritime  history  as  it 
is  understood  in  most  European  countries,  or  to  translate  into  European 
languages  the  distinctions  implied  in  English  academic  usage  by  "naval"  and 
maritime. 
This  problem  of  definition  is  the  key  to  the  present  state  of  the  subject.  All 
historians  can  agree  that  in  principle  history  is  a  seamless  web  in  which  every 
country,  every  subject,  and  every  period  is  bound  closely  to  its  neighbours;  but 
for  the  practical  purposes  of  study  in  school  and  university,  it  is  necessary  to 
divide  it.  Any  subject  that  does  not  form  one  of  the  accepted  divisions  is  at  risk 
of  becoming  fragmented  if  not  ignored.  This  has  been  the  fate  of  naval  and 
maritime  history  in  Britain.  Probably  few  historians,  if  pressed,  would  actually 
deny  the  significance  of  the  sea  in  British  history,  but  many  of  them  would 
assume  that  it  belonged  naturally  in  someone  else's  department.  The  result  has 
tended  to  be  that  particular  aspects  of  maritime  history  have  received  attention 
in  circumstances  that  tended  to  isolate  them.  Economic  historians  have  studied 
the  history  of  overseas  travel  and  fisheries,  but  have  ignored  anything  to  do  with 
warfare.  Naval  historians  have  studied  battles  and  campaigns  but  supplied  very 
little  historical  context  in  which  to  locate  them  and  establish  their  significance. 
Military  historians  have  in  theory  admitted  the  importance  of  the  sea  in  warfare, 
but  in  practice  very  often  ignored  it.  Students  of  strategic  studies  have  plundered 
the  recent  past  for  case  studies  without  penetrating  far  below  the  surface.  The 

I  am  very  grateful  for  the  comments  and  suggestions  of  Dr.  Michael  Duffy,  Dr.  Stephen  Fisher,  Dr. 
R.J.B.  Knight,  Dr.  A.D.  Lambert,  Dr.  H.M.Scott,  Professor  Geoffrey  Till,  and  Mr.  David  Williams. 

French  histore  maritime,  German  Seegeschichte,  Dutch  Zeegeschiedenis,  Italian  storia  marittima,  Spanish 
historia  marltima,  all  refer  to  the  history  of  man's  use  of  the  sea  in  general;  in  all  these  languages  the  word 
marine  or  marina  is  not  limited  to  the  fighting  service  alone. 


42      Britain 

result  has  been  that  naval  and  maritime  history,  especially  in  universities,  has 
tended  to  be  reduced  to  a  number  of  disconnected  minority  interests  in  different 
departments,  often  departments  which  themselves  are  regarded  as  peripheral  to 
the  main  business  of  the  university. 

In  this  context  the  breadth  of  the  subject  may  be  a  practical  disadvantage.  It 
has  been  well  said  of  naval  history,  and  might  be  as  well  said  of  maritime  history 
at  large,  that  it  is  "a  microcosm  of  national  history;  it  is  not  a  subject  with  its 
own  particular  technique,  but  an  application  of  different  subjects,  each  with  its 
own  technique,  to  a  particular  field.  It  has  its  own  economic  and  constitutional 
history,  its  own  legal  problems  and  its  own  relations  with  diplomacy  and  politics. 
If  national  history  may  be  compared  to  a  cake,  the  different  layers  of  which  are 
different  aspects  of  national  life,  then  naval  history  is  not  a  layer  but  a  slice  of  the 
cake.""  The  breadth  of  the  subject  and  the  multitude  of  connections  it  has,  or 
ought  to  have,  with  many  areas  of  history,  explain  much  of  the  importance  and 
the  excitement  of  the  subject,  but  they  also  explain  the  difficulty  of  treating  it 
in  its  entirety  and  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  parcelled  out  among  many 
historians  or  history  departments  whose  central  interests  lie  elsewhere.  However 
desirable  it  may  be  in  theory  to  abolish  academic  demarcation  lines,  in  practice 
there  is  no  better  way  to  get  a  neglected  subject  studied  than  to  establish  courses 
and  departments  dedicated  to  it. 

It  is  only  possible  to  explain  how  and  why  English-speaking  historians  have 
come  to  perceive  the  subjects  of  naval  and  maritime  history  as  distinct  by  dipping 
briefly  into  the  history  of  history  as  a  serious  scholarly  pursuit  in  Britain.  For  our 
present  purposes  we  may  begin  exactly  a  century  ago  in  1893,  with  the 
foundation  of  the  Navy  Records  Society,  which  shows  most  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  its  time.  This  was  a  period  in  which  history  was  overwhelmingly  the 
record  of  great  men  and  of  the  state;  it  was  the  history  of  gentlemen,  for 
gentlemen.  Maritime  history  therefore  naturally  became  naval  history,  and  it  was 
naval  history  with  a  purpose.  The  founders  of  the  N.R.S.  included  some 
academics,  notably  its  moving  spirit,  Professor  J. K.  Laughton,  but  most  of  them 
were  naval  officers  and  civilians  closely  connected  with  the  Navy  who  regarded 
naval  history  as  directly  relevant  to  their  professional  concerns.  The  study  of 
history  as  a  means  of  rediscovering  the  fundamental  verities  of  naval  strategy  and 
tactics  was  a  key  element  in  the  institutional  and  intellectual  reforms  which  were 
then  affecting  the  Navy.  Young  officers  who  thought  seriously  about  their 
profession  were  likely  to  be  interested  in  history,  and  they  conceived  of  naval 
history  as  a  source  of  guidance  as  well  as  inspiration,  both  in  their  own  careers 
and  in  the  reform  of  the  Service  at  large.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  foundation 
of  the  Society  in  1893,  just  as  Mr.  Gladstone  was  fighting  his  last  great  political 

3  John  Ehrman,  The  Navy  in  the  War  of  William  III:  Its  State  and  Direction,  1689-1697  (Cambridge: 
1953),  p.  xxii. 

Professor  of  Modern  History  at  King's  College  London,  formerly  a  Naval  Instructor. 


Rodger     43 

battle  to  cut  the  Navy  Estimates,  was  not  without  political  intent;  the  former 
Conservative  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  Lord  George  Hamilton,  was 
prominent  among  its  founders,  and  the  then  First  Lord,  Earl  Spencer,  whose 
sponsorship  of  some  of  the  admirals'  demands  did  so  much  to  drive  the  Prime 
Minister  from  office,  accepted  the  presidency.  Naval  history  was  highly  relevant 
to  the  Navy  of  the  day,  and  at  times  it  had  a  radical,  even  subversive  flavour,  the 
more  so  as  many  of  the  naval  historians  came  to  oppose  the  "materiel"  school 
of  Sir  John  Fisher.  They  were  prominent  among  the  officers  who  in  1912 
founded  The  Naval  Review  "to  promote  the  Advancement  and  Spreading  within 
the  Service  of  Knowledge  relevant  to  the  Higher  Aspects  of  the  Naval  Profes- 
sion," and  the  Review  continued  for  many  years  to  publish  historical  scholarship 
of  a  high  standard  amongst  papers  on  the  current  professional  concerns  of  the 
Navy. 

The  subject  which  interested  these  early  naval  historians  was  essentially  the 
history  of  naval  operations,  often  studied  in  close  detail.  Many  of  them — notably 

Q 

Sir  Julian  Corbett  and  the  then  Captain  H.W.  Richmond  — were  keenly 
concerned  to  trace  the  relationship  of  the  Navy  to  strategy  and  diplomacy:  The 
Navy  as  an  Instrument  of  Policy,  to  use  the  title  of  one  of  Richmond's  books.  They 
were  not  much  interested  in  other  aspects  of  naval  history  which  did  not  echo 
their  current  professional  concerns,  nor  in  the  history  of  merchant  shipping 
except  as  an  aspect  of  the  defence  of  seaborne  trade.  Few  of  them  were  academic 
historians,  indeed  there  were  still  few  teachers  of  history  in  British  universities, 
but  in  spite  of  this  the  subject  enjoyed  the  same  high  public  esteem  as  the  Navy 
itself.  The  Council  of  the  Navy  Records  Society  in  the  first  twenty  years  of  its 
life  included  King  Edward  VII  and  two  royal  princes,  five  Cabinet  ministers, 
eleven  peers,  twenty-seven  admirals,  four  generals,  and  a  variety  of  other 
luminaries  including  two  distinguished  novelists  (Kipling  and  Erskine  Childers), 

I  owe  this  suggestion  to  Dr.  Michael  Duffy;  it  is  also  made  by  W.M.  Hamilton,  The  Nation  and  the 
Navy:  Methods  and  Organisation  of  British  Navalist  Propaganda  1889-1914  (New  York:  1986). 

6  The  Red  Earl:  The  Papers  of  the  Fifth  Earl  Spencer  1835-1910,  ed.  Peter  Gordon  (Northamptonshire 
Record  Society  Vols.  31  and  34,  1981-86)  II,  pp.  28-32,  gives  the  background. 

For  example  the  studies  of  eighteenth-century  campaigns  by  Commander  J. H.  Owen  printed  in  the 
1930s.  It  still  prints  historical  articles,  but  would  no  longer  claim  to  be  a  vehicle  for  original  historical 
scholarship. 

Q 

Corbett's  life  has  been  written  by  Donald  M.  Schurman:  Julian  S.  Corbett  1854-1922:  Historian  of 
British  Maritime  Policy  from  Drake  tojellicoe  (Royal  Historical  Society  Studies  in  History  No.  26:  1981). 
Richmond  has  no  less  than  three  biographies:  Arthur  J.  Marder,  Portrait  of  an  Admiral  (London:  1952); 
D.M.  Schurman,  "Historian  in  Uniform,"  in  The  Education  of  a  Navy:  The  Development  of  British  Naval 
Strategic  Thought,  1867-1914  (London:  1965);  and  Barry  D.  Hunt,  Sailor- Scholar:  Admiral  Sir  Herbert 
Richmond,  1871-1946  (Waterloo,  Ontario:  1982).  See  also,  James  Goldrick  and  John  B.  Hattendorf, 
eds.,  Mahan  Is  Not  Enough:  The  Proceedings  of  a  Conference  on  the  Works  of  Sir  Julian  Corbett  and  Admiral 
Sir  Herbert  Richmond  (Newport:  1993). 

But  the  few  were  eminent;  besides  Laughton,  the  Society's  early  editors  included  S.R.  Gardiner  and 
Sir  Charles  Firth. 


44      Britain 

two  Directors  of  Naval  Construction,  two  Princes  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 

the  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty,  and  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow.  No  academic 

discipline,  then  or  now,  could  boast  of  such  social  prestige. 

After  the  First  World  War  naval  history  tended  to  suffer  from  the  public's 

disenchantment  with  all  things  military.     The  Vere  Harmsworth  Chair  in  Naval 

history  at  Cambridge,  endowed  by  Lord  Rothermere  in  1911,  was  converted 

to  one  of  Imperial  and  Naval  History  in  1932;  since  then  only  one  naval  historian 

has  held  it,  Sir  Herbert  Richmond,  who  was  appointed  in  1934  and  was  later 

elected  Master  of  Downing  College.  Richmond's  election  was  applauded  by  a 

previous  holder  of  the  chair  as  a  signal  that  naval  history  would  not  be  "pushed 

1 1 
into  the  background,"  but  that  is  exactly  what  happened.      In  Cambridge,  as 

also  in  Oxford  and  London,  naval  history  continued  to  be  regarded  as  a  serious 

subject,  but  it  was  not  a  popular  one.  King's  College  London,  which  had  agreed 

to  found  a  department  of  naval  history  in  1913,  was  unable  to  find  a  scholar  to 

1 9 
continue  Laughton's  interests.      At  the  same  time  it  ceased  to  be  the  mark  of 

1  ^ 
the  intellectual  naval  officer  to  engage  in  serious  research.     Richmond  himself, 

who  had  written  part  of  one  of  his  most  important  books     while  commanding 

HMS  Dreadnought,  had  no  successors  in  this  respect.  The  Second  World  War 

had  surprisingly  little  effect  in  changing  this.  Though  the  importance  of  sea 

power  had  again  been  convincingly  demonstrated,  weariness  and  distaste  for  war 

was  hardly  less  marked  in  1945  than  it  had  been  in  1918.  In  the  1940s  several 

British  university  historians  with  interests  in  maritime  history  began  their  careers, 

notably  C.N.  Parkinson  and  A.N.  Ryan  at  Liverpool,  but  the  subject  could  not 

be  said  to  have  established  itself  as  a  subject  in  British  universities.  It  was 

characteristic  of  the  postwar  years  that  while  some  maritime  or  naval  historians 

rose  to  become  professors  (notably  John  Bromley  at  Southampton  and  JCenneth 

Andrews  at  Hull),  scholars  of  ability  were  more  likely  to  begin  their  careers  as 

naval  historians,  but  to  advance  by  moving  rapidly  into  other  areas.       In 

10    John  B.  Hattendorf,  "The  Study  of  War  History  at  Oxford,  1862-1990,"  in  The  Limitatiotis  of  Military 
Power:  Essays  presented  to  Professor  Norman  Gibbs  on  his  eightieth  birthday  (London:  1990),  pp.  3—61,  at  pp.  26—7. 

Hunt,  Sailor- Scholar,  p.  217. 
12   Ex  inf.  Dr.  A.D.  Lambert. 

1  ^ 

And  not  only  naval  officers:  A.W.  Tedder  (the  future  Air  Marshal)  was  a  young  official  in  the  Colonial 
Service  when  he  published  The  Navy  of  the  Restoration  (Cambridge:  1916). 
14    The  Navy  in  the  War  of  1 739-48,  eventually  published  in  1920. 

John  Ehrman  (The  Navy  in  the  War  of  William  III)  is  a  notable  example,  though  he  also  abandoned 
academic  life  for  private  scholarship.  Others  are  Professor  C.J.  Bartlett  of  the  University  of  Dundee 
(Great  Britain  and  Sea  Power  1815-1853,  Oxford:  1963),  Professor  H.T.  Dickinson  of  Edinburgh 
University  ("British  military  and  naval  operations:  Catalonia  and  Valencia,  1701-11,"  Durham  M.A. 
thesis,  1963;  his  Ph.D.  thesis  was  on  "Henry  St.  John  and  the  Struggle  for  the  Leadership  of  the  Tory 
Party  1702-14,"  Newcastle,  1968),  Professor  C.S.L.  Davies  ("Supply  services  of  the  English  armed 
forces,  1509-50,"  Oxford  D.Phil,  thesis:  1964),  Professor  Bernard  Dietz  ("Privateering  in  North- West 
European  waters,  1568  to  1572,"  London  Ph.D.  thesis:  1959),  and  Professor  Norman  Hampson  of  the 
University  of  Newcastle-upon  Tyne  (La  Marine  de  VAn  II,  Paris:  1952). 


Rodger      45 

Cambridge  Captain  S.W.  Roskill,  the  official  historian  of  the  Royal  Navy  in 
the  Second  World  War,  and  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  distinguished  naval 
historians  of  this  century,  was  offered  a  fellowship  at  Churchill  College,  but  was 
never  elected  to  the  Harmsworth  Chair  for  which  he  was  so  well  qualified. 

The  half  century  since  the  end  of  the  Second  World  War  has  been  marked 
by  a  rapid  growth  in  the  size  and  number  of  British  universities,  and  an  equally 
sharp  decline  in  the  size  of  the  Royal  Navy.  For  much  of  this  period  the  study 
of  warfare  in  any  form  attracted  little  interest  in  universities.  The  largest  research 
institutions,  with  room  for  all  sorts  of  minority  interests,  continued  to  produce 
some  work,  and  in  Oxford  the  Chichele  Chair  in  the  History  of  War  sustained 
courses  in  military  history  and  grand  strategy  which  contained  a  naval  element, 
but  until  the  late  1960s,  naval  history  in  universities  had  become  almost 
invisible.  The  period  was,  however,  fruitful  for  the  new  subject  of  maritime 
history.  Its  practitioners  were  predominantly  economic  historians  by  training, 
appointed  to  positions  in  departments  of  economic  history,  and  perhaps  anxious 
to  demonstrate  the  superior  scientific  rigour  of  a  numerate  discipline  compared 
to  the  amiable  vagueness  of  traditional  historical  scholarship.  They  did  not  feel 
they  had  much  in  common  with  naval  history  as  it  had  generally  been  studied. 
Part  of  the  problem  here  was  that  naval  history  was  by  this  time  being  studied 
largely  by  people  outside  university  departments,  people  who  were  by  definition 
amateurs  in  the  sense  of  not  earning  their  living  by  scholarship,  and  also  (it  was 
often  implied)  in  the  sense  of  not  matching  professional  standards.  The  deroga- 
tive implications  of  the  term  "amateur"  were  not  entirely  unjustified,  for  naval 
history  in  the  postwar  years  did  indeed  fall  behind  the  professional  standards  of 
the  academic  world,  as  well  as  losing  touch  with  its  fashions.  It  was  until  recently 
a  stronghold  of  the  nationalist  and  triumphalist  tradition,  and  it  was  late  to  be 
marked  by  such  academic  fashions  as  social  history.  It  is  still  almost  untouched 
by  the  spread  of  quantitative  history,  in  spite  of  the  existence  of  sources  of 
unequalled  richness.  This  made  it  easier  for  university  historians  to  ignore  the 
subject,  and  contributed  to  generations  of  history  books  which  overlooked 
maritime,  and  especially  naval,  history  or  accorded  it  brief  and  embarrassed 
mention  before  turning  to  more  agreeable  matters.  Another  factor  here  may 
have  been  fear  of  the  complex  technology  of  the  sailing  ship:  to  tackle  it  was  to 
risk  making  a  fool  of  oneself  before  those  who  understood  it,  and  perhaps  also 
to  risk  lowering  one's  status  before  those  historians  for  whom  real  history  was 
the  history  of  high  politics  and  policy,  and  who  shared  the  traditional  English 

16  John  Ehrman,  "Stephen  Wentworth  Roskill,  1903-1982,"  Proceedings  of  the  British  Academy,  LXIX 
(1983),  p.  579-94,  at  pp.  589-91.  His  deafness  would  admittedly  have  hampered  him  in  the  chair,  but 
it  did  not  stop  him  teaching  for  the  History  Tripos. 

17  Hattendorf,  War  History  at  Oxford. 

18  Table  1. 


46      Britain 

view  that  technical  expertise  was  what  distinguished  the  player  from  the 
gentlemen. 

All  this  continued  to  be  true  throughout  the  1950s  and  1960s  when  British 
universities  were  expanding  and  creating  new  posts  and  departments.  It  only 
began  to  change  in  the  1970s,  and  was  soon  overtaken  by  a  deepening  crisis  in 
university  finance  and  morale.  Faced  with  public  hostility  towards  students  and 
their  teachers,  dependent  for  funds  on  a  government  which  identified  univer- 
sities as  a  cause  of  economic  decline  and  talked  seriously  of  closing  some  or  even 
many  of  then  as  superfluous,  academics  entered  a  prolonged  and  uncomfortable 
period  of  change  which  shows  no  signs  of  ending.  Among  the  many  consequen- 
ces have  been  departments  and  whole  institutions  closed,  merged  or  struggling 
for  survival;  a  collapse  of  morale  in  some  quarters;  the  departure  of  some  of  the 
ablest  and  most  ambitious  for  early  retirement  or  the  United  States;  and  the  loss 
of  a  generation  of  younger  scholars  unable  to  enter  or  make  a  career  in  the 
academic  world.  This  has  meant  that  there  has  been  little  money  to  spare  for 
new  ideas  and  new  subjects.  University  departments  have  devoted  all  their 
attention  to  survival,  meaning  in  practice  the  survival  of  their  existing  courses. 
Always  conservative  and  bureaucratic  institutions,  difficult  to  steer  onto  new 
courses,  British  universities  have  until  recently  been  in  a  particularly  poor 
position  to  respond  to  new  intellectual  currents. 

Among  these  has  been  the  revival,  change,  and  even  to  some  extent  the 
merging  of  naval  and  maritime  history.  By  the  1980s  the  political  climate  in 
universities,  following  somewhat  behind  that  of  Britain  as  a  whole,  was  turning 
more  conservative,  and  both  naval  and  military  history  were  regaining  some 
degree  of  respectability.  The  Department  of  War  Studies  established  at  King's 
College  London  in  1965  had  a  notable  influence  on  military  history?  and  in 
particular  on  the  new  theme  of  "war  and  society,"  which  linked  the  hitherto 
old-fashioned  world  of  military  history  with  the  post-war  interest  in  social 
history.  "Just  as  some  thought  war  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  left  to  the  generals," 
wrote  Professor  Geoffrey  Best, 

so  the  history  and  scientific  analysis  of  war  seemed  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  left 
to  the  military  men  and  war  enthusiasts  who  did  most  of  the  writing  about  it.  Not 
that  they  had  the  whole  of  the  field.  The  study  of  war  has  attracted,  and  still  attracts, 
the  attentions  of  scholars  of  the  finest  kind.  But  such  men  were  to  be  found,  no 
doubt  reluctantly,  in  company  with  a  huge  crowd  of  narrower-minded  writers, 
for  whom  "military  historian"  was  the  most  complimentary  title  that  could  be 
found,  military  enthusiast  or  even  war  maniac  often  the  more  apposite.  War  and 
society  studies  began  largely  in  reaction  against  that  kind  of  stuff  Sometimes 


It  is  not  irrelevant  to  note  here  that  books  on  ship  design  are  published  in  Britain  not  by  academic 
presses  but  by  specialist  houses  like  Conway  Maritime  Press  or  Arms  and  Armour  Press,  whose  products 
are  associated  by  publishers  and  much  of  the  learned  public  with  the  world  of  model-makers, 
train-spotters  and  collectors  of  all  sorts  of  memorabilia,  and  are  not  reviewed  in  academic  journals. 


Rodger      47 

sinking  to  uniforms,  badges  and  buttons,  it  rarely  rose  above  campaigns  and  battles; 
it  viewed  them  from  the  professional  soldier's  angle;  it  tended  to  extract  the 
fighting  side  of  war  from  its  total  historical  context;  and  it  usually  meant  a  view 
of  an  army,  navy  or  air  force  from  within,  little  concerned  about  the  nature  of 
their  connections  with  the  society  on  whose  behalf  war  was,  nominally,  being 
fought.  Much  might  be  learnt  from  such  books  about  the  way  an  army  did  the 
job  set  for  it  and,  especially  from  between  the  lines,  about  the  ways  soldiers  viewed 
themselves;  little,  however,  about  how  soldiers  got  to  be  like  that,  and  nothing  at 
all  about  how  armed  forces  fitted  into,  emerged  from,  and  perhaps  in  their  turn 
made  impressions  upon  the  societies  to  which  they  belonged. 

The  election  of  Professor  Michael  Howard,  former  head  of  the  Department 
of  War  Studies  at  the  University  of  London,  and  subsequently  Chichele  Professor 
of  the  History  of  War  at  Oxford,  to  the  Regius  Chair  at  Oxford  in  1980  did 
much  to  enhance  the  respectability  of  the  new  military  history.  So  did  the  skill 
with  which  Sir  Michael  handled  the  History  Faculty  at  Oxford,  still  on  his 
election  inclined  to  be  suspicious  of  a  former  soldier.  At  the  same  time  some 
university  scholars,  notably  Paul  Kennedy,  were  making  their  names  in  naval 
history,  or  at  least  the  naval  aspects  of  economic  history  and  high  policy.  These 
trends  gathered  pace  in  the  late  1980s,  with  substantial  contributions  to  naval 
history  by  established  university  scholars  who  had  made  their  reputations  in  other 
fields.  During  this  decade  the  proportion  of  doctoral  and  other  theses  in  naval 
history  completed  in  British  universities  rose  for  the  first  time  to  a  substantial 
fraction  of  those  in  "maritime"  history.  ~  What  did  not  happen  was  any 
significant  number  of  new  appointments  to  university  departments  of  scholars 
with  such  interests.  When  so  few  posts  were  being  filled  anyway,  a  department's 
major  interests  always  took  priority.  The  renewed  vigour  of  the  subject  was 
indicated  by  the  interest  shown  in  it  by  established  scholars  rather  than  by  new 
appointments.  Only  the  King's  College  Department  of  War  Studies  could  be 
said  to  have  a  continued,  if  not  central  concern  for  the  subject,  and  in  1992  it 
appointed  its  first  naval  historian  to  a  lectureship.     By  contrast,  the  position  of 

20   "Editor's  Preface"  toJ.R.  Hale,  War  and  Society  in  Renaissatice  Europe  1450-1620  (Leicester:  1985),  p.7. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Regius  Chair  is  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  not  the  University. 

David  Loades,  The  Tudor  Navy:  An  Administrative,  Political  and  Military  History  (AJdershot:  1992); 
Bernard  Capp,  Cromwell's  Navy:  The  Fleet  and  the  English  Revolution  1648-1660  (Oxford:  1989);  Loades 
is  Professor  of  History  at  the  University  College  of  North  Wales,  Capp  is  Reader  in  History  at  the 
University  of  Warwick;  they  represent  the  schools  of  Sir  Geoffrey  Elton  and  Christopher  Hill 
respectively.  One  might  also  cite  the  eminent  military  historian  John  Terraine's  Business  in  Great  Waters: 
The  U-Boat  Wars  1916—1945  (London:  1989),  though  he  has  never  held  a  university  post. 

See  Table  1:  doctoral  theses  on  naval  subjects  represented  18  percent  of  those  in  maritime  history 
in  general  in  the  1950s,  40  percent  in  the  1960s,  and  42  percent  in  the  1970s  and  1980s. 

Hitherto,  the  subject  had  been  sustained  by  the  volunteer  and  part-time  efforts  of  two  successive 
Professors  from  the  P^oyal  Naval  College  Greenwich,  Bryan  Ranft,  and  Geoffrey  Till.  It  is  also  worth 
mentioning  that  on  filling  each  of  the  last  two  vacancies  in  the  Harmsworth  Professorship,  the  electors 
were  instructed  not  to  ignore  the  claims  of  naval  historians,  though  the  chair  was  advertised  in  terms 
calculated  to  discourage  them,  and  none  was  appointed. 


48      Britain 

maritime  history,  like  that  of  all  minority  subjects  in  universities,  tended  to  weaken. 
Several  of  its  leading  practitioners  retired  or  died  during  the  crisis  years  and  were 
not  replaced.  Possibly  it  also  suffered  from  a  reaction  against  economics,  by  no  means 
the  most  admired  and  respected  academic  discipline  of  the  1990s.  The  maritime 
historians  had  always  been  interested  especially  in  the  economics  of  trade  and  the 
business  history  of  shipping  firms,  and  had  tended  to  see  history  from  the  perspective 
of  the  boardroom  rather  than  the  forecastle  or  the  quarterdeck.  They  were  not 
perfectly  placed  to  profit  from  the  post-war  interest  in  social  history. 

University  historians  in  general,  preoccupied  with  survival  in  the  1980s,  were 
taken  somewhat  by  surprise  by  the  rise  in  the  popularity  of  history  as  a  subject  among 
the  general  public.  At  the  very  time  when  professors  of  history  were  publicly 
agonising  over  the  future  of  their  discipline,  amateur  historians  of  every  age  and 
condition  were  tackling  a  remarkable  range  of  subjects  with  skills  ranging  from  the 
negligible  to  the  sophisticated,  but  with  an  enthusiasm  which  some  academics  had 
lost  for  ever.  One  engine  driving  this  movement  was  the  growth  of  local  history 
among  adults,  and  of  school  "projects,"  often  in  local  history,  among  children. 
Another  was  the  rapid  rise  in  genealogy,  which  has  been  the  route  by  which  many 
beginners  have  advanced  to  historical  knowledge  of  some  sort,  often  no  more  than 
antiquarianism,  but  in  some  cases  attaining  the  level  of  serious  scholarship.  Naval 
and  maritime  history  has  certainly  participated  in  this  popular  revival.  One  inter- 
esting symptom  of  public  enthusiasm  has  been  the  revival  of  the  naval  historical 
novel.  Originally  a  product  of  the  early  nineteenth  century,  rediscovered  in  the 
1940s  by  OS.  Forester,  it  has  become  a  phenomenon  of  modern  publishing  and  in 
Patrick  O'Brian  has  produced  one  of  the  best  modern  English  novelists. 
Another  symptom  has  been  the  increase  in  the  number  of  maritime  museums 
and  of  people  eager  to  visit  them.  The  Merseyside  Maritime  Museum,  the 
Scottish  Maritime  Museum,  the  Royal  Naval  Museum,  the  Submarine 
Museum  and  Chatham  Historic  Dockyard  are  among  the  best-known  estab- 
lished within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  there  are  many  smaller  institutions. 
Coupled  with  them  has  been  the  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  historic 
ships  preserved  and  open  to  the  public.  Where  a  generation  ago  there  was 
little  more  than  the  Victory  and  the  Cutty  Sark,  there  are  now  literally  scores 
of  preserved  ships  large  and  small.  Among  the  most  notable  recent  additions 
are  the  Tudor  warship  Mary  Rose,  the  sailing  frigates  Unicorn  and  Trincomalee 
(ex-Foudroyanf) ,  Brunei's  Great  Eastern,  Scott's  Discovery,  the  cruiser  Belfast, 
the  Royal  Navy's  first  submarine  Holland  No.  1,  and  its  first  ironclad  battleship 
the  Warrior.  It  is  still  an  open  question  whether  maritime  history  benefitted  any 
more  than,  say,  military  history,  country  houses,  or  industrial  museums  from  the 
boom  years  of  the  1980s,  and  it  is  already  clear  that  there  is  now  a  serious  problem 
in  generating  sufficient  income  to  support  the  number  of  ships     which  has  grown 

And  museums:  some  of  the  smaller  maritime  museums,  notably  the  Exeter  Maritime  Museum,  are 
known  or  rumoured  to  be  in  serious  financial  difficulties. 


Rodger     49 

even  faster  than  public  enthusiasm,  but  on  the  most  pessimistic  assessment  there 
is  now  a  large  public  interest  in  maritime  history  which  did  not  exist  twenty 
years  ago. 

Until  very  recently,  university  history  departments  lacked  the  money  and  the 
freedom  of  manouvre  to  respond  to  it.  Only  now  is  this  beginning  to  change, 
and  one  reason  for  the  change  is  the  growing  tendency  for  university  finances 
to  be  to  some  extent  "market- driven."  Universities  are  being  obliged,  some 
more  reluctantly  than  others,  to  recruit  growing  numbers  of  students  from  a 
wider  range  of  ages  and  qualifications  than  before  and  to  compete  for  them  on 
a  basis  on  the  range  and  quality  of  their  teaching.  Specialist  post-graduate  courses, 
until  recently  unusual  in  British  university  history,  are  proliferating,  and  it  is 
becoming  common  for  departments  to  be  credited  with  part  of  the  fees  they 
bring  to  the  university  by  recruiting  people  onto  their  courses.  This  gives  them 
an  incentive  to  identify  and  promote  popular  subjects  and  to  tap  the  enthusiasm 
of  amateur  historians  with  the  time  (and,  most  importantly,  the  money)  to 
engage  in  serious  study.  Among  the  fruits  of  this  new  situation  is  the  Centre  for 
Maritime  Historical  Studies  at  Exeter  University,  established  in  1991,  which 
combines  existing  lecturers  from  the  separate  departments  of  Economic  and 
Social  History,  and  History  and  Archaeology.  It  is  still  necessary  to  establish  a 

Oft 

special  institution  to  associate  naval  and  maritime  historians,  but  the  early 
indications  are  that  the  Centre  is  drawing  substantial  numbers  of  students  to  its 
courses. 

Maritime  history  is  also  attracting  attention  at  other  universities.  At  St. 
Andrew's,  the  Institute  of  Maritime  Studies  teaches  an  M.A.  course  in  maritime 
archaeology  and  runs  a  seminar  in  maritime  history.  The  University  College  of 
North  Wales  at  Bangor  now  offers  a  B.A.  degree  in  History  and  Marine 
Archaeology,  which  draws  on  Professor  Loades's  interest  in  naval  history.  The 
Economic  and  Social  Research  Council  has  funded  two  large  studies  of  the  Port 
of  London  by  Professors  Roseveare  and  Minchinton  and  Dr.  Sarah  Palmer  of 
Queen  Mary  College  London.  But  these  new  projects  do  not  yet  have  an  assured 
future,  and  it  is  not  clear  that  departments  and  universities  entering  the  field  are 
doing  more  than  balancing  the  loss  of  others.  The  pattern  for  many  years  has 
been  of  interest  in  maritime  history  generated  by  individual  scholars,  but  that 
interest  does  not  survive  their  departure.  Southampton  in  Professor  Bromley's 
time,  Liverpool  for  much  of  the  post-war  period,  were  centres  of  maritime 
history  and  are  so  no  longer.  The  same  may  easily  happen  to  other  universities 
and  colleges,  and  the  same  observation  could  be  made  of  other  minority  subjects, 
such  as  diplomatic  history,  whose  fortunes  have  depended  on  individual  scholars 
rather  than  established  departments.  Indeed  there  is  an  obvious  connection 

In  Exeter,  as  in  many  universities,  economic  and  "traditional"  historians  are  in  separate  departments  and 
buildings. 

Table  2  shows  this  quite  clearly. 


50      Britain 

between  foreign  policy  and  naval  history,  and  a  number  of  historians  are 
prominent  in  the  recent  revival  of  both.  Underwater  archaeology  has  provided 
a  notable  intellectual  stimulus  to  maritime  history  in  recent  years,  but  it  has  not  done 
much  to  bridge  the  traditional  division  between  historians  and  archaeologists, 
so  that  here  again  maritime  history  suffers  from  fragmentation. 

It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to  concentrate  on  universities  alone,  for  much  of 
what  institutional  support  the  public  enthusiasm  for  maritime  history  has 
received,  has  come  from  other  institutions.  This  has  been  notably  the  case  with 
the  maritime  museums.  The  National  Maritime  Museum  has  expanded  its 
activities  to  run  a  range  of  lectures  and  courses,  to  support  research  fellowships 
in  naval  and  maritime  history,  and  to  run  a  (heavily  over-subscribed)  conference 
for  new  researchers  in  maritime  history.  To  some  extent  these  are  intended  to 
replace  the  major  scholarly  projects  for  which  curators  nowadays  seldom  have 
time,  as  well  as  to  provide  a  home  for  serious  scholarship  in  subjects  not 
supported  by  university  departments.  Other  public  institutions,  notably  the 
Public  Record  OfEce  and  the  record  offices  of  counties  and  cities,  have  provided 
facilities  for  a  large  increase  in  interest  in  naval  and  maritime  history.  At  the 
Public  Record  Office,  where  amateur  historians  make  up  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  the  readers,  naval  and  military  records  are  the  single  most  popular 
category  of  records  used.  Much  of  this  use  is  not  very  sophisticated,  but  the 
amateur  researchers,  who  include  a  significant  minority  of  children,  display  an 
enthusiasm  for  research  (and  a  respect  for  the  archives)  which  are  by  no  means 
universal  among  professionals.  Moreover  there  is  evidence  that  they  are 
willing  to  explore  a  wider  range  of  sources  than  professional  historians,  whose 
research  tends  to  be  confined  to  the  record  classes  cited  in  other  people's 
footnotes. 

Public  institutions  concerned  to  train  officers  for  either  the  Navy  or  the 
merchant  service  have  not  made  a  notable  contribution  to  naval  and  maritime 
history.  The  training  of  merchant  navy  officers  ashore  takes  place  in  departments 
unconnected  with  history,  by  lecturers  brought  up  as  seafarers,  engineers  or  naval 
architects,  and  there  are  only  a  few  who  maintain  a  serious  interest  in  history. 
The  former  Naval  Historical  Branch  of  the  Ministry  of  Defence  is  too  small  and 
overworked  to  undertake  scholarly  projects  of  significance,  and  in  recent  years 
has  been  somewhat  isolated  from  both  academic  and  amateur  historians.  Young 
officers  under  training  for  the  Royal  Navy  now  spend  only  six  months  at  the 

28  Such  as  Dr.  Jeremy  Black  of  Durham,  Dr.  Michael  Duffy  of  Exeter,  and  Dr.  Hamish  Scott  of  St. 
Andrew's. 

But  not  necessarily  with  enthusiasm. 

P.R.O.  statistics  from  the  early  1980s  suggest  that  amateur  researchers  consult  about  three  times  as 
many  record  classes  as  professionals,  including  many  of  value  to  the  serious  historian. 

Dr.  Ian  Buxton,  Reader  in  Marine  Transport  at  the  University  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  is  a  notable 
exception. 


Rodger      51 

Royal  Naval  College  Dartmouth  before  going  to  sea,  and  no  serious  attempt 
is  made  to  cram  history  into  a  curriculum  already  grossly  overloaded.  Those 
officers  who  attend  courses  at  the  Royal  Naval  College  Greenwich  later  in  their 
career  have  some  opportunity  to  make  contact  with  naval  history,  but  until 
recently  it  was  unusual  for  them  to  take  advantage  of  it.  The  Staff  Course, 
however,  has  now  been  accredited  as  an  M.A.  degree,  including  options  to  study 
maritime  history,  and  in  this,  the  first  year  of  the  new  course,  about  a  score  of 
officers  have  chosen  to  study  some  history.  The  Professor  of  History  and 
International  Affairs  at  Greenwich,  a  historian  of  repute,  is  now  teaching  a 
significant  amount  of  history  (as  distinct  from  strategic  studies)  for  the  first  time 
since  his  appointment. 

Outside  public  institutions,  interest  in  naval  and  maritime  history  is  sustained 
by  several  historical  societies,  notably  the  Navy  Records  Society,  which  still 
flourishes,  and  the  Society  for  Nautical  Research.  The  S.N.R.  originally  repre- 
sented the  amateur  and  antiquarian  interest,  especially  in  medieval  shipping, 
which  the  Navy  Records  Society  did  not  accept  as  respectable,  or  at  least  useful. 
Throughout  its  history  it  has  acted  both  as  a  society  of  (in  most  cases)  amateur 
enthusiasts,  and  as  a  vehicle  for  scholarship  of  a  high  standard.  It  is  not  always 
an  easy  balance  to  achieve,  and  for  much  of  the  past  thirty  years  its  journal,  The 
Mariner's  Mirror,  has  not  been  regarded  in  universities  as  a  scholarly  publication 
of  the  first  rank,  but  under  its  present  editor,  the  quality  of  its  articles  has  been 
excellent.  At  the  same  time  it  has  not  abandoned  its  original,  not  to  say  eccentric 
character,  which  has  retained  the  loyalty  of  a  society  with  a  membership  of  over 
two  thousand.  Unusually,  among  either  academic  or  amateur  bodies,  the  S.N.R. 
has  never  accepted  the  division  between  "naval"  and  "maritime"  history,  and 
has  always  published  material  on  an  electric  variety  of  "nautical"  subjects  and 
periods,  but  it  is  perceived  by  many  "maritime"  (meaning  economic)  historians 
as  biased  towards  naval  history,  and  this  is  certainly  true  of  the  interests  of  its 
membership.  Undoubtedly  the  recent  revival  of  The  Mariner's  Mirror  owes 
something  to  healthy  competition  from  the  new  International  Journal  of  Maritime 
History. 

The  institutional  division,  and  consequently  the  weakness,  of  naval  and 
maritime  history  in  Britain  is  in  contrast  to  the  situation  in  many  other  countries, 
and  it  is  worth  mentioning  contacts  with  other  countries  to  illustrate  aspects  of 
the  subject  in  Britain.  The  biennial  Anglo-French  Naval  Historians'  Conferen- 
ces, of  which  the  fifth  took  place  at  Lorient  in  1994,  are  now  established  and 
successful,  but  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  initiative  came  from  the  French  Service 

But  engineer  officers  spend  four  years  at  R.N.C.  Manadon,  where  they  take  a  degree  which  includes 
some  non-technical  courses. 

33   Professor  Geoffrey  Till. 

Dr.  Michael  Duffy  of  the  Exeter  Centre  for  Maritime  Historical  Studies,  who  has  started  the  practice 
of  "peer-review"  of  articles.  The  Review  Editor,  Dr.  David  Starkey,  is  also  from  the  same  Centre. 


52      Britain 

Historique  de  la  Marine,  which  has  published  all  the  proceedings  so  far,  and  that 
no  public  or  private  body  could  at  first  be  found  to  take  responsibility  for 
organising  them  in  Britain,  though  the  Society  for  Nautical  Research  has  now 
assumed  the  burden.  Neither  the  Royal  Navy  nor  any  British  university  has 
shown  interest.  When  the  Dutch  Navy  organized  a  conference  on  the  occasion 
of  the  third  centenary  of  the  1688  revolution,  British  historians  were  invited 
and  the  British  government  was  represented  diplomatically,  but  the  only 
institutional  response  was  made  possible  by  the  generosity  of  a  commercial 
sponsor.  There  appear  to  be  no  significant  institutional  links  with  maritime 
historians  in  Germany,  Spain,  or  Italy,  other  than  through  the  International 
Association  of  Maritime  Museums.  The  Association  of  North  Sea  Societies, 
"which  organises  a  biennial  conference,  provides  an  important  connection 
between  Britain,  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Germany,  and  the  Netherlands, 
but  it  is  largely  confined  to  maritime  historians  in  the  narrow  sense,  particularly 
historians  of  the  fisheries.  The  International  Commission  for  Maritime  History 
at  its  international  level  does  not  appear  to  regard  naval  history  as  forming  part 
of  its  subject,  though  the  British  Committee  (in  conjunction  with  the  S.N.R.) 
organises  a  lively  and  eclectic  lecture  series  covering  every  aspect  of  the  subject. 
In  international  relations,  where  institutional  coherence  matters,  the  picture  is 
one  of  disorganisation  and  division. 

If  we  turn  from  the  question  of  who  organises  research,  to  what  subjects  are 
being  studied  and  how,  we  find  that  naval  and  maritime  history  is  in  many 
respects  flourishing.  It  is  true  that  maritime  history  in  the  narrow  sense  is  suffering 
from  a  smaller  university  base,  but  it  remains  strong,  particularly  in  the 
nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries,  the  periods  for  which  the  materials  survive 
for  economic  and  quantitative  analysis  and  for  business  history.  It  has  moreover 
been  enriched  by  contact  with  imperial  historians,  who  have  long  been  interested 
in  the  economic  causes  and  consequences  of  empire,  and  have  lately  noticed 
that  it  was  ships  which  bound  the  British  Empire  together.  The  result  has  been 
some  notable  studies  of  merchant  shipping  in  relation  to  wider  issues.     A  good 

The  first  British  conference  of  the  series,  at  Portsmouth  in  1 988,  was  organised  by  an  ad  hoc  committee 
with  much  support  from  Hampshire  County  Council  and  Portsmouth  City  Council,  but  none  at  all 
from  the  Royal  Navy. 

At  the  Koninklijke  Instituut  voor  de  Marine  at  Den  Helder:  its  proceedings  were  published  as  Navies 
and  Armies:  The  Anglo -Dutch  Relationship  in  War  and  Peace  1688-1988,  ed.  G.J.A.  Raven  and  N.A.M. 
Rodger  (Edinburgh:  1990). 

1688:  The  Seaborne  Alliance  and  the  Diplomatic  Revolution,  the  proceedings  of  a  conference  sponsored 
by  Shell  International  Petroleum  (National  Maritime  Museum:  1989). 
38   The  last  was  at  Aberdeen  in  1993. 

Table  1  shows  that  the  number  of  theses  produced  in  maritime  history  has  declined  in  recent  years, 
but  no  more  than  the  decline  in  university  research  in  all  subjects. 

For  example  Andrew  Porter's  Victorian  Shipping,  Business  and  Imperial  Policy:  Donald  Currie,  the  Castle 
Line  and  Southern  Africa  (Royal  Historical  Society:  1986). 


Rodger      53 

deal  of  valuable  work  is  being  undertaken,  much  of  it  by  amateurs,  in  the  history 
of  the  coasting  trades  and  fisheries.  For  earlier  periods  it  is  more  difficult  to  find 
evidence  for  commercial  shipping,  but  there  is  a  long  and  eminent  tradition  of 
extracting  the  history  of  medieval  shipping  and  overseas  trade  from  the  Customs 
Ports  Books.  It  is  particularly  interesting  to  observe  that  historians  of  the 
sixteenth  and  early  seventeenth  centuries — a  period  in  which  it  always  made 
particularly  little  sense  to  distinguish  naval  and  maritime  history — are  now 
treating  overseas  trade,  exploration,  piracy,  privateering,  and  naval  warfare  as  a 
common  subject.  There  is  still  a  tendency  for  scholars  to  stick  to  the  records 
they  are  familiar  with — the  naval  historians  with  the  State  Papers,  the 
privateersmen  with  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty  and  so  on — but  the 
movement  is  in  the  right  direction,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  be  imitated 
in  other  periods  in  which  the  academic  demarcation  lines  have  not  been  much 
crossed. 

Naval  history  has  undoubtedly  suffered  from  its  isolation  from  the  academic 
world,  but  it  has  at  least  preserved  an  electric  variety  and  profited  from  the 
explosion  of  popular  interest  in  all  aspects  of  history.  The  present  century, 
especially  the  Second  World  War  and  more  recent  naval  wars  which  are  within 
living  memory,  continue  to  attract  immense  public  enthusiasm  and  to  justify 
large  numbers  of  publications  of  varying  levels  of  scholarship.  The  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries  are  attracting  strong  interest  again,  especially  in  such 
areas  as  the  technical  history  of  warships,  where  our  understanding  has  been 
transformed  by  recent  research.  A  number  of  outstanding  younger  scholars  are 
working  in  seventeenth  century  naval  history.  Naval  administration  has  received 
a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  such  important  auxiliary  subjects  as  naval  medicine 
have  been  attacked  from  various  directions.  "The  Navy  as  an  instrument  of 
policy"  is  once  again  receiving  serious  attention  and  figures  prominently  in 
recent  books  on  grand  strategy  and  diplomacy,  as  well  as  in  the  studies  of 
economic  historians  interested  in  the  relationship  between  Britain's  maritime, 
colonial,  and  economic  expansion.  The  social  history  of  the  Navy,  however, 
and  of  seafarers  in  general,  remains  largely  unexplored,  and  the  naval  and 
maritime  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  very  much  neglected.  Moreover  the  study 
of  actual  warlike  operations  remains  much  less  popular  than  hitherto,  and  study 
of  tactics  in  battle  is  now  completely  abandoned. 

Dr.  Wendy  Childs  of  Leeds  University  is  the  best-known  scholar  now  working  in  this  field. 

Such  as  H.M.  Scott's  British  Foreign  Policy  in  the  Age  of  the  American  Revolution  (Oxford:  1990). 

Notably  Professor  P.K.  O'Brien,  now  Director  of  the  Institute  of  Historical  Research  of  London 
University. 

The  recent  publication  of  Brian  Tunstall's  Naval  Warfare  in  the  Age  of  Sail:  The  Evolution  of  Fighting 
Tactics  1650-1815,  ed.  Nicholas  Tracy  (London:  1990),  is  an  apparent  rather  than  a  real  exception,  as 
the  book  was  largely  written  in  the  1930s. 


54     Britain 

A  valuable  collaborative  work,  The  New  Maritime  History  of  Devon,  combines 
the  work  of  a  large  number  of  maritime  and  naval  historians.  It  is  particularly 
encouraging  not  only  that  it  attempts  to  span  the  full  width  of  the  subject,  but 
that  the  editors  have  chosen  contributors  from  a  variety  of  institutions  and  walks 
of  life  other  than  universities.  Moreover,  it  was  supported  by  the  Leverhulme 
Trust  and  the  British  Academy  as  well  as  other  national  and  local  sponsors.  This 
is  one  approach  which  evidently  has  the  potential  to  heal  many  of  the  damaging 
divisions  and  weaknesses  within  the  subject.  It  is,  however,  a  complex, 
expensive,  and  unwieldy  one,  and  not  likely  to  be  suitable  for  general  application; 
nor  does  the  assembling  of  contributions,  from  many  hands,  on  everything  to 
do  with  the  sea  necessarily  define  the  subject. 

There  remain  many  areas  and  periods  of  maritime  history  which  have  been 
neglected,  but  it  may  be  suggested  that  the  most  urgent  wants  are  less  the 
coverage  of  neglected  topics  than  the  definition  of  the  subject.  At  present, 
maritime  history  suffers  from  a  lack  of  coherence.  It  is  neither  clearly  identified 
as  a  discrete  subject  nor  properly  integrated  into  national  and  international 
history  at  large.  It  may  seem  paradoxical  to  suggest  that  a  subject  fragmented 
among  many  departments  is  yet  not  properly  connected  with  any  of  them,  but 
in  practice  it  is  easier  to  ignore  a  minority  subject  on  the  periphery  of  your  own 
interests  than  a  subject  of  major  importance  to  others.  If  the  importance  of 
maritime  history  is  to  be  recognized,  it  must  be  understood  as  forming  an 
essential  element  in  all  sorts  of  history,  but  the  best  way  of  demonstrating  that 
it  does  is  to  define  it  as  a  coherent  subject  in  itself.  Naval  and  maritime  history 
would  be  stronger  if  it  had  more  practitioners  with  the  ability  and  the  self-con- 
fidence to  write  big  books,  which  would  both  define  and  project  the  subject. 
Here  the  lack  of  institutional  base  tells,  for  few  historians  outside  universities 
(and  fewer  and  fewer  within  them  at  present)  have  the  time  to  write  books  on 
a  grand  scale.  Many  excellent  books  and  articles  on  diverse  aspects  of  the  subject 
are  being  written,  but  we  need  historians  able  to  take  a  large  view  and  present 
the  sweep  of  maritime  history,  both  to  a  public  hungry  to  read  it  and  to  the 
learned  readers  who  need  to  be  educated  in  its  importance.  At  present  journalists 
rush  in  where  historians  fear  to  tread,  not  always  with  happy  results.  In  this 
connection  it  matters  that  no  body  in  Britain  giving  grants  for  historical  research, 
with  the  limited  exception  of  the  Leverhulme  Trust,  will  accept  applications 
from  persons  not  holding  full-time  university  posts.  No  other  institution,  not 

Vol.  I,  From  Early  Times  to  the  Late  Eighteenth  Century,  eds.  Michael  Duffy,  Stephen  Fisher,  Basil 
Greenhill,  David  J.  Starkey  and  Joyce  Youings  (London:  1992);  Vol.  II  is  not  yet  published.  This  work 
was  begun  before  the  formal  institution  of  the  Centre  for  Maritime  Historical  Studies  but  is  closely 
associated  with  it. 

The  contributors  to  the  first  volume  are  as  follows:  thirteen  university  historians,  three  university 
scholars  of  other  subjects,  two  lecturers  in  other  institutes  of  higher  education,  six  museum  staff,  three 
officials  of  other  public  institutions,  and  five  others. 

The  possibility  of  a  similar  work  on  Cornwall  is  now  being  investigated. 


Rodger      55 

even  the  British  Museum,  is  regarded  as  a  home  of  respectable  scholarship. 
Without  financial  backing,  few  people  will  have  the  luck  or  ingenuity  to  support 
a  big  book. 

It  must  also  be  said  that  not  all  historians  are  completely  qualified  to  do 
so.  Parochialism  is  a  real  weakness  of  both  naval  and  maritime  history  in 
Britain,  which  is  too  often  vigorous  but  narrow.  This  is  a  natural  weakness 
in  the  self-taught  amateur,  and  not  as  rare  as  it  should  be  among  people  with 
an  academic  training.  It  is  especially  unfortunate  that  a  subject  which  by  its 
very  nature  is  an  international  one,  the  history  of  the  sea  which  brings  men 
of  different  nations  together  in  war  and  peace,  is  usually  written  from  a 
national  if  not  from  a  nationalist  perspective.  Though  many  British  historians 
study  the  history  of  other  countries,  very  few  are  interested  in  foreign 
navies.  Comparative  studies  of  one  nation  with  another  are  extremely  rare, 
and  much  published  work  is  still  more  or  less  monoglot.  "  This  is  not  a 
problem  confined  to  Britain,  or  to  maritime  history,  but  it  is  a  serious  flaw 
in  any  sort  of  scholarship. 

So  the  state  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in  Britain  is  in  many  respects 
vigorous  and  hopeful,  but  there  remain  notable  weaknesses.  The  subject  has 
never  been  more  popular  among  the  general  public,  and  its  inclusion  in  the 
new  National  Curriculum  for  English  schools  ought  to  ensure  that  it  remains 
so.  University  departments  that  recognize  and  exploit  this  popularity  ought 
to  profit  by  doing  so  as  well  as  strengthen  the  subject  in  process.  At  the  same 
time  it  would  be  rash  to  ignore  the  existence  of  prejudice  against  it  among 
academics  of  an  older  generation,  meaning  the  generation  now  at  the  head 
of  their  profession.  At  a  time  when  university  departments  are  being  graded 
on  the  quality  of  their  research  by  committees  of  their  peers,  departments 
fear  that  exploiting  vulgar  popularity  will  earn  them  a  low  mark  and  lose 
them  research  funds.  This  matters,  because  no  institutions  outside  universities 
are  likely  to  be  able  to  provide  the  support  the  subject  needs  if  its  importance 
is  to  be  recognised.  The  national  museums,  especially  the  National  Maritime 
Museum,  are  hard-pressed  to  cover  their  core  responsibilities  and  unlikely  to 
be  able  to  increase  their  backing.  The  Navy  sees  almost  no  value  in  the  study 
of  history  for  its  officers  and  is  indifferent  to  the  rise  of  popular  interest  in 
naval  history,  which,  with  imaginative  handling,  might  do  much  for  the 
Navy's  popular  constituency.  Maybe  the  Navy's  decision  to  participate  in  the 
celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  the  Atlantic  in  May 

48  An  exception  is  R.A.  Stradling  of  the  University  of  Wales,  Cardiff,  author  of  The  Armada  of  Flanders: 
Spanish  Maritime  Policy  and  European  War  1568-1668  (Cambridge:  1992). 

Capp's  Cromwell's  Navy  recently  offered  an  unfortunate  example;  the  author  was  unaware  of 
Hans-Christoph  Junge's  Flottenpolitik  und  Revolution:  Die  Enstehung  der  englishchen  Seemacht  wahrend  der 
Herrschaft  Cromwells  (Stuttgart:  1980),  which  had  already  covered  much  of  the  same  ground. 


56      Britain 

1993  marks  a  change  of  heart,  but  we  are  still  very  remote  from  any  official 
support  for  naval  or  maritime  history. 

Of  all  the  desiderata,  it  may  be  suggested,  the  most  to  be  wished  for  is 
some  large  books,  conceived  of  with  breadth  and  imagination,  written  with 
a  skill  to  attract  the  general  public,  founded  on  scholarship  which  will  compel 
academic  acceptance,  and  sold  too  widely  to  be  ignored.  This  may  seem  a 
tall  order,  but  it  has  been  done  in  our  own  day  by  historians,  including  one 
who  made  his  name  in  naval  history,  and  it  could  be  done  again.  What 
maritime  history  needs  is  essentially  the  same  as  history  in  general  needs — a 
strong  scholarly  base  linked  to  wide  popular  interest.  A  good  deal  of  that  is 
in  place  already,  but  the  situation  will  remain  unsatisfactory  until  the  subject 
is  better  recognized  in  universities. 

Table  1:  University  Theses  by  Subject,  1900-1990 

1900-09 
1910-19 
1920-29 
1930-39 
1940-49 
1950-59 
1960-69 
1970-79 
1980-90 
Totals 

Source:  A  Select  Bibliography  of  British  and  Irish  University  Theses  about  Maritime  History,  1 792—1990, 
eds.  David  M.  Williams  and  Andrew  P.  White,  International  Maritime  Economic  History 
Association,  Research  in  Maritime  History  No.  1  (St.  John's:  Newfoundland,  1991). 

The  figures  in  table  1  are  for  doctoral  theses  plus  masters'  theses  (including 
B.Litt.  and  B.Phil.).  In  this  table  "Naval"  includes  combined  operations, 
grand  strategy  and  war  planning;  "Maritime"  includes  commercial  shipping, 
overseas  trade,  fisheries  and  ports  (other  than  dockyard  ports);  "Both" 
includes  piracy,  privateering,  seaborne  trade  in  wartime,  and  the  connections 
between  commerce,  strategy,  and  policy.  Economic  geography,  maritime 
law,  and  tourism  are  not  included.  Theses  dealing  with  periods  less  than 
twenty  years  earlier  than  the  date  of  submission  have  been  excluded  as  dealing 
with  current  affairs  rather  than  history.  The  classifications  are  based  on  the 
thesis  titles  and  are  inevitably  subjective,  so  the  figures  should  be  taken  as 
indicative  only. 


Naval 

Maritime 

Both 

Total 

0 

4+5 

1  +  1 

5+6 

0+5 

1  +  12 

2+1 

3+18 

1+5 

5+39 

4+4 

10+48 

6+12 

36+50 

4+8 

46+70 

5+3 

11+20 

5+0 

21+23 

6+11 

55+40 

6+5 

67+56 

29+17 

58+37 

9+3 

96+57 

56+14 

96+61 

14+9 

166+84 

50+12 

86+41 

li+2 

147+55 

153+79 

352+305 

56+33 

561+417 

)   Paul  M.  Kennedy,  author  of  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  British  Naval  Mastery  and  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Great  Powers. 


Rodger      57 


Table  2:  Theses  of  Selected  Universities,  1900-1990 


Liverpool 

Exeter 

London 

Oxfor 

1900-09 

0 

0 

5 

3 

1910-19 

1 

0 

11 

1 

1920-29 

1 

0 

22 

6 

1930-39 

6 

0 

45 

27 

1940-49 

1 

0 

12 

5 

1950-59 

6 

0 

51 

17 

1960-69 

11 

4 

65 

15 

1970-79 

16 

19 

59 

32 

1980-90 

6 

6 

48 

22 

Cambridge    St.  Andrew's  Wales 

0 

0 

4 

4 

4 
13 
19 
24 
12 


0 

1 

0 

3 

0 

7 

0 

8 

0 

2 

0 

5 

1 

6 

5 

9 

7 

4 

48  29  318  128  80  13  45 

In  this  table  the  theses  are  those  listed  in  table  1  from  the  three  most  prominent 
"research  universities"  and  some  others  with  interests  in  maritime  history. 


6 
Maritime  History  in  Canada 

The  Social  and  Economic  Dimensions 

Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Gerald  E.  Panting 


Canada  is  a  nation  with  a  significant  maritime  heritage.  The  aboriginal 
peoples  who  first  occupied  the  land  were  overwhelmingly  maritime  in 
orientation.  The  earliest  Europeans  to  visit  the  shores  of  the  "New  Found  Land" 
were  attracted  principally  by  the  lure  of  maritime  resources,  and  they  built  the 
richest  fishery  in  the  world.  The  non-aboriginal  portion  of  the  population  was 
comprised  overwhelmingly  of  intra-continental  migrants,  most  of  whom  arrived 
by  sea.  Until  the  coming  of  the  railways  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
settlements  almost  always  abutted  water,  and  the  penetration  of  the  great  North 
American  landmass  utilized  the  system  of  rivers  and  lakes  that  cut  deeply  into 
the  continent.  In  the  nineteenth  century  Canada  built  upon  its  comparative 
advantages  to  amass  the  third  largest  merchant  fleet  in  the  world.  In  the  current 
century,  offshore  resources,  especially  oil,  offer  the  promise  of  the  latest  in  a 
series  of  resource  booms  that  have  shaped  much  of  the  Canadian  experience. 

Given  the  importance  of  marine  features  to  its  history — and  as  one  of  the  few 
countries  in  the  world  to  border  on  three  oceans — it  might  be  imagined  that 
maritime  topics  would  occupy  a  central  place  in  the  national  consciousness.  Such 
an  assumption,  however,  would  be  erroneous.  That  maritime  interests  have 
always  been  peripheral  to  Canadians  reflects  a  reality  similar  to  that  in  the  United 
States:  the  main  currents  of  our  historical  thought  have  always  been  concerned 
with  the  dramatic  saga  of  filling  what  Europeans  perceived  to  be  an  "empty" 
continent.  As  in  the  U.S.,  the  North  American  landmass  has  been  associated 
with  progress  and  opportunity;  the  sea,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  a  moat 
which  protects  us  from  the  depravity  from  which  our  ancestors  fled  in  the  old 

world.  Moreover,  as  a  non-imperialist  nation,  Canadians  have  never  seen  the 

•i 

sea  as  a  route  to  expansion,  as  have  the  people  of  many  other  nations. 

Canadian  expansionism  has  assumed  an  economic  rather  than  a  political  character.  In  particular,  this 
has  been  reflected  in  the  penetration  by  Canadian  banks  into  certain  parts  of  the  Caribbean  and  Canadian 
resource  companies  into  various  parts  of  Latin  America.  But  as  a  nation  which  has  traditionally  been 
more  concerned  with  protecting  its  sovereignty  from  the  American  leviathan,  the  activities  of  Canadian 
businesses  overseas  remain  virtually  unknown  to  the  majority  of  the  population. 


60      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

As  a  result,  maritime  history  in  Canada  has  not  been  blessed  with  a  surfeit  of 
public  support.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  subject  has  been  largely  ignored  in 
Canadian  universities.  While  in  part  this  reflects  the  state  of  public  interest,  much 
of  the  responsibility  for  this  state  of  affairs  rests  with  those  who  have  chosen  to 
study  maritime  subjects.  Many  of  the  questions  posed  by  maritime  historians 
have  not  been  illuminated  by  mainstream  scholarly  ideas  or  debates,  and  a  good 
deal  of  maritime  history  in  Canada — as  in  most  of  the  rest  of  the  world — has 
been  compromised  by  an  unhealthy  dose  of  antiquarianism.  These  characteristics 
have  often  made  it  difficult  for  the  bulk  of  the  historical  profession  to  take 
maritime  history  seriously. 

Fortunately,  there  is  evidence  that  the  constraints  which  have  prevented 
maritime  history  from  being  central  to  the  way  we  think  about  the  past  are  being 
overcome.  A  new  awareness  of  the  importance  of  the  maritime  past  has  been 
reflected  in  the  past  two  decades  by  the  construction  of  major  new  maritime 
museums  in  Halifax  and  Kingston,  Ontario,  as  well  as  the  opening  of  a  spate  of 
smaller  museums  elsewhere.  As  well,  many  of  our  more  established  museums, 
such  as  the  Maritime  Museum  of  British  Columbia,  are  undergoing  significant 
facelifts  and  expansions,  even  in  a  time  of  general  fiscal  restraint.  Maritime 
heritage  organizations  and  societies  for  marine  enthusiasts  grew  substantially  in 
the  1980s  and  show  no  signs  of  stagnation  in  the  1990s. 

The  scholarly  community  has  also  been  part  of  this  ferment.  A  new  generation 
of  scholars  is  finally  asking  questions  of  interest  to  other  historians,  who  are 
conversely  beginning  to  comprehend  the  way  that  the  fruits  of  maritime 
historical  research  can  illuminate  their  own  scholarship.  These  relatively  new 
phenomena  have  led  to  an  expansion  in  the  number  of  scholars  willing  to  identify 
themselves  as  maritime  historians  as  well  as  to  growth  in  the  number  of  courses 
and  programs  offered. 

All  of  this  makes  us  reasonably  optimistic  about  the  state  of  maritime  history 
in  the  Dominion.  This  paper  presents  evidence  to  support  this  assessment.  Our 
concern  is  with  the  state  of  non-naval  maritime  scholarship  in  Canada.  Despite 
the  intellectual  artificiality  of  separating  naval  and  non-naval  maritime  scholar- 
ship,  as  a  heuristic  tool  this  division  has  some  justification.  This  is  because  in 
important  ways  the  Canadian  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  social  and 
economic  aspects  of  maritime  history  has  been  relatively  greater  than  in  many 

To  refer  to  the  non-naval  side  of  the  topic,  we  will  generally  use  the  term  "maritime  history."  This 
conforms  to  the  distinction  between  naval  topics  and  the  remainder  of  the  historical  study  of  man's 
relationship  to  the  sea  first  suggested  by  the  Robert  G.  Albion  in  his  series  of  bibliographies;  see  Maritime 
and  Naval  History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  1951).  This  semantic  convention  was 
enunciated  even  more  clearly  by  Robin  Craig  in  his  editorial  in  the  first  issue  of  the  journal  Maritime 
History,  I  (1971),  pp.  1—3,  and  by  the  late  Ralph  Davis  in  his  review  essay,  "Maritime  History:  Progress 
and  Problems,"  in  Sheila  Marriner  ed.,  Business  and  Businessmen:  Studies  in  Business,  Economic  and 
Accounting  History  (Liverpool:  1978),  p.  169.  We  are  grateful  to  David  M.  Williams  for  drawing  these 
references  to  our  attention. 


Fischer  and  Panting      61 

other  nations.  While  this  is  certainly  not  true  if  measured  by  the  quantity  of 
scholarly  output,  the  judgement  is  defensible  when  Canadian  scholarship  is 
placed  in  international  perspective.  Although  space  does  not  permit  us  to  set  out 
the  complete  international  context,  a  careful  comparison  of  the  Canadian 
contribution  with  what  is  described  elsewhere  in  this  volume  will,  we  believe, 
sustain  this  point. 

We  make  no  pretence  in  this  essay  to  being  complete,  and  we  apologize  that 
so  much  of  importance  has  necessarily  been  omitted.  Our  focus  is  on  Canadian 
scholars  and  scholarship,  and  we  have  little  to  say  about  maritime  history  in  its 
more  "popular"  manifestations.  This  same  caveat  extends  to  our  discussion  of 
historians,  university  programmes,  and  historiography.  For  the  most  part  we 
intend  to  focus  on  those  areas  in  which  we  believe  Canadians  have  made 
particularly  significant  contributions  and  to  a  lesser  extent  on  areas  in  which 
Canada  has  been  especially  weak;  we  generally  exclude  the  great  middle  ground 
from  consideration.  Likewise,  we  will  have  little  to  say  about  non-historians 
who  probe  the  maritime  past  except  where  they  have  had  a  demonstrable 
influence  on  the  work  of  historians.  Although  we  recognize  the  legitimate  role 
of  those  from  other  disciplines,  to  make  the  subject  manageable  requires  us  to 
sharpen  our  focus. 

We  begin  by  examining  the  Canadian  scholarly  community  with  an  interest 
in  maritime  history.  The  place  of  maritime  history  in  Canadian  universities  is 
dealt  with  in  the  second  part.  The  third  section  discusses  scholarly  organizations 
and  journals  dealing  with  maritime  history.  The  final  part  of  the  paper  focuses 
on  some  important  Canadian  contributions  in  the  realm  of  scholarly  publishing. 
Although  our  focus  will  be  on  scholarship  about  Canada  written  by  Canadians, 
it  would  be  parochial  to  ignore  the  contributions  of  non-Canadians  who  have 
written  about  this  country  or  the  achievements  of  those  who  have  focused  on 
the  historical  experience  elsewhere.  Because  our  purpose  is  to  present  a  picture 
of  the  state  of  maritime  scholarship  in  Canada  today,  we  will  limit  our  discussion 
in  the  last  section  to  works  written  since  the  mid-1970s,  with  a  particular 
emphasis  on  what  has  been  produced  in  the  last  decade. 

Canadian  Maritime  Scholars 

One  of  the  authors  present  has  conducted  several  surveys  in  the  past  few  years 
of  Canadian  maritime  scholars.  They  are  worth  citing  here,  both  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  Canadian  maritime  scholarly  community  and  as  a  context  in  which 
to  place  it.  In  1987  the  Canadian  Nautical  Research  Society  (CNRS),  the 
Canadian  sub-commission  of  the  International  Commission  for  Maritime  His- 
tory (ICMH),  published  a  research  directory  in  its  newsletter,  ARGONAUT  A.  A 

While  the  term  "scholarly  community"  in  this  paper  includes  historians  employed  not  only  in 
universities  and  community  colleges  but  also  in  archives  and  museums,  we  do  not  intend  in  this  essay 
to  discuss  the  state  of  Canadian  museums  and  archives. 


62      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

breakdown  of  the  directory  shows  that  approximately  two-thirds  of  the  scholarly 
membership  had  a  primary  focus  on  maritime  rather  than  naval  topics.4  An 
analysis  of  an  updated  directory  published  in  1990  yielded  similar  results.  While 
the  membership  of  CNRS  is  not  perfectly  representative  of  Canadian  maritime 
scholars,  we  estimate  that  about  90  percent  of  the  historians  who  have  made 
maritime  topics  a  significant  part  of  their  research  are  included  in  one  or  the 
other  of  the  directories.  The  naval  to  non-naval  ratio  underscores  the  relative 
importance  of  non-naval  topics  in  Canada.  This  is  in  stark  contrast  to  findings 
elsewhere.  A  breakdown  of  the  U.S.  membership  in  the  North  American 
Society  for  Oceanic  History  (NASOH)  shows  that  the  relationship  between  naval 
and  non-naval  scholars  is  almost  exactly  the  obverse  of  Canada.  And  a  published 
study  of  German  maritime  historians  shows  that  the  vast  majority  have  naval 
rather  than  maritime  interests.  Canada  is  thus  somewhat  unique  in  having  such 
a  high  proportion  of  maritime  specialists. 

A  spatial  analysis  of  the  interests  of  Canadian  maritime  scholars  suggests  its 
strengths  and  weaknesses.  The  largest  concentrations  were  concerned  with 
the  East  Coast  and  the  Great  Lakes— St.  Lawrence  system;  together,  they 
comprised  the  geographic  foci  of  about  two-thirds  of  Canadian  maritime 
scholars.  The  Arctic  and  the  West  Coast  account  for  almost  a  quarter, 
although  the  proportions  would  be  higher  if  we  included  scholars  interested 
in  contemporary  events  in  the  Arctic  and  non-historians  for  the  West  Coast. 
About  10  percent  of  Canadian  maritime  scholars  are  interested  in  international 
maritime  history.  The  international  component  is  certainly  higher  than  in 
most  European  countries,  although  it  is  not  clear  if  it  is  higher  than  in  the  U.S. 
Nonetheless,  it  reflects  a  condition  to  which  we  will  return  later  in  the  paper: 
the  fact  that  some  Canadian  scholars  have  attempted  to  study  maritime  history 
in  a  larger,  less  place-specific  context  than  is  the  case  in  many  other  nations. 
Not  surprisingly,  the  largest  components  of  this  international  group  have  been 
interested  in  topics  such  as  merchant  shipping  and  exploration. 

In  a  nation  which  by  world  standards  has  a  relatively  short  history,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  vast  majority  of  Canadian  maritime  historians  have  focused 
on  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries.  Those  scholars  who  study  earlier 

4  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  interests  of  members,  see  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  "Maritime  History  around 
the  World:  Canada,  ARGONAUTA,  V,  no.  2  (March  1988),  pp.  2-4.  The  directory  appeared  in 
ARGONA UTA,  IV,  no.  4  (October  1987).  For  an  opposing  view,  see  Eric  W.  Sager,  "Counterpoint," 
ARGONAUTA,  V,  nos.  2-3  (June-September  1988),  pp.  6-7. 

5  ARGONAUTA,  VII,  Special  Supplement  (October  1990). 

This  estimate  is,  of  course,  somewhat  arbitrary,  since  maritime  history  cuts  across  a  variety  of  other 
sub-disciplines.  We  make  this  estimate  based  upon  our  knowledge  of  the  field  rather  than  on  any  precise 
empirical  criteria. 

See  Rolf  Walter,  "Maritime  History  in  Germany,"  Maritime  Economic  History  Group  Neivsletter,  I,  no. 
2  (September  1987). 


Fischer  and  Panting      63 

periods  tend  to  be  concentrated  in  exploration,  ethno-history,  and  the  fisheries 
of  the  East  Coast  and  the  St.  Lawrence  Paver. 

The  vast  majority  of  Canadian  maritime  historians  writing  scholarly  works 
are  employed  in  universities.  Unlike  in  many  European  nations,  Canadian 
maritime  museums  have  not  traditionally  funded  research  posts  only  tangentially 

Q 

related  to  the  mounting  of  exhibits.  A  similar  survey  taken  twenty  or  thirty 
years  ago  would  likely  have  found  a  larger  contribution  from  archives,  but  the 
professionalization  of  archival  work  has  reduced  the  number  of  historians 
employed  in  such  repositories  who  are  able  to  devote  a  significant  amount  of 
time  to  scholarship.  Since  maritime  scholarship  in  Canada  has  clearly  been 
concentrated  in  universities — and  since  it  is  in  the  universities  that  new  maritime 
historians  are  being  trained — an  examination  of  the  place  of  maritime  history  in 
academe  is  essential  for  comprehending  the  state  of  the  field. 

Maritime  History  in  Canadian  Universities 

At  an  international  congress  in  the  mid-1980s,  an  informal  poll  was  taken  among 
the  maritime  historians  in  attendance  concerning  their  training.  Not  surprisingly, 
the  overwhelming  majority  indicated  that  their  graduate  preparation  was  in  some- 
thing other  than  "maritime  history."  On  one  level,  this  is  not  surprising.  After  all, 
the  techniques  of  business  history  can  be  applied  equally  well  to  studying  a  steel 
company  or  a  shipping  firm;  the  insights  of  social  history  are  applicable  to  both 
landward  and  maritime-oriented  groups;  and  so  on.  Indeed,  maritime  historians 
need  to  admit  that  their  field  has  no  discrete  boundaries  to  separate  it  from  other 
historical  experiences  and  no  particular  set  of  insights  or  approaches  which  mark  it 
as  a  distinct  historical  sub-discipline.  Yet  it  is  also  true  that  a  focus  on  the  relationship 
between  man  and  the  sea  provides  a  clear  distinction  from  which  to  build  a 
sub-discipline.  Moreover,  maritime  history  has  spawned  a  literature  which,  if  not 
wholly  separate  from  other  realms  of  history,  at  least  contains  some  common 
characteristics.  This  suggests  that  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  develop  undergraduate 
and  graduate  programs  in  maritime  history  and  hence  to  produce  a  body  of  graduates 
with  unique  perspectives  and  knowledge.  Such  programs  will  of  course  not  be 
isolated  from  other  parts  of  the  discipline;  rather,  they  will  borrow  insights  and 
approaches  where  necessary. 

If  we  accept  that  it  is  legitimate  to  offer  programs  in  maritime  history,  we 
must  also  concede  that  Canada  has  been  slow  to  develop  identifiable  courses  and 
programs  in  the  field.  This  does  not  make  the  country  unique;  indeed,  a  survey 

Q 

Although  some  European  museum  people  might  take  exception  to  this  characterization,  it  must  be 
assessed  comparatively.  It  is  unquestionable  that  relative  to  conditions  in  North  America  museum 
employees  in  Europe  (at  least  outside  Britain)  in  general  have  more  time  for  research. 

Another  argument  for  providing  training  in  maritime  history  is  that  traditional  preparation,  organized 
as  it  is  for  the  most  part  around  national  histories,  may  not  be  the  most  appropriate  approach  for 
understanding  what  is,  after  all,  one  of  the  most  international  of  phenomena. 


64      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

of  the  state  of  the  teaching  of  maritime  history  in  most  other  countries  would 
produce  strikingly  similar  results.  It  is  therefore  safe  to  say  that  the  majority  of 
the  next  generation  of  maritime  historians  will  be  trained  in  more  or  less  the 
same  way  as  were  their  predecessors. 

But  this  will  not  be  true  for  the  entire  new  generation  of  Canadian  maritime 
historians.  The  number  of  universities  which  offer  regular  courses  in  maritime 
history  is  increasing  gradually  and  currently  includes  Dalhousie  and  Queen's 
University,  as  well  as  the  Universities  of  Calgary,  British  Columbia,  and  Victoria. 
A  number  of  others  offer  maritime  courses  on  an  irregular  basis.  But  the  school  with 
the  greatest  commitment  to  maritime  history  is  Memorial  University  of  New- 
foundland, which  is  the  only  institution  in  North  America  to  offer  a  regular  program 

of  both  undergraduate  and  graduate  courses  in  the  field.  Indeed,  to  our  knowledge, 

1  n 
only  the  University  of  Leiden  in  the  Netherlands  offers  comparable  training. 

Memorial's  core  undergraduate  program  is  not  all-inclusive.  Instead,  it  focuses 
on  the  maritime  history  of  the  North  Atlantic  since  1450.  In  addition,  there  are 
a  series  of  advanced  seminars  in  specific  aspects  of  maritime  history  and  a  variety 
of  supplemental  cognate  courses.  On  the  graduate  level,  Memorial  offers  a  series 
of  seminars  leading  to  both  the  MA  and  PhD  degrees.  Since  the  program  is 
relatively  new,  it  is  too  early  to  judge  its  success  with  any  degree  of  confidence. 
But  it  does  represent  an  acceptance  of  the  significant  role  that  maritime  history 
has  to  play  in  the  training  of  undergraduate  and  graduate  students. 

In  early  1991  we  did  a  survey  of  graduate  theses  currently  in  progress  in  maritime 
history  at  Canadian  universities.  To  compile  this  overview,  we  contacted  every 
director  of  graduate  history  programs  at  all  Canadian  universities.  Although  some 
failed  to  respond,  most  did.  At  the  time  there  were  seventeen  theses  underway,  nine 
of  which  were  on  non-naval  topics.  Of  the  latter  group,  six  were  being  pursued  at 
Memorial  (four  PhDs  and  two  MAs);  the  others  were  being  written  at  the 
Universities  of  Guelph,  New  Brunswick,  and  York. 

It  is  clear  that  regardless  of  how  the  Memorial  program  evolves,  many  (and 
perhaps  most)  future  Canadian  maritime  historians  will  be  trained  in  traditional 
ways.  Basically,  this  means  that  they  will  write  maritime  theses  at  a  variety  of 
universities.  Although  many  will  be  supervised  by  maritime  historians,  they  will 
not  be  trained  specifically  in  maritime  history. 

Canadian  Maritime  History  Organizations  and  Journals 

In  most  nations  in  which  maritime  history  has  a  reasonably  high  profile,  there 
are  a  variety  of  organizations  to  encourage  and  promote  its  study.  Many  such 

10  In  the  U.S.,  the  Williams  College  program  may  develop  similarly,  as  may  East  Carolina's  program, 
if  that  school  is  ever  granted  approval  to  offer  the  PhD.  Texas  A&M  offers  a  similarly  comprehensive 
program  in  nautical  archaeology. 

11  The  graduate  student  research  directories  appeared  in  ARGONAUTA,  VIII,  No.  1  (January  1991) 
and  no.  2  (April  1991). 


Fischer  and  Panting      65 

groups,  such  as  the  World  Ship  Society  and  the  Steamboat  Historical  Society, 
are  unabashedly  popular  in  orientation,  providing  a  home  for  enthusiasts  and 
only  occasionally  promoting  what  we  recognize  as  scholarship.  Others,  such  as 
the  Society  for  Nautical  Research  (SNR)  in  Britain,  are  umbrella  organizations 
which  cater  to  both  enthusiasts  and  scholars.  There  are  relatively  few  maritime 
organizations  which  are  devoted  solely  to  scholarly  work. 

Canada  has  some  of  each  type  of  organization.  Those  that  have  enjoyed  the 
most  rapid  growth  in  the  past  two  decades  are  almost  certainly  the  support  groups 
which  have  evolved  around  maritime  museums  and  heritage  societies.  While 
they  deserve  recognition  for  the  important  work  they  have  done  in  helping  to 
alter  the  public  consciousness,  their  accomplishments  fall  outside  the  purview 
of  this  paper.  In  keeping  with  the  focus  enunciated  in  the  introduction,  we 
would  like  to  concentrate  here  on  the  second  two  categories. 

Canada's  equivalent  to  the  SNR,  or  to  NASOH  in  the  U.S.,  is  the  Canadian 

Nautical  Research  Society  (CNRS),  which  is  also  the  Canadian  national  commission 

1 9 
of  the  International  Commission  for  Maritime  History.     Current  membership  is 

approximately  three  hundred,  about  one-third  of  whom  are  actively  engaged  in 
scholarly  research  and  writing.  While  CNRS  is  far  from  the  largest  of  the  twenty- 
three  national  commissions  that  comprise  ICMH,  a  reflection  of  its  success  is  that  it 

has  roughly  twice  the  membership  of  NASOH,  although  Canada's  population  is 

1  ^ 
only  one-tenth  that  of  the  United  States.      CNRS  seeks  to  promote  interest  in 

maritime  history  through  an  annual  conference,  a  series  of  awards  for  books  and 
articles  to  honour  excellence  in  Canadian  maritime  history,  and  by  publishing  both 
a  quarterly  newsletter,  ARGONAUTA,  and  a  quarterly  scholarly  journal,  The 
Northern  Mariner /Le  Marin  du  nord.  CNRS  members  also  frequently  are  members 
of  other  marine  organizations,  although  the  goals  of  many  of  these  societies  tend  to 
be  popular  rather  than  scholarly.  Many  Canadian  maritime  historians  are  also 
members  of  NASOH.  Indeed,  NASOH's  immediate  past  president,  Barry  Gough, 
is  a  distinguished  Canadian  maritime  historian. 

To  achieve  its  goal  of  promoting  Canadian  maritime  scholarship,  the  publi- 
cation of  The  Northern  Mariner /Le  Marin  du  nord  is  probably  the  most  significant 
activity  of  CNRS.  TNM/LMN,  which  began  in  1991,  accepts  both  naval  and 
maritime  articles.  Its  first  ten  issues  have  contained  a  variety  of  essays  on  maritime 
historical  subjects,  including  Canadian  whaling,  fishing,  harbour  development, 
shipbuilding,  merchant  shipping,  and  the  Arctic.  Especially  significant  has  been 

Like  CNRS,  NASOH  is  a  national  commission  affiliated  with  ICMH.  SNR,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
not  the  British  national  commission. 

1  "\ 

Lest  the  comparison  prove  offensive,  we  should  admit  that  about  10  percent  of  the  CNRS 
membership  is  drawn  from  abroad,  with  the  U.S.  providing  the  largest  component.  But  it  is  also  the 
case,  as  we  suggest  below,  that  many  Canadians  are  members  of  NASOH. 

Both  of  these  publications  are  published  at  Memorial  University  of  Newfoundland  and  edited  by 
Lewis  R.  Fischer,  Gerald  E.  Panting,  and  Olaf  U.  Janzen. 


66      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

the  development  of  what  is  arguably  the  most  comprehensive  maritime  book 
review  section  in  the  world.  TNM/LMN  has  been  averaging  about  sixty  reviews 
per  issue;  its  policy  is  to  attempt  to  review  all  books  on  Canadian  maritime 
history  and  the  most  important  volumes  published  elsewhere,  including  a 
number  written  in  languages  other  than  English. 

Also  important  for  promoting  the  scholarly  study  of  Canada's  maritime  past 
are  the  Keith  Matthews  Awards,  presented  annually  to  the  best  book  and  best 
article  either  on  a  Canadian  marine  subject  or  by  a  Canadian  on  a  foreign  topic. 
There  are  also  honourable  mentions  awarded  at  the  discretion  of  the  committee. 
The  book  award,  which  was  inaugurated  in  1984,  has  gone  to  non-naval  books 
about  half  the  time.  The  article  award,  which  began  in  1985,  has  been  dominated 
by  non-naval  essays. 

Canada  also  occupies  a  key  role  in  the  umbrella  organization  of  which  CNRS 
is  a  part,  the  International  Commission  for  Maritime  History.  The  Secretary- 
General  of  ICMH  is  currently  Canadian,  which  means  that  the  secretariat  of  the 
largest  international  maritime  and  naval  organization  is  in  Canada.  ICMH's 
newsletter,  ICMHNews,  is  edited  at  Memorial  University  of  Newfoundland. 
Moreover,  the  next  quinquennial  congress  of  the  ICMH,  traditionally  the  largest 
maritime  history  conference  in  the  world,  will  be  held  in  Montreal  in  1995  and 
is  being  organized  by  a  Canadian.  This  prominent  role  in  ICMH  helps  to  ensure 
greater  visibility  for  Canadian  scholarship  in  international  circles. 

Canadians  also  play  significant  roles  in  the  only  international  maritime  history 
organization  solely  for  scholars.  This  is  the  International  Maritime  Economic 
History  Association  (IMEHA),  which  is  concerned  principally  with  the 
economic  and  social  aspects  of  maritime  history.  Founded  in  1986,  one  of  the 
two  Vice-Presidents  is  a  Canadian,  as  are  both  the  Secretary  and  the  Treasurer. 
As  with  the  ICMH,  the  secretariat  of  the  IMEHA  is  located  at  Memorial. 

The  IMEHA  also  sponsors  an  international  scholarly  congress  every  four 
years.  The  First  International  Congress  of  Maritime  History,  held  in  Liver- 
pool, England,  in  August  1992  attracted  more  than  one-hundred  scholars 
from  over  thirty  nations.  Fifteen  percent  of  the  papers  were  presented  by 
Canadians. 

In  addition,  the  IMEHA  publishes  the  leading  scholarly  journal  in  maritime 
history,  the  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History.  Although  the  IJMH,  which 
began  publishing  in  1989,  has  an  international  focus,  it  has  included  a  respectable 
sample  of  Canadian  maritime  writing.  The  IMEHA  also  publishes  monographs, 

It  is  worth  noting,  however,  that  Marc  Milner,  who  contributes  an  essay  on  Canadian  naval  history  to  this 
volume,  was  a  winner  of  the  article  award  in  1 989  for  his  essay  "The  Implications  ofTechnological  Backwardness: 
The  Royal  Canadian  Navy:  1939-1945,"  Canadian  Defense  Quarterly,  DC,  no.  3  (Winter  1989). 

The  Second  International  Congress  of  Maritime  History  will  be  held  in  Amsterdam  in  1996;  the 
third  will  be  in  Esbjerg,  Denmark,  in  the  year  2000. 


Fischer  and  Panting     67 
bibliographies  and  reprints  in  a  regular  series  entitled  Research  in  Maritime 

1 7 

History.  Both  are  edited  and  published  at  Memorial. 

There  is  one  other  Canadian  maritime  journal  that  publishes  a  reasonable 
proportion  of  scholarly  essays.  FreshWater,  a  journal  of  Great  Lakes  maritime 
history  published  at  the  Marine  Museum  of  the  Great  Lakes  in  Kingston,  has  in 
a  short  time  attained  a  reputation  for  scholarly  publishing  at  least  equal  to  its 
American  counterpart,  Inland  Seas.  But  because  its  subscription  list  is  heavily 
weighted  toward  museum  supporters,  it  is  unlikely  that  Fresh  Water  will  ever 
become  primarily  a  scholarly  journal. 

On  balance,  we  feel  safe  in  asserting  that  Canadian  maritime  historians  are 
well-served  by  the  existing  maritime  organizations  and  journals  in  the  country. 
Although  precise  comparisons  are  difficult,  given  the  size  of  the  community  we 
would  judge  that  Canadian  maritime  scholars  are  served  at  least  as  well  as  any 
comparable  group  in  the  world. 

Recent  Canadian  Contributions  to  Maritime  Historical  Scholarship 

Any  judgement  about  the  state  of  Canadian  maritime  history  scholarship 
depends  on  the  approach  adopted.  For  example,  within  the  country  some 
geographic  regions,  such  as  the  East  Coast,  have  been  reasonably  well-served 
while  others,  such  as  the  West  Coast,  have  been  studied  less  adequately  by 
scholars.  Canadians  have  made  major  contributions  in  the  histories  of  merchant 
shipping,  methodology,  fishing  (including  whaling  and  sealing),  and  maritime 
social  and  economic  history,  but  have  been  relatively  neglectful  of  topics  such 
as  the  history  of  shipping  firms  and  the  impact  of  technological  change.  Among 
Canadian  scholars  whose  focus  has  been  outside  the  country,  it  is  more  difficult 
to  discern  any  particular  specialties. 

Ultimately,  though,  a  balanced  evaluation  depends  on  the  choice  of  criteria. 
If  we  assess  their  contribution  to  national  scholarship,  Canadian  scholars  fare 
better  than  if  we  use  international  recognition  as  a  standard.  This  should  not  be 
taken  as  a  criticism,  however,  since  there  is  little  doubt  that  a  similar  verdict 
could  be  made  about  maritime  historians  virtually  anywhere.  Our  view  is  that 
on  balance  the  Canadian  contribution  has  been  above  average.  To  support  this 
contention  we  examine  below  some  of  the  main  trends  in  recent  Canadian 
maritime  scholarship. 

The  Editor-in-Chief  of  the  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History  is  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  who  also  is 
series  editor  of  Research  in  Maritime  History. 

1  ft 

FreshWater  is  edited  by  a  board  including  Maurice  D.  Smith,  M.  Stephen  Salmon,  Walter  Lewis, 
Ken  Macpherson,  and  Gordon  D.  Shaw. 

The  organization  below  is  based  loosely  on  a  number  of  topics.  The  discerning  reader  will  recognize 
that  many  of  the  works  discussed  could  have  been  included  in  two  or  more  categories.  To  avoid 
repetition,  however,  we  have  discussed  particular  books  and  articles  only  once. 


68      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

One  of  the  topics  in  which  Canadians  have  made  internationally  recognized 
contributions  is  the  history  of  merchant  shipping,  especially  on  the  East  Coast. 
Twenty  years  ago  the  recognized  authority  on  the  subject  was  still  Frederick  William 
Wallace,  whose  romantic  and  often  antiquarian  books  dated  from  the  1 920s.  That 
this  has  changed  is  largely,  but  not  entirely,  due  to  the  work  of  individuals  associated 
with  the  Atlantic  Canada  Shipping  Project  (ACSP)  at  Memorial  University  of 
Newfoundland.  Since  both  of  the  present  authors  were  associated  with  this 
project,  we  feel  compelled  to  admit  that  its  reputation  and  output  were  at  least 
as  much  a  function  of  the  resources  available  as  the  people  involved.  This  is  not 
to  deny  that  the  ACSP  benefitted  from  the  talents  of  some  exceptional  scholars, 
especially  the  late  Keith  Matthews,  who  conceived  of  the  study  in  the  first  place; 
the  late  David  Alexander,  who  provided  much  of  the  intellectual  direction;  and 
Eric  W.  Sager,  who  has  gone  on  to  become  one  of  the  most  prolific  and  insightful 
maritime  historians  not  only  in  Canada  but  also  in  the  world.  Yet  without  the 
benefit  of  six  years  and  more  than  $1  million,  this  project  to  examine  the  rise 
and  decline  of  the  eastern  Canadian  shipping  industry  in  the  nineteenth  century 
would  never  have  produced  the  results  it  did. 

The  best  place  for  a  neophyte  to  begin  to  understand  the  contributions  of  the 
ACSP  is  with  Eric  Sager  and  Gerry  Panting' s  Maritime  Capital,  which  not  only 
summarizes  many  of  the  project's  conclusions  but  also  extends  the  analysis  in  new 
directions.  Yet  a  full  appreciation  of  the  topics  investigated  by  those  associated 
with  the  project  requires  more  comprehensive  reading.  The  micro-level  work 
of  the  ACSP  can  be  found  in  six  volumes  of  essays,  which  include  not  only 
contributions  from  project  members  but  also  papers  by  a  wide  range  of  national 
and  international  scholars  for  context.  In  addition,  there  are  a  series  of  other 
publications  which  contain  material  and  insights  not  found  in  Maritime  Capital. 

See  Frederick  William  Wallace,  Wooden  Ships  and  Iron  Men  (London:  1924);  Wallace,  In  the  Wake 
of  the  Wind  Ships  (Toronto:  1927);  Wallace,  Record  of  Canadian  Shipping  (London:  1929). 

Eric  W.  Sager  with  Gerald  E.  Panting,  Maritime  Capital:  The  Shipping  Industry  in  Atlantic  Canada, 
1820-1914  (Montreal:  1990). 

Keith  Matthews  and  Gerry  Panting,  eds.,  Ships  and  Shipbuilding  in  the  North  Atlantic  Region  (St.  John's: 
1978);  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Eric  W.  Sager,  eds.,  The  Enterprising  Canadians:  Entrepreneurs  and  Economic 
Development  in  Eastern  Canada,  1820-1914  (St.  John's:  1979);  David  Alexander  and  Rosemary  Ommer, 
eds.,  Volumes  not  Values:  Canadian  Sailing  Ships  and  World  Trades  (St.  John's:  1979);  Rosemary  Ommer  and 
Gerald  Panting,  eds.,  Working  Men  Who  Got  Wet  (St.  John's:  1980);  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Eric  W.  Sager, 
eds.,  Merchant  Shipping  and  Economic  Development  in  Atlantic  Canada  (St.  John's:  1982);  and  Lewis  R.  Fischer 
and  Gerald  E.  Panting,  eds.,  Change  and  Adaptation  in  Maritime  History:  The  North  Atlantic  Fleets  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century  (St.  John's:  1985). 

Chief  among  these  are  a  series  of  works  by  Eric  W.  Sager  and  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  including  "Patterns 
of  Investment  in  the  Shipping  Industries  of  Atlantic  Canada,  1820-1900,"  Acadiensis,  IX,  no.  1  (Autumn 
1979),  pp.  19-43;  "Atlantic  Canada  and  the  Age  of  Sail  Revisited,"  Canadian  Historical  Revieiv,  LXIII,  no. 
2  (June  1982),  pp.  125-50;  and  Shipping  and  Shipbuilding  in  Atlantic  Canada,  1820-1914  (Ottawa:  1986). 
See  also  David  Alexander  and  Gerald  Panting,  "The  Mercantile  Fleet  and  Its  Owners:  Yarmouth,  Nova 
Scotia,  1840-1889,"  Acadiensis,  VII,  no.  2  (Spring  1978),  pp.  3-28;  Rosemary  Ommer,  "Anticipating  the 
Trend:  The  Pictou  Ship  Register,  1840-1889,"  Acadiensis,  X,  no.  1  (Autumn  1980),  pp.  67-89;  Ommer, 


Fischer  and  Panting      69 

Given  the  complexity  and  cost  of  the  ACSP,  it  is  not  surprising  that  it  has 
failed  to  stimulate  comparable  studies  of  other  Canadian  fleets.  This  point 
notwithstanding,  it  is  nonetheless  disappointing  that  scholarly  research  on 
merchant  shipping  in  other  parts  of  the  country  has  been  disappointing.  The  best  recent 
work  on  the  St.  Lawrence  has  been  done  by  Jean  Leclerc.  On  Canadian  merchant 
shipping  on  the  Great  Lakes  the  contributions  by  Steven  Salmon,  Walter  Lewis,  and 
Kenneth  Mackenzie  have  been  first-rate,  but  merchant  shipping  on  the  Lakes  has  by  and 
large  been  left  to  the  popularizers.  For  the  west  coast,  there  is  no  comprehensive  work, 
although  the  recent  volume  by  Ken  Coates  and  Bill  Morrison  and  a  preliminary  essay 
by  Eric  Sager  give  a  good  feel  for  what  might  be  done.  If  the  approach  of  the  ACSP 
to  merchant  shipping  has  not  been  emulated  for  other  parts  of  the  country,  it  has  been 
applied  to  Norway  and  the  international  economy  by  Lewis  Fischer  in  collaboration 

97 

with  Helge  Nordvik. 

But  aside  from  the  ACSP,  the  most  important  work  on  merchant  shipping  done 
by  Canadians  has  been  on  foreign  fleets.  Richard  W.  Unger  is  an  acknowledged 
authority  on  medieval  shipping,  concentrating  mostly  on  the  Low  Countries.  Jake 
Knoppers,  a  pioneer  in  applying  computer-assisted  analysis  to  maritime  history,  has 
written  a  seminal  work  on  the  shipping  involved  in  eighteenth-century  Dutch  trade 

on 

with  Russia.     And  David  Eltis  has  made  important  contributions  to  the  ongoing 

-irv 

debate  about  shipping  in  the  slave  trade. 

"The  Decline  of  the  Eastern  Canadian  Shipping  Industry,  1880-95,"  Journal  of  Transport  History,  V, 
no.  1  (March  1984),  pp.  25-44. 

24  Jean  Leclerc,  Le  Saint-Laurent  et  ses  pilotes  1805-1860  (Montreal:  1990). 

See,  for  example,  M.  Stephen  Salmon,  "'Rank  Imitation  and  the  Sincerest  Flattery':  The  Dominion 
Marine  Association  and  the  Revision  of  the  Canadian  Coasting  Regulations,  1922—1936,"  The  Northern 
Mariner/he  Marin  du  nord,  I,  no.  3  (July  1991),  pp.  1-24;  Kenneth  S.  Mackenzie,  "C.C.  Ballantyne  and 
the  Canadian  Government  Merchant  Marine,  1917—1921,"  The  Northern  Mariner /Le  Marin  du  nord,  II, 
no.  1  (January  1992),  pp.  1-13. 

Ken  Coates  and  Bill  Morrison,  The  Sinking  of  the  Princess  Sophia:  Taking  the  North  Down  with  Her 
(Toronto:  1990);  Eric  W.  Sager,  "The  Shipping  Industry  in  British  Columbia  from  1867  to  1914,"  The 
Northern  Mariner /Le  Marin  du  nord,  III,  no.  3  (July  1993),  pp.  45-50. 

See,  for  example,  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Helge  W.  Nordvik,  "A  Crucial  Six  Percent:  Norwegian 
Sailors  in  the  Canadian  Merchant  Marine,  1863-1913,"  Sjefartshistorisk  Arhok,  1984  (Bergen:  1985),  pp. 
139-59;  "Myth  and  Reality  in  Baltic  Shipping:  The  Timber  Trade  to  Britain,  1863-1908,"  Scandinavian 
Journal  of  History,  XII,  no.  2  (Summer:  1987),  pp.  99-116;  and  "Finlandere  i  den  Kanadensiska 
Handelsflottan,  1863-1913,"  Historisk  Tidskrift for  Finland,  LXXIII,  no.  3  (1988),  pp.  373-94.  As  with 
the  ACSP,  much  of  their  work  is  based  on  large-scale  data  sets. 

See,  for  example,  Richard  W.  Unger,  The  Art  of  Medieval  Technology:  Images  of  Noah  the  Shipbuilder  (New 
Brunswick,  N.J.:  1991);  Unger,  "The  Tonnage  of  Europe's  Merchant  Fleets,  1300-1800,"  American 
Neptune,  LII,  no.  4  (Fall  1992),  pp.  247-61;  Unger,  "Marine  Paintings  and  the  History  of  Shipbuilding," 
in  David  Freedberg  and  Jan  DeVries,  eds.,  Art  in  History,  History  in  Art:  Studies  in  Seventeenth  Century  Dutch 
Culture  (Los  Angeles:  1991),  pp.  75-93;  Unger,  "Integration  of  Baltic  and  Lower  Countries  Grain  Markets," 
Interactions  of  Amsterdam  and  Antwerp  with  the  Baltic  Region,  1400-1800  (Leiden:  1983),  pp.  1-10. 

Jake  V.T.  Knoppers,  Dutch  Trade  with  Russia  from  the  Time  of  Peter  I  to  Alexander  I:  A  Quantitative 
Study  of  Eighteenth  Century  Shipping  (2  vols.,  Montreal:  1976). 

See,  especially,  David  Eltis,  Economic  Growth  and  the  Ending  of  the  Transatlantic  Slave  Trade  (Oxford:  1987). 


70      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

The  other  contribution  of  the  ACSP  was  in  pioneering  techniques  in  the 

computer-assisted  quantitative  analysis  of  large  masses  of  historical  material. 

Indeed,  some  of  its  data  sets  remain  among  the  largest  yet  created  by  historians. 

Here  the  spin-offs  have  been  slightly  more  encouraging;  the  software  and 

techniques  developed  by  the  project  have  been  used  in  Canada  by  the  Marine 

Museum  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  abroad  by  the  National  Maritime  Museum  in 

-i-i 

the  United  Kingdom  and  the  Bergen  Maritime  Museum  in  Norway.  Lewis 
Fischer  has  also  used  ACSP  material  as  part  of  the  data  base  for  an  international 
study  of  maritime  wages  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Fishing  has  also  attracted  a  good  deal  of  recent  Canadian  interest.  Although 
no  one  has  yet  expanded  on  the  seminal  work  of  the  late  Keith  Matthews  on 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth-century  migratory  fishery  from  the  west  of 

-2-1 

England,  there  has  been  a  flurry  of  work  on  the  French  period  on  the  East 
Coast,  in  particular  by  Jean-Francois  Briere,  Olaf Janzen,  and  Laurier  Turgeon. 

The  best  introduction  to  the  project's  methodology  is  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Eric  W.  Sager,  "An 
Approach  to  the  Quantitative  Analysis  of  British  Shipping  Records,"  Business  History,  XXII,  No.  2  (July 
1980),  pp.  135-51. 

2  For  some  examples  of  the  study  of  international  wages,  see  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  "International  Maritime 
Labour,  1863-1900:  World  Wages  and  Trends,"  The  Great  Circle,  X,  no.  1  (Spring  1988),  pp.  1-21 ;  "Seamen 
in  a  Space  Economy:  International  Regional  Patterns  of  Maritime  Wages  on  Sailing  Vessels,  1863-1900," 
in  Stephen  Fisher,  ed.,  Lisbon  as  a  Port  Town,  the  British  Seaman  and  Other  Maritime  Themes  (Exeter:  1988), 
pp.  57-92;  "Seamen  in  the  Industrial  Revolution:  Maritime  Wages  in  Antwerp  during  the  Shipping 
Transition,  1863-1900,"  Collectanea  Maritima,  V  (1991),  pp.  331-42;  "Around  the  Rim:  Seamen's  Wages 
in  North  Sea  Ports,  1863—1900,"  in  Lewis  R.  Fischer  et  ah,  eds.,  The  North  Sea:  Twelve  Essays  on  the  Social 
History  of  Maritime  Labour  (Stavanger:  1992),  pp.  59—78.  In  collaboration  with  Helge  W.  Nordvik,  Fischer 
has  also  completed  a  number  of  wage  studies  of  the  Norwegian  maritime  sector;  see,  for  example,  Fischer 
and  Nordvik,  "From  Namsos  to  Halden:  Myths  and  Realities  in  the  History  of  Norwegian  Seamen's  Wages, 
1850-1914,"  Scandinavian  Economic  History  Review,  XXXV,  no.  1  (1987),  pp.  41-65;  "Wages  in  the 
Norwegian  Maritime  Sector,  1850-1914:  A  Re-Interpretation,"  in  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  Helge  W.  Nordvik 
and  Walter  E.  Minchinton,  eds.,  Shipping  and  Trade  in  the  Northern  Seas,  1600-1939  (Bergen:  1988),  pp. 
14-35;  "Regional  Wages  in  the  Age  of  Sail:  The  Price  of  Sailing  Ship  Labour  in  Towns  along  the  Oslofjord, 
1899-1914,"  Norsk  Sjofartsmuseum  Arsberetning  1987  (Oslo:  1988),  pp.  159-86;  "Salaries  of  the  Sea:  Maritime 
Wages  in  Stavanger,  1892-1914,"  Stavanger  Historisk  Arbok  1987  (Stavanger:  1988),  pp.  103-32; 
"Norwegian  Matroser.  Seafarers  and  National  Labour  Markets  in  Norway,  1850-1914," 
Scandinavian-Canadian  Studies,  IV  (1989),  pp.  58-81;  "The  Regional  Economy  of  Late  Nineteenth  Century 
Norway:  Maritime  Wages  as  a  Measure  of  Spatial  Inequality,  1850-1914,"  in  Illka  Nummela,  ed.,  Sita 
Kuusta  Kuulenincn  (Jyvaskyla:  1990),  pp.  89-112. 

33  Keith  Matthews,  "A  History  of  the  West  of  England-Newfoundland  Fisher"  (unpublished  D.Phil, 
thesis,  Oxford  University,  1968). 

Among  Briere 's  most  important  contributions  are  La  Peche francaise  en  Amerique  du  Nord  au  XVIII  siecle 
(Montreal:  1990);  "The  Safety  of  Navigation  in  the  18th  Century  French  Cod  Fisheries,"  Acadiensis,  XVI, 
no.  2  (Spring  1987),  pp.  85-94;  "Le  commerce  triangulaire  entre  les  ports  terre-neuviers  francais,  les 
pecheries  d' Amerique  du  nord  et  Marseilles  au  XVIIIe  siecle,"  Revue  d'Histoire  de  V Amerique  Francaise,  XL, 
no.  2  (September  1986),  pp.  193—214;  and  "Peche  et  politique  a  Terre-Neuve  au  XVIIIe  siecle:  la  France 
veritable  gagnante  du  traite  d'Utrecht?"  Canadian  Historical  Review,  LXIV,  no.  2  (June  1983),  pp.  168—87. 
Olafjanzen's  meticulous  work  can  be  sampled  in  "'Une  Grande  Liaison':  French  Fishermen  from  lie  Royale 
on  the  Coast  of  Southwestern  Newfoundland,  1714—1766 — A  Preliminary  Survey,"  Neivfoundland  Studies, 
III,  no.  2  (Fall  1987),  pp.  183-200;  "The  American  Threat  to  the  Newfoundland  Fisheries,  1776-1777," 
American  Neptune,  XLVIII,  no.  3  (Summer  1988),  pp.  154—64;  "'Une  Petite  Republique'  in  Southwestern 


Fischer  and  Panting      71 

For  the  nineteenth  century  there  are  recent  books  by  Shannon  Ryan  and 
Rosemary  Ommer,  the  former  focusing  on  the  marketing  of  Newfoundland 
cod  overseas  and  the  latter  on  the  rise  and  decline  of  Jersey-dominated  fishing 
in  the  Baie  des  Chaleurs.  Sandy  Balcom's  study  of  the  Lunenburg  fishery, 
which  originated  as  graduate  thesis  at  Memorial,  also  has  much  to  recommend 
it.  The  sociologist  Peter  Sinclair  has  produced  a  string  of  books  and  articles 
on  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth-century  Newfoundland  fishery  and  its  com- 
munities.  A  recent  superb  collection  of  essays  puts  the  credit  system  which 
bound  labour  to  the  fisheries  in  international  perspective.  For  the  more  recent 
Newfoundland  fishery,  the  magnum  opus  is  David  G.  Alexander's  The  Decay  of 
Trade. 

While  the  Great  Lakes  fisheries  have  received  much  less  attention  from 
historians,  the  West  Coast  has  been  better  served.  Of  particular  importance  is 
the  collaborative  volume  written  by  Patricia  Marchak,  Neil  Guppy,  and  John 
McMullan,  which  not  only  examines  the  history  of  the  industry  but  also  advances 
important  theoretical  considerations.  Several  works  by  Dianne  Newell  have 
added  to  our  understanding  of  the  Pacific  salmon  fishery.  The  most  important 
Canadian  contributions  to  foreign  fishing  history  have  unquestionably  been 
Laurier  Turgeon's  work  on  France  and  Daniel  Vickers'  series  of  studies  on 
colonial  Massachusetts. 


Newfoundland:  The  Limits  of  Imperial  Authority  in  a  Remote  Maritime  Environment,"  in  Lewis 
R.  Fischer  and  Walter  Minchinton,  eds.,  People  of  the  Northern  Seas  (St.  John's:  1992),  pp.  1-33;  and 
"'Bretons  .  .  .  sans  scruple':  The  Family  Chenu  of  Saint-Malo  and  the  Illicit  Trade  in  English  Cod  during 
the  Middle  of  the  18th  Century,"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Fifteenth  Meeting  of  the  French  Colonial  Historical  Society 
(Lanham,  Md:  1992),  pp.  189-200.  Turgeon's  best  essay  on  the  Canadian  east  coast  fishery  is  "Colbert  et 
la  peche  francaise  a  Terre-Neuve,"  in  Roland  Mousnier,  ed.,  Un  Nouueau  Colbert  (Paris:  1985),  pp.  255-68. 

35  Shannon  Ryan,  Fish  Out  of  Water:  The  Newfoundland  Saltftsh  Trade,  1814-1914  (St.  John's:  1986); 
Rosemary  E.  Ommer,  From  Outpost  to  Outport:  A  Structural  Analysis  of  the  Jersey- Gaspe  Cod  Fishery, 
1767—1886  (Montreal:  1992).  Nicolas  Landry,  "Les  peches  canadiennes  au  XIXe  siecle,"  The  Northern 
Mariner /Le  Marin  du  nord,  II,  No.  4  (October  1992),  pp.  23—30,  is  a  recent  review  essay  which  puts  the 
writings  on  the  nineteenth-century  eastern  Canadian  fishery  in  perspective. 

B.A.  Balcom,  History  of  the  Lunenburg  Fishing  Industry  (Lunenburg:  1987). 

The  most  historically-minded  of  these  is  Peter  R.  Sinclair,  From  Traps  to  Draggers:  Domestic  Commodity 
Production  in  Northwest  Newfoundland,  1850-1982  (St.  John's:  1985). 

Rosemary  Ommer,  ed.,  Merchant  Credit  and  Labour  Strategies  in  Historical  Perspective  (Fredericton: 
1990). 

David  Alexander,  The  Decay  of  Trade:  An  Economic  History  of  the  Newfoundland  Saltftsh  Trade, 
1935—1965  (St.  John's:  1977.  Many  of  Alexander's  seminal  essays  on  the  fishery  and  other  matters  were 
collected  posthumously  in  Eric  W.  Sager,  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Stuart  O.  Pierson,  comps.,  Atlantic 
Canada  and  Confederation:  Essays  in  Canadian  Political  Economy  (Toronto:  1983). 

An  exception  is  A.B.  McCullough,  The  Commercial  Fishery  of  the  Great  Lakes  (Ottawa:  1989). 

Patricia  Marchak,  Neil  Guppy,  and  John  McMullan,  Uncommon  Property:  The  Fishing  and 
Fish- Processing  Industries  in  British  Columbia  (Toronto:  1987). 

See,  for  example,  Dianne  Newell,  ed.,  The  Development  of  the  Pacific  Salmon- Canning  Industry:  A 
Grown  Man's  Game  (Montreal:  1989). 

Turgeon's  most  important  work  is  "Le  temps  des  peches  lointaines,  Permanences  et  transformations 


72      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

In  recent  years  there  has  also  been  a  flurry  of  publications  dealing  with  whaling 
and  sealing.  On  the  east  coast,  Chesley  Sanger  and  Anthony  Dickinson  have 
virtually  re-written  the  history  of  shore-based  whaling  in  Newfoundland.  In 
addition,  they  have  made  important  contributions  to  our  understanding  of  this 
activity  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  Sanger  has  also  written  on  international 
whaling.  The  West  Coast  has  also  been  blessed  with  a  superb  history  of  whaling 
by  the  American  scholar,  Robert  Lloyd  Webb.  '  While  less  scholarly — but 
ironically  more  popular — a  work  that  has  appeared  in  recent  years  on  the  Arctic, 
a  book  by  Dorothy  Harley  Eber,  has  deepened  our  understanding  of  the  human 
dimension  of  this  important  industry.  The  most  impressive  body  of  work  on 
a  non-Canadian  topic  has  been  Danny  Vickers'  magnificent  work  on  Nantucket 
whalemen. 

On  sealing,  the  place  to  begin  is  with  Tony  Busch's  The  War  against  the  Seals, 
a  comprehensive  account  of  the  development  of  this  important,  if  currently 
unpopular,  occupation.  Jim  Candow's  study  of  the  development  of  the 
Newfoundland  seal  fishery  is  the  standard  source  on  the  topic,  but  should 

(vers  1500-1850),"  in  Michel  Mollat,  ed.,  Histoire  des  Piches  Maritimes  en  France  (Toulouse:  1987). 
For  a  flavour  of  Daniel  Vickers'  achievements,  see  "Merchant  Credit  and  Labour  Strategies  in  the  Cod 
Fishery  of  Colonial  Massachusetts,"  in  Ommer,  ed.,  Merchant  Credit  and  Labour  Strategies  in  Historical 
Perspective,  pp.  36—48;  and  '"A  Knowen  and  Staple  Commoditie':  Codfish  Prices  in  Essex  County, 
Massachusetts,  1640-1775,"  Essex  Institute  Historical  Collections,  CXXIV  (1988),  pp.  186-203. 

Their  key  essays  include  "The  Origins  of  Modern  Shore  Based  Whaling  in  Newfoundland  and 
Labrador:  The  Cabot  Steam  Whaling  Co.  Ltd.,  1896—98,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  I,  no. 
1  (June  1989),  pp.  129-57;  "Modern  Shore-Based  Whaling  in  Newfoundland  and  Labrador:  Expansion 
and  Consolidation,  1898-1902,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  II,  no.  1  (June  1990),  pp. 
83-1 16;  and  "Expansion  of  Regulated  Modern  Shore-Station  Whaling  in  Newfoundland  and  Labrador, 
1902-03,"  The  Northern  Mariner/Le  Mann  du  nord,  I,  no.  2  (April  1991),  pp.  1-22;  "Modern 
Shore-Station  Whaling  in  Newfoundland  and  Labrador:  The  Peak  Season,  1904,"  International  Journal 
of  Maritime  History,  V,  no.  1  (June  1993),  pp.  127-54. 

C.W.  Sanger  and  A.B.  Dickinson,  "They  Were  Clannish  as  Hell":  Origins  of  Modem  Shore-Station 
Whaling  in  British  Columbia — The  Newfoundland  Factor  (Halifax:  1991);  and  "Newfoundland  Involvement 
in  Twentieth  -Century  Shore-Station  Whaling  in  British  Columbia,"  Newfoundland  Studies,  VII,  No.  2 
(Fall  1991),  pp.  97-123;  Sanger,  "'On  Good  Fishing  Ground  but  Too  Early  for  Whales  I  Think':  The 
Impact  of  Greenland  Right  Whale  Migration  Patterns  on  Hunting  Strategies  in  the  Northern  Whale 
Fishery,  1600-1900,"  American  Neptune,  LI,  No.  4  (Fall  1991),  pp.  221-40;  Sanger,  "'Saw  Several  Finners 
But  No  Whales:'  The  Greenland  Right  Whale  (Bowhead) — An  Assessment  of  the  Biological  Basis  of 
the  Northern  Whale  Fishery  during  the  Seventeenth,  Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  Centuries," 
International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  III,  No.  1  (June  1991),  pp.  127-54. 

46  Robert  Lloyd  Webb,  On  the  Northwest:  Commercial  Whaling  in  the  Pacific  Northwest,  1790-1967 
(Vancouver:  1988). 

47  Dorothy  Harley  Eber,  When  the  Whalers  Were  up  North:  Innuit  Memories  from  the  Eastern  Arctic 
(Montreal:  1989). 

48  See  Vickers,  "Nantucket  Whalemen  in  the  Deep-Sea  Fishery:  The  Changing  Anatomy  of  an  Early 
American  Labor  Force,"  Journal  of  American  History,  LXXII  (1985),  pp.  277-96;  and  "The  First 
Whalemen  of  Nantucket,"  William  and  Mary  Quarterly,  Third  series,  XL  (1983),  pp.  560-83. 

49  Briton  C.  Busch,  The  War  against  the  Seals:  A  History  of  the  North  American  Seal  Fishery  (Montreal: 
1985). 


Fischer  and  Panting      73 

be  supplemented  by  several  works  by  Shannon  Ryan  and  Chesley  Sanger. 
Anthony  Dickinson  has  published  several  works  on  sealing  outside  of 
Canada. 

Another  area  which  has  received  attention  is  maritime  social  history.  Bor- 
rowing insights  from  the  social  sciences,  some  talented  scholars  are  beginning  to 
use  them  to  illuminate  previously  dark  corners  of  the  maritime  experience.  Any 
discussion  of  the  writing  of  maritime  social  history  by  Canadians  must  begin 
with  books  by  Eric  Sager  and  Judith  Fingard.  Sager's  Seafaring  Labour,  which 
appeared  in  1989,  is  a  pathbreaking  analysis  of  life  at  sea  which  does  for  the 
nineteenth  century  what  the  American  historian  Marcus  Rediker  did  for  the 
eighteenth  and  the  British  historian  Nicholas  Rodger  did  for  the  Royal  Navy. 
Judith  Fingard'sjdc/e  in  Port  is  a  penetrating  study  of  the  "sailortowns"  in  Halifax, 
Saint  John  and  Quebec.  Both  have  been  widely  cited  and  emulated  overseas. 
We  suspect  that  the  same  will  be  true  for  Sager's  new  book,  Ships  and  Memories. 

Sager  and  Fingard  have  not,  however,  made  the  only  significant  contributions. 
Gilles  Proulx,  for  example,  has  written  an  under-rated  volume  on  conditions  at 
sea  in  the  trade  between  France  and  New  France.  And  of  special  note  is  a 
recent  collection  of  essays  which  brings  many  of  the  best  Canadian  and  American 
scholars  into  the  field.     Canadian  social  historians  also  have  had  a  special  interest 

50  J.E.  Candow,  "Of  Men  and  Seals":  A  History  of  the  Newfoundland  Seal  Hunt  (Ottawa:  1989);  Shannon 
Ryan,  Seals  and  Sealers:  A  Pictorial  History  of  the  Newfoundland  Seal  Fishery  (St.  John's:  1987);  Ryan,  "The 
Industrial  Revolution  and  the  Newfoundland  Seal  Fishery,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  IV, 
no.  2  (December  1992),  pp.  1-44;  Ryan,  "Newfoundland  Sealing  Disasters  to  1914,"  The  Northern 
Mariner/he  Marin  du  nord,  III,  no.  3  (July  1993),  pp.  15—43.  Ryan  is  currently  writing  a  history  of  the 
seal  fishery  which  should  supersede  previous  works.  See  also  Chesley  W.  Sanger,  "The  19th  Century 
Newfoundland  Seal  Fishery  and  the  Influence  of  Scottish  Whalemen,"  Polar  Record,  XX  (1980),  pp. 
231-52;  Sanger,  "Dundee  Steam-Powered  Whalers  and  the  Newfoundland  Harp  Seal  Fishery," 
Newfoundland  Studies,  IV,  no.  1  (Spring  1988),  pp.  1-26;  Sanger,  "Changing  Resources  and  Hunting 
Grounds  of  Scottish  Whaling-Sealing  Vessels  in  the  Second  Half  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  Scottish 
Geographical  Magazine,  CVII,  no.  3  (1991),  pp.  187-97. 

See  especially  Anthony  Dickinson,  "Some  Aspects  of  the  Origin  and  Implementation  of  the 
Eighteenth-Century  Falkland  Islands  Sealing  Industry,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  II,  no. 
2  (December  1990),  pp.  33-68. 

52  Eric  W.  Sager,  Seafaring  Labour:  The  Merchant  Marine  of  Atlantic  Canada,  1820-19 14  (Montreal:  1 989) ; 
Marcus  Rediker,  Between  the  Devil  and  the  Deep  Blue  Sea:  Merchant  Seamen,  Pirates,  and  the  Anglo-American 
Maritime  World,  1700-1750  (Cambridge:  1987);  N.A.M.  Rodger,  The  Wooden  World:  An  Anatomy  of 
the  Georgian  Navy  (London:  1986).  The  importance  of  the  Sager  and  Rediker  books  can  be  seen  most 
clearly  by  consulting  the  "Roundtable"  feature  in  the  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History.  This  format 
features  six  to  eight  analyses  of  the  book  under  consideration,  with  a  response  by  the  author.  The 
roundtable  on  Sager's  book  appeared  in  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  II,  no.  1  (June  1990), 
pp.  227-74,  while  the  roundtable  on  Rediker  was  in  I,  no.  2  (December  1989),  pp.  311-57. 

Judith  Fingard,  Jack  in  Port:  Sailortowtis  of  Eastern  Canada  (Toronto:  1982).  For  a  perspective  that 
dissents  from  some  of  her  main  conclusions,  see  Richard  Rice,  "Sailortown:  Theory  and  Method  in 
Ordinary  People's  History,"  Acadiensis,  XIII,  No.  1  (Autumn  1983),  pp.  154-68. 

Eric  W.  Sager,  Ships  and  Memories:  Merchant  Seafarers  in  Canada's  Age  of  Steam  (Vancouver:  1993). 

Gilles  Proulx,  Between  France  and  New  France:  Life  aboard  the  Tall  Sailing  Ships  (Toronto:  1984). 

Colin  Howell  and  Richard  Twomey,  eds.,  Jack  Tar  in  History  (Fredericton:  1991). 


74      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

in  labour  relations,  and  a  spate  of  books  have  appeared  in  the  past  few  years  on 

en 

the  histories  of  Canadian  maritime  unions.  Internationally,  the  work  by  TJ.A. 
LeGoff  on  eighteenth-century  French  mariners  and  Lewis  Fischer  on  Nor- 
wegian seamen  is  part  of  this  same  trend. 

The  history  of  maritime  exploration  has  also  enjoyed  a  rebirth  in  recent 
years,  particularly  on  the  West  Coast.  Although  the  Columbia  quincentenary 
did  little  to  inspire  a  renewed  interest  in  exploration  history  on  the  East 
Coast,  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  George  Vancouver's  voyage  and 
a  series  of  anniversaries  of  Spanish  exploration  had  a  more  important  impact 
in  the  West. 

Finally,  we  would  like  to  draw  attention  to  an  approach  in  which 
Canadians  have  taken  a  particularly  important  international  role.  This  is  the 
attempt  to  treat  maritime  history  in  its  broad  international  context.  Although 
maritime  history  has  almost  always  been  studied  in  particular  local,  regional, 
or  national  contexts,  it  has  an  equally  important  international  dimension.  One 
Canadian  scholar  who  has  chosen  this  approach  is  the  economic  historian  C. 
Knick  Harley,  who  has  contributed  important  analyses  on  such  subjects  as 
trends  in  maritime  productivity  and  international  freight  rates.  The  imperial 
historian,  Ian  K.  Steele,  who  has  written  a  superb  book  on  seventeenth  and 

5  Among  the  most  influential  have  been  John  Stanton,  Life  and  Death  of  a  Union:  The  Canadian  Seamen 's 
Union  (Toronto:  1978);  Jim  Green,  Against  the  Tide:  The  Story  of  the  Canadian  Seamen's  Union  (Toronto: 
1986);  William  Kaplan,  Everything  that  Floats:  Pat  Sullivan,  Hal  Banks  and  the  Seamen's  Unions  of  Canada 
(Toronto:  1987);  Sue  Calhoun,  A  Word  to  Say:  The  Story  of  the  Maritime  Fishermen's  Union  (Halifax: 
1991). 

See,  for  example,  T  J  .A.  LeGofF,  "Le  rerecrutement  geographique  et  social  des  gens  de  mer  bretons 
a  la  fin  de  TAncien  Regime,"  in  La  Bretagne,  une province  h  I'auhe  de  la  Revolution  (Brest:  1989);  LeGofF, 
"Les  gens  de  mer  devant  le  systeme  des  classes,  1755—1763:  resistance  ou  passivite?"  Revue  du  Nord,  I 
(1986),  pp.  463-78;  LeGofF,  "L'impact  des  prices  efFectuees  par  les  Anglais  sur  la  capacite  en  hommes 
de  la  marine  francaise  pendant  le  guerres  de  1744—1748,  1755-1763,  1778-1783,"  in  Martine  Acerra 
et  al.,  eds.,  Les  marines  de  guerre  europeennes  XVII-XVIIIe  siecles  (Paris:  1985),  pp.  103—22;  Fischer,  "Fish 
and  Ships:  The  Social  Structure  of  the  Maritime  Labour  Force  in  Haugesund  in  the  1870s," 
Sjofartshistorisk  Arhok,  1986  (Bergen:  1987),  pp.  139-70;  Fischer,  "The  Sea  as  Highway:  Maritime  Service 
as  a  Means  oFlnternational  Migration,  1863—1913,"  in  Klaus  Friedland,  ed.,  Maritime  Aspects  of  Migration 
(Koln:  1990),  pp.  293-307. 

An  exception  is  J.C.M.  Oglesby,  "In  Search  of  Christopher  Columbus,"  The  Northern  Mariner /Le 
Marin  du  nord,  II,  no.  4  (October  1992),  pp.  37-41. 

See,  for  example,  Christon  I.  Archer,  "The  Voyage  of  Captain  George  Vancouver:  A  Review 
Article,"  BC  Studies,  No.  73  (Spring  1987),  pp.  43-61;  Archer,  "The  Voyages  of  the  Columbia  to  the 
Northwest  Coast,  1787-1790  and  1790-1793,"  BC  Studies,  no.  93  (Spring  1992),  pp.  70-81;  John 
Kendrick,  The  Voyage  ofSutil  and  Mexicana,  1192:  The  Last  Spanish  Exploration  of  the  Northwest  Coast  of 
America  (Spokane:  1991);  Kendrick,  The  Men  with  Wooden  Feet:  The  Spanish  Exploration  of  the  Northwest 
Coast  (Toronto:  1985);  Barry  Gough,  The  Northwest  Coast:  British  Navigation,  Trade  and  Discoveries  to 
1812  (Vancouver:  1992). 

61  C.K.  Harley,  "Ocean  Freight  Rates  and  Productivity,  1740-1913:  The  Primacy  of  Mechanical 
Invention  Reaffirmed,  "Journal  of  Economic  History,  XXVIII,  no.  4  (December  1988),  pp.  851-75;  Harley, 
"Coal  Exports  and  British  Shipping,  1850-1913,"  Explorations  in  Economic  History,  XXVI,  no.  3  (July 
1989),  pp.  311-38. 


Fischer  and  Panting      75 

eighteenth-century  trans-Atlantic  communication  'would  also  fall  into  this 
category.  So,  too,  would  much  of  Lewis  Fischer's  work  on  nineteenth-century 
international  shipping. 

Despite  all  the  scholarly  activity  in  recent  years,  there  are  some  rather  large 
gaps  in  our  knowledge  of  Canadian  maritime  history.  One  which  can  be 
inferred  from  this  brief  survey  is  the  maritime  history  of  the  West  Coast, 
which  has  by  and  large  been  the  preserve  of  popular  historians  rather  than 
scholars.  Another  is  the  business  history  of  shipping.  Aside  from  some  of  the 
work  cited  previously  by  Gerry  Panting,  there  are  virtually  no  scholarly 
studies  of  Canadian  maritime  businesses.  But  some  Canadians  have  adopted 
a  business  history  perspective  to  delve  into  non-Canadian  topics.  The  best 
and  most  prolific  of  these  scholars  is  William  D.  Wray,  whose  work  has 
become  the  standard  interpretation  on  late  nineteenth  and  twentieth-century 
Japanese  shipping,  especially  the  NYK.  Also  important  is  the  contribution 
of  Jack  Bosher,  who  has  written  an  important  book  on  the  structure  of  the 
La  Rochelle  business  community  that  traded  with  Canada  in  the  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Lewis  Fischer  has  recently  begun  a  project  to 
examine  the  business  history  of  modern  shipbroking.      And  J.D.  Alsop  has 

Ian  K.  Steele,  The  English  Atlantic  1675—1740:  An  Exploration  of  Communications  and  Community 
(New  York:  1986). 

See  especially  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Helge  W.  Nordvik,  "Maritime  Transport  and  the  Integration 
of  the  North  Atlantic  Economy,  1850-1914,"  in  Wolfram  Fischer,  R.  Marvin  Mclnnis,  and  Jiirgen 
Schneider,  eds.,  The  Emergence  of  a  World  Economy,  1500-1914  (Wiesbaden:  1986),  pp.  519-44;  Fischer, 
"A  Flotilla  of  Wood  and  Coal:  Shipping  in  the  Trades  between  Britain  and  the  Baltic,  1863—1913."  In 
Yrjo  Kaukiainen,  ed.,  The  Baltic  as  a  Trade  Route:  Competition  between  Steam  and  Sail  (Kotka,  Finland: 
1992),  pp.  36—63.  Many  of  his  works  cited  previously  also  fit  this  description. 

Wray's  most  important  work  is  Mitsubishi  and  the  N.  Y.  K. ,  1870- 1914:  Business  Strategy  in  the  Japanese 
Shipping  Industry  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  1984),  which  is  the  first  of  a  projected  three-volume  set.  See  also 
his  "The  NYK  and  World  War  I:  Patterns  of  Discrimination  in  Freight  Rates  and  Cargo  Space 
Allocation,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  V,  no.  1  (June  1993),  pp.  41-63;  "Kagami  Kenkichi 
and  the  N.Y.K.,  1929-1935:  Vertical  Control,  Horizontal  Strategy,  and  Company  Autonomy,"  in 
Wray,  ed.,  Managing  Industrial  Enterprise:  Cases  from  Japan's  Prewar  Experience  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  1989), 
pp.  183-227;  "NYK  and  the  Commercial  Diplomacy  of  the  Far  Eastern  freight  Conference, 
1896—1956,"  in  Tsunehiko  Yui  and  Keiichiro  Nakagawa,  eds.,  Business  History  of  Shipping:  Strategy  and 
Structure  (Tokyo:  1985),  pp.  279-311;  and  "'The  Mitsui  Fight,'  1953-1956:  Japan  and  the  Far  Eastern 
Freight  Conference,"  in  Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Helge  W.  Nordvik,  eds.,  Shipping  and  Trade,  1 750-1950: 
Essays  in  International  Maritime  Economic  History  (Pontefract:  1990),  pp.  213—34. 

65  J.F.  Bosher,  The  Canada  Merchants  1713-1763  (Oxford:  1987).  See  also  Bosher,  "The  Imperial 
Environment  of  French  Trade  with  Canada,  1660-1685,"  English  Historical  Review,  CVIII,  No.  1 
(January  1993),  pp.  50-81. 

Lewis  R.  Fischer  and  Anders  M.  Fon,  "The  Making  of  a  Maritime  Firm:  The  Rise  of  Fearnley  and 
Eger,  1869-1917,"  in  Lewis  R.  Fischer,  ed.,  From  Wheel  House  to  Counting  House:  Essays  in  Maritime 
Business  History  in  Honour  of  Professor  Peter  Neville  Davies  (St.  John's:  1992),  pp.  303-22;  Fischer  and 
Helge  W.  Nordvik,  "The  Growth  of  Norwegian  Shipbroking:  The  Practices  of  Fearnley  and  Eger  as 
a  Case  Study,  1869-1914,"  in  Fischer,  ed.,  People  of  the  Northern  Seas,  pp.  135-55.  Fischer  and  Nordvik, 
"From  Broager  to  Bergen:  The  Risks  and  Rewards  of  Peter  Jebsen,  Shipowner,  1864-1892," 
Sjefartshistorisk  Arbok,  1985  (Bergen:  1986),  pp.  37-68,  also  adopts  a  business  history  approach. 


76      Maritime  History  in  Canada 

shed  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  business  practices  of  traders  during  the  slave 
trade  period.  A  third  topic  which  remains  relatively  untouched  is  technological 
history.  Most  of  what  has  appeared  have  been  narrow  studies  of  single  vessels  or 
types  of  ships.  Nonetheless,  there  has  been  some  important  recent  work  on  the 
history  of  canal  technology  on  the  Great  Lakes.  Also  worth  consulting  is  Bill 
Wray's  essay  on  the  transition  from  sail  to  steam  in  Japan  and  Knick  Harley's 
paper  on  the  same  topic  in  Britain. 

Despite  these  lacunae,  in  general  the  state  of  Canadian  maritime  scholarship  is 
healthy.  Indeed,  the  exponential  increase  in  published  works  in  the  past  two  decades 
has  gone  far  to  alleviate  gaps  in  our  knowledge.  If  the  trend  continues — and  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  be  reversed — it  may  be  that  even  some  of  the 
neglected  topics  identified  here  will  find  their  scholars  in  the  near  future. 

Conclusion 

This  essay  has  rendered  some  positive  judgements  on  the  state  of  Canadian  maritime 
history.  A  mere  two  decades  ago  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  make  such  optimistic 
assessments.  But  the  state  of  Canadian  maritime  history  is  much  healthier  today  than 
any  realistic  observer  would  have  predicted.  The  principal  reason  for  this  improvement 
is  not  funding,  because  Canadian  universities  have  hardly  been  immune  from  the 
cutbacks  and  retrenchment  that  have  haunted  post-secondary  institutions  around  the 
world  in  the  past  few  years.  Instead,  the  impetus  behind  the  advance  of  the  discipline 
has  come  from  people.  The  increased  awareness  of  the  importance  of  maritime  heritage 
by  the  general  public  has  been  part  of  this.  But  most  of  the  credit  must  go  to  the 
maritime  historians  who,  through  hard  work,  have  built  respectable  programs  and 
organizations  as  well  as  a  world-class  body  of  scholarly  literature.  They  are  to  be  found 
in  colleges  and  universities  from  coast  to  coast. 

In  the  late  1970s,  an  eminent  British  maritime  historian  could  identify  the 
essence  of  what  we  believe  has  underpinned  this  resurgence  of  scholarly  interest 
in  maritime  history  in  Canada.  Robin  Craig,  then  of  University  College, 
London,  reminded  participants  at  the  Third  Conference  of  the  Atlantic  Canada 
Shipping  Project  that  the  most  recent  ACSP  volume  was  entitled  The  Enterprising 
Canadians.  Noting  the  impressive  work  that  was  being  done  not  only  in  St. 
John's  but  also  elsewhere  in  Canada,  he  exclaimed  "I  will  say  Amen  to  that."  It 

See,  for  example,  J.D.  Alsop,  "The  Career  of  William  Towerson,  Guinea  Trader,"  International 
Journal  of  Maritime  History,  IV,  no.  2  (December  1992),  pp.  45-82. 

68  Brian  S.  Osborne  and  Donald  Swainson,  The  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal:  A  Chapter  in  the  History  of  Great 
Lakes  Transport  (Ottawa:  1986);  Robert  W.  Passfield,  Technology  in  Transition:  The  "Soo"  Ship  Canal, 
1889-1985  (Ottawa:  1989). 

William  D.  Wray,  "Shipping:  From  Sail  to  Steam,"  in  Marius  Jansen  and  Gilbert  Rozman,  eds., 
Japan  in  Transition:  From  Tokugawa  to  Meiji  (Princeton:  1986),  pp.  248—70;  C.K.  Harley,  "The  Shift  from 
Sailing  Ships  to  Steamships,  1850-1890:  A  Study  in  Technological  Change  and  Its  Diffusion,"  in  C.N. 
McCloskey,  ed.,  Studies  on  a  Mature  Economy:  Britain  after  1840  (London:  1971),  pp.  215-34. 


Fischer  and  Panting      77 

is  indeed  by  their  enterprise  that  Canadian  maritime  historians  have  earned  the 
positive  evaluation  in  this  paper. 


The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

The  State  of  the  Art 

Marc  Milner 


Of  all  the  nations  under  discussion  in  this  volume,  Canada  scarcely  ranks 
as  a  naval  power  in  the  historical  sense.  The  Canadian  Navy  dates  only 
from  1910,  and  although  it  had  flexed  its  nascent  "sea  power"  muscle  during 
convoy  duty  in  the  First  World  War,  only  in  the  Second  World  War  and  the 
Cold  War  did  it  show  strength  of  any  international  importance.  As  a  nation 
Canada  has  fought  no  wars  on  its  own,  nor  have  its  armed  forces  been  the  object 
of  particular  enemy  attention.  Indeed,  one  might  say  that  Canada  has  no 
independent  national  naval  history  at  all.  Moreover,  as  a  distinct  field  of 
scholarship,  Canadian  naval  history  is  a  very  recent  phenomenon.  It  is  also,  at 
present,  a  sub-field  of  Canadian  military  history,  and  as  such  is  poorly  integrated 
into  the  wider  maritime  history  of  the  country.  Not  surprisingly,  the  brevity  and 
peculiar  nature  of  Canada's  naval  history  have  profoundly  shaped  its  historiog- 
raphy  and  the  extent  to  which  Canadian  naval  history  is  taught. 

For  these  reasons,  any  discussion  of  the  state  of  Canadian  naval  history  must 
be  prefaced  by  a  short  discourse  on  the  nature  of  that  history.  Perhaps  more  than 
other  nations,  Canada's  naval  history  is  but  a  thin  thread  in  a  much  larger  tapestry. 
This  situation  is  somewhat  paradoxical,  since  by  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  Canada  had  become  a  very  considerable  maritime  state,  as  Professors 
Panting  and  Fisher  demonstrate.  But  Canada — like  its  antecedents,  the  British 
North  American  colonies — rested  secure  in  the  bosom  of  British  sea  power. 
With  the  mother  country  as  the  predominant  naval  power  in  the  world,  it  would 
have  been  absurd  for  the  new  self-governing  Dominion  of  Canada  to  even  try 
to  develop  its  own  navy  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Quite  apart  from  the  fact 
that  Britain  retained  responsibility  for  Canadian  foreign  affairs,  the  metropolitan 
power,  whether  French  or  British,  had  always  been  responsible  for  the  maritime 
security  of  its  North  American  colonies.  It  was  the  colonists'  task  to  defend  the 
land  frontier,  and  so  it  remained  after  1867  when  the  new  Dominion's  military 
efforts  were  devoted  to  the  raising  of  militias.  Paradoxically  then,  Canada  was  a 

I  am  especially  grateful  to  J.  A.  Boutilier,  W.A.B.  Douglas,  M.  Hadley,  R.  Sarty,  and  D.  Zimmerman  for 
their  comments  on  the  draft  of  this  paper.  The  final  conclusions,  errors  or  omissions  remain  entirely  my  own. 


80     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

"British"  nation,  dependant  upon  the  sea  for  her  well-being.  Though  many  of  her 
people  followed  the  sea,  her  military  heritage  was  decidedly  continental  in  flavour. 

The  founding  of  the  Royal  Canadian  Navy  in  1910  did  little  to  alter  that 
situation.  The  debate  over  the  establishment  of  a  naval  service  reflected  the 
increasing  ambiguity  over  Canada's  constitutional  position:  should  Canada 
simply  give  money  to  Britain  to  support  her  naval  armaments  race  with 
Germany,  or  establish  a  Canadian  branch  of  the  Imperial  Navy.  A  Canadian 
Navy  might  keep  problems  at  arm's  length,  it  was  argued,  but  conversely,  it  also 
might  draw  Canada  into  confrontations  which  might  otherwise  be  avoided. 
Something  also  had  to  be  done  about  policing  Canada's  fishing  grounds.  It  is  a 
moot  point  whether  it  was  German  hostility  in  war  or  the  American  threat  to 
the  fisheries  that  was  more  responsible  for  the  establishment  of  the  RCN.  Sir 
Wilfrid  Laurier's  Liberal  government  prevailed  and  the  RCN  was  born  on  10 
March  1910.  The  issue  of  a  tiny  local  navy — too  small  to  fight  and  big  enough 
to  get  into  trouble — was  so  contentious  that  the  1911  federal  election  was  fought 
partly  around  it.  The  Conservatives,  who  favoured  direct  financial  aid  to  Britain, 
won  the  election.  But  Robert  Borden's  government  could  not  bring  itself  either 
to  nurture  the  new  navy  or  abolish  it  entirely. 

The  RCN's  tenuous  existence  in  the  defence  firmament  lasted  for  the  next 
thirty  years.  The  First  World  War  did  nothing  to  salvage  it  from  obscurity.  The 
fleet  in  1914  consisted  of  two  aged  cruisers  acquired  for  training  purposes.  One 
of  these,  Rainbow,  was  at  sea  off  Vancouver  Island  when  war  was  declared.  Slow, 
tired,  under-gunned  and  equipped  only  with  sand-filled  training  rounds,  Rain- 
bow was  ordered  to  search  for  von  Spee's  powerful  East  Asiatic  squadron  of 
modern  cruisers  off  the  U.S.  coast.  Admonished  by  Ottawa  to  "Remember 
Nelson  and  the  British  Navy,"  she  got  by  all  accounts  to  within  fifty  miles  of  at 
least  one  German  ship  (Leipzig),  but  the  enemy  "escaped."  What  Edwardian 
writers  would  have  made  o£ Rainbow's  valiant  and  utterly  futile  end  at  the  hands 
of  such  powerful  ships  we  can  only  guess.  But  no  gallant  tradition  of  death  and 

For  a  discussion  of  this  issue  see,  Roger  Sarty,  "Canadian  Maritime  Defence,  1892—1914,"  Canadian 
Historical  Review,  vol.  LXXI,  December  1990,  pp.  48-73. 

The  debate  over  German  naval  armaments  and  the  need  to  assist  the  Mother  Country  is  the  traditional 
context  for  the  Canadian  naval  debate  of  1909-1910,  for  example  in  Gilbert  Tucker's  The  Naval  Service 
of  Canada,  volume  I  (Ottawa:  King's  Printer  1952).  The  problem  of  fisheries  protection — although  not 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  German  problem — has  been  the  focus  of  much  recent  debate,  as  in  Richard 
Gimblett's  '"Tin  Pots'  or  Dreadnoughts?:  The  Evolution  of  the  Naval  Policy  of  the  Laurier 
Administration,  1896—1910,"  unpublished  MA  thesis,  Trent  University,  1981.  And  then  there  is  the 
"Sarty  Thesis":  the  little  known,  but  sophisticated  and  sound,  view  that  the  development  of  a  small 
Canadian  navy  in  the  early  20th  century  was  crucial  to  the  perfection  of  Canada's  existing  system  of 
coast  defence  based  on  long  range  gunnery — what  might  be  called,  "the  Navy  as  an  outgrowth  of  coast 
artillery  theory"  of  the  origins  of  the  RCN.  See  Roger  Sarty,  "'There  will  be  trouble  in  the  North 
Pacific':  The  Defence  of  British  Columbia  in  the  early  Twentieth  Century."  B.C.  Studies,  61,  Spring, 
1984,  pp.  3-29. 
4     Tucker,  I,  pp.  261-79. 


Milner      81 

glory  befell  the  fledgling  service.  Instead,  Canada  poured  troops  onto  the  western 
front,  where  the  Canadian  Corps  earned  an  enviable  reputation  for  its  fighting 
effectiveness.  The  First  World  War  also  produced  a  number  of  internationally 
famous  Canadian  airmen,  with  the  likes  ofBishop,  Collishaw,  and  Barker  household 
names  within  Canada  and  throughout  the  Empire  by  1918.  Nothing  in  the  RCN's 
wartime  experience  compared;  most  of  it  was  a  dreary  war  of  patrols.  Even  the  U-boat 
operations  of  1918  off  the  east  coast  failed  to  feed  the  public  imagination  with  images 
of  Canadian  naval  heroes.  Quite  the  contrary,  newspapers  unfairly  maligned  the  RCN 
for  its  supposed  bungling  and  post-war  critics  accused  the  Navy  of  incompetence, 
"culpable  negligence"  and  worse. 

The  Navy  nearly  disappeared  in  the  inter-war  years  despite  some  attempts  to 
put  the  RCN  on  a  firmer  footing  after  the  war.  At  the  height  of  the  Depression, 
the  General  Staff,  dominated  by  the  Army  and  the  Air  Force,  voted  to  reduce 
the  RCN  to  care  and  maintenance  status;  ships  laid-up,  recruiting  and  training 
halted,  and  bases  all  but  closed.  Though  it  was  ultimately  saved,  the  RCN  never 
forgot  its  brush  with  extinction  and  came  to  see  that  its  principal  enemies  were 
perhaps  those  closest  to  home. 

As  another  major  war  loomed  on  the  horizon  in  the  late  1930s,  another  Liberal 
government,  this  time  under  W.L.M.  King,  saw  the  RCN  as  a  marvelous  vehicle 
for  contributing  to  imperial  security  without  sending  thousands  of  troops 
overseas  again.  Although  King  could  not  forestall  public  clamouring  for  another 
big  Canadian  army  on  the  western  front  once  the  war  got  underway,  he  did 
develop  a  very  large  navy  (and  a  large  air  force  as  well) .  The  Navy,  in  particular, 
suited  King's  desire  to  involve  Canadian  industry  in  war  production,  because 
many  of  the  basic  ships  needed  for  the  escort  fleet  could  be  built  in  Canada.  By 
1943  fully  half  of  the  Allied  escorts  in  the  main  theatre  of  the  Atlantic  war  were 
RCN,  and  by  the  end  of  the  Second  World  War  Canada — for  a  brief  moment — 
had  the  third  largest  navy  in  the  world. 

The  wartime  fleet  was  overwhelmingly  small-ship  and  reservist  in  flavour. 
The  ships  themselves  were  almost  all  war-built  for  basic  escort  roles  and  had 
little  long-term  value  to  the  post-war  Navy.  Their  crews  too  were  "hostilities 
only."  Only  5,000  of  the  Navy's  wartime  personnel  strength  of  nearly  100,000 
belonged  to  the  professional  naval  service.  Not  surprisingly,  the  tiny  fraternity 
of  professional  RCN  officers  used  the  war  to  secure  the  basic  elements  of  a 
balanced  post-war  Navy  and  kept  most  of  its  own  personnel  in  "proper" 
warships:  fleet  class  destroyers,  cruisers,  and  the  like.  This  dichotomy  of  wartime 
experience  between  the  reservists  in  small  ships  battling  U-boats  and  the  RCN 
waging  a  struggle  for  long-term  viability  coloured  not  only  the  conduct  of  the 
war  itself,  but  also  much  of  the  writing  that  followed. 

See  M.  Hardley  and  R.  Sarty,  Tin-Pots  and  Pirate  Ships  (Kingston/Montreal:  McGill-Queen's  Press, 
1991),  p.  301. 

See  for  example  W.A.B.  Douglas'  seminal  piece,  "Conflict  and  Innovation  in  the  Royal  Canadian 


82     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

The  expansion  of  the  RCN  during  the  Second  World  War  was  a  remarkable 
accomplishment — truly  staggering  by  Canadian  standards  and  a  significant  event 
in  naval  history  in  general.  For  the  RCN,  however,  it  was  a  precarious  victory, 
and  the  Navy's  fortunes  were  salvaged  only  by  the  advent  of  the  Cold  War. 
Under  King's  successor,  Louis  St.  Laurent,  post-war  Liberal  governments  built 
a  large  and  capable  navy  in  the  1950s.  To  a  considerable  extent  this  early  Cold 
War  fleet  was  simply  an  outgrowth  of  the  wartime  experience.  Moreover,  the 
wave  of  new  construction  and  modernization  of  reserve  vessels  that  followed 
the  Korean  War  was  part  of  a  general  military  expansion.  While  the  Navy  was 
large  and  modern  by  the  early  1960s,  in  terms  of  budgets  and  personnel  the  RCN 
remained  clearly  in  third  place  within  the  Canadian  defence  establishment.  Little 
new  was  added  after  the  early  Cold  War  building  boom,  and  by  the  1980s  the 
Navy  faced  block  obsolescence.  The  last  deep  freeze  in  the  Cold  War  produced 
orders  for  a  new  fleet  in  the  mid-1980s,  which  is  just  now  being  completed. 
None  of  the  new  ships  saw  service  in  the  Gulf  War,  where  the  Navy  fought 
largely  without  incident  and  without  loss.  It  is  too  early  to  tell  just  how  the  Navy 
will  fare  in  the  new  world  order. 

Several  key  points  affecting  the  development  of  Canadian  naval  historical 
writing  emerge  from  this  very  brief  survey.  The  first — and  most  obvious — is 
that  the  history  itself  is  only  some  eighty  years  old.  It  is  difficult,  although  by  no 
means  entirely  impossible,  to  push  the  antecedents  of  the  RCN  much  further 
back  than  1900.  Secondly,  much  of  that  history  is  uneventful.  Apart  from  the 
Second  World  War  and  the  early  years  of  the  Cold  War,  the  RCN  has  lived  a 
low-key,  often  marginal  existence.  The  third  point  is  that  since  the  Navy's 
founding  in  1910,  Canada  has  acted  within  the  confines  of  much  larger 
international  organizations,  initially  the  British  Empire  and  latterly  NATO  and 
the  UN.  This  has  left  little  scope  for  distinctly  Canadian  naval  operations  and 
none  whatever  for  distinctly  Canadian  wars.  Where  other  nations  might  well 
have  resorted  to  gunboat  diplomacy  abroad  to  secure  their  national  interests, 
Canada  has  been  able  to  rely  on  collective  action.  After  all,  who  was  Canada 
likely  to  fight — on  her  own — in  the  twentieth  century?  Canadian  naval  his- 
tory— as  presently  structured — is,  therefore,  drawn  from  a  very  narrow  base  in 
space  and  time.  Ironically,  the  only  uniquely  Canadian  naval  missions  in  defence 
of  Canadian  sovereignty  have  been  typically  directed  at  our  friends  in  peacetime. 
The  final  point  is  that  for  the  first  sixty  years  of  its  existence  the  RCN  defined 
itself  within  a  largely  British  context.  Until  1939  the  RCN  was  simply  a  flotilla 
of  the  Imperial  Navy;  training,  uniforms,  equipment,  ships,  tactics,  doctrine  were 
all  British,  and  Canadian  officers  appeared  on  a  combined  Empire  and  Com- 
monwealth seniority  list.  This  was  much  less  so  after  1945.  But  the  notion  of 

Navy  1919—1945,"  in  G.  Jordan,  ed.,  Naval  Warfare  in  the  Twentieth  Century:  Essays  in  Honour  of 
Arthur  Marder  (New  York:  Crane  Russack,  1977),  pp.  210—32,  for  a  discussion  of  the  tension  between 
fighting  the  war  against  the  Germans  and  the  battle  for  long-term  viability  at  home. 


Milner      83 

the  RCN  as  a  direct  descendant  of  Nelson's  Band  of  Brothers  survived  in  the 
RCN  until  the  full  effects  of  armed  forces  unification  were  felt  in  the  early  1970s, 
and  even  now  Nelson's  ghost  surfaces  on  occasion. 

It  is  important  to  understand,  therefore,  the  very  restricted  nature  of  the  Canadian 
naval  experience,  its  very  "British"  character,  and  the  importance  of  Canada's  powerful 
militia  tradition  when  assessing  the  development  of  Canadian  Navy  historiography. 

While  many  recent  works  on  the  origins  and  early  days  of  the  RCN  take  their 
accounts  back  into  the  latter  stages  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  colonial  period 
and  great  age  of  sail  have  not  been  embraced  as  part  of  Canadian  naval  heritage.  In 
part  this  is  because  the  Canadian  military  establishment  has  been  loath  to  adopt  any 
of  the  military  or  naval  traditions  of  the  French  era.  The  work  of  Guy  Freqault  on 
the  first  distinctly  Canadian  naval  hero,  Pierre  le  Moyne  d'Iberville,  and  Jacques 
Mathieu's  work  on  French  naval  building  in  Quebec  in  the  eighteenth  century 
remain  solidly  part  of  Canadian  colonial  history.  D'Iberville,  a  native  son  of  New 
France,  sailed  his  lone  ship  Pelican  into  Hudson's  Bay  in  1697  and  in  a  brilliant  action 
with  three  English  ships  sank  two  and  secured  command  of  the  area,  a  feat 

o 

unremembered  in  the  myths  and  culture  of  the  Canadian  navy.  In  fairness,  though, 
the  British  colonial  period  also  stands  outside  of  mainstream  Canadian  naval  history, 
despite  the  efforts  of  W.A.B.  Douglas,  Faye  Kert,  Richard  Wright,  and  others.  Even 
the  substantial  body  of  work  done  by  Barry  M.  Gough  on  naval  activity  in  British 
North  American  waters  during  the  nineteenth  century,  such  as  his  The  Royal  Navy 
and  the  Northwest  Coast  of  North  America,  1810-1914  (1971),  fall  into  imperial, 
colonial  or  maritime  history,  not  naval. 

The  failure  of  the  often  desperate  and  typically  disparate  naval  efforts  of  the 
colonists  of  New  France  and  British  North  America  to  find  resonance  within 
Canadian  naval  history  remains  enigmatic.  Among  academics  this  disconnection 
is  almost  certainly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  study  of  history  itself  is  subdivided 
into  fields  which  often  do  not  talk  to  one  another — like  military  and  colonial 
history.  But  the  Navy,  too,  cleaving  first  to  its  Royal  Navy  lineage  and  involved 
in  a  constant  battle  to  maintain  its  blue-water  capability,  finds  little  of  value  in 
these  puny  antecedents.  The  result  is  that  Canadian  naval  history  as  presently 

Guy  Fregault,  Pierre  le  Moyne  d'Iberville  (Montreal/Paris:  1968),  and  Jacques  Mathieu,  La  Construction 
Navale  Royale  a  Quebec,  1739-1759  (Quebec:  1971). 

A  replica  of  Pelican  was  launched  in  Montreal  in  1993. 

W.A.B.  Douglas,  "The  Anatomy  of  Naval  Incompetence:  The  Provincial  Marine  of  Upper  Canada 
before  1813,"  Ontario  History,  LXXXI,  1979,  pp.  3-26,  and  "Nova  Scotia  and  the  Royal  Navy, 
1715-1766,"  unpublished  Ph.D.  dissertation,  Queen's,  1973;  Faye  Kert,  "The  Fortunes  of  War: 
Privateering  in  Atlantic  Canada  in  the  War  of  1812,"  Unpublished  MA  Thesis,  Carleton  University, 
1986,  Richard  J.  Wright,  "Green  Flags  and  Red-Coated  Gunboats:  Naval  Activities  on  the  Great  Lakes 
during  the  Fenian  Scares,  1866-1870,"  Inland  Seas,  XXII,  no.  2,  Summer  1966,  pp.  91-110. 

Barry  M.  Gough,  77ie  Royal  Navy  and  the  Northwest  Coast  of  North  America,  1810-1914  (Vancouver: 
UBC,  1971)  and  Gunboat  Frontier:  British  Maritime  Authority  and  Northwest  Coast  Indians,  1846-90 
(Vancouver:  UBC,  1984). 


84     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

constituted  derives  none  of  its  traditions  from  the  age  of  sail — the  key  formative 
period  for  many  of  the  navies  of  the  world. 

Moreover,  nothing  occurred  in  RCN  history  prior  to  1939  to  save  it  from 
obscurity,  particularly  when  set  against  the  deeply  entrenched  national  militia 
tradition  and  the  tremendous  accomplishments  of  the  Canadian  Corps  in  the 
First  World  War.  Prior  to  1939  legitimacy  for  the  RCN  derived  from  its 
connection  with  the  RN.  But  set  against  the  RN  standard — the  only  measure 
suitable  among  Canadians  until  a  generation  ago — there  was  not  much  to  say  of 
Canada's  experiment  in  naval  power  before  the  Second  World  War. 

The  first  thirty  years  of  RCN  history  were  thus  seen  as  something  of  a 
wasteland;  little  but  policy  and  unfulfilled  dreams.  By  contrast,  the  scope  and 
scale  of  the  RCN's  Second  World  War  accomplishment  captured  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  first  generation  of  post- 1945  historians — and  with  good  reason.  The 
RCN  rose  from  utter  obscurity  to  a  global  standing  in  a  few  short  years.  And 
while  the  wartime  fleet  had  not  been  a  balanced  one  in  the  traditional  sense,  the 
acquisition  of  heavy  cruisers  and  light  fleet  carriers  at  the  very  end  of  the  war 
gave  promise  that  one  day  it  would  be.  Further,  Canada  had  demonstrated  her 
naval  potential  in  time  of  crisis,  and  the  myriad  of  small  ships  required  of  modern 
naval  warfare  gave  Canada  tremendous  leverage.  Not  surprisingly,  the  RCN's 
post-war  official  histories,  Gilbert  Tucker's  The  Naval  Service  of  Canada  (two 
volumes,  1952)  and,  more  especially,  Joseph  Schull's  The  Far  Distant  Ships  (1950, 
reprinted  in  1990),  were  celebrations  of  Canadian  accomplishment.  Tucker's 
first  volume  covered  naval  developments  up  to  1939  and  seemed  to  say  all  that 
was  needed  about  that  colourless  period.  His  second  volume,  on  naval  ad- 
ministration ashore  between  1939  and  1945,  chronicled  the  growth  of  the  RCN's 
institutions  as  they  coped  with  the  rapid  expansion  of  the  fleet.  Tucker  planned 
a  series  of  three  operational  volumes  on  the  war,  but  these  were  axed  by  the 
Naval  Staff  and  a  Minister  of  Defence,  who  were  not  interested  in  a  detailed 

1 9 

accounting  of  the  exploits  of  reservists  in  small,  hastily  built  escorts.  What  the 
Navy  wanted,  and  what  it  commissioned  Schull  to  write,  was  a  popular  history 
which  would  foster  support  for  post-war  naval  expansion  plans.  Schull's  delight- 
fully written  The  Far  Distant  Ships  was  therefore  long  on  colour  and  short  on 
analysis  or  context.  To  what  extent  it  helped  in  the  building  boom  of  the  RCN 
during  the  1950s  is  an  interesting — and  unexplored — historical  question. 

What  is  clearer  is  that  the  combination  of  Tucker  and  Schull — both  official 
histories — satisfied  the  need  for  information  on  the  wartime  RCN  for  a  genera- 

G.N.  Tucker,  The  Naval  Service  of  Canada:  Its  Official  History,  volume  I,  Origins  and  Early  Years  and 
volume  II,  Activities  on  Shore  during  the  Second  World  War  (Ottawa:  King's  Printer,  1952),  and  Joseph 
Schull,  The  Far  Distant  Ships:  An  Official  Account  of  Canadian  Naval  Operations  in  the  Second  World  War 
(Ottawa:  King's  Printer,  1950),  reprinted  by  Stoddart  of  Toronto  in  1990. 

See  C.P.  Stacey,  "The  Life  and  Hard  Times  of  an  Official  Historian,"  Canadian  Historical  Review, 
LI,  no.  1,  March  1970,  pp.  21-47. 


Milner     85 

tion.  Two  other  monographs  on  RCN  history  appeared  over  that  period,  Thor 
Thorgrimsson  and  E.G.  Russell's  Canadian  Naval  Operations  in  Korean  Waters, 
1950-1955  (1965),  and  J.D.F.  Kealy  and  E.C.  Russell's  A  History  of  Canadian 
Naval  Aviation  (1967).  These  too  were  official  histories,  and  it  is  possible  to  see 
them  both  as  celebrations  of  Canadian  naval  maturity  and  broadsides  in  the 
on-going  budgetary  battles  of  the  1960s.  Until  the  1980s  these  official  histories 
constituted  the  total  of  scholarly  monographs  on  RCN  history. 

The  lack  of  scholarly  monographs  on  the  Navy — or  even  wider  academic 
interest  in  the  RCN  by  non-government  historians  in  the  twenty-five  years 
following  the  war — is  hard  to  explain.  It  may  be  that  the  RCN's  wartime 
experience  failed  to  capture  anyone's  imagination.  Certainly  the  notion  of 
Canada  as  a  sea  power  was  a  new — and  perhaps  transitory — experience,  and  few 
Canadian  academics  were  interested  in  the  subject.  Gerald  Graham,  a  Canadian 
who  became  a  distinguished  historian  of  imperial  Britain,  had  served  briefly  as 
an  official  historian  during  the  war,  but  he  preferred  to  concentrate  on  the 
intellectually  more  rewarding  delights  of  the  British  Empire.  So,  too,  did  Donald 
Schurman.  A  veteran  of  the  RCAF,  Schurman  was  drawn  to  naval  history 
through  an  interest  in  the  intellectual  roots  of  twentieth-century  British  maritime 
strategy.  Both  of  these  men,  Graham  and,  perhaps  more  so  Schurman  (whose 
career  has  been  spent  at  the  Royal  Military  College  of  Canada  and  Queen's 
University,  both  in  Kingston),  profoundly  influenced  the  way  in  which  aspiring 
Canadian  academic  naval  historians  viewed  their  field.  Both  foreswore  the 
particular  in  favour  of  breadth  and  depth,  emphasising  the  larger  context  of  naval 
history.  It  seems  fair  to  say  that  the  very  recent  nature  of  Canada's  expression  of 
sea  power  and  Tucker  and  Schull's  emphasis  on  the  uniqueness  of  the  Canadian 
experience  failed  to  stir  them.  Moreover,  while  the  Army's  historical  section 
under  C.P.  Stacey  nurtured  a  coterie  of  young  historians  who  went  on  to 
academic  posts — Reg  Roy,  George  Stanley,  Jack  Hyatt,  Don  Goodspeed  to 
name  a  few — the  collapse  of  Tucker's  project  in  the  late  1940s  left  Canadian 
naval  history  in  the  hands  of  a  few  devoted  amateurs  in  the  naval  historical 
section.      In  the  end,  however,  perhaps  the  most  compelling  reason  for  the 

Thor  Thorgrimsson  and  E.C.  Russell,  Canadian  Naval  Operations  in  Korean  Waters,  1950-1955 
(Ottawa:  Queen's  Printer,  1965)  and  J.D.F.  Kealy  and  E.C.  Russell,  A  History  of  Canadian  Naval  Aviation, 
1918-1962,  (Ottawa:  Queen's  Printer,  1965) 

Schurman's  influence  has  been  unquestionable;  among  his  former  pupils  was  the  late  Barry  Hunt, 
who  taught  naval  history  at  RJV1C  for  twenty  years  and  Schurman's  friend  and  former  colleague  at  RMC 
W.A.B.  Douglas,  has  for  the  last  twenty  years  been  writing  the  official  history  of  the  Canadian  Armed 
Forces.  Gerald  Graham's  influence  has  been  perhaps  less  direct,  but  no  less  profound.  Much  of  recent 
academic  activity  on  the  RCN  has  been  at  the  University  of  New  Brunswick,  where  one  of  Gerald  Graham's 
former  students,  Dominck  S.  Graham,  ran  the  military  history  program  until  1986.  Milner  and  Zimmerman 
were  products  of  that  program,  which  Milner  now  runs.  The  latest  UNB  naval  historian,  Michael 
Hennessey,  has  taken  the  late  Barry  Hunt's  position  in  the  History  Department  at  PJV1C. 

J. M.S.  Careless  left  the  naval  historical  section  to  pursue  a  career  in  Canadian  history  at  Toronto. 


86     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

dearth  of  published  material  on  the  RCN  in  the  generation  after  1945  is  that  the 
files  were  still  closed  to  everyone  except  the  official  historians. 

It  was  possible,  therefore,  until  1970,  to  count  the  number  of  monographs 
on  RCN  history  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand- — and  all  of  them  were  government 
publications.  There  were  a  few  memoirs  of  note,  a  few  articles,  some  passages 
on  the  RCN  in  Don  Goodspeed's  The  Armed  Forces  of  Canada,  1867—1967 
(1967),  and  some  wartime  public  relations  publications.  But  apart  from  the 
official  histories,  the  only  thing  that  passed  for  serious  scholarship  on  the  RCN 
were  the  sections  in  James  Eayrs'  first  two  volumes  of  In  Defence  of  Canada  (1964 
and  1965).17 

Several  things  conspired  to  alter  this  complacency  during  the  1970s.  Perhaps 
the  most  important  was  that  sometime  between  1 960  and  1 980  Canada  cast  off 
its  colonial  mentality  and  Canadians  started  measuring  the  RCN  in  its  own  right, 
as  the  service  of  an  independent,  sovereign  state.  This  was  facilitated  by  armed 
forces  unification,  announced  in  1964  and  put  into  effect  on  1  January  1968. 
With  that  the  Royal  Canadian  Navy  ceased  to  exist,  becoming  "Maritime 
Command"  of  the  new  Canadian  Armed  Forces  and  adopting  the  new  standard 
green  uniform  of  the  combined  forces.  Unification  shook  the  navy  to  its  very 
core,  forced  a  process  of  redefinition,  and  forced  the  retirement  of  many  of  the 
last  wartime  veterans  who  either  did  not  or  could  not  accept  Canadianization 
of  the  Navy.  The  Navy,  which  had  seen  itself  in  1960  as  more  Royal  than 
Canadian,  was  by  1980  distinctly  Canadian  in  outlook — right  down  to  its  green 
uniforms  and  the  replacement  of  Trafalgar  Day  in  favour  of  Battle  of  the  Atlantic 
Sunday  as  the  feast  day  of  the  Canadian  fleet.  The  Navy  has  since  gone  back 
into  distinctive  naval  uniforms,  derived — appropriately  enough  given  its  new 
"imperial"  orientation — largely  from  those  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Con- 
current with  this  altered  state  within  the  Navy  and  the  nation  was  the  opening 
of  wartime  archive  material  which  allowed  non-official  historians  a  more  critical 
look  at  the  Navy's  most  significant  experience — the  Second  World  War. 

The  need  to  look  more  closely  at  the  RCN's  Second  World  War  ex- 
perience— and  the  inadequacies  of  Tucker  and  Schull  on  the  subject — had  been 
evident  for  some  time.  The  only  critical  assessment  of  the  RCN's  contribution 
to  the  actual  fighting  to  appear  in  the  generation  after  1945  came  from  the  pen 

16  See  Alan  Eastern's  superb  wartime  memoir  50  North  (Toronto:  Ryerson,  1963),  William  Sclater's 
excellent  Haida  (Toronto:  Oxford  UP,  1946),  and  W.H.  Pugsley's  two  volumes  on  the  lower  deck, 
Saints  Devils  and  Ordinary  Seaman  (Toronto:  Collins,  1945)  and  Sailor  Remember  (Toronto:  Collins,  1948). 

James  Eayrs,  In  Defence  of  Canada:  From  the  Great  War  to  the  Great  Depression  (Toronto:  Univ.  of 
Toronto,  1964)  and  In  Defence  of  Canada:  Appeasement  and  Rearmament  (Toronto:  Univ.  of  Toronto, 
1965). 

Much  of  the  old  RN  tradition  still  survives,  however,  as  evidenced  by  the  practices  outlined  in 
Lt.(N)  Graeme  Arbuckle's  Customs  and  Traditions  of  the  Canadian  Navy  (Halifax:  Nimbus  Publishing 
Ltd.,  1984).  Indeed,  one  is  hard-pressed  to  find  anything  distinctly  Canadian  in  the  customs  and  traditions 
which  Arbuckle  describes. 


Milner     87 

of  Captain  Donald  Macintyre,  RN.  One  of  the  war's  best  escort  commanders 
and  a  naval  historian  of  note,  Macintyre  savagely  attacked  the  RCN's  wartime 
operational  efficiency  in  his  memoir  U-Boat  Killer  (1956).  Macintyre  charged 
the  RCN  with  bungling  incompetence,  described  its  fleet  as  "travesties  of 
warships"  and  accused  the  Canadian  naval  staff  as  bent  on  nothing  more  than 
placing  the  maximum  number  of  RCN  ships  on  operational  plots. 

The  issue  of  the  fleet's  efficiency  was  addressed  briefly  in  C.P.  Stacey's  official 
volume  on  Canadian  defence  policy  during  the  war,  Arms,  Men  and  Governments 
(1 970) .  However,  by  the  1 970s  the  conventional  wisdom  on  the  wartime  RCN 
was  a  blend  of  both  the  Canadian  and  Macintyre  themes;  the  Navy  had  been 
big,  but  probably  misguided.  The  difficulties  of  such  a  limited  Canadian  literature 
and  its  concentration  on  the  peculiarly  Canadian  exploits  of  the  war  years  were 
demonstrated  in  1979  with  the  publication  of  John  Swettenham's  Canada's 
Atlantic  War.  Swettenham,  one  of  Canada's  best  known  military  historians, 
produced  a  very  conventional  account  of  the  war  at  sea  into  which  he 
attempted — without  much  luck — to  integrate  the  Canadian  story.  What  he 
achieved  in  the  end  was  the  standard  British  interpretation  of  events,  punctuated 
by  Canadian  incidents.  In  that  sense,  Canada's  Atlantic  War  accurately  reflects 
the  state  of  the  art — at  least  with  respect  to  Second  World  War  history — at  the 
end  of  the  1970s.  It  was  hardly  Swettenham's  fault. 

By  the  1970s,  however,  Canadians  were  beginning  to  awaken  to  their  naval 
history  largely,  although  by  no  means  exclusively,  through  the  experience  of  the 
Second  World  War.  Several  major  research  projects  were  underway  and  the 
voice  of  veterans  began  to  be  heard  in  the  first  of  what  has  become  a  fairly  steady 
stream  of  memoirs  and  nostalgia.  In  1972  the  first  postwar  graduate  master's 
thesis  in  RCN  history  was  completed,  and  another  followed  by  the  end  of  the 
decade.  By  the  end  of  the  1970s  two  doctoral  dissertations  were  underway, 
and  the  appearance  of  two  new  wartime  naval  memoirs,  James  Lamb's  The 
Corvette  Navy  (1977)  and  Hal  Lawrence's  A  Bloody  War  (1979)  marked  the 
beginning  of  a  series  of  books  by  these  two  writers  and  the  commencement  of 
a  significant  memoir  phase  in  the  field.      The  decade  also  brought  the  first 

Captain  Donald  Macintyre,  U-Boat  Killer  (London:  Weidenfeld  and  Nicholson,  1956). 

C.P.  Stacey,  Arms,  Men  and  Governments:  The  War  Policies  of  Canada,  1939-1945  (Ottawa: 
Department  of  National  Defence,  1970). 

21  W.G.  Lund,  "Command  Relationships  in  the  North  West  Atlantic,  1939-1943,"  unpublished  MA 
thesis,  Queen's  University  1972  and  M.  Milner  "Canadian  Escorts  and  the  Mid  Atlantic,  1942-1943," 
unpublished  M.A.  thesis,  University  of  New  Brunswick,  1979.  See  W.A.B.  Douglas,  "Canadian  Naval 
Historiography,"  Mariner's  Mirror,  70,  no.  4,  November  1984,  pp.  349-62,  for  a  list  of  other  theses  and 
dissertations  in  related  fields,  such  as  imperial  maritime  history. 

22  Marc  Milner,  "No  Higher  Purpose:  The  Royal  Canadian  Navy  's  Mid-Atlantic  War,  1939-1943," 
University  of  New  Brunswick,  1983  (and  published  by  University  of  Toronto  Press  in  1985  as  North 
Atlantic  Run)  and  Thomas  Richard  Melville,  "Canada  and  Sea  Power:  Canadian  Naval  Thought  and 
Policy,  1860-1910,"  unpublished  Ph.D.,  Duke  University,  1981. 

James  B.  Lamb,  The  Corvette  Navy:  True  Stories  from  Canada's  Atlantic  War  (Toronto:  Macmillan,  1977)  and 


88     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

serious,  scholarly  questioning  of  the  Navy's  wartime  policy  in  the  form  of  W.A.B. 
Douglas'  seminal  article  in  Arthur  Marder's  festschrift. 

If  the  1970s  was  the  decade  of  gestation,  the  birth  of  modern  Canadian  naval 
historical  writing  (it  cannot  truly  be  called  a  renaissance)  dates  from  a  historical 
conference  convened  in  1980  at  Royal  Roads  Military  College,  Victoria  BC.  The 
conference  was  the  work  of  Dr.  Jim  Boutilier,  a  member  of  the  RRMC  Department 
of  History  and  Political  Economy.  Boutilier  was  spurred  by  what  he  saw  as  the 
astonishing  failure  of  both  historians  and  naval  personnel  to  analyze  RCN  history. 
His  solution  was  to  get  the  Navy  and  a  few  scholars  together  to  think  and  write 
about  the  subject  for  a  conference  convened  in  March  1980,  the  first  on  RCN 
history.  It  brought  together  many — if  not  most — of  the  surviving  senior  officers  of 
the  RCN,  who  dominated  the  program.  Of  the  nineteen  speakers  during  the  three 
day  conference,  eleven  were  "Old  Salts"  speaking  largely  within  their  own  sphere 
of  expertise.  Among  the  more  innovative  elements  of  Boutilier's  conference  were 
papers  on  RCN  history  prior  to  1939,  especially  its  origins.  Significantly,  no  paper 
dealt  with  operations  in  the  First  World  War. 

"The  RCN  in  Retrospect"  Conference  was  not  an  academic  tour  de  force, 
but  it  met  Boutilier's  expectations;  the  Navy  awoke  to  its  history.  The 
publication  of  the  conference  proceedings  in  1982  marked  a  watershed  in  RCN 
historiography.  When  Alec  Douglas  produced  his  review  of  Canadian  naval 
history  for  the  Mariner's  Mirror  in  1984,  he  could  count  the  five  volumes  of  official 
history,  the  proceedings  of  Boutilier's  conference,  a  few  more  memoirs  (includ- 
ing the  first  of  a  series  of  collective  reminiscences  published  as  Salty  Dips  by  the 
Naval  Officers  Association  of  Canada  (Ottawa  Branch)),  "a  half  dozen  theses," 
a  number  of  scholarly  articles,  and  the  first  volume  of  Jeff  Brock's  two-volume 
memoir,  The  Dark  Broad  Seas  (1981)  and  The  Thunder  and  the  Sunshine  (1983), 
the  only  memoir  of  any  substance — however  fanciful — by  a  senior  RCN 
officer.  Douglas  tactfully  omitted  reference  to  another  memoir  and  the  only 
biography  ever  written  on  a  Canadian  naval  officer.  H.N.  Lay's  Memoirs  of  a 
Mariner  (1982)  had  potential  to  make  a  major  contribution  to  the  field,  but  spoke 
more  to  his  family  than  to  those  interested  in  the  Navy.  J.M.  Cameron's  Murray: 
The  Martyred  Admiral  (1980),  was  a  seriously  flawed  attempt  to  vindicate  the 
career  of  the  RCN's  most  famous  operational  commander,  R.Adm.  L.W. 

Hal  Lawrence,  A  Bloody  War:  One  Man's  Memories  of  the  Canadian  Navy  1939-45  (Toronto:  Macmillan, 
1979). 

For  a  full  reference  see  footnote  6. 

The  conference  proceedings  were  published  as  The  RCN  in  Retrospect  (Vancouver:  Univ.  of  British 
Columbia  Press,  1982).  The  table  of  contents  is  unaltered  from  the  list  of  speakers. 

The  model  was  used  later  by  Commander  James  Goldrick,  RAN,  to  spur  interest  in  Australian  naval 
history.  The  proceedings  were  published  as  Reflections  on  the  Royal  Australian  Navy,  T.R.  Frame,  J.V.P. 
Goldrick  and  P.D.Jones,  eds.  (Kenthurst,  NSW:  Kangaroo  Press,  1990). 

As  discussed  in  W.A.B.  Douglas,  "The  prospects  for  Naval  History,"  The  Northern  Mariner,  vol.  1, 
no.  4,  October,  1991,  p.  19. 


Milner      89 

Murray,  who  moved  to  England  in  1945  after  rioting  servicemen  destroyed 
much  of  downtown  Halifax.  Cameron's  hagiographic  account  of  Murray's  life 
is  notable  only  because  it  remains  the  only  biography  ever  published  on  a 
Canadian  naval  figure.  Douglas'  1984  listing  also  neglected  two  substantial 
recent  books  on  RCN  history,  Fraser  Mckee's  The  Armed  Yachts  of  Canada  and 
Macpherson  and  Burgess'  Ships  of  Canada's  Naval  Forces,  1910-1980. 

Alec  Douglas  gave  this  burgeoning  field  a  push  in  1985  with  his  own 
conference  commemorating  the  75th  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  RCN. 
He  filled  the  program  with  a  largely  academic  crowd.  Among  their  contributions 
were  the  first  serious  scholarship  on  the  First  World  War  since  Tucker's  Volume 
One  and  the  first  serious  academic  work  on  the  post- 1945  period  to  emerge 
since  Eayrs'  earlier  material  in  the  1960s. 

The  proceedings  of  "The  RCN  in  Transition"  Conference  were  published 

in 

in  1988,  when  the  stream  of  publications  in  Canadian  naval  history  had — to 
use  Douglas'  words — "turned  into  a  torrent."  By  1991  Douglas  was  able  to  list 
as  many  substantial  publications  in  the  seven  short  years  since  his  Mariner's  Mirror 
article  appeared  as  had  been  published  in  the  previous  74  years  of  RCN  history 
combined.  The  first  scholarly  monographs  on  Canadian  naval  history  by 
academic  historians  were  published  in  1985,  both  dealing  with  the  Second 
World  War:  Michael  Hadley's  U-Boats  Against  Canada  and  Marc  Milner's  North 
Atlantic  Run  (the  latter  was  one  of  the  two  Ph.D.  dissertations  completed  on 
RCN  history  up  to  that  point).  David  Zimmerman's  The  Great  Naval  Battle  of 
Ottawa  (1989)  had  also  begun  as  a  Ph.D.  dissertation  (the  third  in  RCN  history) 
at  the  University  of  New  Brunswick.  Amid  this  torrent  of  new  publications 
were  more  memoirs  and  David  Perkins'  monograph  on  Canadian  submariners 
in  the  First  World  War,  Alan  Snowie's  history  of  the  carrier  Bonaventure,  and 
some  popular  and  privately  published  histories  of  individual  ships  and  ship 
types.      Indeed,  there  was  enough  scholarship  available  by  the  late  1980s  to 

28  Rear-Admiral  H.  Nelson  Lay,  OBE,  CD,  RCN  (Retd),  Memoirs  of  a  Mariner  (Stittsville,  Ontario:  Canada's 
Wings,  1982)  and  James  M.  Cameron,  Murray:  The  Martyred  Admiral  (Hantsport,  NS:  Lancelot  press,  1980). 

Fraser  McKee  The  Armed  Yachts  of  Canada  (Erin,  Ontario:  Boston  Mills,  1983),  and  Ken  Macpherson 
and  John  Burgess  The  Ships  of  Canada's  Naval  Forces,  1910-1981  (Toronto:  Collins,  1981). 

30  W.A.B.  Douglas,  ed.,  The  RCN  in  Transition  (Vancouver:  University  of  British  Columbia,  1988). 

31  See  Douglas,  "The  Prospects  for  Naval  History,"  The  Northern  Mariner,  vol.  1,  no.  4,  October  1991. 
Michael    L.    Hadley,    U-Boats   Against    Canada:    German    Submarines    in    Canadian    Waters 

(Montreal/Kingston:  McGill-Queen's,  1985),  Marc  Milner,  North  Atlantic  Run:  The  Royal  Canadian 
Navy  and  the  Battle  for  the  Convoys  (Toronto:  Univ.  of  Toronto  Press,  1985),  and  David  Zimmerman, 
The  Great  Naval  Battle  of  Ottawa  (Toronto:  Univ.  of  Toronto  Press,  1989). 

33  Gordon  W.  Stead,  A  leaf  Upon  the  Sea:  A  Small  Ship  in  the  Mediterranean  (Vancouver:  UBC,  1988), 
James  B.  Lamb,  On  The  Triangle  Run  (Toronto:  Macmillan,  1989),  Hal  Lawrence's  Tales  of  the  North 
Atlantic  (Toronto:  McClelland  and  Stewart,  1989)  and  Victory  at  Sea  (Toronto:  McClelland  and  Stewart, 
1990),  Salty  Dips  volumes  I  and  II,  Anthony  Law,  White  Plumes  Astern  (Halifax,  NS:  Nimbus  Publishing, 
1989)  and  Frank  Curry,  The  War  at  Sea  (Toronto:  Lugus,  1991). 

34  David  Perkins,  Canada's  Submariners,  1914-1923  (Erin,  Ontario:  The  Boston  Mills  Press,  1989), 


90     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

permit  the  writing  and  publication  of  Tony  German's  The  Sea  Is  at  Our 
Gates,  the  first  popularly  written  comprehensive  one-volume  history  of 
the  RCN.35 

The  'eighties,  then,  mark  a  major  watershed  in  the  historiography  of 
the  RCN.  Since  then  the  pace  has  not  slackened.  There  is  no  space  here 
to  list  all  of  the  new  work,  but  some  key  works  warrant  mention.  In  1991 
the  first  scholarly  monograph  on  pre-1939  RCN  history  appeared:  Tin- 
Pots  &  Pirate  Ships:  Canadian  Naval  Forces  &  German  Sea  Raiders  1880— 
1918,  by  Michael  Hadley  and  Roger  Sarty.  The  heavy  emphasis  on  the 
Second  World  War  has  continued  apace,  and  many  new,  young  scholars 
are  entering  the  field.  In  recent  years  substantial  scholarly  articles  on  the 
RCN  have  appeared  in  The  Mariner's  Mirror,  The  Northern  Mariner,  The 
Canadian  Historical  Review,  The  Canadian  Defence  Quarterly,  Military  Af- 
fairs, Canadian  Military  History,  The  Naval  War  College  Review,  and  The 
RUSI  Journal.  Many  of  these  new  historians  are  working  on  the  Cold  War 
era,  for  which  the  documents  are  becoming  available.  Others  are 
pushing  their  research  back  into  the  pre-1939  period,  and  volume  I  of 
the  forthcoming  new  official  history  of  the  RCN  will  go  a  long  way  to 
filling  that  crucial  gap.  Work  is  underway  at  the  University  of  Victoria 
on  the  social  history  of  the  pre-1939  Navy  and  an  official  account  of  the 
Gulf  War  is  forthcoming  from  the  Department  of  National  Defence. 

Alan  Snowie,  The  "Bonnie"  (Erin,  Ontario:  the  Boston  Mills  Press,  1987)  and,  for  example,  Tom 
Blakely's  privately  published  Corvette  Cobourg:  The  Role  of  a  Canadian  Warship  in  the  Longest  Sea  Battle 
in  History  (Cobourg,  Ontario:  Royal  Canadian  Legion  Branch  No.  133,  nd),  and  Ken  Macpherson's 
River  Class  Destroyers  of  the  Royal  Canadian  Navy  (Toronto:  Charles  Musson,  1985),  and  Frigates  of  the 
Royal  Canadian  Navy  (St.  Catharines,  Ontario:  Vanwell,  1989). 

Commander  Tony  German,  The  Sea  is  at  Our  Gates:  The  History  of  the  Canadian  Navy  (Toronto: 
McClelland  and  Stewart,  1990).  German's  book  was  accompanied  by  a  video  tape  as  part  of  the  attempt 
to  popularize  the  Navy's  history  among  a  younger  generation.  See  also  Jack  Macbeth's  Ready,  Aye, 
Ready:  An  Illustrated  History  of  the  Royal  Canadian  Navy  (Toronto:  Key  Porter  Books,  nd). 

Published  by  McGill-Queen's  Univ.  Press  of  Montreal  and  Kingston. 

See  for  example  Peter  T.  Hay  don's,  The  1962  Cuban  Missile  Crisis:  Canadian  Involvement  Reconsidered 
(The  Canadian  Institute  of  Strategic  Studies,  1993),  which  contains  new  information  on  the  RCN's 
role,  as  does  his  chapter,  "The  RCN  and  the  Cuban  Missile  Crisis,"  in  M.  Milner,  ed.,  Canadian  Military 
History  (Copp  Clark  Pitman,  1993),  pp.  349-67. 

See  BJ.C.  McKercher,  "Between  Two  Giants:  Canada,  the  Coolidge  Conference  and  Anglo-American 
Relations,  1927,"  in  Anglo-American  Relations  in  the  1920s,  BJ.C  McKercher,  ed.,  (Edmonton:  Univ.  of 
Alberta  Press,  1990),  pp.  81-124,  Michael  J.  Whitby,  "In  Defence  of  Home  Waters:  Doctrine  and  Training 
in  the  Canadian  Navy  during  the  1930s,"  Mariner's  Mirror,  May  1991,  pp.  167—77,  and  a  series  of  works  by 
Roger  Sarty;  "The  Naval  Side  of  Canadian  Sovereignty,  1909—1923,"  The  Niobe  Papers,  volume  rV,  F.W. 
Crickhard  and  K.  Orr,  eds.  (Halifax,  NS:  Nautical  Publishing,  1993):  "The  Origins  of  Canada's  Second 
World  War  Maritime  Forces,  1918-1940,  papers  of  the  1990  Society  for  Military  History  AGM 
(forthcoming),  '"Entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  friendly  neighbour':  The  Canadian  Armed  Forces  and  the 
Defence  of  the  Pacific  Coast  1909-1937,"  in  D.  Zimmerman,  ed.,  Redirection:  Defending  Canada,  the  Pacific 
Perspective  (forthcoming),  and  "Mr.  King  and  the  Armed  Forces,  1939,"  paper  to  the  Canadian  Committee 
for  the  History  of  the  Second  World  War,  Elora,  Ontario  1989.  Sarty  is  also  the  principal  author  of  the 
pre-1939  volume  of  the  new  official  history  of  the  RCN. 


Milner      91 

Ships,  too,  remain  a  source  of  interest,  especially  Second  World  War  escort 
vessels  and  two  major  books  on  Canadian  corvettes  appeared  in  1 993.  If  there 
is  a  major  gap  in  the  current  state  of  Canadian  naval  historiography,  it  would 
be  on  the  role  of  individuals.  At  present  only  one  biography,  that  of  Engineer 
Rear  Admiral  G.L.  Stephens,  is  in  the  wind,  as  are  a  couple  of  memoirs  by  retired 
senior  officers. 

A  complex  and  comprehensive  Canadian  naval  historiography  is,  therefore, 
a  very  recent  phenomena.  Probably  for  that  reason  there  is  little  evidence  that 
Canadian  naval  history  is  yet  widely  seen  as  a  viable  field  of  instruction  for 
academic  credit  in  Canada.  Military  history,  of  which  naval  history  in  Canada 
is  a  part,  is  offered  as  a  bona  fide  academic  subject  at  only  a  few  Canadian 
universities  and  within  the  three  military  colleges.  The  emphasis  in  such  courses 
is  usually  on  Canada's  military  past  or  on  the  broader  international  military 
experience,  approaches  which  are  strongly  biased  towards  land  warfare.  Few  of 
those  who  teach  military  history  in  Canada  have  either  the  expertise  or  the 
interest  to  separate  Canadian  naval  history  from  the  general  pattern  of  the 
nation's  military  history.  In  that  sense,  the  Canadian  Navy's  experience  remains 
an  aberration  even  in  Canadian  military  history  courses;  an  obligatory  reference 
in  an  otherwise  traditional  survey  of  Canada's  long  and  colourful  army  heritage. 

Those,  like  this  writer,  who  teach  both  Canadian  military  history  and  courses 
in  the  history  of  sea  power,  also  invariably  set  the  Canadian  naval  story  in  a  much 
wider  context.  It  forms  a  piece,  sometimes  bigger,  usually  quite  small,  of  a  much 
larger  tapestry.  Perhaps  surprisingly,  Canadian  naval  historians  accept  such  an 
approach  as  a  given.  They  do  not  see  an  independent  existence  for  the  RCN 
outside  of  the  large  context  of  either  the  empire  or  the  collective  security 
organizations  joined  since  1945.  In  that  sense,  Canadian  naval  history  is  always 
subordinated  to  another  mainstream  military  or  naval  (sea  power)  field.  In  only 
one  instance — from  what  could  be  determined — has  the  focus  been  reversed 
and  a  Canadian  naval  history  course  been  given  for  academic  credit.  In  1991, 
Michael  Hadley,  of  the  Germanic  Studies  Department  at  the  University  of 
Victoria,  gave  a  one-time  term-length  honours  seminar  on  naval  history  funded 
by  the  university's  Military  and  Strategic  Studies  Program.  Hadley  was  given  the 
liberty  by  the  Department  of  History  to  do  whatever  he  wished  in  a  seminar  on 
sea  power,  so  he  turned  it  into  a  case  study  using  the  RCN  as  the  model.  The 
course,  "The  Canadian  Navy  and  the  Major  Powers,"  has  since  became  a  regular 
undergraduate  offering.     Apropos  of  the  comments  made  earlier  here,  there  is 

John  Harland  and  John  Mackay's  The  Flower  Class  Corvette  Agassiz  (Anatomy  of  the  Ships  Series) 
(London:  Conway,  1993)  and  Ken  Macpherson  and  Marc  Milner's  Corvettes  of  the  Royal  Canadian  Navy 
(St.  Catharines,  Ontario:  Vanwell,  1993). 

Information  courtesy  of  Michael  Hadley,  who,  in  addition  to  being  an  accomplished  historian  in 
his  own  right,  is  also  a  retired  naval  reserve  captain. 


92     The  Historiography  of  the  Canadian  Navy 

no  indication  that  Canadian  naval  history  is  ever  taught  within  the  context  of 
Canadian  maritime  history. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  Hadley's  course  itself  is  an  aberration  or  a 
reflection  of  the  maturity  of  Canadian  naval  historical  writing.  In  1980  it  was 
possible  to  conduct  a  couple  of  individual  seminars  on  aspects  of  Canadian  naval 
history,  especially  its  origins  and  the  controversy  over  fleet  efficiency,  as  part  of 
a  course  on  naval  or  Canadian  military  history.  But  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  do  more.  Hadley  demonstrated  that  by  1990  it  was  possible  to  mount  at  least 
a  term  length  course  for  academic  credit  on  Canadian  naval  history.  It  is  ironic, 
and  indicative  of  the  strong  contextual  bias  evident  among  naval  historians  (writ 
large)  within  Canada,  that  many  of  them  consulted  for  this  paper  could  still  not 
see  the  merit  in  offering  a  course  in  Canadian  naval  history.  Maybe  they  are 
right,  since  much  remains  to  be  done.  Important  new  scholarship  on  the  early 
Cold  War  will  emerge  within  the  next  few  years  with  Ph.D.  theses  from  Mike 
Hennessey  and  Shawn  Cafferky.  Hennessey's  work,  in  particular,  draws  together 
many  of  the  elements  of  national  naval  and  maritime  policy  and  will  help  bridge 
that  gap  between  naval  history  proper  and  the  wider  fields  of  which  it  is  a  part. 
There  are  now  a  number  of  substantive  articles  available  on  the  inter- war  years 
and  a  new  and  thorough  volume  of  official  history  in  the  wings.  Hadley  and 
Sarty's  Tin-Pots  and  Pirate  Ships  seems  to  have  satisfied  interest  in  the  First  World 
War  for  the  time  being.  However,  despite  their  efforts  a  comprehensive 
monograph  on  the  Navy  prior  to  1914  is  still  needed.  So  too  is  some  way  of 
bridging  the  gap  between  the  events  of  the  twentieth  century  and  all  that  went 
before.  Perhaps  when  the  Navy  finds  its  roots  in  the  age  of  sail  and  in  the  larger 
context  of  Canadian  history,  Canadian  naval  history  will  truly  have  come  of  age. 


See  for  example  his,  "Canada,  The  Navy  and  the  Shipbuilding  Industry:  Plus  ca  Change?"  in  Michael 
A.  Hennessey  and  Kenrick  G.  Hancox,  eds.,  Canada,  the  Navy  and  Industry  (Toronto:  Canadian  Institute 
for  Strategic  Studies,  March  1992);  "The  State  as  Innovator:  Controlling  Command  Technology  for 
Warship  Production  in  Canada,  1949—1965,"  in  Peter  A.  Baskerville,  ed.,  Canadian  Papers  in  Business 
History,  vol.  II  (Victoria,  BC:  Public  History  Group,  University  of  Victoria,  1993);  and  "Post-War 
Ocean  Shipping  and  Shipbuilding  Policy  in  Canada:  An  Agenda  for  Research,"  The  Northern  Mariner, 
vol  l,no.  3,  July  1991. 


Chile 


Captain  Carlos  Tromben,  Chilean  Navy 


Chile's  naval  and  maritime  history  can  be  traced  in  a  vast  bibliography  whose 
main  titles  are  included  in  this  paper.  This  history  is  the  result  of  the  work 
of  Chilean  and  foreign  researchers  and  authors,  who  through  the  years  have 
shown  their  interest  in  describing,  documenting,  and  analyzing  the  facts  and 
ideas  related  to  these  topics. 

The  period  before  Ferdinand  Magellan  discovered  Chile's  southern  tip  in 
1520  and  Diego  de  Almagro  explored  the  central  zone  in  1536,  has  not  been 
the  subject  of  in-depth  studies,  probably  because  the  major  source  materials  are 
in  Spanish  archives.  The  aboriginal  civilizations  were  less  developed,  if  compared 
with  the  degree  reached  by  the  people  of  what  is  today  Peru,  Mexico,  and 
Central  America.  In  spite  of  this,  Chile's  native  inhabitants  were  skilled  coastal 
navigators,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  obtained  an  important  part  of  their  food 
from  the  sea. 

Likewise,  Hispanic  presence  in  Chile  is  a  subject  that  has  not  been  thoroughly 
investigated.  Only  recently,  with  Spanish  support  in  connection  with  the 
celebration  of  the  quincentenary  of  Columbus's  arrival  in  America,  one  of  the 
interesting  aspects  of  this  period,  the  Hispanic  forts  at  Valdivia  and  Corral,  are 
being  studied  and  restored.  For  Chilean  scholars,  the  major  problem  is  that  most 
of  the  related  documentation  is  in  Europe. 

The  war  for  independence,  which  took  place  intermittently  between  1811 
and  1826,  was  full  of  naval  events.  These  naval  events  were  at  the  forefront  of 

Histories  that  include  general  aspects  of  Chilean  maritime  affairs  are: 

Francisco  Antonio  Encina,  Historia  de  Chile  desde  la  prehistoria  hasta  1891  (Santiago:  Nascimento, 
1940-1952);  Jaime  Eyzaguirre,  Historia  de  Chile  (Santiago,  1965);  Jay  Kingsbruner,  Chile,  a  historical 
interpretation  (New  York:  Harper  Torch  Book,  1973);  Jose  M.  Martinez-Hidalgo  y  Teran,  Enciclopedia 
general  del  mar  (Barcelona:  Garriga,  1968),  8  volumes;  Benjamin  Subercaseaux,  Tierra  de  oceano  (Santiago, 
nd);  Gonzalo  Vial,  Historia  de  Chile  1891-1973  (Santiago:  Santillana,  1984). 

Early  naval  histories  and  chronicles  of  Chile  include: 

Luis  Novoa  de  la  Fuente,  Historia  naval  de  Chile  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1944);  Francisco 
Rojas  M.,  Administracion  naval  de  Chile  comparada:  su  desarrollo,  evoluciSn  y  organization  1817—1932 
(Santiago:  Imp.  Chile,  1934);  Carlos  Sayago,  Cronicas  de  la  Marina  militar  de  Chile  (Copiapo:  Imp.  de  la 
Union,  1864);  Alberto  Silva  Palma,  CrSnicas  de  la  Marina  chilena  (Santiago:  Talleres  del  estado  Mayor 
Jeneral,  1913);  Horacio  Vio  Valdivieso,  Manual  de  historia  naval  de  Chile  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada, 
1972). 


94      Chile 

opening  the  Chilean  economy  to  international  trade,  spawning  the  birth  of  a 
strong  maritime  activity.  The  new  state  that  emerged  out  of  the  far  off  and, 
probably,  the  poorest  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  with  its  particular  geography  of 
extended  and  fragmented  coasts,  attracted  the  attention  of  many  Europeans  and 
Americans,  who  registered  their  experiences  in  memoirs  or  narratives  that  have 
become  the  main  historical  source  for  this  period.  Among  the  many  authors 
was  Mary  Graham,  a  dynamic  and  learned  British  woman,  who  arrived  in 
Valparaiso  on  board  a  ship  commanded  by  her  husband,  who  passed  away  a  few 
days  before  their  arrival.  She  stayed  in  this  country  for  a  prolonged  period  and 
depicted  the  facts,  people,  and  customs  of  the  period  between  1822—23  in  a  very 
interesting  book. 

Another  important  author  of  this  era  is  John  Miller,  who  penned  the  memoirs 
of  his  brother,  General  William  Miller,  who  held  a  high  command  post  in  what 
has  become  the  Chilean  Marine  Corps. 

Famous  for  his  memoirs  on  the  Chilean  independence  period  is  Admiral 
Thomas  Alexander  Cochrane,  who  came  to  Chile  from  England  at  the  invitation 
of  General  Bernardo  O'Higgins.  In  the  four  years  that  Admiral  Cochrane 
remained  in  command  of  the  fleet — created  with  great  effort  by  Chile — he  was 
able  to  eliminate  completely  the  Spanish  naval  presence  in  the  American  Pacific. 
While  in  command,  he  proposed  several  initiatives  that  failed  to  come  to  fruition 
due  to  the  internal  conflicts  that  were  present  during  General  Bernardo 
O'Higgins'  term  of  rule.  His  memoirs,  published  in  London  several  decades 
later,  are  interesting,  detailed,  and  valuable,  allowing  historians  to  understand 
this  distinguished  mariner  and  his  times. 

Another  important  source  on  this  period  is  the  papers  of  General  Bernardo 
O'Higgins,  a  thirty-three  volume  work,  edited  by  the  Chilean  Government  and 
published  in  1950,  containing  many  letters  and  documents  related  to  the 
founder  of  the  Chilean  Navy,  who  was  an  important  ruler  of  those  initial  days. 

Fernando  Campos  Harriet,  Los  defensores  del  rey  (Santiago:  Andres  Bello,  1958);  Brian  Loveman,  Chile 
the  legacy  of  Spanish  capitalism  (New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1979). 

J.F.  Coffin,  Diario  de  unjoven  norteamericano  detenido  en  Chile  durante  elperiodo  revolucionario  1817—1819 
(Santiago:  Imp.  Elzeveriana,  1898);  Coleccion  de  Historiadores  i  de  Documentos  relativos  a  la  Independencia  de 
Chile  (Santiago:  varios  impresores,  1900-1937),  30  volumes. 

Maria  Graham,  Diario  de  mi  residencia  en  Chile  en  1822  (Santiago:  Del  Pacifico,  1956). 

John  Miller,  Memorias  del  general  Miller  al  servicio  de  la  Republica  del  Peru  (Santiago:  Imp.  Universitaria, 
1912),  3  volumes. 

Books  on  the  subject  viceadmiral  Thomas  Alexander  Cochrane: 

James  Blakwood,  The  life  and  daring  exploits  of  Lord  Cochrane  (London:  Paternoster  Row,  1861); 
Enrique  Bunster  Tagle,  Lord  Cochrane  (Santiago:  Zig-Zag,  1942);  Francisco  Garcia  Reyes,  La  primera 
escuadra  nacional  (Santiago,  1860). 

Thomas  Cochrane,  Earl  of  Dundonald,  Autobiography  of  a  Seaman  (London,  1860);  Narrative  of  Service 
in  the  Liberation  of  Chile,  Peru  and  Brazil  from  Spanish  and  Portuguese  domination  (London:  James  Ridway, 
1859),  2  volumes. 

Archivo  Nacional,  Archivo  de  Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins  (Santiago:  Nascimento,  1946-50),  33  volumes. 


Tromben      95 

-? 
These  volumes  abound  in  material  related  to  the  difficulties  of  creating  a  fleet 
and  merchant  navy  in  a  country  that  lacked  resources  and  was  worn  out  by  war. 

Admiral  Cochrane  returned  to  England  at  the  end  of  Spanish  dominion  of 
what  was  then  Chile  and  Peru.  The  Chilean  Navy  experienced  a  period  of 
neglect.  Nevertheless,  foreign  travellers  and  scientists  still  kept  coming,  and  they 
left  impressions  on  a  variety  of  different  matters,  particularly  about  Chilean 
maritime  geography. 

The  next  conflict  involving  the  Chilean  Republic  was  the  war  against  the 
Peru-Bolivian  Confederation,  but  the  actors  involved  in  this  war  left  no  books 
describing  the  maritime  campaign  in  particular,  in  spite  of  its  importance  in 
dismantling  the  Confederation. 

Something  similar  happened  in  Chile  and  Peru's  joint  war  against  Spain 
between  1865  and  1866.  However,  many  years  later,  the  commander  of  the 
Chilean-Peruvian  naval  force,  Rear- Admiral  Juan  Williams  Rebolledo,  wrote 
about  the  events  in  which  he  participated. 

In  contrast,  the  War  of  the  Pacific,  1879—1883,  inspired  many  books  of 
narrative,  documents,  and  analysis  on  the  most  serious  foreign  conflict  that 
Chile  had  faced  since  its  independence.  The  writers  were  either  civilian 
historians  or  members  of  the  Navy.      Among  the  first  were  Diego  Barros 

Eugenio  Pereira  Salas,  Las  actuaciones  de  los  ojiciales  navales  norteamericanos  en  nuestras  costas,  1813—1840 
(Santiago:  1935);  Eduard  Poepping,  Testigo  en  la  alborada  de  Chile:  1826-1829  (Santiago:  Zig-Zag,  1960); 
William  Bennet  Stevenson,  A  Historical  and  Descriptive  of  Twenty  Years  of  Residence  in  South  America 
(London:  Hurst,  Robenson  &  Co.,  1825),  3  volumes. 

Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna,  Historia  de  laguerra  de  Chile  con  Espana  (Santiago:  1883);  Juan  Williams 
Rebolledo,  Guerra  del  Pacifico:  Breve  narracion  historica  de  la  contienda  de  Chile  y  Peru  contra  Espana 
(1865—1866)  (Santiago:  Imp.  Elzeveriana,  1901);  Herbert  W.  Wilson,  Ironclads  in  action  (London:  Marston 
Low,  1896);  Pedro  Novo  y  Colson,  Historia  de  la  Guerra  contra  Espana  en  el  Pacifico  (Madrid:  1882). 

Books  about  the  war  between  Chile,  Peru  and  Bolivia  started  in  1879: 

Correspondencia  de  Don  Antonio  Varas  sobre  la  Guerra  del  Pacifico  (Santiago:  Imp.  Universitaria,  1918); 
Arturo  Cuevas,  Estudio  estrategico  sobre  la  campana  maritima  de  la  guerra  del  Pacifico  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la 
Armada,  1901);  Miguel  Grau,  Correspondencia  general  de  la  Comandancia  de  la  1  Division  Naval  (Santiago: 
Imp.  de  la  Libreria  de  "El  Mercurio,"  1880;  Joaquin  Larrain  Zanartu,  El  21  de  Mayo.  Homenaje  de  "La 
Patria"  a  los  heroes  de  "La  Esmeralda"  y  "La  Covadonga" ,  en  el  primer  aniversario  delglorioso  combate  de  Inquique 
(Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  "La  Patria,"  1880;  Jacinto  Lopez,  Historia  de  laguerra  del  guano  y  del  salitre;  o  Guerra 
del  Pacifico  entre  Chile,  Bolivia  y  Peru  (New  York:  De  Laisne  and  Rossboro,  1931);  Francisco  A.  Machuca, 
Las  cuatro  campanas  de  la  Guerra  del  Pacifico  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  Victoria,  1927);  Clements  Markham,  History 
of  the  War  between  Peru  and  Chile  (London:  Sampson  Low,  Marston,  Searle  Rivington,  1883);  Lieutenant 
W.T.B.M.  Mason,  USN,  War  on  the  Pacific  Coast  (Washington:  1883);  Nicanor  Molinari,  Asalto  y  toma 
de  Pisagua,  2  de  noviembre  de  1879  (Santiago:  Imp.  Cervantes,  1912);  Nicanor  Molinari,  Asalto  y  toma  de 
Pisagua,  2  de  noviembre  de  1819  (Santiago:  Imp.  Cervantes,  1912);  Pedro  Nolasco  Prendez,  La  Esmeralda 
(Santiago:  Imp.  de  la  Repiiblica  de  Jacinto  Nunez,  1879);  Juan  Williams  Rebolledo,  Guerra  del  Pacifico: 
Operaciones  de  la  escuadra  mientras  estuvo  a  las  ordenes  del  contra- almir ante  Williams  Rebolledo,  1819  (Valparaiso: 
Imp.  del  Progreso,  1882);  Herbert  W.  Wilson,  Battleships  in  Action  (London:  Marston  Low,  1927). 

Much  writing  on  this  period  focuses  on  Arturo  Prat: 

Arturo  Prat  I  El  Combate  Naval  De  Iquique  (Santiago:  Imp.  Gutenberg,  1880);  Jose  Toribio  Medina, 
Arturo  Prat  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1952);  Marfisa  Munoz  Yurazeck,  Arturo  Prat  (Santiago:  Imp. 
Universitaria,  1914);  Juan  Peralta  Peralta,  Arturo  Prat  Chacon:  Hkroe  del  Mar  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Escuela 


96     Chile 

Arana  and  Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna.  Others  include  the  already  men- 
tioned Admiral  Juan  Williams  Rebolledo,  who  wrote  another  book  about  his 
participation  as  commander  of  the  fleet  in  the  early  part  of  the  war,  and 
Vice- Admiral  Luis  Uribe  Orrego,  who  was  a  lieutenant  at  the  beginning  of  the 
conflict.  The  latter's  works  refer  not  only  to  this  war,  but  to  the  complete 
history  of  the  Chilean  Navy  and  Merchant  Navy.  Pascual  Ahumada  Moreno 

17. 

and  Justo  Abel  Rosales  compiled  documents  that  are  an  interesting  source  for 
consultation  about  this  period. 

In  spite  of  the  Chilean  victory  in  the  War  of  the  Pacific,  some  logistic  and 
organizational  weaknesses  were  acknowledged.  These  facts,  together  with  the 
rapid  evolution  of  navies,  gave  way  to  a  stage  of  great  intellectual  and  professional 
development  within  the  Chilean  Navy.  At  the  same  time,  the  armed  forces 
participated  in  the  positive  educational  development  that  was  taking  place  in  the 
country.  As  a  result  of  this,  in  1885,  the  Naval  Circle  [Circulo  Naval]  was 
established.  Initially  chaired  by  Vice-Admiral  Uribe,  it  is  an  organization 
dedicated,  among  other  things,  to  debate  and  to  publication  of  developments  in 
the  naval  and  maritime  sciences.  The  Navy  Review  [Revista  de  Marina]  originated 
in  this  organization,  and  for  over  a  century,  historians  and  analysts  have  written 
and  published,  uninterruptedly  in  its  pages.  This  bimonthly  publication  is  an 
important  source  for  those  who  want  to  get  acquainted  with  Chilean  naval 
history  and  the  professional  activities  of  the  folio  wing  generations. 

At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  was  a  bloody  civil  war  that  took 
place  in  1891,  and  there  were  acute  tensions  in  Chilean  relations  with  Argentina 
and  the  United  States  of  America.  The  Chilean  Navy  reached  an  important  new 
stage,  as  the  fleet  gained  power  and  obtained  the  consensus  of  support  for  its 
activities  in  controlling  the  sea,  so  important  for  a  country  with  a  geographic 
configuration  like  Chile. 

Naval,  1953);  Arturo  Prat  Chacon,  Observaciones  a  la  lei  electoral  vijente  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  "El 
Mercurio",  1876);  Juan  Simpson,  Algunos  rasgos  ineditos  de  la  personalidad  de  Arturo  Prat  (Valparaiso:  Imp. 
Victoria,  1925);  Carlos  Toledo  de  la  Maza,  Arturo  Prat:  Vida  y  obra  de  un  hombre  ejemplar  (Valparaiso: 
Ediciones  Prat,  1975). 

Diego  Barros  Arana,  Historia  General  de  Chile  (Santiago:  Rafael  Jover,  1884-1902),  16  volumes. 
1     Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna,  Las  dos  Esmeraldas  (Santiago:  1879). 

Juan  Williams  Rebolledo,  Guerra  del  Pacifico:  Operaciones  de  la  escuadra  mientras  estuvo  a  las  drdenes  del 
contra- almit 'ante  Williams  Rebolledo  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  del  Progreso,  1882). 

Luis  Uribe  Orrego,  Los  combates  navales  en  la  Guerra  del  Pacifico:  1879-1881  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la 
Patria,  1886);  Neustra  Marina  militar  (Valparaiso:  Tipografia  de  la  Armada,  1910). 

Pascual  Ahumada  Moreno,  Guerra  del  Pacifico  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  del  Progresso,  1884-1891),  8  volumes. 

Justo  Abel  Rosales,  La  apoteosis  de  Arturo  Prat  i  de  sus  compaheros  de  heroismo  muertos  por  la  patria  el  21 
de  mayo  de  1879  (Santiago:  Imp.  de  los  Debates,  1888). 

Julio  Banados  Espinosa,  Balmaceda:  su  gobiemo  y  la  reuolucion  de  1891  (Paris:  Libreria  de  Gernier 
Hermanos,  1894);  Jose  Miguel  Barros  Franco,  Apuntes  para  la  historia  diplomdtica  de  Chile:  el  caso  del 
Baltimore  (Santiago:  Casa  Nacional  del  Nino,  1950);  Maurice  H.  Harvey,  Dark  Days  in  Chile  (London: 
1892);  Antonio  Ifiiquez  Vicuna,  El golpe  de  estado  y  la  reuolucion,  primero  y  siete  de  enero  1891  (Santiago: 
Imp.  Victoria,  1891);  Emilio  Rodriguez  Mendoza,  Ante  la  descendencia  (Santiago:  Imp.  Moderna,  1899); 


Tromben      97 

To  the  publications  of  Admirals  Williams  and  Uribe,  we  may  add  those  of 
Captain  Francisco  Vidal  Gormaz  that  refer  to  scientific  matters  and  the  story  of 
the  explorations  performed  by  Spanish  navigators  in  the  southern  tip  of  Chile, 
based  in  documental  reseach  done  by  this  notable  naval  hydrographer  in  Spain. 

At  the  turn  of  the  century,  the  trend  increased  toward  more  critical,  historical, 
and  scientific  research,  supported  by  many  officers  who  were  sent  to  study  in 
European  countries  with  greater  naval  development.  The  arrival  of  British  officers 
in  Chile,  who  came  to  act  as  instructors,  promoted  this  trend  toward  professional 
improvement  by  creating  the  Naval  War  College  and  other  initiatives.  This 
increased  the  spreading  of  the  doctrines  on  sea  power  developed  in  Europe  and  in 
the  United  States,  particularly  those  of  Captain  Alfred  T.  Mahan.  Since  that  time, 
there  has  been  a  tendency  to  analyze  past  events,  stressing  these  doctrines. 

In  Chile,  during  the  first  half  of  this  century,  a  new  generation  of  naval 
historians  and  analysts  developed.  Among  them  were  Rear  Admirals  Luis 
Langlois  Vidal,  Alejandro  Garcia  Castelblanco,  and  later,  Captain  Horacio 
Vio  Valdivieso.  Simultaneously,  the  First  World  War  and  the  serious  political 
events  of  the  1920s  and  30s,  with  their  repercussions  in  the  Chilean  military, 
gave  origin  to  different  articles  published  in  the  Revista  de  Marina  and  to  the 
memoirs  of  Admirals  Jose  T.  Merino  Saavedra,  and  Edgardo  von  Schroeders 
Sarratea.  By  mid-century,  Vice  Admiral  Juan  Agustin  Rodriguez  Sepulveda 
finished  his  work  of  historical  research,  reaching  a  wide  audience. 

The  Chilean  Academy  of  History,  a  center  for  the  study  and  publication  of 
history,  was  founded  in  1933.  Among  its  membership  are  notable  researchers 
and  specialists  in  naval  history.  One  of  its  founding  members  was  the  already 
mentioned  Admiral  Garcia  Castelblanco.  Other  members  that  joined  the 
academy  later  were  Captain  Rodrigo  Fuenzalida  Bade,  author  of  a  large  work 
on  the  history  of  the  Chilean  Navy,     and  Dr.  Carlos  Lopez  Urrutia,  who  lives 

Fanor  Velasco,  La  revolution  de  1891:  Memorias  de  don  Fanor  Velasco,  2nd  ed.  (Santiago:  Direccion 
General  de  Talleres,  1925);  P.  WycrofF,  "The  Chilean  Civil  War,  1891"  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings 
88  (October,  1962),  pp.  58-63. 

Luis  Langlois  Vidal,  Injluencia  delpoder  naval  en  la  historia  de  Chile  desde  1810a  1910  (Valparaiso:  Imp. 
de  la  Armada,  1911). 

Alejandro  Garcia  Castelblanco,  Estudio  critico  de  las  operaciones  navales  de  Chile  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la 
Armada,  1929). 

Horacio  Vio  Valdivieso,  Resena  historica  de  los  nombres  de  las  unidades  de  la  Armada  (Santiago:  1938); 
Manual  de  Historia  Naval  de  Chile  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1972). 

Jose  T.  Merino  Saavedra,  La  Armada  National  y  la  dictadura  militar.  Memorias  del  ultimo  Director  General 
de  la  Armada  (Santiago:  Imp.  de  la  Direccion  General  de  Prisiones,  1932.) 

Edgardo  von  Schroeders,  El  delegado  del gobierno  y  el  motin  de  la  escuadra  (Santiago:  Imp.  y  Litografia 
Uni  verso,  1933). 

Juan  Agustin  Rodriguez  Sepulveda,  Cronicas  nacionales  y  navales  (Valparaiso:  Imp  de  la  Armada,  1953.) 

Rodrigo  Fuenzalida  Bade,  La  Armada  de  Chile  desde  la  alborada  al  sesquicentenario  (Santiago:  Talleres 
Empresa  Periodistica  "Aqui  Esta,"  1978),  4  volumes;  Marinos  ilustres  y  destacados  del  pasado  (Santiago: 
Sipimex  Ltda.,  1985). 


98      Chile 

and  teaches  in  the  United  States  and  is  the  author  of  several  books  and  articles 

oft 
on  the  same  topic.      The  current  commander  in  chief  of  the  Chilean  Navy, 

Admiral  Jorge  Martinez  Busch,  author  of  an  extensive  bibliography  on  historical 

and  geopolitical  matters,  recently  joined  the  Chilean  Academy  of  History. 

Throughout  its  existence,  the  Chilean  Academy  of  History  has  contributed 
to  the  research  of  many  aspects  related  to  naval  and  maritime  history,  the 
publication  of  the  O'Higgins  archives  among  them.  One  of  the  academicians 
that  participated,  Luis  Valencia  Avaria,  has  published  books  and  articles  specializ- 
ing on  the  independence  period  and  on  the  efforts  of  the  O'Higgins  government 
to  create  the  Chilean  Navy.  Another  academician,  Alamiro  de  Avila  Martel, 
completed  several  month's  of  research  in  English  and  Scottish  archives  on 
Admiral  Cochrane,  sponsored  by  the  academy,  and  later  published  a  biography. 
A  collection  of  edited  documents  is  awaiting  publication. 

It  is  worthwhile  noting  that  the  academician  Gabriel  Guarda  Geywitz  has 
developed  part  of  his  work  on  the  history  of  architecture  and  urbanization  in 
Chile  considering  the  Spanish  fortifications  at  the  south  of  the  country,  where 
many  important  events  related  to  the  Chilean  Navy  took  place.  One  of  his  books 
treats  the  topic  of  the  seizure  of  Valdivia  during  the  War  of  Independence. 

The  civilian  researchers  who  are  more  oriented  toward  naval  history  are  at 
the  Catholic  University  of  Chile  (Universidad  Catolica  de  Chile)  in  Santiago. 
Some  of  these  individuals  include  Professors  Roberto  Hernandez  Ponce, 
Ximena  Rojas  Valdes,  and  Emilio  Meneses  Cuiffardi.  The  latter  is  a  political 
scientist  oriented  toward  topics  in  geopolitical  and  international  relations.  He 
has  published  a  book  on  difficulties  in  the  naval  relations  between  Chile  and  the 
United  States. 

David  Mahan  Marchese,  M.D.,  has  done  a  great  and  valuable  research  effort 

on 

on  naval  historiography  and  iconography.  He  is  in  possession  of  a  private 
collection  that  is  the  widest  and  best  organized  in  the  country,  collaborating  with 
many  researchers  on  the  subject. 

In  the  field  of  Chilean  maritime  history,  Admiral  Uribe  and  Claudio  Veliz 
have  publications  on  the  merchant  navy.  Also  worth  mentioning  in  this 
context  are  Pedro  Sapunar,  Jorge  Lira,  Mateo  Martinic,  and  Manuel  Fernandez, 
who  have  referred  to  the  history  of  Chilean  ports  in  different  periods  of  this 
century. 

El  Mercurio  publishes,  in  several  of  its  newspapers,  a  supplement  entitled  Our 
Sea  (Nuestro  Mar),  under  the  direction  of  Rear  Admiral  Francisco  Ghisolfo 
Araya,  Chilean  Navy  (retired),  who  is  a  prolific  author  of  essays  on  historical, 

Carlos  Lopez  Urrutia,  Historia  de  la  Marina  de  Chile  (Santiago:  Andres  Bello,  1969). 

Alamiro  de  Avila  Martel,  Cochrane  y  la  independencia  del  Pacifuo  (Santiago:  Universitaria,  1976). 

Emilio  Meneses  Ciuffardi,  El  factor  naval  en  las  relaciones  de  Chile  y  EE.  UU.,  1881-1951  (Santiago). 

David  Mahan,  La  Marina  de  Chile:  Proyecto  de  ensayo  Bibliografico  (Valparaiso:  1974). 

Claudio  Veliz,  Historia  de  la  Marina  Mercante  de  Chile  (Santiago:  Universidad  de  Chile,  1961). 


Tromben      99 

strategic,  and  tactical  topics.  This  publication  characteristically  publishes  inter- 
esting articles  on  naval  and  maritime  activities.  Otherwise  unavailable  back- 
ground information  can  also  be  found  in  its  pages. 

In  Chile,  in  general  terms,  there  is  a  trend  to  treat  naval  and  maritime  subjects 
without  any  distinction  between  them.  The  Chilean  Navy  has  a  special  concern  for 
the  latter.  Furthermore,  there  is  a  branch  of  the  Navy  that  performs  the  coast  guard 
function,  and  merchant  marine  officers  are  educated  at  the  Naval  Academy. 

The  Naval  Review  [Revista  de  Marina],  normally  publishes  articles  on  subjects 
relating  to  naval  history.  In  addition  to  this  Review,  the  Chilean  Navy  publishes 
Lookout  [Vigia],  which  includes  similar  topics,  although  graphically  treated  and 
in  a  lighter  manner,  providing  both  knowledge  and  entertainment.  It  also 
includes  notes  on  current  naval  and  maritime  situations  that  will  become  future 
sources  of  information  for  historians. 

Several  books  relating  to  the  special  branches  of  the  Chilean  Navy  have  been 
published  during  the  last  decade,  some  of  them  with  many  illustrations  and 

-1-1  io 

references.  Such  is  the  case  of  books  about  naval  aviation,     naval  engineering, 
supply,     the  submarine  force,     and  naval  artillery,     and  Marine  Corp. 

English  speaking  countries  have  developed  recently  an  interest  in  Chilean 
naval  history.  Different  factors  might  account  for  this  interest.  In  the  case  of 
British  authors,  the  reason  might  lie  in  the  important  naval  influence  their 
country  exerted  in  the  days  of  the  independence,  when  many  British  officers 
and  personnel  came  here,  either  with  Cochrane  or  by  themselves,  and  in  the 
great  amount  of  naval  shipbuilding  that  was  performed  by  British  shipyards  for 
the  Chilean  Navy  by  the  middle  of  the  past  century.  Later,  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  through  the  First  World  War,  and  even  after  this  conflict,  British 
instructors  came  to  Chile,  while  a  great  number  of  Chilean  officers  were 
educated  in  Britain  and  in  Europe. 

The  work  of  Philip  Somervell  on  the  subject  is  quite  important.  We  can 
also  name  Adrian  English,  who  is  a  journalist  who  publishes  articles  on 

Carlos  Tromben  Corbalan,  La  Aviation  Naval  de  Chile  (El  Belloto:  Comandancia  de  Aviacion  Naval, 
1987). 

Carlos  Tromben  Corbalan,  Ingenierta  naval,  una  especialidad  centenaria  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada, 
1989). 

Francisco  Astudillo  Tapia,  y  Fernandez  A.,  Marco  Historia  de  la  especialidad  de  Abastecimiento, 
1818-1940  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1991). 

Armada  De  Chile,  Fuerza  de  Submarinos  (Concepcion:  Comandancia  en  Jefe  de  la  Fuerza  de 
Submarinos,  1992). 

Juan  Anderson  Diaz,  Centenario  de  la  Escuela  de  Armamentos,  1892-1992  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la 
Armada,  1992). 

Curpo  de  Infanteria  de  Marina  (Santiago:  Sipimex  Ltda.,  1994). 

Philip  Somervell,  "Amistad  naval  anglo-chilena",  Revista  de  Marina,  102:  767  (July-August,  1985), 
pp.  481-93. 


100      Chile 

the  Chilean  Navy  in  specialized  reviews;  in  time  they  will  be  a  source  of 
historical  data. 

The  Chilean  Navy  has  also  been  a  subject  of  study  in  the  U.S.  Besides  the  articles 
of  the  aforementioned  Dr.  Carlos  Lopez,  we  should  mention  the  books  by  William 
Sater  and  Robert  L.  Scheina  and  others  who  have  written  their  degree  theses 
for  different  American  and  British  universities.  All  of  these  scholars  share  a  curiosity 
for  this  small  country  with  its  huge  coastline  that  throughout  its  history  has  had  a 
rather  important  naval  force  compared  to  its  territorial  size  and  which,  by  the  end 
of  the  last  century,  was  even  able  to  threaten  the  emerging  naval  superiority  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  A  subject  of  interest  for  American  authors  is  the 
participation  of  the  Chilean  Navy  in  internal  conflicts  and  the  influence  exerted  by 
the  U.S.  Navy,  particularly  since  the  Second  World  War,  when  Great  Britain 
notably  decreased  its  presence  in  this  part  of  the  world,  but  Americans  have  also 
done  some  substantial  work  on  earlier  periods. 

An  interesting  book  on  Chilean  sea  power  [El  Voder  Naval  Chileno],  was 
published  to  celebrate  the  centennial  of  the  Revista  de  Marina.  Several  distin- 
guished historians  and  analysts,  some  of  them  already  mentioned,  directed  by 
Captain  Claudio  Collados  Nunez,  reviewed  the  historical  evolution  of  the 
concept  of  sea  power  in  Chile  from  different  perspectives. 

Currently,  there  is  no  official  professorial  chair  in  maritime  and  naval  history, 
except  at  the  Naval  Academy.  The  Chilean  Navy  focusses  research  in  the  field  in 
the  Historical  Division  of  the  Naval  Museum  and  Historical  Archives,  and  Naval 
History  Bureau  in  the  General  Secretariat  of  the  Navy.  These  two  centers  of  work, 
research,  and  analysis  are  supporting  several  current  research  projects  to  be  published. 

The  transfer  of  the  Naval  Museum  (which  until  1967  had  been  occupied 
by  the  Naval  Academy)  to  its  current  building  in  Valparaiso  meant  not  only 

Adrian  J.  English,  Armed  forces  in  Latin  America  (London:  Jane's  Publishing  Co.,  1984). 

William  F.  Sater,  The  Heroic  Image  in  Chile:  Arturo  Prat,  Secular  Saint  (Berkeley:  Univ.  of  California 
Press,  1973). 

40  Robert  L.  Sheina,  Latin  America:  a  Naval  History  1810-1987  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1987); 
The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  Upon  Latin  America:  A  bibliography  (2nd  ed.  Offset,  1972);  "Indigenous  Latin 
America  Sea  Power"  Ph.D  thesis,  Catholic  University  of  America,  1976). 

Robert  N.  Burr,  By  Reason  of  force:  Chile  and  Balance  of  Power  in  South  America,  1830-1905  (Berkley: 
Univ.  of  California  Press,  1967);  David  J.  Cubitt,  "Study  of  the  Naval  Aspects  of  the  War  of 
Independence  of  Chile"  (Portsmouth,  UK:  Portsmouth  Polytechnic,  1978-79);  D.J.  Cubitt,  Lord 
Cochrane  and  the  Chilean  Navy  (1818—1823),  with  an  Inventory  of  the  Dundonald  Papers  relating  to  his  service 
with  the  Chilean  Navy  (University  of  Edinburgh);  Leland  Henschel  Jackson,  "Naval  Aspects  of  the  War 
of  the  Pacific"  (M.A.  thesis,  University  of  Florida,  1963);  Donald  E.  Worcester,  "Sea  power  and  Chilean 
Independence"  (thesis,  University  of  Florida.) 

Edward  Baxter  Billingsley,  In  Defense  of  Neutral  Right:  the  United  States  Navy  and  the  Wars  of 
Independence  in  Chile  and  Peru  (Chapel  Hill:  Univ.  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1964);  Hanson  U.  Hancock, 
A  history  of  Chile  (Chicago:  Sergei  and  Co.,  1983);  Robert  Hart,  The  Great  White  Fleet  (Boston:  Little 
Brown  &  Co.,  1965);  Robert  Erwin  Johnson,  Thence  round  Cape  Horn  (Annapolis  U.S.  Naval  Institute, 
1963).  For  the  recent  period,  see  Robert  L.  Sheina,  Latin  America:  A  Naval  History. 

Armada  de  Chile,  El  poder  naval  chileno  (Santiago:  Alfabeta,  1985). 


Tromben      101 

the  renewal  of  the  museum's  exhibits  in  accordance  with  latest  standards  for 
museums,  but  the  creation  of  the  specialized  Historiography  Division,  headed 
by  Professor  Jorge  Garin  Jimenez  (who  has  been  involved  in  a  research  at  the 
National  Archives)  to  select  and  to  classify  naval  and  maritime-related  material. 
The  first  volume  of  the  papers  of  Vice- Admiral  Thomas  A.  Cochrane  is  the  fruit 
of  this  work,  jointly  developed  with  the  Naval  History  Bureau  of  the  General 
Secretariat  of  the  Navy.  It  will  be  published  soon  with  the  sponsorship  of  the 
office  of  the  commander  in  chief  of  the  Navy. 

The  Chilean  Navy  has  two  other  important  on-going  projects.  The  first 
consists  of  continuing  research  at  the  National  Archives,  and  in  other  places, 
in  order  to  make  available  the  most  important  documents,  enabling  special- 
ized researchers  to  use  them.  The  second  is  a  project  to  remodel  an  additional 
part  of  the  old  building  of  the  Naval  Academy,  supplementing  the  current 
Naval  Museum  with  a  library  and  archive  for  naval  and  maritime  history. 

As  a  final  consideration  we  can  add  that  the  independence  period  and,  in 
general,  all  of  the  last  century  have  been  treated  in  depth  by  Chilean  naval 
and  maritime  historiography,  probably  because  it  was  mainly  a  time  of 
external  conflicts  and  it  is  easier  to  agree  on  their  interpretation.  By  the  same 
token,  recent  events  are  less  addressed,  probably  because  naval  and  even 
maritime  affairs  are  related  to  internal  political  problems  or  other  aspects  that 
are  subject  to  the  most  different  interpretations. 

There  are  many  newspaper  and  specialized  review  articles,  together  with 
professional  theses  written  by  naval  and  military  officers  about  the  events  of 
the  1920s  and  30s.  The  published  institutional  histories  for  this  period 
cover  controversial  matters  lightly,  but  there  is  very  little  published  about 
the  following  decades.  Due  to  a  lack  of  perspective,  it  is  certainly  not 
easy  to  provide  a  fair  historical  judgment  on  recent  events.  Nevertheless, 
this  should  not  be  an  excuse  to  dispense  with  the  personal  viewpoints  of 
recent  events,  as  authors  such  as  Admirals  Uribe  and  Williams  did  in  the 
past  century  or  as  von  Schroeders  and  Merino  Saavedra  did  at  the 
beginning  of  this  one.  The  works  of  Admirals  Ismael  Huerta  Diaz  and 
Sergio  Huidobro  Justiniano,  especially  Admiral  Huerta's  work,  which  is 
undeniably  valuable  in  literary  and  documentary  terms,  seem  to  be  isolated 

Jorge  Garin  Jimenez,  Archivo  Historico  Naval,  Volume  I  Book  I:  Vicealmirante  Thomas  Alexander 
Cochrane  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1993). 

Ricardo  Donoso,  Alessandri,  agitador  y  demoledor  (Mexico:  1954);  Ernesto  Gonzalez,  El  parto  de  los 
monies  o  la  sublevacion  de  la  marineria  (Santiago:  Talleres  Graficos  "Condor,"  1932);  Leonardo  Guzman 
Cortes,  Un  episodio  olvidado  de  la  historia  national,  julio-noviembre  de  1931,  (Santiago:  Anrdes  Bello,  1966); 
Antonio  Quintanilla,  Memorias  del  general  Quintanilla  (Santiago:  1960);  Ramon  Vergara  Montero,  Por 
rutas  extraviadas  (Santiago:  Imp.  Universitaria,  1933);  Lorenzo  Villalon  Madrid,  Combate  naval  de  Inquiaue, 
Valparaiso  21  de  mayo  e  1925  (Valparaiso:  Fisher  e  Ihnen,  1925). 

Ismael  Huerta  Diaz,  Volveria  a  ser  marino  (Santiago:  Andres  Bello,  1988). 

Sergio  Huidobro  Justiniano,  Decision  Naval  (Valparaiso:  Imp.  de  la  Armada,  1989). 


102     Chile 

efforts  that  find  their  way  amid  many  newspaper  publications  and  books  that 
treat  these  subjects  partially  or  antagonistically.  The  lack  of  good  analytical  and 
interpretative  works  on  the  naval  aspects  of  recent  events  is  a  void  that  we 
cannot  but  regret. 


Denmark 


Hans  Christian  Bjerg 


Denmark  commands  a  significant  maritime  geostrategic  position.  It  is 
beyond  dispute  that  this  position  has  played  a  decisive  role  in  the 
development  of  our  country  and  has  given  it  the  essence  of  its  historical  identity. 

It's  curious,  therefore,  to  observe  that  the  maritime  aspect  of  Danish  history  has 
been  assigned  a  relatively  humble  position  in  historical  literature,  research,  inter- 
pretation, and  consciousness.  Apparently,  in  the  general  consciousness  of  the  Danish 
people,  their  country  is  more  an  agricultural  nation  than  a  maritime  one. 

Fortunately,  that  state  of  affairs  seems  to  be  changing.  In  the  last  three  decades 
the  interest  for  naval  and  maritime  history  has  increased  significantly  in  Denmark. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  previous  lack  of  comprehensive  research  in  naval 
and  maritime  history  in  Denmark  is  that  we  used  to  speak  about  maritime  issues 
in  terms  of  traditional  grievances.  We  did  not  consider  the  maritime  cultural 
concept  as  a  whole,  wherein  all  the  diffuse  but  important  maritime  aspects  come 
together. 

It  would  be  fair  at  this  point  to  note  that  the  situation  described  above  is 
obviously  not  unique  to  Denmark. 

The  Museums 

The  Royal  Danish  Navy  has  maintained  museum  collections  since  the 
eighteenth  century.  Still,  the  public  was  not  normally  given  access  to  these 
collections  and  therefore  a  general  interest  in  naval  history  was  not  stimulated. 

R.  Steen  Steensen,  Orlogstnuseet  Marinehistorisk  Selskabs  Skrifternr,  6  (Kobenhavn:  1961),  and  Hans 
Chr.  Bjerg,  "Den  marinehistoriske  forskning  og  Sovsernets  museumsproblemer,"  in  Marinehistorisk 
Tidsskrift  no.  1,  1973,  pp.  7-18. 


Hans  Christian  Bjerg  graduated  from  the  University  of  Copenhagen  in  1971.  He  was 
Assistant  Keeper  at  the  Danish  National  Archives  1971-81,  Consultant  on  Naval  History 
of  the  Royal  Danish  Navy  in  1974,  Lecturer  in  Naval  History  at  the  Royal  Naval 
Academy  in  Copenhagen  in  1975,  and  Chief  Archivist  and  head  of  the  Military  Archives 
in  1981.  He  is  author  of  several  books  and  articles  about  naval  history  and  was  editor  of 
the  Danish  Naval  Historical  Review  from  1967  to  1978.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  the  Society  for  Danish  Naval  History  since  1964. 


104      Denmark 

The  first  maritime  museum  was  founded  in  Denmark  in  1914.  It  was  named 
The  Museum  for  Trade  and  Shipping,  (Handels  og  Sefartsmuseet)  and  was 
located  in  the  old  castle  of  Kronborg,  near  Elsinore.  For  a  long  time  this  museum 
was  the  center  for  the  only  research  in  maritime  history  officially  undertaken  in 
Denmark. 

Starting  in  1958,  parts  of  the  naval  collections  were  put  on  permanent 
exhibition.  That  exhibition  eventually  evolved  into  a  genuine  museum.  The 
Royal  Naval  Museum  [Orlogsmuseet]  finally  moved  into  its  own  building  in 
Copenhagen  in  1989.  Unfortunately,  due  to  lack  of  financial  support,  the 
opportunities  for  the  Royal  Naval  Museum  to  initiate  and  attract  research 
projects  in  naval  history  has  been  restricted. 

In  1964,  The  National  Museum  established  a  special  laboratory  for  ship 
history,  primarily  to  develop  research  on  the  ships  during  the  Viking  age  and  in 
the  Early  Middle  Ages.  A  Viking  museum  was  connected  to  this  laboratory  in 
1968  and  is  located  in  Roskilde  on  Zealand.  Since  1993  this  museum's  activities 
have  expanded  and  should  develop  into  a  more  ambitious  Research  Center  for 
Maritime  Archaeology,  which  will  be  supervised  by  a  special  council  of  experts. 

In  1908  the  a  screw  frigate  Jylland,  which  had  been  launched  in  1860,  was 
stricken  by  the  Royal  Danish  Navy  in  order  to  be  scrapped.  Instead,  the  frigate 
was  bought  by  a  group  of  private  individuals  who,  for  a  period,  used  it  as  a 
floating  exhibition  platform.  In  1960  it  was  placed  at  Ebeloft  on  Jutland  and 
opened  as  a  museum  ship.  At  the  end  of  the  1980s,  support  from  a  private 
foundation  made  it  possible  to  completely  restore  the  ship.  That  process  was 
finished  in  early  1994.  The  ship  is  a  success  as  a  museum  and  it  has  stimulated 
an  interest  for  the  special  development  of  warships  and  the  history  of  the  Navy 
and  its  men. 

In  1993  an  integrated  maritime  museum  was  open  for  the  public  in  Aaiborg 
on  Jutland.  There  it  is  possible  to  visit  a  submarine  and  a  fast  patrol  boat  and  to 
view  collections  showing  the  nation's  general  maritime  and  naval  development. 

It  warrants  mention  that  the  Arsenal  and  Arms  Museum  [Tejhusmuseet]  in 
Copenhagen  also  contains  rich  collections  related  to  naval  development  and  that 
the  historians  of  that  museum  have  also  contributed  to  research  and  publishing 
of  naval  history. 

Within  maritime  ethnology  and  the  development  of  fishing,  which  also  had 
an  important  role  for  the  country's  economy,  The  Museum  for  Fishing  and 
Shipping  [Fisker  i  og  Sefartsmuseet]  at  Esbjerg  on  Jutland  has  made  exceptional 
studies  in  the  research  of  this  aspect  of  our  history. 

Olde  Crumlin-Pedersen  "Marinarkaeologisk  Forskningscenter  i  Roskilde — en  aktuel  orientering," 
in  Fortid  og  Nutid  (1994),  pp.  24-52. 

The  history  of  the  museum  ship  can  be  found  in  R.  Steen  Steensen,  Fregattenjylland,  Marinehistorisk 
Selskabs  Skrifter  (Kobenhavn:  1965);  and  F.H.  Kjoolsen,  "The  Old  Danish  Frigate,"  in  Mariner's  Mirror 
(1965)  pp.  27-33. 


Bjerg      105 

All  in  all,  the  museum  situation  in  Denmark  regarding  the  nation's  naval  and 
maritime  history  is  more  favorable  today  than  ever. 

Instruction  and  Education 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  lack  of  the  interest  on  naval  and  maritime  history 
in  general  in  Denmark  is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  has  never  been  a  Chair  on 
this  subject  at  the  Danish  Universities.  Of  course,  courses  in  maritime  aspects  of 
certain  disciplines  have  been  held.  But  the  concept  as  such  has  never  been  object 
for  profound  and  comprehensive  research.  As  of  this  writing,  only  three  doctoral 
dissertations  have  been  prepared  in  this  field. 

The  situation  at  the  universities  for  the  last  two  decades  seems  to  be  following 
the  general  trend  noted  above.  In  advanced  classes  in  history,  several  now  choose 
to  prepare  papers  about  relevant  naval  and  maritime  subjects  and  related 
problems. 

There  is,  however,  no  formal  education  or  instruction  on  the  maritime  history 
at  the  schools  for  the  merchant  marine  and  shipping.  Only  at  the  Royal  Naval 
Academy  do  they  provide  regular  instructions  and  lectures  on  Danish  Naval 
History  and  development  of  the  naval  tactics  during  the  ages.  But,  once  again, 
there  is  no  formal  chair.  The  lectures  are  given  by  the  historical  adviser  of  the 
Royal  Danish  Navy,  who  is  a  naval  historian  and  also  head  of  the  military  archives 
in  Denmark. 

Organizations 

For  many  years  the  only  forum  for  discussions  about  naval  and  maritime 
history  was  the  so-called  Society  of  Naval  Lieutenants  (See-lieutenant- 
Selskabet),  founded  in  1784.  In  the  beginning,  only  lieutenants  of  the  Navy 
could  be  members.  Later,  all  naval  officers  of  the  line  could  be  members.  The 
Society  is  a  closed  circle  and  is  only  visible  for  the  public  through  the  Society's 
the  Naval  Review  [Tidsskrift  for  Sevssen],  which  the  Society  has  published  since 
1856  when  it  took  over  from  private  sources  who  had  published  it  since  1826. 
Now  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  reviews  on  naval  affairs  in  the  world. 

In  1951  a  small  group  of  interested  naval  officers  and  historians  founded  the 
Naval  Historical  Society  (Marinehistorisk  Selskab).  Their  intention  was  to 
stimulate  research  in,  and  interest  for,  the  history  of  the  Royal  Danish  Navy. 
Furthermore,  another  goal  was  to  develop  a  naval  museum  where  the  rich 
collections  of  the  Navy  could  be  shown  to  the  public. 

Ever  since  1951  this  society  has  been  the  primary  forum  for  discussions  on 
primarily  naval  history  and,  to  a  lesser  extent,  on  maritime  history  in  general. 

Henning  Henningsen,  Crossing  the  Equator:  Sailor's  Baptism  and  Other  Initiation  Rites  (Copenhagen: 
1961);  Ole  Feldbaek,  India  Trade  under  the  Danish  Flag  1 7  12- 1  #0#  (Scandinavian  Institute  of  Asian  Studies 
Monograph  Series  no.  2)  (Copenhagen:  1969);  Anders  Monrad  Moeller,  Fra  Galeoth  til  Galease.  Studier 
i  de  kongerigske  provinsers  so/art  i  det  18.  arh.  (Kobenhavn:  1981). 


106      Denmark 

From  its  inception,  the  society  published  books  on  Danish  naval  history.  In  1967 
it  began  to  publish  the  Naval  Historical  Review  [Marinehistorisk  Tidsskrift],  for 
which  the  first  editor  was  the  present  author.  This  Review  has  fulfilled  its  purpose 
and  has  really  stimulated  research  on  naval  historical  matters.  Today  the  Review 
constitutes  an  important  forum  for  naval  and  maritime  matters. 

From  1959—73,  a  naval  officer  was  attached  to  the  naval  staff  as  a  consultant  on 
historical  questions.  In  1974  a  civilian  historian  became  the  consultant  of  the  Navy 
on  naval  historical  matters  and  has,  in  reality,  worked  as  the  official  naval  historian. 

The  Board  of  Marinehistorisk  Selskab  discussed  in  1971  the  general  condition 
of  naval  historical  research  in  Denmark  and  how  it  could  stimulate  general 
interest  in  seeing  naval  and  maritime  history  as  a  whole  and  as  aspects  of  the 
same  overall  concept.  The  discussions  were  also  inspired  by  the  development  in 
Sweden  of  an  official  council  for  maritime  research  in  1971—72.  As  a  conse- 
quence, the  Board  decided  to  initiate  the  First  Danish  Conference  on  Maritime 
History  in  March  1974.  The  purpose  of  the  conference  was  to  develop  a  baseline 
for  research  on  Danish  maritime  history  and  to  investigate  the  possibilities  for 
coordinating  the  efforts  of  the  different  disciplines. 

The  result  of  the  conference  was  the  creation  of  the  Contact  Committee  for 
Danish  Maritime  Historical  and  Social  Research,  which,  since  1974,  has  ar- 
ranged a  biennial  conference  for  maritime  research.  Furthermore,  the  committee 
had  taken  the  initiative  to  publish  surveys  periodically  of  on-going  research  as 
well  as  a  guide  to  where  sources  for  maritime  history  can  be  found.  Each  year 
the  Committee  publishes  a  bibliography  of  books  and  articles  related  to  naval 
and  maritime  matters. 

Naval  History  Research  and  Literature 

The  research  and  publishing  of  Danish  naval  history,  until  the  second  part  of 
the  present  century,  has  been  dominated  by  naval  officers.  The  literature  on 
these  matters  was  characterized  by  general  works  and  very  few  special  investiga- 
tions. As  a  matter  of  fact,  very  few  educated  historians  had  previously  dared  to 
step  into  the  field. 

One  who  did  was  H.D.Lind,  a  vicar,  who  in  the  last  decades  of  the  nineteenth 
century  has  published  works  about  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century  Danish 
Navy.  His  works  are  still  used  as  textbooks  today. 

The  first  survey  of  relative  modern  Danish  naval  history  was  printed  in  small 
booklet  form  in  1818  by  W.A.  Graah,  a  naval  officer.  After  comprehensive 
studies  of  the  archives,  another  naval  officer,  H.G.  Garde,  published  a  four- 

7     _ 

volume  history  of  the  Dano-Norwegian  Navy  dating  from  1500.    The  edition 

Hans  Christian  Bjerg,  "Den  maritimhistoriske  forskning  i  Denmark,"  in  Fortid  og  Nutid XXVI  (1976), 
pp.  392-7. 

W.A.  Graah,  Udkast  til  Danmarks  Soekrigshistorie  (Kobenhavn:  1818). 
7     H.G.  Garde,  Efterretninger  on  den  danske  og  norske  Semagt,  bd.  I-IV  (Kobenhavn:  1832-35). 


Bjerg      107 

was  not  a  continuous  history,  but  rather  a  chronological  synthesis  of  periodic 
information.  It  does,  however,  remain  a  useful  work. 

Garde  expressed  the  hope  that  its  publication  would  inspire  historians  to  write 
about  Danish  naval  history,  but  he  was  to  be  disappointed.  It  was  Garde  himself 
who  would,  in  1852  and  1861,  publish  two  general  works  on  the  history  of  the 

Q 

Danish  Navy,  covering  the  period  1500—1814.  He  later  brought  that  history 
up  to  1848.  General  works  on  Danish  naval  history  were  not  produced  until 
1875  and  1906  respectively.  The  authors,  once  again,  were  naval  officers. 

The  same  was  the  case  when  a  new  general  naval  history  was  published  in 
1934.  A  two-volume  publication  emerged  in  1941—42,  following  the  same 
model.  The  two  last  mentioned  books  must  be  considered  in  view  of  the  existing 
political  context.  With  regard  to  the  first  publication,  it  must  be  noted  that,  in 
the  1930s,  the  wave  of  disarmament  nearly  strangled  the  Navy  in  Denmark,  and 
the  naval  officers  had  to  profile  their  occupation.  When  the  two-volume  work 
was  published,  Denmark  was  occupied  by  German  troops,  and  one  purpose  of 
the  publication  was  apparently  to  emphasize  the  long  history  of  Denmark  and 
the  strength  of  the  national  will  which,  over  the  ages,  had  been  secured  by  the 
Navy. 

The  last  publication  in  the  list  of  general  books  about  history  came  in 
1961-62.  It  followed  the  same  model  as  its  predecessors,  but  for  the  first  time, 
some  of  the  contributors  were  civilian  historians.  This  was  apparently  a  result  of 
the  efforts  of  Marinehistorisk  Selskab  since  1951.  The  general  works  did  not 
communicate  new  knowledge  to  the  naval  history  other  than  the  contemporary 
activities  of  the  Royal  Danish  Navy. 

The  increase  of  interest  in  naval  history  from  the  beginning  of  the  1 970s 
produced  a  demand  for  new  knowledge  about  naval  history.  Therefore,  the  time 
for  general  works  had  passed  and  several  books  and  articles  about  special  and 
narrower  subject  areas  based  on  a  scientific  approach  emerged.  However,  one 
general  work  from  this  period  was  produced.  It  is  a  two-volume  book  about  the 
shipbuilding  activity  in  the  Danish-Norwegian  Navy  in  the  period  of  the  sailing 
warship,  1690—1860,  which  was  published  in  1980.  That  book  revealed  the 
richness  of  the  huge  collections  of  technical  drawings  and  plans  which  existed 
in  the  naval  files  of  the  Danish  National  Archives.  It  has  contributed  to  our 
knowledge  of  an  important  aspect  of  our  maritime  heritage  which  had  not  been 

8  H.G.  Garde,  Bidrag  til  Semagts  Historie  1 700-1814  (Kobenhavn:  1 852),  and  Den  dansk-norske  Semagts 
Historie  1535-1 100  (Kobenhavn:  1 86 1 ) . 

9  H.G.  Garde,  "Bidrag  til  Somgtens  Historie  1814-48,"  Historisk  Tidskrift,  3.Rk.  V.  Bd.  (1866-67), 
pp.  165-216. 

Fldden  gennem  450  Ar,  Red.  af  R.  Steen  Steensen,  G.  Honnes  de  Lichtenberg  og  M.  Frils  Metier, 
(Kobenhavn,  1961)  (vol.  1),  and  Fladen  -  administration,  teknik  og  civile  opgauer,  Red.  af  K.G.  Konradsen, 
G.  Honnens  de  Lichtenberg  og  M.  Frils  Moller,  (Kobenhavn,  1962)  (vol.  2). 

Hans  Christian  Bjerg  and  John  Erichsen,  Danske  Orlogsskibe  1690-1860,  Konstruktion  og  Dekoration, 
Bd.  I-II  (Kobenhavn:  1980). 


108      Denmark 

researched  previously.  It  also  inspired  basic  studies  about  technical  development 
in  Denmark  where,  for  a  long  time,  the  Naval  Shipyard  in  Copenhagen  was  the 
largest  workplace  in  the  country.  In  the  1980s,  profound  and  comprehensive 
studies  were  published  on  the  ships  and  shipbuilding  of  the  Danish  Navy  in  the 

1 9 

seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth  centuries. 

Now  we  also  have  a  comprehensive  knowledge  on  the  Navy  in  the  last  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  thanks  to  discussions  among  the  Danish  naval 
historians  about  the  course  of  the  Naval  Battle  of  K0ge  Bugt  on  the  1st  of  July 

1  'X 

1677.  This  discourse  has  brought  many  new  facts  to  light  on  that  period. 
Contemporary  research  also  exists  on  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
on  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Much  remains  to  be  done.  For  example,  we  still  need  modern  research  on 
the  administration  of  the  Navy,  its  political  role,  the  social  conditions  for  the 
officers  and  the  crews,  and  among  other  things,  new  investigations  on  the  naval 
battles  fought  by  the  Navy. 

In  1975  the  present  author  published  A  Bibliography  of  Danish  Naval  History 
from  1500-1975  [Dansk  Marinehistorisk  Bibliografi  1500-1975].  It  lists  2,086 
items,  most  of  them  small  articles  and  booklets.  Unintentionally,  the  bibliog- 
raphy became  a  chronicle  of  the  status  of  Danish  naval  history  prior  to  the 
increasing  interest  which  appeared  in  the  1970s.  Since  then,  there  have  been 
around  500  items  published,  which,  on  average,  are  far  more  detailed  and 
extensive  than  most  of  the  items  listed  in  the  mentioned  bibliography.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  a  revision  to  that  bibliography  is  planned  for  publica- 
tion in  the  next  two  to  three  years. 

Danish  naval  historians  realize  today  that  a  lot  of  trends  common  to  other 
European  naval  development  can  be  recognized  in  the  Danish  materials.  But  they 
are  also  of  that  opinion  that  knowledge  of  the  development  of  the  small  Danish 
Navy  can  provide  important  pieces  to  an  understanding  of  the  general  puzzle. 
Heretofore,  very  few  books  or  articles  on  Danish  naval  history  have  been  published 
in  English  or  another  major  language.  It  is,  therefore,  the  claimed  intention  ofDanish 
naval  historians  today  to  publish  more  in  English  in  the  future. 

Maritime  History  Research  and  Literature 

As  compared  to  naval  history,  maritime  history  has  thus  far  been  characterized 
by  general  surveys  and  sporadic  scientific  research.  It  is  worthwhile  to  observe 

See  for  instance,  Niels  M.  Probst  and  Frank  Allan  Rasmussen  in  several  articles  in  Marinehistorisk 
Tidsskrift  in  the  1980s  and  1990s. 

Jorgen  H.  Barfod,  Niels  Juel,  liv  oggeming  i  den  danske  seetat  (Arhus:  1977).  The  discussions  about  the 
Battle  of  Koge  Bugt  can  be  followed  in  articles  in  Tidsskrift  for  Sevcesen  og  Marinehistorisk  Tidsskrift  in  the 
beginning  of  the  1950s  and  from  1977  and  on. 

14  Ole  L.  Frantzani  Trualan  tra  vat.  Dansk-norsk  fladepolitik  1769-1807,  Marinehistorisk  Selskabe 
Skrifter,  no.  16  (Kobenhavn:  1980)  and  Ole  Feldbaek,  Slaget  pa  Reden  (Kobenhavn:  1985). 


Bjerg      1 09 

that  the  two  disciplines  have  followed  separate  tracks.  But,  in  general,  the  interest 
in  maritime  history  has  been  greater  than  that  shown  for  naval  history. 

In  1919  a  huge  book  in  two  volumes  was  published.  The  title  was  The  Shipping 
and  Trade  of  Denmark  during  the  Ages  [Danmarks  Sofart  og  Sohandel  fra  de  oeldste 
Tider  til  vore  Dage].  The  contributors  were  esteemed  historians,  naval  officers, 
and  men  working  with  the  shipping  trade.  For  a  long  time  this  book  represented 
the  general  knowledge  of  the  maritime  history  of  Denmark,  but  did  not  inspire 
further  research. 

Research  and  writings  about  maritime  history  have  concentrated  around  the 
Handes  og  Sofartsmuseet  and  its  yearbook,  the  articles  which  represent  the  main 
part  of  the  published  maritime  history  up  to  current  times.  A  lot  of  information 
may  also  be  found  in  the  jubilee  publications  of  the  different  Danish  shipping 
companies. 

Denmark  and  the  Sea  [Danmark  og  Havet]  was  the  title  of  a  general  two-volume 
book  about  the  maritime  history  of  Denmark  and  the  maritime  contemporary 
institutions  in  the  country.  It  was  published  in  1948. 

The  1970s  were  also  a  breakthrough  for  the  maritime  historical  interest  and 
research  centered  around  the  Conference  for  Maritime  History  and  the  Contact 
Committee  mentioned  above.  In  1980  the  Contact  Committee  began  to  publish 
the  Maritime  Contact  [Maritim  Kontakt] ,  which  now,  in  addition  to  the  yearbook 
of  the  Museum  for  Trade  and  Shipping,  is  the  main  forum  for  published  maritime 
research  in  Denmark.  One  of  the  few  doctoral  dissertations  on  maritime  history 
was  published  in  1981. 

The  situation  for  maritime  historical  research  in  Denmark  is,  therefore, 
generally  in  very  good  shape  at  the  moment.  An  example  of  this  is  the  working 
plan  for  a  general  and  comprehensive  work  on  the  maritime  history  of  Denmark, 
which  is  going  to  be  published  within  the  next  3—4  years  in  4—5  volumes,  written 
by  historians  who  belong  to  the  new  school  that  emerged  after  the  1970s.  It  is 
expected  that  this  new  history  will  compile  all  the  new  knowledge  provided  by 
the  modern  and  scientific  research  approach. 


15 


By  Anders  Monrad  Moller,  cfr.  note  4. 


10 
Dominican  Republic 


Cesar  A.  De  Windt  Lavandier 
Rear  Admiral,  Dominican  Republic  Navy,  Retired 


Following  twenty-two  years  of  Haitian  military  occupation,  Dominican 
Republic  independence  was  proclaimed  on  27  February  1844.  On  that  very 
same  day,  Commander  Juan  Alejandro  Acosta  took  possession  of  the  port 
facilities  at  the  Harbor  on  the  Ozama  River,  and  the  Dominican  Navy,  known 
as  the  National  Fleet,  was  born. 

The  Navy  was  initially  composed  of  five  converted  merchant  ships  provided 
by  three  Dominican  businessmen,  and  was  organized  by  its  founders,  Com- 
manders Juan  Bautista  Cambiaso  and  Juan  Bautista  Maggiolo.  The  first  ship  to 
carry  the  Dominican  banner  was  the  schooner  Leonor,  which  departed  Santo 
Domingo  on  2  March  1844  bound  for  Curacao.  Her  mission  was  to  return 
previously  exiled  patrician  Juan  Pablo  Duarte,  the  founder  of  the  Dominican 
Republic,  to  his  newly  independent  homeland. 

The  Navy's  first  five  converted  merchant  vessels  were  soon  joined  by  seven 
other  ships  that  had  been  purchased  for  use  in  the  new  nation's  defense.  The 
Dominican  Navy  then  comprised  twelve  ships,  with  attendant  Naval  Artillery 
and  Naval  Infantry  units  from  1844  to  1861.  It  was  to  play  a  leading  role  in 
securing  the  independence  of  our  fledgling  country.  This  was  particularly  true 
during  the  war  between  the  Dominican  Republic  and  Haiti  from  1849  to  1850, 
when  the  Navy  successfully  met  the  Haitian  Navy  in  combat  while  transporting 
substantial  quantities  of  troops  and  supplies  in  that  conflict. 

Despite  this  proud  and  significant  introduction,  however,  much  of  the 
Dominican  Republic's  naval  and  maritime  history  has  fallen  into  a  state  of  neglect 
in  recent  times.  It  is  this  issue  which  merits  our  attention. 

Authentic  historiography  in  the  Dominican  Republic  began  with  Jose  Gabriel 
Garcia  who,  during  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  wrote  wrote  four 
volumes  in  a  compendium  of  the  history  of  Santo  Domingo  dating  back  to  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  islands.    Garcia,  it  should  be  noted,  also  served  as 

Duarte  was  destined  to  be  exiled  again  that  same  year  by  his  Dominican  rival,  Pedro  Santana,  and 
would  lead  a  wandering  lifestyle,  largely  in  Venezuela,  until  his  death  in  1876.  Still,  he  is  widely  regarded 
as  the  founder  of  the  Dominican  independence  movement. 

Jose  Gabriel  Garcia,  Historia  Moderna  De  La  Repubica  Dominicana  (Santo  Domingo:  Garcia  hermanos, 


112      Dominican  Republic 

an  artillery  lieutenant  in  one  of  the  warships  that  fought  against  the  Haitian  forces 

during  the  1849—50  war.  He  took  part  in  the  naval  battle  of  Aux  Cayes  off  the 

southern  coast  of  Haiti  in  December  1849,  from  which  the  Dominican  Republic 

emerged  victorious. 

Antonio  del  Monte  y  Tejada,  another  author  who  actually  preceded  Garcia, 

■I 

made  reference  to  the  Dominican  Corsairs  activities  from  1738  to  1760.  Both 
writers  based  their  ideas  on  their  studies  of  the  West  Indian  Chronicals.  Since 
Garcia  did  not  have  access  to  many  primary  sources  of  information,  it  is  possible 
that  he  used  del  Monte  y  Tejada's  notes,  as  Antonio  had  traveled  to  Havana, 
Cuba  to  conduct  extensive  research  in  the  official  files  and  deposits  held  there. 

Also  ranking  among  the  noteworthy  researchers  of  our  history  is  Emilio 
Rodriquez  Demorizi,  who,  most  notably,  made  reference  to  the  evolution  of 
our  merchant  marine  as  well  as  the  Dominican  Navy  in  many  of  his  books. 

In  fact,  in  our  country  the  military  affairs  dealing  with  seafaring  events  are 
very  closely  related  to  non-military  maritime  issues.  All  matters  associated  with 
port  authorities  are  in  the  hands  of  the  military  officials.  Since  the  Dominican 
Republic  is  a  small  nation,  the  Navy  supervises  all  activities  concerning  all  of 
our  ports  of  call,  including  trade,  defense  and  security.  Thus,  our  naval  heritage 
is  very  much  a  part  of  our  national  history. 

Unfortunately,  there  is  no  institution  in  the  Dominican  Republic, 
governmental  or  private,  intended  solely  to  teach  our  naval  history.  The  only 
entity  currently  teaching  maritime  history  is  the  Dominican  Naval  Academy, 
and  even  those  courses  are  taught  under  precarious  conditions.  Appropriate 
research  facilities  are  nonexistent,  and  the  lack  of  resources,  materials,  and 
primary  documents  prevent  students  from  obtaining  a  validated  understanding 
of  that  history. 

The  Academy  of  History  (Academia  de  la  Historia  de  la  Republica 
Dominicana)  is  an  official  institution  founded  by  a  group  of  prominent  and 
distinguished  historians  dedicated  to  the  study  of  the  history  of  the  two  countries 
sharing  the  island  of  Hispaniola:  the  Dominican  Republic  and  the  Republic  of 
Haiti.  As  such,  it  concerns  itself  with  many  aspects  of  the  island's  history,  but  it 
has  not  undertaken  the  study  of  either  the  Dominican  Navy  or  its  merchant 
marine. 

Several  individuals  in  the  private  sector  have  accumulated  documents  relating 
to  events  that  took  place  during  our  War  for  Independence  and  those  chronicling 
the  Dominican  Republic's  naval  participation  in  World  War  II,  but  those  efforts 
have  not  enjoyed  the  support  of  our  public  institutions. 

1893-1906;  reprint  1968),  4  vols. 

Antonio  del  Monte  y  Tejada,  Historia  de  Santo  Domingo  (1890;  reprint:  Ciudad  Trujillo,  1952-1953), 
3  vols. 

See,  for  example,  Emilio  Rodriguez  Demorizi,  Hostos  en  Santo  Domingo  (Ciudad  Trujillo, 
1939-1942),  2  vols. 


De  Windt  Lavandier     1 1 3 

In  my  personal  opinion,  our  country  is  in  great  need  of  institutions  that 
promote  the  studies  of  naval  historiography.  For  example,  the  creation  of  a 
special  department  at  Universidad  Autonoma  de  Santo  Domingo,  the  oldest 
university  in  the  New  World  and  a  very  prestigious  institution,  to  study  maritime 
and  naval  history  would  be  extremely  important. 

It  would  also  be  possible  to  integrate  a  special  branch  for  the  study  of  maritime 
history  with  the  collaboration  of  other  international  organizations  with  our 
government.  Proposals  for  such  a  development  could  be  made  through  the 
Museum  of  History  and  Geography  or  through  the  Academy  of  History  of  the 
Dominican  Republic. 

The  absence  of  a  sound  and  vigorous  branch  of  maritime  history  in  the 
Dominican  Republic  is  due  largely  to  the  imperatives  of  national  priorities;  we 
are  a  small  and  poor  country  and  must  husband  resources  accordingly.  The 
potential  for  cooperative  or  collaborative  efforts  with  international  organizations 
dedicated  to  maritime  research  may  provide  the  opportunity  to  overcome  the 
resource  limitations  and  permit  us  to  more  thoroughly  develop  and  better 
understand  this  important  aspect  of  our  nation's  history. 


11 

France 


Herve  Coutau-Begarie 


For  much  of  the  twentieth  century,  France  has  maintained  a  leading  role  in 
the  study  of  history.  At  the  turn  of  the  century,  the  positivist  school  helped 
decisively  to  settle  the  emerging  rules  of  scholarly  history.  In  the  1930s,  the 
Annales  school  played  a  leading  role  in  the  revival  of  historical  studies  with  its 
interests  in  economy  and  social  history.  Today,  Fernand  Braudel,  Emmanuel  Le 
Roy-Ladurie,  and  Pierre  Chaunu  are  well  known  to  the  international  com- 
munity of  historians.  Yet,  despite  this  rich  relationship  with  historical  studies 
in  general,  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  the  same  positive  observations  can  be  made 
about  the  influence  of  the  French  school  on  maritime  history. 

Such  an  assertion  may  be  surprising.  France,  after  all,  has  played  an  important 
role  in  the  International  Commission  of  maritime  history.  It  was  through  French 
influence  that  the  revision  of  the  Glossaire  nautique  by  Jal,  and  the  creation  of  a 
maritime  history  working  group  five  years  later  at  the  Stockholm  Congress,  was 
approved  at  the  10th  International  Congress  of  Historical  Sciences  in  Rome  in 
1955.  The  first  international  symposia  were  organised  in  Paris  from  1956  to  1959 
by  the  Academie  de  Marine,  the  Comite  de  documentation  historique  de  la 
Marine,  the  Centre  national  de  la  recherche  scientifique  and  the  IVe  Section  de 
l'Ecole  pratique  des  Hautes  Etudes.  Subsequent  symposia  have  taken  place  all 
over  the  world,  but  the  mainspring  has  always  been  a  French  source.  Symposia 
products  were  also  for  some  time  published  by  the  S.E.V.P.E.N.  in  France,  in 
a  collection  known  to  all  maritime  historians. 

Given  all  this,  how  could  one  have  doubts  as  to  the  influence  of  French 
maritime  historiography?  The  balance  sheet  is  impressive,  but  it  is  essentially  the 
work  of  one  man:  Michel  Mollat,  President  of  the  International  Commission  of 
Maritime  History  for  twenty-five  years.  Mollat  authored  many  books,  served  as 
the  head  of  the  working  groups  for  the  revision  of  the  Glossaire  nautique,  of  a 
survey  concerning  the  marine  ex-votos,  and  of  a  bibliography  of  oceanic  routes. 
He  was  a  leading  figure  in  dozens  of  national  or  international  symposia  and, 
finally,  was  founder  of  the  Laboratorie  d'Histoire  maritime.  An  entire  article 
devoted  just  to  his  work  would  not  suffice  to  relate  his  contribution  to  maritime 

Herve  Coutau-Begarie,  Le  phSnomene  Nouvelle  Historie,  Grandeur  et  dkadence  de  I'ecole  des  Annales 
(Paris:  Economica,  2e  ed.,  1989). 


1 1 6      France 

history.  Following  him  are  those  who  are  today  known  to  the  international  com- 
munity: Jean  Meyer,  Etienne  Taillemite,  Jean  Boudriot,  and  Philippe  Masson. 

But  French  maritime  historians  have  been  unable  to  establish  a  common 
methodological  approach  with  which  to  challenge  the  Anglo-Saxon  hegemony  in 
this  field.  The  reasons  for  this  situation  are,  of  course,  complex.  First,  we  have  to 
consider  the  absence  of  a  structure  around  which  French  maritime  historians  could 
gather.  For  instance,  there  is  no  counterpart  to  the  British  Navy  Records  Society  in 
France.  The  Commission  francaise  d'Histoire  maritime  (CFHM),  is  relatively  new, 
dating  back  only  to  1976,  and  its  means  have  always  been  very  modest.  For  various 
reasons,  the  integration  of  the  Commission  into  the  Comite  de  documentation 
historique  de  la  Marine,  which  was  logically  appropriate,  has  not  been  possible. 

Furthermore,  there  is  no  real  center  for  research  within  academia  except  the 
Laboratoire  d'histoire  maritime.  That  laboratory  was  created  in  1973  by  Michel 
Mollat  at  the  Sorbonne  when  the  IVeme  section  de  l'Ecole  pratique  des  Hautes 
Etudes  was  finally  integrated  into  the  Centre  National  de  la  Recherche  Scien- 
tifique.  Additionally,  no  journal  of  maritime  history  enjoying  the  same  impor- 
tance as  the  American  Neptune  or  the  Mariner's  Mirror  exists  in  France.  As  a  result, 
the  professional  articles  which  are  produced  are  dispersed  in  various  reviews,  the 
most  important  of  which  do  not  give  them  the  space  or  attention  they  deserve. 

In  1979,  the  CFHM  began  publication  of  a  Chronique  d'histoire  maritime,  which, 
in  fact,  is  more  a  simple  bulletin  than  a  true  review.  Of  course,  we  have  the 
excellent  review,  Neptunia,  published  by  the  Musee  de  la  Marine,  but  it  is  more 
interested  in  archeology  than  in  history,  and  its  size  prohibits  the  publication  of 
extensive  articles.  The  review  Marins  et  Oceans,  published  for  the  first  time  by 
the  CFHM  in  1990,  was  stopped  after  the  third  issue  with  a  change  in  the 
Commission's  editorial  policy.  The  same  situation  exists  in  the  publishing  of 
other  scholarly  maritime  and  naval  history;  for  instance,  the  well-known 
S.E.V.P.E.N.  no  longer  exists  after  having  once  been  the  publishing  resource 
for  substantive  studies. 

The  Service  historique  de  la  Marine  publishes  certain  works,  but  only  when 
they  are  the  result  of  researchers  using  the  documents  kept  by  that  Service.  Some 
works  remain  unpublished,  particularly  if  they  are  extensive,  unless  it  is  possible 
to  adopt  the  imperfect  solution  of  the  anastatic  process.  For  example,  the  work 
on  the  Chinese  Navy  by  Jacques  Dars  was  published  more  than  twenty  years 
after  its  examination  by  the  university,  and  the  book  by  Claude  Huan  on  the 
Soviet  Navy  in  the  Arctic  during  the  1940-1945  war  waited  more  than  ten  years 
for  a  publisher.  These  are  but  two  examples  among  others. 

This  lack  of  structure  has  created  an  unfortunate  separation  between  naval 
history  and  maritime  history.  The  former  has  suffered  from  a  long-lasting 

2  Naturally  there  are  other  centres  of  research  having  fewer  resources  such  as  Centre  d'historie  des 
Espaces  atlantiques  in  Bordeaux  under  the  supervision  of  Paul  Butel. 


Coutau-Begarle      117 

-I 

prejudice  against  military  history,  anathematised  by  the  Annales  school.  The 
study  of  naval  history  has  been  relegated  for  decades  to  retired  naval  officers  or 
ship  lovers,  interested  in  the  ships  themselves.  Thus,  naval  history  has  long 
focused  on  technique  and  tactics  and  emphasized  activities  of  ships-of-the-line 
or  the  actions  of  privateers  in  the  guerre  de  course.  Maritime  history,  on  the  other 
hand,  survived  by  adapting  itself  to  external  subjects  such  as  economic  history, 
through  which  its  revival  began. 

In  a  Revue  historique  article  in  1971,  Professor  Andre  Martel  foresaw  a  revival 
of  military  history  in  France.  It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  a  similar  occurrence 
has  been  observed  for  the  last  two  decades  in  the  studies  of  naval  and  maritime 
histories.  Both  have  finally  reached,  if  not  unity,  at  least  a  complementarity 
which  allows  them  to  coexist  in  academia.  The  number  of  studies  has  increased 
in  various  spheres.  Today,  French  maritime  history  covers  almost  all  historical 
research  fields,  although,  unfortunately,  some  important  areas  exhibit  weakness 
or  obsolescence.  As  an  initial  conclusion,  therefore,  we  may  say  that  the  results 
of  this  progress  remain  mixed. 

The  distinction  between  naval  history  and  maritime  history  has  given  rise  to 
some  disputes.  The  most  common  point  of  view,  in  accordance  with  the 
etymology  currently  being  accepted,  is  that  naval  history  should  include  every- 
thing which  concerns  the  ships  themselves,  while  maritime  history  would  be 
more  one  of  the  environment.  It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  debate  that  question 
here,  but  to  remain  with  the  commonly  accepted  interpretation,  naval  history 
means  the  history  of  the  military  forces  used  at  sea,  while  maritime  history 
concerns  all  the  rest.  This  division  has  the  advantage  of  being  easily  under- 
standable and  also  corresponds  in  a  certain  way  to  an  institutional  reality  which 
is  almost  sociological:  naval  historians  form  a  particular  group  in  which  academics 
remain  a  minority;  maritime  historians  are  much  more  numerous  and  more 
diversified,  while  at  the  same  time  more  closely  connected  to  academia. 

Naval  History 

Before  1940,  France  seemed  to  have  a  promising  and  solid  base  in  naval 
history.  Famous  historians  had  dedicated  their  studies  to  it:  Lacour-Gayet  wrote 
a  whole  set  of  volumes  on  French  maritime  and  colonial  policy  before  the 
Revolution.  Charles  de  la  Ronciere  wrote  a  monumental,  six  volume  Histoire 
de  la  marine francaise.  Although  his  history  was  never  completed,  the  final  volume 
he  produced,  concerning  Louis  XIV's  navy,  is  still  considered  a  reference  for  today's 
research. 


Herve  Coutau-Begarie,  "L'histoire  militaire  face  a  la  nouvelle  histoire,"  Strattgique,  18,  1986. 

This  statement  is  in  no  way  exhaustive.  Its  aim  consists  in  bringing  tendencies  to  the  fore  and  in  not 
seeking  an  exhaustive  evaluation.  The  only  works  mentioned  are  the  most  important  or  the  most 
significant  as  such. 


1 1 8      France 

The  historical  method  also  remained  highly  regarded  in  French  naval  circles  despite 
the  consequences  of  the  First  World  War.  Officers  studying  at  the  Ecole  de  guerre 
navale  were  typically  required  to  write  a  thesis,  and  most  often  they  were  of  a  historical 
nature,  with  a  predilection  for  works  on  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century 
periods.  For  this  reason,  we  have  a  number  of  important  studies  based  on  archival 
research  and  presenting  original  interpretations  which  have  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  public  by  historians  since  the  Second  World  War. 

This  tradition  continued  through  the  1950s,  with  an  inclination  towards 
contemporary  history.  Then,  in  the  following  decade,  it  was  interrupted  when 
military  teaching  turned  from  history  and  gave  priority  to  technical  subjects. 
This  lack  of  interest,  demonstrated  by  both  the  Navy  and  academia,  was  very 
harmful  to  the  progress  of  research.  It  was  only  in  the  1980s  that  naval  history 
was  revived  and  claimed  its  rightful  place  among  historical  studies. 

Contemporary  Naval  History.  Contemporary  naval  history  reached  an  excep- 
tional level  of  development  in  France  between  the  two  world  wars,  when  the 
memory  of  the  First  War  was  still  vivid,  furthering  the  publication  of  works  on 
naval  warfare.  The  undisputed  leader  of  that  form  of  literature  was  Paul  Chack,  who 
published  a  number  of  small  works  with  much  success,  and  which  have  recently 
been  collected  in  one  volume  by  Jacques  Antier.  Simultaneously  the  Service 
historique  de  la  Marine,  created  in  1920  by  Captain  Raoul  Castex,  began  publishing 
some  strategical  studies  through  its  historical  section.  Other  purely  historical  studies, 
written  primarily  by  Captains  Adolphe  Laurens  and  Louis  Guichard,  are  remarkable 
for  the  way  the  authors  scrupulously  used  official  records.  These  works  remain  useful 
today. 

This  worthy  historical  effort  was  brought  to  a  sudden  halt  by  the  Second 
World  War.  Of  course,  at  the  end  of  that  war,  just  as  in  1918,  a  number  of 
popular  works  on  naval  war  emerged.  Some  of  them  have  achieved  great  success, 
particularly  those  by  Jacques  Mordal  (pen  name  of  naval  doctor  Herve  Cras, 
who  also  wrote  several  other  works  on  the  Second  World  War) .  At  the  same 
time,  just  as  in  1918,  the  historical  section  of  the  Service  historique  de  la  Marine, 
renewed  publication  of  historical  studies  through  official  histories.  Cras  and 
Captain  Caroff  wrote  most  of  those  studies,  which  deal  with  almost  all  the 
theaters  of  operation:  Mediterranean,  Atlantic,  the  Channel,  North  Sea,  and 

See  for  instance  the  works  listed  in  the  bibliography  of  Philippe  Masson,  Histoire  de  la  Marine  (Paris: 
Lavauzelle,  1982,  volume  I). 

Paul  Chack  et  Jean-Jacques  Antier,  Histoire  maritime  de  la  premiere  guerre  mondiale  (Paris:  France-Empire, 
1970  in  3  volumes  and  1992  in  one  volume). 

Adolphe  Laurens,  Histoire  de  la  guerre  sous-marine  allemande  (Paris:  Editions  maritimes  et  coloniales, 
1930);  he  commandement  naval  en  Mediterranee  (Paris:  Payot,  1931);  Precis  d'histoire  de  la  guerre  navale  (Paris: 
Payot,  1929);  Louis  Guichard,  Histoire  du  blocus  naval  1914-1918,  (Paris:  Payot,  1929). 


Coutau-Begarie      119 
Indochina.  Other  similar  works  have  been  devoted  to  certain  postwar  events, 

Q 

particularly  the  colonial  war  in  Indochina  and  the  Suez  crisis. 

Unfortunately,  this  effort  was  stopped  in  the  1960s  for  several  reasons.  The 
primary  one  was  the  lack  of  resources  available  to  the  Service  historique  de  la 
Marine,  but  the  slow  progress  of  granting  access  to  official  records  or  documents 
to  unofficial  researchers  also  contributed  to  the  problem.  Thanks  to  the  1979 
change  in  French  national  security  law,  which  reduced  the  required  time  delay 
for  opening  records  to  the  public  from  fifty  to  thirty  years,  part  of  the  access 
problem  has  been  alleviated.  Still,  we  must  contend  with  the  fact  that  many  of 
our  historical  records  suffered  significant  disorder,  or  even  destruction,  both 
during  the  1940  French  collapse  and  during  military  actions  before  and  after 
Liberation.  Therefore,  reconstitution  of  naval  archives  has  been  difficult  and 
only  partially  successful.  Additionally,  some  of  the  series  in  the  French  naval 
archives  are  incompletely  listed  or  without  detailed  inventories.  This,  of  course, 
further  complicates  the  researcher's  task. 

Despite  the  various  limitations,  the  contemporary  period  is  the  best  studied. 
Among  the  best  works  are  those  by  Philippe  Masson,  head  of  the  historical 
section  of  the  Service  historique  de  la  Marine,  and  those  by  Claude  Huan, 
dispersed  through  many  articles  and  conference  papers. 

A  number  of  French  researchers   have   extended  their  consideration  of 

maritime  issues  beyond  France.  Here  too,  Captain  Claude  Huan  has  studied 

Soviet  and  German  naval  history  in  a  number  of  important  articles  and  begun  a 

history  of  the  German-Soviet  war,  the  first  volume  of  which  has  just  been 

published.    Captain  Francois-Emmanuel  Brezet  chose  to  study  the  Imperial 

1  o 
German  Navy;  his  original  analysis  of  the  Jutland  battle     replaces  the  famous 

book  by  Captain  Georg  von  Hase,  La  bataille  du  Jutland  vue  du  Derflinger,  which 

had  impressed  many  French  naval  officers  in  the  1930s. 

We  are,  however,  unable  to  mention  any  noteworthy  study  on  the  Royal 

Navy  (contrary  to  what  happens  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel),  or  on  the 

Q 

Herve  Cras,  Les forces  maritimes  du  Nord,  1955;  C.F.  Caroff,  Le  thS&tre  atlantique,  1958—1959;  Le  tht&tre 
mtditerranken,  1960;  Les  formations  de  la  marine  aux  armies,  1953,  reed.  1984;  La  campagne  de  Norvege,  1955, 
reed.  1986;  Herve  Cras,  L'armistice  de  juin  1940  et  la  crise  franco-britannique,  1959;  C.F.  Caroff,  Les 
dSbarquements  alliis  en  Afrique  du  Nord  (Novembre  1942),  1960,  reed.  1987;  Andre  Reussner,  Les  conversations 
franco-britanniques  d'Etat-Major  (1935-1939),  1969;  V.A.E.  Chaline  et  C.V.  Santarelli,  Historique  des  Forces 
navalesfrancias  libres,  t.  1, 1989;  Jacques  Michel,  La  marine francaise  en  Indochinede  1939  a  1956,  1972-1977, 
reed.  1991-1992;  Philippe  Masson,  La  crise  de  Suez,  1966. 

Claude  Huan,  La  marine  sovietique  en  guerre.  I  Antique  (Paris-Caen:  Economica-Memorial,  1990). 
Two  other  volumes  will  follow:  one  for  the  Black  sea,  another  for  the  Baltic.  Huan  has  already  published 
a  great  number  of  studies,  mainly  in  the  1960s  in  Revue  Maritime. 

This  author  has  previously  published  important  articles:  "Une  flotte  contre  l'Angleterre.  La  rivalite 
navale  anglo-allemande  1897-1914"  in  Marins  et  Ockans  /(Paris:  1991);  "Le  croiseur  de  bataille:  mythe 
ou  realite,"  in  Marins  et  Odans  II  (Paris:  1992). 
11    F.E.  Brezet,  Le  Jutland  1916  (Paris:  Economica,  1992). 


120     France 

navies  of  Italy  and  Japan.   Contemporary  naval  history  in  France  remains 

markedly  introverted. 

Despite  the  individual  efforts  noted  above,  there  are  a  considerable  number 

of  lacunae  in  contemporary  French  naval  history.  It  is,  for  instance,  obvious  that 

biographical  research  lags  in  France.  Most  of  the  British  admirals  of  the  First 

World  War  had  their  biographies  written;  this  is  not  the  case  for  the  French 

admirals.  Admiral  Guepratte,  well  known  for  his  gallantry  during  the  First  World 

War,  was  the  only  one  to  be  the  subject  of  biographies,  but  they  are  all  too  often 

anecdotal  or  hagiographic.   None  of  the  chiefs  of  the  naval  staff  nor  the 

commanders-in-chief  of  the  French  fleet  have  been  accorded  this  honor. 

1  o 
With  regard  to  the  Second  World  War,  only  two  admirals,  Castex      and 

Darlan,     have  had  biographies  published;  the  former  as  a  naval  thinker  and  the 

latter  for  his  political  importance.  This  course  of  events  seems  surprising, 

particularly  when  we  recall  the  important  role  played  by  several  other  admirals, 

such  as  de  Laborde,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  French  High  Sea  Forces  at  the 

time  of  the  scuttling  of  the  French  Navy  in  Toulon  in  November  1942;  or 

Muselier,  Commander  of  the  Free  French  Naval  Forces  until  his  break  with  de 

Gaulle;  or  Abrial,  who  defended  Dunkirk,  was  governor  of  Algeria  after  1940, 

and  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Navy  during  the  dramatic  events  leading  to  the 

scuttling  of  the  fleet. 

There  are  many  more  examples  of  the  lack  of  biographical  research  of  French 

naval  history  in  France.  Through  the  work  of  Philippe  Masson,  we  do  have  a 

general  history  of  the  French  Navy  during  the  Second  World  War.     This  work 

replaces  the  obsolete  and  inadequate  one  by  Admiral  Auphan  and  Jacques 

Mordal,     whose  work  suffered  from  the  research  restrictions  noted  earlier.  The 

history  by  Philippe  Masson  is  a  synthesis  of  complementary  investigations  into 

the  mass  of  documents  kept  in  Vincennes.  There  is  no  comparable  work  for  the 

First  World  War,  which  has  been  widely  neglected  since  the  death  of  Henri  Le 

Masson.  The  fundamental  reference  about  the  Navy  of  the  Belle  Epoque  remains 

American  Theodore  Ropp's  work,  written  between  the  two  wars  at  the  time 

when  the  public  record  offices  were  closed  (although  there  is  a  study  in  progress 

by  Admiral  Ausseur).      Another  key  work  is  the  study  by  Genevieve  Salkin 

on  naval  attaches,  bringing  to  naval  history  the  methods  of  prosopography. 

Herve  Coutau-Begarie,  Castex  le  stratege  inconnu  (Paris:  Economica,  1985). 

Herve  Coutau-Begarie  et  Claude  Huan,  Darlan  (Paris:  Fayard,  1989),  followed  by  Lettres  et  notes  de 
I'amiral  Darlan,  (Paris-Caen:  Economica-Memorial,  1992). 

Philippe  Masson,  La  marine  Jrancaise  et  la  guerre  1939-1945  (Paris:  Tallandier,  1991). 

Amiral  Auphan  et  Jacques  Mordal,  La  marine  Jrancaise  pendant  la  seconde  guerre  mondiale  (Paris:  Hachette, 
1958). 

Unpublished  for  a  long  time,  this  book  has  been  magnificently  edited  by  Stephen  Roberts:  Theodore 
Ropp,  The  Formation  of  a  Navy  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press  1987). 

Genevieve  Salkin-Laparra,  Marins  et  diplomates.  Les  attache's  nauals  1860-1914  (Vincennes:  Service 
historique  de  la  Marine,  1990). 


Coutau-Begarle      121 

Another  work  by  Philippe  Masson  concerns  the  postwar  mutinies,  but  no 
fundamental  study  exists  on  naval  law.  A  thesis  on  interwar  naval  policy 
was  abandoned,  but  we  shall  soon  have  a  book  published,  unfortunately 
posthumously,  by  Admiral  de  Lachadenede,  which  considers  the  French 

9ft 

Navy  during  the  Spanish  Civil  War.     As  for  the  study  of  the  officer  corps 

by  Ronald  Chalmers  Hood,  it  is  slightly  exaggerated  and  warrants  some 

21 

revision. 

Today,  ships'  histories  are  pursued  by  passionate  specialists.  One  of  the 
best  is  Robert  Dumas,  the  matchless  connoisseur  of  the  battleships.     While 

.9^ 

the  French  Fleet  Air  Arm  looks  forward  eagerly  for  a  historian,  Henri  Le 
Masson,  publisher  of  the  Flottes  de  Combat  and  a  renowned  historian, 
produced  several  remarkable  studies  on  the  history  of  the  light  craft  and  of 
submarines  from  a  broader  perspecive  than  that  usually  employed.  Captain 
Huan  is  also  working  on  a  revised  history  of  French  submarines. 

The  history  of  French  naval  thought  actually  lay  essentially  fallow  until 
the  launching  of  the  international  programme  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Fondation  pour  les  Etudes  de  Defense  Nationale  (FEDN),  to  which  historians 
from  eleven  countries  contributed.  The  studies  on  naval  disarmament, 
which  proliferate  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world,  are  very  rare  in  France.  The 
Washington  Conference  aroused  the  attention  of  a  German  historian  who 

97  >-»-. 

has  written  a  thesis  on  the  subject.      The  London  Conferences  also  await 

98 

a  French  historian's  approach. 

Philippe  Masson,  La  marine francaise  et  la  mer  Noire  (Paris:  Publicatioons  de  la  Sorbonne,  1982). 
1     Captain  Huan  is  working  on  this  subject.Philippe  Masson,  La  marine  francaise  et  la  mer  Noire  (Paris: 
Publications  de  la  Sorbonne,  1982). 

Rene  Sabatier  de  Lachadenede,  La  marine  francaise  et  la  guerre  civile  d'Espagne  (Vincennes:  SHM,  1994). 

Ronald  Chalmers  Hood,  Royal  Republicans,  French  Naval  Officers  Corps  between  the  Wars  (Batan  Rouge: 
Louisiana  Univ.  Press,  1985). 

Robert  Dumas,  Les  cuirassh  de  23  000  tonnes  (Brest:  Editions  de  la  Cite,  1980);  Le  cuirasse  Jean  Bart 
(Bourg-en-Bresse:  Marine  Editions,  1992). 

Let  us  mention  the  recent  creation  of  an  Association  pour  la  recherche  de  la  documentation  sur 
l'histoire  de  l'aeronautique  navale  (ARE) HAN),  3  Avenue  Octave  Greard.  00300  Armees. 

Henri  Le  Masson,  Du  Nautilus  au  Redoutable  (Paris:  1960);  Histoire  du  torpilleur  en  France  (Paris: 
Academie  de  Marine,  1966). 

L'AGASM  (Association  generale  des  anciens  sous-mariners)  has  a  remarkable  review  of  little 
diffusion,  Plongee,  which  has  published  several  issues  treating  of  highly  technical  questions  on  submarines 
of  the  main  sea  powers. 

France,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  Italy,  Belgique,  Portugal,  Rumania,  Sweden,  Finland,  United 
States,  Argentina.  Three  volumes  have  been  published  under  the  title  L'evolution  de  la  penste  navale, 
(Paris:  FEDN,  I,  1991;  II,  1992;  IN,  1993).  At  least  two  other  volumes  are  programmed. 

Hannsjorg  Kowar,  Die  Franzosische  Marinepolitik  1919-1914  und  die  Washingtoner  Konferenz 
(Stuttgaart:  Hochschulverlag,  1978);  a  digest  of  this  work  is  about  to  be  published  in  French. 

The  study  by  Maurice  Vai'sse,  Securite  d' aboard  (Paris:  Pedone,  1980)  is  most  particularly  dedicated 
to  general  disarmament  according  to  the  rules  of  the  SDN. 


1 22      France 

Today,  some  famous  events  need  reinterpretation.  For  instance,  the  1916 
Athens  affair  still  provokes  a  misplaced  reserve  in  historical  circles.  Nobody  wants 
to  shed  light  on  the  causes  which  resulted  in  that  show  of  force  which  culminated 
in  tragic  failure.  That  is  not  so  for  the  Mers  el-Kebir  episode,  but,  even  fifty 
years  later,  that  tragedy  warrants  historical  clarification.  For  instance,  all  existing 
sources  continue  to  give  the  erroneous  number  of  losses  as  1 ,294  killed,  while 
many  aspects  of  the  decision-making  process  are  left  undisclosed.  The  same 
can  be  said  of  the  scuttling  of  the  French  fleet  in  Toulon.  A  number  of  important 
messages  between  Toulon  and  Algiers  remain  unknown,  while  everyone  tells 
the  legend  of  a  major  SS  operation,  which  participated  with  only  a  small 
detachment. 

The  deficiencies  of  French  contemporary  naval  history  are,  in  fact,  logical,  if 
we  take  into  account  the  lack  of  interest  which  surrounds  naval  strategy  in 
France.  The  tradition  personified  by  Admiral  Castex  in  the  interwar  years  and 
following  the  renowned  authors  at  the  turn  of  the  century,  Admirals  Daveluy 
and  Darrieus,  has  fallen  by  the  wayside.  There  is  not  a  single  work  concerning 
French  naval  strategy,  outside  some  historical  works,  since  Espagnac  du  Ravay's 
1941  essay,  Vingt  arts  de  politique  navale,  written  by  order  of  Admiral  Darlan.  By 
contrast,  consider,  for  instance,  that  in  the  1970s  and  1980s,  approximately  ten 
books  concerning  naval  strategy  were  published  in  England  by  authors  such  as 
Sir  James  Cable,  Eric  Grove,  and  Rear- Admiral  Richard  Hill. 

This  is  the  result  of  a  political  censorship  enduring  from  the  memory  of  the 
Second  World  War  (as  exemplified  by  the  absence  of  a  commemoration  of  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  Mers  el-Kebir,  the  official  celebration  of  which  was  strictly 
the  work  of  the  British).  It  is  due  also  to  an  instinctive  suspicion  towards  any 
reflection  that  could  threaten  the  delicate  consensus  about  defence  policy.  Further- 
more, it  is  the  consequence  of  a  sensitive  juxtaposition  of  hierarchical  interests, 
divided  between  a  lack  of  interest  for  genuine  research  and  a  particular  interest  in 
preventing  even  a  muffled  criticism  of  its  actions.  The  freedom  of  expression  that 
favored  research  on  strategy  and  history  through  the  1930s  simply  does  not  exist 
anymore.  There  is,  of  course,  the  beginning  of  a  scholarly  interest  in  French  naval 
strategy  following  1945,  but  the  results  of  these  efforts  are  still  undetermined. 

Contemporary  naval  history,  despite  all,  is  tied  to  an  understanding  of 
previous  periods. 

Ancient  Naval  History.  The  deficiencies  in  French  maritime  and  naval 
historiography  are  particularly  manifest  with  regard  to  antiquity.  We  can  note 
only  a  few  works,  which  are  generally  governed  by  an  archeological  approach. 


Herve  Coutau-Begarie  et  Claude  Huan,  Mers  el-Kebir.  La  rupture franco-britatmique,  (Paris:  Economica, 
1994). 

For  example,  studies  still  unpublished  by  Philippe  Ouerel  on  the  naval  policy  of  the  4th  Republic 
and  Jean-Marc  Balenci  on  naval  diplomacy  in  the  Indian  ocean  since  1967. 


Coutau-Begarie      123 

The  most  impressive  study  concerning  Roman  history  was  presented  by  Michel 

-11 
Redde,  and  focused  on  the  Roman  Imperial  Navy.     This  monumental  work 

stands  out  because  of  a  very  erudite  analysis  of  the  infrastructure  of  naval  bases 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Roman  Navy.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  noted  that 
his  consideration  of  naval  tactics  and  strategic  employment  of  fleets  was  some- 
what thin;  Redde  did  not  take  a  keen  interest  in  these  important  aspects  of  naval 
warfare.  It  is  to  Jean  Pages'  works  that  one  must  turn  for  treatment  of  those 
features  of  ancient  naval  warfare. 

There  has  been  little  work  on  Greek  naval  history  (with  the  singular  exception 
of  a  small  book  by  Jean  Rouge,  who  presented  a  very  short  synthesis  of  the 
subject)  until  the  studies  by  Jean  Pages  on  naval  thought,  armament,  tactics,  and 

thalassocracies.  Still,  these  articles,  dispersed  in  different  publications,  provide 

-19 

materials  for  synthesis  in  future  publications. 

The  current  disinterest  in  ancient  naval  history  contrasts  notably  with  the 
nineteenth  when  Admiral  Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  Admiral  Serre,  and  Professor 
Cartault  acted  as  pioneers  in  the  field.  Historians  of  ancient  naval  wars  still 
appreciate  their  studies,  despite  their  age.  One  must  also  note  that  there  is  a 
recent  work  in  French  on  ancient  ships,  Le  Musee  imaginaire  de  la  marine  antique. 
It  was,  however,  written  by  Lucien  Basch,  a  Belgian  specialist,  and  to  credit  his 
excellent  work  to  the  French  school  would  be  inappropriate. 

Medieval  Naval  History.  Medieval  history  is  just  slightly  better  off.  Here 
again,  there  are  only  a  few  names  worthy  of  mention.  One,  of  course,  must  be 
Professor  Mollat,  whose  interests  lay  more  in  maritime  history  than  in  naval 
history.  Nevertheless,  he  contributed  to  naval  history  in  a  number  of  his  works. 
Another  historian,  Anne  Martin-Chazelas,  has  shed  light  on  the  question  of  the 
Clos  des  Galees,  which  was  the  first  real  attempt  to  establish  a  naval  dockyard 
in  France.  Her  study,  however,  is  based  on  a  set  of  unique  documents. 
Furthermore,  the  life  of  Jean  de  Vienne  still  awaits  a  sound  biography. 

Some  incidents  mentioned  in  the  works  by  Charles-Emmanuel  Dufourq  on 
Catalonia,  Michel  Balard  on  Genoa,  Freddy  Thiriet  on  Venice,  and  Clause 
Cahen  on  the  Crusades  make  one  regret  the  absence  of  naval  historical  studies 
on  those  subjects.     Maurice  Lombard  has  opened  new  avenues  for  consideration 

%  1 

Michel  Redde,  Mare  Nostrum  Les  infrastructures  de  la  marine  romaine  h  Vepoque  imperiale  (Rome:  Ecole 
francaise  de  Rome,  1987). 

Jean  Pages,  "La  pensee  navale  atheienne  au  Ve  siecle"  in  Herve  Coutau-Begarie,  L'evolution  de  la 
pensee  navale  I,  1991;  "La  pensee  navale  hellenistique"  in  L'euolution  de  la  pensee  navale  //(Paris:  FEDN, 
1992);  "Les  armes  navales  dans  l'Antiquite,"  Marins  et  Oceans  II  (Paris:  FEDN, 1991);  "Etudes  sur  le 
combat  naval  antique,"  Marins  et  Oceans  III,  1992;  "Y  a-t-il  eu  une  pensee  navale  romaine?"  V  Evolution 
de  la  pensee  navale  III;  "Les  Thalassocraties  antiques"  et  "Geostrategie  maritime  d'Athenes"  in  Herve 
Coutau-Begarie,  La  lutte  pour  V empire  de  la  mer  (Paris:  1993). 

For  instance,  La  vie  quotidienne  des  gens  de  mer  en  Atlantique,  Moyeti-Age-XVe  sikle  (Paris:  Hachette,  1983). 

See  Economic  History  in  the  present  paper. 


1 24      France 

or 

in  his  work,  but  they,  too,  have  not  been  pursued.  In  France,  there  are  no 
works  comparable  to  those  of  Lewis  or  Pryor. 

It  is  important  when  discussing  this  era  to  mention  the  activities  of  scholars 
devoted  to  research  of  Byzantine  history  and  among  these,  particularly  Helene 
Archweiler,  with  her  primary  work  on  this  subject,  Byzantium  and  the  Sea. 
This  enormous  work,  almost  exhaustive  for  all  that  concerns  the  structure  and 
the  organization  of  the  Byzantine  navy,  has,  unfortunately,  serious  shortcomings 
in  the  areas  of  tactics  and  strategy.  We  find  the  same  institutional  tendencies  in 
the  works  of  Helene  Antoniadis-Bibicou.  For  example,  the  nearly  total  absence 
of  reference  to  the  very  rich  Byzantine  naval  thought,  which  is  known  only  by 
the  work  of  Alphonse  Dain,  who  is  preoccupied  with  establishing  a  critical 
edition  of  historical  texts  and  providing  a  philological  study  of  them  without 
trying  to  single  out  main  trends  in  tactical  or  strategic  terms. 

Very  few  works  can  be  mentioned  on  Arab  or  Ottoman  naval  histories  in  the 
Mediterranean.  One  exception,  Michel  Lesure,  has  devoted  several  works  to 

in 

the  Ottoman  fleets  and  to  Turkish  naval  thought.  It  is  symptomatic  to  note 
that  the  remarkable  work  by  John  Guilmartin  on  galley  warfare  has  made  little 
impact  in  France. 

Modern  Naval  History.  Modern  naval  history  is,  save  for  the  contemporary 
era  mentioned  above,  the  period  best  represented  in  French  historiography.  It 
is  the  period  in  the  French  Navy's  heritage  which  has  the  richest  and  most 
interesting  information.  Richelieu  is  the  true  founder  of  the  modern  French 
Navy,  and  nineteenth  century  historians  have  already  emphasized  the  Cardinal's 
impact  on  naval  issues.  Following  Richelieu,  the  credit  for  the  resurrection  of 
the  French  Navy  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV  belongs  to  Jean  Baptiste  Colbert. 
The  question  has  been  entirely  reexamined  during  the  last  two  decades.  Cardinal 
Richelieu  has  been  subject  of  several  studies,  but  the  most  interesting  results, 
covering  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  have  been 
achieved  by  Jean  Meyer  and  his  colleagues,  who  have  worked  since  the  1970s 
with  the  group  at  the  Laboratoire  d'histoire  maritime  (CNRS  Paris-Sorbonne). 
Jean  Meyer  started  his  career  as  historian  of  nobility,  but  his  research  turned 

Maurice  Lombard,  Espaces  et  reseaux  du  haut  Moyen-Age  (Paris-La  Hayre:  Mouton,  1972). 

Archibald  Lewis,  Naval  Power  and  Trade  in  the  Mediterranean,  AD  500-1100  (New  Jersey:  Princeton 
Univ.  Press,  1951)  and  John  H.  Pryor,  Geography,  Technology,  and  War:  Studies  in  the  Maritime  History  of 
the  Mediterranean  649-1571  (Mass.:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1988). 

Helene  Archweiler,  Byzance  et  la  mer  (Paris:  Presses  Universitaries  de  France,  1966). 

Michel  Lesure,  Lepante  (Paris:  Gallimard-Julliard,  Archives,  1974). 
39   Ibid. 

John  Guilmartin,  Gunpowder  and  Galleys,  Changing  Technology  and  Mediterranean  Warfare  at  Sea  (Mass.: 
Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1974).  Jean  Pages  prepares  a  translation  accompanied  by  commentaries  of  Delia 
Milizia  Marittima  (1542)  composed  by  the  Venitian  admiral  Da  Canal  who,  in  the  third  book,  exposes 
the  tactics  of  the  Venetian  fleet  at  Lepanto  (1572). 


Coutau-Begarie      125 

progressively  towards  naval  history,  where  he  has  achieved  very  important 
results,  and  has  compiled  his  studies  in  works  of  synthesis  written  in  collaboration 
with  Martine  Acerra.  Daniel  Dessert  produced  a  revisionist  work  on  the  navy 
of  Louis  XIV.  It  is  a  very  remarkable  work,  though  unfortunately  it  is  marred 
by  hostility  to  Colbert.  The  systematic  study  of  the  documents  dealing  with  the 
shipyards,  and  maritime  administration,  particularly  the  records  of  the  Inscription 
maritime  (administration  of  the  French  professional  seamen  created  by  Colbert) , 
has  opened  new  avenues  to  maritime  scholarship,  which  are  quite  different  in 
many  aspects  from  those  obtained  through  the  classical  approach  founded  on 
the  studies  of  naval  campaigns  and  ministers'  papers.  For  example,  this  new 
approach  has  ended  the  myth  about  the  effects  of  the  battle  of  la  Hougue  and 
partly  rehabilitates  Pontchartrain's  reputation. 

Andre  Corvisier  observed  at  the  beginning  of  the  1 970s  that  the  revival  of 
military  history  was  achieved  by  means  of  the  history  of  military  men;  in  other 
words,  through  social  history  applied  to  the  army.  A  similar  approach  may  be 
observed  in  naval  history,  particularly  in  modern  times.  Indeed,  naval  history 
benefits  directly  from  the  results  of  research  in  economic  and  social  history.  In 
terms  of  social  history,  one  can  see  this  in  the  monographs  on  ports,  such  as  those 
produced  by  Alain  Boulaire  on  Brest,  by  Martine  Acerra  on  Rochefort,  and  by 
Jean  Peter  on  Toulon.  In  his  thesis  on  la  guerre  de  course,  Philippe  Villiers 
succeeded  in  reviving  the  subject  from  a  military  point  of  view,  largely  by  using 
methodologies  belonging  to  economic  history. 

The  studies  on  social  history  are  widely  dispersed  at  the  extremeties  of  the  naval 
hierarchy.  They  range,  on  the  one  hand,  from  lower  work  by  Andre  Zysberg  on 
galley  rowers,  and  Alain  Cabantous'  study  on  mutineers  and  deserters,  to  several 
studies  on  officers,  most  particularly  on  admirals.  The  thesis  by  Jacques  Aman  on 
"blue"  officers  was  widely  noted  when  it  was  published  in  1976.  More  recently, 
we  have  the  enormous  work  by  Michel  Verge-Franceschi  on  flag  officers,  which 
is  full  of  details  on  admirals'  genealogies.  Unlike  earlier  studies,  these  works  do 
not  focus  on  tactics  or  strategy. 

Martine  Acerra  et  Jean  Meyer,  La  grande  epoque  de  la  marine  a  voile  (Rennes:  Ouest-France,  1988); 
Marine  et  Revolutions  (Rennes:  Ouest-France,  1991).  Let  us  mention  also  his  contribution  "L'Europe  et 
le  mer,"  in  Andre  Corvisier  et  al.,  L'Europe  a  Louis  XVI,  1990.  On  "la  guerre  de  course,"  see  the 
posthumous  work  by  Auguste  Toussaint:  Avant  Sucouf;  Corsaires  en  ocean  Indien  (Aix:  Publications  de 
l'Universite  d'Aix-Provence,  1989). 

Patrick  Villiers,  Le  commerce  colonial  atlantique  et  la  guerre  d'Independance  americaine,  1976  and  Marine 
royale,  corsaires  et  traffic  dans  V Atlantique  de  Louis  XIV ci  Louis  XVI,  1990.  On  "La  guerre  de  course";  the 
posthumous  work  by  Auguste  Toussaint,  Avant  Surcouf:  Corsaires  en  I'ocian  Indien  (Aix:  Publications  de 
l'Universite  d'Aix-Provence,  1989). 

Andre  Zysbert,  Les  galeriens  (Paris:  Le  Seuil,  1987). 

Alain  Cabantous,  La  vergue  et  lesjers.  Mutins  et  deserteurs  dans  la  marine  de  Vatiaetme  France  (Paris:  Tallandier,  1 984) . 

Jacques  Aman,  Les  offiders  bleus  dans  la  marine  jrancaise  au  XVIIIe  siecle  (Paris-Geneve:  Droz,  1976). 

Michel  Verge-Franceschi,  les  officers  generations  de  la  marine  au  XVIIIe  rikle  (Paris:  Librarie  de  l'lnde,  1990). 


1 26      France 

It  must  be  pointed  out  that  the  studies  which  formerly  would  have  been 
labelled  "naval,"  that  is  to  say,  focused  on  tactics  and  strategy,  are  not  insig- 
nificant. The  research  led  by  Jean  Meyer  and  his  colleagues,  specially  those  on 
ports  and  naval  bases,  gave  historians  a  better  understanding  of  the  logistical 
imperatives  which  weighed  heavily  on  navies  in  the  days  of  sailing  ships. 
Research  on  galley  rowers  have  also  allowed  scholars  to  create  a  model  which 
explains  the  way  galleys  were  manned  and  operated  in  battle  (Zysberg,  for  that 
purpose,  obtained  assistance  from  a  physicist).  The  research  concerning  officers 
and,  particularly,  admirals  has  brought  to  light  masses  of  documents  that  provide 
a  better  view  on  naval  operations.  Finally,  it  is  important  to  mention  the 
fundamental  contribution  that  Jean  Boudriot  has  made,  which  offers  new  insight 
on  the  technical  aspects  of  battleships.  Boudriot's  contribution  is  fully  as 
important  as  J.S.  Morrison's  on  the  problem  of  the  trireme. 

Besides  the  works  which  disassociate  themselves  from  the  old  approach,  one 
can  not  ignore  the  persistence  or,  rather,  the  revival  of  studies  having  a  more 
traditional  perception;  that  is  to  say,  a  viewpoint  centered  on  tactics  and  strategy. 
First  among  them  are  those  by  Captain  F.  Caron  on  the  capitulation  of 
Louisbourg  in  1758  and  on  the  War  of  Independence,  to  which  he  will  soon 
add  a  work  on  Suffren's  campaigns.  Francois  Caron  has  reached  conclusions 
which  have  been  disputed  by  some  Anglo-Saxon  authors,  but  his  detailed 
knowledge  of  seafaring  has  helped  him  to  take  the  lead  in  certain,  little 
understood  aspects  of  naval  warfare,  such  as  the  problem  of  the  continuity  in 
the  line-ahead  battle  formation. 

Other  studies  are  in  process.  Michel  Depeyre  is  writing  an  anxiously  awaited 
thesis,  the  first  of  its  kind,  on  naval  thought  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  There  is  also  a  revival  of  biographical  studies  after  several 
decades  of  indifference.  The  well- written  and  popular  biographies  based  on 
rather  limited  documentation  by  Jean  de  la  Varende  have  been  followed  by  new 
studies  on  Duquesne  by  Michel  Verge-Franceschi,  and  on  Tourville  by  Marc 
Vigie.     Suffren  has  been  the  subject  of  less  convincing  biographies. 

The  period  of  the  French  revolution  and  the  Imperial  period  have  tradition- 
ally remained  the  field  of  a  very  learned  but  isolated  group  of  historians. 

Jean-Boudriot,  Le  vaisseaux  de  14  cations  (Paris:  4  vol.,  1976-1978);  Les  vaisseaux  de  la  Compagnie  des  bides 
(Paris:  1990). 

Francois  Caron,  La  guerre  iticomprise  ou  les  raison  d'un  echec.  Capitulation  de  Louisbourg  (Vincennes:  SHM, 
1983).  La  victoire  volee.  Bataille  de  la  Chesapeake  (Vincennes:  SHM,  1989).  Jacques  Aman,  Utie  campagne  navale 
meconnue  A  la  ueille  de  la  guerre  de  Sept  Ans.  L'escadre  de  Brest  en  1755  (Vincennes:  SHM,  1986). 

See  his  study  on  "Le  vicomte  de  Grenier:  Heritier  de  Bigot  de  Morogues  ou  disciple  de  Suffren?" 
in  L' evolution  de  la  pensee  navale  ///(Paris,  1993). 

See  his  articles  on  Hoste  and  Clerk  in  L'evolution  de  la  penske  navale  I  et  II. 

Michel  Verge-Franceschi,  Abraham  Duquesne,  huguenot  et  matin  du  Roi  Soleil  (Paris:  France-Empire,  1992). 

52   Marc  Vigie,  Tourville  (Paris:  Fayard,  1993). 
Marc  Vigie,  Tourville  (Paris:  Fayard,  1993). 


Coutau-Begarie      1 27 

Following  A.  Thomazi  and  Captain  Muracciole,  Rear-Admiral  Maurice 
Dupont  has  just  crowned  his  extensive  research  with  a  biography  of  Decres, 
Minister  of  the  Imperial  Navy  Department.  The  nineteenth  century  is  not  so 
well  represented,  despite  an  extensive  field  of  research  which  has  scarcely  been 
explored.  Bernard  Lutun  is  currently  working  in  this  area. 

The  Contribution  of  French  Orientalists.  France  has  always  had  a  great 
interest  in  the  Far  East,  but  naval  studies  in  that  area,  while  important,  are  few 
in  number.  Arab  sources  have  been  studied  by  Rear  Admiral  Henri  Labrousse 
in  articles  recently  gathered  in  a  single  volume  concerning,  principally,  the  Red 
Sea.  Chinese  naval  history  has  benefited  from  the  thesis  by  Jacques  Dars,  although 
it  was  long  delayed  in  publication,  as  mentioned  earlier.  Dars  deepened  the  intuitive 
ideas  of  Lo  Jun  Pang,  whose  pioneer  work  dealt  with  the  expansion  of  the  Chinese 
Navy  from  the  Song  period  to  the  Ming  period.  It  is  a  very  highly  focussed  work, 
but  one  of  very  high  quality. 

Compared  to  what  is  typical  practice  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
the  results  achieved  by  French  naval  historians  are,  all  in  all,  rather  poor.  The 
chasm  which  has  for  so  long  divided  the  Navy  and  acadamia,  the  lack  of  tradition 
in  maintenance  of  archives,  and  the  destructive  effects  of  domestic  and  interna- 
tional disruptions  have  taken  their  toll  on  French  sources.  The  harmful  effect  of 
this  combination  of  factors  continues  to  hamper  research. 

For  instance,  we  must  observe  that  the  continued  publication  of  important 
documents  has  never  been  the  rule  in  France.  The  Fench  naval  classics,  from  Hoste 
to  Castex,  have  not  been  republished.  The  memories  of  most  of  the  great  sailors  cannot 
be  found  today,  and  there  are  no  collections  of  documents  similar  to  those  so  frequendy 
found  in  political,  administrative  and  economic  history.  This  is  a  real  and  eminendy 
prejudicial  deficiency,  for  which  there  appears  to  be  no  solution  whatsoever. 

All  the  same,  French  naval  history  remains  largely  inward-looking.  However,  it 
is  true  that  international  contacts  are  increased,  as  demonstrated  by  the  Franco- 
British  symposium  on  maritime  history,  held  since  1986  on  the  initiative  of  the 
Service  historique  de  la  Marine,  as  well  as  many  other  symposia.  But,  it  is 
impossible  to  mention  any  wide-ranging  study  on  Great  Britain,  Italy,  or  Japan. 
Claude  Huan's  research  on  the  Kriegsmarine  and  the  Soviet  Navy  are  an  exception. 

Particularly  his  very  important  contribution  to  the  Dictiomtaire  Napoleon,  by  Jean  Tulard,  (Paris:  Fayard,  1 987) . 

Amiral  Maurice  Dupont,  L'amiral  Decres  et  Napoleon  (Paris:  CFHM-Economica,  1991). 

An  enormous  work  of  almost  1 ,000  pages  on  the  Guerigny  forges;  "L'epuration  dans  la  marine 
1814-1817."  Revue  historique  285  (1992). 

Amiral  Labrousse,  Recits  de  la  mer  Rouge  et  de  V ocean  Indien  (Paris:  CFHM-Economica,  1992). 

en 

Jacques  Dars,  La  marine  chinoise  du  Xe  siecle  au  XIV  e  siecle  (Paris:  CFHM-Economica,  1992). 

The  acts  have  been  published  by  the  Service  historique  de  la  Marine:  Guerres  et  paix,  1660-1815 
(1986);  Les  empires  en  guerre  et  en  paix  1793-1860  (1988);  Francais  et  Anglais  en  Mediterranee  1789-1830 
(1990). 

Les  marines  de  guerre  europSennes  au  XVIIIe  siecle  (Paris:  Presses  de  l'Universite  de  Paris-Sorbonne, 


128      France 

Such  an  attitude  contrasts  sorely  with  the  numerous  contributions  coming  from 
abroad  which  have  been  beneficial  to  the  French  naval  history.  Consider,  for 
instance,  the  works  of  Jenkins,  Bamford,  Symcox,  T.  Le  Goff,  Dull,  Halpern, 
Ropp,  Kowark. 

Nevertheless,  a  perceptible  improvement  has  been  observed  during  the  last  two 
decades  as  the  summary  sketched  out  here  shows.  For  several  years  we  have  had  at 
our  disposal  some  instruments  of  research  which  were  previously  lacking  and  which 
now  signal  new  developments.  Rear  Admiral  Fremy  has  published  a  splendid 
dictionary  of  ships.  Etienne  Taillemite,  for  his  part,  is  the  author  of  an  exhaustive 
but  eminendy  readable  dictionary  on  French  sailors.  In  the  same  period,  we  have 
witnessed  the  publication  of  a  vast  synthesis  concerning  the  history  of  the  French 
Navy  by  Philippe  Masson.  It  is  rather  paradoxical  that,  previously,  the  primary 
reference  was  the  work  of  a  British  historian,  H.E.Jenkins,  which  was  published 
in  1973  and  translated  into  French  five  years  later.  In  that  book,  Jenkins 
expressed  the  perfect  synthesis  of  the  traditional  points  of  view,  certain  of  which 
were  being  challenged  by  the  conclusions  of  more  recent  research.  Philippe 
Masson's  book  was  followed  by  one  of  Etienne  Taillemite  in  such  a  way  that 
we  have  at  hand  two  works  with  diverging  views  on  the  same  subject.  They 
provide  a  genuine  basis  for  setting  aside  the  caricature  suggesting  that  "if  France 
is  not  ashamed  of  her  Navy,  the  Navy  has  some  grounds  to  be  ashamed  of  France" 
(Jenkins).  It  is  wrong  to  say,  notwithstanding  a  few  exceptions,  that  the  French 
governments  have  never  understood  their  Navy.  Masson  would  better  accuse 
the  naval  men  themselves,  with  their  lack  of  great  leaders  and  with  a  chronic 
lack  of  discipline  in  the  officer  corps.  For  his  part,  Etienne  Taillemite  considers 
first  the  structural  handicaps,  the  insufficient  coastal  populations,  the  lack  of  good 
Channel  harbours.  All  this  remains  a  problem  of  determinism  which  must  be 
considered  anew. 

1985);  Fleurieu  et  la  marine  en  son  temps  (Paris:  CFHM-Economica,  1992);  Marine  et  technique  au  XIXe 
siecle  (Paris:  IHCC-SHM,  1989);  Les  marines  de  guerre  du  dreadnought  au  nucleaire  (1988),  (Paris: 
IHCC-SHM,  1991). 

Paul  W.  Bamford,  Forest  and  French  Sea  Power  1660-1783  (Toronto:  Univ.  of  Toronto  Press,  1956); 
Jonathan  Dull,  The  French  Navy  and  American  Independence:  A  Study  in  Arms  and  Diplomacy  1774—1781 
(New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1975);  Paul  R.  Halpern,  The  Mediterranean  Naval  Situation 
1908—1914  (Cambridge:  Harvard  Univ.  Press,  1971);  Hannsjorg  Kowark,  Die  Franzosische  Marinepolitik 
1919-1924  und  die  Washingtoner  Konferenz  (Stuttgart:  Hochschulverlag,  1978);  TJ.A.  Le  Goff, 
"Problemes  de  recrutement  de  la  marine  francaise  pendant  la  Guerre  de  Sept  Ans,"  Reuu  Historique,  283 
(1990),  pp.  205-33;  Theodore  Ropp,  The  Development  of  a  Modem  Navy:  French  Naval  Policy  1871-1904. 
Edited  by  Stephen  S.  Roberts  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1987);  and  Geoffrey  Symcox,  The  Crisis 
of  French  Sea  Power  1688—1697:  From  the  guerre  d'escadre  to  the  guerre  de  course  (The  Hague:  Martinus 
Nijhoff,  1974). 

Raymond  Fremy,  Des  noms  sur  la  mer  (Paris:  ACORAM,  1991). 

Etienne  Taillemite,  Dictionnaire  des  marins  francais  (Paris:  Editions  maritimes  et  d'outremer,  1982). 

H.E.Jenkins,  Histoire  ignore"  e  de  la  marine  francaise  (Paris:  Albin  Michel,  1978). 

Philippe  Masson,  Histoire  ignoree  de  la  marine  (Paris:  Lavauzelle,  volume  1,  1982  and  volume  2,  1983). 

Etienne  Taillemite,  Histoire  ignoree  de  la  francaise  (Paris:  Perrin,  1988). 


Coutau-Begarie     129 

But,  again,  we  must  not  forget  that  those  very  few  works  are  insignificant 
compared  with  the  flowering  of  those  in  other  branches  of  the  French  historical 
research.  It  simply  indicates  that  a  vast  area  of  historical  research  remains  to  be 
carried  out. 

Maritime  History 

If  naval  history  has  a  clearly  delimitated  field  of  research,  the  same  does  not 
hold  true  for  maritime  history.  At  different  levels,  all  human  activities  have 
something  to  do  with  the  sea  in  such  a  way  that  maritime  history  deals  with  all 
fields  of  historical  research.  Despite  its  slow  development  in  France,  maritime 
works  are  numerous,  and  it  is  difficult,  within  the  scope  of  this  paper,  to  provide 
an  indicative  example.  Therefore,  it  seems  better  to  look  to  the  main  tendencies 
of  research  by  theme  rather  than  by  period. 

Bibliographies  and  Aids  to  Reseach.  Maritime  bibliography  was  overlooked 
for  a  long  time.  Finally,  in  the  1970s,  it  required  a  remarkable  collection  through 
the  work  of  Jean  Polak,  which  is  well-known  and  used  among  the  French 
maritime  historians.  One  can  follow  it  through  all  the  different  categories  in  the 
Bibliographie  ennuelle  de  Vhistoire  de  France. 

Some  remarkable  work  has  been  done  to  inventory  archival  sources.  Etienne 
Taillemite  and  Philippe  Henrat  have  done  this  for  the  Archives  Nationales.  The 
Service  Historique  de  la  Marine  has  made  a  similar  great  effort  but,  for  lack  of 
money,  the  inventories  made  during  the  last  few  years,  particularly  those 
concerning  contemporary  events,  have  not  all  been  published. 

Among  these  means  of  research,  while  we  must  regret  the  absence  of  ships 
lists  or  the  lack  of  biographical  dictionaries  (the  one  by  Taillemite  being  mostly 
centered  on  naval  officers),  we  still  must  mention  one  of  the  most  interesting 
efforts  in  contemporary  maritime  history:  the  revision  of  the  Qlossaire  nautique 
by  Jal,  initiated  by  Professor  Michel  Mollat  du  Jourdin  and  pursued  under 
Christiane  Villain-Gandossi's  leadership  within  the  scope  of  a  seminar  compris- 
ing several  dozens  of  specialists.  As  of  this  writing,  six  sections  have  been 
published,  as  far  as  the  letter  "I,"  and  a  seventh  has  gone  to  press.  It  is  needless 
to  insist  here  upon  the  exceptional  importance  of  such  a  revision.  Nevertheless, 
one  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  original  work  contains  much  information  that 
is  not  included  in  the  revised  edition. 

In  the  same  vein,  but  on  a  different  subject,  we  must  point  out  another 
undertaking  initiated  by  Michel  Mollat:  the  survey  of  the  votive  ships.  This 
investigation,  started  in  the  1970s  within  the  Laboratoire  d'histoire  maritime,  is 
now  completed.  Such  a  work  is  extremely  useful,  not  only  for  art  history,  but 
also  for  the  history  of  ship-building  and  for  the  history  of  seafaring  peoples. 
Unfortunately,  because  of  budget  difficulties,  we  regret  that  nothing  of  it  has  yet 
been  published. 


1 30      France 

General  Works.  We  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  ground  lost  by  French  maritime 
history  when  we  perceive  the  scarcity  of  that  kind  of  work.  Marine  et  Oceans  by 
Philippe  Masson,  which  concerns  only  the  contemporary  period,  is  an  excep- 
tion. There  is  no  recent  scholarly  synthesis  on  maritime  history  except  the  very 
recent  work  by  Michel  Mollat:  L'Europe  et  la  met.  It  is  clear  that  there  are  no 
general  studies  in  French  about  the  history  of  the  oceans.  L'Histoire  de  VAtlantique 
by  Jacques  Godechot  dates  back  to  1947  and,  so  far,  has  not  been  replaced.  On 
the  Indian  ocean,  we  have  Histoire  de  V ocean  Indien  (1961)  by  Auguste  Toussaint. 
The  author  died  before  completing  the  second  edition.  Such  an  important  work, 
still  partly  obsolete,  can  only  be  completed  by  fragmentary  eighteenth  century 

/TO 

studies  and  by  others  on  the  history  of  the  Mascarenhas  Islands.  We  may  well 
ask  if  Auguste  Toussaint,  although  born  in  Mauritius  and  a  French-speaking 
historian,  may  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  French  maritime  history,  rather 
than  to  that  of  Mauritius. 

We  have  no  general  French  study  on  the  Pacific  ocean.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  much  more  surprising  when  we  see  the  lack  of  a  similar  work  on  the 
Mediterranean;  the  sea  so  close  and  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  many  Frenchmen. 
The  principal  work  of  Fernand  Braudel,  la  Mediterranee  et  le  monde  mediterraneen 
h  Vepoque  de  Philippe  II,  belies  the  lack  of  general  study  on  the  Mediterranean  in 
French.  However,  we  must  mention  Jean  Rene  Vanney,  author  of  an  erudite 
study  on  the  Southern  Seas,  which  helped  to  fill  the  gap.  In  spite  of  all,  there 
is  much  to  do  in  order  to  ensure  that  non-specialists  might  easily  have  sufficient 
documentation  at  hand.  The  bibliographical  references  at  the  end  of  Vanney's  book 
contain  a  warning  which  could  be  valid  for  many  oceans  of  the  world:  "The  place 
occupied  by  the  often  translated  French  works  is  so  modest  that  a  grave  question  is 
posed  as  soon  as  we  want  to  facilitate  an  easy  access  for  the  non-specialist."' 

What  is  true  for  the  regional  synthesis  is  also  true,  to  a  large  extent,  for  very 

71 

particular  studies.  French  maritime  studies  are  very  much  in  need  of  works 
designed  to  put  within  easy  reach  of  the  readers  research  results  which,  in  spite 
of  all,  are  still  going  on  very  actively. 

Underwater  Archeology.  Naval  archeology  has  been  somewhat  neglected  by 
academia,  but  it  has  succeeded  in  becoming  implanted  in  the  CNRS  and  also  in 
the  Ministere  de  la  Culture.  The  benefit  of  this  was  the  creation  in  1970  of  the 
Department  of  submarine  archeological  research  (DRASM),  which  from  that 

Philippe  Masson,  Marine  et  oceans  (Paris:  Imprimerie  nationale,  1982). 

Michel  Mollat  du  Jourdin,  L'Europe  et  la  mer  (Paris:  Le  Seuil,  1993). 

Auguste  Toussaint,  Histoire  de  I 'ocean  Indien  (Paris:  Presses  Universitaires  de  France,  1961);  L'ocean  Indien 
au  XVIIIe  siecle  (Paris:  Flammarion,  1973);  Histoire  des  iles  Mascareignes  (Paris:  Berger-Levrault,  1972). 

Jean-Rene  Vanney,  Histoire  des  mers  australes  (Paris:  Fayard,  1986). 
70    Ibid.,  p.  699. 

Philippe  Masson's  book,  Grandeur  et  misere  desgetis  de  mer  (Paris-Limoges:  Lavauzelle,  1986),  is  an  exception. 


Coutau-Etegarie      131 

time  has  managed  all  underwater  finds.  The  results  of  that  research  have  appeared 
in  Gallia  and  in  Gallia  Informations.  A  review  of  underwater  research,  Cahiers 
d'archeologie  subaquatique,  began  publication  in  1972  and,  in  1977,  CNRS  com- 
menced publishing  another,  Archeonautica.  The  research  covers,  at  the  same  time, 
harbours  and  ships;  the  wreck  called  epave  de  la  madrague  de  Giens  (1st  c.  B.C.) 
for  instance,  has  been  the  subject  of  a  very  careful  research.  Among  the 
prominent  scholars  are  Patrice  Pomey  for  ancient  archeology  and  Eric  PJeth  on 
medieval  archeology.  These  authors  recently  presented  an  overall  survey  of 
researches  in  process  during  a  recent  symposium  on  maritime  heritage. 

Additionally,  as  a  matter  of  interest,  we  must  not  forget  to  mention  the 
archeological  excavations  near  Bercy.  These  two  4,500-year-old  dugouts  were 

•7-1 

recently  brought  to  light  thanks  to  a  research  group  of  the  Vieux  Paris.  In  yet 
another  area,  Gabriel  Camps  has  published  the  results  of  his  research  on  early 
navigation  in  the  Mediterranean  in  several  articles. 

Modern  naval  archeology  in  France  today  is  brilliantly  represented  by  Jean 
Boudriot.  All  maritime  historians  know  his  works  (I  have  already  mentioned 
those  on  the  74-gun  ships-of-the-line,  and  on  the  French  vessels  of  the 
Compagnie  des  Indes),  among  others  on  merchant  ships.  Jean  Pierre  Moreau 
has  worked  on  finds  in  the  Caribbean  and  specialized  in  archeological  treasures. 

With  regard  to  contemporary  naval  techniques,  we  could  bring  together  with 
industrial  archeology  certain  research  on  the  first  steamships,  or  those  on  the 
passengers  ships,  which  have  always  been  popular  with  the  public. 

Without  commenting  on  the  relationship  between  maritime  history  and 
interior  navigation  history,  it  is  important  to  remember,  just  as  a  matter  of 
interest,  the  very  active  groups  working  on  river  history  today. 

Finally,  we  must  speak  of  the  efforts  in  favour  of  the  maritime  preservation. 
Without  coming  under  maritime  history,  in  the  strict  sense,  preservation  is 
closely  linked  to  it.  The  international  symposium  held  in  Nantes  in  1991, 
organised  by  both  the  Ministere  de  la  Culture  and  the  CFHM,  provided  a 
summation  of  work  and  the  recent  initiatives  taken  in  a  long  neglected  area  of 
historical  research.  The  symposium  papers,  just  published,  define  a  part  for 
maritime  historians  in  the  process  of  restoring  maritime  heritage. 

Economic  History.  Economic  history  was  one  of  the  strong  points  of  the 
Annales  school,  and  it  is  only  natural  that  the  maritime  trade  benefited  from  its 
study.  This  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  important  theses  published  between 
the  1950s  and  1970s  which  cover  all  the  periods.  Regarding  antiquity,  the  work 

Le  patrimoine  maritime  etjluvial  (Paris:  Colloques  du  patrimoine,  1993). 

There  is  also  the  discovery  of  the  Henri  Cosquer  cave,  but  that  only  indirecdy  concerns  maritime  history. 
Jean-Pierre  Moreau,  Giude  des  trSsors  archeologiques  sous-marins  des petites  Antilles  (Paris:  J. -P.M.,  1988). 
Most  particularly,  the  numerous  works  by  Francois  Beaudouin. 


132      France 

by  Jean  Rouge  on  Roman  sea-trade,  followed  by  the  less  imposing,  but  very 
rich  work  by  Julie  Velissaropoulos  on  ancient  greek  maritime  institutions  set  the 
stage.  Considering  the  medieval  period,  the  fundamental  thesis  by  Michel 
Mollat  on  Norman  trade,     and  the  publication,  fifteen  years  later,  of  a  study  by 

7Q 

Henri  Touchard  on  the  commerce  of  Brittany  as  well  as  one  on  the  Bordeaux 
trade  by  Jacques  Bernard,  continue  the  tradition. 

The  Mediterranean  has  been  the  subject  of  several  important  studies;  Henri 
Bresc  on  Sicily,  Jean-Claude  Hocquet  on  Venetian  salt  trade,  Jacques  Heers 
on  Genoa,    Jean  Delumeau  on  Rome,     Michel  Balard  on  Genoese  Romania 

.  8£ 

and,  finally,  Freddy  Thiriet  on  Venetian  Romania.  Spain  has  been  less  studied 
than  Italy,  but  we  cannot  ignore  the  work  of  Charles-Emmanuel  Dufourcq  on 

87 

Catalonian  Spain  and  the  Maghreb,      and  another  on  Valencia  by  Catherine 

88 

Guiral.  The  north  of  Europe,  in  comparison,  has  received  much  less  investiga- 
tion than  the  Mediterranean.  Still,  there  are  at  least  two  important  studies:  one 
by  Stephane  Lebecq  on  the  medieval  Frisians,  which  is  an  exemplary  collabora- 

80 

tion  between  the  use  of  written  sources  and  archeology,  and  another  by 
Philippe  Dollinger  on  the  Hanse,  which  extends  substantially  into  modern 
times.  For  this  last  period  we  have  in  the  first  place,  the  monumental  and  justly 
famous  thesis  by  Pierre  Chaunu  on  Sevilla,      those  by  Frederic  Mauro  on 

09  Q^ 

Portugal  and  the  Atlantic,     Victor  Magalhaes-Godinho  in  the  Indian  ocean, 


Jean  Rouge,  Recherches  sur  I 'organisation  du  commerce  maritime  en  Mkditerranke  sous  I'Empire  romain 
(Rome:  Ecole  fracaise  de  Rome,  1966). 

Julie  Velissaropoulos,  Les  nauchUres  grecs.  Recherches  sur  les  institutions  maritimes  en  Grece  et  dans  V Orient 
hellenise  (Paris-Geneve:  Minard-Droz,  1980). 

Michel  Mollat,  Le  commerce  maritime  normand  a  la  fin  du  Moyen-Age  (Paris:  Plon,  1952). 

Henri  Touchard,  Le  commerce  maritime  breton  &  la  fin  du  Moyen-Age  (Paris:  Les  Belles-Le  teres,  Annales 
litteraires  de  l'Universite  de  Nantes,  1967). 

Jacques  Bernard,  Nauires  etgens  de  mer  &  Bordeaux  vers  1450  -  vers  1550,  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1968). 

81  HenriBresc,  UnmondemSditerraneeti.  Economic etsodeteen Sidle  1300-1450 (Rome:  Ecole  ftancaise  de  Rome,  1986). 

82  Jean-Claude  Hocquet,  Le sel etlafortum de  Venise,  1200-1650  (Lille:  Presses  de  l'Universite  de  Lille,  1978-79). 

83  Jacques  Heers,  Genes  au  XVe  siecle  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1961). 

84  Jean  Delumeau,  Vie  konomique  et  sociale  de  Rome  dam  la  seconde  moitU  du  XVJe  siecle  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N., 
1957-1959);  L'alun  de  Rome  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1962). 

85  Michel  Balard,  La  Romaine genoise,  Xlle  debut  de  XVe  siecle  (Rome,  Ecole  francaise  de  Rome,  1978). 
Freddy  Thiriet,  La  Romanic  vtnitienne  au  Moyen-Age.  Le  developpement  et  I' 'exploitation  du  domaine  coloniale 

vetiitien,  Xlle-XVe  siecle  (Paris:  de  Boccard,  1975). 

87   Charles-Emmanuel  Dufourcq,  L'Espagtie  catalane  et  le  Maghreb,  (Paris:  Presses  Universitaires  de  France,  1 965) . 

Catherine  Guiral,  Valence,  port  mediterraneen  (Paris:  Presses  de  la  Sorbonne,  1975). 

Stephane  Lebecq,  Marchands  ettiavigateursjhsotis  du  Haut-Moyen-Age  (Lille:  Presse  Universitaire  de  Lille,  1983). 

90  Philippe  Dollinger,  La  Hanse  (Paris:  Aubier,  1968). 

91  Pierre  Chaunu,  Seville  et  I'Atlantxque  12  vol.  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1955-1960). 

92  Frederic  Mauro,  Le  Portugal  et  I'Atlantique  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1960). 

Victor  Magalhaes-Godinho,  L'economie  de  I'empire  portugais  au  XVe  et  au  XVIe  siecle  (Paris:  Fondation 
Gulbenkian,  1969). 


Coutau-Begarie      133 

and  those  on  the  French  trade  during  the  eighteenth  century  by  Paul  Butel, 
Charles  Carriere,     Christian  Huetz  de  Lemps,     Louis  Dermigny,     Jean  Tar- 
rade     and,  finally,  the  very  recent  one  by  Jean  Ducoin. 

The  contemporary  period  has  received  much  more  attention  by  the 
economists  and  historians.  For  example,  I  note  the  work  of  Jean  HefFer  on  New 
York  harbour  during  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  who  employed 
the  methods  of  New  Economic  History.  All  the  works  just  mentioned  above 
are  the  best  known  and  are  directly  focused  on  maritime  history.  There  are, 
however,  many  others  which  also  consider  sea-trade.  The  slave-trade,  which  no 
one  dares  put  under  the  single  heading  "Economic  History,"  has  given  impetus 
to  rather  numerous  studies  of  mixed  interest. 

There  is  also  a  branch  of  maritime  history  which  is  all  too  often  forgotten:  the 
history  of  fishing.  It  is  usually  left  to  local  historians  who  have  produced  works  not 
easily  accessible:  we  cannot,  however,  ignore  important  contributions  in  this  field, 
such  as  the  one  by  Thierry  du  Pasquier  on  the  French  whaling  industry. 

Among  all  these  works  published  during  the  last  years,  we  must  preserve  a 
special  place  for  those  concerning  the  history  of  Marseilles.  This  is  largely  because 
of  their  quality,  but  it  is  also  thanks  to  the  support  constantly  provided  historians 
by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  this  premier  French  port.  This  fortunate 
collaboration  has  allowed  publication  of  numerous  works  in  a  unique  situation 
in  France.  Just  the  same,  there  are  also  numerous  histories  of  coastal  towns. 

History  of  the  French  Seafaring  People.  Social  history  has  been  another 
strong  point  of  the  Annales  school,  but  it  may  be  that  maritime  history  has  not 
benefited  from  this  as  much  as  it  has  from  economic  history.  Among  the  regional 
studies,  which  have  so  much  for  French  historians,  some  theses  deal  with 
maritime  populations.  The  northern  part  of  France  has  an  advantage  by  virtue 

of  the  1963  work  by  Jacques  Toussaert  on  the  population  of  the  Flemish  coast 

1  o^ 
at  the  end  of  Middle  Ages,       and  more  recently  another  by  Alain  Cabantous, 

Paul  Butel,  Les  negotiants  bordelais  au  XVIIIe  siecle.  L' Europe  et  les  iles  (Paris:  Aubier,  1974). 
Charles  Carriere,  Negotiants  marseillais  au  XVIIIe  siecle.  Contribution  &  I'etude  des  economies  maritimes  (Paris: 
1973). 

Christian  Huetz  de  Lemps,  Geographic  du  commerce  bordelais  alafin  du  regne  de  Louis  XIV  (Paris:  La  Haye, 
Mouton,  1975), 

Louis  Dermngy,  La  Chine  et  VOccident.  Le  commerce  a  Canton  au  XVIIIe  siecle  (Paris:  S.E.V.P.E.N.,  1964). 


98 


Jean  Tarrade,  Histoire  du  commerce  atlantique  au  XVIIIe  siecle,  these  inedite  (1976). 


Jean  Ducoin,  Naufrages,  conditions  de  navigation  et  assurances  dans  la  marine  de  commerce.  Le  cas  de  Nantes 
et  de  son  commerce  colonial  avec  les  Us  britanniques  (Paris:  Librairie  de  l'lnde,  1993). 

Parmi  les  plus  recents,  Jean-Michel  Deveau,  La  traite  rochelaise  (Paris:  Karthala,  1990);  Serge  Daget,  La 
traite  des  Noirs  (Rennes:  Ouest-France,  1990). 
101     Thierry  du  Pasquier,  Les  baleiniersfrancais  de  Louis  XVI  a  Napoleon  (Paris:  H.  Veyrier,  1990). 

See  the  series  edited  by  Lindt  and  published  in  Toulouse. 

Jacques  Toussaert,  Le  sentiment  religieux  en  Flandre  maritime  a  la  Jin  du  Moyen-Age  (Paris:  Plon,  1963). 


1 34     France 

which  covers  an  adjacent  region  in  more  modern  times.  Still,  one  would 
expect  to  find  a  greater  number  of  studies  concerning  the  coastal  regions.  In  fact, 
many  often  give  only  a  secondary  place  to  maritime  subjects. 

The  revival  in  understanding  seafaring  populations  was  accomplished  through 
the  history  of  mentalites.  Alain  Cabantous  has  made  an  important  contribution 
to  this  subject.  It  is  a  field  in  which  many  promising  points  of  view  have 
recently  been  observed,  for  example,  in  Alain  Corbin's  original  consideration 
of  the  coastal  region  during  the  nineteenth  century.  The  path  followed  by 
Corbin  is  particularly  interesting,  since  he  started  with  a  study  on  a  mountainous 
region  far  from  the  sea. 

This  very  short  account  should  be  considerably  extended  by  listing  all  the 
studies  that  dealt  incidentally  or  substantially  with  social  history,  and  this  is  also 
the  case  with  almost  all  of  the  studies  under  the  rubric  of  economic  history.  The 
work  by  Michel  Mollat,  which  bears  a  significant  subtitle,  "Studies  of  Economic 
and  Social  History,"  is  typical  of  the  Annales  school.  Among  recent  works  which 
illustrate  this  connection,  there  is  the  thesis  on  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo  by 
Andre  Lespagnol.  To  all  this,  one  could  add  other  numerous  works,  symposia 
proceedings  or  books  belonging  to  the  much  known  series,  La  vie  quotidienne  des 
gens  de  met  dans  I'Atlantique,  IXe—XVIe  siecle  by  Michel  Mollat;  La  vie  quotidienne 
dans  les  ports  mediterraneens,  by  Charles-Emmanuel  Dufourcq,  or  La  vie  quotidienne 
a  Bordeaux  au  XVIIIe  siecle  by  Paul  Butel  and  Jean-Pierre  Poussou. 

Colonial  history.  There  is  a  close  relation  between  maritime  history  and 
colonial  history,  the  latter  being  called  in  France  today,  "overseas"  history. 
During  the  nineteenth  century,  the  dependence  of  maritime  and  colonial  affairs 
on  a  single  ministry  was  institutional  in  France  but  has  since  been  abandoned. 
Nevertheless,  the  bond  between  them  has  remained  present  in  academia.  During 
recent  years,  colonial  history  has  enjoyed  a  brilliant  revival,  reaching  a  peak  at 
the  end  of  the  1980s  with  several  remarkable  works.  In  particular,  one  by 
Philippe  Haudrere,  La  Compagnie  francaise  des  Indes  1719-1795,  and  another  by 
Jacques  Weber  Les  etablissements  jrancais  en  Inde  au  XIXe  siecle  1816—1914,  were 
both  submitted  for  consideration  within  a  period  of  several  weeks  in  1987. 

These  two  theses  confirm  the  vitality  of  the  French  research  on  the  Indian 
Ocean.  Additionally,  a  group  led  by  Jean  Aubin  started  a  publication,  Mare 

104    Alain  Corbin,  Le  territoire  du  vide.  U Occident  et  le  desir  du  rivage  1 750-1850  (Paris:  Aubier,  1988). 

Alain  Cabantous,  Dix  mille  matins  face  a  Voce" an.  Les  populations  maritimes  de  Dunkerque  au  Havre  vers  1 660- 1 194 
(Paris:  Publisud,  1991). 

106  Alain  Corbin,  he  del  dans  la  met.  Christianisme  et  civilisation  maritime  XVe-XIXe  siecle  (Paris:  Fayard, 
1990). 

107  Andre  Lespagnol,  Ces  Messieurs  de  Saint-Malo.  Une  elite  negociante  au  temps  de  Louis  X/K(Saint-Malo: 
L'Ancre  de  Marine,  1991). 

See  for  instance,  the  Symposium  of  Boulogne  on  the  seafaring  populations;  the  proceedings  were 
published  in  a  special  issue  of  Revue  du  Nord,  1986. 


Coutau-Begarie      135 

Luso-Indicum,  in  the  1970s.  There  also  are  a  number  of  works  by  Genevieve 
Bouchon  on  India  during  the  Portuguese  investiture.  The  French  have  also  taken 
an  active  part  in  researching  South-East  Asian  history,  the  maritime  aspect  of 
which  is  clearly  evident.  This  sector  has  also  a  specialized  review,  Archipel,  and 
has  recently  benefited  by  the  monumental  thesis  on  Java  by  Denys  Lombard. 

Nineteenth-century  colonial  history  has  generated  many  works,  some  of 
which  contribute  to  the  maritime  dimension;  consider,  for  instance,  those  by 
Jean-Louis  Miege,  former  president  of  the  CFHM.  The  idological  aspect  in  some 
of  them  was  denounced  several  years  ago  by  Francois  Caron,  and  provoked 
a  controversy  with  Charles-Robert  Ageron,  but  this  must  not  overshadow 
their  important  role  in  the  development  of  maritime  history. 

The  history  of  explorers  cannot  be  ignored  either.  Jehan  Desanges  has 
produced  a  very  important  study  of  the  Roman  activity  along  the  african  coast. 
But  nothing  exists  yet  in  French  which  equates  to  the  remarkable  analytical 
editions  of  the  ancient  Peripli  that  have  just  been  published  in  English.  Michel 
Mollat  studied  medieval  sea  voyages  and  edited  a  volume  on  the  Verrazano 
voyage;  Etienne  Taillemitte,  for  his  part,  edited  the  diary  of  La  Perouse;  Admiral 
de  Brossard  did  the  same  with  the  journal  of  Bougainville;  and  Numa  Broc  did 
so  with  the  journal  of  Pager.  Special  mention  must  also  be  made  of  Jean-Pierre 
Faivre,  for  his  important  study  of  the  South  Pacific  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

A  very  productive  and  specialized  branch  also  contributes  to  the  work  on  the 
explorers.  For  instance,  the  history  of  map-making,  as  exemplified  by  Mireille 
Pastoureau's  Voies  Oceanes,  or  the  oft-ignored  thesis  by  Yoro  K.  Fall  on 
Majorcan  portolan  charts  (showing  that  certain  coasts  were  known  before  the 
dates  of  their  official  discovery),  add  substantially  to  our  body  of  knowledge. 
For  the  contemporary  period,  Jacqueline  Carpine-Lancre  has  published  a 
number  of  works  on  oceanography. 

A  good  example  of  the  link  existing  between  both  disciplines  is  the  history 
of  naval  and  colonial  medicine.  This  is  a  specialized  subject,  but  demonstrates 
the  evolution  of  maritime  history  in  France.  As  General  medical  doctor  Niaussat, 

Denys  Lombard,  Le  carrefour  jauanais  (Paris:  Editions  de  l'EHESS,  1990). 

Francis  Caron,  La  Frame  des  patriotes,  volume  V  ofHistoire  de  France  by  Jean  Favier  (Paris:  Fayard, 
1987). 

This  is  clarified  in  a  long  letter  which  has  remained  unpublished  but  is  widely  known. 

1  1  0 

Jehan  Desanges,  Recherches  sur  les  activities  des  MediterranSens  le  long  des  cStes  africaines  (Rome:  Ecole 
francaise  de  Rome,  1980). 

Jean-Paul  Faivre,  L 'expansion francaise  dans  le  Pacifique,  1800-1842  (Paris:  Nouvelles  editions  latines,  1953). 
Mireille  Pastoureau,  Voies  oceanes.  Cartes  marines  etgrandes  decouuertes  (Paris:  Bibliotheque  nationale, 
1992). 

Yoro  K.  Fall,  L'Afrique  ci  la  connaissance  de  la  cartographie  modeme,  (Paris:  Karthala-CRA,  1982). 
Jacqueline  Carpine-Lancre,  Souuerains  ocSanographes:  Dom  Carlos  Ier  roi  de  Portugal  et  Albert  Ier prince 
de  Monaco  (Paris-Lisbonne:  Fondation  Gulbenkian,  1992). 


1 36      France 

one  of  the  leaders  of  the  naval  and  colonial  medicine,  put  it,  "It  has  been,  if  not 
ignored,  at  least  neglected  ..."  until  a  recent  date.  Here,  France  was  unques- 
tionably behind  Great  Britain,  Germany,  or  Italy.  There  are  only  several  isolated 
individuals,  (General  medical  doctor  Carre  on  history  of  the  naval  medical 
schools,  Dean  Jean-Pierre  Kerneis  on  medical  officers  serving  at  sea,  and 
Professor  Pierre  Huard  on  the  Far  East)  who  can  be  cited  in  this  field.  Even  so, 
starting  around  the  1980s,  we  have  observed  several  efforts  in  that  field,  along 
with  the  organization  of  conferences  on  the  history  of  naval  and  colonial 
medicine  and  with  the  increase  in  the  number  of  studies  under  the  auspices  of 
Niaussat  or  Carre.  Historians  have  stood  somewhat  apart  from  this  process, 
largely  because  of  their  lack  of  technical  knowledge.  Unfortunately,  Jacques 
Leonard,  who  was  the  exception,  was  not  able  to  create  a  viable  school  because 
of  his  untimely  death. 

•     •     • 

This  brief  survey  cannot  pay  homage  to  all  the  numerous  authors  who 
contributed  to,  enhanced,  and  revived  the  knowledge  of  maritime  history  in  its 
diverse  aspects.  To  the  individual  studies  cited  here,  one  must  add  a  great  number 
of  essay  collections,  particularly  when  considering  the  numerous  symposia  and 
countless  articles  of  high  quality  that  have  been  produced.  We  hope,  however, 
that  a  vision  of  a  French  maritime  and  naval  history,  after  a  too  long  period  of 
marginalization,  will  emerge,  fully  integrated  into  the  historical  studies  pursued 
in  academies  and  in  the  CNRS,  including  the  irreplaceable  contribution  of  the 
amateurs,  particularly  those  belonging  to  learned  societies  or  coming  from  the 
maritime  professions.  There  are  considerable  deficiencies  in  the  field,  but  there 
is  no  doubt  that  maritime  history  is  one  of  the  most  promising  fields  for  future 
work  and  development  in  the  years  to  come. 


Cf.  P.M.  Niaussat,  "A  propos  d'une  disciple  historique  trop  meconnue:  l'histoire  de  la  medecine 
navale  et  d'outremer,"  Chronique  d'histoire  maritime,  ler  semestre  1984,  no.  9. 


1 


Germany 


Kapitan  zur  See  Dr.  Werner  Rahn,  German  Navy 


Before  we  deal  with  naval  history  and  the  history  of  shipping  in  Germany, 
a  few  preliminary  remarks  of  a  linguistic  nature  and  definitions  with  regard 
to  contents  are  called  for  in  order  to  prevent  any  misunderstandings. 

Military  History  and  Naval  History:  Some  Remarks  on  Basic  Terms 

The  German  term  Schiffahrtsgeschichte,  literally  translated  as  the  "history  of 
shipping,"  can,  without  hesitation,  be  equated  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  term 
"maritime  history."  This  field  of  research  centers  on  the  ship  as  a  system  of 
transportation  with  its  economic,  social,  and  technological  context.  The 
development,  construction,  operation  and  handling,  manning,  and  ultimately 
the  fate  of  the  ship  as  well  as  many  other  spheres  are  fields  of  research  in  "maritime 
history." 

If  we  take  the  terms  "military  history"  and  "naval  history,"  it  is  clear  and 
simple  to  most  Anglo-Saxon  historians  what  these  terms  involve.  In  the  case 
of  "military  history,"  research  interest  focuses  on  land  forces,  i.e.  the  army, 
while  in  the  case  of  "naval  history"  this  interest  focuses  on  naval  forces  or — to 
put  it  in  more  general  terms — the  navy  as  an  armed  service.  Both  these  spheres 
are  subordinate  elements  of  general  history,  in  particular  that  of  strategy  and 
politics. 

In  contrast,  since  1945  in  Germany,  the  term  "military  history"  has  come  to 
be  accepted  as  a  generic  term  for  that  part  of  the  study  of  history  whose  central 
subjects  of  research  are  the  armed  forces  and  war.  Military  history  deals  with 
the  evolution  and  structure  of  the  armed  forces  and  their  position  in  state  and 
society.  Military  history  studies  the  importance  of  armed  forces  as  a  means  of 
policy  and  as  an  instrument  of  state  authority.  It  analyzes  the  problems  associated 
with  the  exercise  of  command  and  control  over  armed  forces  in  peacetime  and 
in  war  at  the  various  levels. 


A  recent  summary  of  the  development  of  military  historiography  in  Germany  may  be  found  in 
Roland  G.  Foerster,  "Military  History  in  the  Federal  Republic  of  Germany  and  the  Bundeswehr,"  in 
David  A.  Charters,  Marc  Milner,  and  J.  Brent  Wilson,  eds.,  Military  History  and  the  Military  Profession 
(Westport,  Conn,  and  London:  Praeger,  1992),  pp.  191-210. 


138     Germany 

In  this  sense,  "naval  history"  in  Germany  is  taken  to  mean  that  part  of  military 
history  which  focuses  its  study  of  the  above-mentioned  fields  of  research  on  the 
"navy"  as  an  armed  service.  When  the  term  "military  history"  is  used  in  the 
following  basic  remarks,  it  always  includes  "naval  history." 

However,  when  dealing  with  the  above-mentioned  fields  of  research,  there 
is  one  sphere  that  must  not  be  neglected,  as  it  is  the  greatest  challenge  for  military 
history — I  am  referring  to  war!  Ultimately,  armed  forces  are  raised,  equipped 
and  trained  so  that  they  can  one  day  be  sent  into  battle.  Thus,  it  is  not  only 
legitimate  but  imperative  that  military  history  also  deal  with  war  and  warfare  in 
the  widest  sense.  This  approach  to  research  would  appear,  on  the  face  of  it,  to 
be  self-evident;  however,  many  years  ago,  John  Keegan,  in  his  seminal  book  The 
Face  of  Battle,  pointed  out  critically  that  many  professional  historians  are  shy  of 
exploring  and  portraying  the  profundities  and  realities  of  the  phenomenon  of 
"war."    This  inhibition  is  also  widespread  in  Germany. 

Generally  speaking,  it  can  be  expected  of  the  military  historian  that  he  also 
has  a  certain  affinity  with  the  subject  of  his  research,  namely  the  military,  and 
that  he  possesses  a  modicum  of  basic  theoretical — and  if  possible  also  practical — 
knowledge  about  the  military  in  the  same  way  that  we  naturally  expect  an 
economic  historian  to  have  a  sound  basic  knowledge  of  economic  theory.  John 
Keegan  is  thus  justified  in  demanding  that  the  military  historian  should  spend  as 
much  time  as  possible  among  military  personnel,  "because  the  quite  chance 
observation  of  trivial  incidents  may  illuminate  his  private  understanding  of  all  sorts 
of  problems  from  the  past  which  will  otherwise  almost  certainly  remain  obscured."' 

The  same  is  true  for  naval  history.  A  historian  who  studies  the  origins  and  use 
of  naval  forces  will  find  that  his  research  profits  greatly  if  he  has  ever  had  the 
opportunity  to  spend  some  length  of  time  aboard  a  warship.  He  will  find  it  easier 
to  evaluate  and  integrate  most  of  his  sources,  such  as  reports,  memoranda,  and 
planning  documents  from  all  levels  of  naval  command.  This  is  true  especially 
since  some  structural  factors  for  the  building  and  deploying  of  naval  forces  change 
only  very  little  over  time. 

Like  any  historian,  the  naval  historian  bears  a  great  responsibility  in  his  striving 
after  historical  truth,  if  he  wants  to  be  taken  seriously.  This  striving  will  never 
be  free  of  subjective  values.  The  uncritical  patriotic  history  which  used  to  glorify 
military  and  naval  actions  and  successes  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  Today,  some 
military  historians  tend  to  judge  personalities,  events,  and  structures  according 
to  today's  moral  categories,  and  they  end  up  "putting  the  past  on  trial,  and  since 
the  critical  historian,  armed  with  his  generation's  self-confidence  or  with  his 

See  Carl  von  Clausewitz,  Vom  Kriege,  Erstes  Buch,  II:  "Der  Soldat  wird  ausgehoben,  gekleidet,  bewaffnet, 
geiibt,  erschlaft,  ifit,  trinkt  und  marschiert,  alles  nur,  urn  an  rechter  Stelle  und  zu  rechten  Zeit  zufechten." 

John  Keegan,  The  Face  of  Battle  (London:  Jonathan  Cape,  1976),  p.  29. 

4     Ibid.,  p.  34. 


Rahn      139 

progressive  concept  of  the  future,  knows  everything  better,  in  this  trial  he  will 
be  prosecutor,  judge  and  legislator  all  in  one. 


,.5 


Research  into  German  Naval  History  after  1945 

After  1945,  the  documents  of  the  German  Navy,  preserved  almost  in  their 
entirety,  were  available  initially  only  to  the  Allied  forces'  historical  research 
sections.  The  files  were  transferred  onto  microfilm  on  a  large  scale;  where  more 
than  one  original  copy  existed — e.g.,  several  original  copies  of  war  diaries — the 
British  kept  copy  no.  1,  while  the  second  copy  went  to  Washington  D.C.  This 
was  the  case  with  numerous  U-boat  war  diaries  and  the  War  Diary  of  the  Naval 
Staff.  The  Allied  historians  evaluated  the  material  for  their  respective  official 
accounts  of  World  War  II,  as  is  apparent  from  numerous  references  in  the  various 
volumes.  In  most  cases,  however,  the  evaluation  was  confined  to  strategic  and 
operational  sectors  in  order  to  make  the  Allies'  corresponding  actions  and 
reactions  more  easily  understandable. 

On  the  German  side,  initially,  only  former  naval  officers  were  allowed  access 
to  selected  files.  On  behalf  of  the  British  Admiralty  or  the  U.S.  Navy,  they 
compiled  special  operational  and  tactical  studies  that  seemed  necessary  given  the 
fact  that  a  conflict  with  the  Soviet  Union  could  no  longer  be  ruled  out.  The 
long-serving  Head  of  the  Historical  Research  Department  of  the  Navy,  Vice 
Admiral  Kurt  Assmann,  for  example,  worked  in  London  writing  an  account  of 
the  naval  war  in  the  Arctic  Sea  from  the  German  point  of  view.  Grand  Admiral 
Karl  Donitz's  son-in-law,  Commander  Giinter  Hessler,  was  given  unlimited 
access  to  all  files  of  the  Naval  Staff  and  the  U-boat  Command,  in  order  to  write 
a  comprehensive  operational  history  of  the  Battle  of  the  Atlantic.  Hessler 
performed  this  task  in  an  outstanding  manner  and  produced  an  operational 
history  which  comprises  an  abundance  of  material  and  provides  precise  refer- 
ences throughout,  and  which  will  surely  remain  unequaled  for  a  long  time  to 
come.  The  British  Admiralty  had  the  three-volume  study  translated,  and  from 
1950  onwards  had  it  distributed  among  the  Royal  Navy  as  Confidential  Book 
OB.  4523,  later  renamed  B.R.  305.  The  third  volume,  covering  the  period  June 
1943  to  May  1945,  was,  however,  not  published  until  1977.  For  the  translation, 

Thomas  Nipperdey,  "Wozu  Geschichte  gut  ist,"  Militargeschichtliche  Mitteilungen,  41  (1987),  pp.  7-13, 
quotation  p.  9. 

See,  for  example,  Stephen  W.  Roskill,  The  War  at  Sea  1939-1945,  vol.  I,  The  Defensive,  (London: 
HMSO,  1954),  pp.  xix,  51-60. 

See  Christian  Greiner,  "'Operational  History  (German  Section)'  und  'Naval  Historical  Team,' 
Deutsches  militarstrategisches  Denken  im  Dienst  der  amerikanischen  Streitkrafte  von  1946  bis  1950," 
in  Manfred  Messerschmidt,  Klaus  A.  Maier  et  al.,  eds.,  Militargeschichte.  Probleme — Thesen — Wege, 
(Stuttgart:  DVA,  1982),  pp.  409-35. 

Vizeadmiral  a.D.  Kurt  Assmann,  "Die  deutsche  Kriegflihrung  gegen  den  englisch-russischen 
Geleitverkehr  im  Nordmeer  1941-1945,"  (unpublished  manuscript,  Bundesarchiv-Militararchiv, 
Freiburg:  RM  8/1126). 


140     Germany 

the  German  original  version  was  somewhat  abridged.  It  was  not  until  1989  that 
the  British  Ministry  of  Defence  decided  to  publish  the  study  in  the  form  of  a 
facsimile  edition.  The  German  Military  History  Research  Office  is  currently 
preparing  the  publication  of  the  original  German  version. 

The  favorable  source  situation — due  to  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  the  naval 
documents  were  soon  accessible  and  were  extensively  transferred  onto 
microfilm — at  an  early  stage  prompted  a  number  of  historians  in  America  to  deal 
with  the  individual  phases  and  problems  of  German  naval  history.  In  addition, 
this  group  of  documents  provided  an  excellent  starting  point  for  studying  the 
German  conduct  of  war  and  politics  during  World  War  II. 

From  among  the  numerous  research  studies,  this  article  will  mention  only 
the  works  of  Keith  W.  Bird,  Holger  H.  Herwig,  Daniel  Horn,  Ivo  Nikolai 
Lambi,  L.W.  Lewis,  Janet  M.  Manson,  Eric  C.  Rust,  Allison  W.  Saville,  Charles 
Thomas,  Gerhard  L.  Weinberg,  and  Gary  Weir. 

Any  new  research  into  German  naval  history  will  first  of  all  fall  back  on  a 
book  which  has  been  available  since  1985  and  which  is  likely  to  be  used  not 
only  as  an  indispensable  aid  but  in  many  cases  also  as  a  sound  guide:  I  am  referring 
to  Keith  W.  Bird's  bibliography,  which  he  compiled  in  an  exemplary  manner, 
entitled  German  Naval  History.  A  Guide  to  the  Literature.  This  work  completely 
covers  and  comments  on  the  entire  German  naval  literature  of  the  nineteenth 
and  twentieth  centuries.  In  addition,  it  is  a  comprehensive  research  report  which 
contains  only  few  gaps.  Bird  not  only  lists  sources  and  literature,  but  also  provides 
a  comprehensive  academic  historical  survey  to  which  the  individual  titles  are 
allocated  accordingly.  Bird  divides  German  naval  historiography  from  the 
nineteenth  century  to  the  present  into  six  periods,  and  the  demarcation  lines 
between  the  periods  are  generally  undisputed.  In  this  context,  only  the  last  two 
periods  are  of  interest:  the  period  from  1945  to  1965  and  the  period  from  1965 
to  the  present.  For  research  in  Germany,  the  year  1965  constituted  a  turning 

9  Ministry  of  Defence  (Navy),  German  Naval  History:  The  U-Boat  War  in  the  Atlantic,  1939-1945. 
Facsimile  edition  with  Introduction  by  AndrewJ.  Withers,  3  parts  in  1  volume  (London:  HMSO,  1989). 

Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt  or  MGFA. 

For  complete  bibliographical  datas  of  their  publications  up  to  1984,  see  Bird,  Keith  W.,  German  Naval 
History.  A  Guide  to  the  Literature  (New  York,  London:  1985).  Cf.  further  Janet  M.  Manson,  Diplomatic 
Ramifications  of  Unrestricted  Submarine  Warfare,  1939-1941  (New  York:  Greenwood  Press,  1990),  Gary  E. 
Weir,  Building  the  Kaiser's  Navy:  The  Imperial  Naval  Office  and  German  Industry  in  the  von  Tirpitz  Era, 
1890-1919  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1992),  Eric  C.  Rust,  Naval  Officers  under  Hitler:  The  Story  of 
Crew  34,  (New  York:  Praeger,  1991)  and  for  the  recent  publications  of  Holger  H.  Herwig:  "The  Failure 
of  German  Sea  Power,  1914—1945:  Mahan,  Tirpitz,  and  Raeder  Reconsidered,"  The  International  History 
Review,  February  1988,  pp.  68-105;  "Wolfgang  Wegener  and  German  Naval  Strategy  from  Tirpitz  to 
Raeder"  Introduction  to  Wolfgang  Wegner,  The  Naval  Strategy  of  the  World  War,  Classics  of  Sea  Power 
series  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute,  1989),  pp.  xv-lv;  "The  Influence  of  A.T.  Mahan  upon  German  Sea 
Power,"  in  John  B.  Hattendorf,  ed.,  The  Influence  of  History  on  Mahan,  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College 
Press,  1991),  pp.  67-80. 

12   Keith  W.  Bird,  German  Naval  History.  A  Guide  to  the  Literature  (New  York:  Garland,  1985). 


Rahn      141 

point  in  that  the  process  of  returning  most  of  the  naval  documents  to  Germany 
was  concluded  in  that  year.  Only  the  U-boat  files  of  World  War  II  remained 
until  1978  in  the  custody  of  the  British  Ministry  of  Defence,  which  was  very 
restrictive  in  allowing  use  of  these  documents. 

Besides  the  already  mentioned  naval  officers  who  worked  for  the  British 
Admiralty  or  for  the  U.S.  Navy,  Walther  Hubatsch,  in  1956—57,  was  the  first 
German  civilian  historian  to  be  allowed  access  to  the  German  naval  files  in  London; 
he  could,  however,  only  evaluate  them  in  parts.  His  findings  resulted  in  the  book 
Der Admiralstab  und  die  obersten  Marinebehorden  in  Deutschland  1848—1945  (Naval  Staff 
and  Supreme  Naval  Commands  in  Germany  1848—1945).  This  book  and  other 
works  by  Hubatsch  determined  for  a  long  time  how  the  historical  development  of 
the  Navy  was  viewed,  not  least  by  the  Navy  itself!  Thus,  initially,  one  book  remained 
largely  unnoticed,  a  book  that  was  published  in  1965  and  which  Bird  justly  calls  a 
"turning  point":  It  is  Jonathan  Steinberg's  work,  Yesterday's  Deterrent.  Tirpitz  and  the 
German  Battle  Fleet.  For  the  first  time  since  1945,  Steinberg — who  consulted  an 
extensive  wealth  of  original  sources — examined  the  background  against  which,  in 
the  late  nineteenth  century,  Tirpitz  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and 
Germany  began  building  a  battle  fleet. 

After  the  return  of  the  naval  documents  to  Germany,  from  1969  onwards  a  growing 
interest  also  emerged  among  researchers  in  Germany  in  studying  more  thoroughly 
the  strategic  and  political  aims  as  well  as  the  individual  military-technical  plans  of  the 
German  Naval  Command,  using  the  source  material  that  was  then  accessible.  In  this 
context,  it  is  noticeable  that  research  focused  on  the  following  points: 

•  Naval  arms  policy  in  Imperial  Germany,  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Grand  Admiral  Alfred  v.  Tirpitz,  in  charge  of  building  up  the  high  seas  fleet 
(Volker  Berghahn,  Wilhelm  Deist); 

•  The  continuity  or  discontinuity  of  naval  armaments  from  Emperor  William 
II  to  Hitler  (Jost  Dulffer,  Werner  Rahn,  Michael  Salewski); 


Walther  Hubatsch,  Der  Admiralstab  und  die  obersten  Marinebehorden  in  Deutschland  1848—1945 
(Frankfurt/M.:  1958). 

For  complete  bibliographical  datas  of  their  publications,  see  Bird,  German  Naval  History,  passim.,  and 
recendy  Volker  R.  Berghahn  and  Wilhelm  Deist,  Rustung  im  Zeichett  der  wilhelminischen  Weltpolitik. 
Grundlegende  Dokumente  1890-1914  (Dusseldorf:  Droste  1988)  and  Wilhelm  Deist,  "Kiel  und  die  Marine 
im  Ersten  Weltkrieg,"  in  J.  Elvert,  J.  Jensen,  and  M.  Salewski,  eds.,  Kiel,  die  Deutschen  und  die  See  (Stuttgart: 
Steiner,  1992),  pp.  143-54. 

For  complete  bibliographical  datas  of  their  publications,  see  Bird,  German  Naval  History,  passim.,  and 
recently  Michael  Salewski,  "Das  maritime  Dritte  Reich — Ideologic  und  Wirklichkeit  1933-1945,"  in 
Deutsches  Marine-Institut  and  Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  eds.,  Die  deutsche  Flotte  im 
Spannungsfeld  der  Politik  1848-1985.  Vortrage  und  Diskussionen  der  25.  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagung  der  Flotte 
1985,  Schriftenreihe  des  Deutschen  Marine  Instituts,  Band  9  (Herford:  Mitder,  1985),  pp.  1 13-39;  Werner 
Rahn,  "Kriegfuhrung,  Politik  und  Krisen — Die  Marine  des  Deutschen  Reiches  1914-1933,"  ibid.,  pp. 
79-104;  M.  Salewski,  "Deutschland  als  Seemacht,"  Kiel,  die  Deutscheti  und  die  See,  pp.  21-34;  Jost  Dulffer, 
"Wilhelm  II.  und  Adolf  Hitler.  Ein  Vergleich  ihrer  Marinekonzeption,"  ibid.,  pp.  49-69. 


142     Germany 

•  The  ideological  orientation  in  the  Naval  Command's  strategic  and  political 
thinking  up  to  1945;  and  the  planning  and  decision-making  of  the  Supreme 
Naval  Command  during  World  War  II  (Michael  Salewski,  Gerhard  Schreiber, 
Werner  Rahn).16 

After  Volker  Berghahn  published  his  seminal  book  on  Der  Tirpitz-Plan  in 
1971,  a  gap  still  remained  in  the  research  on  the  Imperial  Navy  which  was 
closed   only   recently  by  Michael  Epkenhans'   study  Die    Wilhelminische 

1  R 

Flottenriistung  1908—1914.  On  a  broad  basis  of  sources,  he  analyses  the  phase 
of  naval  armament  policy  which  Berghahn  had  already  characterized  as  a  "decline 
of  Tirpitz'  original  concept."  Epkenhans  establishes  that  Tirpitz  succeeded  until 
1914  in  keeping  his  armaments  program  going  despite  declining  public  en- 
thusiasm for  the  fleet  and  despite  political  doubts. 

As  historians  concentrated  on  the  Tirpitz  era,  two  important  phases  of  the 
Imperial  Navy  were  long  neglected:  the  time  before  1890,  and  World  War  I. 
Recently ,  Jorg  Duppler  presented  a  comprehensive  analysis  of  the  development 
of  the  Navy  from  1848  to  1890,  which  concentrates  mainly  on  naval  relations 
between  Germany  and  Britain.  Duppler  proves  in  great  detail  that  since  1848 
the  Royal  Navy,  by  selling  ships  and  training  officers,  gave  a  kind  of  "develop- 
ment aid"  to  the  fledgling  German  Navy. 

The  naval  historians'  reluctance  to  take  a  closer  look  at  war  itself  has  been 
mentioned  before.  It  is  particularly  evident  for  World  War  I.  All  the  documents 
are  well  catalogued  and  easily  accessible  in  the  archives,  and  they  challenge  the 
historian  to  revise  the  official  version  as  presented  in  Der  Krieg  zur  See  1914— 
19  IS.  Even  so,  in  recent  years  only  two  historians  dealt  with  questions  relating 
to  the  war  at  sea  from  1914  to  1918.  Bernd  Stegemann's  doctoral  dissertation 
analyzed  naval  policy  from  1916—1918,  mainly  concentrating  on  the  interdepen- 
dence  of  fleet  deployment  and  submarine  warfare.      In  his  Ph.D.  dissertation 

For  complete  bibliographical  datas  of  their  publications,  see  Bird,  German  Naval  History,  passim.,  and 
recendy  Werner  Rahn,  "Der  Seekrieg  im  Adantik  und  Nordmeer,"  Derglobale  Krieg.  Die  Ausweitung  zum 
Weltkrieg  und  der  Wechsel  der  Initiative  1941-1943  (Stuttgart:  1990)  [=  Das  Deutsche  Reich  und  der  Zweite 
Weltkrieg,  ed.  by  MGFA,  Vol.  6],  pp.  275-425.  [Paperback  edition:  Die  Welt  im  Krieg  1941-1943,  vol.  I: 
Von  Pearl  Harbor  bis  zum  Bombenkrieg  in  Europa  (Frankfurt  a.M.:  Fischer  Taschenbuch  Verlag,  1992),  pp. 
329-496],  and  W.  Rahn,  "Strategjsche  Wechselwirkung  zwischen  Nord-  und  Ostseekriegfuhrung  im  19. 
und  20.  Jahrhundert,"  Kiel,  die  Deutschen  und  die  See,  pp.  89-103. 

Volker  R.  Berghahn,  Der  Tirpitz-Plan.  Genesis  und  Verfall  einer  innenpolitischen  Krisenstrategie  unter 
Wilhelm  II  (Dusseldorf:  Droste,  1971). 

1  R 

Michael  Epkenhans,  Die  wilhelminische  Flottenriistung  1908-1914.  Weltmachtstreben,  industrieller 
Fortschritt,  soziale  Integration  (Munich:  Oldenbourg,  1991)  [  =  Beitrage  zur  Militargeschichte,  ed.  by 
MGFA,  vol.  32].  -  Cf.  in  this  context  also,  Weir,  Building  the  Kaiser's  Navy. 

Jorg  Duppler,  Der  Juniorpartner.  England  und  die  Entwicklung  der  deutschen  Marine  1848-1890, 
Schriftenreihe  des  Deutschen  Marine-Instituts,  Band  7  (Herford:  Mittler,  1986). 

Der  Krieg  zur  See  1914—1918,  ed.  by  Marinearchiv,  by  Kriegswissenschaftliche  Abteilung  der  Marine 
and  by  Arbeitskreis  fur  Wehrforschung,  22  vols.  (Berlin/Frankfurt/M.:  1920-1966). 
21    Bernd  Stegemann,  Die  deutsche  Marinepolitik  1916-1918  (Berlin:  1970). 


Rahn      143 

presented  in  1989,  Gerhard  P.  GroB — an  Army  major! — concentrates  entirely 
on  the  conduct  of  the  naval  war  in  1918.  A  comprehensive  study  of  the 
Imperial  Navy,  with  particular  emphasis  on  the  naval  war  of  1914— 1918,  similar 
to  Arthur  J.  Marder's  exemplary  five  volumes  on  the  Royal  Navy,  cannot  be 
expected  in  the  foreseeable  future. 

Even  the  Handbuch  zur  deutschen  Militdrgeschichte  1648—1939  (six  volumes, 
completed  in  1981)  makes  a  point  of  excluding  the  individual  campaigns  and 
wars.  The  military,  as  a  means  of  conducting  war,  was  meant  to  be  eclipsed  by 
the  military  as  a  structural  part  of  society.  However,  the  historical  process  called 
"war"  always  influences  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  the  military,  even  in 
peacetime.  It  is  regrettable  that,  while  this  seminal  handbook  contains  an  article 
on  the  principles  of  land  warfare,  a  similar  chapter  on  naval  warfare  was  not  even 
attempted. 

With  regard  to  the  German  naval  campaign  during  World  War  II,  and  the 
U-boat  campaign  in  particular,  an  abundance  of  widely  varying  literature  is 
available,  ranging  from  popular  general  accounts  to  special  studies  rich  in  material 
that  deals  with  operational  and  tactical  questions  regarding  the  employment  of 
surface  units  and  anti-convoy  operations  by  U-boats.  However,  there  is  as  yet 
no  comprehensive  learned  overall  account  of  the  naval  war  compiled  on  the 
basis  of  both  German  and  British  files.  The  World  War  II  series  edited  by  the 
MGFA  entitled  Das  Deutsche  Reich  und  der  Zweite  Weltkrieg  is  not  comparable 
in  its  conceptional  approach  to  corresponding  works  published  in  Great  Britain 
by  Stephen  W.  Roskill  and  in  the  USA  by  Samuel  Eliot  Morison.  Thus,  for 
instance,  in  volume  6,  Der  globale  Krieg.  Die  Ausweitung  zum  Weltkrieg  und  der 
Wechsel  der  Initiative  1941—1943,  the  account  of  the  Battle  of  the  Atlantic  from 
the  spring  of  1941  to  May  1943  had  to  be  confined  to  one  hundred  fifty  printed 
pages,  since  this  volume  with  a  total  length  of  1,181  pages  was,  after  all, 
designed  to  give  an  account  of  everything  that  happened  in  the  war  in  Europe, 
the  Mediterranean,  the  Atlantic  and  also  the  Pacific.  With  his  three-volume 
work,  Die  deutsche  Seekriegsleitung  1935—1945,  Michael  Salewski,     too,  was  not 

Gerhard  P.  GroB,  Die  Seekriegfuhrung  der  Kaiserlichen  Marine  imjahre  1918  (Frankfurt/M.,  Bern:  Peter 
Lang,  1989). 

For  the  naval  aspects,  see  Wolfgang  Petter,  "Deutsche  Flottenriistung  von  Wallenstein  bis  Tirpitz"  and 
Jost  Dulffer,  "Die  Reichs-  und  Kriegsmarine  1918—1939,"  Handbuch  zur  deutschen  Militdrgeschichte 
1648-1939,  ed.  by  Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  vol.  4  /  part  VIII  (Munich:  1978). 

See  Wolfgang  Petter,  "Ein  neues  Handbuch  zur  Marinegeschichte,"  Marineforum,  53  (1978),  pp. 
201-3,  and  the  critical  comments  of  Paul  Heinsius,  Hans-Otto  Steinmetz  and  Thilo  Bode,  ibid.,  pp. 
236  and  314-15. 

Volumes  1-6,  to  be  continued;  English  translation  published  by  Oxford  University  Press  under  the 
title,  Germany  and  the  Second  World  War. 

Cf.  Werner  Rahn,  "Der  Seekrieg  im  Atlantik  und  Nordmeer,"  Derglobale  Krieg,  pp.  275-425. 
27   Michael  Salewski,  Die  deutsche  Seekriegsleitung  1935-1945,  vol.1:    1935-1941  (Frankfurt  a.M.: 
Bernard  &  Graefe,  1970),  vol.  2:  1942-1945  (Munich:  1975),  vol.  3:  Denkschriften  und  Lagebetrachtungen 
1938-1944  (Frankfurt  a.M.:  1973). 


144     Germany 

able  to  study  and  describe  the  actual  naval  war;  rather,  he  concentrates  mainly 
on  the  events  at  the  heart  of  the  Naval  Command,  i.e.,  in  the  Naval  Staff,  where 
the  strings  were  pulled  and  the  decisions  taken.  With  regard  to  the  U-boat  war, 
the  interested  historian  continues  to  be  dependent  above  all  on  the  numerous 
works  by  Jiirgen  Rohwer.  In  addition,  the  memoirs  of  Erich  Raeder  and  Karl 
Donitz,  which  the  two  published  soon  after  their  release  from  Spandau,  are 
consulted  time  and  again.  English  translations  followed  a  few  years  later.  Today 
we  know  fairly  well  how  these  memoirs  came  to  be  written.  Raeder's  memoirs 
were  for  the  most  part  the  work  of  a  team  of  former  flag  officers  led  by  Erich 
Forste,  who  felt  particularly  attached  to  their  former  commander-in-chief.  Karl 
Donitz,  on  the  other  hand,  was  able  to  rely  on  the  already-mentioned  work 
by  his  son-in-law,  Giinter  Hessler,  of  which  the  latter  had  at  his  disposal  a 
complete  copy — either  unknown  to  his  British  employers  or  with  their  tacit 
permission.  At  any  rate,  it  later  struck  the  historians  in  Germany  that  the  U-boat 
files  used  by  Hessler,  and  later  also  quoted  by  Donitz,  had  not  been  freely 
accessible  to  researchers  until  1977.  It  was  not  until  1978  that  they  were 
returned  to  the  Federal  Republic  of  Germany,  and  they  are  now  in  Freiburg 
where  they  are  available  to  historians. 

In  addition,  the  notes  left  by  the  two  commanders-in-chief,  Raeder  and 
Donitz,  on  their  conferences  with  Hitler  continue  to  remain  an  indispensable 
source  for  any  research  activity  into  the  German  Navy  during  World  War  II. 
The  edition  of  these  conferences  with  their  numerous  annexes  contains  a  lot  of 
source  material  on  all  problems  of  naval  warfare  and  naval  armaments,  illustrating 
the  Naval  Command's  struggle  for  resources  and  priorities.  These  conferences 
were  first  published  in  English  in  1948  in  Brassey's  Naval  Annual.  In  this  version, 
however,  the  original  texts  were  abridged  in  places,  and  some  important  annexes 
to  the  conferences  are  also  missing.  This  information  is  of  particular  importance 
to  historians  from  English-speaking  countries,  since  an  unaltered  reprint  of  the 
1948  edition  was  published  in  1990  without  mentioning  the  missing  sections. 
This  reprint  unfortunately  also  contains  a  preface  giving  a  misleading  statement 

For  complete  bibliographical  datas  of  his  publications,  see  Bird,  German  Naval  History,  passim.  Cf. 
also  the  recently  published  new  edition  of  J.  Rohwer  and  G.  Hiimmelchen,  Chronology  of  the  War  at 
Sea  1939-1945.  The  Naval  History  of  World  War  Two  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute,  1992). 

Erich  Raeder,  Mein  Leben,  vols.  1  and  2  (Tubingen:  Schlichtenmayer,  1956-57),  English  translation 

in  one  volume:  My  Life  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1960).  Cf.  Salewski,  Seekriegsleitung,  vol.  2, 

p.  590. 
-irk 

Karl  Donitz,  Memoirs,  Ten  Years  and  Twenty  Days,  with  an  introduction  and  afterword  by  Jiirgen 

Rohwer  (Annapolis,  Md.:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1990).  Cf.  also  Dieter  Hartwig,  "Karl  Donitz  -  Versuch 

einer  kritischen  Wurdigung,"  Deutsches  Schiffahrtsarchiv,  12  (1989),  pp.  133-52. 

See  the  critics  of  Salewski,  Seekriegsleitung,  vol.  2,  p.  276,  note  21  and  p.  658. 

'   Gerhard  Wagner,  ed.,  Lagevortrage  des  Oberbefehlshabers  der  Kriegsmarine  vor  Hitler  1939-1945, 

(Munich:  Lehmanns,  1972). 

11 

Fuehrer  Conferetues  on  Naval  Affairs  1939-1945,  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1990). 


Rahn      145 

on  the  genesis  of  the  German  original  edition  of  1972.  Michael  Salewski,  in  his 
comprehensive  and  fundamental  study  of  the  German  Naval  Staff,  was  right  in 
pointing  out  that  the  topic  "German  naval  armaments"  deserved  "extensive 
special  treatment."  As  far  as  the  history  of  the  entire  German  U-boat  construc- 
tion is  concerned,  a  work  by  Eberhard  Rossler,  rich  in  material,  has  been 
available  for  quite  a  few  years.  It  is  indispensable,  above  all,  concerning 
technical  details  of  the  individual  types  of  U-boats  and  their  variants  as  well  as 
for  problems  concerning  the  mass  production  of  U-boats.  In  Das  Deutsche  Reich 
und  der  Zweite  Weltkrieg,  the  problems  of  the  German  war  economy  are  examined 
primarily  at  the  level  of  the  Wehrmacht  High  Command  and  the  Reich  Ministry 
of  Armaments  and  Ammunition.  The  analysis  focuses  on  Army  and  Luftwaffe 
armaments.  Naval  armaments  are  only  touched  upon,  which  means  that  the 
special  study  of  German  naval  armaments  during  World  War  II  based  on  the 
documents,  as  suggested  by  Salewski,  will  continue  to  remain  a  desideratum. 

Apart  from  the  OKW  (German  Supreme  High  Command)  War  diary,  the 
War  Diary  of  the  Naval  Staff,  Part  A,  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  most 
comprehensive  sources  for  World  War  II.  Day  by  day,  it  documents  the 
situation,  the  strategic  and  operational  deliberations,  and  decisions  of  the  naval 
high  command,  as  it  strove  assiduously  for  an  adequate  role  of  the  naval 
component  within  German  overall  warfare.  In  1988,  the  MGFA  began  to  publish 
a  facsimile  edition.  It  will  include  a  reprint  of  all  sixty-eight  volumes,  covering 
a  month  each,  from  August-September  1939  to  April  1945.  In  view  of  the 
enormous  size  of  this  publication,  which  will  run  to  some  35,000  pages  when 
it  is  completed,  the  editors  had  to  cut  rigorously  their  critical  apparatus.  Their 
annotations  concentrate  on  clarifying  difficult  handwritten  alterations,  notes  and 
inserts  as  well  as  on  cross-references  to  other  Naval  Staff  documents.  Even  so, 
on  average,  each  volume  contains  some  two  hundred  footnotes.  Even  if  this 
does  not  reach  the  standard  of  a  comprehensive  critical  edition,  this  procedure 
was  the  only  feasible  option  if  this  important  source  for  the  history  of  World 
War  II  is  to  be  made  available  to  researchers  at  large.  Forty-four  volumes  have 

Salewski,  Seekriegsleitung,  vol.  1,  p.  130,  note  98. 

Eberhard  Rossler,  The  U-boat.  The  evolution  and  technical  history  of  German  Submarines  (Annapolis: 
Naval  Institute  Press,  1981). 

Cf.  Das  Deutsche  Reich  und  der  Zweite  Weltkrieg,  vol.  5,  part  I:  B.  Kroener,  R.D.  Muller,  H.  Umbreit, 
Organisation  und  Mobilisierung  des  deutschen  Machtbereichs,  part  I:  Kriegsverwaltung,  Wirtschaft  und personelle 
Ressourcen  1939-1941  (Stuttgart:  DVA,  1988),  pp.  570-74,  626-30  (Muller)  and  pp.  966-80  (Kroener). 
Compare  in  this  context  the  documentation  of  Werner  Rahn,  "Einsatzbereitschaft  und  Kampfkraft 
deutscher  U-Boote  1942,"  Militargeschichtliche  Mitteilungen,  47  (1990),  pp.  73-132. 

P.E.  Schramm,  ed.  Kriegstagebuch  des  Oberkommandos  der  Wehrmacht  (Wehrmachtfuhrungsstab) 
1940-1945,  vols.  1-4,  (Frankfurt  a.M.:  Bernard  &  Graefe,  1961-1979). 

Werner  Rahn  and  Gerhard  Schreiber  with  the  assistance  of  Hansjoseph  Maierhofer,  eds., 
Kriegstagebuch  der  Seekriegsleitung  1939-1945,  Teil  A,  vol.  1  (August/September  1939  );  vol.  44  (April 
1943)  (Bonn,  Herford:  Mittler,  1988-93),  [to  be  continued]. 


146      Germany 

been  published  so  far,  containing  20,150  pages,  covering  the  period  up  to  April 
1943. 

In  concluding,  I  should  like  to  point  out  some  gaps  in  research.  So  far,  there 
are  no  comprehensive  biographical  analyses  for  either  Raeder  or  Donitz,  nor 
for  the  leading  admirals  of  the  Imperial  Navy,  including  Tirpitz.  For  the 
post- 1945  period,  there  are  only  very  few  studies  which,  based  on  original 
sources,  cover  the  origins  and  development  of  the  two  German  navies  between 
1955  and  1990.  The  three-volume  series  Anfdnge  westdeutscher  Sicherheitspolitik 
1 945—  1 956,  however,  presents  first  results  of  ongoing  research  into  the  origins 
and  beginnings  of  the  Federal  German  Navy. 

Naval  History:  The  State  of  Teaching 

German  universities  offer  naval  history  neither  as  an  independent  subject  nor 
in  specialized  courses.  As  a  consequence,  the  forces  are  the  only  organization  to 
teach  naval  history  on  various  levels  of  their  cadet  and  officer  training  programs. 
The  naval  cadets  receive  an  instruction  in  naval  history  as  part  of  their  term  with 
the  Naval  Academy,  Flensburg.  The  level  they  are  expected  to  achieve  is  defined 
as  follows: 

The  cadet  will  be  able  to  describe  the  development,  structure  and  tasks  of  German 
naval  forces  during  the  19th  and  20th  centuries  as  well  as  German  strategy  and 
naval  strategy  during  both  World  Wars.  As  a  future  leader  of  men,  he  has  to  be 
able  to  instruct  his  subordinates  on  the  origins  and  role  of  the  Navy  within  the 
Bundeswehr. 

During  a  cadet  course,  which  lasts  for  four  or  six  months,  twenty  or  thirty 
hours  respectively  will  usually  be  allotted  to  the  naval  history  teacher.  He  will 
explain  the  basic  pattern  of  naval  development  from  1 848  to  the  present,  with 
particular  emphasis  on  the  twentieth  century.  The  naval  cadet  will  be  acquainted 
with  the  strategic  aims  and  political  repercussions  of  Tirpitz'  fleet-building 
program  as  well  as  with  the  command  problems  of  the  World  War  I  German 
Navy.  Another  period  which  receives  special  attention  is  the  inter-war  years  and 
naval  warfare  1939—1945. 

The  Bundesmarine,  the  Federal  German  Navy,  has  been  in  existence  for 
nearly  forty  years  now,  which  is  longer  than  the  combined  lifespan  attained  by 
the  Reichsmarine  and  Kriegsmarine  from  1919  to  1945.  Therefore,  it  is 
necessary  and  legitimate  to  place  particular  emphasis  on  teaching  about  this 

Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  ed.,  Anfdnge  westdeutscher  Sicherheitspoltik  1945-1956,  vol.  1: 
Roland  G.  Foerster  et  al.,  Von  der  Kapitulation  bis  zum  Pleven-Plan  (Munich:  Oldenbourg,  1982);  vol. 
2:  Lutz  Kollner  et  al,  Die  EVG-Phase  (Munich:  Oldenbourg,  1989);  vol.  3:  Hans  Ehlert  et  al.,  Die 
NATO  -Option  (Munich:  Oldenbourg,  1993). 

Information  from  Commander  Dr.  Dieter  Hartwig  to  the  author,  May  1993. 


Rahn      147 

period,  even  more  so,  since  the  present  navy  was  founded  as  a  result  of  the  Cold 
War,  which  has  shaped  its  development  and  structure  up  to  1990. 

Since  1958,  a  large  "historical  collection"  has  been  available  as  a  valuable 
teaching  aid.  In  1976,  it  was  reorganized  into  the  "Naval  Historic  Training 
Center,"  which  combines  naval  history,  tradition  of  the  Navy,  and  teaching. 
This  collection  largely  resembles  a  museum,  and  will  be  discussed  later. 

Following  their  first  military  training  period,  the  cadets  or  young  officers  continue 
their  education  at  one  of  the  Bundeswehr  universities,  either  in  Hamburg  or 
Munich.  These  universities  do  offer  a  course  in  history,  but  it  is  largely  unconnected 
with  military  or  naval  history.  Since  the  professors  who  teach  history  at  these 
universities  are  intent  on  preserving  their  academic  independence,  they  will  not 
discuss  subjects  drawn  from  military  history  on  a  regular  basis. 

After  taking  his  degree,  the  young  officer  will  return  to  the  Naval  Academy 
for  a  few  months  to  prepare  himself  for  his  first  posting  in  the  Navy.  At  this 
point,  a  more  thorough  naval  historical  education  is  envisaged,  but  experience 
shows  that  most  officers  have  lost  virtually  all  previous  knowledge  they  might 
have  acquired  in  this  field,  making  the  job  more  challenging  for  teachers. 

As  part  of  their  continued  training,  some  10  to  12  percent  of  every  class  attend 
the  two-year  course  for  general-admiral  staff  officers  at  the  Armed  Forces 
General  Staff  College  in  Hamburg.  During  this  course,  eighty-six  hours  are 
scheduled  for  military  and  naval  history.  Here,  the  intended  level  of  achievement 
is  defined  as  follows: 

The  officer  on  Admiral  Staff  Duty  should  be  able  to  understand  the  interdepen- 
dence and  mutual  influence  of  political  and  military  leadership.  He  should 
understand  the  influence  of  the  various  elements  of  war  on  past  concepts  of  warfare 
and  draw  conclusions  which  apply  to  the  present.  Based  on  historical  examples, 
he  should  be  able  to  follow  some  basic  principles  of  military  commanders. 

In  this  course,  particular  care  is  taken  that  the  officer  will  get  to  know  und 
understand  German  and  international  concepts  of  naval  strategy,  of  both  the 
ninteenth  and  twentieth  centuries.  Selected  examples  should  enable  him  to 
realize  the  nature  and  the  elements  of  the  reality  of  war.  About  thirty-five  hours, 
i.e.,  about  40  percent  of  the  total  reserved  for  the  entire  discipline,  are  scheduled 
for  these  two  fields  of  naval  historical  teaching.  A  special  form  of  academic 
training  at  the  Armed  Forces  General  Staff  College  is  the  requirement  that 
students  write  a  thesis.  This  will  analyze  a  specified,  limited  subject  and  must  be 
written  during  their  stay  at  the  Staff  College.  The  lecturers  in  military  history 

41  Jorg  Duppler,  "Das  Wehrgeschichtliche  Ausbildungszentrum  Flensburg-Miirwik,"  in  Nordseestadt 
Wilhelmshaven/Der  Oberstadtdirektor,  ed.,  Dokumentation  Symposium  Deutsches  Marine-Museum 
(Wilhelmshaven:  1988),  pp.  91-5. 

Curriculum  of  Fuhrungsakademie  der  Bundeswehr  for  the  34th  AdmiralstafF  Course  (information 
from  Commander  Dr.  Nagler  to  the  author,  May  1993). 


148     Germany 

regularly  offer  a  choice  of  historical  topics,  some  of  which  will  be  researched 
using  original  sources.  A  number  of  especially  qualified  papers  have  been 
published,  indicating  the  high  standards  of  teaching  at  the  Armed  Forces  General 
Staff  College. 

Beginning  in  1957,  the  German  Navy  began  to  develop  a  new  approach  in 
studying  its  own  history.  That  year,  the  first  Commander-in-Chief  Fleet,  Rear 
Admiral  Rolf  Johannesson,  organized  the  first  Historical-Tactical  Convention. 
Since  then,  it  has  been  held  every  year,  and  it  is  now  a  standard  element  of  the 
entire  naval  officer  corps'  historical  education.  Admiral  Johannesson's  aim  was 
to  distance  himself  from  the  subjective  naval  historiography  about  World  War 
I.  He  hoped  that  a  critical  discussion  of  the  past  would  teach  the  officers  truth, 
loyalty,  and  moral  courage,  and  that  they  would  determine  their  own  position 
more  solidly  by  a  recourse  to  history  and  to  the  federal  constitution.  One  of  his 
successors,  Vice  Admiral  Giinter  Fromm,  summed  this  up  in  1985  in  a  phrase 
which  can  be  taken  as  exemplary  for  any  serious  dealing  with  the  past:  "Yet, 
there  must  be  no  taboos.  What  is  necessary  is  rather  a  permanent  effort  to  come 
closer  to  the  truth.  Only  truth,  however  difficult  it  may  be  to  attain  and  to  bear, 
can  give  us  the  security  of  a  sound  foundation." 

Up  to  1993,  thirty-three  conventions  have  been  held,  covering  a  wide  variety 
of  subjects.  Papers  are  usually  presented  by  junior  officers  (commanders  and 
captains  are  exceptions)  from  the  fleet  who  are  assisted  in  their  preparations  by 
naval  historians.  The  papers  presented  in  some  of  the  conventions  have  been 
collected  and  published  as  books.  The  contents  and  results  of  the  conventions 
are  regularly  reported  in  the  monthly  naval  journal,  Marineforum.  The  papers  do 

Cf.  H.  Schuur,  R.  Martens,  W.  Koehler,  Ftihrungsprobleme  der  Marine  im  Zweiten  Weltkrieg,  2nd  ed. 
(Freiburg:  Rombach,  1986);  Diether  Hiilsemann,  "Die  Versorgung  des  deutschen  Kreuzergeschwaders 
1914  und  ihr  EinfluB  auf  seine  Operationen,"  Die  Bedeutung  der  Logistikfiir  die  militarische  Ftihrung  von 
der  Antike  bis  in  die  neueste  Zeit  (Herford,  Bonn:  Mittler,  1985)  [=  Vortrage  zur  Militargeschichte,  vol. 
7],  pp.  167-209;  Uwe  Dirks,  "Julian  S.  Corbett  und  die  britische  Seekriegfuhrung  1914-1918," 
Militargeschichtliche  Mitteilungen,  37  (1985),  pp.  35-50;  and  Wulf  Diercks,  "Der  EinfluB  der 
Personalsteuerung  auf  die  deutsche  Seekriegfuhrung  1914—1918,"  Militargeschichtliches  Beiheft  zur 
Europaischen  Wehrkunde,  Nr.  1/1988. 

Statement  of  Rear  Admiral  Rolf  Johannesson  (Ret.)  to  the  audience  in  Deutsches  Marine  Institut, 
ed.,  Der  Marineoffizier  als  Ftihrer  im  Gefecht.  Vortrage  auf  der  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagung  der  Flotte  1983 
(Herford:  Mittler,  1984),  p.  241. 

Giinter  Fromm,  "SchluBbemerkungen  des  Befehlshabers  der  Flotte,"  in  Deutsches  Marine-Institut 
and  Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  eds.  Die  deutsche  Flotte  im  Spannungsfeld  derPolitik  1848—1985. 
Vortrage  und  Diskussionen  der  25.   Historisch-Taktischen   Tagung  der  Flotte   1985,   Schriftenreihe   des 
Deutschen  Marine  instituts,  Bd  9  (Herford:  Mittler,  1985),  p.  223. 
46   See  "Generalthemen  der  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagungen  1957-1985,"  ibid.,  pp.  225-7. 

Cf,  for  example,  Bild  der  russischen  und sowjetischen  Marine.  Vortrage  der  5.  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagung 
der  Flotte,  6.-7-  Dezember  1961  (Frankfurt  a.M.:  Mittler,  1962)  [=  Beiheft  No.  7/8  of  Marine 
Rundschau];  Die  EntuHcklung  des  Flottenkommando.  Vortrage  der  7.  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagung  der  Flotte 
am  5.  und  6.12.1963  (Darmstadt:  Wehr  und  Wissen,  1964);  and  Deutsches  Marine  Institut,  ed.,  Der 
Einsatz  von  Seestreitkraften  im  Dienste  der  auswartigen  Politik.  Vortrage  auf  der  Historisch-Taktischen  Tagung 
der  Flotte  1981  (Herford:  Mittler,  1983). 


Rahn      149 

not  always  live  up  to  the  standards  of  the  professional  historian,  but  their 
presentation  and  the  candid,  often  lively,  discussion  of  subjects  relevant  to  the 
business  of  the  day  usually  give  testimony  of  the  multiple  intellectual  talents 
among  the  Navy's  officer  corps.  Many  an  admiral-to-be  made  his  mark  when, 
as  a  lieutenant,  he  presented  some  sharply  critical  theory  in  the  Naval  Academy's 
Grand  Hall,  provoking  the  older  generation's  opposition. 

Maritime  History:  State  of  Research  and  Publications 

The  field  of  maritime  history  extends  its  range  far  back  into  ancient  history 
and  covers  the  central  aspects  of  the  age  of  exploration.  A  key  German  language 
work  in  this  area  is  the  comprehensive  multivolume  collection  of  documents 
covering  the  history  of  European  expansionism,  covering  the  entire  period  of 
European  expansionism  prior  to  the  age  of  imperialism.  However,  the  sources 
have  been  translated  into  German  only.  The  first  volume  covers  the  period  from 
about  500  A.D.  to  1500,  i.e.,  the  beginnings  of  the  age  of  exploration. 

The  second  volume  covers  the  great  voyages  of  exploration  from  Henry  the 
Navigator  in  the  fifteenth  century  to  the  opening  up  of  the  Pacific  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  third  volume  deals  with  the  origins  of  the  colonial 
empires  from  about  1500  through  the  mid-eighteenth  century. 

The  Deutsches  Schiffahrtsmuseum  (DSM — German  Maritime  Museum)  at 
Bremerhaven  is  the  only  learned  institute  in  Germany  that  is  exclusively 
concerned  with  maritime  history.  At  present,  eleven  historians  and  scholars  of 
other  branches  work  in  this  museum.  Their  research  covers,  among  others, 
subjects  such  as:  passenger  shipping,  merchant  shipping,  whaling,  oceanography, 
social  history  of  navigation,  marine  painting,  naval  industrial  archeology. 

For  a  long  time,  the  museum's  research  was  focussed  on  maritime  archeology, 
which  was  justified  by  the  finding  and  restoration  of  the  Hanse  Cog  of  1380. 
This  aspect  will  be  presented  in  more  detail  later  on.  Another  focus  of  museum 
work  is  the  social  and  economic  history  of  navigation.  Recent  publications  by 
members  of  the  museum's  staff  deal  mostly  with  problems  of  social  history,  such 
as  harbor  workers,  shipbuilders  and  the  sailors'  work. 

Eberhard  Schmitt,  ed.,  Dokumente  zur  Geschichte  der  europaischen  Expansion,  7  vols.  (Munich:  Beck, 
1984  ff.). 

Eberhard  Schmitt,  ed.,  Dokumente  zur  Geschichte  der  europaischen  Expansion,,  vol.  1 :  Die  mittelalterlichen 
Urspriinge  der  europaischen  Expansion,  ed.  by  Charles  Verlinden  and  Eberhard  Schmitt  with  contributions 
of  Hanno  Beck  et  al.  (Munich:  Beck,  1986). 

Eberhard  Schmitt,  ed.,  Dokumente  zur  Geschichte  der  europaischen  Expansion,  vol.  2:  Die  grofien 
Entdeckungen,  ed.  by  Matthias  Meyn  et  al.  (Munich:  Beck,  1984). 

Eberhard  Schmitt,  ed.,  Dokumente  zur  Geschichte  der  europaischen  Expansion,  vol.  3:  Der  Aujbau  der 
Kolonialreiche,  ed.  by  Matthias  Mey  et  al.  with  contributions  of  Annegret  Bollee  et  al.  (Munich:  Beck, 
1986).  Vols.  4  through  7  cover  economy,  trade,  and  life  in  the  colonies,  their  role  in  international  politics 
and  the  end  of  the  colonial  system. 


1 50     Germany 

This  varied  research  results  in  a  large  number  of  specialized  publications  which 
are  listed  every  year  in  the  museum's  annual  report.  These  annual  reports  are 
published  in  the  museum's  journal,  Deutsches  Schiffahrtsarchiv,  which  has  existed  since 
1975  and  has  been  published  annually  since  1980.  It  is  now  one  of  the  leading 
publications  on  maritime  history  in  the  German  language.  Also,  the  traditional 
Hansische  Geschichtsbldtter,  which  appeared  in  its  111th  annual  volume  in  1993, 
contains  important  contributions  to  the  research  of  maritime  history.  Its  regular 
report  on  publications,  called  Schiffahrt  und  Schiffbau  (Navigation  and  Shipbuilding), 
and  edited  with  profound  knowledge  by  the  museum's  director,  Professor  Dedef 
Ellmers,  deserves  particular  attention.  Out  of  the  numerous  tides  published  by 
members  of  the  museum's  staff,  only  a  few  can  be  listed  here.  Arnold  Kludas's 
five- volume  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Passagierschiffahrt  (History  of  German  Passenger 

CO 

Shipping)  is  by  now  complete.  Lars  U.  Scholl,  a  well-known  expert  in  history  of 
German  marine  painting  and  economical  aspects  of  maritime  history,  has  published 
the  results  of  his  research  in  several  articles  and  catalogues.  However,  there  is  still 
no  comprehensive  history  of  German  merchant  shipping.  Any  interested  historian 
will  have  to  make  do  with  representative  volumes  whose  individual  articles  offer 
important  summaries  of  the  latest  research. 

Maritime  History:  State  of  Teaching 

So  far,  there  are  no  courses  in  maritime  history  in  any  German  university. 
However,  the  departments  of  history  in  several  north  German  universities 
regularly  offer  seminars  on  subjects  that  are  closely  related  to  maritime  history: 
history  of  emigration,  social  history  of  shipbuilders  and  sailors.  The  lecturers  will 
often  be  staff  members  of  the  German  Maritime  Museum  in  Bremerhaven  or 
historians  who  have  touched  upon  questions  of  shipbuilding  and  ship  design  as 
part  of  their  work  on  the  history  of  technology. 

Maritime  and  Naval  Museums  and  Collections.  Archaeology  of  Ship- 
ping and  Private  Maritime  Collections 

Before  World  War  II,  Germany  had  a  central  institution  for  the  study  and 
display  of  objects  relating  to  shipping,  namely  the  Museum  fur  Meereskunde 

Arnold  Kludas,  Die  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Passagierschiffahrt,  vols.  1-5,  (Hamburg:  Kabel, 
1986-1990). 

53  Lars  U.  Scholl:  Claus  Bergen  1885-1964.  Marinemalerei  im  20.Jahrhundert  (Bremerhaven:  1982);  Felix 
Schwormstadt  1870-1938  (Herford:  Koehler,  1990)  and  Der  Marinemaler  Hans  Peter  Jurgens  (Herford: 
Koehler,  1991);  "Shipping  Business  in  Germany  in  the  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth  Centuries,"  in 
Tsunehiko  Yui  and  Keiichiro  Nakagawa,  eds.,  Business  History  of  Shipping.  Strategy  and  Structure  (Tokyo: 
University  of  Tokyo  Press,  1985),  pp.  185-213,  and  "The  Harriman-Hamburg- American  Line 
Agreement  of  June  1920:  The  Foremost  German  Shipping  Company's  Return  to  the  Seas,"  Research 
in  Maritime  History,  2  (1992),  pp.  349-81.  Dr.  Scholl  presented  a  paper,  "German  Maritime  Historical 
Research  during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  A  critical  survey"  at  the  conference  on  New  Directions  in 
Maritime  History  (December  1993,  Perth-Freemantle,  Australia). 

Cf.,  for  example,  Volker  Plagemann,  Ubersee.  Seefahrt  und  Seemacht  im  deutschen  Kaiserreich  (Munich: 
Beck,  1988). 


Rahn      151 

(Museum  of  Oceanography)  in  Berlin.  During  the  war,  the  building  and  large 
parts  of  its  collections  were  destroyed.  Only  a  few  pieces  survived,  and  today 
they  are  scattered  among  various  collections  and  museums.  Not  least,  the  division 
of  Germany  and  of  her  capital  Berlin  meant  that  for  several  decades  it  was 
impossible  to  fill  this  gap  in  an  appropriate  manner. 

As  a  result  of  the  vacuum  created  by  the  lack  of  a  central  museum,  smaller 
museums  in  the  port  towns  and  cities  gained  in  importance.  Thus,  today,  almost 
every  German  port  from  Emden  in  the  West  to  Stralsund  in  the  Fast  has  a  small 
maritime  museum.  They  often  developed  from  private  collections,  and  today 
they  provide  the  maritime  historian  and  ship  lover  with  an  abundance  of  material 
from  different  eras  of  maritime  history.  From  the  point  of  view  of  their  location 
and  tasks,  they  naturally  concentrate  their  collections  on  local  peculiarities  and 
those  of  the  adjacent  coastal  region. 

The  city  of  Wilhelmshaven  has  been  canvassing  for  a  central  German  Naval 
Museum  since  1988.  However,  this  project  did  not  get  beyond  its  initial  stage, 
i.e.,  the  preparation  of  a  small  collection.  In  1992,  an  attempt  failed  to  take 
over  the  former  naval  training  vessel,  the  Deutschland,  and  to  set  it  up  as  a  museum 
ship. 

From  among  these  numerous  museums,  one  museum  stands  out,  which  is  to 
be  described  in  greater  detail  here.  This  is  the  Deutsches  Schiffahrtsmuseum 
(German  Maritime  Museum)  in  Bremerhaven.  The  starting  point  for  the 
foundation  of  the  museum  lay  in  three  different  spheres: 

•  When  the  Bremerhaven  Morgenstern  Museum  moved  to  new  premises  in 
1961 ,  a  maritime  section  was  also  opened.  In  the  years  that  followed,  the  museum 
succeeded  in  acquiring  important  estates  and  collections,  which  today  form  a 
major  foundation  of  the  German  Maritime  Museum. 

•  In  1962,  the  city  of  Bremerhaven  decided  not  to  fill  in  the  old  docks  located 
directly  on  the  Weser  but  to  preserve  them  as  an  expanse  of  water.  This  created 
ideal  conditions  for  a  subsequent  museum  harbor,  which  got  its  first  old  ship  in 
1966. 

•  The  salvage  in  1962  of  a  medieval  Hanseatic  cog  was  a  pioneer  achievment 
in  the  archaeology  of  shipping.  Immediately  after  the  ship  had  been  salvaged, 
funds  for  its  lengthy  restoration  were  also  obtained.  Thus,  there  was  a  major 
impulse  for  the  establishment  of  a  central  German  maritime  museum.  The 
museum  was  subsequently  founded  in  1971  and  opened  in  1975. 

In  the  museum's  charter  of  foundation,  its  tasks  are  described  as  folio ws: 

Nordseestadt  Wilhelmshaven/Der  Oberstadtdirektor,  Dokumentation  Symposium  Deutsches 
Marine-Museum  (Wilhelmshaven:  1988). 

Cf.  Wolf-Dieter  Hoheisel,  "Aufgaben  und  Aufbau  des  Deutschen  Schiffahrtsmuseums,"  Hansische 
Geschichtsblatter,  91  (1973),  pp.  54—7,  and  Deutsches  Schiffahrtsmuseum  '75,  Fiihrer  des  Deutschen 
Schiffahrtsmuseums,  Nr.  1  (Bremerhaven:  1975),  and  "Deutsches  Schiffahrtsmuseum  Bremerhaven," 
Museum,  Januar  1/1977  (Braunschweig:  Westermann,  1977). 


152     Germany 

1 .  To  collect  historical  exhibits,  to  illustrate  and  to  document  German  maritime 
history  and  its  correlations; 

2.  To  conduct  academic  research  into  all  fields  of  German  maritime  history; 

3.  To  use  the  museum's  scientific  and  technological  capabilities  at  its  disposal  in 
order  to  work  for  the  public  on  behalf  of  German  maritime  history. 

In  January  1972,  the  first  ships  were  able  to  dock  in  the  museum  harbor.  From 
1970  to  1975,  the  museum's  main  building  was  constructed  to  a  design  by  Hans 
Scharoun.  The  concept  of  this  building  was  to  combine  systematically  arranged 
exhibits  in  the  building  with  an  open-air  collection  of  museum  ships. 

One  of  the  major  difficulties  of  maritime  history  exhibitions  is  caused  by  the  size 
of  the  ships,  which  precludes  the  use  of  originals  to  illustrate  the  evolution  of  ship 
types.  It  is  necessary  to  resort  to  scale  models  and  accept  the  effect  of  niinirnization 
that  this  involves.  To  counterbalance  this,  the  German  Maritime  Museum  has 
attached  particular  importance  to  establishing  the  relation  to  the  original  dimen- 
sions— the  ships  in  the  Old  Docks  and  on  the  Weser  can  be  seen  from  the  exhibition. 
At  the  same  time,  these  ships,  plus  a  few  original-size  systems,  form  the  centerpieces 
of  the  individual  exhibition  sections,  to  which  the  other  exhibits  are  clearly 
subordinated.  From  among  the  museum  ships,  I  should  like  to  mention  only  the 
naval  ships:  they  are  a  fast  patrol  boat  from  the  early  days  of  the  post-war 
Bundesmarine  and  the  only  surviving  Type  XXI  World  War  II  submarine.  The 
museum  includes  a  separate  naval  department  which  displays,  inter  alia,  an  original 
type  Seehund  midget  submarine  of  fifteen  tons. 

The  Hanse  Cog 

Archaeology  of  shipping  and  reconstruction  is  exemplified  by  the  Hanse 

58 

cog.  On  9  October  1962,  during  dredging  work  in  the  Weser  river,  the  wreck 
of  a  ship  was  discovered  which,  on  the  basis  of  numerous  symbols  on  seals,  was 
identified  as  a  medieval  Hanseatic  cog.  This  type  of  ship  was  not  only  the 
regular  cargo  ship  of  the  early  Hanseatic  league  until  well  into  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  cog  was  also  the  means  of  early  Hanseatic  naval  warfare.  As  this 
wreck  had  been  found  by  chance,  nobody  was  prepared  for  salvaging  such  a 
ship.  However,  the  rescue  of  the  find  had  to  commence  immediately,  as  the  cog 
was  in  danger  of  breaking  apart  as  soon  as  the  supporting  masses  of  sand  were 

Cf.,  Technikmuseum  U-Boot  "Wilhelm  Bauer."  Kleine  Geschichte  und  Technik  der  deutschen  U-Boote 
(Bremerhaven:  1990). 

58  The  following  part  is  based  on  the  special  journal  Museum,  1  (1977),  pp.  20-24.  (This  chapter  was 
written  by  Wolf-Dieter  Hoheisel) .  Cf.  also  Klaus-Peter  Kiedel  and  Uwe  Schnall,  The  Hanse  Cog  of  1380 
(Bremerhaven:  1985)  and  Die  Kogge  von  Bremen,  vol.  1,  Werner  Lahn,  Bauteile  und  Bauablauf,  Schriften 
des  Deutschen  Schiffahrtsmuseums,  30  (Hamburg:  Kabel,  1987)  with  37  plans  and  161  illustrations. 

See  Paul  Heinsius,  Das  Schiff  der  hansischen  Fruhzeit,  2nd  ed.  (Cologne  and  Vienna:  Bohlau,  1986). 


Rahn      153 

removed.  Eventually,  a  great  effort  made  it  possible  to  complete  most  of  the 
salvage  operation  before  the  onset  of  the  winter  of  1962— 63.  However,  another 
ten  years  were  to  elapse  before  it  was  possible  to  lay  down  the  keel  of  this 
Hanseatic  ship  for  a  second  time,  this  time  in  the  purpose-built  "Kogge-Haus" 
of  the  German  Maritime  Museum  on  1  November  1972.  As  nobody  knew  the 
exact  size  and  shape  of  the  cog,  the  restorers  had  to  put  the  ship  back  together 
by  assembling  some  2,000  pieces.  It  was  one  big  jigsaw  puzzle.  They  often  had 
to  rely  on  conjectures,  which  were  then  checked  by  using  the  actual  conditions. 
In  the  course  of  their  work,  the  restorers  tested  new  measurement,  damp  wood 
bonding,  and  preservation  techniques.  The  reconstruction  of  the  cog  took  place 
in  a  foggy  atmosphere,  since  otherwise  the  saturated,  almost  six-hundred-year- 
old  oak  would  have  shrunk  by  25  to  30  percent.  Then,  a  preservation  basin  had 
to  be  constructed  around  the  ship  in  which  the  cog  is  impregnated  with  a 
preservation  fluid  for  many  years.  During  this  time,  the  water-soluble  preserva- 
tion agent,  polyethylne  glycol,  slowly  penetrates  all  the  components  starting 
from  the  surface.  In  the  process,  the  water  present  in  the  cells  of  the  wood  is 
gradually  replaced  by  the  polywax,  which  then,  during  the  subsequent  drying 
process,  forms  a  "supporting  corset"  and  prevents  shrinkage.  This  process  should 
be  completed  in  around  10  years.  The  cog  is  now  the  central  exhibit  of  the 
"Middle  Ages"  section  at  the  German  Maritime  Museum. 

Once  the  restoration  of  the  original  cog  had  progressed  so  far  that  it  was 
possible  to  clearly  distinguish  the  design  of  the  ship,  the  suggestion  was  made  to 
build  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  cog.  It  was  hoped  that  tests  with  this  replica 
under  actual  sea  conditions  in  the  area  in  which  it  used  to  operate,  i.e.,  primarily 
the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic,  might  answer  questions  as  to  the  cogs'  sail-carrying 
ability,  their  seaworthiness,  load  capacity,  navigation,  etc. 

The  replica's  length  overall  is  23  meters,  its  beam  over  all  is  7.26  meters. 
When  loaded  with  the  maximum  cargo  of  87  metric  tons,  the  draught  is  2.25 
meters,  giving  a  displacement  of  about  120  metric  tons.  The  cog,  which  was 
salvaged  from  the  Weser,  had  been  lost  in  an  accident  in  1380  while  being  built. 
Because  none  of  the  rig's  original  parts  were  found  near  the  wreck,  which  would 
have  provided  clues  to  the  ship's  sail-carrying  ability,  replicating  the  rig  posed 
special  problems.  The  rig's  reproduction  had  to  be  based  on  old  representations; 
a  description  by  the  Italian,  Timbotta,  dating  from  1 444  could  also  be  used.  Final 
details  such  as  the  sail  area  of  200  square  meters  were  eventually  decided  upon 
after  a  model  had  been  tried  in  a  wind  tunnel. 

From  1987  to  1990,  two  replicas  of  the  cog  were  built,  one  in  Kiel  and  another 
in  Bremerhaven.  They  were  meant  for  two  different  purposes: 

The  following  description  is  based  on  Wolf-Dieter  Hoheisel,  "A  Full-Scale  Replica  of  the  Hanse 
Cog  of  1380,"  Yearbook  of  the  International  Association  of  Transport  Museums,  15/16  (1988/1989),  pp. 
26-33.  Cf.  also  Wolf-Dieter  Hoheisel,  "Rekonstruktion  der  Bremer  Hans-Kogge,"  fahrbuch  der 
Schiffbautechnischen  Gesellschaft,  82  (1988),  pp.  223-9. 


154     Germany 

•  The  Kiel  replica  was  built  as  true  to  the  original  as  possible,  to  permit  a 
better  analysis  of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  medieval  structure  and 
its  influence  on  the  ship's  characteristics.  Without  an  engine  or  any  other  aids, 
it  was  used  to  determine  exactly  how  a  Bremen  cog  sailed  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

•  The  Bremerhaven  replica  was  built  for  a  different  purpose.  It  was  to 
undertake  studies  in  long-term  cruises  along  the  Hanseatic  sailing  routes  in  the 
North  Sea  and  in  the  Baltic.  For  safety  reasons,  an  engine  and  modern  navigation 
aids  had  to  be  included  to  prevent  accidents,  e.g.,  on  a  lee  shore.  Of  course,  the 
city  of  Bremerhaven  also  sees  visits  of  this  cog  to  former  Hanse  cities  as  good 
public  relations  for  Bremerhaven  and  its  German  Maritime  Museum. 

In  June  1991,  the  first  sailing  trials  of  the  Kiel  cog  commenced.  Their  results 
confirmed  the  prior  calculations.  Up  to  wind-force  4—5,  the  cog  could  run  under 
full  sail,  heeling  less  than  15  degrees.  With  wind-force  6—7  from  nearly  abaft, 
the  cog  made  slightly  more  than  7  knots.  However,  during  the  first  trials  the  cog 
was  unable  to  beat  against  the  wind.  Scientific  results  of  the  trials,  however,  are 
not  expected  until  1994—5,  and  will  probably  be  published  in  the  Jahrbuch  der 
Schiffbautechnischen  Gesellschaft. 

Until  1945,  the  Museum  fur  Meereskunde  (Museum  of  Oceanography)  in 
Berlin  included  a  large  department  of  naval  history.  Among  other  items,  it  held 
the  first  German  submarine,  the  Brandtaucher,  built  by  Wilhelm  Bauer  in  1848. 
When  this  museum  was  destroyed,  Germany  lost  its  most  valuable  exhibits, 
which  had  documented  naval  history. 

Before  1990  the  German  Armed  Forces  had  no  central  museum  of  military 
history  which  might  have  included  a  separate  section  for  naval  history.  This  was 
for  a  variety  of  reasons,  not  the  least  being  a  lack  of  funds.  After  reunification  in 
October  1990,  the  Bundeswehr  took  over  the  former  East  German  Army  (NVA) 
Museum  of  Military  History,  which  had  been  established  in  Dresden.  At  the 
moment,  it  looks  as  if  that  museum  will  eventually  be  the  central  German 
museum  for  military  history.  It  includes  a  naval  department  with  a  number  of 
valuable  exhibits  and  good  models.  Its  showpiece  is  certainly  the  Brandtaucher 
which,  although  very  badly  damaged  during  World  War  II,  was  rescued  from 
among  the  ruins  of  the  Museum  of  Oceanography  and  later  restored. 

The  best  collection  documenting  naval  history  can  be  found  in  the  Naval 
Historic  Training  Center  of  the  German  Naval  Academy  at  Flensburg.  When 
this  collection  originated  in  1958,  its  aims  were  defined  as  follows: 

Information  from  Professor  Dr.  Detlev  Ellmers  and  Dr.  Lars  U.  Scholl,  both  of  German  Maritime 
Museum,  Bremerhaven,  to  the  author,  May-September,  1993. 

Cf.  Wolf-Dieter  Hoheisel,  "Erste  Segelversuche  mit  dem  Kieler  Nachbau  der  Bremer  Hanse-Kogge 
von  1380,"  Deutsche  Schiffahrt,  2  (1991),  pp.  23-5. 

Cf.  Klaus  Herold,  "Der  Kieler  Brandtaucher.  Ergebnisse  einer  Nachforschung,"  Kiel,  die  Deutschen 
und  die  See,  pp.  123-42. 


Rahn      155 

The  Historic  Collection,  as  part  of  the  Center  of  Military  History,  will  illustrate 
the  various  epochs  of  the  German  naval  past  to  the  officer  cadets  and  officers  as 
part  of  their  education,  so  as  to  motivate  them  for  their  chosen  profession  as  naval 
officers.  Also,  it  will  serve  to  cultivate  naval  tradition  and  to  inform  the  public 
about  Germany's  maritime  interests,  past  and  present.  The  exhibition  will  there- 
fore center  on  the  development  and  history  of  naval  forces  from  the  end  of  the 
19th  century. 

Based  on  a  Naval  Staff  order  dated  April  1958,  the  Naval  Academy  developed 
a  department  which  was  initially  called  the  "Historical  Collection."  Renamed 
"Naval  Historical  Training  Center"  in  1976,  it  united  naval  history,  the  tradition 
of  the  Navy,  and  teaching  into  an  organic  whole,  with  all  three  components 
enjoying  equal  status. 

This  collection  started  from  humble  beginnings  in  1958,  and  it  is  not  actually 
a  museum.  Still,  in  view  of  the  large  number  of  exhibits,  some  of  which  are 
extremely  valuable,  it  compares  favorably  with  other,  similar  institutes.  Today, 
it  holds  some  150  model  ships,  350  oil  paintings  and  prints,  300  flags  and 
pennants,  15  busts,  7  figureheads,  25  coats  of  arms  from  ships'  bows,  80  situation 
maps,  300  ships'  diagrams  as  well  as  several  thousand  photographs  depicting 
individuals,  ships,  and  events.  The  photographs  are  often  from  old  albums  which 
have  been  presented  to  the  collection  by  former  officers  and  men  of  the  Navy. 
The  collection  is  mainly  used  for  the  instruction  and  education  of  the  officer 
cadets.  Also,  some  6,000  visitors  per  year,  excluding  Navy  personnel,  find  it  a 
source  of  valuable  information  for  their  historical  interests.  The  manuscript 
collection  now  numbers  about  17,000  items,  and  it  is  used  increasingly  by 
historians,  both  from  Germany  and  from  abroad.  Meanwhile,  the  exhibition  has 
found  better  accommodation  in  what  used  to  be  the  commandant's  villa,  making 
it  more  accessible  to  outside  visitors. 

This  report  on  German  museums  and  collections  relating  to  maritime  and 
naval  history  can  by  no  means  be  complete;  it  can  only  present  a  selection. 
However,  one  private  collection  has  to  be  mentioned.  It  has  a  special  position 
as  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  of  its  kind.  Its  owner  is  the  publisher 
and  former  Chief  Executive  of  Springer  Publishing  Company,  Peter  Tamm,  in 
Hamburg.  This  collection  includes  not  only  a  special  library  of  about  60,000 
volumes,  it  consists  of  a  vast  number  of  extremely  valuable  ship  models,  paintings 

Jorg  Duppler,  "Das  WehrgeschichtlicheAusbildungszentrum  Flensburg-Muiwik, "  Dokumentation  Symposium 
Deutsches  Marine-Museum,  pp.  91-5,  and  Franz  Hahn,  "Ein  Rundgang  durch  das  Wehrgeschichtliche 
Ausbildungszentrum,"  in  Deutsches  Marine  Institut.  Conception  and  Redaction:  Dieter  Matthei,  Jorg 
Duppler  and  Karl  Heinz  Kruse,  Marine schule  Murwik  (1910-1985),  2nd  rev.  ed.  (Herford:  Mittler,  1989), 
pp.  213-20. 

Cf.  Heinrich  Walle,  "Private  Sammler  maritimer  Kunst,"  in  Deutsches  Marine  Institut  and 
Militargeschichtliches  Forschungsamt,  eds.,  Seefahrt  und  Geschichte  (Herford  and  Bonn:  Mittler,  1986), 
pp.  220-5,  and  [without  author]  "Das  Wissenschaftliche  Institut  fur  Schiffahrts-  und  Marinegeschichte," 
Marinejorum,  67  (1992),  pp.  426-7. 


1 56      Germany 

dating  from  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  present,  innumerable  manuscripts, 
charts,  uniforms,  decorations,  weapons,  and  other  historic  maritime  exhibits. 
The  collection  is  now  a  part  of  the  private  Institute  of  Maritime  and  Naval 
History,  which  is  still  in  the  process  of  development.  Large  parts  of  the  collection 
have  time  and  again  enriched  major  exhibitions  elsewhere. 

Correlations  between  Naval  and  Maritime  History 

The  close  relationship  between  maritime  and  naval  history  makes  it  obvious 
that  there  is  an  interdependence  between  the  two  fields  of  research.  Even  so, 
cooperation  between  historians  dealing  with  maritime  and  naval  history,  respec- 
tively, has  so  far  been  sporadic  rather  than  intensive.  As  there  was  always  a  tension 
between  naval  and  merchant  navigation,  this  distance  is  also  quite  discernible 
between  historians  researching  naval  and  maritime  history.  The  much-regretted 
general  tendency  of  all  historians  to  specialize  also  contributes  to  a  neglect  of 
subjects  which  cover  more  than  one  narrow  field.  A  number  of  learned 
associations  exist,  but  they  do  not  care  to  improve  cooperation.  In  view  of  the 
forthcoming  cuts  in  research  grants,  cooperation  will  be  more  essential  than  ever 
if  the  available  monetary  and  staff  resources  are  to  be  employed  effectively  for 
fundamental  naval  and  maritime  research. 

Conclusion 

It  is  a  basic,  and  perennial  challenge  to  historians  to  try  and  come  close  to 
historic  truth.  Today,  the  German  Navy  has  both  a  lively  interest  in  its  history 
and  also  a  special  relationship  with  it.  A  clear  link  can  be  seen  between  the 
historical  self-perception  of  its  officers  and  the  history  of  their  service.  In  the 
past,  this  link  often  served  only  to  legitimize  and  to  secure  the  Navy's  own 
position  in  its  fight  for  recognition  and  even  for  its  existence,  during  a  relatively 
short  period.  In  such  situations,  there  is  a  danger  if  historical  interest  is  limited 
only  to  the  Navy  itself  and  to  naval  warfare,  and  too  little  attention  is  paid  to 
the  "general  context,  to  the  subordination  of  the  individual  aspect  under  the 
varied  panorama  of  historical  development." 

The  various  aspects  of  highly  specialized  maritime  historiography  are  beset  by 
similar  dangers.  The  commercial  success  of  popular  publications  as  well  as  the 
number  of  visitors  attracted  to  the  museums  indicate  how  many  people  have 
some  historical  interest.  This  continuing  interest  is  a  stimulating  challenge  for 
the  professional  historian.  We  should  continue  to  try  and  present  our  findings 
about  past  backgrounds  and  structures  in  such  a  way  that  the  message  gets  across, 
i.e.,  in  such  a  way  that  historical  knowledge  and  sensitivity  become  a  stabilizing 
factor  for  a  liberal  society.  And  if  this  calling  sounds  ponderous  enough,  we 

Wilhelm  Deist,  "Auflosungserscheinungen  in  Armee  und  Marine  als  Voraussetzungen  der  deutschen 
Revolution,"  in  MGFA,  ed.,  Menschenfiihrung  in  der  Marine,  Vortrage  zur  Militargeschichte,  2  (Herford 
and  Bonn:  Mittler,  1981),  p.  37. 


Rahn      157 

should  not  forget  the  humorous  touch — it  always  was  and  always  will  be  a 
refreshing  element  of  human  life. 

In  1943,  the  following  story  received  clearance  for  publication  in  Germany: 

A  circus  had  been  hit  during  an  air  raid  on  Berlin.  Two  lions  escaped  and  were 
on  the  loose  without  anyone  having  any  idea  where  they  might  be. 

After  two  weeks  had  passed,  one  of  the  lions  returned  ruefully  to  his  cage.  He 
looked  worn  out  and  thin  and  swore  to  his  fellows:  "Never  again!  I'd  rather  put 
up  with  bad  horse  meat  than  have  to  find  my  own  food  in  Berlin!" 

The  next  day,  the  other  lion  came  back;  proud  as  anything  and  fatter  than  he  had 
ever  been  before.  "Hello!  Where  have  you  been?"  the  others  called  to  him,  "what 
have  you  been  up  to?" 

"Who  me? — I  was  in  Naval  Command  Headquarters  and  every  day  I  had  an 
admiral  for  my  supper.  But  be  careful  not  to  tell  anyone — no  one's  noticed  yet." 
And  back  he  ran  to  the  Naval  High  Command. 

To  draw  an  analogy  from  this  story,  you  could  say  that  after  World  War  II, 
German  naval  archives  were  indeed  eaten  by  British  and  American  historians 
while  German  historians,  without  any  access  to  the  original  documents,  looked 
worn  out  and  thin  for  a  long  time. 

•   •   • 

The  collation  of  this  material  and  its  translation  into  English  was  generously 
supported  in  a  variety  of  ways  by  a  number  of  colleagues.  I  am  grateful  to  Colonel 
(GS)  Dr.  Roland  Foerster  and  Major  Winfried  Heinemann,  both  of  the  MGFA, 
as  well  as  to  Commander  Dr.  Dieter  Hartwig  of  the  Naval  Academy  in 
Flensberg,  Lieutenant  Commander  Dr.  Frank  Nagler  of  the  Armed  Forces  Staff 
College,  Hamburg,  Professor  Dr.  Detlev  Ellmers  and  Dr.  Lars  U.  Scholl,  both 
of  the  German  Maritime  Museum,  Bremerhaven,  and  Professor  John  Hattendorf 
of  the  Naval  War  College. 


Peter  Ernst  Eiffe,  Seemannsgam.  "Splissen  und  Knoten  "  zweite  Folge.  Heitere  Marinegeschichten  mit  einem 
Geleitwort  des  Admiralinspekteurs  der  Kriegsmarine  des  GroBdeutschen  Reiches  GroBadmiral  Raeder 
(Magdeburg:  1943),  pp.  45—6. 


13 
India 


Captain  C.  Uday  Bhaskar,  Indian  Navy 


The  study  of  naval  and  maritime  history  offers  a  curious  paradox  in  the 
Indian  context.  For  a  nation  whose  recent  political  history  has  been 
inextricably  linked  with  the  dictates  of  sea  power  and  whose  maritime  history 
goes  back  to  earliest  antiquity — namely  to  the  Mohenjo— Daro— Harappa  period 
(c.  3000—1500  B.C.) — the  actual  study  of  naval  and  maritime  subjects  in  India  is 
modest,  to  say  the  least. 

History  itself,  as  interpreted  in  the  Western  context,  is  something  alien  to  the 
Indian  psyche.  There  are  various  reasons  for  this  trait.  At  the  broad  level  of 
civilizations,  it  is  averred  that  the  timelessness  of  Indian  thinking  and  metaphysics 
defies  the  special  perch  of  history.  The  continuum  of  time  is  seen  as  an  endless 
cycle  punctuated  by  the  birth,  life,  death,  and  rebirth  of  the  protagonist — be  it 
the  individual  or  the  soul — the  only  perennial  entity  being  the  essence  of 
civilization.  At  a  more  simplistic  level,  a  casual  observer  may  look  at  language 
and  deduce  that  in  Hindi,  the  national  language  of  the  country,  the  word  for 
yesterday  and  tomorrow  is  the  same,  kal,  thereby  diluting  the  need  to  preserve 
the  past  in  a  codified  and  rigorous  manner. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  a  preliminary  survey  suggests  that,  barring  the  professional 
naval  establishments,  there  is  no  dedicated  institutional  infrastructure  for  the 
study  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in  India.  All  the  universities  in  India  offer 
detailed  courses  in  the  study  of  history  per  se,  but  the  division  is  more  traditional 
in  the  sense  that  ancient  Indian  history,  the  medieval  period,  and  the  British 
period  are  some  of  the  broad  areas  studied.  These  may  be  explored  further  in 
their  political,  social,  and  economic  dimensions,  but  the  actual  study  of  military 
history,  with  specific  reference  to  the  naval  and  maritime  dimension  is  currently 
in  its  infancy. 

A  wealth  of  material  remains  to  be  excavated.  For  instance,  the  linkages 
between  sea  power  and  the  political  fortunes  of  the  early  Indian  dynasties — the 
Satavahanas  and  the  Mauryans — need  to  be  authoritatively  analyzed  and,  in  like 
fashion,  specific  linkages  in  maritime  commerce,  ship-building,  and  contacts 


Captain  C.  Uday  Bhaskar,  Indian  Navy,  is  currently  Senior  Fellow  at  the  Institute  for 
Defense  Studies  and  Analyses,  New  Delhi. 


160      India 

with  the  rest  of  the  ancient  world  need  to  be  rigorously  examined.  Some  research 
at  the  post-graduate  level  is  now  being  encouraged  in  certain  universities  in 
India,  such  as  those  in  Delhi,  Calcutta,  Bombay,  and  Madras.  A  more  detailed 
survey  of  Indian  academia  may  be  warranted  at  a  later  stage  to  fill  in  the 
inadvertent  omissions  of  this  preliminary  report. 

Among  the  service  establishments,  naval  and  maritime  history  receives 
tangential  attention  at  the  Defence  Services  Staff  College,  Wellington,  Nilgiris, 
Tamil  Nadu,  and  at  the  College  of  Naval  Warfare,  Bombay,  and  the  National 
Defence  College,  Delhi.  But  none  of  these  three  establishments  teach  the 
subjects  in  the  pristine,  academic  sense.  In  an  effort  to  infuse  a  historical  sense 
into  their  respective  studies,  these  colleges  correlate  naval  and  maritime  history 
strands  with  the  specific  issue  or  subject  being  studied.  Here,  the  threshold  at 
which  the  students  come  to  the  college  is  relevant  and  this  gives  one  an  insight 
into  the  manner  in  which  naval  and  maritime  history  are  woven  into  the 
curriculum. 

The  Defence  Services  Staff  College  is  the  first  stepping  stone  for  higher 
command  in  the  Indian  armed  forces,  and  officers  enter  at  the  grade  of  lieutenant 
commander  and  its  equivalent,  major  or  squadron  leader.  Here,  naval  and 
maritime  history  are  related  to  specific  tactical  studies  and  are  undertaken  in 
groups.  Campaign  studies  receive  greater  attention,  and,  here  again,  the  correla- 
tion is  between  the  principles  of  war  and  twentieth  century  naval  battles  and 
campaigns.  The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  campaigns  of  World  War  II  are  studied  in 
detail,  specifically  the  Battle  of  Midway,  the  Normandy  landing,  along  with  the 
Korean  War  landing  at  Inchon.  More  recently,  the  Falklands  campaign  and  the 
Gulf  War  have  become  logical  priorities  in  the  Defence  Services  Staff  College. 

In  sum,  the  Defence  Services  Staff  College  does  not  teach  maritime  or  naval 
history,  but  it  deals  with  specific  historical  issues  that  encompass  naval  battles  at 
sea  or  amphibious  operations  that  are  taken  up  in  the  syndicate  and  divisional 
portions  of  the  group  study  program.  Each  group  makes  a  final  presentation  to 
the  entire  college,  at  which  stage  certain  relevant  aspects  of  naval  and  maritime 
history  are  discussed. 

The  College  of  Naval  Warfare  conducts  courses  for  officers  at  the  rank  of 
senior  commander  or  captain.  Here  also,  there  is  no  attempt  to  teach  naval  and 
maritime  history.  However,  in  the  effort  to  infuse  a  historical  sense  into  studies 
of  naval  strategy,  the  discussions  on  ancient  and  medieval  Indian  history  include 
specific  aspects  of  naval  and  maritime  history.  This  syllabus  is  still  being  refined, 
and  I  believe  that  there  will  be  a  gradual  shift  from  the  political  science  content 
to  a  marked  maritime  strategy  content  in  the  years  ahead.  Currently,  the  College 
of  Naval  Warfare  offers  a  separate  session  on  the  maritime  heritage  of  India  and 
the  ancient  methods  of  navigation  in  these  waters.  The  latter  aspect  is  also 
receiving  attention  in  the  Bombay  University. 


Bhaskar      161 

The  National  Defence  College,  New  Delhi,  is  the  apex  college  for  the  Indian 
Armed  Forces  and  also  has  representatives  from  other  nations.  Student  officers 
are  of  brigadier  and  equivalent  rank.  Here  again,  there  is  no  formal  teaching  of 
naval  and  maritime  history.  However,  during  this  one  year— long  course  at  the 
National  Defence  College,  sea  power  per  se  is  analyzed.  The  historical  perspec- 
tive, the  Indian  context,  and  the  colonial  paradigm  are  explored.  Guest  lecturers 
are  invited  to  address  these  subjects  and,  for  the  last  two  years,  I  have  been 
involved  in  structuring  lectures  around  these  subjects.  For  example,  subject 
themes,  such  as  "Maritime  Rivalry  in  the  Indian  Ocean:  A  Historical  Perspec- 
tive" and  "The  Impact  of  Sea-power  on  the  Littoral  of  the  Pacific  and  Indian 
Oceans:  Prognosis  in  the  Post— Cold  War,"  have  evolved  to  cover  all  the  salient 
political,  economic  and  military  aspects  of  naval  and  maritime  history. 

There  is  no  single  intellectual  trend  or  critical  theory  that  is  adhered  to  in  the 
discussions  at  the  above  institutions,  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  perspective 
of  the  naval  and  maritime  events  under  study  is  from  that  of  a  non- white,  former 
colony.  It  is  often  averred  in  India  that  the  lack  of  adequate  appreciation  about 
the  relevance  of  sea  power  by  early  Indian  rulers  led  to  the  later  colonization  of 
the  sub-continent.  This  theme  has  been  amply  dealt  with  by  K.M.  Panikkar  in 
his  books  on  the  subject  and  provides  the  basic  intellectual  thrust  to  the  current 
Indian  interpretation. 

No  Indian  university  offers  any  specific  courses  in  naval/maritime  history  per 
se.  These  subjects  are  dealt  with  as  part  of  a  larger  sub-heading,  e.g.,  in  addressing 
economic  history  of  a  period  or  region,  the  maritime  trade  aspects  are  covered. 
In  like  fashion,  while  naval  battles  or  capabilities  receive  little  individual  attention 
in  the  universities,  references  are  made  to  the  maritime  strand  while  dealing  with 
the  specifics  of  political  history. 

While  it  has  not  been  possible  to  survey  all  the  Indian  universities  individually, 
one  has  been  able  to  look  more  closely  at  the  syllabus  of  the  Jawaharlal  Nehru 
University,  New  Delhi  and  some  of  the  findings  here  may  be  extrapolated  to 
the  larger  Indian  university  canvas  as  a  general  indicator  of  the  current  trend. 

For  example,  one  of  the  courses  offered  at  the  post-graduate  level  in  the 
Center  for  Historical  Studies  at  the  Jawaharlal  Nehru  University  is  entitled: 
"Economic  History  of  India:  Trade,  Commerce  and  Industry  in  India  in  the 
17th  and  18th  centuries."  The  subject  is  treated  in  the  following  manner: 
Structure  of  Asian  trade:  10th-15th  centuries;  the  Portuguese  domination  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  in  the  16th  century;  the  response  of  Indian  merchants  and  rulers 
to  Portuguese  hegemony;  the  Dutch  rule  in  intra-Asian  trade;  Dutch  trade  in 
India;  the  English  East  India  Company;  the  economy  of  Gujarat;  the  Indian 
merchants  and  their  trading  practice;  the  role  and  position  of  merchants  in 

K.M.  Panikkar,  India  and  the  Indian  Ocean  (London:  George  Allen  and  Unwin,  1962). 


162      India 

economy  and  society;  the  Coromandel;  the  economy  of  Bengal;  and  some 
aspects  of  technology  and  industry. 

In  like  fashion,  while  dealing  with  medieval  Indian  history,  for  instance,  the 
Cholas  in  the  ninth  to  thirteenth  centuries  of  peninsular  India  are  the  subject  of 
a  separate  course.  In  this  course,  the  maritime  trade  practices  of  the  Cholas  and 
their  expeditions  into  Sri  Lanka  and  South  East  Asia  are  dealt  with  as  part  of  the 
economic  and  political  history  of  the  period. 

Further,  a  course  on  "Trade  Networks  in  the  Indian  Ocean:  Fifteenth  to 
Eighteenth  Centuries"  examines  the  geographical  setting  of  the  Indian  Ocean, 
the  pre-European  concepts,  nature  and  meaning  of  the  Indian  Ocean  as  a  world 
economy,  the  Indian  Ocean  trade  network  before  the  fifth  century,  the  con- 
tribution of  European  trading  companies,  the  role  of  China  and  East  Asian 
countries  and  ship-building  technology. 

These  illustrative  examples  from  the  Jawaharlal  Nehru  University  are 
symptomatic  of  the  larger  trend  in  Indian  academia,  wherein  there  appears  to 
be  a  lack  of  any  specialization  in  naval  and  maritime  history  perse.  This  is  a  glaring 
gap  as  far  as  the  professional  sailor  is  concerned,  and  more  recently  there  has 
been  an  attempt  by  the  Indian  Navy  to  make  a  modest  contribution  in  this 
regard.  Naval  Headquarters  has  been  encouraging  naval  historians  to  research 
specific  subjects,  and  in  the  last  few  years  retired  Rear  Admirals  Satyindra  Singh 
and  K.  Sridharan   have  made  noteworthy  contributions. 

A  small  but  significant  step  in  creating  a  national  maritime  consciousness  has 
been  the  addition  of  a  naval-maritime  wing  to  the  National  Museum  in  New 
Delhi.  Despite  the  claims  to  an  ancient  maritime  past  that  goes  back  to  about 
4000—6000  B.C.,  there  was  no  dedicated  maritime  museum  in  India  barring  the 
few  naval  museums  outside  of  Delhi.  This  lacuna  was  partially  redressed  by  the 
addition  of  this  new  maritime  wing  to  the  National  Museum  in  1992. 

However,  there  is  a  need  to  encourage  greater  specialist  studies  in  Indian  naval 
and  maritime  history  in  the  first  instance  and  then  attempt  an  interdisciplinary 
study  of  the  different  strands  that,  taken  collectively,  will  point  to  a  more  holistic 
understanding  of  the  Indian  past. 


Academic  Perspectives  (New  Delhi:  Centre  for  Historical  Studies,  Jawaharal  Nehru  University,  1989), 
pp.  105,  106. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  113. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  118. 

Rear  Admiral  Satyindra  Singh,  Under  Two  Ensigns:  The  Indian  Navy,  1945-50  (New  Dehli:  Oxford 
and  IBH  Publishing  Company,  1985);  Rear  Admiral  Satyindra  Singh,  Blueprint  to  Bluewater:  The  Indian 
Navy,  1951-65  (New  Delhi:  Lancer  International,  1992). 

6     Rear  Admiral  K.  Sridharan,  History  of  the  Naval  Dockyard  Bombay — 250  Years,  1735-1985  (Bombay: 
The  Admiral  Superintendent,  Naval  Dockyard,  1989). 


14 


Ireland 


John  E.  de  Courcy  Ireland 


The  independent  Irish  State  was  set  up  in  1922  after  centuries  of  unrest 
following  the  definitive  English  occupation  of  the  island  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  Irish  had  always  been  a  maritime  people,  and  in  the 
two  centuries  preceding  the  definitive  English  occupation,  Irish  seamen  and 
shipowners  were  engaged  in  lively  maritime  commerce  with  England  and 
Scotland,  Portugal,  Spain,  France,  the  Netherlands,  Germany,  and  Scandinavia. 
There  is  powerful  evidence  that  as  well  as  a  variety  of  traditional— type  vessels, 
Irish  shipowners  had  ships  of  the  most  modern  types  available  in  Europe.  The 
Irish  sea  fisheries  were  very  rich  and  were  frequented  by  continental  as  well  as 
Irish  fishermen.  Some  of  them  were  fishing  the  Grand  Banks  by  the  1550s,  and 
the  wealth  of  these  fisheries  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  English  government 
undertaking  a  final  conquest  of  Ireland  later  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Being  divided  into  nearly  one  hundred  petty  principalities,  with  about  a  score 
of  largely  autonomous  seaport  towns  and  no  centralized  Irish  authority,  the  Irish 
people  had  no  navy  or  naval  policy  and  only  rudimentary  systems  of  maritime 
law.  In  the  past,  a  remarkable  English  seaman,  Thomas  Stucley  from  Devon, 
with  ambitions  to  become  a  power  in  Ireland,  was  the  first  person  to  realize  the 
strategic  importance  of  Ireland.  He  presented  Philip  II  of  Spain  with  detailed 
ideas  on  the  subject  of  Waterford  as  an  ideal  base  for  Spain  to  seize  to  exercise 
permanent  strategic  pressure  on  England.  After  Philip  ignored  the  advice,  Stucley 
fell  out  with  the  government  in  London  and  offered  his  services  to  Spain.  Only 
Hugh  O'Neill,  leader  in  the  last  phase  of  resistance  to  the  English  invasion, 
understood  the  need  to  create  an  Irish  state  with  a  navy  and  merchant  ships  at 
its  disposal. 

Very  few  leaders  of  the  numerous  movements  that  arose  in  Ireland  in  the 
centuries  after  1607  showed  serious  interest  in  the  economic  potential  of 
Ireland's  geographical  situation,  if  it  attained  freedom,  or  in  the  end,  was  given 
independence,  in  some  kind  of  naval  defence  forces,  nor,  indeed,  in  considera- 
tion of  means,  during  a  struggle  for  independence,  to  try  to  cope  with  the  fact 
that  the  struggle  was  against  the  leading  sea  power  in  the  world.  In  the  final  and 
successful  phase  of  the  independence  struggle,  only  one  leader,  Arthur  Griffith, 


164      Ireland 

had  thought  profoundly  about  the  importance  of  the  sea  to  an  independent 
Ireland,  and  he  died  within  a  few  months  of  the  establishment  of  the  new  state. 

Yet,  throughout  the  centuries  of  English  occupation  and  despite  the  imposi- 
tion of  restrictions,  particularly  on  the  development  of  the  fisheries,  an  Irish 
maritime  economy  continued  to  function,  given  a  particular  boost  by  the  arrival 
of  maritime  Protestant  refugees  from  France  in  the  late  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  Thousands  of  Irishmen  served  in  the  British  Navy  (probab- 
ly 15  percent  of  its  personnel  were  Irish  over  a  long  period)  and  in  the  merchant 
navy.  Shipbuilding  flourished  in  Ireland  and  hundreds  of  Irishmen  distinguished 
themselves  at  sea  in  the  navies  of  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  the  Netherlands, 
Austria— Hungary  and  in  at  least  ten  countries  on  the  American  continent,  North 
and  South. 

The  state  that  was  set  up  in  1922  introduced  no  legislation  establishing  an 
Irish  merchant  fleet;  therefore,  merchant  ships  registered  in  Irish  ports  continued 
to  fly  the  British  ensign  until  such  legislation  in  September  1939,  and  no  attempt 
was  made  to  create  a  coast  defence  navy  until  August  of  that  year. 

Maritime  history  was  ignored  in  the  schools  and  in  the  universities  to  the 
point  where,  thirty  years  ago,  the  head  of  Ireland's  oldest  university,  a  historian, 
wrote  publicly  that  Ireland  had  no  maritime  history  or  traditions.  In  the  1930s, 
with  the  likelihood  of  a  world  war  growing  closer,  isolated  individuals,  all  of 
whom  were  later  to  become  active  in  the  Maritime  Institute  of  Ireland  set  up 
in  1941  to  crusade  for  the  creation  of  a  strong  Irish  maritime  economy  and  for 
the  revival  of  Ireland's  great  maritime  tradition,  spoke  out  about  the  need  to 
operate  an  Irish  merchant  navy  and  coast  guard  fleet  and  to  revive  the  almost 
defunct  fishing  fleet.  When,  ten  years  ago,  the  Department  of  Defence  archives 
were  opened  to  the  public,  I  was  immediately  shown  a  detailed  document, 
marked  Top  Secret  and  evidently  left  to  smoulder  quietly  in  a  pigeon  hole  for 
half  a  century,  in  which  two  officers  of  the  Irish  Army,  on  instructions  from  the 
Chief  of  Staff,  demonstrated  clearly  what  sort  of  coastal  defence  navy  would  be 
suitable  for  Ireland.  They  then  reasoned  that  the  provision  of  such  a  navy  would 
be  of  little  ultimate  value  unless  a  merchant  navy  and  a  revived  fishing  fleet  also 
became  part  of  policy.  This  document  had  never  before  seen  the  light  of  day 
nor  awoken  the  smallest  echo  in  political  circles. 

The  1939—45  war  led  to  the  improvisation  of  a  navy,  the  establishment  of  an 
Irish  merchant  fleet,  and  the  revival  of  the  fishing  fleet,  though  that  did  not  really 
start  to  grow  until  1962.  Since  then  it  has  increased  quite  phenomenally  in  size 
and  catching  capacity  in  spite  of  a  variety  of  problems  associated  with  the 
over-fishing  of  Irish  waters  and  the  slow  growth  of  the  essential  research  work. 

1  See  for  example,  John  de  Courcy  Ireland,  "The  Confederate  States  Navy  1861-1865:  The  Irish 
Contribution,"  Mariner's  Mirror,  66  (August  1980),  pp.  259—63  and  "Irish  Naval  Connections  in  Brest 
in  the  Eighteenth  and  Ninteenth  Centuries,"  Irish  Sword,  17  (Summer  1987),  pp.  57-60. 


de  Courcy  Ireland      1 65 

From  its  foundation,  the  Maritime  Institute  of  Ireland,  an  independent 
non-official  body,  has  conceived  the  teaching  of  maritime  history — general  or 
even  Irish — to  be  one  of  its  absolute  priorities.  It  runs  regular  lectures  and 
occasional  conferences  on  maritime  historical  topics,  provides  lectures  for  any 
organization,  society,  or  college  that  requests  one;  has  published  books  and 
pamphlets  on  both  maritime  history  and  actualities;  and  has  since  1946  (though 
with  a  break  of  several  years  in  the  late  1960s)  published,  under  different  titles, 
a  journal,  at  first  monthly,  now  quarterly,  containing  maritime  historical 
information  as  well  as  information  on  maritime  activities.  The  Institute  has  been 
able  to  interest  the  official  radio— television  station  and  several  local  radio  stations 
in  transmitting  maritime  historical  material  quite  regularly.  It  has  encouraged 
primary  and  secondary  schools  to  allow  students  to  specialize  on  maritime  topics, 
although  it  has  not  yet  persuaded  the  state  educational  authorities  to  recognize 
maritime  history  as  a  subject.  The  Institute  has  helped  undergraduate  and 
graduate  students  at  Irish  universities  and  at  foreign  ones,  allowing  them  to 
choose  maritime  topics  for  degree  theses,  and  it  has  enabled  the  Free  University 
of  Ireland,  set  up  in  Dublin  in  1986,  to  offer  annually  a  course  in  maritime 
history.  Each  of  the  country's  local  history  societies  is  invited  to  study  its  own 
local  maritime  history  and  to  invite  a  lecturer  from  the  Institute.  The  Institute 
helped  to  found  the  Military  History  Society  of  Ireland  in  1949  and  has  provided 
lecturers  for  its  annual  October-March  lecture  programme.  Institute  members 
have  contributed  frequently  to  its  prestigious  twice-a-year  journal,  The  Irish 
Sword.  In  1959  the  Institute  founded  (and  operates  through  volunteers  as  with 
all  its  other  work)  the  non-state  subsidized  National  Maritime  Museum  of 
Ireland,  which  presents  a  series  of  lessons  on  Irish  and  general  maritime  and  naval 
history.  Schools  and  learned  societies  that  visit  the  museum  are  provided  with  a 
guide  competent  in  maritime  history. 

The  museum  is  affiliated  with  the  International  Congress  of  Maritime 
Museums  and  is  represented  at  its  triennial  conferences.  Members  of  the  Institute 
form  the  Irish  section  of  the  International  Conference  of  Maritime  Historians 
and  have  provided  papers  at  its  conferences,  which  began  in  1975  and  are  held 
every  five  years,  as  well  as  at  conferences  organized  by  the  French  and  British 
sections.  The  Institute  has  helped  in  the  last  five  years  to  persuade  the  universities 
at  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Belfast  in  Northern  Ireland  to  consider  seriously  the 
introduction,  in  the  next  few  years,  of  courses  on  maritime  studies,  including 
maritime  history.  It  has  also  assisted  in  the  establishment  of  a  local  maritime 
historical  research  center  for  Northwestern  Ireland  at  Derry,  Northern  Ireland. 
The  Institute  can  also  take  some  credit  for  the  fact  that,  whereas  between  1948 
and  1981  only  one  maritime  book  was  published  in  Ireland,  now  three  or  four 

The  Maritime  Institute  of  Ireland,  B.  Donnelly,  Hon.  Sec,  Haigh  Terrace,  Dun  Laoghaire,  Co. 
Dublin,  Republic  of  Ireland. 
The  Irish  Maritime  Journal. 


166      Ireland 

are  published  annually.  Ten  books  on  maritime  history  published  in  Ireland  in 
the  last  twelve  years  were  either  written  or  edited  by  Institute  members. 

Outside  of  the  Institute,  whose  members  are  all  volunteers,  Irish  maritime 
history  is  taught  to  the  cadets  at  the  maritime  division  of  Cork  Regional 
Technical  College  (formerly  the  Irish  Nautical  College)  by  Captain  Brunicardi, 
a  staff  member  who  has  also  written  a  history  of  the  Irish  Naval  Service  and 
whose  father,  Commander  Brunicardi,  has  written  and  lectured  locally  in  West 
Cork  on  local  maritime  history. 

The  officers  of  the  Naval  Service  receive  rather  elementary  education  in  the 
history  of  their  service  and  some  very  sketchy  international  naval  and  maritime 
history  as  part  of  their  training.  Occasional  arrangements  are  made  for  officers, 
cadets,  or  seamen  to  attend  lectures  by  Captain  Brunicardi;  but,  apparently, 
unless  they  do  courses  abroad  (at  which  some  have  excelled)  Irish  naval  officers 
are  not  adequately  educated  about  naval  history. 

Other  than  the  Institute  and  its  members  on  the  Free  University  staff,  no 
academics  in  Ireland  teach  these  subjects,  though  some  good  economic  historians 
do  deal  with  aspects  of  maritime  history  inevitably  (and  quite  well),  and  moves 
are  being  made  for  the  academics  who  run  the  archives  at  Cork  to  start 
propagating  maritime  history  based  thereon.  Some  fishery  history  is  taught  at 
the  fine  Fisheries  Training  College,  Greencastle,  County  Donegal. 

There  is  no  coordination  of  Irish  maritime  studies.  The  innate  and  more  or 
less  unconscious  anti-British  bias  with  which  history  is  generally  approached  in 
Ireland  tends  to  be  nullified  by  the  fact  that  outside  the  Institute  maritime  history 
is  dealt  with  in  English  and  from  British  sources.  The  periods  least  covered  are 
probably  the  medieval,  eighteenth,  nineteenth,  and  twentieth  centuries.  Most 
help  is  needed  in  the  post-medieval  field  in  getting  at  the  vast  amount  of  archival 
material  which  we  know  to  be  available  in  the  National,  Cork  city,  and  Northern 
Ireland  archives,  and  in  archives  abroad  (e.g.,  France,  Britain,  Portugal,  Spain, 
the  United  States  and  the  Netherlands),  where  Institute  members  have  identified 
material  and  done  much  preliminary  work  on  it.  The  gulf  between  naval  and 
general  maritime  history  is  not  great  as  presented  in  Ireland,  and  it  should  be 
possible  to  prevent  its  swelling  when  the  study  of  maritime  history  in  Ireland 
becomes  better  organized  and  less  elementary. 

A  very  recent  and  very  welcome  development  was  the  Argentine  Navy's 
invitation  to  the  Irish  Naval  Service  to  send  one  of  its  most  promising  young 
Irish  officers  on  a  training  cruise  in  the  famous  Argentine  naval  sail-training  ship, 

Among  recent  works,  see  for  example,  John  de  Courcy  Ireland,  Ireland  and  the  Irish  in  Maritime  History 
(Dun  Laoghaire:  Glendale  Press,  1986)  and  Ireland's  Sea  Fisheries:  A  History  (Dublin:  Glendale  Press, 
1989);  Nicholas  Rossiter,  Wexford  Port:  A  History  (Wexford:  Wexford  Council  of  Trade  Unions,  1989). 

A  History  of  the  Irish  Naval  Service  (Haulbowline:  Naval  Base,  1989),  10  pages. 

For  example,  Niall  Brunicardi,  Haulbowline,  Spike  and  Rocky  Islands  in  Cork  Harbour  (Fermoy,  n.d.). 

See  Thomas  A.  Adams,  Irish  Naval  Service  (Kendal,  Cumbria:  World  Ship  Society,  1982). 


de  Courcy  Ireland      1 67 

the  Libertad.  The  invitation  followed,  but  may  not  have  been  inspired  by,  a  long 
lecture  tour  in  the  autumn  of  1993  by  the  Maritime  Institute's  research  officer, 
author  of  the  soon-to-be  published  first  English-language  biography  of  the 
Irishman,  William  Brown  (1777—1857),  founder  of  the  Argentine  Navy.  In 
1922,  Argentina  was  the  first  country  to  recognize  the  separate  Irish  state.  Irish 
Naval  Service  officers  have  been  trained  in  Britain,  but  it  is  hoped  that  this  first 
serious  contact  with  another  naval  tradition  may  become  permanent. 
Meanwhile,  the  Irish  Navy's  ships  are  kept  busy  protecting,  with  their  insuffi- 
cient numbers,  Irish  and  European  fishery  zones  from  frequent  intruders,  varied 
from  time  to  time  with  a  visit  abroad,  notably  to  revictual  Irish  military  units  on 
peace-keeping  duty  in  the  eastern  Mediterranean  basin. 


IS 
Israel 


Meir  Sas,  Nadav  Kashtan,  and  Sarah  Arenson 


Geographical  and  historical  factors  give  Israel  an  important  role  to  play  in 
the  contacts  between  the  two  seafaring  systems,  the  Red  Sea  and  Indian 
Ocean  on  the  one  hand,  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the 
other.  Since  the  days  of  King  Solomon  and  his  maritime  expeditions  in  the 
South  seas,  through  the  maritime  exploits  of  the  Hasmonean  Kings  and  Herod's 
Caesarea  Maritima,  to  the  tragedy  of  the  Great  Jewish  Revolt  against  Rome, 
there  was  a  sound  link  between  the  land,  the  people,  and  the  sea. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Second  Temple,  the  Talmud  and  other  literary 
sources  point  out  the  continuity  of  Jewish  maritime  activity  in  the  diaspora.  All 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  and  especially  under  Charlemagne,  the  Jews  carried 
on  a  vast  maritime,  commercial  network.  They  shared  in  the  development  of 
astronomy  and  cartography  prior  to  the  period  of  the  great  discoveries,  fought 
Spain  along  with  the  Barbary  corsairs,  and  were  among  the  first  settlers  in  the 
New  World. 

The  rise  of  the  Jewish  national  movement  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century 
changed  radically  the  situation  of  the  Jewish  people.  Nevertheless,  agriculture 
took  the  lead  at  first,  and  there  was  no  awareness  of  the  sea  until  the  1930s. 
During  those  years,  the  first  attempts  were  made  to  train  Jewish  mariners  at 
Riga  in  Latvia  and  Civitavecchia  in  Italy.  These  first  attempts  were  superseded 
by  the  Haifa  Nautical  School  of  Technology,  which  later  moved  to  Acre  to 
become  the  still  active  Israel  Nautical  College.  In  1936  a  new  port  was  built  in 
Tel  Aviv,  due  to  the  Arab  Revolt  and  the  difficulties  in  using  the  ports  of  Jaffa 
and  Haifa. 

The  British  Mandate  on  the  land  of  Israel  (1918—1948)  put  severe  restrictions 
on  Jewish  immigration.  During  those  years,  especially  in  the  last  four  years  of 
British  rule,  illegal  immigration  by  sea,  which  had  already  started  in  the  1930s, 
took  on  growing  proportions.  There  are  many  written  works  that  deal  with  this 
period,  offering  general  descriptions  and  monographs  of  particular  ships  and 

The  first  portion  of  this  essay  is  by  Dr.  Meir  Sas  of  the  Israeli  Nautical  College,  Acre.  Dr.  Sas  passed 
away  on  26  July  1993.  His  two  coauthors  dedicate  this  chapter  to  his  memory. 

J.  Halperin  wrote  about  his  experience  in  his  book  in  Hebrew,  The  Renaissance  of  Jewish  Seamanship 
(Tel-Aviv:  Hadar,  1962). 


170      Israel 

actions,  but  due  to  the  authors'  general  ignorance  of  conditions  at  sea,  they  do 
not  contribute  much  to  the  analysis  of  Jewish,  illegal,  maritime  immigration  as 
a  historical  phenomenon  during  this  period. 

In  those  years,  the  prevalent  opinion  was  to  strengthen  the  maritime  inclina- 
tion of  the  people  through  the  study  and  revival  of  old  traditions.  The  first 
historical  essay  was  by  R.  Patai  and  dealt  with  Biblical  and  Talmudic  times,  700 
B.C.  to  A.D.  700.  N.  Slouschaz  wrote  another  historical  study,  centering  around 
Carthage  and  the  Phenico-Punic  achievement,  and  S.  Tolkowsky  wrote  a 
general  history  of  Jewish  involvement  in  naval  affairs. 

Since  the  moment  that  the  State  of  Israel  was  declared  on  15  May  1948,  it 
started  fighting  for  its  existence.  The  same  vessels  that  had  served  the  immigrants 
were  converted  to  form  the  nucleus  of  the  new  marine  corps  of  the  Israel 
Defence  Forces.  The  role  of  the  Navy  in  the  Israel  War  of  Independence  was 
summed  up  by  E.  Tal  in  the  best  work  on  any  of  the  Israeli  Defence  Forces' 
naval  operations,  which,  since  then,  have  been  covered  only  by  journalistic  essays 
in  various  Hebrew  language  military  and  naval  magazines.  The  Encyclopedia  of 
Army  and  Security  has  published  one  volume  dedicated  to  the  Navy,  but  it  consists 
mainly  of  pictures  accompanied  by  a  short  text. 

Meir  Sas  has  published  many  short  articles  on  the  history  of  seafaring  and 
naval  affairs,  including  translations  from  the  classics  such  as  A.T.  Mahan's  The 
Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History.  He  has  also  written  a  monograph  on  the  history 

Q 

of  Acre.  As  there  are  no  textbooks  in  Hebrew  for  the  general  history  of  seafaring 
and  sea  power,  Dr.  Sas  has  compiled  several  textbooks  for  high  school  and  naval 
college  students. 

Z.  Herman  is  another  prolific  writer  of  maritime  themes  in  Hebrew*  Most 

1  o 
of  his  books  deal  with  the  ancient  world,     but  he  has  dealt  also  with  modern 

11. 
Jewish  commercial  shipping.     His  most  recent  book  deals  with  the  history  and 

1  o 
challenge  of  oceanography. 

R.  Patai,  JeuHsh  Seafaring  in  Ancient  Times,  a  Contribution  to  the  History  of  Palestinian  Culture  (Jerusalem: 
Mass,  1938)  in  Hebrew. 

4  N.  Slouschaz,  The  Book  of  the  Sea  (Tel  Aviv:  1948)  in  Hebrew. 

5  S.  Tolkowsky,  They  Took  to  the  Sea  (New  York:  Yoseloff,  1964). 

E.  Tal,  Naval  Operations  in  the  Israeli  War  of  Independence  (Tel  Aviv:  Ministry  of  Defence  Publications, 
1964)  in  Hebrew. 

7 

Zahal  Beheilo  (Tel  Aviv:  Revivim,  1 982)  in  Hebrew. 

Q 

Meir  Sas,  Maritime  Acre  (Acre:  Israel  Nautical' College,  1981)  in  Hebrew. 

Meir  Sas,  The  Book  of  the  Sea  (Haifa:  Renaissance,  1970)  and  Oars  and  Sails  Qerusalem:  Ministry  of 
Education,  1973).  His  most  recent  book  is  Seapower  through  the  Ages  (Jerusalem:  Ministry  of  Defence 
Publications,  1991)  in  Hebrew. 

For  example,  Z.  Herman,  Man  and  the  Sea  (Haifa,  1979);  People,  Seas  and  Ships  (Tel  Aviv:  Massada, 
1964)  and  Carthage,  A  Maritime  Empire  (Tel  Aviv:  Massada,  1963)  in  Hebrew. 

Z.  Herman,  History  of  Hebrew  Shipping  (Tel  Aviv:  1978)  in  Hebrew. 
12   Z.  Herman,  The  Depth  of  the  Sea  (Haifa:  1985)  in  Hebrew. 


Sas,  Kashtan  and  Arenson      1 71 

The  Academy  of  the  Hebrew  Language  has  summarized  the  professional, 

1  % 
linguistic  innovations  that  maritime  activity  has  brought  to  Hebrew. 

Haifa  University  Center  for  Maritime  Studies 

The  Leon  Recanti  Center  for  Maritime  Studies  at  the  University  of  Haifa 
was  established  in  1972.  Guided  by  an  interdisciplinary  concept,  the  center 
conducts  and  promotes  research  projects  which  encompass  man's  activities 
relating  to  the  sea,  bringing  to  light  what  was  known  in  the  past,  man's 
involvement  in  the  present,  and  what  man  can  accomplish  by  using  the  sea  in 
the  future.  By  combining  disciplines,  such  as  history,  archaeology,  earth  sciences, 
and  marine  resources,  the  Center  has  found  a  way  of  bridging  between 
humanities,  sciences,  and  technology.  This  is  reflected  in  the  graduate  program 
of  the  Department  of  Maritime  Civilizations,  initiated  by  the  Center  for 
Maritime  Studies  in  the  framework  of  the  Faculty  of  Humanities. 

The  Department  of  Maritime  Civilizations  offers  courses  that  aim  to  broaden 
and  deepen  the  historical,  archaeological  and  geographical  knowledge  of  cul- 
tures, people,  countries,  and  coastal  settlements  whose  history  and  development 
were  or  are  affected  by  the  sea.  Emphasis  is  placed  on  maritime  activities  and 
interrelations  in  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Red  Sea.  These  courses  include 
subjects  such  as:  history  of  naval  power,  coastal  and  marine  archaeology, 
development  of  ships  in  antiquity,  navigation  and  seamanship,  ancient  harbors, 
marine  ecology  and  geology. 

The  National  Maritime  Museum  in  Haifa 

Founded  forty  years  ago,  the  National  Maritime  Museum  in  Haifa,  Israel 
celebrated  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  opening  of  its  current,  1972  pur- 
pose—built facility.  The  Museum  grew  out  of  the  significant  personal  collection 
of  Arie  L.  Ben— Eli,  who  at  the  time  in  1953  was  a  lieutenant  commander  in  the 
Israeli  Navy.  By  the  end  of  the  following  year,  the  museum  had  been  turned 
over  to  the  Haifa  Municipality  with  the  full  support  of  the  Israel  Maritime 
League.  Its  first  premises  were  on  one  floor  of  the  League's  building  near  the 
port  of  Haifa.  Arie  L.  Ben— Eli  became  its  first  Director. 

Soon  a  familiar  pattern  emerged.  As  the  collections  grew,  the  facility  became 
overcrowded,  while  interest  and  demand  grew  for  a  proper  museum  building 
that  could  do  justice  to  the  museum's  programs.  This  was  finally  built  and  opened 
in  1972.  Named  the  National  Maritime  Museum,  Haifa,  the  new  museum  aimed 
at  establishing  itself  as  the  major  maritime  museum  in  Israel.  It  has  achieved  its 
goal,  while  attracting  substantial  donors  along  the  way. 

Dictionary  of  Maritime  Terms,  Hebreiv-English— French— German  (Jerusalem:  The  Academy  of  the 
Hebrew  Language,  1970). 

The  following  section  is  by  Dr.  Nadav  Kashtan,  Director,  of  the  National  Maritime  Museum,  Haifa. 


172      Israel 

The  overall  theme  of  the  museum  is  the  "History  of  Seafaring,"  which  is 
presented  in  two  complementary  ways:  chronologically  and  through  the  il- 
lumination of  specific  themes.  The  chronological  approach  has  four  main 
periods:  ancient  seafaring,  seafaring  in  the  Middle  Ages,  modern  seafaring,  and 
present— day  shipping.  This  history  is  richly  illustrated  by  artifacts  acquired  by 
the  museum  or  donated  by  collectors.  Objects  which  are  relevant  to  ancient  and 
medieval  seafaring  have  come  primarily  from  underwater  archaeological  activity. 
These  artifacts  include  anchors,  storage  jars,  statuettes,  terra-cotta  oil  lamps,  and 
ancient  coins.  An  important  core  of  the  museum's  collection  is  a  large  number 
of  ship  models.  Sub-themes  have  also  been  developed  which  include:  geography, 
including  discoveries  and  cartography;  economics,  including  maritime  trade, 
types  of  ships  and  cargoes;  science  and  engineering,  including  warships  and  naval 
battles;  and  art  and  culture,  including  the  development  of  coastal  cities  and  ports 
along  with  the  relationships  between  peoples. 

The  museum  has  produced  a  number  of  temporary  exhibits  that  have  travelled 
within  Israel  and  abroad.  A  wide  range  of  educational  programs  are  offered,  and 
a  university  course  on  the  "Maritime  History  of  Israel  in  Antiquity"  is  held  in 
cooperation  with  Haifa  University.  The  first  two  Directors,  Arie  Ben— Eli  and 
Joseph  Ringel,  created  an  active  publication  program  and  produced  several 
monographs,  but  most  important  of  all  is  the  scholarly  journal  Sefunim,  of 
which  eight  volumes  have  been  published  since  1966. 

The  museum  has  a  research  library  of  over  5,500  volumes  and  subscribes  to 
a  number  of  periodicals.  Over  190  periodical  titles  are  represented  in  the 
collection. 

The  current  director's  goals  are  to  maintain  the  museum's  excellent  standing 
among  the  world's  maritime  museums  and  to  continue  the  development  and 
expansion  of  its  collections  and  programs.  Construction  of  a  new  floor  of 
exhibition  space  is  planned.  The  museum  also  needs  to  strengthen  its  finances 
and  to  introduce  environmental  controls  in  the  entire  building. 

Maritime  Research  and  Activity  in  Israel 

The  following  is  a  list  of  marine-related  institutions  and  activity  centers  in 
Israel: 

The  National  Maritime  Museum  in  Haifa  exhibits  ancient  seafaring  from 
Pharaonic  times  to  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  modern  shipping.  Special 
items  include  The  Athlit  ram,  Jewish  ship  graffiti,   anchors  and  amphoras 

A.  Ben-Eli,  ed.,  Ships  and  Parts  of  Ships  on  Ancient  Coins  (Haifa:  National  Maritime  Museum,  1975); 
A.  Zemer,  Storage  Jars  in  Ancient  Sea  Trade  (Haifa:  National  Maritime  Museum,  1977);  D.  Avrahami, 
Eskimo  and  N.  W.  Indian  Art  at  the  Maritime  Museum,  Haifa  (Haifa:  National  Maritime  Museum,  1979); 
and  J.  Ringel,  Marine  Motifs  on  Ancient  Coins  (Haifa:  National  Maritime  Museum,  1984). 

The  following  section  was  compiled  by  Mrs.  Sarah  Arenson,  Director  of  the  Man  and  Sea  Society, 
Israel. 


Sas,  Kashtan  and  Arenson      1 73 

discovered  by  marine  archaeology,  Greek  Fire  containers,  figurines  of  sea-god- 
desses, and  coins  with  marine  symbols.  The  museum  has  a  fine  collection  of  old 
maps  of  the  Holy  Land  and  its  shores,  as  well  as  rare  nautical  instruments. 

The  Museum  of  Illegal  Immigration,  also  in  Haifa  and  adjacent  to  the  National 
Maritime  Museum,  is  concerned  with  Jewish  seaborne  immigration  to  Israel, 
mostly  between  the  Second  World  War  and  the  establishment  of  the  State  of 
Israel. 

The  National  Oceanographic  and  Limnological  Institute  in  Haifa  conducts 
basic  and  applied  research,  mainly  in  marine  geology,  biology,  and  chemistry. 
It  cooperates  in  international  projects  such  as  MAP  and  other  regional  plans 
concerned  with  marine  resources  and  pollution.  It  has  a  branch  on  the  Lake  of 
Galilee  and  another  on  the  Red  Sea,  in  Eilat.  Its  publications  include  annual 
conference  reports  and  special  issues  in  English. 

The  Fisheries  Research  Institute  is  centered  in  Haifa,  as  well,  and  conducts 
field  research  projects  in  the  Eastern  Mediterranean  and  brackish  waters  along 
the  coast.  The  Ministry  of  Agriculture  has  a  central  research  institute,  Vulcani, 
which  is  also  involved  with  fishing  experimentation.  Its  publications  are  in 
Hebrew. 

The  Research  Institute  of  Shipping  and  Aviation  is  concerned  with  the 
planning  of  ports,  the  economics  of  shipping,  the  welfare  of  seamen,  and  weather 
problems.  It  is  located  at  Haifa  University.  Its  publications  are  mostly  in  English 
with  a  few  in  Hebrew. 

Zim  Shipping  company  has  its  own  research  unit  located  in  Haifa  and 
publishes  its  work  in  Hebrew. 

The  Technion,  Israel  Technological  Institute,  has  a  naval  engineering 
laboratory,  which  conducts  research  in  port  engineering  and  the  architecture  of 
ships.  Its  reports  are  published  mostly  in  English. 

The  Hyperbaric  Medicine  Institute  (M.R.I)  is  affiliated  with  the  Navy  and 
situated  at  the  Rambam  Hospital  in  Haifa.  It  does  both  basic  and  applied  research 
in  all  aspects  of  physiology  and  medicine  related  to  the  sea,  on  the  surface  and 
underwater,  and  treats  both  civil  and  military  cases.  Its  publications  are  in  English. 

The  Center  for  Maritime  Studies  at  Haifa  University  is  occupied  with 
academic  and  applied  research  in  all  fields  concerned  with  man  and  sea  relations, 
such  as  marine  archaeology,  marine  biology,  and  oceanography.  There  is  also  a 
Department  for  the  History  of  Maritime  Civilizations,  granting  the  master's 
degree.  Publications  in  English  and  Hebrew. 

Marine  Biology  Department  at  Tel  Aviv  University  is  academically  active  and, 
together  with  several  other  universities  in  the  country,  maintains  a  laboratory  in 
Eilat.  Its  publications  are  in  English  and  Hebrew. 

The  Center  for  Strategic  Research  is  affiliated  with  Tel  Aviv  University  and  is 
involved  also  with  naval  affairs.  Its  publications  are  in  Hebrew  and  English. 


174     Israel 

The  Israeli  Defence  Forces  Navy  has  an  academic  historical  branch  which 
conducts  historical  and  practical  research  in  naval  affairs.  Its  publications  are 
mostly  in  Hebrew  and  with  restricted  circulation. 

In  Jerusalem,  the  government  Geological  Institute  has  a  marine  section,  which 
conducts  surveys  in  all  Israeli  waters. 

The  Antiquities  Authority  has  a  marine  section,  situated  at  present  in  Kibbutz 
Neve-Yam,  South  of  Haifa.  It  is  concerned  with  guarding  the  coasts  against 
damage  to  the  cultural  heritage  and  conducts  surveys  and  salvage  excavations  as 
necessary.  Its  publications  are  in  Hebrew  and  English. 

The  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  Nature  in  Israel  (SPNI)  has  a  network  of 
field-schools,  several  of  which  are  marine  related,  such  as  the  ones  at  Akhziv, 
Maagan-Michael,  and  Eilat,  as  well  as  Kinrot  and  Yarkon.  It  publishes  Eretz 
magazine,  in  English. 

The  Man  and  Sea  Society  of  Israel  is  concerned  with  educational 
programs  for  the  youth  and  the  wider  public.  It  has  initiated  a  major  TV  series, 
"The  Encircled  Sea:  Mediterranean  Maritime  Civilization,"  a  British-Israeli 
joint  venture  production.  Among  other  projects,  there  is  an  innovative  high- 
school  program  of  maritime  studies  and  a  summer  course,  "A  Maritime  Ex- 
perience in  Israel." 


16 
Twentieth  Century  Italy 


Brian  R.  Sullivan 


An  understanding  of  the  present  state  of  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history 
benefits  from  a  review  of  the  context  in  which  such  history  has  been  and 
is  being  researched  and  written.  Perhaps  most  useful  for  American  readers  in  this 
regard  are  some  relevant  comparisons  between  Italy  and  the  United  States.  Such 
comparisons  involve  both  material  and  non-material  factors. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  physical  factors  involve  considerable  differences 
in  scale  between  the  United  States  and  Italy.  Italy  is  considerably  smaller  in  terms 
of  territory  and  population  than  the  United  States.  Furthermore,  their  national 
income  makes  contemporary  Italians  somewhat  less  wealthy  on  a  per  capita 
average  than  Americans.  More  relevant  is  the  fact  that,  while  the  gap  between 
average  individual  incomes  in  the  United  States  and  Italy  has  narrowed  consid- 
erably in  the  last  twenty  years,  previously,  Americans  enjoyed  a  far  higher 
standard  of  living,  particularly  before  1960.  Certainly  the  differences  between 
Italian  and  American  national  geography  are  likely  to  remain  permanent.  The 
Republic  of  Italy  covers  301,000  square  kilometers,  with  a  coastline  of  about 
5,000  kilometers  long,  entirely  within  the  Mediterranean;  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  is  over  thirty-one  times  larger  and  includes  a  coastline  of  almost 
20,000  kilometers  on  the  Atlantic,  Pacific,  and  Arctic  Oceans  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  In  mid-1993,  the  Italian  population  reached  58  million,  while  that  of 
the  United  States  rose  to  nearly  257  million.  In  1991,  the  American  gross 
domestic  product  was  $5,695  trillion,  Italian  GDP  for  that  year  was  about  $1 .099 
trillion.  The  Italian  merchant  marine  numbers  about  1,600  vessels  of  some  8 
million  gross  tons,  while  that  of  the  United  States  counts  over  6,300  vessels  of 
nearly  20  million  gross  tons. 

But  ratios  in  favor  of  the  United  States  are  even  more  imbalanced  when  navies 
are  compared.  Proportionately,  the  United  States  has  far  outspent  Italy  on 
defense,  even  when  differences  in  size  of  populations  and  economies  are  taken 
into  consideration.  The  following  table  compares  American  outlays  on  defense 

1  Central  Intelligence  Agency,  Tlte  World  Fact  Book  1992  (Washington:  1992),  pp.  167-69,  358-60; 
International  Monetary  Fund,  International  Financial  Statistics  August  1993  (Washington:  1993),  pp.  304, 
556. 


1 76     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

with  Italian  defense  budgets  in  the  1985  to  1991  period,  each  expressed  in  billions 
of  dollars. 

Year  Italy  United  States 

1985  8.6  245.2 

1986  9.8  265.5 

1987  13.4  274.0 

1988  16.1  282.0 

1989  16.7  294.9 

1990  19.6  289.8 

1991  19.7  262.4 

Even  with  the  marked  decrease  in  American  defense  spending  and  the 
doubling  of  Italian  defense  spending  over  the  past  decade,  the  Italian  government 
expends  far  less  per  capita  on  its  armed  forces  than  does  the  American  govern- 
ment. At  present,  Americans  spend  about  5.7  percent  of  their  GNP  on  defense, 
Italians  about  2.2  percent.  These  disparities  are  reflected  in  the  different  sizes 
of  the  two  national  navies. 

In  mid-1993,  the  United  States  Navy  numbered  about  515,000  and  the  U.S. 
Marine  Corps  about  180,000,  for  a  total  of  roughly  695,000  men  and  women. 
In  comparison,  the  Italian  Navy  and  Marine  Corps  comprised  some  54,500 
personnel.  True,  the  U.S.  Navy  is  expected  to  decline  from  its  present  strength 
of  452  ships  to  about  340  by  1999;  the  Italian  Navy  is  expected  to  retain  its 
present  strength,  thanks  to  a  healthy  building  and  replacement  program.  How- 
ever, this  will  maintain  the  Italian  Navy  at  only  about  60  major  warships  and 
support  vessels.  In  addition,  the  U.S.  Navy  not  only  vastly  outweighs  the  Italian 
Navy  in  numbers  of  warships  but  in  size  of  warships.  At  present,  the  U.S.  Navy 
has  23  ships  of  over  39,000  tons  full-load  displacement  in  commission,  compared 
to  just  two  ships  of  over  9,000  tons  in  the  Italian  Navy.  Even  with  the  coming 
decommissioning  of  a  number  of  the  largest  American  warships  and  the 

construction  of  a  second  Italian  light  aircraft  carrier  and  several  large  destroyers, 

•i 

these  differences  in  scale  between  the  two  navies  will  remain  indefinitely. 

A  glance  at  the  history  of  the  American  and  Italian  navies  emphasizes  the 
smaller  and  less  prominent  role  of  the  latter  in  its  nation's  development.  The 
United  States  came  into  existence  in  1776  and  fought  ten  major  wars  over  the 
next  215  years.  Its  navy  took  a  significant  part  in  every  conflict  and  had  a  major 
role  in  at  least  seven.  Perhaps  more  important,  the  American  Navy  established 
a  highly  favorable  reputation  during  the  first  decades  of  its  existence,  as  a  result 
of  its  actions  during  the  Revolution,  the  Quasi- War  with  France,  the  naval 
campaign  against  the  Barbary  Pirates  and,  most  of  all,  the  War  of  1812.  The 

2  The  International  Institute  for  Strategic  Studies,  The  Military  Balance  1986-87  (London:  1986),  p. 
70;  ibid.:  1987-88,  p.  68;  ibid.:  1988-89,  p.  69;  ibid.:  1989-90,  p.  67;  ibid.:  1990-91,  p.  71;  ibid.: 
1991-92,  p.  63;  ibid.:  1992-93,  pp.  17,  49;  The  World  Factbook  1992,  pp.  169,  360. 

3  Richard  Sharpe,  ed.,  Jane's  Fighting  Ships  1993-94  (London:  1993),  pp.  321-40,  753-802. 


Sullivan      177 

exploits  of  Paul  Jones,  Biddle,  Barry,  Truxton,  Preble,  Bainbridge,  Decatur, 
Hull,  Lawrence,  Stewart,  Perry,  and  Macdonough  and  their  sailors  helped  create 
the  worshipful  attitude  of  the  American  people  toward  their  navy  that  has 
sustained  its  popularity  ever  since.  Equally  important  for  maintaining  interest  in 
and  support  for  the  U.S.  Navy  were  American  naval  actions  after  the  early 
nineteenth  century,  especially  during  the  Civil  War,  the  Spanish  American  War 
and,  of  course,  the  Second  World  War.  Such  successful  campaigns  have 
encouraged  a  strong  interest  in  American  naval  history  among  both  the  general 
public  and  the  scholarly  community. 

The  Italian  naval  tradition  offers  a  rather  stark  contrast.  Following  its  unifica- 
tion in  1861,  Italy  engaged  in  seven  major  wars  in  which  six  involved  naval 
activity  but  only  four  in  a  major  way.  In  contrast  with  the  history  of  the  U.S. 
Navy,  the  early  decades  of  the  Italian  Navy  proved  extremely  difficult.  Its  first 
war  in  1866,  the  short  mid-summer  conflict  with  Austria,  ended  in  the  disastrous 
Italian  naval  defeat  at  Lissa,  marred  by  the  incompetence  of  the  Italian  com- 
mander, Admiral  Carlo  Persano,  and  the  treachery  and  cowardice  of  his 
subordinates,  Admirals  Giovanni  Battista  Albini  and  Giovanni  Vacca.  There- 
after, the  Italian  Navy  experienced  no  significant  wartime  action  until  1911, 
although  draining  its  impoverished  nation  of  significant  resources  to  little 
practical  end  until  the  turn  of  the  century.  While  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
Italian  Navy  offers  numerous  examples  of  heroism,  Italy's  only  major  victorious 
naval  conflict  came  to  an  end  in  1918,  and  its  last  serious  naval  conflict  ended 
in  humiliation  in  September  1943  with  the  surrender  of  its  battle  fleet.  At  the 
moment  of  its  capitulation  in  World  War  II,  the  Italian  Navy  enjoyed  its  all-time 
maximum  size:  259,000  officers  and  men.  In  contrast,  the  United  States  Navy 
reached  a  maximum  strength  of  3.4  million  in  1944—45,  joined  with  a  U.S. 
Marine  Corps  of  475,000.5 

These  facts  help  explain  Italian  political  and  psychological  attitudes  toward 
their  navy  and  merchant  marine,  as  well  as  the  limited  degree  of  general  Italian 
interest  in  the  history  of  these  institutions.  In  brief,  Italians  have  shown  and 
continue  to  exhibit  far  less  fascination  with  their  naval  and  maritime  history  than 
do  Americans  with  their  own.  But  the  major  negative  influence  on  the  Italian 
attitude  in  these  regards — indeed  on  the  Italian  attitude  toward  almost  all  public 
institutions — comes  from  widespread  perceptions  of  the  defunct  monarchy  and 
of  the  Fascist  regime,  culminating  in  the  disasters  of  1940— 45.  Such  attitudes 

The  Italian  Navy  engaged  in  considerable  action  in  the  Italian-Turkish  War  of  1911-12;  World 
War  I,  1915-18;  Italian  intervention  in  the  Spanish  Civil  War,  1936-39;  World  War  II,  1940-43  (as 
well  as  providing  some  naval  assistance  to  the  Allies  in  1943—45).  The  Italian  Navy  fought  one  losing 
battle  in  the  war  of  1866  with  Austria  and  provided  major  naval  support  in  the  Italian-Ethiopian  War 
of  1935-36,  without  engaging  in  hostilities. 

For  a  survey  of  Italian  naval  history,  see  the  relevant  portions  of  Lucio  Ceva,  Leforze  annate  (Turin: 
1981). 


1 78     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

have  created  additional  obstacles  to  the  pursuit  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in 
Italy. 

Throughout  the  first  eighty-odd  years  of  Italian  unification,  despite  severe 
national  poverty,  the  state  spent  very  heavily  on  its  armed  forces.  Well  into  the 
twentieth  century,  the  House  of  Savoy  and  the  ministers  who  served  it  relied 
on  the  army  to  hold  together  a  kingdom  whose  subjects  felt  little  sense  of 
nationalism.  In  turn,  the  royalist  officer  corps  was  expected  not  only  to  provide 
internal  security  but  to  enhance  the  prestige  of  the  monarchy  and  the  weak  sense 
of  Italian  nationalism  by  waging  expansionist  wars.  In  the  mid— 1880s,  with  the 
enthusiastic  support  of  the  monarchy,  Italy  founded  an  African  empire  and  began 
a  series  of  foreign  wars  that  were  to  last  until  1943.  Naturally,  the  establishment 
of  an  overseas  empire  stimulated  the  expansion  of  the  Italian  Navy.  In  the  1860s, 
spending  on  the  Navy  amounted  to  only  22  percent  of  spending  on  the  Army. 
By  the  1890s,  following  the  creation  of  the  Italian  colonial  empire,  that 
percentage  had  expanded  to  39  percent.  In  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth 
century,  thanks  to  a  surge  in  national  industrialization  and  wealth,  spending  on 
the  Italian  Navy  rose  to  51  percent  of  military  spending.  It  remained  on  roughly 
that  level  until  the  Second  World  War. 

As  much  as  such  oppressive  military  and  naval  spending  burdened  the  subjects 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  it  could  be  justified  to  some  degree  by  Italian  successes 
in  the  Italian-Turkish  War  of  191 1—12  and,  especially,  the  First  World  War.  But 
the  arms  spending  of  the  Fascist  dictatorship  from  the  mid— twenties  onward 
reached  unprecedented  levels,  crushing  the  ordinary  Italian  under  an  array  of 
ever— mounting  direct  and  indirect  taxes.  Simultaneously,  Italians  were  bom- 
barded by  hysterical  militarist  and  navalist  propaganda  in  support  of  such 
spending.  Such  propaganda  efforts  included  considerable  official  support  for 
highly  subjective  naval  historical  publications  and  navalist  sloganeering  at  every 
level  of  the  Italian  school  system.  The  argument  of  national  prestige  was  also 
enlisted  in  support  of  the  expansion  of  the  Italian  merchant  marine,  devastated 
by  submarine  warfare  in  the  Great  War,  and  the  construction  of  such  giant 
trans-Atlantic  ocean  liners  as  Rex  and  Conte  di  Savoia. 

The  monarchy  maintained  an  attitude  of  reserve  toward  some  aspects  of  the 
Fascist  regime  and,  as  a  means  of  self-protection,  remained  closely  associated 
with  the  highly  royalist  officer  corps.  But  the  approval  of  the  naval  officer  corps 
for  the  Fascist  regime's  large  program  of  naval  and  maritime  construction  and 
the  bestowal  of  many  monarchist  names  on  the  Italian  vessels  built  in  the  1920s 
and  1930s  necessarily  linked  the  House  of  Savoy  with  Mussolini's  navy  in  the 
public  mind. 

For  statistics  on  Italian  naval  spending,  see  Giorgio  Rochat  and  Giulio  Massobrio,  Breve  storia 
dell'esercito  italiano  dal  1861  al  1943  (Turin:  1978).  Despite  its  title,  the  book  deals  with  all  the  Italian 
armed  forces. 


Sullivan      179 

By  1940,  the  Fascist  dictatorship  had  constructed  a  navy  roughly  the  same 
size  as  the  French  Navy  but — due  to  autarkist  economic  policies  and  officially- 
tolerated  corruption — at  about  twice  the  expense  it  should  have  cost,  in  a 
country  of  approximately  half  the  wealth  of  France.  When  these  sacrifices  were 
followed  by  the  humiliating  Italian  naval  defeats  of  1940-41,  the  loss  of  the 
colonial  empire,  the  destruction  of  most  of  the  merchant  marine,  the  surrender 
of  the  battle  fleet  to  the  British  in  September  1943  and  the  ruinous  war  fought 
up  the  length  of  the  Italian  peninsula  in  1943—45,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Italians 
abolished  their  monarchy  in  1946  and  rejected  with  disgust  the  legacies  of  the 
Fascist  era.  Among  that  baggage  was  excessive  navalism  and  heavy  official  support 
for  naval  and  maritime  history.  Such  attitudes  continued  to  affect  very  negatively 
the  study  of  those  areas  of  Italian  history  for  the  next  several  decades.  The  fact 
that  in  the  generation  after  1945  a  certain  number  of  historians  who  could  be 
described  as  ex-Fascist  or  neo-Fascist  continued  to  work  in  the  fields  of  military 
and  naval  history  made  it  difficult  for  others  to  write  on  those  subjects  and  to 
be  judged  objectively. 

The  end  of  the  Cold  War,  Italy's  rise  to  third  in  rank  among  the  European 
economies,  and  the  simultaneous  earthquake  shaking  the  Italian  political  system 
marks  the  end  of  what  may  be  called  the  post-Fascist  period  of  Italian  history. 
While  it  is  too  soon  to  state  with  certainty,  a  greater  degree  of  Italian  national 
assertiveness  and  of  Italian  willingness  to  deploy  armed  force  abroad  will  probably 
become  evident  over  the  next  few  decades.  In  fact,  such  tendencies  have  been 
discernible  for  the  past  ten  years  or  so  and  have  stimulated  a  growing  interest  in 
Italian  naval  and  maritime  history.  The  study  of  such  history,  long  tainted  by 
its  unfortunate  association  with  the  Fascist  regime,  has  already  begun  a  modest 
revival  since  the  1970s.  Nonetheless,  while  these  areas  of  Italian  history  will 
almost  certainly  benefit  from  growing  official  and  public  support  in  the  future, 
the  present  state  of  their  study  is  hardly  robust. 

For  a  detailed  examination  of  aspects  of  corruption  in  the  naval  shipbuilding  industry  under  the 
Fascist  regime,  see  Lucio  Ceva  and  Andrea  Curami,  Industria  bellica  anni  trenta.  Commesse  militari,  I'Ansaldo 
edaltri  (Milan:  1992). 

For  an  appraisal  of  the  influence  of  domestic  politics  on  Italian  historiography  since  1945,  see  chapter 
6,  "The  eclipse  of  anti-Fascism  in  Italy,"  ofR.J.B.  Bosworth,  Explaining  Auschwitz  and  Hiroshima.  History 
Writing  and  the  Second  World  War  1945-1990  (London  &  New  York,  1993). 

One  recent  example  of  increased  national  pride  in  naval  accomplishments  is  the  renaming  of  two 
Italian  destroyers,  completed  in  1992—93.  The  names  originally  to  be  given  to  these  ships  were  Animoso 
and  Ardimentoso.  Before  commissioning,  however,  they  were  renamed  Luigi  Durand  de  la  Penne  and 
Francesco  Mimbelli. 

Durand  de  la  Penne  was  the  commander  of  the  two-man  guided  torpedo  that  sank  HMS  Valiant  in 
Alexandria  harbor  in  December  1941.  Mimbelli  commanded  the  torpedo  boat  Lupo,  which  engaged 
three  British  light  cruisers  at  point-blank  range  and  escaped  while  escorting  a  German  troop  convoy  to 
Crete  in  May  1941.  Mimbelli  later  led  motor  torpedo  boat  flotillas  in  many  legendary  actions  in  the 
Black  Sea  and  off  Sicily  against  Soviet  and  British  forces.  See  Marc' Antonio  Bragadin,  The  Italian  Navy 
in  World  War  II  (Annapolis:  1957),  pp.  108-9,  269,  278,  284-6,  301;  Callum  MacDonald,  The  Lost 
Battle:  Crete  1941  (New  York:  1993),  pp.  237-42;  Jane's  Fighting  Ships  1993-94,  p.  326. 


1 80     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

Within  the  Italian  university  system,  the  teaching  of  naval  and  maritime 
history  has  been  limited  recently  to  only  two  schools,  the  Universities  of  Pisa 
and  Rome,  and  to  two  scholars,  the  highly  respected  Mariano  Gabriele  and  his 
student,  Alberto  Santoni.  For  many  years  earlier  in  this  century,  the  University 
of  Rome  had  a  chair  in  naval  history  and  policy,  held  by  the  illustrious  expert 
on  World  War  I  at  sea,  Camillo  Manfroni.  After  the  Second  World  War, 
Manfroni  was  effectively  succeeded  by  Gabriele.  However,  since  Gabriele  was 
and  remains  a  civil  servant  in  the  Ministry  of  Finance,  he  has  been  forbidden 
under  Italian  law  from  being  an  official  professor  at  the  University  of  Rome  and 
has  been  only  an  incaricato  (adjunct).  Since  such  a  position  within  the  Italian 
university  system  has  been  abolished  recently,  it  is  now  legally  impossible  for 
Gabriele  to  go  on  teaching  at  the  University  of  Rome.  Barring  the  unexpected, 
when  Santoni  eventually  retires  from  the  University  of  Pisa,  the  teaching  of  naval 
and  maritime  history  may  well  cease  there.  In  fact,  officially,  Santoni  holds  a 
chair  in  military  history  and  technology  and  will  probably  be  succeeded  by  a 
scholar  of  land  warfare. 

The  situation  within  the  Italian  Navy  educational  system  is  slightly  better. 
The  Italian  Naval  Academy  at  Livorno  offers  a  three-year  course  in  naval  history 
and  policy  taught  by  Commander  Pier  Paolo  Raimono.  In  effect,  Raimono  has 
attempted  to  carry  on  the  work  initiated  by  Camillo  Manfroni  at  the  University 
of  Rome.  In  this  effort  Raimono  collaborates  closely  with  Alberto  Santoni,  aided 
by  the  proximity  of  the  Livorno  Academy  and  the  University  of  Pisa.  Raimono 
is  attempting  to  expand  his  course  to  four  years.  However,  most  of  the  subject 
matter  covered  by  Raimono  involves  the  naval  and  maritime  history  of  other 
countries,  rather  than  of  Italy. 

The  Istituto  di  Guerra  Marittima,  also  located  on  the  grounds  of  the  Italian 
Naval  Academy,  is  roughly  equivalent  in  purpose  and  functioning  to  the  U.S. 
Naval  War  College.  That  is,  the  Istituto  di  Guerra  Marittima  offers  both  a  junior 
and  senior  course,  corresponding  to  the  command  and  staff  college  level  and  the 
war  college  level.  For  these  courses,  Commander  Raimono  teaches  a  one-year 
course  in  naval  strategy  and  history,  with  somewhat  greater  emphasis  on  Italian 
matters  than  is  the  case  for  his  courses  at  the  Naval  Academy.  However,  the 
stress  on  the  above-mentioned  course  at  the  Istituto  di  Guerra  Marittima  is  on 
naval  strategy,  rather  than  history.  Raimono  has  succeeded  in  getting  a  number 
of  prominent  Italian  military  and  naval  historians  to  give  guest  lectures  at  the 
Italian  Naval  War  College  and  to  expand  the  teaching  of  Italian  naval  history 
there.  However,  given  the  politically  sensitive  nature  of  many  aspects  of  of  Italian 
naval  history,  Raimono  has  encountered  difficulties.  In  fact,  many  of  his  students 

Manfroni's  most  significant  published  works  include  La  marina  militate  durante  la  guerra  mondiale 
(Bologna:  1923);  /  nostri  alleati  nauali  (Milan,  1927);  Storia  della  Marina  italiana  durante  la  guerra  mondiale 
19 1 5- 1918  (Bologna:  1933). 


Sullivan      181 

seem  to  have  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  naval  history  of  Britain  or  the  United 
States  than  of  their  own  country. 

The  schools  of  the  Italian  Army  and  Air  Force  largely  ignore  naval  history, 
whether  that  of  Italy  or  of  other  nations.  The  two-year  Italian  Military  Academy 
at  Modena  has  abolished  the  teaching  of  the  history  of  ground,  sea,  or  air  warfare. 
When  the  graduates  of  the  academy  at  Modena  pass  on  to  the  two-year  Scuola 
di  Applicazione  at  Turin,  they  receive  a  one-year  course  in  military  history  that 
includes  a  modest  naval  component.  However,  this  is  limited  to  such  points  as 
a  passing  mention  of  the  battles  of  Trafalgar,  Jutland,  or  Midway.  The  Italian 
Army  War  College  (Scuola  di  Guerra)  at  Civitavecchia  offers  a  one-year  course 
in  military  history.  Naval  history  is  covered  by  an  annual  conference  with 
lectures  by  a  few  naval  officers.  Neither  the  Italian  Air  Force  Academy  nor  the 
Italian  Air  War  College  offers  any  naval  history  whatsoever. 

Italy  has  no  equivalent  of  the  U.S.  Merchant  Marine  Academy,  although  it 
does  have  a  number  of  government  high  school-level  vocational  schools  for 
mariners.  The  University  of  Naples  offers  a  program  in  maritime  studies  that 
provides  roughly  the  type  of  education  available  in  the  United  States  from  Kings 
Point.  However,  in  none  of  these  schools  is  Italian  maritime  history  taught, 
except  for  passing  references. 

In  pleasant  contrast  to  the  state  of  the  teaching  of  naval  history  is  the  status  of 
Italian  Navy  official  history.  Such  history  falls  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare  (USMM).  The  archives  and  publication 
service  of  the  USMM  are  located  in  Rome,  at  present  under  the  able  direction 
of  Admiral  Renato  Sicurezza. 

The  Navy  historical  archives  are  undoubtedly  the  best  organized  and  most 
accessible  of  the  three  Italian  services.  They  are  devoted  to  the  history  of  the 
Italian  Navy  since  the  amalgamation  of  the  Sardinian  and  Neapolitan  Navies  in 
1861,  obviously  covering  only  the  age  of  steam.  Utilizing  teams  of  professional 
archivists  and  historians,  the  USMM  directorate  is  completely  reorganizing  the 
archive  and  creating  comprehensive  finding  aids  as  it  progresses  through  its  huge 
collection  of  documents.  The  USMM  staff  is  extremely  knowledgeable  and  very 
helpful.  Probably  the  only  serious  criticism  that  one  can  make  of  the  USMM 
archive  is  its  lack  of  adequate  photocopying  services. 

Two  other  archives  in  Rome  also  contain  much  material  relevant  to  Italian 
naval  and  maritime  history.  The  Archivio  Centrale  dello  Stato  in  the  EUR 
suburb  holds  the  records  of  the  Naval  Ministry,  the  Merchant  Marine  Ministry, 
and  also  the  records  of  cabinet  discussions  that  sometimes  touched  on  naval 
matters,  Air  Ministry  records  from  the  Fascist  period  that  occasionally  deal  with 
relations  with  the  Navy,  and  records  of  the  Fascist-era  Ministry  of  Communica- 
tions that  controlled  ports  and  the  merchant  marine.  The  archives  of  the  Foreign 
Ministry  are  located  separately  in  the  Foreign  Ministry  office  and  contain 
diplomatic  records  of  naval  and  disarmament  conferences.  Both  these  archives 


1 82     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

are  quite  well  ordered  and  researchers  can  have  access  to  good  rinding  aids. 
However,  those  using  such  archives  must  be  prepared  to  deal  with  the  frustrating 
practices  of  the  Italian  bureaucracy,  especially  those  of  its  lowliest  members. 

The  publications  of  the  USMM  are  generally  well  researched  and  of  high 
quality,  although  they  are  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  technical  and  narrative 
questions.  The  single  most  impressive  of  the  USMM  publications  remains  its 
excellent  twenty-three-volume  history  of  the  Italian  Navy  in  World  War  II,  ha 
marina  italiana  nella  Seconda  Guerra  Mondiale,  published  between  1950  and  1988 
(including  revisions  of  earlier  volumes) .  The  value  of  this  massive  work  lies  in 
its  objectivity,  accuracy,  thoroughness  and  honesty  of  self-appraisal.  It  stands  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  Navy's  eight-volume  official  history  of  World  War  I 
(published  under  the  heavy  hand  of  Fascist  censorship  in  1935—42),  to  the  Italian 
Army's  official  history  of  its  operations  and  activities  in  World  War  II — -the 
earlier  volumes  of  which  fall  so  short  of  historical  objectivity  that  newer  volumes 
are  being  produced  to  supercede  the  older — and  to  the  Italian  Air  Force  historical 
effort,  which  has  never  even  issued  an  official  history  of  the  1940—45  period  that 
it  has  been  willing  to  publish. 

Much  of  the  credit  for  the  success  of  the  Italian  Navy's  official  history  of 
World  War  II  should  go  to  Admiral  Giuseppe  Fioravanzo,  the  director  of  the 
USMM  at  the  time  of  its  publication.  Admiral  Fioravanzo  was  himself  the  author 
of  a  number  of  the  twenty-three  volumes  and  ensured  the  adherence  of  the 
entire  project  to  the  high  standards  that  he  laid  down.  Fioravanzo  was  ably 
assisted  in  the  project  by  its  other  authors,  notably  Carlo  De  Risio,  Aldo  Cocchia, 
and  P.F.  Lupinacci.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  note  that  Admiral  Sicurezza  has  restored 
the  USMM  to  that  same  high  level  of  performance. 

Admiral  Sicurezza  is  also  president  of  the  Commissione  Italiana  di  Storia 
Militare,  which  is  in  the  process  of  publishing  a  series  of  volumes  entitled  L'ltalia 
in  Guerra,  on  the  history  of  Italy  in  the  Second  World  War.  These  volumes,  one 
for  each  year  of  Italian  participation  in  the  conflict,  are  resulting  from  annual 
conferences  that  began  to  be  held  in  1990.  Each  volume  explores  topics  of 
considerable  depth  and  breadth,  going  beyond  the  operations  of  the  three 
services  to  include  strategy,  diplomacy,  civil-military  relations,  propaganda, 
industrial  production,  weapons  design  and  procurement,  intelligence,  logistics 
and  German-Italian  relations. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  an  approach  to  official  history  will  be  reflected  in 
future  USMM  publications  in  general.  For  too  long  even  its  best  publications 
have  been  rather  narrowly  focussed.  The  USMM  can  be  rightly  proud  of 
Giovanni  Bernardi's  massive  work,  //  disarmo  navalefra  le  due  guerre  mondiali  (1975) 
or  Ezio  Ferrante's  short  but  excellent  La  grande  guerra  in  Adriatico  (1987). 
Nonetheless,  both  studies  would  have  benefitted  from  a  greater  and  more  frank 

For  the  records  of  the  naval  and  merchant  marine  ministries,  see  Guida  generate  degli  ArchitH  di  Stato 
Italiani  (Rome:  1981),  vol.  1,  pp.  179-93. 


Sullivan      183 

analysis  of  related  political  and  strategic  questions.  The  naval  historical  office  has 

recently  issued  a  long-awaited  monograph  on  a  previously  taboo  subject:  Mario 

Bargoni,  L'impegno  navale  italiano  durante  la  Guerra  Civile  Spagnola  (1936—1939) 

(1992).  In  many  ways,  Bargoni's  book  is  admirable,  offering  the  first  complete 

narrative  of  Italian  naval  operations  in  the  Spanish  Civil  War,  revealing  many 

previously  unknown  facts  and  offering  a  candid  assessment  of  the  Navy's  tactical, 

operational,  and  technical  weaknesses.  However,  again  there  is  a  disappointing 

lack  of  strategic  and  political  discussion  and  a  failure  to  place  Italian  naval 

activities  within  the  broader  context  of  international  naval,   military,   and 

diplomatic  developments. 

One  hopes  for  the  appearance  of  USMM  publications  on  the  development  of 

Italian  naval  doctrine,  strategic  thinking,  and  warship  design  akin  to  such  official 

Italian  Army  publications   as   Filippo   Stefani,   La  storia  della  dottrina  e  degli 

ordinamenti  delVesercito  italiano  (1984-85);  Ferruccio  Botti  and  Virgilio  Ilari,  II 

pensiero  militare  italiano  dalprimo  al  secondo  dopoguerra  (1985),  and  Lucio  Ceva  and 

Andrea  Curami,  La  meccanizzazione  delVesercito  fino  al  1943  (1989).  Mariano 

Gabriele  has  produced  such  monographs  for  the  USMM  on  the  earlier  years  of 

the  Italian  Navy:  Le  convenzioni  navali  della  Triplice  (1969)  and  in  collaboration 

with  Giuliano  Friz  (Fritz) :  Lajlotta  come  strumento  di  politica  nei  primi  decenni  dello 

stato  unitario  (1973),  and  La  politica  navale  italiana  dal  1885  al  1915  (1984).  But 

there  is  a  serious  scholarly  need  for  similar  studies  on  the  period  of  World  War 

I,  of  Mussolini's  expansion  of  the  Italian  Navy  in  the  1920s  and  1930s,  the  naval 

aspects  of  the  Italian-German  alliance,  and  the  Italian  Navy  as  part  of  NATO's 

1  o 
southern  flank  forces. 

Of  indisputable  merit  is  the  USMM's  quarterly  Bollettino  d'Archivio  dell  Ufficio 
Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  which  has  been  published  since  1987.  Each  300  to 
400-page  issue  is  divided  into  two  sections.  One  describes  a  section  of  the  USMM 
archives  and  provides  a  detailed  finding  aid,  the  result  of  the  ongoing  reorganiza- 
tion and  indexing  project.  (Eight  recent  issues  provide  a  complete  guide  to  the 
archive's  holdings  related  to  the  Spanish  Civil  War.)  The  other  section  of  each 
Bollettino  contains  fine  scholarly  articles  on  various  aspects  of  post-1861  Italian 
naval  history,  often  accompanied  by  complete  documents. 

Of  related  interest  are  the  historical  publications  of  the  official  Italian  naval 
journal,  Rivista  Marittima,  which  are  produced  under  the  overall  direction  of 
Admirals  Vincenzo  Pellegrino  and  Francesco  Pascazio.  Rivista  Marittima  itself 
usually  contains  at  least  one  historical  article  in  each  issue.  However,  such  articles 
are  aimed  at  Italian  naval  officers  in  general  and  are  not  always  of  the  same  high 

However,  USMM  has  published  Mariano  Gabriele,  Operazione  C.3:  Malta  (1965)  on  the  strategic 
and  operational  planning  for  the  aborted  Axis  seizure  of  Malta  in  mid-1942.  Also  useful  in  regard  to 
Italian  Navy  strategy  in  World  War  II  is  the  Italian  Army  Historical  Office  publication  of  the  transcripts 
of  the  chiefs  of  staffs  discussions  during  their  1939-43  meetings:  Stato  Maggiore  dell'Esercito,  Ufficio 
Storico,  Verbali  delle  riunioni  tenute  dal  capo  di  SM  Generate,  3  vols.  (Rome:  1982-85). 


1 84     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

scholarly  quality  as  those  that  appear  in  the  Bollettino.  On  the  other  hand,  one 
or  more  times  a  year,  Rivista  Marittima  is  accompanied  by  usually  superb  historical 
supplements  in  the  same  format  as  the  journal.  Among  such  supplements  are 
Ezio  Ferrante's  short  but  illuminating  biography,  //  Grande  Ammiraglio  Paolo 
Thaon  di  Revel  (1989),  his  examination  of  all-too-neglected  subjects,  II  potere 
marittimo.  Evoluzione  ideologica  in  Italia,  1861—1939  (1982),  and  Ilpensiero  strategico 
navale  in  Italia  (1988),  and  Erminio  Bagnasco  and  Achille  Rastelli's  he  costruzioni 
navali  italiane  per  Vestero  (1991). 

Beyond  official  publications,  a  fair  number  of  Italian  books  and  articles  on 
Italian  naval  history  have  appeared  since  1945.  Most  are  popular  and  only  a  few 
scholarly;  the  majority,  as  might  be  expected,  devoted  to  the  Second  World  War 
period.  However,  recently,  publications  devoted  to  naval  and  maritime  history 
prior  to  1915  have  appeared  in  increasing  volume.  Until  the  last  twenty— five 
years  or  so,  the  general  quality  of  such  works  was  not  very  high,  with  the 
exception  of  the  studies  and  memoirs  of  Admirals  Alberto  Da  Zara,  Vittorio 
Tur,  Romeo  Bernotti,  and  Angelo  Iachino,  and  the  work  of  Mariano  Gabriele. 
Recently,  however,  as  one  sign  of  the  revival  of  Italian  military  and  naval  history, 
a  number  of  good  studies  have  been  published.  These  include  the  books  and 
articles  of  the  above-mentioned  Alberto  Santo ni,  Lucio  Ceva,  Andrea  Curami, 
Ezio  Ferrante,  as  well  as  Walter  Polastro,  Giorgio  Giorgerini,  Matteo  Pizzigallo 
and  Francesco  Mattesini.  Admittedly,  some  twenty  or  so  Italians  working  in 
the  field  is  not  many.  In  fact,  as  an  indication  of  the  number  of  Italians  devoted 

13  Alberto  Da  Zara,  Pelle  d'ammiraglio  (Milan:  1949);  Vittorio  Tur,  Plancia  ammiraglia,  3  vols.  (Rome: 
1958—63);  Romeo  Bernotti,  Cinquant'anni  nella  marina  militate  (Milan:  1971);  idem.,  Storia  delta  guerra 
nel  Mediterraneo  1 940-43  (Milan:  1960);  Angelo  Iachino,  La  campagna  navale  di  Lissa,  1866  (Milan:  1966); 
idem.,  Le  due  Sirti  (Milan:  1953);  idem.,  Gaudo  e Matapan  (Milan:  1946);  idem.,  Hpuntosu  Matapan  (Milan, 
1969);  idem.,  La  sorpresa  di  Matapan  (Milan,  1962);  idem.,  Tramonto  di  una  grande  marina  (Milan,  1959). 
In  addition  to  Gabriele's  works  cited  elsewhere  in  this  article,  noteworthy  are  his  La  politica  navale 
italiana  dall'Unith  alia  vigilia  di  Lissa  (Milan:  1958)  and  Da  Marsala  alio  stretto.  Aspetti  navali  delle  campagne 
di  Sicilia  (Milan:  1961). 

Among  the  more  important  publications  of  these  authors  not  already  cited  are:  Alberto  Santoni,  U 
vero  traditore.  U  ruolo  documentato  di  ULTRA  nella  guerra  del  Mediterraneo  (Milan:  1981);  idem.,  La  seconda 
battaglia  delta  Sirte  (Rome:  1982);  idem.,  Da  Lissa  alia  Falkland:  storia  e politica  dell'eta  contemporanea  (Milan: 
1987);  idem.,  "Strategia  marittima  ed  operazioni  navali  dell'anno  1940"  in  L'ltalia  in  guerra,  il  primo 
anno — 1940  (Rome:  n.d.  [but  1991]);  Francesco  Mattesini,  H  giallo  di  Matapan  (Rome:  1985);  idem., 
La  battaglia  di  Punto  Stilo  (Rome:  1990);  Santoni  and  Mattesini,  La  participazione  tedesca  alia  guerra  aeronavale 
nel  Mediterraneo  (Rome:  1980);  Lucio  Ceva,  "L'evoluzione  dei  materiali  bellici  in  Italia"  in  Ennio  Di 
Nolfo,  Romain  Rainero  and  Brunello  Vigezzi,  eds.,  L'ltalia  e  la  politica  di  potenza  1938—1940  (Milan: 
1985);  Ezio  Ferrante,  "Un  rischi  calcolato?  Mussolini  e  gli  ammiragli  nella  gestione  della  crisi  di  Corfu" 
in  Storia  delle  relazioni  intemazionali,  no.  2,  1989;  idem.,  "L'ammiraglio  Lais,  Roosevelt  e  la  'beffa'  delle 
navi"  in  Storia  delle  relazioni  intemazionali,  no.  2,  1991;  Walter  Polastro  "La  marina  militare  nel  primo 
dopoguerra,  1918-1925"  in  II  Risorgimento  no.  3,  1977;  Giorgio  Giorgerini,  La  battaglia  dei  convogli  in 
Mediterraneo  (Milan:  1977);  idem.,  "La  preparazione  e  la  mobilitazione  della  Marina  italiana  nel  giugno 
1940"  in  L'ltalia  inguerra,  il  primo  anno — 1940  (Rome:  n.d.  [but  1991]);  idem.,  "II  problema  dei  convogli 
e  la  guerra  per  mare"  in  L'ltalia  inguerra,  ilsecondo  anno — 1941  (Gaeta,  1992);  Matteo  Pizzigallo,  "L'ltalia 
alia  conferenza  di  Washington  (1921-1922)"  in  Storia  e  Politica  July-September  and  October-December 
1975. 


Sullivan      185 

to  naval  and  maritime  history  of  all  kinds,  the  International  Naval  Research 
Organization  lists  only  about  seventy— five  Italian  members. 

However,  one  other  group  of  Italians  deserve  to  be  mentioned  as  enthusiasts 
of  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history:  the  Associazione  Italiana  di  Documen- 
tazione  Marittima  e  Navale  (AIDMEN)  and  the  Associazione  Navemodellisti 
Bolognesi.  Together,  these  organizations  number  about  250  members  and  are 
devoted  to  preserving  photographs  of  ships  and  original  builder's  plans,  building 
models,  and  publishing  books  and  articles  on  ship  designs.  Prominent  among 
these  passionate  experts  are  the  famous  Aldo  Fraccaroli,  as  well  as  Erminio 
Bagnasco,  Giorgio  Giorgerini,  Augusto  Nani,  Franco  Gay,  Elio  Ando,  Achille 
Rastelli  and  Gino  Galuppini,  each  of  whom  has  written  one  or  more  books  on 
merchant  or  naval  ship  design,  construction  or  armament.  All  these  men  have 
aided  USMM  over  the  years  in  its  superb  publications  devoted  to  the  specifica- 
tions of  Italian  naval  vessels  and  have  authored  many  of  them.  Such  work 
constitutes  more  the  raw  material  for  naval  and  maritime  history  rather  than  the 
heart  of  such  studies,  but  it  deserves  mention  for  the  painstaking  care  that  has 
gone  into  its  creation.  Italian  research  and  publication  on  ship  design — perhaps 
reflecting  Italian  superiority  in  design  of  all  kinds — is  of  particularly  high  quality. 

Italian  maritime  history  has  been  advanced  by  an  extensive  series  of  excellent 
publications  subsidized  by  the  Istituto  per  la  Ricostruzione  Industriale  (IRI),  the 
government  holding  agency  created  by  the  Fascist  regime  in  1933,  which  still 
plays  a  huge  role  in  the  Italian  economy.  IRI  also  maintains  an  extensive  and 
well-ordered  archive  in  Rome  devoted  to  the  history  of  Italian  industry, 
especially  the  state-sponsored  naval  armaments,  steel  and  shipbuilding  industries, 
and  the  government-supported  Italian  ports.  In  contrast  to  the  publications  of 
the  USMM,  IRI's  volumes  have  been  devoted  to  Italian  shipyards,  ports,  maritime 
and  naval  industries,  and  seaborne  commerce  from  the  end  of  the  Napoleonic 
period  to  the  present.  V.  Marchese,  Mariano  Gabriele,  Fulvio  Babudieri,  and 
L.A.  Pagano  have  all  produced  volumes  notable  for  their  detail,  accuracy  and 
careful  research.      Equally  excellent  private  scholarship  on  the  history  of  the 

Aldo  Fraccaroli,  Italian  Warships  of  World  War  /(London:  1970);  idem.,  Italian  Warships  of  World  War 
II  (London:  1968);  Erminio  Bagnasco,  Submarines  of  World  War  Two  (London:  1977);  idem.,  Le  armi 
delle  navi  italiane  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Parma:  1978);  Erminio  Bagnasco  and  Elio  Ando,  Naui  e 
marinai  italiani  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Parma:  1977);  Erminio  Bagnasco  and  Mark  Grossman,  Italian 
Battleships  of  World  War  Two  (Missoula,  Mont.:  1986);  Erminio  Bagnasco  and  Achille  Rastelli,  Le 
costruzioni  navali  italiane  per  Vestero  (Rome:  1991);  Giorgio  Giorgerini  and  Augusto  Nani,  Gli  incrociatori 
italiani  1861-1964  (Rome:  1964);  idem.,  Le  navi  di  linea  italiane  1861-1961  (Rome:  1962);  Franco  Gay 
with  Elio  Ando  and  Franco  Bargoni,  Orizzonte  mare.  Naui  italiane  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale,  14  vols. 
(Rome:  1972-79);  Franco  and  Valerio  Gay,  The  Cruiser  Bartolomeo  Colleoni  (London  &  Annapolis,  1987); 
Gino  Galuppini,  Guida  alle  naui  d'ltalia.  La  marina  da  guerra  dal  1861  ad  oggi  (Milan:  1982). 
16  V.  Marchese,  L'industria  armatoriale  italiana  dal  1815  al  1859  (Rome:  1955);  idem.,  L'industria  ligure 
delle  costruzioni  nauali  dal  1815  al  1859  (Rome:  1957);  idem.,  Ilporto  di  Genoua  dal  1818  al  1891  (Rome: 
1959);  Mariano  Gabriele,  L'industria  armatoriale  nei  territori  dello  stato  pontificio  dal  1815  al  1880  (Rome: 
1961);  idem.,  L'industria  delle  costruzioni  nauali  nei  territori  dello  stato  pontificio  dal  1815  al  1880  Rome, 


1 86     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

Italian  merchant  marine,  shipbuilding,  maritime  law  and,  of  particular,  Italian 
ports  was  pioneered  by  Arturo  Assante  after  the  First  World  War.  More 
recently,  such  work  has  been  continued  and  expanded  (to  include  studies  of  the 
seafarers'  union  and  maritime  law,  among  other  subjects)  by  Vito  Dante  Flore, 
Tomaso  Gropallo,  Francesco  Ogliari,  Ennio  Poleggi,  Guglielmo  Salotti, 
Pasquale  B.  Trizio,  and  Ludovica  De  Courten.  Thanks  in  particular  to  the 
work  of  Gabriele  in  the  area  of  Italian  maritime  history,  there  has  been  an  unusual 
and  happy  integration  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in  Italy.  Whatever  other 
criticism  can  be  fairly  leveled  at  IRI,  its  support  of  such  scholarship  deserves  high 
praise. 

Outside  of  Italy,  few  historians  have  paid  much  attention  to  that  country's 
naval  and  maritime  history.  What  work  has  been  done  has  been  almost 
exclusively  limited  to  the  period  from  the  Italian— Turkish  War  to  the  end  of 
World  War  II  and  often  in  the  context  of  Italian  naval  activities  in  alliance  with 
or  in  conflict  with  other  powers.  Paul  G.  Halpern  deserves  special  mention  for 
his  studies  of  the  Mediterranean  naval  situation  from  1908  to  1918.  Other 
Americans  include  MacGregor  Knox,  James  Sadkovich  and  the  author.     Also, 

1961);  idem.,  Iporti  dello  stato pontificio  dal  1815  al  1880  (Rome:  1963);  Fulvio  Babudieri,  L'industria 
artnatoriale  di  Trieste  e  della  regione  giulia  dal  1815  al  1918  (Rome:  1966);  idem.,  I porti  di  Trieste  e  delta 
regione  giulia  dal  1815  al  1918  (Rome:  1967);  L.A.  Pagano,  L'industria  artnatoriale  siciliana  dal  1816  al 
1880  (VLome:  1966). 

Arturo  Assante,  II  porto  di  Napoli  (Naples:  1938);  idem.,  Lafunzione  mediterranea  del  porto  di  Napoli 
(Naples:  1941). 

Vito  Dante  Flore,  L'industria  dei  trasporti  marittimi  in  Italia,  1860—1943  (Rome:  1970);  idem., 
L'inserimento  nei  mercati  intemazionali  (Rome:  1973);  idem.,  Le  emergenze  nazionali  (Rome,  1973);  Tomaso 
Gropallo,  Naui  a  vapore  ed  armamento  italiano  dal  1818  ai  nostri  giomi  (Milan:  1976);  Francesco  Ogliari, 
Trasporti  marittimi  di  linea,  1  vols.  (Milan:  1975-87);  Ennio  Poleggi,  Porto  di  Genoua:  Storia  e  attualith 
(Genoa:  1977);  Guglielmo  Salotti,  Giuseppe  Giulietti:  il  sindicato  dei  marittimi  dal  1910  al  1953  (Rome: 
1982);  Pasquale  B.  Trizio,  La  marineria  a  vapore  del  Levante  d'ltalia  1876-1932  (Bari:  1983);  Ludovica 
De  Courten,  La  Marina  mercantile  italiana  nella  politica  di  espansione,  1860-1914:  industria,finanza  e  trasporti 
marittimi  (Rome:  1989). 

19  Paul  G.  Halpern,  The  Mediterranean  Naval  Situation,  1908-1914  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  1971);  idem., 
The  Naval  War  in  the  Mediterranean,  1914-1918  (London:  1987). 

20  MacGregor  Knox,  Mussolini  Unleashed  1939—1941.  Politics  and  Strategy  in  Fascist  Italy's  Last  War 
(New  York:  1982);  idem.,  "The  Italian  Armed  Forces,  1940-3"  in  Allan  R.  Millett  and  Williamson 
Murray,  eds.,  Military  Effectiveness,  vol.  Ill,  The  Second  World  War  (Boston:  1988);  James  Sadkovich, 
"Aircraft  Carriers  and  the  Mediterranean:  Rethinking  the  Obvious  "  in  Aerospace  Historian,  December 
1987;  idem.,  "Re-evaluating  Who  Won  the  Italo-British  Naval  Conflict,  1940-42"  in  European  History 
Quarterly  October  1988:  idem.,  "The  Italian  Navy  in  World  War  II:  1940-1943"  in  Sadkovich,  ed., 
Reevaluating  Major  Naval  Combatants  of  World  War  II  (Westport,  Ct.:  1990);  Brian  R.  Sullivan,  "Prisoner 
in  the  Mediterranean:  The  Evolution  and  Execution  of  Italian  Maritime  Strategy,  1919-1942"  in 
William  B.  Cogar,  ed.,  Naval  History.  The  Seventh  Symposium  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy  (Wilmington, 
Del.:  1988);  idem.,  "A  Fleet  in  Being:  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Italian  Sea  Power,  1861-1943"  in  The 
International  History  Review,  February  1988;  idem.,  "The  Italian  Armed  Forces,  1918—1940"  in  Millett 
and  Murray,  op.  cit.,  vol.  II,  The  Interwar  Period;  idem.,  "The  Strategy  of  the  Decisive  Weight:  Italy, 
1882-1922"  in  Williamson  Murray,  Alvin  H.  Bernstein,  and  MacGregor  Knox,  eds.,  The  Making  of 
Strategy  (New  York,  1993);  "Italian  Naval  Power  and  the  Washington  Disarmament  Conference  of 
1921-1922"  in  Diplomacy  &  Statecraft,  Fall  1993. 


Sullivan      187 

the  French  Pierre  Barjot,  Jean  Savant,  and  Raymond  De  Belot  stand  out  for 

their  work  several  decades  ago  on  the  naval  aspects  of  the  Second  World  War 

91 
in  the  Mediterranean.      The  Germans,  Michael  Salewski,  Walter  Baum,  and 

most  of  all,  Gerhard  Schreiber  deserve  praise  for  their  more  recent  studies,  as  do 

00 

Josef  Schroder  and  Jiirgen  Rohwer  for  their  more  specialized  research.      In  the 
area  of  Italian  ship  design  and  construction,  Siegfried  Breyer,  Robert  O.  Dulin, 

91 

Jr.,  and  William  H.  Garzke,  Jr.,  have  published  outstanding  work. 

This  brief  survey  of  the  state  of  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history  indicates 
that  much  work  in  the  field  remains  for  the  future,  particularly  in  naval  history. 
To  begin  with,  there  is  no  truly  adequate  history  of  the  Italian  Navy.  Fioravanzo's 
La  marina  militare  nel  suo  primo  secolo  di  vita  1861—1961  (Rome,  1961)  and 
Giuliano  Colliva's  Uomini  e  navi  nella  storia  della  marina  militare  italiana  (Milan, 
1971)  are  the  best  available.  But  neither  are  sufficiently  detailed  nor  analytical, 
nor  based  on  primary  research,  nor  on  extensive  use  of  foreign  sources.  Both 
are  also  outdated,  even  in  regard  to  recent  Italian  publication  in  the  field. 

Scholarly  biography,  until  recently,  has  not  been  emphasized  in  any  area  of 
Italian  history.  This  is  certainly  true  in  regard  to  Italian  naval  history.  Carlo 
Persano,  Simone  de  Saint-Bon,  Benedetto  Brin,  Augusto  Riboty,  Carlo 
Mirabello,  Vittorio  Cuniberti,  Giovanni  Bettolo,  Giovanni  Sechi,  Luigi  di 
Savoia,  Paolo  Thaon  di  Revel,  Alfredo  Acton,  Costanzo  Ciano,  Umberto 
Pugliese,  Giuseppe  Sirianni,  Domenico  Cavagnari,  Arturo  Riccardi,  Angelo 
Iachino,  Inigo  Campioni,  and  Romeo  Bernotti  all  deserve  modern,  detached 
biographies.  Ezio  Ferrante  has  written  a  short  study  of  Brin  and  the  previously 
mentioned  brief  biography  of  Thaon  di  Revel.  Recently,  Aldo  Santini  has 
published  a  biography  of  Costanzo  Ciano  that  covers  his  naval  career  to  some 

9^ 

extent.  Otherwise,  with  the  exception  of  the  short,  although  generally  excel- 
lent, sketches  and  bibliographies  that  have  appeared  in  the  forty— odd  volumes 

Pierre  Barjot  and  Jean  Savant,  Histoire  mondiale  de  la  Marine  (Paris:  1961);  Raymond  De  Belot,  La 
guerra  aeronavale  nel  Mediterraneo  1939-1945  (Milan:  1971). 

Michael  Salewski,  Die  deutsche  Seekriegsleitung  1935—1945,  3  vols.  (Frankfurt  am  Main  &  Munich, 
1970—75);  Walter  Baum,  Der  Krieg  der  "Achsenmachte"  im  Mittelmeer-Raum.  Die  "Strategic"  der  Diktatoren 
(Ottingen,  Zurich  &  Frankfurt  am  Main:  1973);  Gerhard  Schreiber,  "Italien  im  machtpolitischen  Kalkul 
der  deutschen  Marinefuhrung  1919  bis  1945"  in  Quellen  und  Forschungen  aus  italienischen  Archiuen  und 
Biblioteken,  no.  62,  1982;  idem.,  Revisionisms  und  Weltmachtstreben.  Marinefuhrung  und  deutsch-italienische 
Beziehungen  1919  bis  1944  (Stuttgart:  1978);  idem.,  "Die  Seeschlacht  von  Matapan"  in  Marineforum,  no. 
50,  1975;  Gerhard  Schreiber  et  al.,  Das  Deutsche  Reich  in  der  Zweite  Weltkrieg,  vol.  3,  Der  Mittelmeerraum 
und  Sudosteuropa:  Von  der  'non  belligeranza'  Italiens  bis  zum  Kriegseintritt  ver  Vereinigten  Staaten  (Stuttgart, 
1984);  Josef  Schroder,  "Weicholds  Plane  zur  Aktivierung  der  Seekriegfuhrung  im  Jahre  1943"  in 
Wehrwissenschafliche  Rundschau,  no.  19,  1969;  Jiirgen  Rohwer,  Axis  Submarine  Successes  1939—1945 
(Annapolis:  1983). 

23  Siegfried  Breyer,  Battleships  and  Battle  Cruisers  1905-1970  (Garden  City,  N.Y.:  1973);  William  H. 
Garzke,  Jr.  and  Robert  O.  Dulin,  Jr.,  Battleships.  Axis  and  Neutral  Battleships  in  World  War  II  (Annapolis: 
1985). 

Ezio  Ferrante,  Benedetto  Brin  e  la  questione  marittima  italiana  1866-1898  Rome,  1983). 


25 


Aldo  Santini,  Costanzo  Ciano,  ilganascia  delfascismo  (Milan:  1993). 


1 88     Twentieth  Century  Italy 

of  the  far  from  completed  Dizionario  Biografico  degli  Italiani  (Rome,  I960-) (up 
to  the  "Ds"  so  far)  and  the  even  shorter  entries  by  MacGregor  Knox  and  the 
author  in  Philip  V.  Cannistraro's  Historical  Dictionary  of  Fascist  Italy  (Greenport, 
Ct.:  1982),  all  the  above-mentioned  major  Italian  naval  figures  lack  objective 
studies  of  their  lives. 

A  third  aspect  of  Italian  naval  history  that  has  been  neglected  is  the  period 
since  1945.  Given  the  Italian  political  situation  described  above,  this  is  to  be 
expected.  Bernardi's  monograph  for  the  USMM  on  the  naval  aspects  and 
consequences  of  the  1947  peace  treaty,  the  latter  parts  of  Admiral  Franco 
Maugeri's  two  books  of  memoirs,  Enea  Cerquetti's  Marxist  analysis  of  the  Italian 
armed  forces,  1945—1975,  and  Elizabeth  Macintosh's  unpublished  doctoral 
dissertation  on  Italian  naval  arms  sales  and  foreign  policy,  1949—89,  are  the  only 
major  works  known  to  the  author.  The  revelations  that  have  emerged  in  recent 
months  about  the  degree  of  corruption  that  has  tainted  relations  between  the 
Italian  government  and  private  industry  will  probably  expand  to  Italian  shipyards 
and  naval  armaments  firms.  If  true,  this  would  present  yet  another  impediment 
to  the  study  of  recent  Italian  naval  history. 

For  those  interested  in  seeing  Italian  naval  history,  Venice  provides  its 
excellent  Museo  Storico  Navale.  The  museum  is  only  a  short  walk  from  St 
Mark's  catherdral  and  illustrates  the  naval  history  of  both  Venice  and  of  modern 
Italy. 

The  gaps  in  Italian  naval  and  maritime  historiography  have  been  mentioned 
above.  The  most  serious  appears  to  be  the  near-total  neglect  of  the  teaching  of 
naval  and  maritime  history  in  Italian  universities.  Given  Italy's  re-emergence  as 
a  major  power  in  the  Mediterranean  region,  the  Balkans,  and  in  the  European 
Community,  and  given  the  likely  diminution  of  American  naval  power  in  the 
waters  surrounding  Italy,  it  is  very  much  in  the  interest  of  Italian  democracy  that 
Italy's  citizens  understand  such  aspects  of  their  nation's  history.  Over  the  last 
dozen  years,  Italian  naval  forces  have  returned  to  taking  a  major  role  in  Italy's 
foreign  policy,  making  operational  deployments  to  the  Suez  Canal  and  the  Red 
Sea,  to  the  waters  off  Lebanon,  Libya  and  Somalia,  to  the  Persian  Gulf  and  to 
the  coastlines  of  Albania  and  Croatia.  Given  the  turbulence  in  North  and  East 
Africa,  the  Middle  East,  and  Eastern  Europe,  such  Italian  naval  operations  seem 
likely  to  increase  in  future.  Italy's  citizens  seem  on  the  brink  of  remaking  their 
nation's  politics  and  of  creating  a  new,  far  more  accountable  system  of  govern- 
ment. While  it  is  presumptuous  for  a  non-Italian  to  so  state,  to  make  wise 

Giovanni  Bernardi,  ha  marina,  gli  armistizi  e  il  trattato  di  pace,  settembre  1943-dicembre  1951  (Rome: 
1979);  Franco  Maugeri,  From  the  Ashes  of  Disgrace  (New  York:  1948);  idem.,  Ricordi  di  un  marinaio.  La 
Marina  italiana  dai  primi  del  Nouecento  al  secondo  dopoguerra  nelle  memorie  di  uno  dei  suoi  capi  (Milan:  1980); 
Enea  Cerquetti,  Leforze  armate  italiane  dal  1945  al  1915  (Milan:  1975);  Elizabeth  Macintosh,  "Italy: 
Defense  Industries  and  the  Arms  Trade,  1949-1989,"  Ph.D.  dissertation,  University  of  Edinburgh,  1989. 


Sullivan      1 89 

decisions  about  their  national  security,  it  would  be  best  for  Italians  to  have  a  far 
better  knowledge  of  their  naval  and  maritime  past  and  present. 


In  the  writing  of  this  article,  the  author  has  relied  heavily  on  two  publications  of  the  Centro 
Interuniversitario  di  Studi  e  Ricerche  Storico-Militare  of  the  Universities  of  Padua,  Pisa,  and  Turin:  La 
storiografta  militare  italiana  negli  ultimi  venti  anni  (Milan:  1985)  and  Bibliograjia  italiana  di  storia  e  studi  militari 
1960-1984  (Milan:  1987).  In  addition,  he  wishes  to  express  his  gratitude  for  help  from  his  friends  Lucio 
Ceva,  Willard  C.  Frank,  Jr.,  and  Paul  G.  Halpern. 


Comments  on  Brian  Sullivan's 
"Twentieth  Century  Italy" 

James  J.  Sadkovich 


Dr.  Sullivan  has  presented  an  excellent  paper  on  those  Italian  archives,  authors, 
and  publications  that  are  concerned  with  contemporary  naval  and  maritime 
history.  He  has  raised  a  number  of  issues,  including  the  question  of  whether  the 
Italian  peninsula's  naval  and  maritime  history  is  synonymous  with  twentieth-century 
Italy's  naval  and  maritime  history  or  should  it  also  include  those  of  the  maritime 
republics  of  the  late  medieval  and  early  modern  periods  as  well  as  those  of  the 
pre-Risorgimento  navies  of  Naples,  Sardinia,  Venice,  and  Tuscany. 

Italians  have  certainly  been  preoccupied  with  the  role  of  the  Regia  Marina 
since  unification,  and  they  have  debated  its  performance  during  the  Fascist 
ventennio  and  World  War  II  in  numerous  books  and  articles,  including  such 
popular  histories  as  those  by  Arrigo  Petacco  and  Gianni  Rocca.  That  Rocca's 
book,  Fucilategli  ammiragli  [Shoot  the  Admirals]  was  published  in  1987  and  reissued 
in  1990  as  one  of  Monadadori's  popular  Oscar  Storia  series  indicates  that  there 
is  a  large  public  for  such  offerings,  and  its  title,  like  that  of  Di  Sambuy's  Match 
pari  fra  due  grandi  Jlotte  [Drawn  Match  between  Two  Great  Fleets] ,  hints  at  the 
polemical  nature  of  the  historiography  on  World  War  II.  The  publication  over 
the  past  two  decades  of  a  large  number  of  technical  and  scholarly  studies  on 
World  War  II  and  the  fascist  era  by  both  academics  and  former  naval  officers 
demonstrates  that  if  the  Italians  have  not  adopted  a  "worshipful  attitude"  toward 
their  navy,  they  certainly  are  interested  in  recent  naval  history. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  also  an  interest  in  ancient  and  early  modern  naval  and 
maritime  history,  and  there  appears  to  be  a  public  for  books  on  such  subjects  as 

This  essay  is  an  expanded  version  of  the  remarks  that  I  made  during  the  Conference  on  Naval  and 
Maritime  Affairs  and  contains  a  number  of  observations  that  I  neglected  to  make  in  June.  I  have  tried  to 
retain  the  spirit  of  my  comments,  while  including  bibliographic  information  and  interpretive  comments 
precluded  in  an  oral  presentation.  Both  Dr.  Sullivan  and  I  concentrated  on  contemporary  naval  and 
maritime  history,  much  to  the  distress  of  Dr.  Herve  Coutau-Begarie,  who  correctly  observed  that  Italian 
naval  and  maritime  history  extends  far  beyond  the  twentieth  century.  I  have  therefore  alluded  to  works 
on  the  medieval  and  modern  period  as  well.  The  bibliographic  notes  are  not  comprehensive,  but  are 
intended  to  serve  as  a  guide  to  recent  publications,  many  of  which  have  excellent  bibliographies. 

Gianni  Rocca,  Fucilategli  ammiragli:  la  tragedia  delta  Marina  italiana  nella  seconda guerra  mondiale  (Milan: 
Mondadori,  1987,  1990)  and  La  battaglia  di  Matapan  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1985);  and  Arrigo  Petacco,  Le 
battaglie  navali  del  Mediterraneo  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1977).  The  interest  in 
recent  naval  history  has  tended,  perhaps  properly,  to  blur  the  lines  between  amateur  enthusiast  and 
professional  historian  and  to  move  popular  and  academic  history  closer  together. 


192     Comments 

maritime  archaeology  and  folklore.  There  are  also  strong  regional  and  local 
organizations,  such  as  the  Centro  Veneto  per  le  Ricerche  Storiche,  which 
launched  a  new  journal,  Ricerche  Venete,  in  December  1989,  and  the  University 
of  Genoa's  Istituto  di  Medievistica,  which  has  published  a  number  of  studies  on 
Genoa  and  Liguria,  including  a  series  of  volumes  that  deal  with  everything  from 
early  modern  business  women  (donne  d'affari),  to  deserters,  pirates,  foreign  affairs, 
and  Genoese  colonies  in  the  Black  Sea.  The  Institute  has  also  published  a 
number  of  studies  dealing  with  the  history  of  Liguria,  among  them  Laura 
Balletto's  interesting  collection  of  essays  on  piracy,  fishing,  and  port  operations. 
It  is  therefore  no  surprise  that  the  Italians  have  continued  their  tradition 
of  publishing  popular  and  scholarly  works  on  maritime  centers  such  as 
Ancona,     Carrara,     Florence  and  Tuscany,     Genoa,     Manfredonia, 

3  For  example,  Attilio  Delia  Porta,  Marina  di  Vietri:  Storia,  vicende,  folklore  (Cava  dei  Tirreni:  Arti 
Grafiche  Palumbo  &  Esposito,  1984);  Peter  Throckmorton,  Atlante  di  archeologia  subacquea:  la  storia  racconta 
dal  mare:  dall'Oddissea  di  Omero  al  Titanic  (Novara:  Istituto  Geografico  De  Agostini,  1988);  Anna  Maria 
Crino's  edition  of  Petruccio  Ubaldini,  La  disfatta  dellajlotta  spagnola,  1588:  due  commentari  autobiografi 
inediti  (Florence:  L.  S.  Olschki,  1988).  Also  see  Elizabeth  Bostwick  Shuey,  Etruscan  Maritime  Activity  in 
the  Western  Mediterranean  c.  800-400  B.C.:  An  Archaeological  Perspective  on  Historical  Interpretations  (Ph.D., 
University  of  California  at  Santa  Barbara,  1982).  For  the  importance  of  archaeology  to  Italians  during 
the  early  1900s,  see  Maria  Petricoli,  Archaeologia  e  Mare  Nostrum  (Rome:  Valerio  Leri,  1990). 

4  Istituto  di  Medievistica,  Miscellanea  di  storia  ligure,  vols-.  I  and  IV  (Genoa:  1958,  1966),  vols.  II  and 
HI  (Milan:  1961,  1963);  Miscellanea  di  storia  ligure  in  onore  di  Giorgio  Falco,  (Milan:  1962  and  1966); 
Miscellanea  di  studi  storici  (Genoa:  1969);  Miscellanea  di  storia  italiana  e  mediterranea  per  Nino  Lamboglia 
(Genoa:  1978);  Miscellanea  di  storia  savonese  (Genoa:  1978).  The  Centro  per  la  Storia  della  Tecnica  del  Consiglio 
Nazionale  delle  Ricerche  (Sezione  4),  has  published  Studi  di  storia  navale  (1975). 

5  Laura  Balletto,  Genova  nel  Duecento:  uomini  nelporto  e  uomini  sul  mare  (Genoa:  1983)  is  volume  36  of 
the  Institute's  Collana  storica  di  fond  e  studi.  Also  see  her  Battista  de  Luco  mercante  genovese  del  secolo  XV 
e  il  suo  cartulario  (Genoa:  1979),  and  Mercanti  pirati  e  corsari  nei  mari  della  Corsica  (Genoa:  1978).  Among 
the  more  recent  publications  by  the  Institute  are  G.  Airaldi,  Studi  e  documenti  su  Genova  e  Voltremare 
(Genoa:  1974);  M.  L.  Balletto,  Navi  e  navigazione  a  Genova  nel  quattrocento.  La  "Cabella  marinariorum" 
(1482—1491)  (Genoa:  1973);  and  G.  Forcheri,  Navi  e  navigazione  a  Genoa  nel  Trecento.  H  "Liber  Gazarie" 
(Genoa:  1974). 

6  Alberto  Caracciolo,  Le  port  franc  d'Ancone:  Croissance  et  impasse  d'un  milieu  marchand  su  XVIIIe  siecle 
(Paris:  SEVPEN,  1965),  and  Francesco  Trionfi:  capitulista  e  magnate  d' Ancona  (Milan:  Giuffre,  1962). 

7  Antonio  Bernieri,  H  porto  di  Carrara  (Genova:  Sagep,  1983),  a  volume  in  the  Collana  I  Manufatti 
series. 

The  recent  works  by  Cesare  Ciano,  footnote  81,  below,  and  Camillo  Manfroni's  early  study,  La 
marina  militare  del  granducato  mediceo  (Rome:  Forzani  &  C,  1895). 

9  Mario  Bottaro,  Genova  1892  e  le  celebrazioni  colombiane  (Genoa:  F.  Pirella,  1984);  Georg  Caro,  Genova 
e  la  supremazia  sul  Mediterraneo,  1257—1311  (Genoa:  Societa  Ligure  di  Storia  Patria,  1974);  Giovanni 
Forcheri,  Navi  e  navigazione  e  Genova  nel  Trecento,  op.  cit.,  Antonino  Ronco,  Genova  tra  Massena  e 
Bonaparte:  storia  della  Repubblica  ligure,  il  1800  (Genoa:  Sagep,  1988).  Also  B.  Z.  Kedar,  Mercanti  in  crisi 
a  Genoa  e  Venezia  nel  '300  (Rome:  1981),  and  Camillo  Manfroni,  Banco  di  Genova  (Genoa:  A.  Donath, 
1911);  and  Anita  Ginella  Capini,  Enrica  L.  Aronica,  and  Maria  G.  Buscaglia,  eds.,  Immagini  di  vita  tra 
terra  e  mare:  la  Foce  in  eta  moderna  e  contemporanea,  1500-1900:  mostra  storico-documentaria  (Genoa:  Azione 
Cattolica  S.  Zita,  1984),  an  exhibition  held  in  Genoa  from  31  May  to  8  June  1984. 

Vincenzo  Gennaro  Valente,  Manfredonia:  Storia  della  citta  di  Manfredi  (Rome:  Manzella,  1986). 


Sadkovich      193 

Massa,     Messina,     Milan,     Naples,     Sardinia,     Taranto,     Trieste,     and  Venice. 
Genoa  hosted  two  international  congresses  on  maritime  history  over  the  last  decade, 
Ancona  held  a  conference  on  Zara  and  other  Yugoslav  cities,     and  even  Lake  Como 
has  its  historians.    Authors  such  as  Gino  Galuppini,     Marc  'Antonio  Bragadin,     Ezio 


11    Stefano  Giampaoli,  Vita  di  sabbie  e  d'acque:  il  litorale  di  Massa,   1500-1900  (Massa:  Palazzo  di  S. 
Elisabetta,  1984). 

^   R.  Battaglia,  Mercanti  e  imprenditori  in  una  citta  marittima.  H  caso  di  Messina  (Milan:  Giufire,  1992). 
13   Milan  functioned  as  an  inland  port,  whose  superb  canals  made  it  a  major  commercial  center.  Giuseppe 
Codara,  J  navigli  delta  vecchia  Milatio  (1977).  For  a  general  history,  Domenico  Sella,  U  Ducato  di  Milano 
dal  1535  al  1196  (Turin:  UTET,  1984). 

Among  the  many  works  on  Naples  and  Sicily,  Antonio  Calabria,  The  Cost  of  Empire:  The  Finances  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples  in  the  Time  of  Spanish  Rule  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1991). 

15   Giorlamo  Sotgiu,  Storia  della  Sardegna  sabauda,  1720-1847  (Rome:  Laterza,  1984). 

*      Giacinto  Peluso,  Taranto,   1919—1953:  una  citta,  un  monumento:  cronaca,  fatti,  personaggi  (Taranto: 

Mandese,  1984);  Giuseppe  Mataluno,  "Cenni  storici  sull'arsenale  M.  M.  di  Taranto,"  Riuista  marittima 

(1986). 

For  example,  Fulvio  Babudieri's  many  works,  e.g.,  Industrie,  commerci  e  navigazione  a  Trieste  e  nella 
regione  Giulia  dall'inizio  del  Settecento  ai  primi  anni  del  Novecento  (Milan:  Giuflre,  1982),  La  funzione 
dell'emporio  marittimo  di  Trieste  nell'ambito  della  Monorchia  absburgica  nell' Ottocento  (Milan:  1980),  II porto  di 
Trieste  nel  quadro  della politica  absburgica  dell' Ottocento  (Innsbruck,  1977),  Iporti  di  Trieste  e  della  regione  Giulia 
dal  1815  al  1918  (Rome:  1965),  L'industria  armatoriale  di  Trieste  e  della  regione  Giulia  dal  1815  al  1918 
(Rome,  1964),  and  La  nascita  dell'emporio  commerciale  e  marittimo  di  Trieste  (Genoa:  1964).  Also  Spiridione 
P.  Nicolaidi,  La  presenza  greca  a  Trieste  (Triest:  B  &  MM  Fachin,  1990);  Gottfried  von  Banfield,  L'aquila 
di  Trieste:  V ultimo  caualiere  di  Maria  Teresa  nana  la  propria  vita  (Triest:  LINT,  1984)  (originally  published 
in  German  as  Der  Adler  von  Triest:  der  letzte  Maria-Theresien-Ritter  erzahlt  sein  Leben  (1984). 
18  For  example,  the  late  Roberto  Cessi's  Venezia  ducale  (Venice:  Deputazione  di  Storia  Patria  per  la 
Venezia,  1963),  Studi  sul  Risorgimento  nel  Veneto  (Padua:  Liviana,  1965),  and  Storia  della  Repubblica  di 
Venezia  (Milan/Messina:  G.  Principato,  1968);  and  Armando  Lodolini's,  Le  repubbliche  del  mare  (Rome: 
Ente  per  la  Diffusione  e  l'Educazione  Storica,  1967),  part  of  the  Biblioteca  di  Storia  Patria  series.  Also 
Thomas  F.  Madden's  recent  dissertation,  Enrico  Dandolo:  His  Life,  His  Family,  and  His  Venice  before  the 
Fourth  Crusade  (Ph.D.,  University  of  Illinois  at  Urbana— Champagne,  1993);  Frederic  Chapin  Lane's 
classic  history,  Venice.  A  Maritime  Republic  (Baltimore:  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Press,  1973),  published  in 
Italy  as  Storia  di  Venezia  (1978),  vol.  137  of  the  Biblioteca  di  Cultura  Storica.  Lane's  bibliography  is  still 
useful. 

Raffaele  Belvederi,  ed.,  Atti  del  congresso  internazionale  di  studi  storici.  Rapporti 
Genoua — Mediterraneo — Atlantico  nell' eta  modema  (Genoa:  Prima  Cooperativa  Grafica,  1982). 

S.  Anselmi,  ed.,  Sette  citta  jugo— slave  tra  Medioevo  e  Ottocento  (Ancona:  Quaderni  di  Proposte  e  ricerche, 
1991).  The  "seminario"  was  held  in  September  1989  and  focused  on  a  number  of  cities,  including  Zara. 

L'idea  del  lago:  un  paesaggio  ridefinito,  1861-1914  (Milan:  G.  Mazzotta,  1984),  was  published  on  the 
occasion  of  an  exhibition  on  Lake  Como. 

In  addition  to  Guida  alle  navi  d'ltalia  dal  1861  a  oggi  (Milan:  Mondadori  1982),  Gino  Galuppini  has 
published  La  bandiera  tricolore  nella  Marina  sarda  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1987),  "La 
scuola  per  i  sottufficiali  della  marina  borbonica,"  Rivista  marittima  (1985),  and  "Lo  schnorchel  e  una 
invenzione  italiana,"  Rivista  marittima  (1975). 

Marc' Antonio  Bragadin's  Le  repubbliche  marinare  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1974)  is  a  popular,  illustrated 
history  of  Venice,  Pisa,  Genova,  and  other  maritime  republics  prior  to  Venice's  capitulation  to  Napoleon 
in  1797.  It  has  neither  bibliography  nor  notes,  but  does  have  a  definite  nationalist  bias  that  credits  the 
Italian  republics  with  writing  "many  of  the  most  luminous  chapters"  of  human  history,  notes  that  Europe 
is  indebted  to  Venice  for  repelling  the  Turks  and  insists  that  the  spirit  of  the  early  modern  republics  lives 
on  in  today's  Italian  mariners. 


1 94     Comments 

Ferrente,  and  Lamberto  Radogna,  have  dealt  with  the  Bourbon  and  Sar- 
dinian navies  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  as  well  as  those  of  the 
early  modern  maritime  republics  of  Venice,  Genova,  and  Pisa  and  the  modern 
Italian  Navy. 

But  if  early  modern  history  is  fairly  robust,  my  impression,  perhaps  skewed 
by  my  own  research,  still  is  that  contemporary  naval  history  dominates  Italian 
bookstores  and  that  since  1945  relatively  little  has  been  done  on  the  nineteenth 
and  early  twentieth  centuries.  To  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  there  is  no 
organization  comparable  to  the  Italian  Naval  League,  which  popularized  naval 
affairs  from  1897  to  the  1920s,  although  the  Historical  Office  of  the  Italian  Navy 
has  done  a  great  deal  to  keep  naval  and  maritime  history  before  the  Italian 
public.  Such  studies  by  historians,  as  those  by  Caracciolo  on  early  modern 
capitalism  in  Ancona  and  by  Babudieri  on  the  shipbuilding  industry  in  Triest, 
are  notable,  but  more  is  needed  on  the  development  of  maritime  industries,  ship 
design,  and  maritime  law,  and  it  is  reassuring  to  know  that  IFJ  is  sponsoring 

In  addition  to  Benedetto  Brin  e  questione  marittima  italiana,  1866-1898  (Rome:  Rivista  Marittima, 
1983)  and  La  sconfitta  navale  di  Lissa  (Rome:  Vito  Bianco,  1985).,  Ezio  Ferrente  has  published  "Romanze 
navali  e  guerre  ipotetiche  nel  secolo  XIX,"  Informazioni  parlamentari  difesa  (1982),  "August  Vittorio 
Vecchj:  lugotenente  di  vascello  e  storico  della  Marina,"  Rivista  marittima  (1972). 

Lamberto  Radogna,  Cronistoria  delle  unita  di  guerra  delle  marine preunitarie  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storica  della 
Marina  Militare,  1981).  This  is  an  extremely  useful  listing  of  the  ships  of  the  various  Italian  navies  prior 
to  unification. 

26  Also  Carlo  Zaghi,  P.  S.  Mancini,  I' Africa  e  il  probkma  del  Mediterraneo  1884-1885)  (Rome:  Casini, 
1955);  and  the  numerous  articles  published  in  Rivista  marittima,  including  Augusto  De  Toro,  "La  squadra 
austriaca  prima  e  dopo  Lissa:  interessanti  elementi  da  due  immagini  fotografiche,"  (1987);  Nunzia 
Esposito  Elefante,  "La  marina  Sarda  nella  guerra  di  Crimea"  (1986);  Antonio  Formicola  and  Claudio 
Romano.  "L'industria  navale  nel  regno  delle  due  Sicilie  sotto  Ferdinando  II"  (1986),  and  "1860:  Marina 
borbonica  ultimo  atto"  (1984);  Giovanni  Macchi,  "La  marina  italiana  a  Creta  in  una  operazione 
multinazionale  di  fine  ottocento,"  (1985);  Arturo  Marcheggiano,  "Le  operazioni  navali  italiane  nella 
prima  guerra  di  indipendenza  (1848-49)"  (1984). 

For  example,  Ferruccio  Botti's  articles  in  Rivista  marittima:  "Esercito  e  armata  navale  nel  pensiero 
militare  'terrestre'  dalla  fine  del  secolo  XIX  all'inizio  della  prima  guerra  mondiale"  (1987),  "La 
'correlazione  terrestre  marittima':  un  precedente  italiano  dell'attuale  cooperazione  interforce  all'inizio 
del  secolo  XX"  (1987),  and  "Aviazione  navale  in  Italia  agli  inizi  del  secolo  i  un  raffronto  con  le  intuizioni 
precorritrici  di  Clement  Ader"  (1986).  Botti  has  also  published  on  armored  forces  and  military  doctrine 
with  Nicola  Pignato  and  Vicenzo  Ilari.  Also  see  Luigi  Romani,  D'Annunzio  e  il  mare  (Rome:  Rivista 
Marittima,  1988)  and  Timothy  W.  Childs,  Mediterranean  Imbroglio:  The  Diplomatic  Origins  of  Modem  Libya 
(The  Diplomacy  of  the  Belligerents  during  the  Italo-Turkish  War,  1911—1912)  (Ph.D.,  Georgetown 
University,  1982). 

The  Lega  Navale  Italiana  published  an  illustrated  periodical,  La  lega  naval  (Florence,  1897-98,  La 
Spezia,  1898-1901,  Rome,  1901-19),  as  well  as  a  number  of  studies  on  naval  and  maritime  affairs.  For 
example,  the  patriotic  The  Adriatic  Avenged:  The  Apotheosis  ofNazario  Sauro  (Rome:  E.  Armani,  1917) 
and  La  marina  italiana  nella  guerra  mondiale,  1915-1918  (Rome:  1920).  The  League  also  published  the 
Album  marinaresco  (Rome:  1914),  as  well  as  Luigi  Castagna,  Dizionari  Mamaro  (Rome:  LNI,  1955)  and 
Giuseppe  di  Maceo,  La  battaglia  di  Lepanto  e  il  mare  di  Gaeta  (Gaeta:  Tipografia  Salemne,  1930).  For  the 
League's  official  history,  Angjolo  Ponti,  Venticinque  anni  di  vita  della  Lega  navale  italiana  (1899-1924) 
(Rome:  LNI,  1924). 


Sadkovich      1 95 

studies  on  maritime  industries  and  commerce.  I  agree  with  Dr.  Sullivan  that 
a  great  deal  also  needs  to  be  done  on  the  Italo-Turkish  war  of  1911—12  and 
World  War  I,  both  significant,  if  neglected,  victories  for  the  Italian  Navy  that 
were  crucial  to  its  development  and  affected  the  evolution  of  such  naval 
weapons  as  MTBs,  pioneered  as  Mas  (Motoscafi  antisommergibili)  by  the 
Italians.  Nor  is  there  an  abundant  biographical  literature  on  those  who 
shaped  and  implemented  Italian  naval  policy.  And  even  many  official 
histories  are  now  out  of  date. 


^  Above  for  Babudieri  and  Caracciolo.  The  recent  study  that  Dr.  Sullivan  has  cited  by  Lucio  Ceva 
and  Andrea  Curami  has  interesting  data  on  naval  weaponry  and  the  scandal  at  Ansaldo  in  the  1930s;  see 
Industria  bellica  anni  Trenta  (Milan:  Franco  Angeli,  1992).  Also  Michele  Nones,  "L'industria  militare  in 
Liguria  da  1945  al  1975."  Storia  contemporanea  (1986);  Maria  Ottolino,  Commercio  e  iniziativa  marittima  in 
Puglia,  1876-1914:  la  Societa  di  navigazione  a  uapore  Puglia  (1981);  Donato  Riccesi  (1956—),  Gustavo 
Pulitzer  Finali:  il  disegno  della  nave:  allestimenti  interni,  1925—1967  (1985);  Valerio  Staccioli,  "II  linguaggio 
architettonico  nel  disegno  della  nave  passeggeri:  I.  Dai  transatlantic!  di  Brunei  agli  anni  vend."  "II.  Dagli 
anni  trenta  ai  nostri  giomi,"  Rivista  marittima  (1987).  Also  see  Francesco  La  Saponara,  The  Shipping  Industry 
and  Statistical  Information  in  Italy:  A  Survey  (1986).  For  maritime  law  Riniero  Zeno,  Storia  del  diritto 
marittimo  italiano  nel  Mediterraneo  (Milan:  Giuffre,  1946),  vol.  3  of  the  series  Fondazione  Vittorio  Scialoia 
per  gli  Studi  Giuridici  and  Documenti  per  la  storia  del  diritto  marittimo  nei  secoli  XIII  e  XIV  (1970/1936), 
vol.  4  of  the  series  Documenti  e  Studi  per  la  Storia  del  Commercio  e  del  Diritto  Commerciale  Italiano; 
and  Luigi  Benvenuti,  Lafrontiera  marina  (Padua:  CEDAM,  1988),  who  examines  the  concept  of  territorial 
waters. 

Most  of  the  studies  on  these  topics  are  dated,  e.g.,  Adolfo  Balliano  and  Giuseppe  Soavi,  L'ltalia  sul 
mare  nella  grande  guerra  (Turin:  Successore  Loescher  Ermanno,  1934);  Capitano  di  Fregata  Roncagli, 
Guerra  italo-turca.  I.  Dalle  origini  al  decreto  di  sovranita  su  la  Libia  (Milan:  Hoepli,  1937);  and  Camillo 
Manfroni's  works,  Guerra  Italo—turca  (1911—1912).  Cronistoria  delle  operazioni  navali  (Milan:  Hoepli, 
1918-26),  which  is  the  official  history  of  the  war;  Tripoli  nella  storia  marinara  d'ltalia  (Padua:  Drucker, 
1911);  LTtalia  nelle  vicende  marinare  della  tripolitania  (Intra/ Verbania:  A.  Airoldi,  1935/1942);  Marina  e 
aviazione  italiane  nella  guerra  mondiale  (Milan:  F.  Vallardi,  1937);  and  Storia  della  marina  italiana  durante  la 
guerra  mondiale,  1914-1918  (Bologna:  Zanichelli,  1923). 

Among  the  more  recent  works  on  early  twentieth-century  naval  history  are  the  two  works  Dr. 
Sullivan  has  cited  by  Paul  Halpern,  and  E.  Europoli,  "La  lega  navale  italiana,"  Rivista  marittima  (1980). 
Among  the  works  that  are  now  dated  are  those  by  Adolfo  Balliano  and  Camillo  Manfroni;  Guido  Po, 
II  grande  ammiraglio  Paolo  Thaon  di  Revel  (Turin:  Lattes,  1936);  Ettore  Bravetta,  La  grande  guerra  sul  mare, 
2  vols.  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1925);  Bernardo  Melli,  La  guerra  italo-turca  (Rome:  E.  Voghere,  1914); 
Whitney  Warren,  The  Role  of  the  Italian  Navy  in  the  Great  War:  A  Lecture  Given  at  the  Colony  Club,  Netv 
York,  22  January  1920  (New  York,  1920/microfilm);  and  A.  Thomazi,  La  guerre  navale  dans  VAdriatique 
(Paris:  Payot,  1927);  and  La  guerre  navale  dans  la  Mediterranee  (Paris:  Payot,  1929). 

Most  of  the  early  histories  tended  to  fall  within  the  category  of  pamphlets  and  apologies  more  than 
scholarly  analysis.  La  Marina  italiana  (Rome:  Ministero  della  Marina,  1918),  was  only  eleven  pages  long; 
La  marina  italiana  nella  guerra  mondiale,  1915—1918  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  dello  Stato  Maggiore  della 
Marina,  1920),  only  84  pages;  and  The  Italian  Navy  in  the  World  War  1915—1918.  Facts  and  Figures  (Rome: 
Ufficio  Storico  della  Regia  Marina  Italiana,  1927)  was  a  defense  of  Italian  naval  operations  during  the 
war.  Also  see  G.  Almagia  and  A.  Zoli,  La  marina  italiana  nella  grande  guerra.  I.  Vigilia  d'armi  sul  mare 
(Florence:  Vallecchi,  1935),  published  by  the  Office  of  the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Royal  Italian  Navy's 
Historical  Section  (Ufficio  Storica  dello  Stato  Maggiore  della  Regia  Marina  Italiana);  and  Storia  della 
campagne  oceaniche  della  regia  marina  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Stato  Maggiore  della  Regia  Marina 
Italiana,  1936,  1960),  4  vols. 


196      Comments 

On  the  other  hand,  since  the  1940s  there  has  been  a  continual  outpouring 
of  literature  on  the  fascist  era,  often  of  a  polemical  nature.  Why  this  is  so  is 
not  clear,  but  it  certainly  is  due  partially  to  the  impression  that  the  Italian  fleet 
was  largely  intact  when  it  surrendered  in  1943,  because  it  had  elected  to  stay  in 
port  rather  than  fight  during  the  war.  But  if  a  handful  of  cruisers  and  most 
battleships  survived  the  war,  few  smaller  vessels  did  so,  because  they  played  the 
major  role  in  a  war  that  was  characterized  by  convoy,  not  fleet,  operations. 
Nonetheless,  the  polemical  conflagration  that  touched  off  efforts  to  assign  blame 
for  the  apparent  failure  of  the  Navy  to  perform  well  during  the  war  has  been 
fuelled  by  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  antifascist  postwar  politics  with  a 
patriotism  that  was  compromised  by  fascism  during  the  Ventennio.  As  a  result, 
there  is  a  massive  literature  on  World  War  II  and  the  fascist  era,  and  a  great  many 
historians  have  contributed  to  it. 

Among  the  better  known  are  Erminio  Bagnasco,  Franco  Bargoni,  Giovanni 
Bernardi,     Marc 'Antonio  Bragadin,     Carlo  De  Risio,     Vittorio  Di  Sambuy,  ' 

For  example,  Achille  Rastelli,  "II  naviglio  mercantile  requisito  nella  storia  della  marina  militare," 
Rivista  marittima  (1984);  Ernesto  Giuriati,  "Storia  e  tradimento,"  Riuista  marittima  (1981);  Gino  Jori,  "La 
crittologia  nelle  operazioni  navali  in  Mediterraneo  (1940-1943),"  Riuista  marittima  (1982);  Nino  Bixio 
Lo  Martire,  Naui  e  bugie  (1983);  Gianni  Padoan,  Laguerra  nel  Mediterraneo  (Bologna:  Capitol,  1978);  and 
Dobrillo  Dupuis,  Lajlotta  bianca:  le  naui  ospedale  italiane  nel  secondo  conjlitto  mondiale  (Milan:  Mursia,  1978). 
Also  Renzo  De  Felice,  Mussolini  I'alleato.  I.  L'ltalia  in  guerra  1940-1943.  II.  Crisi  e  agonia  del  regime 
(Turin:  Einaudi,  1990),  2  vols.,  who  discusses  the  Navy's  role;  Salvatore  Minardi,  Italia  e  Francia  alia 
conferenza  nauale  di  Londra  del  1930  (1989);  and  Rosaria  Quartararo,  "Imperial  Defence  in  the 
Mediterranean  on  the  Eve  of  the  Ethiopian  Crisis  (July-October  1935),"  Historical  Journal  (1977). 

Erminio  Bagnasco  collaborated  with  Elio  Ando  on  Naui  e  marinai  italiani  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale 
(Parma:  Ermanno  Albertelli,  1977/1981),  and  with  Marco  Spertini  on  J  mezzi  d'assalto  della  X"  MAS, 
1940-1945  (Parma:  Ermanno  Albertelli,  1991).  On  his  own  has  published  a  number  of  studies,  including 
Le  armi  delle  naui  italiane  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Parma:  Ermanno  Albertelli,  1978);  Italian  Battleships 
of  World  War  II:  A  Pictorial  History  (1986);  La  portaerei  nella  marina  italiana.  Idee,  progetti  e  realizzioni  dalle 
origini  a  oggi  (Rome:  Rivista  Marittima,  1989);  Submarines  of  World  War  Two  (Annapolis:  USNIP,  1977); 
"Navi  incorporate  nella  Marina  italiana  durante  la  seconda  guerra  mondiale."  Riuista  marittima  (1961);  / 
M.A.S.  e  le  motosiluranti  italiane,  1906-1968  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1969). 

Franco  Bargoni,  L'impegno  nauale  italiano  durante  la  Guerra  ciuile  spagnola  (1936—1939)  (Rome:  Ufficio 
Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1992);  Corazzate  italiane  classi  Duilio— Italia— Ruggiero  di  Lauria,  entrate  in 
seruiziofra  il  1880  e  il  1892  (Rome:  Ateneo  e  Bizzarri,  1978);  and  Le  prime  naui  di  linea  della  marina  italiana 
(1861-1880)  (Rome:  Bizzarri,  1976). 

Giovanni  Bernardi,  La  Marina,  gli  armistizi  e  il  trattato  di  pace:  settembre  1943 — dicembre  1951  (Rome: 
Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1979);  and  7/  disarmo  nauale  tra  le  due  guerre  mondiali,  1919—1939 
(Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1975);  "La  dibattuta  questione  della  parita  navale  tra  Italia 
e  Francia  nel  periodo  tra  le  due  guerre  mondiali,"  Reuue  intemationale  d'histoire  militaire  (1978). 

■xn 

Marc  Antonio  Bragadin,  U  dramma  della  marina  italiana,  1940-1945  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1982),  and 
The  Italian  Nauy  in  World  War  //(Annapolis:  USNIP,  1957,  1980).  Both  works  are  slightly  revised  reissues 
of  earlier  studies. 

Carlo  De  Risio,  Naui  diferro,  teste  di  legno:  la  marina  italiana,  ieri  e  oggi  (Rome:  Ciarrapico,  1976). 

in 

Vittorio  Di  Sambuy,  Match  pari  tra  due grandeflotte.  Mediterraneo,  1940-1942  (Milan:  Mursia,  1976); 
and  "Un  segreto  svelato — il  segreto  'Ultra',"  Riuista  marittima  (1976). 


Sadkovich      197 

Mariano  Gabriele,  Giorgio  Giorgerini,  Tullio  Marcon,  4\  Francesco 
Mattesini,  Riccardo  Nassigh,  Sergio  Nesi,  and  Alberto  Santoni.  Al- 
though the  fascist  period  is  relatively  narrow  and  early  approaches  were  often  in 
the  nature  of  reciprocal  reproaches,  a  rather  wide  spectrum  of  approaches  has 
evolved,  while  a  keen  interest  in  such  elite  units  as  the  San  Marco  marine  division 
and  the  X  Mas  has  remained  high.     Bagnasco,  Di  Sambuy,  Mattesini,  Nassigh, 

40  Mariano  Gabriele,  Operazione  C/3:  Malta  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1965,  1990); 
"La  guerre  des  convois  entre  l'ltalie  et  l'Afrique  du  nord,"  in  Comite  d'Histoire  de  la  2e  Guerre 
Mondiale,  La  guerre  en  Mediterranke,  1939-1945.  Actes  du  colbque  International  tenu  Paris  du  8  au  11  avril 
1969  (Paris:  Editions  du  Centre  National  de  la  Recherche  Scientifique,  1971).  He  has  also  written  on 
other  periods,  e.g.,  Lajlotta  come  strumento  di  politica  nei  primi  decenni  dello  stato  unitario  italiano  (Rome: 
Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1973);  La  politica  navale  italiana  dal  1885  al  1915  (Rome:  Ufficio 
Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1982);  "La  politica  navale  italiana  alia  vigilia  del  primo  conflitto  mondiale," 
Riuista  marittima  (May  1965):  pp.  15-32;  "La  convenzione  navale  italo-franco-britannica  del  10  maggio 
1915,"  Nuoua  antologia  (April-May  1965):  pp.  483-502,  69-84. 

Giorgio  Giorgerini,  La  battaglia  dei  convogli  in  Mediterraneo  (Milan:  Mursia,  1977);  Da  Matapan  al  Qolfo 
Persico:  la  Marina  militare  italiana  dalfascismo  alia  Repubblica  (Milan:  Mursia,  1989);  Almanaco  storico  delle 
naui  militari  italiane:  la  Marina  e  le  sue  navi  dal  1861  al  1915  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare, 
1978);  "The  Role  of  Malta  in  Italian  Naval  Operations,  1940-43,"  in  New  Aspects  of  Naval  History 
(Annapolis:  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Press,  1985);  and  with  Aldo  Nani,  Le  naui  d'ltalia.  I.  Le  naui  di  linea 
italiane,  1961—1969  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1969),  Gli  incrociatori  italiani, 
1861—1975  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1976),  and  Almanacco  storico  delle  naui  militari 
d'ltalia,  1861-1915  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1980). 

Tullio  Marcon,  "Operazione  Malta  due  owero  il  rispetto  del  nemico,"  Riuista  marittima  (1976);  AH 
marine:  gli  osseruatori  della  Regia  Marina  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Milan:  Mursia,  1978). 

Francesco  Mattesini,  La  battaglia  aeronauale  di  mezzo  agosto  (Rome:  Edizioni  dell'Ateneo,  1986);  II 
giallo  di  Matapan.  Reuisione  di  giudizi  (Rome:  Edizioni  dell'Ateneo,  1985);  La  battaglia  di  Punta  Stilo 
(Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1990);  I sommergibili  di  Betasom  1940—1943  (Rome:  Ufficio 
Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  on  press);  "Navi  da  guerra  e  mercantili  della  Gran  Bretagna  e  nazioni 
alleate  affondate  e  danneggiate  in  Mediterraneo  (10  giugno  1940 — 5  maggio  1945)"  Archiuio  Storico 
Marina.  XI  (9);  "I  retroscena  inediti  del  mancato  intervento  delle  navi  di  superficie  italiane  nella  battaglia 
di  mezzo  agosto  1942,"  II  Giomale  d'ltalia  (5  January  1984);  "La  battaglia  aeronavale  di  mezzo  agosto," 
Aeronautical  mensile  dell' auiazione  italiana  (1985),  nos.  8,  9,  10,  11. 

Riccardo  Nassigh,  Guerra  negli  abissi.  I  sommergibili  italiani  nel  secondo  conflitto  mondiale  (Milan:  Mursia, 
1971);  Operazione  mezzo  agosto.  (Milan:  Mursia,  1976). 

Sergio  Nesi,  Decimaflottiglia  nostra:  i  mezzi  d'assalto  della  Marina  italiana  al  sud  e  al  nord  dopo  Varmistizio 
(Milan:  Mursia,  1986). 

As  Dr.  Sullivan  has  noted,  Alberto  Santoni  has  published  a  number  of  important  works  on 
contemporary  naval  history,  especially  //  uero  traditore:  il  ruolo  documentato  di  ULTRA  nella  guerra  del 
Mediterraneo  (Milan:  Mursia,  1981).  He  has  also  collaborated  with  Theodor  Fuchs  on  "Der  Einfluss  von 
'ULTRA'  auf  den  Krieg  im  Mittelmeer,"  Marine  Rundschau  (1981);  and  with  Francesco  Mattesini  on 
La  partecipazione  tedesca  alia  guerra  aeronauale  nel  Mediterraneo  (1940-1945)  (Rome:  Edizioni  dell'Ateneo 
eBizzarri,  1980). 

The  official  history  has  a  volume  on  the  X  Mas,  which  was  popularized  by  Julio  Valerio  Borghese, 
Sea  Deuils  (Chicago:  Henry  Regnery,  1954).  Among  the  recent  publications  on  the  unit  is  the  excellent 
volume  by  Bagnasco  and  Spertini,  and  Ricciotti  Lazzero,  La  decima  Mas  (Milan:  Rizzoli,  1984).  Also 
see  Pieramedeo  Baldrati,  San  Marco.  .  .San  Marco.  .  .Storia  di  una  diuisione  (Milan:  San  Marco  Infantry 
Division,  1989);  Guido  Bonavicini,  Decima  Marinai!  Decima  comandante!  Lafanteria  di  marina,  1943—45 
(Milan:  Mursia,  1988);  and  Aurelio  Scardaccione,  Ildelfino  dorato:  in  guerra  sui  sommergibili  (Fasano:  Schena, 
1988),  a  diary  by  a  former  submariner. 


1 98      Comments 

Nesi,  and  Santoni  have  generally  focused  on  the  technical  and  operational  aspects  of  naval 
affairs;  Bargoni,  Bernardi,  and  Gabriele  have  been  more  concerned  with  policy  and 
diplomacy;  and  Giorgerini  and  Bragadin  have  written  synthetic  works  on  the  Italian 
Navy.  In  short,  there  are  a  great  many  Italians  who  are  currendy  working  on  naval  and 
maritime  topics.  While  the  number  of  foreign  scholars  is  much  smaller,  as  Dr.  Sullivan 
notes,  many,  such  as  Germany's  Gerhard  Schreiber,  have  made  contributions  to  the 
field49 

Recent  naval  history  thus  seems  to  be  thriving;  and  if  some  cliaff  remains,  that  is  the 
price  the  Italians  pay  to  stimulate  interest  in  the  subject.  The  firms  of  Mursia,  Rizzoli, 
and  Mondadori  may  not  always  publish  scholarly  studies,  but  they  provide  a  valuable 
service  by  issuing  memoirs  and  popular  studies  that  keep  the  public  interested  in  naval 
and  maritime  history,  while  Edizioni  dell' Ateneo  e  Bizzarri  and  Ermanno  Albertelli  focus 
on  a  more  restricted  audience  interested  in  the  nuts  and  bolts  of  naval  history. 

In  short,  while  there  are  undoubtedly  enormous  differences  between  the  United  States 
and  Italy,  I  am  not  sure  that  Italians  are  less  enthused  with  their  naval  history  than  we  are 
with  ours;  and  if  ground  forces  played  a  much  greater  part  in  Italian  development  than 
naval  forces,  that  was  also  true  of  the  United  States,  save  in  the  Caribbean,  where  our 
Navy  and  Marines  consolidated  an  informal  empire  against  weak  forces,  and  in  the  Pacific, 
where  a  combination  of  naval  and  air  secured  victory  in  the  early  1940s.  Our  Navy  is 
certainly  larger  than  the  Italian  Navy,  and  it  is  better  publicized  in  this  country,    where 

I  am  indebted  to  Admiral  Renato  Sicurezza,  who  currently  heads  the  Italian  Navy's  Historical  Office 
and  to  Admiral  Francesco  Pascazio,  the  former  editor  of  Rivista  Marittima,  for  their  generous  help  in 
identifying  those  Italian  historians  who  are  currently  working  in  the  contemporary  era;  to  Professor 
Domenico  Sella  for  his  suggestions  regarding  the  early  modern  period;  to  Professor  Alberto  Santoni  for 
his  courteous  and  informative  reply  to  my  inquiries;  and  to  Admiral  Carlo  Gottardi,  for  his  interest. 
Among  those  who  are  currently  writing  on  contemporary  history  are  Vittorio  Barbati,  Franco  Bargoni, 
Colonel  Ferruccio  Botti,  Admiral  Alfredo  Brauzzi,  Augusto  De  Toro,  Admiral  Luigi  Donini,  Admiral 
Antonio  Flamigni,  Antoni  Formicola,  Aldo  Fraccaroli,  Professor  Mariano  Gabriele,  Commandante 
Franco  Gay,  Admiral  Gino  Galuppini,  Giorgio  Giorgerini,  Admiral  Carlo  Gottardi,  Tullio  Marcon, 
Francesco  Mattesini,  Riccardo  Nassigh,  Franco  Puddu,  Admiral  Luigi  Romani,  Claudio  Romano, 
Professor  Alberto  Santoni,  and  Admiral  Pietro  Zancardi. 

See  Gerhard  Schreiber,  "Italien  im  machtpolitischen  Kalkiil  der  deutschen  Marineflihrung  1919  bis 
1945,"  in  Quellen  und  Forschungen  aus  italienischen  Archiven  und  Bibliotheken  (Tubingen:  Istituto  Storico 
Germanico  in  Roma,  1982)  vol.  62;  "Les  structures  strategiques  de  la  conduite  de  la  guerre 
italo-allemande  au  cours  de  la  deuxieme  guerre  mondiale"  RHDGM  (1980);  "Sul  teatro  mediterraneo 
nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale:  inediti  punti  di  vista  della  marina  germanica  del  tempo."  Rivista  marittima 
(1987).  Also  see  Josef  Schroder,  "Les  pretensions  allemands  a  la  direction  militaire  du  theatre  italien 
d'operations  en  1943"  RHDGM  (1974). 

Given  that  the  United  States  has  five  times  the  population  of  Italy  and  is  considerably  wealthier,  the 
disparities  between  the  two  states  diminish  or  disappear.  Multiplying  Italy's  budget  by  five,  one  gets  an 
annual  outlay  of  $120  billion,  not  $24  billion,  about  a  third  of  the  US  budget  of  $290  billion;  the  adjusted 
size  of  the  Italian  navy  is  275,000,  about  half  that  of  the  USN;  and  the  number  of  ships  about  300, 
comparable  to  the  340  that  Dr.  Sullivan  projects  for  the  USN.  Indeed,  the  adjusted  merchant  figures 
yield  8,000  Italian  ships  displacing  40  million  GRT,  compared  to  1,600  American  vessels  displacing  8 
million.  It  is  also  worth  noting  that  while  there  is  a  considerable  public  for  works  on  the  Navy  in  the 
United  States,  there  is  not  a  large  market  for  histories  of  such  maritime  organizations  as  the  Coast  Guard 
and  merchant  marine. 


Sadkovich      1 99 

only  a  handful  of  academics  have  devoted  any  attention  to  Italian  naval  matters 
over  the  past  twenty  years.  But  that  is  to  be  expected,  given  our  preoccupation 
with  superpowers. 

Whether  "the  major  negative  influence"  on  Italian  attitudes  toward  the  Navy, 
merchant  marine  and  public  institutions  in  general  have  derived  from 
"widespread  perceptions  of  the  defunct  monarchy  and  of  the  Fascist  regime"  is 
debatable,  although  there  is  no  doubt  that  during  the  1950s  the  Italians  had 
nothing  comparable  to  America's  Victory  at  Sea  to  extol  their  Navy,  and  a  spate 
of  critical  works,  such  as  Antonio  Trizzino's  Navi  epoltrone,  censured  the  Italian 
Navy  as  so  inept  as  to  be  treasonous. 

But  such  attitudes  predated  Mussolini's  era  and  seem  to  be  rooted  in  the 
problems  that  accompanied  the  creation  of  a  unitary  Italian  state,  including  the 
monarchy's  emargination  of  Mazzini  and  its  "betrayal"  of  Garibaldi,  the  South's 
resistance  to  Piedmontese  rule,  and  the  influence  of  socialism,  syndicalism,  and 
anarchism  in  areas  as  diverse  as  Puglia,  the  Romagna,  Lombardy,  and  Sicily.  A 
great  many  Italians  thus  came  to  view  the  armed  forces  as  repressive,  and  Italy's 
failure  to  realize  an  African  empire  disillusioned  the  more  patriotic,  even  if  it 
stimulated  Enrico  Corridoni  and  the  ANI  to  clamor  for  even  more  spending  on 
overseas  expansion  and  eventually  led  Mussolini  to  discern  and  exploit  the 
political  advantages  of  the  concept  of  an  Italian  "proletarian"  nation.  In  other 
words,  if  the  Fascist  regime  disillusioned  many  Italians,  the  liberal  Italian  state 
had  already  alienated  many  others.  Since  1945,  pugnacious  and  partisan  media 
have  helped  to  keep  political  debate  lively  and  censorious  in  Italy,  whereas  in 
the  United  States  the  mass  media  have  usually  fallen  into  line  behind  government 
efforts  to  glorify  its  military  and  naval  exploits.  And,  as  noted  above,  the 
difficulties  of  reconciling  postwar  antifascism  with  a  patriotism  and  navalism 
tainted  by  their  association  with  the  fascist  regime  has  created  a  climate  in  which 
polemics  flourish. 

51  Brian  Sullivan,  "A  Fleet  in  Being:  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Italian  Sea  Power,  1861-1943,"  The 
International  History  Review  (1988);  and  Marco  Rimanelli,  The  "Least  of  the  Powers":  Italy's  Foreign,  Security, 
and  Naval  Policy  in  the  Quest  for  Mediterranean  Pre-eminence,  1860s- 1989,  (Ph.D,  Johns  Hopkins  Univ., 
1989).  Bernard  MacGregor  Knox,  Mussolini  Unleashed,  1939-1941.  Politics  and  Strategy  in  Fascist  Italy's 
Last  War  (Cambridge:  UP,  1982),  also  deals  with  naval  matters  in  his  survey  of  Italy's  war  effort.  Jack 
Greene  is  an  aficionado  of  naval  history  and  his  Mare  nostrum:  The  War  in  the  Mediterranean  (Watsonville, 
Calif.:  Typesetting,  etc.,  1990)  is  a  useful  compilation  of  data,  all  the  more  so  because  few  academic 
studies  have  been  published  in  this  country.  Also  see  James  J.  Sadkovich,  The  Italian  Navy  in  World  War 
II  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood,  1994);  "The  Italian  Navy,"  in  Reevaluating  Major  Naval  Combatants 
of  World  War  II  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood,  1990);  "Aircraft  Carriers  and  the  Mediterranean, 
1940-1943:  Rethinking  the  Obvious,"  Aerospace  Historian  (1987);  and  "Re-evaluating  Who  Won  the 
Italo-British  Naval  Conflict,  1940-42,"  European  History  Quarterly  (1988). 

CO 

Antonio  Trizzino,  Navi  e  poltrone  (Milan:  Longanesi,  1966).  From  1945  into  the  1960s,  American 
films  exalted  our  victory  in  the  war,  but  in  Italy  such  fare  as  Citth  aperta  and  Bicycle  Thief  reflected  a 
resigned  weariness  with  the  whole  subject  of  war,  as  Fellini  and  others  created  a  pacifist  postmodern 
world. 


200      Comments 

Yet  I  do  not  think  that  one  can  simply  dismiss  the  fascist  era  and  its  naval  and 
maritime  achievements.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  success  of  the  fascist  campaigns  in 
Africa  and  the  prestige  conferred  on  Italy  by  its  trans- Adantic  liners  more  than  offset 
earlier  defeats.  The  Rex's  brief  appearance  in  Fellini's  Amarcord  underlined  the  effect 
on  the  Italian  psyche  of  such  spending,  even  if  in  retrospect  the  achievements  proved 
as  illusory  as  the  ship's  illuminated  outline  on  a  summer  night.  The  defeat  of  1943 
was  unquestionably  a  major  blow  to  the  Italians,  but  there  were  no  decisive  defeats  in 
1940-41,  except  in  the  minds  of  Allied  wartime  propagandists  and  some  postwar 
historians,  and  after  1945  the  Italians  had  no  choice  but  to  reject  those  "legacies  of  the 
Fascist  era"  not  approved  by  the  Allies.  But  if  the  neo-fascists  have  been  reduced  to 
a  fringe  group  in  postwar  Italy,  the  referendum  mounted  by  the  Radical  Party  in  1977 
reminded  everyone  that  their  legacy  included  the  penal  code  and  IRJ,  both  integral 
parts  of  the  postwar  liberal  regime. 

Italy's  excessive  navalism  and  heavy  official  support  for  naval  and  maritime  history 
prior  to  1945  was  fairly  typical  of  great  powers,  and  its  more  moderate  military 
pretensions  since  then  characteristic  of  such  former  imperial  powers  as  Britain.  There 
were  a  number  of  ex-fascist  or  neo-fascist  historians  in  the  postwar  era  who  tried  to 
refurbish  the  fascist  ventennio,  but  the  greatest  impact  on  the  historiography  of  the  war 
has  been  that  of  such  naval  officers  as  Angelo  Iachino,  Marc'Antonio  Bragadin,  and 
Giuseppe  Fioravanzo,  who  had  served  in  the  "fascist"  navy  and  sought  to  set  the  record 
straight  by  challenging  an  Allied  wartime  propaganda  that  was  anything  but  objective. 

Although  the  fascist  media  were  hardly  objective,  I  think  it  still  a  safe  assumption  that  many  Italians  shared  the 
pride  in  Italy's  naval  achievements  expressed  in  such  articles  as  Domenico  Cavagnari,  "La  Marina  delTltalia  fascista." 
Rassegna  italiana  (1938). 

Of  course,  prior  to  1943,  the  fascist  regime  issued  its  own  propaganda,  e.g.,  Vincio  Araldi,  Marittai  d'ltalia  sulk 
vie  della  gloria  (Bologna:  Cantelli,  1942);  Marc'Antonio  Bragadin,  Vittoria  sui  man  di  Roma,  15 giugno  XX  (1942) 
(Verona:  Mondadori,  1942);  Vittorio  Calvino,  La  guardia  del  mate:  Vaviazione  da  ricognizione  marittima  (Rome: 
Editoriale  Aeronautica,  1942);  Giuseppe  Fioravanzo,  U  Mediterratieo,  centra  strategico  del  mondo  (Verona:  Mondadori, 
1943);  Vittorio  G.  Rossi,  Laguerra  dei  marittai  (Milan:  Bompiani,  1941);  Ministero  della  Marina,  Amanecer  heroico 
en  el  Mediterramo:  dos  torpederos  contro  utia  escuadra  britanica.  La  epica  empresa  de  los  torpederos  "Circe  y  Vega"  (Milan: 
1941),  and  Appello  cd  mare  (Rome:  Tipografia  Novissima,  1940). 

'  Aldo  Cocchia  and  Giuseppe  Fioravanzo,  who  oversaw  the  writing  of  the  first  official  monographs  on  the 
Navy,  were  both  members  of  the  fascist  navy,  the  one  a  war  hero,  the  other  a  serious  theorist.  A  prolific  writer, 
Fioravanzo  wrote  on  theory  in  the  1930s,  composed  propaganda  during  the  1940s,  and  was  instrumental  in  issuing 
the  Italian  official  histories  in  the  1950s,  e.g.,  Manuale  teorico-pratico  di  cinematka  aero-ttavale  e  d'impiego  delle  uniti  in 
combattimetito  (Livomo:  Accademia  Navale,  1930),  Laguerra  sul  mare  e  laguerra  integrate  (Turin:  Enrico  Schioppo, 
1931),  2  vols,  Basi  navali  ml  mondo  (Milano:  Istituto  per  gli  studi  di  politica  intemazionale,  1936),  History  of  Naval 
Tactical  Thought  (Annapolis,  Md:  USNIP,  1979),  U  Mediterratieo,  centro  strategico  del  mondo  (Verona:  Mondadori, 
1943).  Iachino  published  a  number  of  books  and  articles,  e.g.,  Le  due  Sim'  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1953),  Gaudo  e 
Matapan.  Storiadiun'operazione  della guerra  navale  nel Mediterramo,  27-28-29  marzo  1941  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1946), 
Operaziom  mezzo  giugno.  Episodi  dell  'ultima  guerra  sul  mare  (Milan:  Monadadori,  1955),  Hpunto  su  Matapan  (Milan: 
Mondadori,  1969),  and  Tramonto  di  unagrande  marina  (Milan:  Mondadori,  1959).  See  above  for  Bragadin,  and  the 
official  histories  for  Aldo  Cocchia,  as  well  as  "II  peso  strategico  di  Malta  fu  veramente  determinante?"  Rivista 
marittima  (1964).  Virgilio  Spigai  also  published  on  the  war,  e.g.,  "Italian  Naval  Assault  Craft  in  Two  World 
Wars."  United  States  Naval  Institute  Press  (1965);  and  V.  Spigai  and  L.  D.  De  la  Penne,  "The  Italian  Attack 
on  the  Alexandria  Naval  Base."  United  States  Naval  Institute  Press  (1956). 


Sadkovich      201 

Dr.  Sullivan's  observations  regarding  the  Italian  university  system  are  not 
encouraging,  but  essentially  the  same  could  be  said  of  our  own  system,  with  the 
caveat  that  ours  is  so  much  bigger  than  the  Italian's  that  it  can  accommodate  a 
few  more  professors  in  fields  such  as  naval  and  maritime  history.  Like  Camillo 
Manfroni,  Mariano  Gabriele  has  been  crucial  to  the  development  of  Italian  naval 
history,  and  Alberto  Santoni  has  written  a  number  of  valuable  works,  including 
his  work  on  Ultra  and  the  study  he  co-authored  with  Francesco  Mattesini  on 
German  participation  in  the  Mediterranean  during  World  War  II.  But  as  valuable 
as  Santoni's  contributions  have  been,  like  those  of  Mattesini,  they  tend  to  be 
pointedly  revisionist  and  critical  of  the  performance  of  the  Italian  armed  forces, 
while  on  occasion  appearing  to  rationalize  German  failures  in  the  Mediterranean 
theater.  It  thus  seems  that  polemics  are  an  unavoidable  part  of  doing  contem- 
porary Italian  naval  history. 

Professor  Raimono's  efforts  to  continue  Manfroni's  work  at  the  Naval 
Academy  at  Livorno  are  laudatory,  as  are  the  activities  of  the  Istituto  di  Guerra 
Marittima.  But  I  would  be  curious  to  know  what  sorts  of  "difficulties"  Raimono 
has  encountered  and  wonder  if  the  acquaintance  of  his  students  with  Anglo- 
American  naval  history  is  more  a  function  of  the  number  of  works  published  on 
the  subject  than  of  "the  politically  sensitive  nature  of  Italian  naval  history." 

That  the  other  service  academies  ignore  naval  history  is  to  be  expected, 
although  it  seems  a  shame  that  there  has  been  no  effort  to  coordinate  at  least  air 
and  naval  studies,  especially  since  historians  like  Nino  Arena  and  Nicola  Malizia 
have  written  works  that  include  both  areas  and  there  is  no  question  that  to  fully 
understand  the  war  in  the  Mediterranean  between  1940  and  1945  it  is  necessary 
to  integrate  naval  and  air  actions.  In  this  regard,  it  is  worth  noting  that  the 
publications  of  the  Italian  Foreign  Ministry  and  the  Italian  army  are  useful  to 
those  doing  naval  history. 

The  holdings  of  the  Naval  Archives,  the  State  Archives  (Archivio  Centrale 
dello  Stato),  and  the  Foreign  Ministry's  Archives  (Archivio  Storico  del  Ministero 

Nino  Arena,  Bandiera  di  combattimento:  Storia  delta  Marina  militare  italiana  (1925—1945)  (Rome:  CEN, 
1974),  2  vols.,  and  La  regia  aeronautica,  1939—1943  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  dello  Stato  Maggiore 
Aeronautica,  1981-1984);  and  Nicola  Malizia,  Inferno  su  Malta.  Lapiu  lunga  battaglia  aeronauale  della  second 
guerra  mondiale  (Milan:  Mursia,  1976),  and  with  Christopher  Shores,  and  Brian  Cull,  Malta:  The  Hurricane 
Years,  1940-1941  (London:  Grub  Street,  1987),  and  Malta:  The  Spitfire  Year,  1942  (London:  Grubb 
Street,  1991). 

The  Army  is  in  the  process  of  publishing  the  General  Staffs  war  diary,  and  its  volumes  on  the  minutes 
(verbali)  of  the  meetings  held  by  Comando  Supremo  during  the  war  are  indispensable.  See  Ufficio 
Storico  dell'Esercito,  Diario  storico  del  Comando  Supremo  [Antonello  Biagini,  Fernando  Frattolillo]  (Rome: 
1986),  Vol.  I— III.  and  Verbali  delle  riunioni  tenute  dal  capo  di  Stato  Maggiore  Generate  (Rome:  1985),  Vols. 
I— III.  For  the  Foreign  Ministry,  Ministero  degli  AfFari  Esteri,  Commissione  per  la  pubblicazione  dei 
documenti  diplomatici,  I  documenti  diplomatici  italiani.  Ottava  serie,  1935-39  (Rome:  1952,  1953),  Vols. 
XII,  XIII;  Nona  serie,  1939-43.  (Rome,  1957-1988),  Vols.  I-VIII.  Also  see  Istituto  Centrale  di  Statistica 
del  Regno  d'ltalia,  Compendio  statistico  italiano,  1939-1942,  (Rome,  1939-42)  Vols.  XIII-XVI,  and 
Sommario  di  statistiche  storiche  italiane,  1861-1958  (Rome:  1958). 


202     Comments 

degli  Affari  Esteri)  are  useful  to  anyone  working  in  naval  history,  and  the 
helpfulness  of  their  personnel  is  well  known.  It  is  also  noteworthy,  as  Dr.  Sullivan 
stresses,  that  only  the  Navy  has  published  solid  monographs  of  World  War  II. 
Although  I  am  not  as  critical  of  the  Army's  publications  as  he  is,  there  is  no 
question  that  the  Air  Force  has  lagged  behind  the  other  services,  and  despite  its 
length,  even  Arena's  recent  work  is  not  a  great  improvement  on  earlier  studies 

CO 

by  Santoro  and  Licheri.  However,  the  recent  publication  of  two  volumes  of 
Superaereo's  directives  should  help  to  fill  in  gaps  in  our  knowledge  of  the 
air-naval  war  during  1940. 

Admiral  Sicurezza's  efforts  to  reorder  the  MM's  archives  and  to  bring  together 
contributions  by  established  historians  on  strategy,  diplomacy,  and  other  aspects 
of  naval  and  maritime  history  are  laudatory.  But  long-range  activities  are  also 
needed,  as  well  as  support  for  historians  new  to  the  field,  especially  given  that 
while  maritime  history  can  disguise  itself  as  social  or  economic  history,  naval 
history  suffers  from  the  same  sort  of  emargination  within  the  academic  com- 
munity as  diplomatic,  political,  and  military  history.  And  if  it  is  unreasonable  to 
expect  naval  historians  to  become  postmodernists,  it  seems  equally  unrealistic  to 
expect  that  traditional  ways  of  doing  naval  history  will  retain  a  large  audience. 
Yet  those  of  us  writing  on  contemporary  naval  affairs  seem  mired  in  yesterday's 
polemics  and  content  with  an  approach  that  seems  increasingly  dated  and 
irrelevant,  and  I  can  personally  attest  to  how  difficult  it  is  to  shake  off  traditional 
approaches  and  find  a  way  out  of  the  polemical  maze,  which  I  still  regularly 
wander. 

Although  service  histories  may  be  expected  to  have  a  narrow  focus  and  a 
certain  bias  because  of  institutional  restraints,  Dr.  Sullivan's  praise  for  the  high 
standards  maintained  by  the  Italian  Navy's  historical  office  is  not  misplaced. 
Bemardi's  works  are  exceptionally  well-done  analyses  of  diplomatic  matters  and  the 

Arena,  op.  cit.;  Giuseppe  Santoro,  L'aeronautica  italiana  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Milan:  Edizioni 
Esse,  1957),  2  vols.,  and  Sebastiano  Licheri,  L'arma  aerea  italiana  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale,  10  giugno 
1940 — 8  settembre  1943  (Milan:  Mursia,  1976).  Also  Mario  Angelozzi  and  Ubaldo  Bernini,  H problema 
aeronavale  italiano  (Livorno:  Belforte,  1981);  M.  Circi  and  A.  Guglielmetti,  Gli  attuali  reparti  A.M.  della 
aviazione  per  la  marina.  Note  storiche  dal  1926  al  1912  (Rome:  Grafica  Veant,  1977);  Carlo  Unia,  Storia 
degli  aerosiluranti  italiani  (Rome:  Bizzarri,  1974);  Corrado  Ricci,  II  corpo  aereo  italiano  (CAI)  sulfronte  della 
Manica  (1940-1941)  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  dell'Aeronautica  Militare,  1980);  Corrado  Ricci  and 
Christopher  E.  Shores,  La  guerra  aerea  in  Africa  Orientate,  1940-41  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico 
dell'Aeronautica  Militare,  1979);  and  Vincenzo  Lioy,  V Italia  in  Africa.  Serie  Storico-Militare.  Vol.  III. 
L'opera  dell'Aeronautica  (Rome:  Ministero  degli  Affari  Esteri,  1964).  Lioy  has  also  written  two  early  works 
on  the  Italian  air  force  and  operations  during  the  war,  Elementi  storici  nell' Aeronautica  Italiana  (Nisida: 
Accademia  Aeronautica,  1960),  and  Gloria  senza  allori  (Rome:  Failli,  1953).  Others,  like  Giulio  Lazzati, 
have  contributed  to  the  literature  on  air  operations,  e.g.,  his  Stormi  d' Italia.  Storia  dell' aviazione  militare 
italiana  (Milan:  Mursia,  1975).  Also  see  Guido  Bonavicini,  Carlo  Gaffioni  e gli  aerosiluranti  italiani  (Milan: 
Cavallotti,  1987),  and  Andrea  Curami  and  Giancarello  Garello,  "L'aviazione  ausiliaria  per  la  Regia 
Marina  fra  le  due  guerre  (1923-1940),"  Riuista  marittima  (1985). 

59  Franco  Mattesini  and  M.  Cermelli,  eds.,  Le  direttiue  tecnico- operative  di  Superaereo  (Rome:  Stato 
Maggiore  Aeronatuica/Ufficio  Storico,  1992),  2  vols. 


Sadkovich      203 

Italian  official  histories  in  general  are  of  a  very  high  quality  that  compares 
favorably  with  the  best  that  has  been  done  by  Italian,  British,  and  American 
academics.  On  the  other  hand,  more  detailed  monographs  on  the  evolution  of 
the  Italian  Navy,  recruitment,  contracting,  and  the  formulation  of  naval  policy 
would  be  welcome. 

The  publications  mentioned  by  Dr.  Sullivan,  from  the  Bollettino  d'archivio 
delVufficio  storico  della  marina  militare  to  Kivista  marittima  are  extremely  useful,  and 
the  organizations  he  mentions  (Associazione  italiana  di  documentazione  marit- 
time  e  navale  and  Associazione  navemodellisti  bolognesi)  have  helped  to 
stimulate  interest  in  naval  affairs  and  provided  some  of  the  raw  stuff  of  naval 
history,  as  anyone  who  has  used  the  publications  on  naval  ships  and  weaponry 
by  Aldo  Fraccaroli  and  Erminio  Bagnasco  can  attest.  And  it  is  reassuring  to  know 
that  a  fascist  institution,  IRI  (Istituto  per  la  ricostruzione  industriale)  is  funding 
scholarly  studies  on  naval  and  maritime  history. 

Dr.  Sullivan  is  also  correct  to  note  that  we  do  not  have  enough  biographies  of 
Italian  naval  and  maritime  personalities,  that  there  is  no  comprehensive  study  of  the 
Italian  Navy,  and  that  the  post— 1945  development  of  the  Navy  has  been  ignored. 
However,  I  am  not  as  convinced  as  he  is  that  it  is  necessary  to  teach  naval  history 
in  order  to  make  good  citizens  out  of  Italians,  given  that  the  popularity  of  naval 
history  in  this  country  has  not  appreciably  increased  the  sophistication  with  which 
the  average  American  reacts  to  domestic  and  foreign  crises. 

There  are  a  few  observations  I  would  like  to  add  to  those  made  by  Dr. 
Sullivan,  whose  paper  I  found  both  interesting  and  informative,  and  whose 
acquaintance  with  Italian  archives  and  historians  I  can  only  envy.  Indeed,  that 
is  my  first  observation — while  there  are  relatively  few  Italians  working  in  naval 

The  data  in  the  twenty-two  volumes  of  the  Italian  Navy's  World  War  II  series  is  both  abundant  and 
comprehensive,  with  everything  from  details  on  the  losses  of  merchant  and  naval  shipping  to  convoy 
operations,  naval  battles,  technical  development,  and  command  structures.  The  Navy's  seven-volume 
series  on  naval  vessels  contain  extremely  useful  data  on  the  technical  aspects  of  classes  and  individual 
ships,  complete  with  operational  summaries.  See  La  marina  Italiana  nella  seconda  guerra  mondiale  (Rome: 
Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1952— present),  22  vols.,  and  Le  navi  d' Italia  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico 
della  Marina  Militare,  1969-present),  8  vols.  Among  those  who  collaborated  on  the  historical  series 
were  Giuseppe  Fioravanzo  (series  editor  and  various  volumes),  Mario  Peruzzi  (hospital  ships,  1956), 
Aldo  Cocchia  (convoy  operations,  1958-76),  P.  F.  Lupinacci  (Mines,  1968,  and  Albania  and  Aegean 
operations,  1972),  U.  Mori  Ubaldini  (submarines,  1976),  M.  Bertini  (submarines,  1968,  1972),  Carlo 
De  Risio  (X  Mas  and  blockade  runners,  1972),  and  V.  Rauber  (ASW,  1978).  The  series  dealing  with 
ships  was  compiled  by  Giorgio  Giorgerini  and  Augusto  Nani  (battleships,  1969;  cruisers,  1976;  and  an 
almanac,  1980);  P.  M.  Pollina  (torpedo  boats,  1974),  and  with  Mario  Bertini  (submarines,  1971);  G. 
Fioravanzo,  P.  M.  Pollina,  G.  Riccardi,  and  F.  Gnifetti  (destroyers,  1971);  E.  Bargoni  (scouts,  frigates, 
and  corvettes,  1974);  and  Erminio  Bagnasco  (Mas  and  Ms,  1969). 

Fioravanzo's  slim  volume  on  naval  tactics  was  a  good  beginning,  and  Ezio  Ferrente's  history  of  Italian 
perceptions  of  the  Mediterranean  is  unusual  in  its  stress  on  ideas  rather  than  facts.  Ezio  Ferrante,  H 
Mediterranean  nella  coscienza  nazionale  (Rome:  Rivista  Marittima,  1987);  and  Giuseppe  Fioravanzo,  A 
History  of  Naval  Tactical  Thought,  op.  cit.  Fioravanzo  has  published  a  number  of  theoretical  works, 
including  Basi  navali  nel  mondo,  op.  cit. 


204     Comments 

and  maritime  history,  there  are  even  fewer  Americans,  in  large  part  owing  to 
problems  obtaining  funding.  There  is,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  no  easy  way 
for  scholars  in  this  country  to  obtain  grants  to  use  Italian  naval  and  maritime 
archives,  and  our  priorities,  especially  in  an  age  that  flaunts  its  commitment  to 
"diversity,"  should  include  ways  to  encourage  the  American  academic  com- 
munity to  support  the  study  of  such  "marginal"  subjects  as  naval  history  and  to 
encourage  an  interest  in  such  "minor"  powers  as  Italy.  In  this  country,  Dr. 
Sullivan  rightly  mentions  only  a  handful  of  scholars  in  the  field:  MacGregor 
Knox,  who  focuses  on  political  and  diplomatic  questions;  Halpern,  whose  studies 
on  the  Mediterranean  were  published  in  1971  and  1987;  and  the  two  of  us,  who 
have  published  a  handful  of  articles  on  contemporary  Italian  naval  history.  Nor 
has  there  been  a  rush  to  do  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history  recently.  Still, 
there  are  a  number  of  Americans,  for  the  most  part  recent  Ph.D.s,  who  have 
dealt  with  naval  and  maritime  topics,  among  them  Marco  Rimanelli,  who 
finished  a  two— volume  dissertation  at  Johns  Hopkins  on  Italian  naval  policy,  and 
Timothy  W.  Childs,  whose  1982  dissertation  dealt  with  the  diplomacy  of  the 
Italo-Turkish  war.  There  are  also  a  number  of  Americans  who  have  written 
on  subjects  that  involve  Italian  naval  history,  such  as  the  siege  of  Malta. 

Yet  even  a  brief  glance  at  the  annual  bibliographies  put  out  by  the  Society 
for  Italian  Historical  Studies  is  enough  to  confirm  the  impression  that  naval  and 
maritime  studies  have  become  more  marginal  in  this  country  as  social  history 
has  become  more  dominant.  Non-academics  like  Jack  Greene,  whose  interest 
in  tactics  and  whose  careful  compilation  of  orders  of  battle  are  very  useful  to  us 
academic  types,  are  fascinated  by  naval  history,  but  our  colleagues  seem  not  to 
be,  unless  naval  and  maritime  history  is  viewed  in  another  context.  Benjamin 
Arbel  therefore  highlighted  the  social  aspects  of  Venetian  trade  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  Mark  John  Angelos  discussed  the  role  of  women  of  twelfth— century 
Genoa's  commerce,  Robert  Davis  discussed  the  workers  of  the  Venetian 
arsenal,  and  Richard  Jackson,  Mediterranean  seamen.      Irene  Katele  has  taken 

Timothy  Childs,  Mediterranean  Imbroglio:  The  Diplomatic  Origins  of  Modem  Libya  (The  Diplomacy  of  the 
Belligerents  during  the  Italo-Turkish  War,  1911-1912)  op.  cit.;  and  Marco  Rimanelli,  The  "Least  of  the 
Powers"  Italy's  Foreign  Security  and  Naval  Policy  in  the  Quest  for  Mediterranean  Pre-eminence,  1860s— 1989, 
op.  cit.  While  the  works  of  Salewski,  Breyer,  and  Dulin  are  useful,  they  are  not  primarily  concerned 
with  the  Italian  war  effort  in  the  Mediterranean.  Those  by  Barjot,  de  Belot,  Baum,  Weichold,  Ruge, 
and  others  are  more  directly  focused  on  the  Mediterranean  theater,  but  many  are  now  dated,  others 
rather  biased  by  the  participation  of  the  authors  in  the  war. 

63  Charles  A  Jellison,  Besieged.  The  World  War  II  Ordeal  of  Malta,  1940-42  (New  England:  1987);  Dora  Alves, 
"The  Resupply  of  Malta  in  World  War  II,"  Naval  War  College  Review  (1980);  and  Rowena  Reed,  "Central 
Mediterranean  Sea  Control  and  the  North  African  Campaigns,  1940-1942"  Naval  War  College  Review  (1984). 

Benjamin  Arbel,  "Venetian  Trade  in  Fifteenth  Century  Acre:  The  Letters  of  Francesco  Bevilaqua 
(1471-72),"  Asian  and  African  Studies  (1988). 

Mark  John  Angelos,  Genoese  Women,  Family  Business  Practices,  and  Maritime  Commerce,  115-1216 
(Ph.D.,  Univ.  of  Illinois  at  Urbana-Champagne,  1992). 

Robert  C.  Davis,  Shipbuilders  of  the  Venetian  Arsenal:  Workers  and  Workplace  in  the  Preindustrial  City  (Baltimore: 


Sadkovich      205 

another  look  at  piracy  in  the  late  middle  ages,  Catherine  Bracewell  has  studied 
the  Uskoks  of  Senj,  and  Ilona  Klein  reexamined  the  Order  of  Santo  Stefano. 
In  effect,  early  modern  naval  and  maritime  historians  seem  to  have  resolved  the 
problem  of  how  to  make  the  subject  germane,  whether  it  is  looking  at  technique 
(shipbuilding,  contracts,  organization)  or  recasting  naval  history  as  social,  cultural, 
or  gender  history.  Such  studies  as  that  by  Augusta  Molinari  on  sanitary  conditions 
aboard  ships  carrying  emigrants  show  that  the  same  approach  can  work  for 
contemporary  history.  At  this  point,  one  can  even  hope  to  publish  in  such  unlikely 
places  as  Asian  and  African  Studies,  rather  than  in  the  handful  of  journals  and  with 
the  few  publishers  who  will  consider  studies  of  twentieth-century  Italian  naval 
history.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  in  this  country  there  are  relatively  few  secure  outlets  for 
studies  on  Italian  naval  and  maritime  topics. 

If  finding  a  place  to  publish  can  be  frustrating  in  the  United  States,  where  relatively 
few  journals  and  publishers  concern  themselves  with  Italian  naval  and  maritime 
affairs,  there  is  still  a  fairly  wide  choice  of  publications  and  publishers  to  choose  from, 
whether  one  is  writing  on  the  early  modern  period  or  dealing  with  more 
contemporary  questions.  For  example,  Storia  epolitica  published  Francesco  Lefebvre 
d'Ovidio's  studies  on  the  London  naval  conference  and  Italian  and  British  naval 
policy  in  the  1930s,  Storia  contemporanea  published  Luigi  Castioni's  essay  on  the 
development  of  Italian  radar,     the  Revue  de  V Occident  musulman  et  de  la  Mediterranee 

Johns  Hopkins,  1991).  Also  Richard  Paul  Jackson,  "Ma  misimeperl'alto  mareaperto"  Mediterranean  Seamen 
during  the  Medieval  Commercial  Revolution  (Ph.D.,  Yale,  1992). 

Irene  Birute  Katele,  Captains  and  Corsairs:  Venice  and  Piracy,  1261—1381  (Maritime,  Pirates,  Naval,  Military, 
Medieval)  (Ph.D.,  Univ.  of  Illinois  at  Urbana-Champagne,  1986).  Like  Angelos  and  Madden,  Katele  did  her 
work  under  Donald  E.  Queller. 

Catherine  Wendy  Bracewell,  The  Uskoks  of  Senj:  Piracy,  Banditry,  and  Holy  War  in  the  Sixteenth-Century 
Adriatic  (Ithaca:  Cornell  Univ.  Press,  1992). 

69  Ilona  Klein,  The  Order  of  Santo  Stefano  in  the  Levant:  An  Unpublished  Account  of  a  Voyage  in  1621  (Berkeley: 
Univ.  of  California  Press,  1990).  Also  see  Giuseppe  Gino  Guarnieri,  J  Cavalieri  di  Santo  Stefatto  nella  storia  della 
Marina  italiana  (1562—1859)  (1960),  and  L'ordine  di  Santo  Stefano  net  suoi  aspetti  organizzativi  intemi  e  navali  sotto  il 
Gran  Magistero  Lorenese  (1965). 

For  example,  Brian  Pullen's  Rich  and  Poor  in  Renaissance  Venice  (Oxford:  Blackwell,  1971)  and  his  more 
recent  The  Jews  of  Europe  and  the  Inquisition  of  Venice,  1560-1670  (Oxford:  Blackwell,  1983),  a  social  history  of 
a  maritime  port,  but  strictly  speaking  neither  a  maritime  nor  a  naval  history,  save  in  the  sense  that  any  history  of 
a  port  could  be  defined  as  maritime. 

Augusta  Molinari,  Le  navi  di  lazzaro:  aspetti  sanitari  delVemigrazione  transoceanica  italiana:  il  viaggioper  mare  (Milan: 
Angeli,  1988). 

Although  not  concerned  with  naval  and  maritime  history,  of  some  interest  is  Jonathan  Morris,  "Italian 
Journals:  A  User's  Guide,"  Contemporary  European  History  (1992). 

Francesco  Lefebvre  d'Ovidio,  "Politica  e  strategia  britannica  nel  Mediterraneo,  1936-1939,"  Storia  epolitica 
(1978);  "L'ltalia  e  la  conferenza  navale  di  Londra  del  1930,"  Storia  epolitica  (1978). 

Luigi  Carillo  Castioni,  "I  radar  industriali  italiani.  Ricerche,  ricordi,  considerazioni  per  una  loro  storia."  Storia 
contemporanea  (1987).  Rivista  marittima  had  published  a  series  of  articles  on  radar  by  Ugo  Tiberio,  but  Castioni's 
was  the  first  systematic  treatment  of  the  subject.  See  Ugo  Tiberio,  Ugo,  "Cenni  sull'opera  della  Marina  italiana 
nel  campo  radiotecnico  durante  la  guerra,  1940-1945,"  "Un  ricedisturbatore  antiradar  italiano  del  1942,"  and 
"Ricordo  del  primo  radar  navale  italiano,"  Rivista  marittima  (1948,  1976,  1976). 


206     Comments 

printed  Salvatore  Bono's  article  on  buying  Turkish  slaves  for  papal  galleys,  and 
the  Centre  de  recherches  sur  1'evolution  de  la  vie  rurale  issued  Marie-Claude 
Dionnet's  study  on  the  Abruzzi. 

Judging  from  recent  publications  in  early  modern  maritime  and  naval  history, 
it  would  seem  that  the  subject  is  doing  relatively  well  in  Italy.  In  addition  to 
local  and  regional  histories,  such  as  those  noted  above,  there  are  a  number  of 
studies  on  the  early  modern  and  late  medieval  periods.  Franco  Gay  has  published 

77 

numerous  works  on  Venetian  history,  Gino  Benvenuti  contributed  300  pages  on 
the  maritime  republics  to  the  Quest'Italia  series,      Raflaella  Brunetti  and  Lorenza 

70 

Mazzino  have  written  a  popular  history  of  Genoa's  naval  leaders,  Pierangelo  Cam- 
podonico  has  published  works  on  Genovese  mariners  in  the  middle  ages  and  the 
Renaissance,  and  Cesare  Ciano  has  written  excellent  monographs  on  Medicean 
maritime  history.  A  number  of  works  deal  with  shipbuilding,  and  a  good  deal  has 
been  written  on  the  arsenal  at  Venice.     There  are  also  works  on  the  Venetian 


Salvatore  Bono,  "Achat  d'eclaves  turcs  pour  les  galleres  pontificales  (xvie — xviii  siecles),"  Revue  de 
Voccident  musulman  et  de  la  Mediteranee  (1985). 

Marie-Claude  Dionnet,  L'Abruzze  maritime:  un  mezzogiomo  en  evolution  (Pisa:  Biblioteca  del  Bollettino 
Storico  Pisano,  1986).  Also  see  Terence  K.  Hopkins  and  Immanuel  Wallerstein,  "Capitalism  and  the 
Incorporation  of  New  Zones  into  the  World  Economy,"  Review  (Fernand  Braudel  Center)  (1987). 

For  example,  Franco  Gay,  "Fantasticherie  galleggianti,  splendori  e  ricchezze  delle  feste  acquatiche 
veneziane,"  Rivista  marittima  (1982);  "Port  Louis,  un  museo  navale  nuovo,  Una  proposta  per  l'Arsenale 
di  Venezia,"  Rivista  marittima  (1976);  "La  campagna  navale  del  1810-1811  in  Adriatico,"  Rivista  Marittima 
(1977);  and  Le  navi  delta  Marina  Militare  italiana  (Rome:  Salomone,  1977). 

78  Gino  Benvenuti,  Le  repubbliche  marinare:  Amalfi,  Pisa,  Genova  e  Venezia:  la  nascith,  le  vittorie,  le  lotte  e 
il  tramonto  delle gloriose  cittd-stato  die  dal  Medioevo  al  XVIII  secolo  dominarono  il  Mediterraneo  (1989).  Also  the 
late  Angelo  Iachino's  Le  marine  italiane  nella  battaglia  di  Lepanto  (1971),  a  48-page  volume  published  by 
the  Accademia  nazionale  dei  Lincei. 

RafFaella  Brunetti  and  Lorenza  Mazzino,  Guerre  e guerrieri genovesi  (Genoa:  D'Amore  Editore,  1989). 
Also  see  Giuseppe  Gavotti,  Battaglie  navali  delta  Repubblica  di  Genova  (1990). 

Pierangelo  Campodonico,  Navi  e  marinari  genovesi  nell'etd  di  Cristoforo  Colombo  (Genova:  Edizioni 
Colombo,  1991),  and  La  marineria  genovese  dal  medioevo  all'unith  d'ltalia  (1991). 

Cesare  Ciano,  Iprimi  Medici  e  il  mare:  note  sulla  politica  marinara  toscana  da  Cosimo  I  a  Ferdinando  I  (Pisa: 
Pacini,  1980),  and  La  sanith  marittima  nell'eth  medicea  (Pisa:  Bollettino  Storico  Pisano,  1976). 

Franco  Gay,  Le  costruzioni  navali  nelV Arsenate  di  Venezia  (Rome:  Rivista  Marittima,  1989);  Guglielmo 
Zanelli,  L'Arsenale  di  Venezia  (Venice:  Centro  Internazionale  della  Grafica  di  Venezia,  1991);  Ugo 
Pizzarello,  Pietre  e  legni  dell' arsenate  di  Venezia  (Venice:  Cooperativa  editoriale  l'altra  Riva,  1988);  Giorgio 
Bellavistis,  L'Arsenale  di  Venezia  (Venice:  Marsilio  Editore,  1983);  Romano  Chirvi,  Franco  Gay,  Maurizio 
Crovato,  Guglielmo  Zanelli,  L'Arsenale  dei  Veneziani  (Venice:  Filippi  Editore,  1983);  Frederic  C.  Lane, 
Navires  et  constructeurs  h  Venise  pendant  la  Renaissatice  (Paris:  Ecole  Pratique  des  Hautes  Etudes,  1965); 
Cesare  August  Levi,  Navi  da  guerra  costruite  nell' Arsenate  di  Venezia  dal  1664  al  1896  (Venice:  A.  Forni, 
1983),  a  reissue  of  an  1892  study;  and  Renato  Fadda,  "L'Arsenale  di  Venezia,"  Editizia  Militare  (1983); 
Frederic  C.  Lane,  Navires  et  constructeurs  h  Venise  pendant  la  Renaissance  (Paris:  SEVPEN,  1965);  and  Bruno 
Caizzi,  Industria  e  commercio  della  Repubblica  Veneta  net  xviii  secolo  (Milan:  banca  Commerciale  Italiana, 
1965).  Also  see  Giuseppe  Mataluno,  "Cenni  storici  sull'arsenale  M.  M.  di  Taranto"  Rivista  marittima 
(1986),  and  La  Spezia  e  l'Arsenale  MM:  mostra  storica  1860-1960,  3-21  agosto  1960,  Palazzo  degli  Studi, 
Piazza  Verdi:  catalogo  (1961);  and  Domenico  Sella,  Commerci  e  Industrie  a  Venezia  net  secolo  XVII  (Venice: 
Istituto  per  la  Collaborazione  Culturale,  1961). 


Sadkovich      207 

gondola  and  galley,     Mario  Murino  has  examined  early  maritime  law,     and 
Giorgio  Silvini  has  analyzed  the  role  of  Venice  and  Portugal  in  the  spice  trade. 
There  are  also,  as  noted  earlier,  general  surveys  and  local  and  regional  histories 
of  ports  such  as  Triest  and  maritime  provinces  like  Liguria  that  run  the  gamut 

from  scholarly  monographs  of  notarial  contracts  to  broad  popular  surveys 

.      •       86 
spanning  centuries. 

There  are  also  a  large  number  of  museums  and  local  maritime  archives  in 

Italy,  and  as  Dr.  Sullivan  has  noted,  the  Universities  of  Pisa  and  Rome  offer 

naval  courses,  and  the  University  of  Naples  has  a  department  of  maritime 

sciences.      Among  the  better  known  museums  are  the  Museo  Storico  Navale 

Venezia,     La  Spezia's  Museo  Tecnico  Navale     and  Genoa's  Museo  Navale. 

Italians  have  been  a  maritime  people  for  centuries,  and  there  are  still  numerous 

organizations  in  Italy  that  concern  themselves  with  naval  and  maritime  affairs. 

Graziella  Chiesa  Buttazzi,  Venezia  e  la  sua  gondola  (Milan:  Gorlich,  1974);  Gabriella  Cargasacchi, 
Neve,  La  gondola  (Venice:  Arsenale  Cooperativa  Editoriale,  1975);  and  Giorgio  Crovato,  Maurizio 
Crovato,  and  Luigi  Divari,  Bardie  della  laguna  di  Venezia  (Venice:  Arsenale  Cooperatrice  Editrice,  1980); 
Guglielmo  Zanelli,  Silvio  Testa,  Quirino  del  Brazolo,  Squeraroli  e  squeri  (Venice:  Ente  Gondola,  1986); 
and  Giovanbattista  Rubin  de  Cervin  Albrizzi,  Bateau  e  Batellerie  de  Venise  (Lausanne:  Edita,  1978). 

Mario  Murino,  Andar  per  mare  nel  Medioevo:  le  antiche  consuetudini  marittime  italiane  (Chieti:  Vecchio 
Faggjo  Editore,  1988).  Also  see  Riniero  Zeno,  Storia  del  diritto  marittimo  italiano  nel  Mediterraneo  (Milan: 
Giuffre,  1946),  and  G.  Cassandro,  "La  formazione  del  diritto  marittimo  veneziano,"  Annali  di  storia  del 
diritto  (Milan:  Giuffre,  1968-69). 
85   Giorgio  Silvini,  Venezia  e  Portogallo  sulla  via  delle  spezie  (1498-1517)  (Treviso:  TET,  1982). 

For  example,  Franco  Gay,  Le  navi  della  Marina  militare  italiana  (Rome:  Salomone,  1978);  and  with 
Elio  Ando  and  Frano  Bargoni,  Orizzonte  mare:  il  naviglio  militare  italiano  dal  1861  alia  2" guerra  mondiale 
(Rome:  Bizzarri,  1976),  cited  by  Dr.  Sullivan.  Also  the  late  Armando  Lodolini's  heavily  illustrated  Le 
repubbliche  del  mare  (Rome:  Ente  per  la  Diffusione  e  l'Educazione  Storica,  1967). 

The  University  of  Naples  has  a  Dipartimento  Scienze  Marittime,  and  the  University  of  Pisa  offers 
courses  on  naval  history. 

The  museum  is  located  at  Riva  degli  Schiavoni  2148,  30100  Venezia,  and  its  current  curator  is 
Admiral  Carlo  Gottardi,  who  has  discussed  some  of  its  holdings  in  his  "La  Sala  svedese  del  Museo  storico 
navale  di  Venezia,"  Riuista  marittima  (1986). 

La  Spezia's  Museum  is  operated  by  the  Marina  Militare  and  is  located  on  the  Piazza  Chiodo,  19100 
La  Spezia. 

Genoa's  Museo  Navale  is  administered  by  the  Servizio  Beni  Culturali  and  is  located  in  the  Villa  Doria 
on  Piazza  Bonavino,  16156  Genoa— Pegli.  Also,  Mario  Marzari,  "II  museo  della  marineria  di  Cesenatico," 
Riuista  marittima  (1986)  119(5);  Mostra  navale  italiana  (Genoa,  Italy:  1982),  669  pp.;  and  Mostra  navale  italian 
(1986);  Velieri  di  Camogli:  la  quadreria  del  Museo  marinaro  "Gio  Bono  Ferrari"  (1981). 

Other  museums  include  (ship  models)  Museo  delle  Navi,  Via  Zamboni  33,  40126  Bologna;  Museo 
Storico  Navale,  Campo  S.  Biagjo  2148,  Via  degli  Schiavoni,  30122  Venice;  (Roman  Ships)  Museo  delle 
Navi,  00049  Nemi;  (fishing)  Civico  Museo  del  Mare,  Via  di  Campo  Marazio  5, 34123  Trieste;  (flags)  Museo 
Sacrario  delle  Bandiere  della  Marina  Militare,  Vittoriano,  Rome;  (models,  relics,  navigation  equipment) 
Civico  Museo  Navale  Didattico,  Via  San  Vittore  21,  20123  Milan;  (collection  on  Amalfi's  role  as  a  maritime 
republic)  Museo  Civico,  Piazza  Municipo,  84011  Amalfi.  There  is  also  a  naval  museum  at  Imperia. 

Among  these  are  the  Centro  di  Studi  sulla  Storia  della  Tecnica  at  the  University  of  Genoa's  Istituto 
di  Storia  Moderna  e  Contemporanea,  Via  Balbia  6,  16126  Genoa;  the  Instituti  Policattedra  di  Ingegneria 
Navale  dell'  Univesrsita  di  Genova,  Via  Montanello,  16145  Genova;  the  Associazione  Italiana  di  Diritto 


208     Comments 

As  noted  above,  there  are  relatively  few  monographs  on  the  Risorgimento, 
and,  like  Nunzia  Elefante's  article  on  the  Sardinian  navy  in  1986  or  the  pieces 
by  Antonio  Formicola  and  Claudio  Romano  on  the  Bourbon  navy,  they 
seem  to  focus  more  on  the  navies  of  Italian  states  than  on  maritime  matters. 
Moreover,  aside  from  Ferrante's  study  of  Thaon  di  Revel,  there  are  few 
biographies  and  relatively  little  recent  work  on  the  early  twentieth  century. 
But  the  lack  of  biographies  does  not  mean  that  Italy  has  had  no  naval  heroes. 
Although  such  traditional  heroes  as  Andrea  Doria  spring  most  easily  to  mind, 
there  are  a  number  of  major  and  minor  twentieth-century  naval  figures,  some 
of  whom  have  written  memoirs  or  autobiographies,      including  Romeo 
Bernotti,     Mario  De  Monte,     Oscar  di  Giamberardino,     Angelo  Iachino, 
Franco  Maugeri,      Vittorio  Tur,        Alfredo  Viglieri,        and  Alberto  Da 

Marittimo  in  Rome,  Via  Po  1,  Palazzo  Assitalia;  the  Istituto  Nazionale  per  Studied  Esperienze  di 
Architettura  Navale,  Via  Corrado  Segre  60,  00146  Rome;  the  Istituto  Italiano  per  gli  Studi  Storici,  Via 
Benedetto  Croce  12,  80134  Naples;  The  Instituto  di  Studi  Adriatici,  1364-A  Riva  7  Martiri,  30122 
Venice;  and  the  Istituto  per  gli  Studi  di  Politica  Internazionale,  Palazzo  Clerici,  Via  Clerici  5,  20121 
Milan. 

2  Nunzia  Esposito  Elefante,  "La  marina  Sarda  nella  guerra  di  Crimea,"  Riuista  marittima  (1986); 
Antonio  Formicola,  and  Claudio  Romano,  "L'industria  navale  nel  regno  delle  due  Sicilie  sotto 
Ferdinando  II,"  Rivista  marittima  (1986),  and  "1860:  Marina  borbonica  ultimo  atto,"  Riuista  marittima 
(1984).  Also  see  La  marina  militare  italiana  nel  1848  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  della  Marina  Militare,  1948); 
Giovanni  Macchi,  "La  marina  italiana  a  Creta  in  una  operazione  multinazionale  di  fine  ottocento," 
Riuista  marittima  (1985);  Arturo  Marcheggiano,  Arturo,  "Le  operazioni  navali  italiane  nella  prima  guerra 
di  indipendenza  (1848—49),"  Riuista  marittima  (1984);  Sante  Romiti,  Le  marine  militari  italiane  nel 
Risorgimento,  1748— 1861  (1950);  and  Franco  Micali  Baratelli,  La  marina  militare  italiana  nella  uita  nazionale 
(1860-1914)  (1983). 

For  recent  biographies,  Paolo  Luigj,  Andrea  Doria  (Milan:  Editoriale  Nuova,  1984).  Among  earlier 
biographies  are  Robert  Sabatino  Lopez,  Genoua  marinara  nel  Duecento.  Benedetto  Zaccaria,  ammiraglio  e 
mercante  (Genoa:  1933),  Vol.  17  of  the  Biblioteca  storica  Principato  series;  Alberto  Tenenti,  Cristoforo 
Da  Canal:  la  marine  uenitienne  auant  Lepante  (1962);  and  Mario  Battaglieri,  La  politica  nauale  del  conte  di 
Cauour  (1942).  And,  of  course,  there  are  a  great  many  works  in  Italian  and  English  on  Columbus, 
including  Kirpatrick  Sale's  critical  The  Conquest  of  Paradise:  Christopher  Columbus  and  the  Columbian  Legacy 
(New  York:  Knopf,  1990). 

For  the  minor,  Alessandro  Caldara,  Quelli  di  sottocastello:  cronaca  di  guerra,  1940-1943  (Milan:  Mursia, 
1978);  and  Dino  Selmi,  Marb,  li  ricordi  di  guerra  sul  mare,  1940-1943  (Pisa:  Giardini,  1977). 

Romeo  Bernotti,  Cinquant'anni  nella  Marina  militare  (Milan:  Mursia,  1972);  Storia  della  guerra  in 
Mediterraneo,  1940-1943  (Rome:  1960). 

Mario  De  Monte,  Uomini  ombra.  Ricordi  di  un  addetto  al  seruizio  segreto  nauale,  1939—1943  (Rome: 
Nuova  Editoriale  Marinara  Italiana,  1955).  Also  see  Giovanni  Roccardi,  Gioco  d'ala  (Rome:  Trevi,  1981). 

Oscar  Di  Giamberardino,  La  marina  nella  tragedia  nazionale  (Rome:  Danesi  in  via  Margutta,  1947); 
and  La  politica  bellica  nella  tragedia  nazionale  (Rome:  Polin,  1945). 

See  Dr.  Sullivan's  paper  and  footnote  55,  above,  for  Iachino's  works. 

Franco  Maugeri,  From  the  Ashes  of  Disgrace  (New  York:  Reynal  &  Hitchcock,  1948);  Ricordi  di  un 
marinaio:  la  Marina  italiana  dai  primi  del  Nouecento  al  secondo  dopoguerra  nelle  memorie  di  uno  dei  suoi  capi 
(Milan:  Mursia,  1980). 

Vittorio  Tur,  Plancia  ammiraglio  (Rome:  Editzioni  moderne,  1958). 

Alfredo  Viglieri,  In  mare,  in  terra,  in  cielo.  Vicetide  di  pace  e  di  guerra  (1915-1945)  (Milan:  Mursia,  1977). 


Sadkovich      209 

Zara. 1  That  more  biographies  are  not  being  done  is  probably  due  to  the  association 
of  such  figures  as  Costanzo  Ciano  and  Gabriele  D'Annunzio  with  the  fascist 
regime  and  the  tendency  of  the  Italian  services  to  credit  units,  such  as  the  X  Mas, 
rather  than  commanders,  like  Julio  Borghese,  with  spectacular  performances — a 
tendency  that  has  also  created  the  impression  that  Italy  had  no  aces  during  World 
War  II.104 

But  while  I  am  not  particularly  pessimistic  with  regard  to  Italy,  I  am  less  sanguine 
when  contemplating  the  future  of  Italian  naval  and  maritime  studies  in  this  country. 
Not  only  does  it  appear  that  most  Americans,  including  academics,  have  little  interest 
in  the  field,  but  if  the  Pentagon's  budget  is  cut,  surely  one  of  the  first  things  to  go, 
aside  from  low-level  personnel,  will  be  the  historians.  It  thus  might  be  worth 
considering  ways  in  which  to  stimulate  interest  in  naval  and  maritime  studies,  and 
by  extension,  military,  diplomatic,  and  political  history,  because  all  of  these  suffer 
from  the  same  diseases — the  hegemony  of  social  history  within  academics  and  the 
general  indifference  to  things  Italian  among  the  general  public,  which  includes 
publishers  and  editors.  Finding  a  niche  in  the  curriculum  can  thus  be  as  difficult 
as  finding  a  publisher  in  this  country. 

One  way  to  promote  naval  and  maritime  history  is,  of  course,  to  recast  it  as 
social  history  by  rejecting  Mahan  and  embracing  Braudel.       This,  I  think,  will 

102  Alberto  da  Zara,  Pelle  d'ammiraglio  (Milan:  Le  Scie,  1949). 

Ciano  and  D'Annunzio  thus  tend  to  be  thought  of  as  subjects  for  studies  on  "fascism,"  not  on  naval 
or  maritime  history,  and  it  is  reassuring  to  know  that  there  is  a  recent  biography  on  Costanzo  Ciano. 
For  example,  Gioacchino  Volpe,  Gabriele  D'Annunzio:  L'italiano,  il  politico,  il  combattetite  (Rome:  Volpe, 
1981);  Giovanni  Rizzo,  D'Annunzio  e  Mussolini:  la  uerita  sui  loro  rapporti  (Rocco  San  Casciano:  F.  Cappelli, 
1960);  or  Ludovico  Domenico,  Gli  auiatori  italiani  del  bombardamento  nellaguerra  1915—1918  (Rome:  Ufficio 
Storico  Aeronautica  Militare,  1980),  which  stresses  D'Annunzio  impact  on  air  operations,  and  Giovanni 
Battista  Giuriati,  Con  D'Annunzio  e  Millo  in  difesa  dell'Adriatico  (Florence:  Sansoni,  1954).  Franco  Cordova 
and  Michael  Ledeen  therefore  both  treated  D'Annunzio  and  the  occupation  of  Fiume  in  1919—20  as 
"political"  subjects.  Similarly,  even  though  he  headed  the  seamen's  union,  Giuseppe  Giulietti  has  acquired 
a  political  aura;  see  his  biography,  Pax  Mundi  (Naples:  Rispoli,  1945). 

For  an  example  of  the  tendency  to  deal  with  the  unit,  Maurizio  Circi,  30°  stormo  idrovolanti.  Note 
storiche  dal  1931  al  1974  (Rome:  Ufficio  Storico  Aeronautica  Militare/Bizzarri,  1974);  Antonio  Duma, 
Quelli  del  cauallino  rampante.  Storia  del  4°  stormo  caccia  (Rome:  Ateneo,  1981);  Nino  Arena,  50°  stormo 
d'assalto  (Modena:  STEM,  1979);  Alberto  Borgiotti,  97°  gruppo  autonomo  bombardamento  a  tuffo 
1940-1941:  Sicilia,  Balcani,  Africa  Settentrionale  (Rome:  Ateneo  &  Bizzarri).  Also  Junio  Valerio  Borghese, 
Sea  Deuils,  op.  cit.,  also  wrote  a  history  of  his  unit  rather  than  an  autobiography. 

This  certainly  has  been  my  experience.  Evidently  books  on  Italy,  whether  on  prostitution  in  the 
Renaissance  or  nineteenth-century  military  policy,  do  not  sell  well  in  this  country.  As  one  editor  of  a 
major  publishing  house,  both  of  which  shall  remain  anonymous,  wrote  me  regarding  a  manuscript  on 
the  Italian  Navy  during  World  War  II,  "surely  the  obsession  with  Germany  is  a  correct  one"  because 
"Anglo— Italian  clashes"  were  "thoroughly  unimportant"  in  the  "Battle  of  the  Atlantic." 

For  example,  Alvarez  Javier  Guillamon,  "Congresso  historico:  ciudad  y  mar  en  la  edad  moderna," 
Contrastes  (Spain)  (1985),  describes  a  September  1984  conference  in  Cartagena  that  focussed  on  (1) 
geographical  framework  and  urban  development,  (2)  demography  and  socioprofessional  structures,  (3) 
economic  bases  and  productive  factors,  (4)  market  and  commercial  relations,  (5)  institutional  and  military 
aspects,  and  (6)  maritime  science  and  techniques.  Or  one  could  follow  the  example  of  David  A.  Cappell, 


210      Comments 

occur  in  the  field  of  contemporary  naval  studies  as  it  has  in  the  field  of  early 
modern  naval  and  maritime  history.  Such  a  shift  in  emphasis  would  undoubtedly 
be  healthy  because  it  would  expand  the  horizons  of  those  of  us  who  dabble  in 
naval  and  maritime  history  as  well  as  those  of  our  colleagues  who  do  not.  But 
while  such  a  shift  will  be  relatively  easy  for  Italian  historians,  who  are  close  to 
archival  sources,  it  will  be  more  difficult  for  those  of  us  who  survive  by  using 
published  sources,  at  least  until  a  solid  foundation  of  published  documents  and 
monographs  on  naval  and  maritime  history  is  available. 

Another  way  to  promote  naval  and  maritime  history  is  to  do  colonial  and 
transnational  studies.  But  this  will  be  difficult,  since  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
naval  histories  is  that  they  tend  to  be  parochial,  and  too  often  hyperbolically 
patriotic,  which  is  certainly  one  of  the  reasons  that  the  field  is  not  taken  seriously 

1  07 

by  many  historians.  Yet  in  the  case  of  Italian  navies,  such  an  approach  makes 
considerable  sense,  since  the  essence  of  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history  is  its 
diversity  and  the  interaction  of  the  navies  of  Italian  states  over  the  centuries  with 
each  other  and  with  surrounding  naval  forces,  whether  Barbary  corsairs,  Dal- 
matian Uskoks  and  the  Turkish  fleet  in  the  early  modern  period;  the  French  fleet 
and  the  Austrian  navy  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  the  Risorgimento;  or  the 

108 

British  and  Austrian  fleet  during  this  century. 

By  its  very  nature,  naval  and  maritime  history  is  part  of  an  international 
political,  economic,  social,  and  diplomatic  history,  and  it  should  not  be  contained 
within  narrow  national  boundaries  but  connected  to  the  wider  world.  Dragan 
ivojinovi  has  done  this  for  the  Dalmatian  littoral  by  focusing  on  topics  as  diverse 
as  the  role  of  naval  officers  in  the  Adriatic  during  the  unsettled  period  of  1918— 21 
and  the  relations  between  Dubrovnik  and  the  American  colonies  in  the  late 
1700s.        Indeed,   cities  such  as  Dubrovnik— Ragusa,   Rijeka— Fiume,   Split— 

"Shipboard  Relations  between  Pacific  Island  Women  and  Euroamerican  Men,  1767- 1887 '," Journal  of  Pacific 
History  (1992),  and  write  on  such  topics  as  "madamismo"  in  Italian  East  African  ports  and  aboard  Italian  ships. 

For  example,  the  exaggeration  of  the  role  played  by  British  submarines  in  the  Adriatic  during  World 
War  I  in  Paul  Kemp  and  Peter  Jung,  "Five  Broken  Down  B  Boats:  British  Submarine  Operations  in 
the  Northern  Adriatic,  1915-1917,"  Warship  International  (1989). 

1  Oft 

For  example,  Gligor  Stanojevi,  Senjski  Uskoci  (Belgrade:  Vojnoizdavaki  Zavod,  1973);  and  Alberto 
Tenenti,  Piracy  and  the  Decline  of  Venice,  1580-1615  (London:  Longman,  1967),  originally  published  as 
Venezia  e  i  corsari,  1580-1615  (Bari:  Laterza,  1961);  and  Giulio  Giacchero,  Pirati  barbareschi,  schiavi  e 
galeotti  nella  storia  e  nella  leggenda  ligure  (1970),  a  volume  in  the  Scaffaletto  Genovese  series.  Tenenti  dealt 
with  Uskoks,  Barbary  Corsairs,  and  English,  Spanish,  Maltese  and  Florentine  pirates.  Unfortunately,  the 
tendency  is  to  draw  a  line  through  the  middle  of  the  Adriatic  and  treat  one  side  as  Italian,  the  other  as 
eastern  European,  e.g.,  Apostolos  E.  Vacalopoulos,  Constantinos  D.  Svolopoulos,  and  Bela  K.  Kiraly, 
eds.,  Southeast  European  Maritime  Commerce  and  Naval  Policies  from  the  Mid-Eighteenth  Century  to  1914 
(Boulder:  Columbia  Univ.  Press,  1988),  vol.  23  of  the  War  and  Society  in  East  Central  Europe  series. 
The  volume  discusses  the  British,  French,  Austrian,  and  even  American  navies,  and  policy  in  the  Adriatic 
and  on  the  Danube,  but  Italy  is  largely  ignored. 

Dragan  ivojinovi,  Amerika  reuolucija  i  dubrovaka  republika,  1 763-1790  (Belgrade:  Prosveta,  1976),  and 
"The  United  States  and  its  Unknown  Role  in  the  Adriatic  Conflicts  of  1918-21"  (1989),  Occasional 
Paper,  East  European  Program,  European  Institute,  n.  15. 


Sadkovich      21 1 

Spalato,  Zadar— Zara,  Pola— Pula,  and  Sibenik— Sebenico  are  as  integral  to  Italian 
history  as  Trst— Triest,  Venice,  or  Bari,  and  the  Adriatic  is  as  international  a  sea 
as  the  Tyrrhennian,  Ionian,  or  Mediterranean.  Although  the  tendency  is  to 
see  the  Adriatic  as  dividing  Italy  from  eastern  Europe,  it  is  clear  that  the  sea  unites 
the  Italian  to  the  Balkan  peninsula,  and  authors  as  diverse  as  Paolo  Alatri  and 
Bernard  Stulli  have  dealt  with  the  connection  in  one  context  or  another. 

To  the  extent  that  the  Adriatic,  Tyrrhenian,  Black,  and  Red  Seas  are 
extensions  of  the  Mediterranean,  Italian  naval  and  maritime  history  forms  an 
integral  part  of  Italian  colonial  and  imperial  history.  In  a  sense,  Austrian,  Italian, 
French,  and  Balkan  history — whether  Turkish,  Yugoslav,  Greek,  or  Albanian — - 
are  therefore  complementary.  But  while  there  are  studies  ranging  from  the 
expansion  of  the  early  maritime  empires  into  the  Black  sea  to  the  role  played  by 
the  Italian  Navy  in  colonial  expansion  in  Africa  in  this  century,  there  is  a  great 
deal  that  can  still  be  done.  For  example,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  there  are 
no  comprehensive  histories  of  the  Adriatic  or  Tyrrhenian  seas  that  would 

integrate  a  variety  of  approaches  over  time,  as  Braudel  did  almost  a  half-century 

•I'll 

ago  for  the  Mediterranean. 

Finally,  let  me  note  that  while  relatively  few  publishers  and  journals  take  a 
consistent  interest  in  naval  and  maritime  history,  there  are  a  number  of  journals 

For  the  Adriatic,  its  cities,  and  its  fleets,  see  Lawrence  Thomas  Sondhaus,  Austria  and  the  Adriatic:  The 
Development  o/Habsburg  Maritime  Policy,  1 797-1866  (Ph.D.,  University  of  Virginia,  1986);  Lothar  Hobelt, 
"Die  Marine,"  Habsburgermonarchie  1848-1918  (1987);  Karl  Gogg,  Osterreichs  Kriegsmarine,  1848-1918 
(Salzburg:  Verlag  das  Berland-Buch,  1967);  Roberto  Cessi,  La  Repubblica  di  Venezia  e  ilproblema  adriatico 
(Naples:  1953);  Barisa  Kreki,  Dubrovnik  et  le  Levant  au  Moyen  Age  (Paris:  Mouton,  1961),  and  Dubrovnik 
in  the  14th  and  15th  Centuries  (Norman,  Okla.:  Univ.  of  Oklahoma  Press,  1972). 

111  Paolo  Alatri,  Nitti,  D'Annunzio  e  la  questione  adriatica  (Milan:  Feltrinelli,  1959),  and  Bernard  Stulli, 
"Talijanski  historiografija  i  jadranska  irredentizam,"  Hrvatski  Zbomik  (1954).  Also  see  Milan  Marjanovi, 
Borba  zajadran,  1914—1946:  Iredenta  i  imperializam  (Split:  1953);  Vjekoslav  Mastrovi,  Kako  je  svrhna 
okupacija  Zadra  1918.  godina  (Zadar:  1951);  and  Berislav  Viskovi,  "Ratna  1943.  Godina  kao  presuda 
forza  bitke  zajadran,"  Vojnoistoriski  Glasnik  (1984);  Ferdo  ulinovi,  Rijeka  drava  (Zagreb,  1953). 

For  example,  Kenneth  M.  Setton,  Venice,  Austria,  and  the  Turks  in  the  Seventeenth  Century 
(Philadelphia:  American  Philosophical  Society,  1991);  or  Juliette  Bessis,  La  Mediterranie  fasciste:  I'ltalie 
mussolinienne  et  la  Tunisie  (Pairs:  Editions  Karthala,  1981).  Although  neither  of  these  is  a  naval  history, 
the  interaction  of  the  Mediterranean  states  makes  a  transnational  approach  natural  for  maritime  and  naval 
history. 

The  Italian  Foreign  Ministry's  Comitato  per  la  documentazione  dell'opera  dell'Italia  in  Africa 
sponsored  a  series  of  studies  on  the  work  of  the  Italian  services  overseas,  including  that  by  Giuseppe 
Fioravanzo  and  Guido  Viti  on  the  navy,  L'ltalia  in  Africa.  Serie  Storico-militare.  Vol.  II.  L 'opera  della  marina 
(1868-1943)  (Rome:  Istituto  Poligrafico  dello  Stato,  1959).  But  the  work  is  now  rather  dated.  Among 
works  on  the  subject,  see  Vittorio  Giglio  and  Angelo  Ravenni,  Le  guerre  coloniali  d'ltalia  (Milan:  Francesco 
Vallardi,  1942);  Luigi  Goglia,  "Sulla  politica  coloniale  fascista,"  Storia  contemporanea  (1988);  and  E.  S. 
Zevakin  and  A.  Penko,  "Ricerche  sulla  storia  delle  colonie  genovesi  nel  Caucaso  occidentale  nei  secoli 
XIII-XIV,"  in  Miscellanea  di  Studi  Storici  (Genoa:  Istituto  di  Medievistica,  1969),  vol.  I.  There  have  been 
a  great  number  of  works  published  on  Italy's  colonial  policy  over  the  past  fifteen  to  twenty  years,  but 
they  have  tended  to  focus  on  land  operations,  economics,  and  diplomacy  rather  than  maritime  or  naval 
matters,  even  though  the  Navy  played  a  crucial  role  in  the  Italian  conquests  of  Libya  in  1911-12  and 
Ethiopia  in  1935-6. 


21 2     Comments 

that  will  publish  works  on  naval  and  maritime  history.  In  Italy,  Rivista  marittima, 
Bollettino  d' Archivio  dell'Ufficio  Storico  delta  Marina  Militare,  Panorama  Difesa,  Storia 
Militate,  and  Rivista  Italiana  Difesa  regularly  publish  articles  dealing  with  naval 
and  maritime  history,  technique,  and  current  policy,  as  do  such  organizations 
as  Genoa's  Istituto  Medievistica.  Storia  contemporanea,  Storia  e  politica, 
Archivio  Storico  Italiano,  Nuova  Rivista  Storica,  Rivista  Storica  Italiana,  Quad- 
erni  Stefaniani,  and  Rassegna  Storica  della  Liguria  have  also  published  essays 
on  naval  and  maritime  history.  In  this  country,  aside  from  the  Naval  War  College 
Review  and  the  United  States  Naval  Institute  Press,  there  are  few  outlets  for  naval 
historians,  although,  as  with  major  publishers,  major  journals  will  publish  articles 

117 

on  maritime  and  naval  history.  In  Italy,  a  handful  of  editorial  houses  publish 
the  bulk  of  the  books  on  maritime  and  naval  history,  among  them  Ermanno 
Albertelli,  who  publishes  Bagnasco  and  others;  Mursia,  which  has  published 
Giorgerini;  and  Edizioni  delTAteneo  e  Bizzarri,  which  publishes  a  variety  of 
air-naval  studies.  In  this  country  a  major  press,  such  as  Johns  Hopkins,  might 
issue  a  work  like  that  by  Davis  on  early  modern  maritime  history,  but  they  shy 
away  from  works  on  World  War  II  Italian  naval  history,  leaving  only  Greenwood 

118 

and  a  few  publishing  houses  in  England,  like  Frank  Cass. 

What  is  needed,  it  seems  to  me,  is  some  way  to  provide  more  outlets  for 
articles  on  naval  and  maritime  history  that  are  not  associated  with  a  service 
institute,  and  to  create  an  organization  that  would  provide  a  network  for  those 
of  us  interested  in  the  area,  even  if  we  teach  in  such  places  as  Hattiesburg, 
Mississippi  where  merely  keeping  up  with  the  literature  is  an  impossible  task  and 
where  beauty  pageants,  the  NFL  draft,  and  the  Dixie  League  are  of  much  more 
immediate  interest  to  most  people  than  naval  and  maritime  history. 


See  Ezio  Ferrente,  La  Rivista  Marittima  dallafondazione  ai  nostrigiomi.  La  storia,  gli  autori,  le  idee  (Rome: 
Rivista  Marittima,  1986).  My  thanks  to  Admiral  Pascazio  and  Professor  Alberto  Santoni  for  calling  my 
attention  to  these  publications,  some  of  which  Dr.  Sullivan  has  also  mentioned. 

Or  the  Deputazione  di  Storia  Patria  per  le  Venezie,  which  publishes  the  Archivio  Veneto. 

For  example,  Cesare  Ciano,  "Considerazioni  sulla  disciplina  a  bordo  delle  navi  mediterranee  nel 
XVII  secolo,"  (1987);  Franco  Gay,  "L'Arsenale  di  Venezia,"  (1984).  Quaderni  Stefaniani  is  published  in 
Pisa. 

117 

Contemporary  European  History,  the  Journal  of  Strategic  Studies,  and  the  Journal  of  Contemporary  History, 
the  Journal  of  Modem  History,  Economic  History  Review,  and  the  Journal  of  European  Economic  History  also 
have  published  pieces  on  Italian  naval  or  maritime  history.  Other  possible  outlets  include,  but  are  not 
limited  to  journals  such  as  the  Mediterranean  Historical  Review,  War  &  Society,  Revue  intemationale  d'histoire 
militaire,  Aeronautical  mensile  dell 'aviazione  italiana,  Marine  Rundschau,  Revue  d'histoire  de  la  deuxieme  guerre 
mondiale  et  des  conflits  contemporains,  Archivio  storico  marina,  and  The  Mariner's  Mirror. 

Among  other  editorial  houses  that  have  published  works  on  Italian  naval  history  are  Biblioteca  del 
Bollettino  Storico  Pisano  (Pisa)  and  Istituto  di  Medievistica  (Genoa);  Harvard  Univ.  Press;  and  the 
Istituto  Storico  Germanico  in  Roma.  But  only  the  Istituto  di  Medievistica  in  Genoa  has  a  large  list  of 
titles,  which  include  the  works  of  Laura  Balletto. 


17 
Japan 


Mark  R.  Peattie  and  David  C.  Evans 


Fifty  years  ago  Alexander  Kiralfy,  writing  about  Japanese  naval  thought, 
asserted  that  the  Japanese  "lack  interest  in  waters  which  do  not  directly 
concern  them."  Allowing  for  a  certain  degree  of  wartime  ignorance  and 
prejudice  about  the  Japanese  enemy  which  he  displayed  in  the  article,  Kiralfy 
had  a  point.  For  reasons  that  have  to  do  with  geography  and  history,  Japan's 
maritime  interests  throughout  its  history  have  been  mostly  limited  to  its  home 
waters  and  to  those  of  the  northeast  Asian  littoral.  Only  for  one  brief  period, 
1940—1945,  did  those  interests  stretch  as  far  as  the  mid-Pacific,  southeast  Asia, 
and  the  eastern  Indian  Ocean. 

This  regional  focus,  or  "continental  strategy,"  as  Clark  Reynolds  would  have 
it,  has  meant  that  modern  Japanese  naval  thought  has  been  subjective,  rather 
than  objective,  concerned  with  the  specific  application  of  the  principles  of  sea 
power  to  the  Japanese  case,  rather  than  with  the  study  of  sea  power  as  a  general 
historical  phenomenon  about  which  broad  judgments  can  be  drawn.  Even  the 
most  erudite  of  Japan's  modern  naval  thinkers,  Sato  Tetsutaro,  sometimes 
mistakenly  referred  to  as  the  "Japanese  Mahan,"  framed  his  arguments  solely  for 
a  Japanese  audience.  While  the  evidence  on  which  he  rested  his  ponderous  and 
somewhat  mystical  On  the  History  of  Imperial  Defense  (1908)  was  drawn  from 
examples  of  the  naval  and  maritime  history  of  the  West,  his  theoretical  point  of 
reference  was  exclusively  Japanese.  Those  lesser  Japanese  naval  writers  who 
followed  after  Sato  in  the  1920s  and  1930s  were  even  more  subjective  in  their 
concerns.  In  the  decade  immediately  prior  to  the  Pacific  War,  Japanese  naval 
thought,  expounded  by  civilians  as  well  as  naval  professionals,  was  essentially 
directed  toward  the  mobilization  and  increase  of  Japanese  naval  power  and  the 
defeat  of  the  American  naval  enemy. 

General  State  of  the  Field  in  Postwar  Japan 

Given  its  outcome,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Pacific  War  did  nothing  to 
broaden  the  Japanese  perspective  on  naval  matters  and,  indeed,  in  one  sense 

Alexander  Kiralfy,  "Japanese  Naval  Strategy,"  in  Edward  Earle  et  al.,  eds.,  Makers  of  Modem  Strategy: 
Military  Thought  from  Machiavelli  to  Hitler  (New  Jersey:   Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1943),  pp.  457-84. 


214     Japan 

further  narrowed  its  focus  on  national  concerns.  Certainly,  any  discussion  of  the 
state  of  naval  history  in  postwar  Japan  must  begin  with  the  impact  of  the  Pacific 
War  on  that  nation.  Not  only  did  that  conflict  shape  the  view  of  the  Japanese 
public  toward  the  subject  of  military  history  in  general,  but  the  nation's  defeat 
in  that  war  and  the  Imperial  Japanese  Navy's  role  in  it  have  shaped  the  concerns 
of  those  who  have  been  most  active  in  thinking  and  writing  about  naval  history. 

To  begin  with,  for  decades  after  its  conclusion  there  was  a  general  turning 
away  from  the  rationale  for  the  Pacific  War  by  the  majority  of  the  Japanese 
people.  Civilian  scholars,  indifferent  if  not  hostile  to  operational  history,  sought 
explanations  for  Japan's  defeat  in  the  nation's  pre-war  political,  economic,  and 
social  systems.  Those  who  were  concerned  with  the  Navy's  operational  history 
were  those  former  officers  who  had  served  in  the  Navy.  But  there  were 
inhibitions  to  writing  about  it  publicly,  even  for  those  naval  professionals,  for 
the  undeniable  fact  was  that  the  history  of  the  Japanese  Navy  ended  badly. 
Whatever  the  early  triumphs  of  the  Imperial  Japanese  Navy,  its  humiliating 
demise  cast  a  pall  of  gloom  over  its  story.  In  the  United  States,  following  naval 
victory  on  two  oceans,  there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Navy  veterans  who 
looked  forward  to  reading  about  the  triumphant  campaigns  in  which  they  had 
taken  part.  In  Japan,  a  large  portion  of  the  potential  audience  rested  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  and  that  portion  which  survived  wished  largely  to  forget  the  trauma 
of  war.  In  the  early  postwar  years,  moreover,  the  existence  of  the  war  crimes 
tribunals  undoubtedly  had  a  chilling  effect  on  the  publications  and  pronounce- 
ments of  anyone  who  had  held  a  responsible  position  in  either  of  the  two  services 
during  the  war. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  first  decades  after  the  war,  a  small  group  of  former 
Japanese  naval  officers  did  begin  sifting  through  the  ashes  of  defeat  to  study  the 
pre-war  navy,  seeking  answers  as  to  how  and  why  it  played  a  leading  role  in  the 
initiation  of  the  war,  and  how  and  why  it  was  defeated  in  the  end.  With  the 
establishment  of  the  War  History  Office  in  1955  as  part  of  the  Japanese  Defense 
Agency,  their  central  effort,  along  with  that  of  a  number  of  former  Imperial 
Army  officers,  was  channeled  into  participation  in  the  research  and  writing  of 
what  eventually  became  the  official  Senshi  sosho,  (War  History  Series),  more  than 
one  hundred  volumes  recounting  the  activities  of  both  services  in  the  China  and 
Pacific  wars.  Over  the  course  of  time,  building  on  their  work  on  the  Senshi  sosho, 
through  books  and  articles  they  wrote  as  individuals,  a  number  of  these  former 
Navy  men-turned  historian — Normura  Minoru  and  Seukuni  Masao,  to  name 
two  of  the  most  prominent — came  to  enjoy  a  solid  reputation  in  the  field  for 
their  firsthand  knowledge  and  for  their  professional  integrity.  Other  former 
Navy  officers  not  connected  with  the  project  have  produced  important  works 
on  the  war:  Chihaya  Masataka  has  written  on  strategy,  6i  Atsushi  on  antisub- 
marine warfare,  and  Torisu  Kennosuke  on  submarine  operations.  It  has  been  by 
the  hands  of  these  men  that  such  operational  history  of  the  Japanese  Navy  as 


Peattie  and  Evans     21 5 

exists  has  been  preserved  since  1945.  On  the  whole,  their  work  has  been  highly 
informative  and  often  usefully  analytical.  But  to  much  of  the  academic  com- 
munity in  postwar  Japan,  their  writings  have  lacked  intellectual  rigor,  their 
subject  matter  has  been  seen  as  irrelevant,  and  they  have  been  regarded, 
sometimes  unfairly,  as  apologists  for  the  old  navy. 

In  any  event,  what  has  distinguished  the  work  of  these  men  from  that  of  their 
counterparts  in  the  West  has  been  the  absence  of  personal  controversy  among 
themselves  and  of  any  open  professional  debate  as  to  the  principal  naval 
campaigns  of  the  war  or  as  to  the  reputations  of  the  foremost  naval  commanders 
who  conducted  them  (some  of  whom  were  their  direct  superiors).  In  part  this 
may  be  due  to  the  Navy's  traditional  reputation  as  the  silent  service,  but  more 
importantly,  perhaps,  to  the  Japanese  cultural  tradition  which  does  not  en- 
courage the  open  airing  of  disputes  or  assaults  on  the  reputations  and  character 
of  individuals.  Nor  does  it  permit  a  Japanese,  no  matter  how  highly  placed,  to 
claim  achievements  for  himself,  a  fact  that  explains  the  absence  of  any  real  naval 
autobiographies  of  the  free-wheeling,  now-I-can-tell-it  variety  known  in  the 
West.  Those  autobiographies  which  do  exist  are  often  simply  records  of  long 
interviews  conducted  at  the  behest  of  disciples.  There  are,  of  course,  dozens  of 
detailed  biographies,  often  being  the  product  of  committees  composed  of  the 
admirers  of  the  naval  figure  in  question;  they  too  often  concentrate  on  externals 
and  the  inconsequential. 

Though  in  the  immediate  postwar  decades  the  academic  community  itself, 
by  and  large,  continued  to  avoid  naval  history  as  a  suspect  field,  established 
scholars  (political  scientists  and  international  relations  specialists  for  the  most 
part)  and  front-rank  publishing  houses  touched  upon  naval  matters  in  a  number 
of  major  publications.  The  collections  of  primary  sources  like  the  Documents 
on  Modern  History  [Gendai  shi  shiryo]  (1962—70)  and  analytical  histories  such  as 
The  Road  to  the  Pacific  War  [Taiheiyo  senso  e  no  michi\  (1962—63)  contained  a  wealth 
of  information  on  the  Navy  and  served  as  departure  points  for  a  myriad  of  more 
specialized  studies  on  the  role  of  the  Navy  in  the  modernization  of  Japan  and  in 
the  origins  of  the  Pacific  War. 

In  the  past  several  decades,  moreover,  younger  academics,  educated  after  the 
war  and  thus  with  no  particular  bias  for  or  against  the  pre-war  Navy,  have  begun 
to  enter  the  field.  Many  have  furthered  the  study  of  the  Navy's  involvement  in 
the  origins  of  the  Pacific  War,  though  their  perspective  is  almost  entirely  that  of 
international  relations,  domestic  politics,  or  foreign  policy.  Asada  Sadao  of 
Doshisha  University,  publishing  in  both  Japanese  and  English,  has  established 
himself  as  the  world's  authority  on  Japan's  role  in  the  interwar  naval  treaty 
system.  I  to  Takashi  of  Tokyo  University  has  done  important  work  on  the  Navy's 
actions  in  politics.  Ikeda  Kiyoshi  of  Tohoku  University  has  produced  a  survey 
history  and  a  set  of  critical  essays  on  the  old  Navy.  Others  have  sought  to  broaden 
the  study  of  the  Navy  in  the  Pacific  War  into  such  non-operational  topics  as  the 


21 6     Japan 

character  and  impact  of  the  Navy's  administration  of  those  occupied  areas 
assigned  to  the  Navy  in  Southeast  Asia.  Still  others  have  sought  to  push  back  the 
study  of  their  nation's  naval  history  to  the  Meiji  (1868—1912)  and  Taisho 
(1912—1926)  periods,  illuminating  new  aspects  of  the  Navy's  history:  finances, 
statutes,  personnel  policies,  education,  institutions,  and  other  topics  which 
reflect,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  "new  military  history"  so  much  in  vogue  in  the 
West. 

The  quality  of  these  nonoperational  studies  is  generally  good.  Yet,  what  still 
characterizes  almost  all  the  study  of  naval  history  in  postwar  Japan,  either  by 
former  naval  personnel  or  by  civilian  scholars,  is  that  which  characterized  it 
before  the  war:  its  subjective  quality,  its  absolute  absorption  in  the  Japanese  case. 
Still  lacking  is  any  major  work  in  Japanese  which  has  attempted  to  provide 
observations  on  sea  power  with  global,  rather  than  just  national,  implications, 
or  any  major  work  that  has  made  wide  use  of  primary  sources  for  a  study  of  the 
naval  history  of  any  Western  nation  (although  articles  appear  on  such  topics  from 
time  to  time),  or  any  that  has  sought  to  place  Japanese  naval  thought  and  history 
in  a  comparative  context.  Until  such  studies  appear,  Japanese  naval  history,  for 
all  its  intrinsic  interest  and  importance,  will  remain  isolated  by  language  and  by 
narrowness  of  perspective,  a  monologue  in  what  should  be  a  dialogue. 

The  public  attitude  toward  Japan's  naval  past  has  been  ambivalent  to  say  the 
least.  On  the  one  hand,  books  and  magazines  for  the  layman  relay  masses  of 
information  on  the  old  Imperial  Navy,  its  ships,  its  planes,  and  especially  its 
exploits  during  the  Pacific  War.  Some  years  ago,  model  kits  of  the  super-bat- 
tleship Yamato  were  among  the  top  sellers  in  Japanese  toy  stores,  and  a  recent 
NHK  (government)  television  documentary  series  on  the  Pacific  War,  which 
featured  the  major  naval  engagements  in  the  Pacific,  1941—1945,  drew  a  wide 
audience.  On  the  other  hand,  any  governmental  efforts  to  promote  public 
respect  or  reverence  for  Japan's  military  past  can  be  expected  to  meet  stout  public 
resistance,  particularly  from  the  political  left,  as  witnessed  by  the  heated  protests 
over  the  occasional  visits  by  the  Emperor  and  various  Japanese  prime  ministers 
to  Yasukuni  Shrine,  dedicated  to  the  spirits  of  Japan's  military  dead.  Indeed,  the 
general  public  acceptance  of  the  present  Maritime  Defense  Force,  like  the  other 
Defense  Forces,  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  it  is  qualitatively  different  from 
its  hugely  more  prestigious  Imperial  predecessor.    A  third  element,  the  most 

In  this  connection,  the  authors  recall  that,  on  a  visit  to  the  First  Service  School  of  the  Maritime 
Self-Defense  Force  at  Etajima  (the  site  of  the  prewar  Academy)  in  1985,  they  stopped  in  to  view  the 
naval  museum  and  were  surprised  to  see  at  the  top  of  the  grand  stairway  leading  into  the  building  a 
triptych  of  portraits:  Togo  HeihachirS,  Horatio  Nelson,  and  John  Paul  Jones.  Later,  when  asked  what 
sort  of  message  the  last  portrait  was  intended  to  convey  to  aspiring  young  Japanese  naval  cadets,  the 
superintendent  of  the  Service  School  replied  somewhat  vaguely  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Self-Defense 
Force  to  instill  "a  spirit  of  internationalism"  in  its  graduates.  Clearly,  it  meant  that,  while  Togo  was 
sufficiently  removed  in  time  to  be  an  acceptable  icon  to  postwar  Japanese  naval  officers,  and  while  the 
addition  of  Nelson's  portrait  paid  tribute  to  British  tutelage  of  the  Japanese  Navy  in  its  infancy,  the 


Peattie  and  Evans      21 7 

conservative  band  in  the  Japanese  political  spectrum,  further  complicates  public 
attitudes  toward  Japanese  naval  history.  Though  small  in  numbers,  its  power  to 
influence  scholarly  discourse  on  military  matters  is  out  of  proportion  to  its  size. 
While  this  influence  is  difficult  to  gauge  with  any  accuracy,  it  does  appear  to 
limit  research  into  topics  deemed  too  delicate,  such  as  the  relationship  of  the 
Imperial  family  to  the  pre-war  Navy,  or  too  revered,  such  as  the  reputation  of 
Admiral  Togo,  to  be  appropriate  subjects  for  unrestricted  scrutiny  and  discussion. 
The  authors  have  been  told  by  younger  Japanese  naval  historians  on  more  than 
one  occasion  that  foreign  researchers  are  able  to  write  about  the  Imperial  Navy 
in  ways  that  would  not  be  possible  for  them.  Such  assertions  do  not  in  any  way 
imply  that  contemporary  Japanese  naval  historians  have  maintained  anything  less 
than  the  highest  professional  standards  in  their  work,  but  they  do  indicate  that 
Japanese  researchers  are  obliged  to  be  a  bit  more  guarded  in  their  judgments  and 
in  their  choice  of  subjects  than  are  their  counterparts  in  the  West. 

Institutions  Promoting  the  Study  of  Naval  History 

The  principal  element  of  the  Japanese  government  involved  in  promoting 
the  study  of  naval  history  in  Japan  is  the  Japanese  Defense  Agency,  both  through 
its  instruction  at  the  various  service  academies  (see  below)  and  through  the 
research  activities  of  the  Military  History  Department  (Senshi-bu,  which  suc- 
ceeded the  War  History  Office)  of  the  National  Institute  for  Defense  Studies. 
Since  the  completion  of  the  Senshi  sosho  series,  the  mission  of  the  Department 
has  broadened  to  include  research  on  military  and  naval  history  in  general, 
though  the  thrust  of  its  studies  is  largely  related  to  Japan  and  the  rest  of  Asia. 
Though  the  faculty  of  the  department  contributes  to  scholarly  journals  outside 
the  Defense  Agency,  the  purpose  of  the  department  is  essentially  the  training 
and  education  of  members  of  the  Japanese  Defense  Forces. 

More  specifically  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  studies  on  the  former  Imperial 
Navy  is  the  Japanese  Navy  History  Preservation  Association  (Kaigun  Rekishi 
Hozonkai),  a  semi-governmental  foundation  affiliated  with  the  Defense  Agency. 
At  present,  the  main  efforts  of  the  association  are  directed  toward  the  compilation 
of  a  ten-to-twelve  volume  narrative  history,  with  substantial  appendices,  of  the 
Imperial  Navy. 

Two  private  institutions  promote  the  study  of  naval  history  to  varying  degrees. 
The  larger  of  these,  the  Military  History  Society  (Gunjishi  Gakkai),  was  founded 
in  1955  to  bring  together  both  scholars  and  military  professionals  interested  in 
furthering  the  study  of  military  history  in  general.  While  the  focus  of  its  interest 
is  largely  that  of  land  warfare,  its  regularly  published  journal,  Military  History 

inclusion  of  any  Japanese  commanders  from  the  Pacific  War,  such  as  Yamamoto  Isoroku,  Ozawa 
Jisaburo,  or  Nagumo  Chuichi,  could  only  create  an  image  problem  for  the  Self-Defense  Force.  Far  safer 
to  honor  an  American  naval  hero  whose  combat  experience  had  nothing  to  do  with  Japan  and  whose 
reputation,  in  any  event,  was  largely  unknown  to  the  Japanese. 


218     Japan 

[Gunjisht]  occasionally  carries  articles  of  naval  interest.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  slowly 
increasing  respectability  of  military  history  among  Japanese  academic  circles  that 
the  Society  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  Science  Council  of  Japan  in  1984. 
A  smaller  institution,  The  Navy  Library  (Kaigun  Bunko)  in  Tokyo,  is  devoted 
entirely  to  the  study  of  Japanese  naval  history  and  its  regularly  published  journal, 
Navy  History  Research  [Kaigunshi  Kenkyu],  presents  articles  almost  exclusively 
focused  on  the  Imperial  Navy  and  largely  based  on  materials  possessed  by  the 
Library. 

Resource  Collections  and  Basic  Sources 

The  library  of  the  Military  History  Department  of  the  National  Institute  for 
Defense  Studies  is  a  major  resource  for  the  study  of  Japanese  military  and  naval 
history,  housing  as  it  does  some  25,000  books,  48,000  maps,  and  146,000 
documents,  of  which  33,000  deal  with  naval  matters.  The  library  is  essentially 
closed  to  the  public,  though  limited  access  is  available  on  a  selected  basis.  The 
Kaigun  Bunko,  with  approximately  30,000  volumes,  is  somewhat  smaller  but 
similarly  valuable.  Public  access  to  the  collection  is  similarly  limited  and  granted 
selectively.  The  National  Diet  Library  also  has  a  good  number  of  important  naval 
works,  though  these  do  not  comprise  a  major  consolidated  collection,  nor  is 
there  a  specialist  in  naval  history  on  the  library  staff. 

One  of  the  principal  difficulties  in  the  study  of  Japan's  modern  naval  history 
is  the  dearth  of  primary  sources,  at  least  in  comparison  to  those  available  in  major 
archives  in  the  United  States  and  Western  Europe.  There  are  a  number  of  reasons 
for  this  state  of  affairs,  but  none  is  as  critical  as  the  wholesale  destruction  of  files 
and  documents  by  the  Japanese  military  services  and  civilian  government  in  the 
several  days  after  the  Japanese  surrender  which  ended  the  Pacific  War.  It  is 
regrettable,  but  inevitable,  therefore,  that  there  are  numerous  issues  of  major 
importance  concerning  the  Japanese  Navy  and  its  plans  and  operations  in  the 
China  and  Pacific  wars  that  will  never  be  resolved  or  which  will  be  understood 
incompletely  because  of  the  absence  of  adequate  documentation.  Of  course,  a 
significant  portion  of  the  Navy's  records  did  escape  destruction  and  the  compilers 
of  the  106— volume  Senshi  sosho,  published  from  1966  to  1980  by  the  Asagumo 
Shimbunsha,  have  exploited  these,  supplementing  them  wherever  possible  with 
diaries  and  interviews  with  former  Imperial  Army  and  Navy  officers. 

The  thirty-three  volumes  of  the  Senshi  sosho,  which  are  devoted  to  naval 
matters,  therefore,  comprise  the  most  detailed,  most  complete,  and  most 
authoritative  record  of  the  Navy's  plans,  operations,  organization,  weaponry, 
strategy  and  tactics  from  1937  to  1945.  One  can  scarcely  research  any  topic 
within  these  categories  as  they  relate  to  the  Imperial  Navy  without  consulting 
the  relevant  volumes  of  the  series.  Nevertheless  the  collection  not  only  suffers 
from  the  usual  debilities  of  official  history,  but  presents  a  number  of  problems 
to  the  serious  researcher.  A  practical  difficulty  is  that  the  series,  like  most  Japanese 


Peattle  and  Evans     21 9 

scholarly  works,  includes  neither  an  overall  index  nor  indexes  for  any  of  the 
individual  volumes.  More  serious  is  the  lack  of  any  interpretive  or  critical 
approach  to  the  subjects  treated.  This  is  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  the  hundred 
or  more  compilers  of  the  series,  most  of  them  former  members  of  the  Imperial 
armed  forces,  were  reluctant  to  critique  the  actions  of  the  major  commanders, 
most  of  whom  were  deceased  and  many  of  whom  were  their  own  superior 
officers.  More  importantly,  most  of  those  involved  in  this  huge  effort  in  research 
and  writing  were  untrained  in  historical  inquiry  and  thus  frequently  became 
absorbed  in  accumulating  enormous  detail  without  being  able  to  stand  back  and 
ask  larger  questions  of  the  material  which  came  under  their  hands,  believing, 
perhaps,  that  great  masses  of  fact  would  naturally  and  inevitably  yield  the  truth. 
A  final  and  curious  defect  in  the  series  is  the  frequent  and  unfortunate  redundancy 
from  volume  to  volume  whereby  campaigns  and  operations  are  given  in 
exhaustive  detail  from  the  standpoints  of  both  services,  a  ghostly  echo  of  the 
traditional  rivalry  between  the  Imperial  Army  and  Navy,  which  reached 
dangerous  levels  during  the  Pacific  War. 

The  Senshi  sosho  comprise  only  the  largest  and  best  known  of  the  published 
collections  which  deal,  inter  alia,  with  the  Japanese  Navy.  While  even  a  partial 
listing  of  the  histories  on  specialized  naval  topics  is  impossible  to  provide  here, 
by  way  of  example  we  note  the  History  of  Naval  Organization  [Kaigun  seido 
enkaku],  originally  produced  by  the  Navy  Ministry  in  the  1930s  and  reissued  in 
twenty-six  volumes  by  Hara  Shobo  (1971—72);  the  four— volume  History  of 
Japanese  Naval  Aviation  [Nihon  kaigun  kokilshi],  published  in  1969  and  compiled 
by  veterans  of  the  Japanese  naval  air  service:  the  History  of  Shipbuilding  in  the 
Showa  period  [Showa  zosenshi  shi\,  a  two— volume  work  published  in  1977,  of 
which  the  second  volume  is  devoted  to  naval  construction  from  the  mid— 1920s 
onward;  the  two— volume  study  of  the  Japanese  Navy's  use  of  naval  fuels  [Nihon 
kaigun  nenryoshi  shi\,  published  in  1972;  and  the  Showa  period  social  and 
economic  history  collection  of  Navy  Ministry  materials  [Showa  shakai  keizaishi 
shusei:  Kaigunsho  shiryo],  which  is  now  being  published  by  the  Daito  Bunka 
Daigaku  Toy  6  Kenkyujo  and  contains  some  important  naval  documents  not 
found  elsewhere.  When  it  is  completed  in  1995,  the  multivolume  history  of  the 
Imperial  Navy  by  the  Hozonkai,  mentioned  earlier,  will  undoubtedly  be  a  major 
resource.  Finally,  we  should  mention  the  existence  of  a  number  of  important 
diaries  of  leading  figures  in  the  prewar  and  wartime  Japanese  Navy,  including 
those  of  Kato  Kanji,  Ishikawa  Shingo,  Fujii  Shigeru,  Takagi  Sokichi,  Nagumo 
Chuichi,  and  Ugaki  Matome,  the  last  of  these  having  recently  appeared  in  an 
English  translation. 

With  very  few  exceptions,  this  material  remains  untranslated  and  thus 
inaccessible  to  those  researchers  who  cannot  read  Japanese.  But  gradually,  as  the 
number  of  Western-trained  Japanese  scholars  in  the  field  increases,  along  with 
the  number  of  Western  naval  historians  possessed  of  Japanese  language  facility, 


220      Japan 

we  in  the  West  will  gain  a  more  sophisticated  understanding  of  Japanese  naval 
history. 

Instruction  in  Naval  History 

Formal  study  of  naval  history  in  Japan  is  confined  to  the  educational 
institutions  of  the  Defense  Agency. 

At  the  Defense  Academy,  cadets  aiming  at  a  commission  in  the  Japanese 

Maritime  Self-Defense  Force  (JMSDF)  take  several  courses  that  include  naval 

affairs,  for  example,  "Technology  and  War,"  "Western  Military  History"  and 

"Contemporary  Military  History."  Naval  history  is  the  exclusive  focus  of  one 

course,  "History  of  Naval  War."  A  prospectus,  echoing  Mahan — who  enjoys  a 

high  reputation  seemingly  undiminished  by  time  and  change  among  JMSDF 
-I 

officers  - — states  that  it  "examines  the  influence  of  sea  power  on  the  rise  and  fall 
of  states."  Instructors  of  this  course  are  normally  senior  JMSDF  officers  who  have 
done  a  stint  as  scholars  of  naval  history  at  the  National  Institute  for  Defense 
Studies.  In  recent  years,  all  have  been  active  scholars.  Toyama  Saburo,  a  Pacific 
War  veteran  and  rear  admiral,  JMSDF  (ret.),  published  an  exhaustive  study  of 
the  battles  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  and  several  other  books  of  naval  battle 
history.  Nomura  Minoru,  already  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Senshi 
sosho,  wrote  on  the  Navy's  role  in  the  politics  of  the  prewar  period  and  many 
other  subjects.  Hirama  Yoichi,  the  current  Professor  of  Maritime  Defense 
Studies,  has  published  on  the  Japanese  Navy  in  World  War  I,  the  influence  of 
Sun  Tzu  on  naval  thinking,  and  other  topics. 

At  the  JMSDF  Staff  School,  lieutenants  and  lieutenant  commanders  take  part 
in  seminars  on  strategic  affairs  and  national  security  matters.  Their  work  often 
involves  naval  history,  and  they  often  publish  their  work  in  the  Staff  School 
journal,  Waves  [Hato],  though  their  studies  are  often  of  a  narrow  technical  nature. 

Maritime  History 

This  area  of  scholarship,  in  the  words  of  a  knowledgeable  Japanese  informant, 
is  "at  a  low  ebb."  Why  this  should  be  so  is  difficult  to  understand,  particularly 
given  Japan's  current  position  as  one  of  the  world's  leaders  in  maritime 
commerce.  One  reason  may  be  that  the  professional  schools  and  colleges  run  by 
the  government,  at  which  maritime  history  might  be  pursued,  have  a  strictly 
technical  and  practical  curriculum  that  excludes  such  "soft"  subjects  as  history. 
This  is  true  of  the  Maritime  Safety  (coast  guard)  Academy,  the  Marine  Technical 

Hirama  Yoichi's  recent  article,  "The  influence  of  A.T.  Mahan  on  the  Japanese  navy"  (A.T.  Mahan 
ga  Nihon  kaigun  ni  ataeta  eikyS),  Seiji  keizai  shigaku,  no.  320  (February  1993),  pp.  29-48,  documents 
the  continuing  popularity  of  Mahan,  who  is  "still  revered  as  the  god  of  sea  power."  The  most  recent 
Japanese  translation  of  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History  appeared  in  1984.  Its  editor,  Kitamura 
Ken'ichi,  admiral,  JMSDF,  Ret.,  said  in  an  interview  with  one  of  the  authors  (10  June  1986)  that  Mahan 
was  still  valid  for  today  provided  proper  allowance  was  made  for  technological  advances  since  Mahan's 
time. 


Peattie  and  Evans     221 

College,  the  Tokyo  Merchant  Marine  Academy,  the  Tokyo  College  of  Fishery 
and  the  Kobe  Merchant  Marine  Academy.  The  Tokyo  Merchant  Marine 
Academy  sponsors  the  Japan  Nautical  Association,  which  publishes  Seafaring 
[Kokai\,  but  its  articles  are  almost  all  on  technical  subjects. 

For  many  years  a  private  organization,  the  Japan  Maritime  History  Association 
has  published  a  well-respected  journal,  Studies  in  Maritime  History  [Kaijishi 
kenkyU].  Recently,  however,  the  organization  has  suffered  from  lack  of  funding. 
Further,  it  shares  the  parochialism  of  the  naval  history  establishment  in  Japan  by 
concentrating  on  Japanese  maritime  history,  primarily  that  of  the  early  and 
medieval  periods. 

One  slim  hope  for  maritime  history  in  Japan  would  seem  to  be  the  example 
of  the  just-married  Crown  Prince.  While  at  Oxford,  Naruhito  studied  medieval 
river  traffic  on  the  Thames. 


1 


Republic  of  Korea 


Kim  111  Sang 


Ancient  Korea  was  closely  tied  to  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  for  the  people 
of  Korea,  China  represented  the  external  world  almost  exclusively.  As  a 
result,  Koreans  viewed  the  Korean  peninsula  as  an  appendage  of  the  Asian 
continent  rather  than  as  a  separate  entity  poised  on  the  sea.  Given  this  landward 
focus,  ancient  Koreans  were  not  concerned  with  naval  and  maritime  affairs.  This, 
however,  does  not  mean  that  there  was  no  maritime  activity  or  sea  transporta- 
tion. It  has,  in  fact,  been  demonstrated  that  intercoastal  sea  communication 
existed,  although  limited,  as  early  as  4000  B.C.  One  example  of  this  activity  is  the 
body  of  comb-pattern  earthen  wares  which  have  been  excavated  all  along  the 
Korean  peninsula  coastline. 

The  Kokuryo  (37-66  B.C.),  Shila  (57-935  B.C.)  and  Paekche  (18-660  B.C.) 
empires  were  all  deeply  entwined  with  the  Chinese  Empire.  All  three  empires 
maintained  important  and  close  political  and  economic  relations  with  the 
Chinese.  At  the  same  time,  however,  these  empires  failed  to  develop  strong 
naval  forces,  so  their  military  systems  were  designed  to  meet  land-based  threats 
rather  than  those  from  the  sea.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  Japanese  sea  pirates 
frequently  encroached  upon  the  southern  coast  of  Korea  in  those  lean  years  of 
the  Three  Empires. 

In  1592,  Toyotomi,  then  Emperor  of  Japan,  decided  to  invade  the  Korean 
peninsula  with  the  intent  of  changing  the  international  balance  of  power  which, 
until  then,  had  been  a  hierarchy  in  terms  of  power  and  influence  with  China  at 
the  top,  Korea  in  the  middle,  and  Japan  at  the  bottom.  In  the  end,  the  Shila 
Empire  unified  the  peninsula  through  the  advantage  provided  by  their  control 
over  the  Han  River,  which  facilitated  communications  with  China.  After 
unification,  a  significant  development  in  Korean  maritime  history  was  brought 
about  by  Bo-Ko  Chang  in  A.D.  828.  He  became  a  base  commander  of  Wan-Do, 
an  island  off  the  southern  coast,  after  serving  in  the  Chinese  Army  as  a  general. 
With  the  security  Chang  provided  on  that  strategic  island,  Shilla  was  able  to 
achieve  economic  growth  through  international  trade  and  destroy  the  pirate 
menace. 


224      Republic  of  Korea 

In  1231,  the  Mongols  invaded  the  Koryo  dynasty.  The  King  of  Koryo  resisted 
the  usurpation  for  30  years  by  taking  refuge  on  Kwang-Hwa  Island.  The 
Mongols  never  completely  dominated  Korea  and,  after  30  years  conflict,  they 
made  peace.  A  number  of  important  factors  made  this  long  resistance  possible. 
First,  Kwang-Hwa  island  was  isolated  by  the  sea  and  strongly  fortified.  Addi- 
tionally, the  Koreans  built  combatant  vessels  of  various  sizes,  some  with  cannon 
aboard,  to  enhance  the  island's  defense.  Finally,  thousands  of  Koreans  were  on 
the  islands,  providing  the  manpower  base  to  continue  the  resistance. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  the  process  of  the  peace  negotiations,  the 
Mongols  asked  the  Koryos  to  join  them  in  a  combined  forces  to  invade  Japan. 
The  Koreans  agreed  to  this  request.  Two  joint  invasion  operations  failed, 
however,  because  of  bad  weather,  which  the  Japanese  called  Kami-Kaze  (God's 
Wind).  The  first  joint  invasion  force  of  1274  consisted  of  20,000  Mongol- 
Chinese  and  5,400  Koryos  in  900  ships  built  in  Koryo.  In  1281,  the  second  joint 
invading  forces  totalled  40,000  men  with  more  than  4,000  ships. 

This  mission's  failure  led  the  Japanese  to  believe  that  Koryo  and  the  Mongols 
were  militarily  weak.  Japanese  pirates  then  increased  their  encroachment  of  the 
southern  part  of  Koryo  in  the  fourteenth  century.  By  the  end  of  the  Koryo 
dynasty,  Japanese  pirates  had  become  quite  powerful.  Koreans  living  on  the 
coastlines  began  to  move  inland,  and  the  Korean  government  had  difficulty 
protecting  seaborne  commerce.  This  created  many  problems  for  Korea.  For 
instance,  the  ancient  Korean  taxation  system  was  primarily  monetary,  but  an 
important  part  involved  assessments  in  grain  (mostly  rice)  for  government  use. 
Typically,  the  local  authorities  shipped  the  grain  to  the  authorities  at  the  Imperial 
Palace  by  sea.  The  sea  pirates,  however,  interdicted  this  trade  and  contributed 
to  the  decline  of  the  Koryo  dynasty's  power.  In  fact,  the  failure  of  the  two  joint 
invasion  operations  and  the  suspension  in  shipping  tax  grain  were  the  two  most 
important  events  that  led  to  the  Koryo  dynasty's  collapse. 

The  early  fifteenth  century  witnessed  a  number  of  significant  changes  for 
Korean  maritime  affairs.  In  1408,  the  Lee  dynasty  consolidated  a  naval  force,  as 
the  number  of  vessels  increased  from  412  to  597,  and  the  number  of  the  sailors 
increased  to  49,000.  In  1413,  the  Koryo  dynasty  invented  the  turtle  ship.  In 
1415,  10,000  guns  were  manufactured. 

In  1592,  Toyotomi's  Japanese  invading  forces  attacked  Pusan  and  then 
advanced  toward  Seoul.  However,  Admiral  Soon-Shin  Lee  recovered  control 
of  the  entire  southern  part  of  the  sea  basin,  and  swept  the  enemy  from  the 
southern  part  of  the  coastline  except  for  the  Pusan  area.  Admiral  Lee  fought 
many  sea  battles  against  the  Japanese  and  won  every  engagement.  During  the 
Japanese  invasion  of  Korea,  the  most  important  sea  battles  were  fought  at 
San-Han  Myung-Yang  and  No-Ryang.  Admiral  Lee  was  killed  in  the  battle  of 
No-Ryang,  but  in  doing  so  he  saved  the  Lee  dynasty,  in  a  manner  similar  to 


Sang      225 

that  of  Nelson,  who  achieved  his  victory  over  the  French  and  Spanish  at  Trafalgar 
three  hundred  years  later. 

By  the  nineteenth  century,  a  policy  of  isolation  was  firmly  entrenched  in  both 
Japan  and  Korea.  In  1853-54,  a  U.S.  naval  squadron  under  command  of 
Commodore  Perry  took  an  aggressive  attitude  toward  Japan  with  regard  to 
opening  that  country's  ports  for  trade.  Japan,  in  the  end,  accepted  an  open  door 
policy. 

In  Korea  however,  the  "open  door"  came  with  greater  difficulty.  In  1866, 
an  American  merchantman,  the  General  Sherman,  was  burnt  by  Pyong-Yang 
officials  in  Tae-Dong  River.  The  Americans  protested  this  incident  on  Kwang- 
Hwa  island,  and  a  military  engagement  between  the  Korean  garrison  forces  and 
five  U.S.  naval  ships  ensued. 

In  1875,  Japan  took  coercive  action  toward  Korea  in  much  the  same  way  as 
Admiral  Perry  had  done  to  Japan  before.  The  Korean  peninsula  was  soon 
occupied  by  Japan,  and  an  open  door  policy  was  adopted  under  Japanese 
"guidance." 

Japan  completed  the  colonization  of  the  Korean  peninsula  following  her 
victory  over  China  in  the  Sino-Japanese  War  of  1894.  In  1904,  Japan  soundly 
defeated  the  Russian  Navy  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  One  of  the  most 
important  reasons  for  this  important  victory  was  the  Japanese  occupation  of  the 
Chinhae  Bay  of  Korea.  Later,  Japan  started  building  a  naval  base  at  that  location. 
This  Japanese  decision  is  significant  because  it  later  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the 
critical  naval  bases  supporting  Japanese  military  operations  in  the  Pacific  during 
World  War  II. 

Today,  the  geopolitical  position  of  Korea  is  similar  to  that  of  1890-1910  in 
Alfred  T.  Mahan's  terms.  It  occupies  a  strategically  central  position.  Korea's 
strategic  importance  as  a  peninsula  surrounded  by  the  four  major  powers,  U.S., 
Russia,  China,  Japan,  has  remained  significant  even  in  the  post-Cold  War  period. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  most  Korean  universities  and  colleges  do  not  cover  the 
naval  and  maritime  history,  with  the  exception  of  the  Naval  War  College.  Most 
of  them  consider  naval  and  maritime  history  only  in  connection  with  other, 
independent  aspects  of  the  nation's  history. 

The  Naval  War  College  does  cover  the  history  of  war  at  sea,  naval  tactical 
and  strategic  thought  in  the  context  of  sea  power  and  history  of  sea  power. 

The  Naval  Academy,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  system  similar  to  civilian 
universities  and  consists  of  departments  of  various  engineering,  management, 
oceanography  and  international  relations.  The  department  of  international 
relations  is  divided  into  international  politics  and  military  history.  The  school 
curriculum  does  provide  a  history  of  sea  war  in  the  third  year  of  study.  The 
National  Defense  College  and  its  post-graduate  school  cover  the  history  of  sea 
power  the  and  tactical  and  strategic  thought  of  the  great  leadership. 

Naval  and  maritime  history  is  also  considered  in  other  courses  as  follows: 


226      Republic  of  Korea 

The  Korea  Maritime  University  provides  post-graduate  education  in 
Maritime  Industry  and  the  College  of  Science  provides  degrees  in  maritime  and 
social  science. 

The  Mokpo  Merchant  Marine  Junior  college  has  departments  in  navigation, 
engineering,  and  communication. 

The  National  Fisheries  University  of  Pusan  has  colleges  of  sciences,  engineer- 
ing, humanities-social  science,  as  well  as  a  post-graduate  school  of  industry. 

The  Che  Ju  National  University  consists  of  colleges  of  humanities,  law, 
economic-commercial,  agriculture,  oceanography,  natural  science  and  en- 
gineering. 


Editor's  note:  Very  little  writing  on  Korean  naval  and  maritime  history  is  available  in  English,  but 
see  the  references  in  various  volumes  of  The  Cambridge  History  of  Japan  (Cambridge:  Univ.  Press,  various 
years);  G.M.  Hagerman,  "Lord  of  the  Title  Boats,"  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings  93  (1967),  pp. 
67-75;  Edward  D.  Rockstein,  "Maritime  Trade  and  Japanese  Pirates:  Chinese  and  Korean  Responses 
in  Ming  Times";  Asian  Pacific  Quarterly  of  Cultural  and  Social  Affairs,  vol.  5,  no.  2  (no  year  given),  pp 
10-19,  and  Sang-woon  Jeon,  Science  and  Technology  in  Korea:  Traditional  Instruments  and  Techniques 
(Cambridge:  MIT  Press,  1974). 

On  U.S.  naval  affairs,  see  Frederick  C.  Drake,  The  Empire  of  the  Seas:  A  Biography  of  Rear  Admiral 
Robert  Wilson  Shufeldt,  USN  (Honolulu:  Univ.  of  Hawaii  Press,  1984),  chapters  13-14:  "The  Opening 
of  Korea,  1881-1882,"  and  the  Korean  War  (1950-53)  sources  listed  in  Barbara  A.  Lynch  and  John  E. 
Vajda,  United  States  Naval  History:  A  Bibliography  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1993),  p.  74. 

Professor  Kim  is  Chairman  of  the  Maritime  Policy  and  Strategic  Studies  Department  of  the  Korean 
Naval  War  College.  He  is  a  1957  graduate  of  the  Korean  Naval  Academy,  and  a  captain  (retired)  in  the 
Korean  Navy  (ROK). 


19 
The  Netherlands 


Jaap  R.  Bruijn 


Historians  always  look  back.  That  is  their  profession.  Naval  and  maritime 
historians  are  no  exception  to  that  rule,  and  the  same  is  certainly  true 
for  historiographers.  Hence,  there  is  a  feeling  of  being  completely  at  sea  when 
asked  to  write  an  outline  o£  the  present  status  of  naval  and  maritime  history 
in  the  Netherlands.  While  the  present  status  has  its  history,  which  is 
worthwhile  telling,  there  is  a  reason  for  feeling  hesitant  about  the  subject: 
the  suggested  dichotomy  between  naval  and  maritime  history.  In  the 
Netherlands,  that  dichotomy  is  nonexistent.  For  this  reason,  the  Dutch 
historiography  which  I  will  now  examine  refers  only  to  sea  history  or  to 
maritime  history. 

The  Founding  Period:  A  Private  Interest 

During  the  seventeenth  century,  the  contemporary  was  aware  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Dutch  activities  at  sea.  A  surprisingly  high  number  of  books  were 
published  about  the  exploits  at  sea,  which  were  always  assured  of  wide  readership 
and  were  often  reprinted.  The  discovery  of  the  sea  route  to  Asia  and  the 
subsequent  voyages  of  the  East  India  Company  were  treated  by  I.  Commelin  in 
1645.  The  year  before,  in  1644,  a  director  of  the  West  India  Company,  J.  de 
Laet,  published  the  history  of  his  company,  year-by-year,  based  on  archival 
sources.  The  biographies  of  at  least  three  admirals  were  written  soon  after  their 
deaths.  G.  Brandt's  Life  of  Admiral  De  Ruyter,  containing  data  drawn  from  the 
admiral's  papers  and  letters,  became  famous.  Books  on  less  spectacular  topics 
such  as  the  whaling  industry  and  the  mechanisms  of  the  Amsterdam  staple 
market  were  published  as  well.     More  or  less  the  same  happened  in  the 

I.  Commelin,  Begin  ende  voortgangh  van  de  Nederlantsche  geoctroyeerde  Oost-Indische  Compagnie,  2  vols. 
(Amsterdam:  1645). 

J.  de  Laet,  Historie  qfte  jaerlijck  vethael  van  de  verrichtinghen  der geoctroyeerde  West-Indische  Compagnie  (Leiden: 
1644). 

G.  Brandt,  Het  leven  en  bedrijfvan  den  heere  Michiel  de  Ruiter  (Amsterdam:  1687).  Further,  A.  Montanus, 
Het  leven  en  bedrijf  van  den  doorluchtigen  zeeheldt  Johan  van  Galen  (Amsterdam:  1654)  and  n.n.,  Leven  en 
bedrijfvan  den  vermaarden  zeeheld  Cornelis  Tromp  (Amsterdam/Haarlem:  1692). 

C.G.  Zorgdrager,  Bloeijende  opkomst  deraloude  en  hedendaagsche  Groenlandsche  visscherij  (The  Hague:  1727) 
and  J.  le  Moine  de  l'Espine  and  J.  le  Long,  Den  Koophandel  van  Amsterdam  (Amsterdam:  1719;  3rd  ed.). 


228     The  Netherlands 

shipbuilding  industry.  Most  of  these  works  that  were  written  by  interested 
contemporaries  can  to  a  great  extent  be  considered  the  entirety  of  history  books 
written  until  the  nineteenth  century  when  a  survey  study  of  the  history  of  the 
Dutch  at  sea  was  published.  It  was  written  by  the  head  of  the  General  State 
Archive,  J.C.  de  Jonge  and  entitled  The  History  of  Dutch  Marine  Affairs,  in  ten 
volumes,  published  between  1833  and  1848.  Marine  affairs,  according  to  De 
Jonge,  were  the  'faits  et  gestes'  of  the  navy.  This  connotation  stayed  alive  for 
more  than  a  century  and  was  used  by  later  historians  as  well;  the  most  famous 
example  is  J.E.  Elias'  Sketches  from  the  History  of  our  Marine  Affairs,  six  volumes 
dealing  with  the  Eighty  Years'  War  (1568-1648),  published  between  1916  and 
1930.  Marine  affairs  were  naval  affairs.  Other  'wet'  matters  were  considered 
different  and  belonged,  though  not  explicitly,  to  the  field  of  economic  history. 
De  Jonge's  study  was  and  still  is  a  landmark.  It  describes  in  great  detail  the 
naval  activities  from  the  sixteenth  to  the  early  nineteenth  century  and  is  based 
upon  original  material,  much  of  which  was  burned  in  a  fire  in  the  Ministry  of 
the  Navy  in  1844;  hence,  the  study's  irreplacable  value.  Around  1870  de  Jonge's 
work  was  followed  by  that  of  J.J.  Backer  Dirks.  A  teacher  of  naval  history  at  the 
Royal  Naval  College  of  the  Dutch  Navy,  he  devoted  four  volumes  to  the  Dutch 
Navy  and  included  its  exploits  in  the  East  Indies  up  to  his  own  time;  he  created 

Q 

a  still  useful,  though  old-fashioned  reference  book. 

During  the  same  period  the  study  of  "non-naval"  marine  affairs  was  en- 
couraged by  competitions  held  by  learned  societies,  which  resulted  in  two 
excellent  books  on  the  history  of  early  Dutch  whaling  and  the  fishing  industry. 
The  prize  winners  were  a  young  lawyer,  later  an  archivist,  S.  Muller  Fzn,  and 
an  economist,  later  a  professor,  A.  Beaujon.  A  remarkable  event  in  1874  was 
the  opening  of  a  maritime  museum  in  a  yacht  club  at  Rotterdam.  The  heart  of 
the  exposition  was  a  collection  of  about  two  hundred  models  of  nineteenth- 
century  ships.  The  underlying  idea  was  to  stimulate  the  public's  interest  in 
seafaring  in  general.  The  display  was  in  chronological  order  and  it  dealt  with  the 
mercantile  marine,  the  navy,  and  fishing. 

New  developments  took  place  in  the  first  three  decades  of  the  twentieth 
century  when  several  naval  officers,  secondary  schoolteachers,  and  a  few  private 

N.  Witsen,  Aeloude  en  hedendaegsche  scheepsbouw  en  bestier  (Amsterdam:  1671)  and  C.  van  IJk,  De 
Nederlandsche  scheepsbouwkonst  opengestelt  (Amsterdam:  1697). 

J.C.  de  Jonge,  Geschiedenis  van  het  Nederlandsche  zeewezen,  10  vols.  (The  Hague:  1833—1848);  also 
the  annotated  second  edition  in  5  vols.  (Haarlem:  1858-1862). 

J.E.  Elias,  Schetsen  uit  de  geschiedenis  van  ons  zeewezen,  6  vols.  (The  Hague:  1916-1930). 

J.J.  Backer  Dirks,  De  Nederlandsche  zeemagt  in  hare  verschillende  tijdperken geschetst,  4  vols.  (Rotterdam: 
1865-1876). 

S.  Muller  Fzn,  Geschiedenis  der  Noordsche  Compagnie  (Utrecht:  1874)  and  A.  Beaujon,  Overzicht  der 
geschiedenis  van  de  Nederlandsche  zeevisscherijen  (Leiden:  1885). 

L.M.  Akveld,  "De  Watersport-Prins,"  in  Ph.M.  Bosscher  a.o.,  Prins  Hendrik  de  Zeevaarder  (Naarden: 
1975),  pp.  91-107. 


Bruijn      229 

scholars  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  naval  side  of  the  Dutch  Golden  Age 
(seventeenth  century)  and  in  the  discoveries  of  the  Arctic  and  in  the  East.  These 
people,  who  came  to  know  each  other,  published  and  joined  forces  in  founding 
the  Linschoten  Society  in  1908  and  the  Scheepvaartmuseum  at  Amsterdam  in 
1916.  Like  the  Hakluyt  Society,  the  Linschoten  Society  started  editing  original 
descriptions  of  sea  and  land  voyages — in  practice,  nearly  always  late  sixteenth 
and  early  seventeenth-century  sea  voyages — producing  a  new  volume  each  year. 
The  only  person  who  looked  at  the  social  aspects  of  seafaring  was  the  archivist 
J.  de  Hullu.  He  wrote  a  substantial  number  of  handsome  articles  on  life  on  board 
Dutch  East  Indiamen  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Until  the 
1970s  he  would  remain  an  exception. 

Academic  Recognition 

During  the  Interbellum,  the  leading  person  was  the  retired  naval  ofticerJ.C.M. 

Warnsinck.  He  published  several  well-written  monographs,  based  upon  good 

historical  insight  and  archival  research  in  combination  with  nautical  knowledge. 

His  great  interest  was  in  admirals,  naval  campaigns  and  battles.  He  also  made  sea 

history,  as  it  was  then  called,  academically  fashionable.  Professor  P. J.  Blok, 

prominent  historian  of  the  University  of  Leiden,  obtained  Warnsinck's  advise 

about  his  biography  of  Admiral  De  Ruyter,  published  in  1928.  Academic 

recognition  was  realized  in  1933.  In  that  year  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 

founded  the  Committee  for  Sea  History,  with  Warnsinck  as  its  secretary,  who 

also  became  an  unsalaried  university  lecturer  at  the  University  of  Amsterdam, 

and  four  years  later  at  Leiden  too.  In  1939  at  the  Univerity  at  Utrecht,  a  special 

1 9 
chair  for  the  history  of  marine  affairs  was  created  for  him. 

The  Committee  for  Sea  History  was  very  active  and  was  instrumental  in 

getting  several  good  monographs  published,  amongst  which  were  a  few  Ph.D. 

theses.  Only  two  exceptions  challenged  the  then  unwritten  rule  that  the  topics 

deal  with  seventeenth-century  naval  history.  The  publications  of  the  foreigner, 

C.R.   Boxer,   strengthened  this   trend.       During  the  years   of  the   German 

occupation,  1940-45,  books  on  naval  history  of  the  seventeenth  century  were 

popular.  The  same  was  true  for  studies  on  the  early  period  of  the  Dutch  presence 

in  Asia.  The  history  of  fishing  or  overseas  trade,  let  alone  social  or  institutional 

aspects  of  marine  affairs,  were  hardly  studied. 

J.R.  Bruijn  and  J.  Lucassen,  eds.,  Op  de  schepen  der  Oost-Indische  Compagnie.  Viff  artikelen  van  J.  de 
Hullu  (Groningen:  1980). 

For  a  short  sketch  of  Warnsinck  and  also  J.E.  Elias,  see:  Biografisch  Woordenboek  van  Nederland,  vol. 

I  (The  Hague:  1979)  and  vol.  II  (The  Hague:  1985). 

i  "\ 

On  C.R.  Boxer,  see  the  introduction  to  the  third  Dutch  editon  of  his  The  Dutch  Seaborne  Empire: 

Het  profijt  van  de  macht  (Amsterdam:  1988). 

14    For  example:  J. H.  Kernkamp,  De  handel  op  den  vijand  1572-1609,  2  vols.  (Utrecht:  1931-1934);  M. 

Simon  Thomas,  Onze  IJslandvaarders  in  de  lie  en  18e  eeuw  (Amsterdam:  1935)  and,  though  older,  J.E. 

Elias,  Het  voorspel  van  den  Eersten  Engelschen  oorlog,  2  vols.  (The  Hague:  1920). 


230     The  Netherlands 

Warnsinck  died  in  1943,  but  academic  recognition  of  sea  history  was  soon 
continued.  In  1946  the  university  at  Leiden  appointed  former  naval  officer  and 
professional  historian  T.H.  Milo,  professor  of  colonial  history  and  the  history  of 
marine  affairs.  Milo's  Ph.D.  topic  had  broken  with  the  seventeenth-century 
tradition.  It  dealt  with  a  Dutch  naval  expedition  during  the  French  Revolution- 
ary wars.  Milo  focussed  his  research  interest  on  two  projects:  1)  the  edition  of 
documents  on  late  sixteenth-century  naval  administration  and  campaigns,  and 
2)  a  study  of  the  Dutch  Navy  during  World  War  II.  Meanwhile  a  few  of 
Warnsinck's  students  continued  publishing.  Abroad,  Boxer  was  joined  by  C. 
Wilson  in  his  interest  in  Dutch  history.  The  Dane,  K.  Glamann,  was  the  first 
(foreign)  student  who  did  serious  research  into  Dutch  trade  with  Asia  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

A  Difficult  Period  (c.  1955-1975) 

The  future  looked  bright  for  sea  history  during  the  early  fifties.  There  were, 
however,  symptoms  of  gloom.  Milo's  lectures  always  attracted  a  reasonable 
number  of  students,  but  very  few  of  them  started  research  of  their  own.  Both 
of  Milo's  two  projects  failed.  In  1960,  after  his  sudden  death,  no  obvious 
successor  was  available.  His  chair  was  abolished.  The  Committee  for  Sea  History 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  had  no  manuscripts  suitable  for  publication. 
Volume  13  appeared  in  1955,  and  it  would  be  fifteen  years,  before  volume  14 
was  published.  Up  till  then,  publication  of  yearbooks  and  special  exhibitions  had 
stimulated  directors  and  staff  of  the  two  great  museums  at  Rotterdam  and 
Amsterdam  to  jot  down  the  results  of  their  investigations.  That  custom  lapsed 
into  disuse. 

In  1961  two  former  students  of  Warnsinck,  R.E.J.  Weber  and  Miss  A.M.P. 
Mollema,  who  were  worried  about  the  status  of  sea  history,  founded  the 
Nederlandse  Vereniging  voor  Zeegeschiedenis  (Dutch  Society  for  Sea  History). 
At  the  start  they  collected  sixty  members.  A  newsletter  was  published.  The  new 
society  also  acted  as  a  national  subcommittee  of  the  recently  founded  Commis- 
sion Internationale  d'Histoire  Maritime. 

The  society  was  well  and  enthusiastically  received,  and  its  membership 
increased  rapidly.  Nevertheless,  the  situation  remained  difficult.  The  great 
majority  of  the  members  only  took  an  amateur's  interest  in  the  past,  though  in 
their  professional  life  they  were  often  actively  involved  in  the  shipping  busi- 
nesses. Those  members  seldom  published,  and  professional  sea  historians  were 
scarce  indeed.  Despite  this  handicap,  the  newsletter  slowly  increased  in  scope 

T.H.  Milo,  Degeheime  onderhandelingen  tusschen  de  Bataafsche  en  Fransche  Republieken  van  1 195  tot  1 191 
in  uerband  met  de  expeditie  van  schout  bij  nacht  E.  Lucas  naar  de  Kaap  de  Goede  Hoop  (Den  Helder:  1942). 
On  Milo  see  Biograftsch  Woordenboek  van  Nederland,  vol.  IV  (The  Hague:  1994). 

C.  Wilson,  Profit  and  power;  a  study  of  England  and  the  Dutch  wars  (London:  1957)  and  K.  Glamann, 
Dutch-Asiatic  trade  1620-1140  (The  Hague:  1958). 


Bruljn      231 

and  quality  of  content.  The  variety  of  topics  became  vast.  And,  not  in  vain,  at 
its  inaugural  meeting  the  society  stipulated  that  sea  history  was  more  than  naval 

1  7 

history.  Dutch  historians  in  general  took  a  growing  interest  in  economic  and 
social  aspects  of  centuries  other  than  the  seventeenth.  That  line  was  folio  wed  by 
the  society  and  its  biannual  publication. 

Although  the  time  period  of  sea  history  that  was  being  studied  was  broadened, 
naval  and  maritime  history  were  artificially  separated  in  1972.  The  tables, 
however  were  now  reversed.  In  that  year,  the  Historical-Scientific  Commission 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  began  an  investigation  into  the  status  of 
historical  research.  It  proclaimed  sea  history  a  field  of  its  own,  dealing  with  social 
and  economic  aspects  of  seafaring.  Naval  history  was  attached  to  military  history, 
and  the  historical  department  of  the  Navy,  founded  in  1946,  was  considered  its 
main  representative. 

Revitalization  (c.  1975-present) 

De  Jonge's  interpretation  of  marine  matters  as  identical  with  naval  matters 
definitely  belonged  to  the  past.  And  in  the  mid  and  late  seventies  some  important 
developments  took  place,  which  resulted  in  a  revitalization  of  the  study  of  sea 
history  as  a  natural  entity. 

Perhaps  all-important  were  the  conception,  writing  and  publication  of  a 

1 Q 

four-volume  Maritime  History  of  the  Low  Countries  between  1974  and  1978.  All 
volumes  had  the  same  structure,  and  the  dividing  lines  for  periods  were 
innovative:  c.  1585,  c.  1680,  and  c.  1850—70.  The  approach  was  thematic.  Each 
volume  started  with  chapters  on  ships  and  shipbuilding,  ports,  shipowning, 
seafarers,  and  navigation.  Next  came  the  operational  chapters  on  the  five 
different  Dutch  branches  of  seafaring:  the  mercantile  marine  in  Europe  and 
outside  Europe  (mainly  Asia  and  the  Americas),  fishing,  whaling,  and  the  Navy. 
An  annotated  bibliography  was  added  to  each  chapter.  Lacunae  were  indicated. 
Right  from  the  beginning  it  was  obvious  that  such  a  book  could  be  written  only 
by  a  team  of  authors.  To  prevent  delays  in  time,  no  author  was  asked  for  more 
than  two  chapters;  thirty-seven  authors  committed  themselves.  Most  of  them 
got  to  know  each  other,  and  this  often  proved  fruitful  in  later  days.  All  chapters 
in  a  volume  were  read  in  draft  by  all  authors  contributing  to  that  volume.  The 
Maritime  History  of  the  Low  Countries  was  well  received  and  several  thousand  of 
the  four-volume  set  were  sold,  to  the  delight  of  the  publisher  as  well  as  the 
authors. 

The  new  handbook,  which  included  the  Netherlands  as  well  as  Belgium, 
made  any  idea  about  a  dichotomy  between  naval  and  maritime  history  obsolete. 

1  7 

Mededelingen  Nederlandse  Vereniging  voor  Zeegeschiedenis,  vol.  1  (1961),  p.  6. 

Rapport  over  de  huidige  stand  en  toekomstige  planning  van  het  wetenschappelijk  onderzoek  der  Nederlandse 
geschiedenis  (Amsterdam:  1974),  pp.  7,  33-5  and  126-38. 

Maritieme  Geschiedenis  der  Nederlanden,  4  vols.  (Bussum:  1976-78). 


232      The  Netherlands 

The  five  branches  of  seafaring  have  their  common  base  in  the  chapters  on  ships, 
seamen,  navigation,  and  administrators.  Only  their  operations  are  different, 
having  their  own  characteristics.  Since  that  time  the  teaching  of  maritime  history 
has  been  structured  along  this  concept. 

A  second  development  in  the  seventies  occurred  at  the  universities.  The 
democratization  of  the  Dutch  society  made  an  academic  education  possible  for 
larger  sections  of  the  population.  The  enrollment  of  students  overall  increased 
enormously,  as  it  did  in  the  departments  of  history.  Lectures  and  research 
seminars  in  sea  or  maritime  history  at  the  university  at  Leiden  also  got  their  share 
of  this  students'  boom.  At  Leiden,  a  lectureship  in  maritime  history  had  been 
created  in  1968,  followed  by  a  readership  in  1977,  and  three  years  later  converted 
into  a  chair.  From  1978,  a  steady  stream  of  completed  Ph.D.  theses  in  maritime 
history  began  to  flow. 

A  third  development  was  the  growing  internationalization  of  the  study  of 
maritime  history.  The  International  Commission  for  Maritime  History  (the 
French  name  disappeared  when  M.  Mollat's  initiative  became  widely  accepted) 
held  a  conference  every  five  years,  bringing  together  scholars  from  different 
countries.  Their  attention  always  focussed  on  one  well-prepared  theme.  Also, 
general  trends  in  the  study  of  history  at-large  could  no  longer  escape  the  maritime 
historian's  notice.  Smaller  international  meetings  became  popular,  where  staff 
members  of  universities,  research  institutes,  and  museums  discussed  one  special 
topic  or  period.  The  International  Commission  for  Maritime  Museums  and  its 
meetings  also  stimulated  wider  cooperation. 

Factor  number  four  in  revitalizing  the  world  of  Dutch  maritime  historians 
was  the  Dutch  Society  for  Maritime  History.  Its  membership  increased  vastly 
and  reached  about  five  hundred  around  1980.  But  its  journal,  in  particular, 
became  the  vehicle  for  an  exchange  of  research  products.  The  original  newsletter 
was  transformed  into  a  proper  journal  with  articles,  book  reviews,  and  a 
bibliography.  In  1982  the  name  was  changed  from  Communications  to  Journal for 

21 

Maritime  History.  The  bibliography  had  become  so  vast  and  elaborate  that 
journals  abroad  republished  sections  of  it. 

Summing  up  the  main  trends  of  the  past  fifteen  to  twenty  years,  one  can 
observe,  firstly,  that  the  four-volume  Maritime  History  of  the  Low  Countries 
functions  as  a  book  of  reference  and  a  starting  point  for  most  research.  Secondly, 
more  students  of  maritime  history  with  an  academic  background  are  now 
available.  Thirdly,  Dutch  maritime  historians  actively  participate  in  international 

One  of  the  first  students  was  Frank  J.  A.  Broeze,  who  in  1971  was  invited  to  start  a  course  in  maritime 
history  at  the  University  of  Western  Australia  (Nedlands).  His  Ph.D.  degree  was  awarded  at  Leiden  in 
1978.  The  author  of  this  article  was  appointed  to  the  Leiden-positions. 

91 

Mededelingen  Nederlandse  Vereniging  uoor  Zeegeschiedenis  vol.  1-27  (1961-73)  quarto,  vols.  28-43 
(1974-81)  octavo;  Tijdschrift  voor  Zeegeschiedenis  vols.  1  (1982)  in  two  issues  per  year  (vol.  13,  first  issue 
has  just  been  published). 


Bruijn      233 

organizations  and  meetings,  and  fourthly,  the  Journal  is  being  offered  so  many 
manuscripts  that  its  editorial  board  can  be  very  selective.  Special  issues  have 
become  possible. 

The  Present  Organizational  Status 

Those  who  are  interested  in  maritime  history  in  the  Netherlands,  one  might 
safely  say,  are  members  of  the  Dutch  Society.  At  present,  about  650  members 
are  registered.  The  Journal  is  considering  three  issues  per  year.  The  financial 
means  have  grown.  Publishers'  advertisements  and  flyers  are  holding  the  costs 
down. 

The  wide  range  of  maritime  museums — the  two  great  ones  at  Rotterdam  and 
Amsterdam  plus  a  variety  of  specialized  or  regional  ones — -all  restrict  themselves 
firstly  to  the  preservation  and  exposition  of  artifacts  of  all  kinds.  For  the  major 
museums,  which  are  highly  dependent  on  state  or  municipal  funds  as  well  as 
activities  that  raise  sponsorships,  increasing  the  number  of  visitors  to  museums 
has  become  top  priority.  Sometimes  an  occasional  lecture  is  organized  in  relation 
to  a  special  exhibition.  Museum  publications  are  rare  indeed,  though  the 
Shipping  Museum  at  Amsterdam  has  re-established  its  former  tradition  of 
publishing  a  yearbook  with  object-related  articles.  The  regional  museum  at 
Sneek  in  Friesland  never  abandoned  that  good  tradition  and  is,  incidentally,  not 
afraid  to  publish  an  M.A.  thesis  or  an  article  of  wider  importance.  The  libraries 
in  the  museums  also  keep  manuscripts  and  regularly  attract  research  students.  By 
and  large,  however,  one  must  say  that  Dutch  maritime  museums  do  not  function 
as  active  centers  of  research. 

As  to  the  actual  teaching  of  naval,  and  nowadays  maritime,  history,  the  Royal 
Naval  College  at  Den  Helder  has  the  oldest  tradition.  All  naval  cadets  must  take 
a  short  course  in  history.  This  same  requirement  existed  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  though  naval  battles  then  did  not  have  to  compete  with  social  structures. 
Teaching  the  history  is  a  part-time  job  and  in  the  past  seldom  fulfilled  by  one 
person  for  a  long  period.  The  most  renowned  teacher  was  Backer  Dirks,  the 
author  of  the  nineteenth  century  handbook.  A  well-known  teacher  in  the  sixties 
and  seventies  was  Ph.M.  Bosscher,  who  finally  wrote  a  three-volume  history  of 
the  Dutch  Navy  in  the  second  World  War,  the  work  his  former  professor,  T.H. 
Milo,  had  only  started.  In  1980  the  position  of  naval  history  at  the  college  was 
strenghtened  by  the  appointment  of  G.  Teitler  as  professor  of  strategic  studies. 
His  main  research  interest  being  in  the  strategic  position  of  the  Navy  in  the 
former  Dutch  East  Indies. 

J.C.M.  Warnsinck's  appointment  at  the  universities  at  Amsterdam,  Leiden, 
and  Utrecht  in  the  thirties  only  had  a  sequence  at  Leiden  with  a  chair  in  maritime 

Jaarboek  Fries  Scheepvaartmuseum  en  Oudheidkamer.  See  for  example,  G.  Groenhof,  "De  N.V.  Friesche 
Kofscheepsrederij  (1839-1859),"  in  Jaarboek  1989,  pp.  46-115. 
23    Ph.M.  Bosscher,  De  Koninklijke  Marine  in  de  Tweede  Wereldoorlog,  3  vols.  (Franeker:  1984-1990). 


234     The  Netherlands 

or  sea  history.  No  other  university  created  facilities  for  teaching  maritime  history. 
In  1992,  however,  FJ.A.M.  Meijer,  senior  lecturer  in  ancient  history,  was  appointed 
extra-ordinary  professor  of  the  Maritime  History  and  Archaeology  of  Classical 
Antiquity  at  the  university  of  Amsterdam.  To  my  knowledge  Meijer  is  the  first 
professor  combining  history  and  archaeology  in  teaching  and  research. 

The  academic  staff  for  maritime  history  at  Leiden  university  includes  one  full 
professor  and  a  half-time  senior  lecturer,  F.S.  Gaastra,  and  a  few  research 
students.  The  teaching  is  at  several  levels  and  is  always  optional  for  students.  An 
introductory  lecture  course  is  in  two  parts,  one  dealing  with  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  other  with  the  modern  time,  each  for  two  hours 
during  twelve  weeks.  Point  of  reference  for  this  course  is  the  Maritime  History  of 
the  Low  Countries,  but  the  scope  is  also  international:  British,  American,  and 
German  aspects  are  treated  as  well.  A  short  introduction  into  archival  work  is 
also  included  in  the  course  (often  the  reading  of  early  modern  ship  logs),  plus 
visits  to  two  maritime  museums  to  discuss  museum  policy  with  staff  members. 
An  oral  exam  based  upon  the  course  work  and  some  additional  reading 
completes  this  course.  The  number  of  students  per  part  differs  annually,  but  is 
mainly  in  the  range  often  to  twenty.  Each  year  there  are  also  thematic  classes, 
often  given  by  research  students.  Such  a  class  studies  the  literature  and  printed 
sources  on  one  general  theme  as,  for  instance,  the  modernization  of  the 
nineteenth-century  navy,  mutinies,  passenger  transport  or  naval  administration 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  These  classes  take  two  weekly  hours  during  twelve 
weeks,  and  the  student  must  write  a  paper.  Research  is  done  in  special  seminars, 
one  or  two  per  year.  A  seminar  is  twenty-four  weeks  long.  The  main  body  of 
the  research  material  has  to  be  investigated  in  the  archives;  research  papers  always 
bring  new  information.  The  themes  vary  greatly,  from  the  Dutch  whaling 
industry  after  the  Second  World  War  and  the  shipping  policy  of  the  Dutch 
Trading  Company  (NHM)  to  the  careers  of  East  India  captains  and  the  lives  of 
fishermen's  wives.  The  number  of  participants  is  always  between  eight  and 
sixteen.  A  lecture  course  of  twelve  weeks  on  a  broad  theme  was  begun  in  1989, 
and  it  is  open  to  students  as  well  as  to  interested  people  from  outside  the 
university. 

Individual  research  work  is  done  for  the  M.A.  thesis  and  the  Ph.D.  degree. 
The  topic  is  the  student's  choice  or  as  advised  by  the  staff.  The  M.A.  thesis  is 
supposed  to  take  at  least  six  months  and  is  the  last  piece  of  work  before  leaving 
the  university.  Work  for  the  Ph.D.  degree  does  not  require  enrollment  and  is 
done  either  in  one's  private  time  or  in  the  scarce  position  of  research  student  for 
which  one  has  to  apply.  The  supervision  is  on  on  a  personal  but  regular  basis, 
though  groups  of  Ph.D.  students  meet  together  in  bimonthly  sessions;  about 

FJ.A.M.  Meijer,  Een  duik  in  een  zee  van  bronnen.  Oude  Geschiedenis  vanafde  bodem  van  de  Middellandse 
Zee,  inaugural  address  30  March  1993  (Amsterdam:  1993);  see  Warnsinck,  note  12. 


Bruijn      235 

twenty  dissertations  are  in  preparation,  a  few  even  abroad.  The  topics  deal  with 
the  sixteenth  to  the  twentieth  centuries. 

The  research  potential  can  be  divided  into  three  categories.  The  greater  part 
of  original  research  is  from  the  Ph.D.  students  and  from  the  staff  members  at 
Den  Helder,  Leiden  and  some  other  universities.  Next  is  the  group  of  amateur 
maritime  historians  who  devote  their  leisure  time  to  their  favorite  topics.  They 
are  not  very  numerous,  but  the  share  of  those  with  an  academic  background  is 
increasing.  There  is,  however,  a  third,  not  yet  mentioned  category  of  researchers: 
the  academic  staff  of  the  department  of  Maritime  (!)  History  at  The  Hague.  This 
department  of  the  Naval  Staff  of  the  Ministry  of  Defense  is  committed  to 
stimulating  research  and  publications  on  the  Navy,  publishing  its  own  in  first 
instance.  Though  the  production  has  not  yet  been  particularly  impressive,  the 
department's  potential  promises  well. 

This  gets  us  straight  on  to  the  last  organizational  aspect:  the  publishing 
facilities.  In  1985  the  Department  of  Maritime  History  at  The  Hague  substan- 
tially enhanced  these  facilities  by  starting  the  publication  of  a  series  of  books 
called  Contributions  to  Dutch  Naval  History.  Volume  6  was  published  in  1992. 
In  1972  the  Committee  for  Sea  History  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 
resumed  its  publications.  Volume  18  appeared  in  1990.  The  Linschoten  Society 
never  stopped  its  activities  and  continues  editing  descriptions  of  sea  and  land 
travels:  volume  92  in  1993.  Even  more  important  is  the  interest  in  maritime 
history  demonstrated  by  several  publishing  houses,  an  interest  that  tends  to  shift 
from  one  house  to  another  over  the  course  of  time.  In  the  seventies  De  Boer 
Maritiem  was  a  prolific  publisher,  but  was  forced  to  give  it  up.  In  the  eighties, 
other  smaller  ones  took  over:  De  Bataafsche  Leeuw,  Walburg  Press,  Van  Wijnen 
and  Verio ren,  for  example.  They  have  published  many  a  Ph.D  thesis  as  a 
monograph.  Modern  equipment  and  the  heigtened  birth  of  one-man  publishing 
houses  has  facilitated  the  printing  of  manuscripts — an  asset  for  young  scholars 
who  want  to  have  their  dissertations  published. 

Production  and  Trends 

The  days  of  naval  campaigns  and  discoveries  as  the  most  favored  topics  in 
maritime  historiography  have  long  gone.  The  study  of  maritime  history  now 
figures  in  the  study  of  history  as  an  academic  discipline.  Therefore,  it  is  regularly 
being  influenced  by  new  ideas  about  the  relevant  approaches  of  the  past. 
Economic,  social  and  institutional  aspects  are  studied  as  well  as  mental  and 
technical  ones.  Statistics  are  common  features  in  many  publications.  These 
aspects  also  permeate  the  publications  of  some  amateur  historians. 

The  production  over,  say,  the  past  twenty  years  has  been  carefully  registered 
in  the  extensive  bibliography  in  each  issue  of  the  Communications  (later  the  Journal 


25 


The  Dutch  name  is:  Bijdragen  tot  de  Nederlandse  Marinegeschiedenis. 


236     The  Netherlands 

for  Maritime  History  of  the  Dutch  Society).  Dutch  titles  are  intermingled  with 
foreign  ones.  A  quantitative  approach  to  the  production  is  feasible,  but  I  rather 
prefer  to  point  out  the  main  trends  of  the  publications,  which  cover  the  early 
modern  and  modern  periods  evenly.  The  sixteenth  century  and  the  Middle  Ages 
have  received  less  attention  than  later  periods. 

The  general  themes  which  cross  the  ages  and  trades  are  ships,  ports,  navigation 
and  seamen.  As  to  ships,  there  were  hardly  any  typically  Dutch,  apart  from  the 
fluyts.  Hence  the  focus  in  Dutch  publications  is  more  on  shipbuilding:  ship 
carpenters'  guilds  by  R.W.  Unger,  the  East  India  Company  dockyard  at 
Amsterdam  by  J.  Gawronski,  nineteenth  century-naval  engineers  and  innova- 
tions  by  J.M.  Dirkzwager  and  A. A.  Lemmers.  Shipbuilding  was  also  an 
important  industrial  activity  in  the  late  nineteenth  and  twentieth  century.  Most 
shipyards  have  now  gone.  Their  rise  and  fall  have  been  studied  neither  for  the 
industry  as  a  whole  nor  for  any  of  the  main  yards.  Some  archives  have  been  saved 
from  destruction.  The  demise  of  the  major  shipyards  around  1980  has  been 
investigated  by  a  parliamentary  commission  and  has  produced  huge  files  of 
documentation,  on  government  interference  in  particular.  Financial  problems 
in  the  1980s  surrounding  the  construction  of  submarines  had  the  same  very 
attractive  opportunity  for  historians.  As  to  the  Navy,  the  history  of  their 
dockyards  from  the  late  sixteenth  century  to  the  present  day  is  mainly  a  blank. 

Ports  and  port  cities  have  not  been  studied  intensely.  CM.  Lesger  set  a  fine 
standard  in  1990.  He  studied  Hoorn  in  the  early  modern  times,  regarding  this 
port  city  as  part  of  a  network  and  central  location  system.  J. P.  Sigmond  published 
a  handsome  survey  of  the  planning  and  digging  of  smaller  and  greater  harbors 
from  the  sixteenth  to  eighteenth  centuries.  For  ports  in  the  modern  period,  some 
studies  of  a  different  nature  have  become  available;  for  instance,  two  monographs 
on  post-Second  World  War  labor  relations  in  the  port  of  Rotterdam  and  the 
cooperation  between  international  liner  shipping,  stevedoring,  and  road  haulage 
industry  at  Rotterdam  in  the  container  era.  Two  articles  deal  with  Rotterdam's 
tariff  policy  and  Amsterdam's  efforts  to  invest  in  its  infrastructure  before  World 
War  II.     Social  and  financial  aspects  of  seamen's  lives  in  port  cities  were  also 

R.W.  Unger,  Dutch  Shipbuilding  before  1800  (Assen/Amsterdam:  1978);  J.  Gawronski's  book  on 
wrecks  of  East  Indiamen  and  shipbuilding  at  Amsterdam  in  the  1740s  will  be  published  in  1994;  J.M. 
Dirkzwager,  Dr.  B.J.  Tideman  1834-1883.  Grondlegger  van  de  modeme  scheepsbouw  in  Nederland  (Leiden: 
1970)  and  some  recent  articles  from  his  hand  in  the  Tijdschrift  voor  Zeegeschiedenis;  A. A.  Lemmers  is 
preparing  a  Ph.D.  thesis  based  on  the  huge  collection  of  late  18th  and  19th  century  naval  models  and 
instruments,  kept  in  the  Rijksmuseum  at  Amsterdam. 

27   Enquete  Rijn-Schelde-Verolme  (RSV),  Tweede  Kamer,  vergaderjaar  1984-1985,  17817,  no.  16.  Het 
Walrusproject.  Besluituorming  en  uituoering,  Algemene  Rekenkamer  September  1985. 

CM.  Lesger,  Hoom  ah  stedelijk  knooppunt.  Stedensystemen  tijdens  de  late  middeleeuwen  en  vroeg  modeme 
tijd  (Hilversum:  1990);  J.P.  Sigmond,  Nederlandse  zeehavens  tussen  1500  en  1800  (Amsterdam:  1989);  E. 
Nijhof,  "Gezien  de  dreigende  onrust  in  de  haven.  .  .  ."  De  ontwikkeling  van  de  arbeidsverhoudingen  in  de 
Rotterdamse  haven  1945-1965  (Amsterdam:  1988);  H.  van  Driel,  Samenwerking  in  haven  en  vervoer  in  het 
containertijdperk  (Rotterdam:   1990);  A.H.  Flierman,  '"This  much  too  high  retribution.'  Municipal 


Bruijn      237 

touched  upon.  The  evolution  and  transformation  of  modern  port  cities,  as 
entities  has  not  yet  been  tackled. 

The  art  of  navigation,  the  education  of  it,  the  maps  and  the  instruments  have 
been  carefully  studied  by  C.A.  Davids,  G.G.  Schilder,  and  W.FJ.  Morzer  Bruyns; 
their  results  have  been  widely  published.  The  main  developments  and  many 
details  are  now  known  for  the  early  modern  period,  not  only  for  European  and 
Atlantic  waters,  but  also  for  the  Indian  Ocean.  Navigational  education  during 
the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries  was  the  theme  of  a  special  issue  of  the 
Journal  in  1985.  Elly  Decker  introduced  research  into  the  influence  of 
astronomers  on  the  development  of  navigation  technology.  This  side  of 
maritime  history  during  the  modern  period  requires  specialized  knowledge. 

The  fourth  and  last  general  theme  regards  the  seamen,  popular  since  the  1970s. 
It  was  started  in  the  eighteenth  century  with  studies  of  naval  and  East  Indian 
personnel.  It  was  mainly  quantitative:  total  numbers,  geographical  origins,  and 
wages.  Pay  and  muster  rolls  provided  the  information.  Not  only  the  officer,  but 
also  the  common  seaman  was  of  interest.  The  relevant  chapters  of  the  Maritime 
History  of  the  Low  Countries  presented  estimates  of  the  labor  force  employed  by 
all  seafaring  branches.  In  the  early  eighties,  studies  of  a  more  qualitative  nature 
began  to  be  published.  It  is  likely  that  a  reissue  of  J.  de  Hullu's  innovating  articles 
on  life  on  board  East  Indiamen  had  a  stimulating  effect.  Davids  wrote  about 
music  and  songs  on  board  sailing  vessels,  mutinies  were  studied,  and  P.C.  van 
Royen  published  a  book  on  the  social  side  of  the  mercantile  marine  around 
1700.     Seamen's  unions  also  came  into  the  picture  and  the  same  is  true  of  social 

harbour  fees  and  the  competiviness  of  the  port  of  Rotterdam  1900-1940,"  and  M.  Wagenaar, 
"Amsterdam  harbour  between  1850"  and  "1940:  from  national  focus  to  regional  prop,"  both  in  L.M. 
Akveld  and  J.R.  Bruijn  (eds.),  Shipping  Companies  and  Authorities  in  th  19th  and  20th  Centuries  (The 
Hague:  1989),  pp.  87-106  and  107-24  resp. 

M.A.  van  Alphen,  "The  Female  Side  of  Dutch  Shipping:  Financial  Bonds  of  Seamen  Ashore  in  the 
17th  and  18th  Centuries,"  in  J.R.  Bruijn  and  W.FJ.  Morzer  Bruyns,  eds.,  Anglo-Dutch  Marine  Relations 
1700-1850  (Amsterdam-Leiden:  1991),  pp.  125-32;  J.R.  Bruijn,  "Seamen  in  Dutch  Ports:  c.  1700-c. 
1914,"  in  Mariner's  Mirror,  65  (1979),  pp.  327-38. 

The  most  important  publication  is  C.A.  Davids,  Zeewezen  en  wetenschap.  De  wetenschap  en  de 
ontwikkeling  van  de  nauigatietechniek  in  Nederland  tussen  1585  en  1815  (Amsterdam-Dieren:  1986),  an 
extensive  bibliography  included.  For  later  publications  see  the  Joumafs  bibliography.  Further,  E.  Dekker, 
"Frederik  Kaiser  en  zijn  pogingen  tot  hervorming  van  'Het  sterrekundig  deel  van  onze  zeevaart,'"  in 
A.  de  Knecht-van  Eekelen  and  G.  Vanpaemel,  eds.,  Met  zicht  op  zee.  Zeewetenschappelijk  onderzoek  in  de 
Lage  Langen  na  1800  (Amsterdam:  1990),  pp.  23-41. 

31  J.R.  Bruijn,  "Dutch  Men-of-War:  Those  on  board  c.  1700-1750,"  in  Acta  Historiae  Neerlandicae: 
Studies  on  the  History  of  the  Netherlands,  vol.  7  (The  Hague:  1974),  pp.  88—121;  idem,  "De  personeelsbehoefte 
van  de  VOC  overzee  en  aan  boord,  bezien  in  Aziatisch  en  Nederlands  perspectief,"  in  Bijdragen  in 
Mededelingen  Geschiedenis  der  Nederlanden  91,  1976,  pp.  218—48;  for  a  correction,  see  K.L.  van 
Schouwenburg's  articles  in  Tijdschrifi  voor  Zeegeschiedenis  7  (1988),  pp.  76-93  and  8  (1989),  pp.  179-86. 

C.A.  Davids,  Wat  lijdt  den  zeeman  al  uerdriet:  Het  Nederlandse  zeemanslied  in  de  zeiltijd  (1600-1900) 
(The  Hague:  1980);  P.C.  van  Royen,  Zeevarenden  op  de  koopvaardijvloot  omstreeks  1700  (Amsterdam: 
1987);  J.R.  Bruijn  and  E.S.  van  Eyck  van  Heslinga,  Muitery.  Oproer  en  berechting  op  schepen  van  de  VOC 
(Haarlem:  1980).  For  de  Hullu,  see  note  11. 


238     The  Netherlands 

legislation.  The  medical  side  did  not  escape  the  maritime  historian's  attention 
either.  Research  into  a  number  of  detailed  aspects  is  making  good  progress. 
Time  is  almost  ripe  for  overview  monographs  for  each  branch  of  seafaring.  One 
thing,  indeed,  has  become  clear:  the  background  of  seamen  differed  with  each 
branch.  A  seaman  did  not  switch  between  the  Navy  and  the  mercantile  marine, 
as  was  the  case  for  his  British  colleagues.  The  traditional  influx  of  foreign  labor 
on  Dutch  ships  made  the  situation  even  more  complex.  The  theme  of  seamen 
suits  an  international  comparitive  approach:  numbers,  level  of  wages,  and 
movement  of  labor. 

Coming  now  to  the  five  different  branches  of  seafaring,  one  can  establish  that 
two  have  been  studied  intensively  in  the  recent  past:  the  whaling  trade  and  the 
East  India  Company  (in  Dutch:  VOC).  The  Dutch  played  a  prominent  role  in 
early  whaling  in  the  Arctic.  At  its  peak  (1721),  nearly  260  ships  were  involved. 
The  South- African  economic  historian  C.  de  Jong  wrote  a  good,  though  not 
easily  accessible  survey  of  two  centuries  of  Dutch  whaling  (the  17th  and  18th). 
A.M.  van  der  Woude  integrated  the  whaling  industry  into  the  social,  economic 
and  demographic  structure  of  the  northern  part  of  the  province  of  Holland.  P. 
Dekker  studied  the  careers  of  several  masters  of  whaling  vessels.  Innovative, 
because  of  its  multi-disciplinary  approach,  is  L.  Hacquebord's  study  of  the  first 
Dutch  whaling  activities  and  settlements  on  Svalbard  in  the  first  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  He  puts  the  numbers  of  vessels  involved  into  the  right 
perspective  and  proves  that  new  patterns  in  whaling  were  caused  by  climatical 
changes.  FJ.A.  Broeze  has  demonstrated  why  the  Dutch  failed  to  participate  in 
nineteenth-century  whaling  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere.  The  post- World  War 
II  activities  in  the  Antarctic  have  also  been  studied.  Further  whaling  research 
will  probably  serve  only  to  refine  the  available  knowledge. 

The  story  of  research  into  the  VOC  is  an  interesting  one.  In  the  sixties,  Dutch 
society  in  general  did  not  want  to  be  reminded  of  its  colonial  past  in  Asia. 
Colonial  history  was  out  of  date.  In  the  early  seventies,  however,  interest  in  the 
maritime  aspects  of  the  VOC  was  regenerated  by  the  university  at  Leiden     and 

J.M.W.  Binneveld  and  F.S.  Gaastra,  "Organisatie  en  conflict  van  een  vergeten  groep,"  in  Economisch- 
en  Sociaal-Historischjaarboek  35  (1972),  pp.  303-23;  J.R.  Bruijn,  "Marinevakbonden  tussen  wereldoorlog 
en  muiterij  (1914-1933),"  in  Tijdschrift  voor  Zeegeschiedenis  9  (1990),  pp.  135-57;  A.E.  Leuftink,  Harde 
heelmeesters:  Zeelieden  en  hun  dokters  in  de  18e  eeuw  (Zutphen:  1991). 

C.  de  Jong,  De  geschiedenis  van  de  oude  Nederlandse  walvisvaart,  3  vols.  (Pretoria:  1972-1979);  A.M. 
van  der  Woude,  Het  Noorderkwartier  (Wageningen:  1972);  FJ.A.  Broeze,  "Whaling  in  the  Southern 
Oceans.  The  Dutch  Quest  for  Southern  Whaling  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  in  Economisch-  en 
Sociaal-Historischjaarboek  40  (1977),  pp.  66-112;  WJJ.  Boot,  De  Nederlandsche  Maatschappij  voor  de 
Walvischvaart  (Amsterdam:  1987);  J.R.  Bruijn,  "De  Nederlandse  Maatschappij  voor  de  Walvisvaart, 
1946-1967,"  in  Economisch-  en  Sociaal-Historischjaarboek  48  (1985),  pp.  233-57.  For  Dekker's  articles 
see  the  bibliography  of  the  Communications  between  1970  and  1979. 

A  study  on  Dutch  whaling  in  Davis  Strait  is  prepared  by  J.R.  Leinenga  (University  at  Groningen). 

J.R.  Bruijn,  F.S.  Gaastra  and  I.  SchofFer,  Dutch-Asiatic  Shipping  in  the  17th  and  18th  Centuries,  3  vols. 
(The  Hague:  1979-1987).  C.R.  Boxer's  The  Dutch  seaborne  Empire  1600-1800  (London:  1965)  was 


Bruijn      239 

the  discovery  of  some  shipwrecks.  New  insight  about  frequency  of  sailings, 
numbers  of  people  on  board  and  those  who  died,  and  duration  of  the  voyages 
even  reached  the  newspapers.  It  made  the  VOC  fashionable,  which  then  also 
became  an  item  for  museums.  Replica's  of  East  Indiamen  were  constructed. 
Reports  of  the  discovery  of  more  wrecks  and  the  auction  of  their  cargoes 
sometimes  reached  the  world  press.  Recently  it  was  decided  that  the  VOC  will 
be  boosted  as  a  cultural  and  tourist  asset  of  the  Netherlands!  Meanwhile, 
historical  research  continues  and  is  resulting  in  a  number  of  Ph.D.  theses  and 
books.  F.S.  Gaastra  is  the  expert  at  large  on  the  history  of  the  VOC.  The 
overall  picture  of  the  maritime  aspects  is  now  considered  to  be  complete,  apart 
from  the  intra- Asian  shipping  and  trade  of  the  company.  A  second  generation 
of  Ph.D.  students  is  well  on  its  way,  dealing  with  more  detailed  topics  like  the 
transport  of  mail,  medical  care,  the  effects  of  malaria,  and  social  life  on  board. 
The  maritime  activities  have  also  been  put  in  a  wider,  comparative  context. 

Of  the  three  remaining  branches  of  seafaring,  the  fisheries  have  been  studied 
the  least.  H.A.H.  Kranenburg's  analysis  of  the  early  modern  herring  and  cod 
fishery  of  1946  has  not  been  matched  by  the  study  of  other  kinds  of  fishery. 
There  are,  of  course,  a  number  of  popular  or  local  publications,  but  from  a 
scholarly  point  of  view  the  catch  is  small.  The  early  period  has  hardly  been  dealt 
with.  Promising,  however,  is  a  forthcoming  book  on  the  fisheries  in  the  Meuse 
estuary  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  economic  and  social 
aspects  of  the  modern  period  (c.  1860—1940)  have  been  given  a  bit  more 
attention.  A  new  development  is  the  interest  taken  by  cultural-antropologists  in 
seafaring  communities. 

translated  and  had  several  reprints. 

P.  Marsden,  The  Wreck  of  the  Amsterdam  (London:  1974);  C.J.A.  Jorg,  The  Geldermalsen.  History  and 
Porcelain  (Groningen:  1986);  J.  Gawronski  a.o.,  Hollandia  Compendium.  A  Contribution  to  the  History, 
Archeology,  Classification  and  Lexicography  of  a  150-foot  Dutch  East  Indiaman,  1740-1750  (Amsterdam:  1992). 
38  F.S.  Gaastra,  Bewind  en  beleid  by  de  VOC  1672-1702  (Zutphen:  1989);  E.S.  van  Eyck  van  Heslinga, 
Van  Compagnie  naar  koopuaardij.  De  scheepvaartverbindingen  van  de  Bataafse  Republiek  met  de  kolonien  in  Azi'e 
1795—1806  (Amsterdam:  1988)  and  I.G.  Dillo,  De  nadagen  van  de  Verenigde  Oostindische  Compagnie 
1783—1795.  Schepen  en  zeevarenden  (Amsterdam:  1992). 

F.S.  Gaastra,  De geschiedenis  van  de  VOC,  first  edition  Bussum:  1982,  second  Zutphen:  1992).  A  short 
survey  in  English  is  E.M.  Jacobs,  In  pursuit  of  pepper  and  tea.  The  story  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company 
(Zutphen- Amsterdam:  1991).  The  inventory  of  the  Company's  archive  was  printed  in  1992. 

J.R.  Bruijn  and  F.S.  Gaastra,  eds.,  Ships,  Sailors  and  Spices.  East  India  Companies  and  their  Shipping  in 
the  16th,  17th  and  18th  Centuries  (Amsterdam:  1993). 

H.A.H.  Kranenburg,  De  zeevisscherij  van  Holland  in  den  tijd  der  Republiek  (Amsterdam:  1946). 

R.D.  van  der  Vlis,  "Friese  haringvisserij  in  de  zeventiende  en  achttiende  eeuw,"  in  It  Beaken  50 
(1988),  pp.  345-62;  R.T.H.  Willemsen,  Enkhuizen  tijdens  de  Republiek  (Hilversum:  1988),  chapter  II. 
A. P.  van  Vliet's  study  will  be  published  in  1994. 

See  the  special  issue  "Holland  en  de  Visserij"  of  Holland,  Regionaal  Historisch  Tijdschrift  16  (1984). 
For  the  communities  see  R.  van  Ginkel,  Elk  vist  op  zijn  tij.  Een  Zeeuwse  maritieme  gemeenschap,  Yerseke 
1870-1914  (Zutphen:  1991)  and  his  study  of  Texel,  Tussen  Scylla  en  Charybdis  (Amsterdam:  1993). 


240     The  Netherlands 

Much  more  research  has  been  done  into  the  mercantile  marine.  A  com- 
prehensive survey,  however,  of  the  different  European  trades  in  the  early  modern 
period  is  not  available  and  is  difficult  to  write.  No  register  like  that  of  British 
shipping  has  ever  existed;  shipownership  and  the  exploitation  of  ships  can  only 
be  studied  per  single  ship.  There  is  no  equal  to  Ralph  Davis'  The  Rise  of  the 
English  shipping  Industry  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries  (1962).  One 
book,  however,  explains  lucidly  the  practice  of  shipownership  at  the  end  of  the 
early  modern  period.  That  is  FJ.A.  Broeze's  De  Stad  Schiedam,  complete  with 
the  texts  of  many  documents.  It  has  been  estimated  that  about  1 ,750  ships  were 
used  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  about  1,500  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Other  estimates  provide  the  number  of  seamen  employed  in  the  European  trades 
at  around  the  year  1700.  The  best  studied  trade  is  the  Russian,  apart  from  the 
Baltic  which  can  always  rely  on  the  Sound  Toll  Registers.  The  other  trades  are 
hardly  known  in  general  or  in  detail.  As  to  Dutch  shipping  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  the  slave  trade  is  covered  by  J.  Postma's  already  classic  survey.  Research 
on  eighteenth  century  African  and  Caribbean  trade  is  in  progress.  The  biggest 
shipowner  and  merchant  in  the  early  nineteenth  century,  Anthony  van 
Hoboken,  has  found  his  biographer.  Privateering  belongs  to  warfare  as  well  as 
to  commercial  shipping.  Its  size  and  its  economic,  legal,  and  administrative 
aspects  have  been  studied  in  detail  for  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  and 
more  generally  for  the  Second  and  Third  Anglo-Dutch  Wars.  Sources  are  there 

4ft 

for  other  wars,  the  Eighty  Years'  War  in  particular. 

For  the  later  periods  of  steam  navigation  and  other  means  of  ship  propulsion, 
a  variety  of  studies  have  been  published,  but  there  has  been  no  survey.  The  one 
ship  company  had  almost  completely  disappeared  and  the  incorporated  com- 
panies came  into  existence.  If  one  needs  a  survey  of  all  major  and  middle-sized 
companies,  chapters  6  and  7  in  the  Maritime  History  of  the  Low  Countries,  volume 

FJ.A.  Broeze,  De  Stad  Schiedam.  De  Schiedamsche  Scheepsreederij  en  de  Nederlandse  vaart  op  Oost-Indie 
omstreeks  1840  (The  Hague:  1978). 

Van  Royen,  Zeevarenden  op  de  Koopvaardijvloot  om  streeks  1 700. 

J.V.T.  Knoppers,  Dutch  Trade  with  Russia  from  the  Time  of  Peter  I  to  Alexander  I.  A  Quantitative  Study 
in  Eighteenth  Century  Shipping,  3  vols.  (Montreal:  1976)  and  P.  de  Buck,  "De  Russische  uitvoer  uit 
Archangel  naar  Amsterdam  in  het  begin  van  de  achttiende  eeuw  (1703  en  1709),"  in  Economisch-  en 
Sociaal-Historisch  Jaarboek  51  (1988),  pp.  126-93.  Further  studies  by  De  Buck  and  J.Th.  Lindblad  and 
other  authors  in  three  bundles:  The  Interactions  of  Amsterdam  and  Antwerp  with  the  Baltic  region,  1400-1800 
(Leiden:  1983),  W.G.  Heeres  a.o.,  From  Dunkirk  to  Danzig.  Shipping  and  Trade  in  the  North  Sea  and  the 
Baltic,  1350-1850  (Hilversum:  1988)  and  J.Ph.S.  Lemmink  and  J.S.A.M.  van  Koningsbrugge,  Baltic 
Affairs.  Relations  between  the  Netherlands  and  North-Eastem  Europe  1 500- 1 800  (Nijmegen:  1 990) .  A  whole 
survey  of  Dutch  trade  is,  of  course,  J.I.  Israel's,  Dutch  Primacy  in  World  Trade  1585-1140  (Oxford:  1989). 
47  J.M.  Postma,  The  Dutch  in  the  Atlantic  Slave  Trade,  1600-1815  (Cambridge:  1990);  B.  Oosterwijk, 
Koning  van  de  Koopvaart:  Anthony  van  Hoboken,  1756-1850  (Rotterdam:  1983). 

Aft 

J.Th.H.  Verhees-Van  Meer,  De  Zeeuwse  Kaapvaart  tijdens  de  Spaanse  Successie  oorlog,  1702-1713 
(Middelburg:  1986);  J.R.  Bruijn,  "Dutch  Privateering  during  the  Second  and  Third  Anglo-Dutch 
Wars,"  in  The  Low  Countries  History  Yearbook  1978:  Acta  Historiae  Neerlandicae  11  (1979),  pp.  79-93. 


Bruijn     241 

4,  will  help  as  well  as  B.  Oosterwijk's,  Op  een  koers  for  the  more  recent  decades.  At 
the  level  of  the  one  single  company,  J.N.F.M.  a  Campo's  study  of  the  Royal  Packet 
Company  in  the  East  Indies  is  voluminous  but  brilliant.  He  combines  the  study  of 
the  development  of  a  network  of  liner  services  within  the  archipelago  and  with  the 
outside  world,  foreign  competition,  and  colonial  state  formation  into  one  book. 
There  is  also  a  many-sided  book  on  the  Zeeland  Company,  dealing  with  cargo  and 
passenger  traffic  between  Holland  and  Britain;  a  comparable  study  is  available  for 
the  Rotterdamsche  Lloyd  around  1900.  Further  research  in  this  field  would  be 
welcome.  Diaries  or  memoirs  in  printed  form  from  captains  of  the  shipping  industry 
are  very  rare  indeed.  Most  valuable  are  the  diaries  of  Ernst  Heldring  covering  the 
first  four  decades  of  the  twentieth  century.  The  memoirs  of  D.A.  Delprat  for  some 
later  decades  are  rather  disappointing,  still  keeping  his  own  council.  The  Royal 
Shipowners'  Association,  the  expression  of  the  need  amongst  shipowners  of  closer 
cooperation  in  their  relations  with  trade  unions  and  the  increasing  numbers  of 
national  and  international  rules,  has  been  studied.  A  new  approach  of  the  shipping 
industry  is  the  financing  of  the  Rotterdam  maritime  sector  after  World  War  II. 
Traditional  is  Bezemer's  study  in  three  volumes  of  the  role  and  fate  of  the  mercantile 
marine  in  that  war.  The  hinterland  is  vital  for  the  Dutch  economy.  The  transpor- 
tation of  goods  over  the  rivers  has  received  attention  for  only  the  nineteenth 
51 

century. 

As  to  the  Navy,  there  are  two  modern  surveys,  one  for  the  early  modern  and 
the  other  for  modern  times.  Not  only  the  'fairs  et  gestes,'  but  also  the  naval 
administration,  officers,  crews,  and  ships  are  treated,  though  in  a  different  degree 

CO 

of  detail.  The  focus  on  battles  and  campaigns  has  gone.  Only  one  article  was 
dedicated  to  the  fighting  tactics  during  the  Anglo-Dutch  Wars,  other  studies  are 
more  interested  in  strategical  and  tactical  planning  of  the  defense  of  the  East 
Indies  in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries.     By  and  large,  however,  one 

B.  Oosterwijk,  Op  een  koers.  Nedlloyd  (Rotterdam:  1988);  J.N.F.M.  a  Campo,  Koninklijke  Paketvaart 
Maatschappij.  Stoomvaart  en  staatsvorming  in  de  Indonesische  archipel  1888—1914  (Hilversum:  1992);  P. W. 
Klein  and  J.R.  Bruijn,  eds.,  Honderd  jaar  Engelandvaart.  Stoomvaart  Maatschappij  Zeeland.  Koninklijke 
Nederlandsche  Postuaart  nu,  1875—1975  (Bussum:  1975);  F.  de  Goey,  ed.,  Vaart  op  Insulinde.  Uit  de 
beginjaren  der  Rotterdamsche  Lloyd  NV,  1883-1914  (Rotterdam:  1991).  For  a  recent  merger  see  H.  van 
Driel,  Een  verenigde  Nederlandse  scheepvaart.  De  fusie  tussen  Nedlloyd  en  KNSM  in  1980-1981,  een 
bedrijfshistorische  analyse  (Rotterdam:  1988). 

50  J.  de  Vries,  ed.,  Herinneringen  en  dagboek  van  Ernst  Heldring  1871-1954,  3  vols.  (Utrecht:  1970);  D.A. 
Delprat,  De  reeder  schrijft  zijn  joumaal  (The  Hague:  1983);  A.H.  Flierman,  "Het  centrale  punt  in  de 
reederswereld. "  De  Koninklijke  Nederlandse  Redersvereniging.  Vijfenzeventig  jaar  ondememingsorganisatie  in  de 
zeevaart  (Bussum:  1984). 

P.Th.  van  Laar,  Financieringsgedrag  in  de  Rotterdamse  maritieme  sector  1945—1960  (Amsterdam:  1991); 
K.W.L.  Bezemer,  Geschiedenis  van  de  Nederlandse  Koopvaardij  in  de  Tweede  Wereldoorlog,  3  vols. 
(Amsterdam:  1986-1990);  H.P.H.  Nusteling,  De  Rijnvaart  in  het  tijdperk  van  stoom  en  steenkool, 
1831-1914  (Amsterdam:  1974). 

52  J.R.  Bruijn,  The  Dutch  Navy  of  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries  (Columbia,  S.C.:  1993);  G.J.A. 
Raven,  ed.,  De  Kroon  op  het  anker:  175  jaar  Koninklijke  Marine  [1813-1993]  (Amsterdam:  1988). 

R.E.J.  Weber,  "The  Introduction  of  the  Single  Line  Ahead  as  a  Battle  Formation  bv  the  Dutch. 


242     The  Netherlands 

observes  that  most  attention  has  been  given  to  the  twentieth  century.  The 
research  policy  of  the  historical  branch  of  the  Navy  has  been  successful.  The  role 
of  the  Navy  in  the  Second  World  War  has  been  described,  as  well  as  many  naval 
activities  in  the  period  after  1945.  The  equivalent  of  the  American  Waves  are 
at  present  being  studied.  The  relations  between  Navy  and  society  have  been 
analyzed  as  to  the  failed  introduction  of  a  Navy  law  in  1923  and  a  spectacular 
mutiny  in  1933.  The  early  modern  period  has  been  given  a  comparatively  less 
generous  share  of  attention.  Some  biographies  of  naval  officers  have  been 
published — most  extensive  is  one  of  Admiral  J. H.  van  Kinsbergen.  There  is,  of 
course,  more:  a  study  of  the  Dutch  naval  side  of  the  Glorious  Revolution  of 
1688,  for  example,  and  not  to  be  forgotten,  a  nice  analysis  of  the  phenomenon 
of  the  Sea  Beggars  around  1570. 

One  can  easily  describe  the  lacunae  and  research  opportunities  in  naval 
history.  Naval  finances  have  not  yet  been  placed  in  a  wider  context.  The 
structure  of  the  naval  administration  needs  more  attention  as  well  as  the  study 
of  some  important  administrators.  The  same  is  true  of  the  officers'  corps  as  such. 
The  leading  scientific  role  of  naval  officers  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries  is  quite  remarkable.  Several  technical  innovations  were  then  instigated 
by  the  Navy.  The  structure  and  development  of  a  naval  base  like  Amsterdam, 
Flushing,  and  Den  Helder  in  particular,  have  not  yet  been  dealt  with.  In  some 
of  these  directions  research  is  already  in  progress. 

A  Balance 

When  comparing  the  past  fifteen  to  twenty  years  with  the  period  after  the 
Second  World  War,  the  balance  in  all  respects  is  more  favorable  for  the  recent 
span  of  time.  The  amount  of  publications  is  greater  and  more  varied  in  kind  and 
topic.  In  general,  all  the  fashionable  points  of  view  in  history  are  present:  from 
political  to  social  and  cliometric.  Maritime  history  books  are  reviewed  in  the 

1665-1666,"  in  Mariner's  Mirror  73  (1987),  pp.  5-19;  G.  Teitler,  Anatomie  van  de  Indische  defensie. 
Scenario's,  plannen,  beleid  1892-1920  (Amsterdam:  1988);  G.  Teitler,  De  strijd  om  de  slagkruisers 
(Amsterdam:  1984);  G.  Jungslager,  Recht  zo  die  gaat.  De  maritiem-strategische  doelstellingen  terzake  van  de 
verdediging  van  Nederlands- Indie  in  de  jaren  hvintig  (The  Hague:  1991).  Teitler  is  the  most  productive 
author  in  this  field.  To  keep  in  touch  with  his  publications  requires  careful  consultation  of  the 
bibliography  in  the  Tijdschrift  voor  Zeegeschiedenis,  to  which  I  refer  for  most  other  naval  history  books 
and  articles. 

Ph.M.  Bosscher,  De  Koninklijke  Marine  in  de  Tweede  Wereldoorlog.  See  also  j.J.A.  Wijn,  ed.,  Tussen 
vloot  en  politiek:  lOOjaar  marines taf  1886-1986  (Amsterdam:  1986). 

'  H.J.G.  Beunders,  Weg  met  de  Vlootwet!  De  maritieme  bewapeningspolitiek  van  het  kabinet-Ruys  de 
Beerenbrouck  en  het succesvolle  verzet  daartegen  in  1923  (Bergen:  1984);  J. C.H.  Blom,  De  muiterij  op  de  Zeven 
Provincial.  Reacties  engevolgen  in  Nederland  (Bussum:  1975). 

A.  van  der  Kuijl,  De  Glorieuze  overtocht.  De  expeditie  van  Willem  III  naar  Engeland  in  1 688  (Amsterdam: 
1988);  J.C.A.  de  Meij,  De  Watergeuzen  en  de  Nederlanden,  1568-1512  (Amsterdam:  1972);  R.B. 
Prud'homme  van  Reine,  Jan  Hendrik  van  Kinsbergen  (1735-1819):  admiraal  enfilantroop  (Amsterdam: 
1990). 


Bruijn      243 

leading  historical  journals  and  also  in  national  newspapers  and  magazines.  The 
Journal  of  Maritime  History  shows  quality  and  is  not  lacking  manuscripts  submitted 
for  publication.  A  difference  between  naval  and  maritime  history  does  not  exist. 
Ideology  is  an  unknown  word  and  does  not  permeate  any  kind  of  debate.  The 
three  academic  staff  members  of  the  historical  department  of  the  Navy  have  a 
scholarly  past  in  maritime  history,  if  one  uses  this  term  in  the  American 
connotation! 

The  present  group  of  maritime  historians  is  bigger  than  ever  before.  The  staffs 
of  museums  have  been  enlarged,  in  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam  in  particular; 
their  output  in  the  shape  of  scientific  publications,  however,  is  small.  There  are 
no  more  than  a  total  of  six  to  seven  historians  attached  to  universities,  the  naval 
academy,  the  naval  historical  department;  although  that  is  certainly  a  number 
that  would  be  unbelievably  high  for  earlier  generations.  Their  scholarly  output 
is  considerable.  One  may  fear  a  growing  discrepancy  between  museum  and 
academic  institutions  in  this  respect.  The  aims  of  the  present  policy  of  the 
ministry  of  culture,  to  which  most  museums  belong  (and  not  to  that  of 
education),  is  to  reach  the  general  public  in  an  effort  to  have  well-visited 
exhibitions.  The  best  that  one  can  hope  for  at  the  moment  is  the  preservation 
of  good  library  and  research  facilities.  Gratifying  is  the  fact  that  a  considerable 
number  of  Ph.D.  students  are  involved  in  maritime  history,  broadening  the 
group  of  scholarly  trained  maritime  historians. 

Plans  for  research  do  exist,  but  only  on  a  small  scale.  In  general,  the  personal 
preference  for  a  subject  is  decisive.  The  interest  of  the  established  scholars  is 
regularly  guided  away  from  their  own  research  by  (international  conferences 
and  commemorations  of  events  of  national  historic  importance.  At  times  one  is 
inclined  to  think  of  a  superabundance  of  those  events.  Dutch  maritime  historians, 
as  far  as  I  have  observed,  bear  a  fair  share  of  that  burden.  They  do  not  do  research 
into  non-Dutch  topics,  though  well  aware  of  foreign  publications.  It  was  a  long 
time  before  they  published  in  a  language  other  than  Dutch,  but  several  books 
and  articles  are  now  available  in  English.  International  contacts  have  boosted  this 
trend. 

Periods  and  aspects  which  have  lacked  attention  belong  to  the  later  Middle 
Ages,  the  sixteenth  century,  and  plus  the  fisheries.  A  survey  of  the  mercantile 
marine  would  be  welcome.  The  results  of  the  excavation  of  shipwrecks  should 
be  better  incorporated  in  historical  research.  New  information  can  be  expected 
from  the  archive  of  the  Zeeland  auditor's  office  for  the  early  modern  period 
which  is  presently  being  inventoried  and  from  the  files  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Dutch  Trading  Company  (NHM).  The  soon  to  be  introduced  "twenty  year- 
rule"  for  governmental  and  local  administration  records  (instead  of  closing  them 
for  fifty  years)  will  offer  greater  opportunities  for  contemporary  research.  There 
is  sufficient  vitality  amongst  young  and  older  Dutch  maritime  historians  to 
exploit  both  the  forthcoming  and  the  already  existing  opportunities. 


New  Zealand 


Ian  McGibbon  and  Gavin  McLean 


As  an  island  state  in  a  vast  ocean,  New  Zealand  has  always  had  a  strong 
relationship  with  the  sea.  It  was  colonized  by  people  who  sailed  long 
distances  across  the  ocean,  first,  Polynesians  who  began  arriving  more  than  a 
thousand  years  ago,  and  later  Europeans,  mainly  from  the  British  Isles,  for  whom 
the  voyage  to  the  antipodes  was  often  one  of  months-long  hardship  and 
deprivation.  The  economy  which  these  people  developed  was — and  remains — 
uniquely  dependent  on  seaborne  trade.  New  Zealanders  have  traditionally  been 
conscious,  moreover,  that  any  direct  threat  to  their  security  must  come  from 
across  the  sea.  The  importance  of  New  Zealand's  maritime  environment  has 
been  enhanced  by  the  resource  management  measures  associated  with  the 
establishment  of  exclusive  economic  zones.  New  Zealand's  zone,  proclaimed  in 
1978,  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world. 

At  times,  New  Zealanders  have  been  inspired  by  visions  of  maritime  greatness. 
This  was  especially  so  during  the  heyday  of  the  British  Empire,  when  British 
naval  and  maritime  predominance  seemed  part  of  the  natural  order.  Some  saw 
New  Zealand,  in  time,  emulating  its  British  mentor.  William  Massey,  the 
imperialist-minded  Prime  Minister  from  1912  to  1925,  for  example,  was  apt  to 
proclaim  New  Zealand's  future  naval  greatness.  That  these  aspirations  have  gone 
largely  unfulfilled  is  less  surprising  than  that  New  Zealanders  have  tended 
increasingly  to  take  for  granted  the  sea  and  its  importance  to  their  well-being. 

New  Zealand's  economy  has  been  characterized  by  its  supply  of  a  narrow 
range  of  unprocessed  primary  products  to  markets  that  are  a  great  distance  from 
its  shores.  At  first,  wool  held  pride  of  place,  but  the  introduction  of  refrigerated 
ships  in  the  1880s  allowed  a  diversification  of  the  nature,  if  not  the  direction,  of 
New  Zealand's  overseas  trade.  The  ability  to  transport  meat  and  dairy  products 
to  the  other  side  of  the  world  helped  transform  the  pattern  of  farming  in  New 
Zealand.  While  the  direction  of  its  trade  has  shifted  as  the  assured  British  market 
has  disappeared,  New  Zealand  remains  as  dependent  in  1993  upon  the  free  flow 
of  its  produce  across  the  seas  as  it  did  in  1893.  Because  of  its  limited  industrial 
base,  it  was — and  is — equally  dependent  upon  the  import  by  sea  of  a  great  range 
of  commodities  and  goods. 


246      New  Zealand 

New  Zealanders  were,  from  an  early  stage,  engaged  in  a  range  of  maritime 
activities,  including  shipbuilding,  though  inevitably  on  a  small  scale.  Shipping 
companies  were  founded  by  enterprising  capitalists,  usually  with  the  backing  of 
British  capital.  Two  companies  were  especially  important — -the  New  Zealand 
Shipping  Company  established  in  Christchurch  in  1873  and  the  Union  Steam 
Ship  Company  established  in  Dunedin  in  1875.  The  former  competed  on  the 
United  Kingdom-New  Zealand  route,  while  the  latter  came  to  dominate  the 
New  Zealand  coastal  and  inter-colonial  shipping  scene.  Both  were  taken  over 
by  the  British  P&O  group  during  the  First  World  War.  Small,  locally  based 
companies  continued  to  operate  in  a  coastal  role  in  the  first  three-quarters  of 
this  century.  The  fishing  industry  in  New  Zealand  was  generally  small  scale  and 
at  a  subsistence  level  until  the  late  1970s  when  the  establishment  of  the  exclusive 
economic  zone  brought  new  attention  to  local  fishing  resources.  Fishing's 
importance  to  the  New  Zealand  economy  has  been  greatly  enhanced  in  the  last 
twenty  years. 

The  vital  importance  of  New  Zealand's  sea  trade  routes  ensured  that  maritime 
activities  would  play  a  significant  role  in  its  affairs,  even  if  ownership  of  the 
shipping  lines  upon  which  it  depended  lay  outside  New  Zealand  hands.  The 
rapid  turnaround  of  shipping  demanded  attention  to  port  facilities  and  cargo 
handling.  Periodically  union  activities  on  the  waterfront  have  caused  major 
disruptions,  notably  in  1890,  1913,  and  1951.  Governments,  conscious  of  the 
adverse  economic  impact  of  the  resulting  hiatus  in  cargo  flow,  have  often  reacted 
strongly  during  such  disputes.  In  1951,  even  troops  were  deployed  on  the 
waterfront  to  work  the  cargo  ships.  More  recently,  attention  has  been  focused 
on  resource  management.  The  need  to  monitor  and  control  the  operations  of 
foreign  fishing  vessels  has  placed  the  spotlight  on  New  Zealand  maritime  policing 
capacity,  primarily  the  responsibility  of  the  Royal  New  Zealand  Navy. 

For  more  than  a  century,  the  British  connection  dominated  New  Zealand's 
naval  activities  even  more  completely  than  it  did  general  maritime  activities.  The 
Royal  Navy  was  deeply  involved  in  New  Zealand's  establishment  as  a  colony 
of  the  British  Empire.  It  was  Captain  James  Cook,  RN,  who  took  possession  of 
the  country  on  behalf  of  the  British  Crown,  and  another  British  naval  officer, 
Captain  William  Hobson,  RN,  who  not  only  signed  the  Treaty  of  Waitangi 
with  Maori  chiefs  in  1840  but  also  became  the  new  colony's  first  governor. 
British  naval  vessels  were  involved  in  operations  in  New  Zealand  during  the 
conflict  over  land  issues  of  the  1860s.  Moreover,  New  Zealanders  regarded  the 
Royal  Navy  as  their  shield  against  invasion  or  attack  by  potential  external 
enemies  and  as  an  essential  protector  of  the  trade  routes  upon  which  they 
depended  for  their  economic  well-being.  When  that  shield  was  threatened,  they 
were  prepared  to  make  financial  contributions  to  its  sustenance,  culminating  in 
the  gift  of  a  battle  cruiser  to  the  Royal  Navy  in  1909  as  well  as  financial 


McGibbon  and  McLean     247 

contributions  towards  the  construction  of  the  Singapore  Naval  Base  between 
the  world  wars. 

Within  this  framework,  a  small  New  Zealand  naval  force  emerged,  initially 
as  a  Division  of  the  Royal  Navy.  Established  in  1913,  the  New  Zealand  Naval 
Forces  were  heavily  dependent  on  the  Royal  Navy  for  both  ships  and  personnel. 
This  reliance  had  not  been  significantly  lessened  when,  in  1941,  the  New 
Zealand  Division  was  reconstituted  as  the  Royal  New  Zealand  Navy.  The 
provision  of  British  officers  for  senior  and  technical  posts  remained  of  vital 
importance  to  the  viability  of  the  force  for  another  twenty  years.  British  influence 
within  the  RNZN's  higher  command  was  also  considerable,  with  the  last  British 
officer  not  leaving  the  New  Zealand  Naval  Board  until  1966. 

Since  cutting  the  painter  with  the  Royal  Navy,  the  RNZN  has  survived  with 
difficulty.  Whereas  in  the  early  days  New  Zealand  borrowed  warships  from  the 
Royal  Navy,  paying  only  for  their  maintenance  and  upkeep,  the  RNZN  today 
is  faced  with  the  capital  charges  of  replacing  warships.  This  has  caused  political 
problems,  which  were  especially  evident  when  New  Zealand  and  Australia  in 
the  late  1980s  developed  a  joint  project  to  build  a  series  of  frigates  for  their  navies. 
By  participating  in  the  construction  of  the  so-called  ANZAC  frigates,  New 
Zealand  is  deriving  spin-off  economic  benefits.  In  particular,  its  languishing 
shipbuilding  industry  has  been  given  a  shot  in  the  arm.  Nevertheless,  opposition 
within  New  Zealand  has  been  substantial.  Lulled  by  their  sense  of  isolation  from 
the  world's  trouble  spots,  many  New  Zealanders  no  longer  consider  their 
country's  naval  defence  a  significant  problem,  requiring  prudent  long-term 
planning  and  diversion  of  resources  from  other,  socially  oriented  activities.  Two 
vessels  only  are  scheduled  at  present,  with  options  on  two  more  unlikely  to  be 
exercised  in  New  Zealand's  straitened  circumstances. 

While  New  Zealanders  remain  chary  of  expenditure  on  naval  defence  in 
peacetime,  they  have  responded  with  alacrity  to  calls  to  arms  this  century.  New 
Zealand's  naval  involvement  in  the  First  World  War  was  limited  to  its  newly 
acquired  cruiser  HMS  Philomel,  which  operated  in  the  Red  Sea  area  for  three 
years  until  being  decommissioned  in  1917.  A  number  of  New  Zealanders  served 
in  a  variety  of  Royal  Navy  vessels,  one  of  them  winning  the  Victoria  Cross  for 
his  exploits.  New  Zealand's  "gift"  warship,  HMS  New  Zealand,  took  part  in  all 
the  major  encounters  of  the  British  and  German  battle  fleets  during  the  First 
World  War.  In  the  Second  World  War,  this  pattern  was  repeated,  though  on  a 
much  larger  scale.  One  of  New  Zealand's  cruisers,  HMS  Achilles,  had  early  action 
when  it  took  part  in  the  Battle  of  the  River  Plate.  New  Zealand  ships  were 
active  in  the  Pacific  War.  Moreover,  New  Zealanders  participated  in  every  facet 
of  the  naval  war  aboard  British  ships.  The  Second  World  War  also  gave  a  boost 
to  shipbuilding  in  New  Zealand,  with  small  craft  being  built  for  the  British, 
United  States,  and  New  Zealand  navies. 


248      New  Zealand 

Given  this  background,  maritime  and  naval  history  might  have  been  expected 
to  attract  significant  academic  attention.  That  this  has  not  been  the  case  is  a 
reflection  of  both  the  smallness  of  New  Zealand's  scholarly  establishment  and 
the  fact  that  social  themes  hold  the  field  in  New  Zealand  history  at  present,  with 
inevitable  effect  on  the  composition  and  interests  of  university  history  depart- 
ments. Maritime  history  gets  limited  attention  from  a  few  academics  in  the 
universities  as  part  of  more  general  courses,  especially  in  economic  history.  There 
is  a  School  of  Maritime  Studies  at  the  Otago  Polytechnic  in  Dunedin,  but  its 
skills-based  course  is  designed  to  meet  the  practical  needs  of  an  expanding 
deep-sea  fishing  industry  rather  than  academic  enquiry. 

There  are  only  a  few  individuals  specializing  in  maritime  history.  Gavin 
McLean,  the  New  Zealand  Historic  Places  Trust's  historian,  has  been  con- 
spicuous in  recent  years,  producing  ground-breaking  work  on  the  business  of 
shipping  in  New  Zealand  and  a  series  of  books  on  maritime  themes,  but  his 
interest  is  necessarily  limited  by  his  other  duties.  Some  other  scholars  publish  on 
maritime-related  themes  from  time  to  time.  For  example,  Simon  Ville,  until 
recently  a  member  of  Auckland  University's  Economic  History  Department, 
but  now  in  Australia,  has  recently  published  a  study  of  New  Zealand's  coastal 
shipping.  Gordon  Boyce  of  Victoria  University  of  Wellington's  Economic 
History  Department  is  working  on  aspects  of  the  Furness  Withy  Group.  Other 
maritime  subjects  to  engage  scholarly  attention  have  included  Polynesian  voyag- 
ing, the  early  European  exploration  of  the  Pacific  and  whaling.  The  staging  of 
New  Zealand's  first  maritime  history  conference  in  1992  provided  a  boost  to 
scholarly  interest,  and  this  will  be  reinforced  by  the  decision  of  the  Stout 
Research  Centre  at  Victoria  University  of  Wellington  to  devote  its  1993 
conference  to  the  theme  of  "The  Sea." 

Despite  the  lack  of  academic  interest,  there  is  a  vast  secondary  literature  on 
New  Zealand's  maritime  history,  though  much  of  it  is  of  indifferent  quality. 
Most  books  deal  with  company  histories  and  fleet  lists.  Prolific  writers  from  the 
past  have  included  S.D.  Waters,  J.  O'C.  Ross  and  A.A.  Kirk.  The  most  active 
writers  today  are  David  Johnston,  whose  Maritime  History  of  New  Zealand  is  a 
key  document,  and  Gavin  McLean,  whose  works  include  Canterbury  Coasters, 
Richardsons  of  Napier  and  The  Southern  Octopus:  The  Rise  of  a  Shipping  Empire. 

Other  themes  to  have  received  attention  include  port  histories.  The  majority 
are  commissioned  works,  with  Otago  leading  the  way  with  two  major  scholarly 

Simon  Ville,  "The  Coastal  Trade  of  New  Zealand  Prior  to  World  War  One,"  New  Zealand  Journal 
of  History,  vol.  27,  no.  1  (1993). 

David  Johnston,  Maritime  History  of  New  Zealand  (Auckland:  David  Bateman/Collins,  1989). 
3     Gavin  McLean,  Canterbury  Coasters  (Wellington:  NZ  Ship  &  Marine  Society,  1987). 

Gavin  McLean,  Richardsons  of  Napier  (Wellington:  NZ  Ship  &  Marine  Society,  1989). 

Gavin  McLean,  The  Southern  Octopus:  The  Rise  of  a  Shipping  Empire  (Wellington:  NZ  Ship  &  Marine 
Society  and  Wellington  Harbour  Board  Maritime  Museum,  1990). 


McGlbbon  and  McLean      249 

histories:  A.H.  McLintock,  The  Port  ofOtago  and  Gavin  McLean,  Otago  Harbour: 
Currents  of  Controversy.  Lyttelton  and  Oamaru  are  well  served  by  W.H.  Scotter, 
A  History  of  Port  Lyttelton  and  Gavin  McLean,  Oamaru  Harbour,  respectively. 
Production  of  port  histories  peaked  in  the  late  1970s  and  early  1980s,  although 
updated  accounts  of  Napier  and  Nelson  harbors  have  recently  appeared. 

There  is  an  extensive  literature  on  migration.  The  publication  of  migrants' 
diaries  began  last  century  and  has  gained  its  second  wind  with  an  upsurge  of 
interest  in  genealogy  in  recent  decades.  Sir  Henry  Brett's  White  Wings  remains 
a  key  document.  Charlotte  Macdonald's  A  Woman  of  Good  Character  is  a  rare 
example  of  a  scholarly  publication  in  this  field. 

Shipwrecks  are  a  major  theme.  An  updated  version  of  C.W.  Ingram  and  P.O. 
Wheatley's  1936  Shipwrecks  and  Maritime  Disasters  is  still  in  print.  Academic 
writers  have  also  shown  intermittent  interest  in  waterfront  labour  in  recent 
decades.  Little  has  yet  been  written  on  Maori  craft,  though  this  deficiency  is 
currently  being  remedied. 

The  pattern  of  naval  history  in  New  Zealand  is  similar.  No  tertiary  institutions 
offer  courses  in  naval  history.  The  nearest  approach  to  such  treatment  is  coverage 
of  naval  aspects  within  a  course  on  New  Zealand  defence  run  on  an  extramural 
(off-campus)  basis  by  Massey  University.  There  is  no  naval  academy  which  might 
provide  a  focus  for  such  activity.  Because  of  the  smallness  of  its  naval  estab- 
lishment, New  Zealand  has  traditionally  sent  its  young  officers  to  schools  in 
Britain  and  Australia. 

If  maritime  history  has  a  tenuous  place  in  scholarly  interests,  naval  history  is 
virtually  ignored  by  the  scholarly  community.  There  is  consequently  no  his- 
toriographical  debate.  In  recent  times,  Ian  McGibbon,  Senior  Historian  in  the 
Historical  Branch,  Department  of  Internal  Affairs,  has  been  alone  in  the  field. 
Although  unable  to  devote  himself  full  time  to  the  subject,  he  is  currently 
working  on  the  naval  aspect  of  New  Zealand's  involvement  in  the  Korean  War. 

While  there  is  no  ongoing  tertiary-based  work  on  New  Zealand's  naval 

history,  a  small  body  of  literature  does  exist.  A  starting  point  is  S.D.  Waters's 

1  "\ 
Royal  New  Zealand  Navy      in  the  official  war  history.  It  provides  in-depth 

coverage  of  RNZN  operations  and  the  activities  of  New  Zealanders  with  the 

Royal  Navy  during  the  Second  World  War.  Ian  McGibbon,  in  his  Blue-water 


6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 


A.H.  McLintock,  The  Port  of  Otago  (Dunedin:  Otago  Harbour  Board,  1951). 

Gavin  McLean,  Otago  Harbour:  Currents  of  Controversy  (Dunedin:  Otago  Harbour  Board,  1985). 

W.H.  Scotter,  A  History  of  Port  Lyttelton  (Christchurch:  Lyttelton  Harbour  Board,  1968). 

Gavin  McLean,  Oamaru  Harbour  (Palmerston  North:  Dunmore  Press,  1982). 

Sir  Henry  Brett,  White  Wings,  2  volumes  (Auckland:  Brett  Publishing  Company,  1924  and  1928). 

Charlotte  Macdonald,  A  Woman  of  Good  Character  (Wellington:  Allen  &  Unwin,  1991). 

C.W.  Ingram  and  P.O  Wheatley,  Shipwrecks  and  Maritime  Disasters  (Auckland:  Beckett  Publishing, 


1990). 

13    S.D.  Waters,  Royal  New  Zealand  Navy  (Wellington:  War  History  Branch,  1956). 


250      New  Zealand 

Rationale,  The  Naval  Defence  of  New  Zealand  1914—1942,  sought  to  place  these 
operations  in  a  strategical  context,  while  outlining  the  development  of  the  New 
Zealand  Division  of  the  Royal  Navy.  Naval  policy  was  also  covered  by  W.  David 
Mclntyre  in  his  New  Zealand  Prepares  for  War,  Defence  Policy  1919—39.  More 
recently,  in  his  The  Path  to  Gallipoli,  Defending  New  Zealand  1840-1915,16  Ian 
McGibbon  has  further  examined  the  origins  of  New  Zealand's  naval  policy 
leading  to  the  payment  of  subsidies  to  the  Royal  Navy  and  the  creation  of  the 
New  Zealand  Naval  Forces  in  1913.  He  has  also  given  attention  to  the  naval 
relationship  between  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  Among  the  areas  awaiting 
scholarly  treatment  are  the  Royal  Navy  in  New  Zealand  and  the  New  Zealand 
Naval  Forces. 

For  the  time  being,  naval  history  seems  likely  to  remain  largely  the  preserve 
of  enthusiastic  amateur  historians  and  antiquarians.  They  will  add  to  an  extensive 
antiquarian  literature  on  naval  activities.  T.D.  Taylor's  New  Zealand's  Naval 
Story  leads  the  field,  providing  much  useful  information  about  naval  visits  to 
New  Zealand  in  particular.  More  recently,  R.J.  McDougall,  in  his  New  Zealand 
Naval  Vessels,  has  exhaustively  catalogued  the  ships  of  the  RNZN  and  its 
antecedents.  Among  other  recent  works  of  a  non-academic  nature  are  accounts 
of  New  Zealand's  wartime  cruisers  by  Jack  S.  Harker,      two  largely  pictorial 

21 

histories  by  Grant  Howard,  and  a  brief  account  of  the  Royal  Navy  in  New 
Zealand  and  a  study  of  the  hydrographic  branch  by  Rear  Admiral  John  O'C. 
Ross. 

In  the  absence  of  interest  among  tertiary  institutions,  museums  will  continue 
to  play  a  key  role  in  promoting  New  Zealand's  naval  and  maritime  heritage. 
There  are  three  of  primary  importance.  At  the  RNZN  Naval  Base  at  Devonport, 
Auckland,  the  Royal  New  Zealand  Naval  Museum  will  soon  assume  a  higher 

Ian  McGibbon,  Blue-water  Rationale,  The  Naval  Defetice  of  New  Zealand  1914-1942,  (Wellington: 
Government  Printing  Office,  1981). 

W.  David  Mclntyre,  New  Zealand  Prepares  for  War,  Defence  Policy,  1919—39  (Christchurch:  University 
of  Canterbury  Press,  1988). 

16  Ian  McGibbon,  The  Path  to  Gallipoli,  Defending  New  Zealand  1840-1915  (Wellington:  GP  Books, 
1991). 

1  7 

Ian  McGibbon,  "Australian-New  Zealand  Naval  Relations,"  in  T.R.  Frame,  J.V.P.  Goldrick  and 
P.D.Jones,  eds.,  Reflections  on  the  RAN  (  Kenthurst  NSW:  Kangaroo  Press,  1991). 

18  T.D.  Taylor,  New  Zealand's  Naval  Story  (Wellington:  A.H.  &  A.W.  Reed  Ltd,  1948). 

19  R.J.  McDougall,  New  Zealand  Naval  Vessels  (Wellington:  GP  Books,  1989). 

20  Jack  S.  Harker,  HMNZS  Achilles  (Auckland:  Collins,  1980);  Well  Done  Leander  (Auckland:  Collins, 
1971);  HMNZS  Gambia  (Wellington:  Moana  Press  Ltd,  1989);  Almost  HMNZS  Neptune  (Wellington: 
Moana  Press  Ltd,  1991). 

21  Grant  Howard,  The  Navy  in  New  Zealand,  An  Illustrated  History  (Wellington:  A.H.  &  A.W.  Reed, 
1981);  Grant  Howard,  Portrait  of  the  Royal  New  Zealand  Navy,  A  Fiftieth  Anniversary  Celebration 
(Wellington:  Grantham  House,  1991). 

22  J.O'C.  Ross,  The  White  Ensign  in  New  Zealand  (Wellington:  A.H.  &  A.W.  Reed,  1967);  This  Stem 
Coast  (Wellington:  A.H.  &  A.W.  Reed,  1969). 


McGibbon  and  McLean     251 

profile  when  a  planned  new  building  is  completed.  Its  growing  collection  of 
material  will  provide  a  basis  for  future  research.  Particularly  useful  will  be  an 
ongoing  series  of  oral  history  interviews  with  former  naval  personnel,  being 
conducted  by  the  present  director. 

The  country's  premier  maritime  museum  is  the  Wellington  Maritime 
Museum  and  Gallery  on  Wellington's  Queen's  Wharf.  Founded  by  the  former 
Wellington  Harbour  Board  in  the  early  1970s,  it  holds  the  country's  largest 
collection  of  maritime  archives,  photographs,  and  models.  Merchant  shipping  is 
its  specialty.  It  hosted  the  maritime  history  conference  in  1992.  A  newsletter, 
Leading  Light,  is  published. 

The  Auckland  Maritime  Museum  was  formed  in  the  late  1980s.  Its  large 
multi-million  dollar  complex  will  open  at  Auckland's  Hobson  Wharf  in  August 
1993.  The  museum  will  be  less  of  a  research  centre  than  its  Wellington 
counterpart  and  will  specialize  in  small  craft  and  Polynesian/Maori  vessels.  It 
will  operate  a  fleet  of  approximately  forty  authentic  and  replica  craft  and  will 
franchise  shops  designed  to  keep  alive  traditional  crafts  such  as  sailmaking  and 
boat-building.  The  museum's  quarterly  journal,  Bearings,  has  a  wide  general 
circulation. 

In  addition,  there  is  a  small  maritime  museum  at  Bluff,  Southland,  which  was 
expanded  in  1992,  and  museums  at  Port  Chalmers  and  Lyttelton  are  maritime- 
dominated.  The  new  Museum  of  New  Zealand  will  be  devoting  space  and 
resources  to  the  history  of  Polynesian  and  Maori  voyaging  and  watercraft. 

Several  societies  have  been  formed  to  restore  veteran  craft.  The  Paeroa 
Maritime  Park  has  a  collection  of  small  coasters  and  former  RNZN  craft,  but  is 
less  active  than  it  was  a  decade  ago.  At  Picton,  the  Edwin  Fox  Society  is  planning 
to  restore  the  Edwin  Fox,  the  world's  last  East  Indiaman.  At  Wanganui,  a 
historical  society  has  recovered  a  paddle  steamer  for  restoration.  Private  in- 
dividuals have  restored  several  trading  schooners  and  scows.  Shiplovers'  societies 
also  provide  a  maritime-focused  network.  Founded  in  1949,  the  New  Zealand 
Ship  and  Marine  Society  has  branches  in  Wellington,  New  Plymouth,  and 
Napier  and  publishes  a  quarterly  journal,  New  Zealand  Marine  News.  The 
Auckland  Maritime  Society  and  Otago  Maritime  Society  service  their  respective 
areas. 

Where  to  from  here?  There  appears  little  prospect  of  early  change  to  the 
pattern  described  above,  wherein  maritime  and  naval  history  is  mostly  the 
preserve  of  non-professionals.  Previous  generations  of  New  Zealanders  were 
forcibly  reminded  of  their  country's  dependence  on  the  sea  during  the  world 
wars.  Such  concerns  have  not  been  of  overriding  importance  in  the  late 
twentieth  century.  In  the  absence  of  some  new  disruption  of  New  Zealand's 
trading  links,  or  some  shift  in  strategic  outlook  which  might  reawaken  a  sense 
of  vulnerability,  it  is  likely  that  academic  interest  will  remain  limited,  and  that 


252      New  Zealand 

personal  rather  than  institutional  influences  will  remain  the  main  driving  force 
in  maritime  and  naval  studies  in  New  Zealand. 


Norway 


Captain  Tore  Prytz  Dahl,  Royal  Norwegian  Navy 


In  the  wake  of  the  unification  of  Norway  under  one  king,  a  defence  system 
-was  created  that  included  all  the  coastal  districts.  This  system,  called  the 
leidang,  was  based  on  earlier  local  defence  arrangements.  The  coastal  districts 
were  divided  into  skipreder,  and  each  skiprede  was  to  build,  equip,  and  maintain 
a  longship  of  a  certain  size.  From  about  the  year  950,  the  leidang-  system  included 
all  Norway.  The  defence  system  represented  a  cornerstone  in  the  formation  and 
protection  of  the  Norwegian  realm  which  included  approximately  the  present 
Norwegian  area  of  land  as  well  as  Iceland,  Greenland,  the  Faroe  Islands,  the 
Shetland  Isles,  the  Orkneys,  the  Hebrides,  and  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  leidang  was 
an  efficient  system  for  about  250  years.  Then  new,  more  costly  types  of  ships 
were  introduced  in  the  seafaring  countries  around  the  North  Sea.  The  Nor- 
wegian realm,  sparsely  populated  and  ruled  by  kings  in  possession  of  very  limited 
resources,  came  increasingly  under  foreign  influence  and  fell  apart. 

The  story  of  leidang  has  been  of  great  interest  to  military  as  well  as  civilian 
historians.  In  1951,  the  Norwegian  naval  high  command  marked  the  millennium 
of  the  leidang  with  a  publication.  The  book  was  based  on  contributions  from 
military  and  naval  historians,  Colonel  G.P.  Harbitz,  Commodore  S.  Oppegard, 
and  Commander  Rolf  Scheen,  with  the  advisory  help  of  civilian  historians. 

With  the  Treaty  of  Kalmar  in  1397,  the  three  northern  countries,  Denmark, 
Norway,  and  Sweden,  entered  a  union  under  one  king.  A  century  later,  in 
1523,  the  Swedes  succeeded  in  breaking  out  of  the  union,  while  Norway  steadily 
became  more  closely  knitted  with  Denmark.  From  the  Danish  rulers'  point  of 
view,  the  ideal  thing  was  to  regard  Norwegian  territory  simply  as  "a  part  of 
Denmark."  In  practical  policy,  however,  this  proved  to  be  impossible  due  to  the 
size  of  the  Norwegian  population  and  resources  compared  with  the  might  of 
the  Danish  colonial  power. 


Captain  Tore  Prytz  Dahl,  Royal  Norwegian  Navy,  is  Senior  lecturer  in  naval  history 
at  the  Norwegian  Naval  Academy  (Sjokrigsskolen),  N-5034  Ytre  Laksevag. 

G.P.  Harbitz,  S.  OppegSrd,  Rolf  Scheen,  Den  norske  leidangen  (Oslo:  1951). 
Gottfrid  Carlsson,  Medeltidens  nordiska  unionstanke  (Stockholm:  1945). 


254      Norway 

The  period  of  Danish  dominance,  which  lasted  for  about  400  years,  from 
1397  to  1814,  is  traditionally  treated  by  Norwegian  historians  in  a  rather 
nationalistic  way,  with  great  emphasis  on  the  emergence  of  new  Norwegian 
institutions.  This  trend  in  Norwegian  historical  ideology  has  been  significant 
for  the  status  of  Norwegian  naval  history  as  opposed  to  the  country's  military 
history.  During  the  reign  of  King  Hans  (1483—1513),  a  combined  Danish-Nor- 
wegian navy  was  created  with  its  main  base  in  Copenhagen.  The  primary  task 
of  this  navy  was  to  protect  and  dominate  the  sea  routes  in  the  Baltic.  In  this 
area,  both  Sweden  and  Denmark  had  large  economic  interests  at  stake.  During 
the  century  between  1620  and  1720,  the  heyday  of  this  common  Danish— Nor- 
wegian navy,  about  two-thirds  of  the  seamen  and  many  of  its  officers  were  of 
Norwegian  descent. 

In  1628,  however,  a  new  Norwegian  army  came  into  being  by  royal  decree. 
This  army,  called  the  "legdshaer"  was  based  on  conscription  in  the  rural  areas. 
For  practical  reasons,  the  new  army  was,  to  a  great  extent,  administered  in 
Norway,  with  its  high  command  in  the  capital,  Christiania,  and  different 
administrative  arrangements  in  rural  districts.  The  new  army  became  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  Norwegian  national  growth.  It  had,  for  instance,  the  very  first 
institutions  of  higher  education  in  the  country.  At  the  same  time,  the  Norwegian 
Army  in  the  wars  against  an  expansive  Sweden  in  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth,  fought  mainly  on,  and  defended, 
Norwegian  soil.  In  that  way,  the  Army  became  well  known  in  the  country, 
while  as  a  rule,  the  common  navy  operated  out  of  its  main  base  in  Copenhagen 
for  equally  important,  but  not  so  well-known  or  well-appreciated  operations  in 
distant  Baltic  waters.  Emphasized  by  the  nationalistic  trend  in  Norwegian 
historical  writing,  this  contributed  to  the  pronounced  military  tradition  in 

Q 

Norway.  Traditional  Norwegian  history  tends  to  be  rather  narrowminded, 
nationalistically,  but  there  are  a  few  exceptions  to  this,  for  instance  the  work  of 
Commodore  Olav  Bergersen  and  Commander  Rolf  Scheen,  who  have  tried  to 
stress  the  great  Norwegian  share  in  the  achievements  of  the  common  Danish- 
Norwegian  Navy.  Traditional  writing  has  tended  to  overemphasize  the  impor- 
tance of  the  operations  of  the  legdshaer  and,  to  some  extent,  discounting  or  even 
omitting  the  deeds  of  the  Navy. 

The  Napoleonic  wars  brought  the  Danish-Norwegian  union  to  an  end.  After 
the  bombardment  of  Copenhagen  in  1807  and  the  British  capture  of  the  seagoing 


Ottar  Dahl,  Norsk  historieforskning  i  det  19.  og  20.  arhundre  (Oslo:  1959). 

Kayjungersen,  Danmarks  Sekrigshistorie  (Kobenhavn:  1945)  pp.  51-2. 

O.  Eidem  and  O.  Liitken,  Vor  Somagts  Historie  (Kristiania  and  Kobenhavn:  1906)  p.  182. 

Axel  Coldevin,  Vart  folks  historie,  vol  V  (Oslo:  1963)  pp.  163-67. 

Ibid.  pp.  158-63. 

Niles  P.  Vigeland,  Norge pa  havet,  2  volumes  (Oslo:  1953-54). 

Forsvarets  Krigshistoriske  Avdeling,  Forsuarets  rolle  i  Norges  historie  (Oslo:  1965),  pp.  7-20. 


Prytz  Dahl      255 

portion  of  the  combined  Danish— Norwegian  Navy,  the  two  countries,  allied 
with  Napoleon,  entered  an  unhappy  war  with  Great  Britain.  The  outcome 
of  the  war  brought  Norway  into  a  union  partnership  with  Sweden  in  1814. 
However,  the  Norwegian— Swedish  union  was  more  restrictive  than  the 
earlier  connection  with  Denmark:  primarily  a  common  king  and  joint  foreign 
policy.  After  the  Napoleonic  wars,  the  new  Norwegian  state  was  in  fact 
bankrupt.  For  the  new  Norwegian  Navy,  the  sad  economic  picture  implied 
unrealized  plans  for  a  new  seagoing  fleet.  At  the  same  time,  based  on 
experience  from  the  war,  most  Norwegians  thought  that  the  waters  along 
our  extended  coasts  were  dominated,  as  well  as  protected,  by  the  Royal  Navy. 
With  the  exception  of  spasmodic  naval  efforts  in  the  wake  of  the  Crimean 
War  and  in  the  last  decade  before  the  breakup  of  the  union  with  Sweden, 
1895—1905,  the  Army  dominated  Norwegian  national  defence. 

After  a  peaceful  restoration  of  an  independent  kingdom  of  Norway  in 
1905,  Norwegian  defence  policy  was  dominated  by  fear  of  Swedish  plans  for 
revenge.  With  the  long  land  frontier  between  the  two  countries,  this  naturally 
resulted  in  an  augmentation  of  the  Army  and,  to  a  large  extent,  neglect  of 
the  Navy.  A  late  awakening  to  the  dangerous  aspects  of  the  Anglo— German 
naval  race  before  1914  produced  very  few  material  results  in  our  Navy. 
During  World  War  I  Norway  remained  neutral,  but  with  steadily  increasing 
pro-allied  sentiment,  not  least  because  of  the  sufferings  of  thousands  of 
Norwegian  sailors  caused  by  the  German  war  against  shipping.  However, 
during  the  war  the  Norwegian  Navy  guarded  national  waters  on  neutrality 
patrol,  and  the  seas  outside  territorial  waters  were  protected  by  the  Royal 
Navy.  The  dominance  of  the  Royal  Navy  in  adjacent  waters  remained  a 
prevailing  belief  in  Norwegian  naval  and  political  circles  up  to  the  German 
invasion  in  1940.  This  conception  had  a  decisive  influence  on  our  small 
defence  effort  during  the  interwar  years. 

After  a  stumbling  start,  the  Norwegian  Army  fought  against  the  German 
invaders  for  two  months  in  1940,  rather  inefficiently  supported  by  French 

1 7 

and  British  troops.  In  connection  with  the  withdrawal  of  Allied  forces  from 
Norway  in  the  beginning  of  June  1940  (the  principal  cause  was  the  collapse 
in  France),  an  armistice  was  signed  between  the  German  and  Norwegian 
military  high  commands.  The  Norwegian  king  and  government,  however, 

10  Knut  Mykland,  Norges  historie,  vol.  9  (Oslo:  1977),  pp.  145-55,  pp.  425-76. 

11  Francis  Sejersted,  Norges  historie,  vol.  10  (Oslo:  1978),  pp.  32-65. 

12  Article  by  Tore  Prytz  Dahl  in  Roald  Gjelsten,  ed.,  Verkteyforfred  (Oslo:  1993),  pp.  58-66. 

13  Ibid.  pp.  66-8. 

Olav  Riste,  Forsuar  og  neytralitet  under  1.  uerdenskrig  (Oslo:  1965). 

15  Olav  Riset,  The  neutral  ally  (Oslo:  1965). 

16  Nils  0rvik,  Sikkerhetspolitikken  1920-1939,  2  volumes  (Oslo:  1960-61). 

17  Odd  Lindback-Larsen,  Krigen  i  Norge  1940  (Oslo:  1965). 


256      Norway 

fled  to  England  to  continue  the  war  from  abroad.  The  armistice  affected  the 
Army  in  particular,  while  naval  vessels,  destroyers,  patrol  vessels  and  a  submarine 
sailed  for  the  British  Isles.  A  few  naval  planes  succeeded  in  reaching  the  British 
shores  as  well.  While  it  was  rightly  considered  impossible  to  muster  a  sufficient 
number  of  soldiers  to  form  new  army  divisions  abroad,  naval  officers  and  pilots 
were  in  demand  to  join  the  new  Norwegian  armed  forces  in  Great  Britain. 
Therefore,  during  the  government's  exile  in  Great  Britain,  the  Norwegian  Navy 
was  the  largest  service,  and  the  Navy  and  Air  Force  participated  in  a  great  number 
of  operations  along  with  British  forces.  The  small  Norwegian  Army  on  British 
soil,  however,  was  to  a  great  extent  held  in  reserve  by  our  political  authorities 
for  use  in  a  possible  campaign  to  liberate  Norway.  Luckily,  the  Germans  in 
Norway  capitulated  as  a  result  of  defeats  outside  our  country. 

After  the  war,  a  special  historical  branch  was  established  in  the  Norwegian 
Defence  Staff.  The  members  of  the  historical  branch  had  their  background 
chiefly  from  service  academies;  only  a  few  of  the  members  came  from  civilian 
universities,  for  instance  Professor  Nils  0rvik,  who  had  studied  at  the  universities 
of  Oslo  and  Wisconsin.  The  main  task  of  the  historical  branch  was  to  clarify 
the  background  and  the  events  of  Norwegian  participation  in  World  War  II. 
Consequently,  Army  historians  treated  the  Norwegian  Army's  operations  during 
the  war.  In  Particular,  they  treated  in  great  detail  the  two  months  of  war  in 
Norway  in  1940.  The  Air  Force  had  their  histories  as  well,  and  last  but  not 
least,  the  operations  of  the  Royal  Norwegian  Navy  during  the  period  of 
neutrality  and  in  conditions  of  war,  have  been  dealt  with  by  Commander  E.A. 
Steen.  In  the  beginning  of  the  eighties,  the  historical  branch  was  disbanded  in 
the  belief  that  its  work  was  completed.  At  present,  no  special  unit  exists  for  the 
treatment  of  historical  topics  in  the  Norwegian  armed  forces,  with  the  exception 
of  the  work  done  by  the  Museum  of  Defence  in  Oslo  and  its  subdivisions:  the 
Norwegian  Home  Front  Museum,  the  Air  Force  museum  in  Bodo,  the  Naval 
Museum  in  Horten,  and  a  small  centre  of  defence  studies  in  Oslo,  led  since  1980 
by  Professor  Olav  Riste. 

The  Norwegian  Museum  of  Defence  has,  until  recently,  been  directed  by 
officers  with  an  Army  background.  The  last  military  director  resigned  in  protest 
against  the  transfer  of  the  Air  Force  museum  from  Gardemoen  near  Oslo  to 
Bodo  in  northern  Norway.  The  new  director,  Rolf  Scheen,  the  first  director  of 
the  Museum  of  Defence  with  a  non-military  background,  is  an  archaeologist  in 

Halvdan  Koht,  Norway,  neutral  and  invaded  (London:  1941). 

Forsvarets  Krigshistoriske  Avdelning,  Forsvarets  wile  i  Norges  historie  (Oslo:  1965),  pp.  37—50. 
20   Norges  Statskalender  1951  (Oslo:  1951),  p.  1086. 

Forsvarets  Krigshistoriske  Avdelning,  Krigen  i  Norge  i  1940,  Ca.  15  volumes  (Oslo:  1952-1965). 
Fredrik  Meyer,  Haerens  og  Marinens  jlyvapen  1912-1945  (Oslo:  1973). 

23  Erik  Anker  Steen,  Norges  Sjekrig  1940-45,  7  volumes  (Oslo:  1954-1963). 

24  Norges  Statskalender  1993  (Oslo:  1993),  pp.  141,  174. 


Prytz  Dahl      257 

his  mid-forties.  Rolf  Scheen's  pronounced  goal  is  to  improve  the  cooperation 
with  civilian  bodies.  The  new  director  judges  his  museum  as  one  of  the  biggest 
in  the  country  and  aims  at  making  the  institution  a  center  for  competent  research 
in  matters  concerning  Norwegian  defence  forces.  At  present,  with  few 
exceptions,  the  majority  of  the  museum's  personnel  have  a  military  background. 
In  the  same  way  the  Naval  Museum  at  Horten,  the  main  naval  base  of  Norway 
until  the  1960s,  has  a  director  educated  at  the  Norwegian  naval  academy. 

The  teaching  of  Norwegian  naval  history,  with  the  exception  of  occasional 
museum  lectures,  is  done  almost  exclusively  by  the  Norwegian  naval  academy 
in  Bergen.  At  the  academy,  all  the  students,  regardless  of  specialization,  attend 
courses  in  naval  history.  The  executive  branch  students,  however,  have  the  most 
extensive  syllabus.  The  prescribed  texts  in  Norwegian  naval  history  are  prepared 
mainly  at  the  academy.  Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Captain  K.E.  Kvam,  who  was 
the  lecturer  in  naval  history  during  the  first  decades  after  World  War  II,  naval 
officers  were  selected  as  future  teachers  and  prepared  for  their  profession  through 
M.A.  theses  in  naval  history  in  addition  to  their  general  education  at  the  naval 
academy.  In  that  way,  since  the  middle  of  the  sixties,  the  teachers  in  naval  history 
have  possessed  professional  naval  knowledge  in  combination  with  a  passed 

9Q 

examination  for  a  university  degree  in  history.  In  addition  to  Norwegian  naval 
history,  international  naval  history  is  also  taught.  The  students  at  the  Norwegian 
naval  academy  are  expected  to  graduate  with  a  fairly  good  insight  into  the  naval 
history  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  Russia,  France,  Germany,  and  Japan 
as  well.  To  that  end,  the  Potter  and  Nimitz  text  book,  Sea  Power,  is  highly 
valued. 

Maritime  History 

The  field  of  maritime  history  can  be  defined  widely  to  include  both  the  history 
of  the  merchant  fleet  as  well  as  that  of  the  Navy.  Traditionally  in  Norway, 
however,  there  is  a  division  between  the  study  of  naval  affairs  and  non-military, 

>i4 

maritime  history.  A  merchant  fleet  is  an  important  constituent  of  sea  power, 
since  its  protection  provides  the  Navy  with  a  rationale.  The  resources  of  the 
merchant  marine  (hulls,  sailors,  and  expertise)  can  support  naval  strength  to  a 
considerable  degree.  However,  civilian  and  naval  types  of  maritime  power  do 
not  necessarily  sail  together,  and  that  is  clearly  the  case  in  Norway.  First  and 

25  Forsuarets  Forum,  19  (1992). 

26  Ibid.,  21  (1992). 

27  Norges  Statskalender  1993  (Oslo:  1993),  p.  141. 
Norwegian  Naval  Academy,  Education  plans  1993,  (SKUP-3). 

K.  Kvam,  Beretning  om  den  twrske  sjekrigsskoles  virksomhet  1817-1967  (Oslo:  1967),  pp.  584,  629. 
Norwegian  Naval  Academy,  Education  plans  1993,  (SKUP-3). 
Helge  W.  Nordvik:  "Norwegian  Maritime  Historical  Research  during  the  past  twenty  years:  A 

Critical  Survey,"  Sjefartshistorisk  Arbok  1990  (Bergen:  1991),  p.  241. 


28 
29 
30 
31 


258      Norway 

foremost,  the  Norwegian  Navy  is  a  coastal  one,  while  the  Norwegian 
merchant  fleet  ranks  among  the  foremost  in  the  field  of  international  transportation 
across  the  oceans. 

The  last  century  of  Norwegian  political  independence  in  the  Middle  Ages,  saw  a 
steady  increase  in  the  Hanseatic  cities'  participation  in  Norway's  foreign  trade, 
eventually  dominating  it.  Not  until  the  great  economic  expansion  in  the  Netherlands 
by  the  turn  of  the  sixteenth  century  did  Norwegian  economic  life  experience  a 
substantial  change  for  the  better.  Norway's  forests  proved  to  be  one  of  her  most 
important  resources,  with  timber  being  exported  to  the  Netherlands  and  to  other 
countries  in  Western  Europe  such  as  England  and  Scodand.  To  a  great  extent,  this 
trade  was  carried  out  on  Dutch  keels.  The  blooming  of  the  Dutch  economy  led 
thousands  of  Norwegians,  especially  from  southern  Norway,  to  emigrate  to  the 
Netherlands.  Norwegians  served  in  the  Dutch  Navy  as  well  as  on  Dutch  mer- 
chantmen. The  Dutch  served  as  our  teachers  in  naval  and  maritime  matters  since  these 
specialties,  to  a  large  extent,  had  sunk  into  oblivion  in  Norway  after  the  Middle  Ages. 

England  struck  a  serious  blow  against  the  Dutch  carrying  trade  to  English  ports  by 
the  Navigation  Act  of  1651 .  However,  by  the  exclusion  of  Dutch  merchantmen  from 
the  timber  trade  between  Norway  and  England,  Norwegian  ships  were  given  an 
advantage,  giving  the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet  many  favourable  years  at  the  turn  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  These  conditions  also  prevailed  in  the  1750s  and  later  during 
the  American  War  of  Independence  and  in  the  first  decade  of  the  French  Revolu- 

-1/: 

tionary  War.  During  these  periods,  Denmark— Norway  enjoyed  a  profitable 
neutrality. 

The  battle  in  the  roadstead  of  Copenhagen  in  1801,  and  especially  the  British 
bombardment  of  Copenhagen  in  1807  and  the  taking  away  of  the  better  part  of  the 
Danish— Norwegian  Navy,  however,  brought  the  countries  into  the  turmoil  of  the 
Napoleonic  wars,  and  a  war  against  the  mistress  of  the  seas,  Great  Britain.  The  British 
blockade  brought  disaster  to  the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet.  Since  free  transportation 
by  sea  was  of  vital  importance  for  Norway,  some  parts  of  the  country  even  experienced 
famine  when  the  sea  routes  were  interrupted. 

After  the  union  with  Sweden  in  1814  and  the  restoration  of  peace,  British 
protectionism  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Norwegian  maritime  expansion,  for  instance 
the  favoring  of  Canadian  instead  of  Norwegian  timber.     The  abolition  of  the  British 

32  Geoffrey  Till,  Modern  Sea  Power,  vol.  1  (London:  1987),  pp.  12-3. 

33  Statistical  Yearbook  of  Noway  1992  (Oslo:  1992),  p.  460. 

34  Ole  Jorgen  Benedictow,  Norges  historie,  vol.  5  (Oslo:  1977),  pp.  207-8,  232-39. 

35  Axel  Coldevin,  Vart folks  historie,  vol.  5  (Oslo:  1963),  pp.  87-90. 

36  Ibid.,  pp.  348-51. 

37  Ibid.,  pp.  407-16. 

38  Knut  Mykland,  Norges  historie,  vol.  9  (Oslo:  1977),  pp.  145-55. 

39  Bernt  A.  Nissen,  Vart  folks  historie,  vol.  6  (Oslo:  1964),  p.  129. 


Prytz  Dahl      259 

Navigation  Act  in  1849,  however,  was  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  growth 
of  the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet. 

During  the  1850s,  Norwegian  shipping  expanded  dramatically  in  the  overseas 
trades.  Sailings  between  foreign  ports,  without  Norwegian  ports  of  call,  became 
customary.  Norway  was  able  to  maintain  competitive  advantage  by  paying  low 
wages  to  the  sailors  and  using  second-hand  ships.  At  the  same  time,  the 
conditions  of  life  in  the  Norwegian  coastal  districts  produced  sailors  well  adapted 
to  the  seafaring  life. 

The  upward  trend  for  Norwegian  shipping  continued,  with  a  few  setbacks, 
into  the  present  century.  By  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century,  Norway's 
merchant  fleet  ranked  number  four  after  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  United 
States.  Before  1914,  most  shipowners  had  managed  the  transition  to  steam,  and 
Norwegian  shipyards  mastered  the  new  technology. 

The  merchant  fleet  of  neutral  Norway  was  highly  affected  by  World  War  I; 
however,  due  to  political  sympathy  for  the  Allied  cause,  common  economic 
interests,  and  Allied  pressure,  the  Norwegian  policy  became  definitely  pro-Al- 
lied. In  the  final  years  of  the  war,  the  largest  part  of  the  merchant  fleet  was 
engaged  in  British  transport,  although  at  very  high  expense.  Nearly  half  (49.6 
percent)  of  the  pre-war  fleet  was  lost.  About  900  ships  were  sunk  due  to 
war-related  causes,  and  nearly  2,000  sailors  perished. 

After  the  war,  the  development  of  Norwegian  liner  trades  continued,  hand 
in  hand  with  the  reconstruction  of  the  fleet.  The  difficult  market  was  met  by 
modernization — for  instance  a  change  from  steam  to  motor.  At  the  same  time, 
new,  more  specialized  trades  were  developed,  most  importantly  the  tanker  trade. 
In  1921,  tonnage  reached  the  pre-war  level.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
setbacks,  the  expansion  of  the  merchant  fleet  went  on  throughout  the  inter- war 
years.  By  the  outbreak  of  World  War  II,  Norwegian  merchant  tonnage  had 
doubled  to  4.9  million  G.R.T.  and  ranked  fourth  after  Japan.  Before  1914,  during 
the  previous  period  of  great  expansion,  growth  had  taken  place  through  the 
procurement  of  cheap,  old  ships.  During  the  inter-war  years,  the  competitive 
ability  was  maintained  by  sailing  vessels  that,  in  technical  terms,  were  the  best 
of  ships.  In  1939,  70  percent  of  the  fleet  used  motor  propulsion,  and  20  percent 
of  the  world's  tanker  tonnage  was  Norwegian. 

After  the  German  attack  in  1940,  about  16  percent  of  the  Norwegian  ships, 
the  "home  fleet,"  came  under  German  control.  The  rest  of  the  fleet,  about  4 
million  tons,  remained  under  the  control  of  the  legal  Norwegian  government. 
By  decision  in  cabinet,   the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet  was  placed  under 

40  Hans  Try,  Norges  historic  vol.  11  (Oslo:  1979),  pp.  116-53. 

41  Per  Fuglum,  Norges  historie,  vol.  12  (Oslo:  1978),  pp.  234-52. 

42  Chr.  A.R.  Christensen,  Vart  folks  historie,  vol.  8,  (Oslo:  1961),  pp.  66-83). 

43  Edvard  Bull,  Norges  historie,  vol.  13  (Oslo:  1979),  pp.  59-68. 

44  Niels  P.  Vigeland,  Norge pa  hauet,  vol.  2  (Oslo:  1954),  p.  582. 


260      Norway 

governmental  control  for  the  duration  of  the  war.  In  that  way,  "The  Nor- 
wegian Shipping  and  Trade  Mission,"  usually  abridged  to  NORTRASHIP,  was 
born.  NORTRASHIP,  with  its  estimated  1,000  ships  and  25,000  sailors,  was  the 
most  valuable  asset  of  the  Norwegian  government  in  exile.  The  income  from 
NORTRASHIP  made  the  government  economically  independent  during  its 
forced  stay  in  Great  Britain.  At  the  same  time,  the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet 
was  Norway's  greatest  contribution  to  the  Allied  victory.  For  instance,  in  the 
period  "when  Great  Britain  stood  alone,"  nearly  50  percent  of  the  vital 
oil-transports  came  to  Britain  on  Norwegian  keels.  As  during  World  War  I, 
the  cost  was  grim:  2.7  million  tons,  47  percent  of  the  fleet,  was  lost  and  about 
4,000  Norwegian  sailors  died. 

Within  five  years  after  the  end  of  World  War  II,  the  Norwegian  merchant 
fleet  had  reached  its  pre-war  level.  All  through  the  fifties  and  sixties,  the  fleet 
had  a  remarkable  growth,  reaching  25  million  tons  in  the  middle  of  the  seventies. 
In  that  decade,  however,  the  merchant  fleet  experienced  a  downward  economic 
trend  and  felt  the  negative  consequences  of  the  higher  Norwegian  costs  of 
operation.  Competition  from  ships  registered  under  "flags  of  convenience,"  with 
lower  taxes  and  far  less  social  costs,  elucidated  the  competitive  disadvantages  that 
the  post-war  Norwegian  welfare  state  implied  for  international  shipping.  The 
result  was  a  pronounced  downward  trend  in  the  Norwegian  tonnage  of  shipping. 
Not  until  the  creation  of  the  Norwegian  International  Ship's  Register  (NIS)  in 
1987  was  the  decline  halted,  perhaps  temporarily.  By  the  end  of  1992,  the  size 
of  the  Norwegian  merchant  fleet  was  about  23  million  G.R.T.  Of  this  total, 
21,769  million  tons  was  in  the  NIS. 

After  this  very  short  survey  of  Norwegian  maritime  history,  what  is  the  present 
state  of  naval  and  maritime  history  in  Norway?  Maritime  finds  from  antiquity 
and  the  Middle  Ages  are  regulated  by  law.  The  Chief  of  Inspectorate  of  Ancient 
Monuments  and  Historic  Buildings  [Riksantikvar]  has  country— wide  authority. 
As  for  archeological  finds,  the  country  is  divided  between  the  University  of  Oslo 
and  the  Norwegian  Maritime  Museum  in  Oslo,  the  Archaeological  Museum, 
and  the  Maritime  Museum  in  Stavanger,  the  University  of  Bergen  and  the 
Maritime  Museum  in  Bergen,  the  University  of  Trondheim  and  the  Museum 
at  the  University  of  Tromso.  According  to  Norwegian  law,  maritime  finds  from 
the  modern  period,  if  they  are  more  than  one-hundred  years  old,  belong  to  the 
Norwegian  state  when  private  ownership  is  impossible  to  establish.  The  respon- 

45  Ibid.,  p.  579. 

46  Chr.  A.R.  Christensen,  Vart  folks  historic  vol.  9  (Oslo:  1961),  pp.  422-23. 

47  Niels  P.  Vigeland,  Norge  pa  hauet,  vol.  2  (Oslo:  1954),  p.  582. 

48  Ibid.,  p.  609. 

49  Edvard  Bull,  Norges  historie,  vol.  14  (Oslo:  1979),  pp.  197-203. 

50  Central  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Norway,  Monthly  Bulletin  of  Statistics,  1/1993  (Oslo:  1993). 


Prytz  Dahl      261 

sibility  for  material  of  this  category  is  divided  in  the  same  way  among  the  above 
mentioned  institutions. 

As  for  maritime  history  in  the  modern  period,  it  has  been  maintained  that 
fascinating  ships,  sailors,  and  personalities  always  tend  to  win  in  the  competition 

Co 

with  structures,  strategies,  and  politics.  In  a  somewhat  exaggerated  reaction  to 
this  issue,  primarily  to  the  book  on  The  History  of  Norwegian  Shipping  up  to  1914, 
Professor  Johan  Schreiner  published  his  study  of  Norwegian  shipping  in  the 
period  1914—1920.  In  his  preface,  Professor  Schreiner  explicitly  stated  that  his 
book  contained  no  pictures  of  ships  or  portraits  and  no  accounts  of  ships  and 
men.  Instead,  Schreiner  concentrated  on  the  new  problems  created  by  the  war 
and  the  shipping  boom  of  the  period. 

The  history  of  the  individual  shipping  firms,  quantitatively  the  most  common 
type  of  maritime  history  in  Norway,  has  largely  been  written  through  commis- 
sioned assignments  to  journalists  and  "popular"  writers.  Fortunately,  however, 
there  are  several  exceptions  to  this  fact.  Some  research  is  being  done  in  this  area, 
but  it  is  usually  done  outside  the  universities,  because  Norwegian  professional 
historians  generally  have  concentrated  their  research  on  Norwegian  political 
history,  especially  the  emergence  of  the  new  state  after  1814  and  the  creation  of 
the  modern  welfare  state.  The  most  prominent  institutions  that  have  dealt  with 
maritime  history  in  the  shape  of  scientific  research  published  in  books  and 
well-edited  yearbooks  are  the  maritime  museums  of  Oslo  and  Bergen,  both  of 
which  are  led  by  professional  historians.  Bard  Kolltveit  is  the  director  at  the 
Norwegian  Maritime  Museum  and  Dr.  Atle  Thowsen  is  at  the  Maritime 
Museum  in  Bergen.  The  foundation  of  the  "Norwegian  Research  Fund  for 
Maritime  History"  at  the  Bergen  Maritime  Museum  in  1971  is  an  attempt  to 
turn  the  tide  in  favor  of  scientific  research  in  the  field  of  Norwegian  maritime 
history,  but  its  resources  are  very  limited.  Consequently,  the  foundation  can 
support  only  a  few  research  workers  per  year.  Although  some  progress  has  taken 
place,  the  negative  trend  has  not  been  changed  permanently.  During  the  two 
decades  leading  up  to  the  1990s,  some  twenty  master  of  arts  theses  in  maritime 
history  have  been  written  at  Norwegian  universities.  In  the  same  period,  only 
three  doctoral  theses  in  maritime  history  have  been  defended  at  Norwegian 
academic  institutions. 


Lov  om  kulturminner  av.  9.  juni  1978,  Lovendring  av  3.  juli  1992. 

Helge  W.  Nordvik,  "Norwegian  Maritime  Historical  Research  during  the  past  twenty  years:  A 
Critical  Survey,"  Sjefartshistorisk  Arbok  1990  (Bergen:  1991),  p.  242. 

Jac.  S.  Worm-Muller,  Ed.,  Den  norske  sjefarts  historie  fra  de  aeldste  tider  til  uore  dage,  3  volumes 
(Kristiania-Oslo,  1923-51). 

Preface  to  Johan  Schreiner,  Norsk  skips/art  under  krig  og  heykonjunktur  1914-1920  (Oslo  1963). 

55  Ottar  Dahl,  Norsk  historieforskning  i  det  19,  og  20.  arhundre  (Oslo:  1959),  pp.  268-71. 

56  Universitetet  i  Bergen,  Arsmelding  1968-69  (Bergen:  1970),  p.  133;  Hvem  er  Hvem  (Oslo:  1984),  p. 
419. 

■       Helge  W.   Nordvik,   "Norwegian  Maritime   Historical   Research,"   Sjefartshistorisk  Arbok    1990 


262      Norway 

Among  the  most  important  works  published  recently  is  Commander  Jon 
Rustung  Hegland's  account  of  the  NORTRASHIP  Fleet.  '  This  well-docu- 
mented account  studies  the  activities  of  1,081  ships  and  about  25,000  seamen. 
Based  on  primary  sources,  Hegland  used  maritime  statutory  declarations,  actions 
reports  from  naval  gunners  aboard  the  ships,  the  Admiralty's  War  Diary, 
NORTRASHIP's  records  of  losses,  Norwegian  naval  documents,  as  well  as  some 
British  and  German  printed  documents.  Although  Hegland  only  treated  the 
economic  and  administrative  aspects  when  they  are  important  for  the  overall 
view,  the  very  comprehensive  works  of  Lauritz  Pettersen,  Bjorn  L.  Basberg, 
Guri  Hjeltnes,  and  Atle  Thowsen  on  The  Merchant  Navy  at  War  have  more 
completely  elucidated  these  aspects. 

These  works  are  good  examples  of  the  complementary  research  done  by  naval 
and  civilian  historians.  To  a  certain  extent,  the  two  groups  may  be  said  to  be 
mutually  prejudiced,  with  naval  men  writing  oversimplified  explanations  of 
complex  historical  causes  and  effects,  while  civilian  historians  tend  to  give 
amateur  treatment  to  naval  and  military  problems. 

In  the  future,  one  may  hope  that  the  goal  of  the  new  director  of  the 
Norwegian  Museum  of  Defence,  to  improve  contact  between  civilian  and 
military  research  establishments,  may  help  to  bridge  the  existing  gulf  between 
Norwegian  maritime  and  naval  history. 


(Bergen:  1991),  pp.  243,  248,  256;  Atle  Thowsen,  "Norsk  sjofartshistorie — periferi  eller  sentrum  i 
norsk  historieforskning?"   Sjefartshistorisk  Arbok  1912  (Bergen:  1973),  p.  38,  (Summary  in  English). 

58  Jon  Rustung  Hegland,  Nortraships  Flate,  2  volumes  (Oslo:  1976). 

59  Atle  Thowsen,  Handelsjlaten  i  krig  1939-1945,  vol.  1;  Bjorn  L.  Basberg,  Handelsjlaten  i  krig 
1939-1945,  vol.  2;  Guri  Hjeltnes,  Handelsjlaten  i  krig  1939-1945,  vols.  3  &  4;  Lauritz  Pettersen, 
Handelsjlaten  i  krig  1939-1945,  vol.  5  (Oslo:  1992-1995). 


Pakistan 


Commodore  S.Z.  Shamsie,  Pakistan  Navy,  Retired 


Pakistan  came  into  existence  on  14  August  1947.  Prior  to  that  date  there 
was  only  one  well-established  maritime  institution  in  what  was  to  become 
Pakistan,  that  being  the  Karachi  Port  Trust.  It  was  on  that  same  day  in  August 
that  the  Royal  Pakistan  Navy  was  born,  with  its  ships  being  allocated  from  the 
old  Royal  Indian  Navy. 

The  region  has  a  long-standing  relationship  with  the  sea.  Two  small  islands 
near  the  mainland  in  Karachi  harbour  contain  a  thriving  shipbuilding  industry 
which,  for  many  years,  has  been  focused  on  building  dhows.  Even  today,  these 
indigenous  boats  ply  the  Arabian  and  Red  Seas,  the  Persian  Gulf,  as  well  as  other 
areas.  Now  equipped  with  diesel  engines,  the  dhows  are  able  to  operate  in  nearly 
all  weather  conditions.  They  also  carry  a  surprising  amount  of  cargo,  as  little 
space  is  devoted  to  comfort,  and  crews  are  small. 

The  infancy  of  the  Pakistan  Navy  was  difficult,  given  the  chronic  lack  of  financial 
resources,  manpower,  and  expertise.  It  took  time  to  create  these  new  institutions, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  1950s  that  substantive  growth  appeared.  Two  important 
facilities  were  developed  during  that  time  frame:  the  Royal  Pakistan  Navy  Dockyard 
and,  near  it  on  West  Wharf,  the  Karachi  Shipyard  and  Engineering  Works. 

Although  the  subject  of  a  naval  academy  and  a  marine  academy  had  been 
discussed  as  early  as  1948,  nothing  significant  happened  for  several  years.  The  Cadet 
Training  School  was  started  in  HMPS  Himalaya  (the  training  complex)  on  Manora 
Island  in  the  early  1 950s.  The  Naval  Academy  was  commissioned  at  another  location 
on  the  island  in  1957.  The  Pakistan  Marine  Academy  was  eventually  set  up  in  1961 
in  East  Pakistan,  near  Chittagong.  After  East  Pakistan  became  Bangladesh  in  1971, 
temporary  accommodation  for  the  Marine  Academy  was  found  in  Karachi. 
Construction  of  a  new  Academy,  not  far  from  Sandspit  Beach,  was  started  in  1976. 
That  institution  is  now  under  control  of  the  Ports  and  Shipping  Wing. 

A  general  history  of  the  development  of  the  Pakistan  Navy  is  provided  in  the  official  history,  titled 
the  Story  of  the  Pakistan  Navy  1947-1972,  (Karachi:  Elite  Publishers,  Ltd.,  1991);  See  also,  Herbert 
Feldman,  Karachi  Through  a  Hundred  Years;  the  Centenary  History  of  the  Karachi  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Industry,  1860-1960  (Karachi:  Pakistan  Branch,  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1970). 

This  information,  and  that  which  follows  about  the  Pakistani  National  Shipping  Corporation,  the 
Academy,  the  Coast  Guard,  and  Port  Qasim,  was  obtained  from  official  Naval  Headquarters  Records 


264      Pakistan 

The  Ports  and  Shipping  Wing  was  established  in  Karachi  at  the  end  of  1961, 
under  a  director  general  who  held  the  rank  of  commodore.  He  was  assisted  by 
two  directors  who  were  naval  officers.  Although  it  initially  functioned  under 
the  Ministry  of  Defence,  the  Wing  was  later  transferred  to  the  Ministry  of 
Communications. 

The  National  Shipping  Corporation  was  established  in  the  public  sector  by 
the  government  to  ensure  better  operation  and  development  of  shipping  in 
Pakistan.  The  first  ship  was  purchased  in  1964,  and  by  1971  the  number  had 
increased  to  thirty-two.  From  its  inception  this  corporation  has  been  led  by  a 
naval  officer. 

The  concept  of  a  coast  guard,  initiated  by  the  Navy,  was  developed  as  a 
seagoing  force  for  the  protection  of  national  marine  resources,  patrolling  coastal 
waters,  anti-smuggling  and  assistance  to  merchantmen.  It  had  been  assumed  that 
this  was  a  natural  function  of  the  Navy.  The  proposal  to  establish  a  coast  guard 
bumbled  through  the  meandering  channels  of  bureaucracy  and  emerged,  having 
suffered  a  significant  metamorphosis,  as  a  land-based,  ancillary  force  to  assist  the 
local  police  and  Customs  agencies. 

The  Karachi  Shipyard  and  Engineering  Works  (KSEW)  proved  to  be  an 
unprofitable  industry.  With  high  overhead  and  labour  unrest  it  was  not  com- 
petitive. After  a  Presidential  Order,  it  was  taken  over  by  the  Ministry  of  Defence 
and  placed,  in  1970,  under  the  charge  of  a  naval  officer. 

Discussions  were  also  held  on  the  subject  of  creating  another  port  to  ease  the 
burden  on  Karachi.  The  intent  was  that  it  be  close  so  that  transportation  of  goods 
from  the  north  would  be  enhanced.  Finally,  it  was  decided  that  both  the  steel 
mill  (which  was  to  be  set  up  with  the  help  of  the  USSR)  and  the  new  port  should 
be  located  at  Pipri,  which  is  close  to  Karachi  while  just  to  the  south  of  it.  That 
port  was  named  after  the  man  who  conquered  Sindh  in  711;  Port  Mohammad 
Bin  Qasim. 

The  Department  of  Hydrography  was  established  in  1948  with  the  assistance 
of  an  officer  from  the  Royal  Australian  Navy.  A  continuous  demand  by  the 
Navy  for  scientific  information  about  the  marine  environment  led  to  the 
formation  in  1958  of  the  National  Committee  for  Oceanographic  Research 
(NCOR).  This  organization  was  chaired  by  the  Hydrographer  of  the  Navy.  The 
Pakistan  Navy  took  part  in  the  International  Indian  Ocean  Expedition  (1962-65) 
and  generated  much  interest  in  the  region.  UNESCO  organized  training  schemes 
for  naval  personnel,  and  equipment  was  donated  by  a  number  of  countries, 
including  the  United  States. 

The  Ministry  of  Technology  was  established  in  1978.  The  Navy  played  a 
significant  role  in  the  establishment  of  the  National  Institute  of  Oceanography, 
(NIO)  as  the  Committee  for  Oeanographic  Research  was  the  primary  advisory 

and  Naval  Archives  and  from  the  Office  of  the  Director,  General  Ports  and  Shipping. 


Shamsie      265 

body  for  the  development  of  that  organization.  That  institute  was  set  up  in 
Karachi  in  1981,  with  the  aim  of  initiating  oceanic  research  and  exploiting 
marine  resources. 

The  Navy  further  extended  its  research  and  training  facilities.  Close  coopera- 
tion with  the  Pakistan  Navy  led  to  an  increase  in  the  activities  of  the  National 
Institute  of  Oceanography.  For  instance,  the  need  for  tidal  data  from  the  United 
Kingdom  was  eliminated  through  the  introduction  of  tidal  predictions  in 
Pakistan.  In  addition,  coastal  protection  works  were  commenced.  The  Institute 
also  arranges  special  lectures  for  the  Navy  and  other  organizations.  The  Institute's 
Director  was  appointed  Vice  Chairman  of  the  Inter-governmental 
Oceanographic  Commission  For  UNESCO,  in  Paris  1989—93. 

The  need  for  an  oceanographic  research  vessel  had  been  felt  for  some  time, 
and  approval  had  been  pending  for  some  time.  Continued  pressure  by  the  Navy 
and  National  Institute  of  Oceanography  ultimately  lead  to  action  and,  in  1982, 
a  research  vessel  was  launched.  This  Oceanographic  vessel  was  commissioned 
and  named  Behr  Paima  in  1983.  It  is  under  the  administrative  control  of  the 
Ministry  of  Communications,  while  naval  personnel  man  it. 

Two  Pakistan  research  expeditions  have  been  undertaken  to  the  Antarctic. 
The  first  was  from  12  December  1990  to  1  March  1991.  An  Antarctic  station 
was  established  and  named  after  the  founder  of  our  nation:  Jinnah.  On  the  second 
expedition,  the  ship  left  Karachi  on  27  December  1992  and  returned  on  11 
March  1993.  There  were  twenty  scientists,  thirteen  naval  officers,  eleven  Army 
officers  and  one  Air  Force  observer.  Jinnah  Station  2  and  Iqbal  Observatory  were 
established  on  the  ice  shelf,  while  detailed  scientific  research  was  carried  out  in 
the  surrounding  waters. 

In  addition,  an  oceanographic  ship  was  chartered  by  the  Ministry  of  Tech- 
nology for  National  Insitute  of  Oceanography  and  expeditions  were  organized 
and  led  by  the  Pakistan  Navy.  Scientists  from  the  Institute  and  other  institutions 
carried  out  extensive  research  on  the  ice  shelf  and  adjacent  waters,  with  the 
Navy  and  Army  providing  assistance. 

As  mentioned  earlier,  the  Navy  initiated  a  case  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Coast  Guard  which,  unfortunately,  became  a  para-miliary  unit.  The  situtation 
was  reconsidered  in  order  to  redress  that  error,  and  the  Coast  Guard  was 
reconstituted  in  1986  to  perform  its  originally  assigned  functions.  This  organiza- 
tion is  now  called  the  Maritime  Security  Agency.  It  is  currently  manned  by  naval 
personnel  and  was  started  with  ships  allocated  by  the  Navy. 

Some  years  ago,  a  body  called  the  Foundation  for  Development  through 
Moral  Revival  was  formed  as  a  non-profit  making  public  charity  trust  by  retired 

Information  about  general  oceanographic  developments  was  obtained  by  interview  with  the  former 
Director  of  the  National  Institute  of  Oceanography. 

Specific  data  for  the  1992  expedition  was  provided  in  an  interview  with  the  naval  officer  directly  in 
charge  of  the  1992  expedition. 


266      Pakistan 

Vice  Admiral  Choudri,  who  was  the  first  Pakistan  naval  officer  to  become  the 
commander  in  chief.  His  purpose  was  to  call  together  various  intellectuals  and 
persons  interested  in  discussing  matters  of  national  importance.  At  a  later  stage, 
a  maritime  studies  group  was  formed,  as  attention  was  focused  on  maritime 
subjects.  Admiral  Choudri  has  developed  an  abiding  interest  in  maritime  matters 
and  has  actively  supported  them  on  every  suitable  occasion.  Last  year,  the 
decision  was  made  to  expand  its  activities  and  form  an  independent  research 
body.  It  has  now  been  named  the  Pakistan  Institute  of  Maritime  Affairs  (PIMA). 
Its  charter  encompasses  many  aspects  of  maritime  history,  including  merchant 
ships,  shipbuilding,  ship  repairs,  ports,  fisheries,  offshore  activity,  pollution  and 
hinterland  infrastructure. 

The  Pakistan  Navy  is  also  in  the  process  of  building  a  museum,  to  be  named 
the  Pakistan  Maritime  Museum.  This  museum  will  include  display  rooms,  a 
laboratory,  a  historic  reference  section,  and  a  library.  Construction  is  scheduled 
to  be  completed  in  1994. 

Most  maritime  institutions  are  under  the  control  of  the  Ministry  of  Com- 
munications. All  of  them  have  published  articles  on  their  activities  on  special 
occasions.  A  book  was  published  on  the  occasion  of  the  centennial  of  the  Karachi 
Port  Trust  in  1980.  A  souvenir  magazine  was  produced  by  the  Pakistan  Marine 
Academy,  providing  a  brief  history,  an  account  of  its  activities,  and  the  courses 
held  subsequent  to  the  aid  provided  by  Japan. 

Given  that  our  country  is  very  young,  the  histories  are  very  limited  as  well. 
In  1997,  when  we  celebrate  the  50th  anniversary  of  our  Independence,  all  these 
institutions  will  publish  special  issues  to  commemorate  the  event.  When  con- 
sidered together,  they  will  comprise  our  maritime  history. 

There  is,  however,  another  aspect  of  Pakistani  maritime  history  which  also 
warrants  a  certain  amount  of  attention.  Specifically,  the  Muslims  did  much 
productive  work  in  that  regard  between  the  eighth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 
Though  books  and  articles  that  touch  on  the  maritime  aspect  have  been  written 
in  the  past,  many  of  them  are  in  Arabic  or  Turkish.  A  fair  amount  was  also 
written  by  the  English  during  their  rule  in  India.  But  the  impression  is  that  not 
enough  has  been  written  in  the  Urdu  language  (the  language  of  Pakistan)  or  in 
English.  While  a  few  articles  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  newspapers 
and  periodicals  on  navigation,  astronomy,  ship  construction,  and  charts,  and 
instruments  for  navigation,  research  in  this  area  deserves  greater  attention  and 
resources.  In  general,  books  on  maritime  history  are  not  readily  available  to  the 
public. 

Considering  our  ethos,  our  people's  thoughts  are  focused  landward,  par- 
ticularly to  the  north.  Very  little  happened  at  sea  during  the  rule  of  the  Moghuls, 
and  the  small  navy  which  existed  for  a  short  period  of  time  remained  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  subcontinent.  Historically,  the  only  person  who  understood 
the  importance  of  the  sea  and  the  Navy  was  Tippu  Sultan,  and  his  advice  went 


Shamsie      267 

unheeded.  Today,  paradoxically,  most  naval  personnel  are  recruited  from  the 
north.  But,  in  general,  there  is  little  interest  in  maritime  affairs. 

In  fact,  the  word  maritime  has  a  different  connotation  to  most  students  in  this 
country.  In  the  universities,  there  are  few  students  who  have  shown  interest  in 
the  subject,  though  some  have  displayed  an  interest  in  the  Muslim  history  in  the 
period  A.D.  700—1500.  In  the  recent  past,  some  Sindh  students  have  been  keen 
to  study  the  history  of  old  Sindh  as  a  maritime  province,  going  back  as  far  as  the 
time  of  Moenjo  Daro,  and  the  Indus  Valley  civilization.  Some  books  in  the 
Sindhi  language  are  available.  An  effort  has  been  made  to  encourage  the 
University  of  Karachi  to  create  a  Department  of  Maritime  History. 

Naval  history  is  taught,  on  a  limited  scale,  in  the  Naval  Academy  at  the  Navy 
Staff  College.  Certain  aspects  are  taught  in  the  Army  and  Air  Force  Staff  Colleges 
and  in  the  National  Defence  College. 

The  intellectual  atmosphere  in  Pakistan  was  vitiated  some  years  ago.  There 
are,  however,  faint  signs  that  interest  in  intellectual  subjects  may  be  revived  in 
the  future,  but  this  will  come  only  slowly.  Significant  interest  in  maritime  affairs 
is  not  likely  to  develop  soon.  In  1992,  an  international  seminar  was  held  in 
Lahore  on  the  achievements  of  the  Muslims,  including  the  maritime  sphere,  in 
order  to  generate  interest.  Many  experts  came  from  abroad.  That  seminar  did 
generate  some  interest.  But,  without  concerted  follow-up,  that  interest  is  also 
likely  to  wane. 

The  Institute  of  Maritime  Affairs  held  a  seminar  in  Islamabad  in  1992,  and 
planned  to  hold  another  in  Lahore  in  May  1993,  to  raise  the  consciousness  of 
maritime  issues  for  those  who  are  generally  far  removed  from  the  sea.  Political 
events  forced  them  to  postpone  the  seminar  which  was  to  be  held  in  Islamabad 
in  March  1994.  The  institute's  objective  was,  and  is,  to  make  the  maximum 
possible  contribution  as  a  non-political,  non-governmental  organization,  inter 
alia,  through  study/research  and  development,  in  as  many  of  the  maritime 
subjects  as  resources  permit.  They  also  hope,  wherever  possible,  to  help  other 
organizations  engaged  in  similar  work  in  the  interest  of  the  country. 

The  Pakistan  Maritime  Museum  will  probably  assume  the  task  of  producing  the 
maritime  history  of  the  country.  One  of  the  functions  of  a  maritime  museum  is  to 
make  people  aware  of  their  maritime  heritage.  In  this  case,  it  will  be  entrusted  with 
the  task  of  writing  notes  on  the  achievements  of  the  Muslims.  Any  assistance  which 
can  be  provided  from  other  sources  will  certainly  be  deeply  appreciated. 

As  mentioned  earlier,  while  there  has  been  a  slight  resurgence  of  interest 
recently  in  the  achievements  of  the  Muslims,  there  is  inadequate  intellectual 
interest  presently  in  the  maritime  sphere.  Just  the  same,  an  effort  to  record 
maritime  history  is  underway.  A  modest  start  in  this  process  was  made  by  the 
publication  of  the  Story  of  the  Pakistan  Navy,  which  was  referenced  earlier  in  this 
article.  That  book  provides  the  first  reference  to  our  extended  maritime  history. 


Peru 


Commander  Jorge  Ortiz,  Peruvian  Navy 


The  sea  has  always  been  an  important  factor  in  Peruvian  life.  It  played  a 
decisive  role  in  the  formation  of  Andean  culture  and  in  the  evolution  of 
the  colonial  world,  and  it  has  remained  just  as  important  throughout  our  modern 
history  as  well.  However,  for  many  different  reasons,  Peruvians  remained  outside 
this  important  process.  Historically,  Peru  has  remained  an  observer,  while 
foreigners  exploited  one  of  the  richest  seas  of  the  world,  laying  adjacent  to  her 
coast  (for  example,  the  use  of  the  whaling  grounds  off  the  northern  coast  of  Peru 
by  the  British  and  North  Americans  in  the  late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth 
centuries,  and  the  development  of  the  important  guano  trade  in  the  last  century). 

A  possible  explanation  for  this  situation  is  the  tremendous  influence  that  the 
Andes  have  exerted  on  Peruvian  life.  It  was  in  the  sierra  that  the  most  important 
cultures  flourished,  exploiting  the  great  diversity  of  ecological  niches.  After  the 
Europeans  arrived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  enormous  mineral  resources  located 
in  the  mountains  became  the  base  for  the  Spanish  colonial  economy  in  the  New 
World.  Nonetheless,  maritime  routes  were  the  only  feasible  means  for  the  export 
of  gold  and  silver  taken  from  the  Andes.  That  exploration  moved  the  Peruvian 
economy  increasingly  away  from  agriculture  and  towards  mining.  That  trend 
continues  today. 

This  condition  restricted  Peruvian  maritime  activity  to  insignificant  fishing 
communities  and  to  a  small  number  of  maritime  entrepreneurs,  ship  owners  and 
seamen.  The  vast  majority  of  these  people  were  concerned  only  with  their  own 
businesses.  Very  few  of  them  played  an  active  role  in  politics,  or  devoted 
themselves  to  developing  an  awareness  in  the  Peruvian  community  of  the 
importance  of  the  sea  to  the  national  well-being. 

This  article  is  intended  to  explain  why  maritime  and  naval  history  are  nearly 
absent  in  the  Peruvian  academic  world  and  are  not  being  offered  as  courses  or 
seminars  in  any  Peruvian  university.  In  fact,  aside  from  some  valuable  and 
pioneering  research  done  in  the  late  nineteenth  century,  maritime  history  was, 
in  the  past,  largely  confined  to  an  adjunct  status  to  naval  history.  That  history 
was,  in  the  main,  produced  by  naval  officers.  Taking  this  situation  into  account, 
and  with  the  intent  of  renewing  maritime  and  naval  history,  a  group  of  naval 


270      Peru 

officers  and  historians  took  upon  themselves  the  task  of  writing  a  Peruvian 
maritime  history  nearly  thirty  years  ago. 

A  few  years  later,  with  the  firm  support  of  the  Peruvian  Navy,  this  group 
formed  the  Peruvian  Institute  of  Maritime  History,  (Instituto  de  Estudios 
Historico-Maritimos  del  Peru)  and  published  a  large  collection  of  books  under 
the  general  title,  Historia  Maritima  del  Peru.  This  collection,  covering  Peru's 
maritime  past,  from  prehispanic  times  to  the  twentieth  century,  already  numbers 
twenty  volumes,  and  three  other  volumes  are  in  work. 

The  functions  of  the  Institute  are  complemented  by  the  Navy  itself  through 
its  historical  service.  However,  despite  its  formal  intentions  to  promote  maritime 
history,  the  Institute  has  devoted  a  considerable  amount  of  its  effort  to  naval 
history,  not  only  because  it  forms  an  important  part  of  maritime  history,  but  also 
because  the  Institute  is  directed  by  retired  naval  officers.  Apart  from  the  Institute 
and  the  Navy,  and  closely  linked  to  both,  there  are  a  small  number  of  historians 
and  other  scholars  who  do  research  in  maritime  or  naval  history  themes.  As 
already  suggested,  though,  while  there  are  historians  who  have  written  about 
maritime  and  naval  topics,  it  cannot,  in  general,  be  said  that  they  are  truly  naval 
or  maritime  historians.  The  exception,  perhaps,  is  Commander  Fernando 
Romero  Pintado,  who  holds  a  Ph.D.  in  history,  but  whose  advanced  age  has 
limited  his  involvement  in  academic  activities  during  the  last  few  years. 

Taking  all  of  this  into  consideration,  the  Peruvian  Institute  of  Maritime  Studies 
has  encouraged  and  supported  some  naval  officers  to  take  up  maritime  historical 
studies.  Furthermore,  efforts  have  been  made  to  attract  young  historians  and 
researchers  to  maritime  themes.  Several  young  naval  officers  studied  at  the  Faculty 
of  Arts  at  the  Universidat  Catolica  del  Peru  and  have  become  professional  historians. 
One  of  the  first  to  accept  this  challenge  was  the  author  of  this  short  essay  who,  along 
with  some  other  young  historians  and  researchers,  devoted  his  studies  to  topics  of 
the  sea.  In  both  cases,  there  have  been  some  initial  successes.  In  the  near  future  at 
least,  a  small  cadre  of  trained  maritime  and  naval  historians  will  be  working  in  the 
areas  that  maritime  and  naval  history  encompass. 

Some  reference  should  also  be  made  to  the  dissemination  or  publication  of 
maritime  and/or  naval  themes.  While  no  seminars  or  courses  on  maritime  or 
naval  history  are  currently  being  given  in  the  universities,  they  are  being  offered, 
although  with  some  difficulty,  at  the  Instituto  de  Estudios  Historico-Maritima 
del  Pern,  as  well  as  by  the  Navy  itself.  In  the  last  few  years  the  following  courses 
have  been  offered: 

•  Naval  War  College  (Escuela  Superior  de  Guerra  Naval).  Between  1988 
and  1991  a  course  was  offered  in  Maritime  Identity.  Since  1992,  it  has  been 
replaced  by  three  seminars:  Historical  Analysis  of  Peruvian  Naval  Cam- 
paigns, A  History  of  War  at  Sea,  and  History  of  the  Navy. 


i 


Historia  Maritima  del  Peru  (Lima:  Instituto  de  Estudios  Histdrico-Maritimas  del  Peru,  1912-  ). 


Ortiz      271 

•  Peruvian  Naval  Academy  (Escuela  Naval  del  Peru)  provides  a  course  on 
the  History  of  the  Navy. 

•  Institute  for  the  Study  of  Peruvian  Maritime  History  (Instituto  de  Estudios 
Historico-Maritimos  del  Peru).  In  1992,  a  course  in  maritime  history  was 
begun  which  was  designed  to  give  students  a  general  overview  of  maritime 
topics.  That  course  had  three  parts:  a)  evolution  of  ships,  b)  history  of  war 
at  sea,  and  c)  general  maritime  history. 

The  first  course  mentioned  above,  the  maritime  identity,  was  given  by  this 
author  to  the  Captain's  Course.  The  objective  was  to  present  a  general  overview 
of  Peruvian  maritime  history,  emphasizing  the  way  it  helped  to  build  our  national 
identity.  Among  the  points  covered  were  the  importance  of  the  sea  to  the 
prehistoric  settlement  of  Peru;  the  myths  and  legends  that  shed  light  on  this 
reality;  and  prehispanic  navigation  as  a  fundamental  element  in  the  production 
of  food  as  well  as  in  the  pursuit  of  commerce.  Reviewing  the  colonial  period, 
the  importance  of  Callao  in  the  maritime  commerce  of  the  South  Sea  was 
emphasized,  not  only  during  the  time  of  the  annual  fleets  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  but  also  during  the  epoch  of  the  special  license  ships  in 
the  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries.  Furthermore,  we  directed  the 
students'  attention  to  the  nascent  interest  in  Peru  which  was  awakened  by  the 
exploitation  of  marine  resources.  These  activities  included  whale  hunting  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which  was  later  replaced  by  the  great  guano  boom 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  by  the  lucrative  fishing  industry,  especially  of 
anchovies,  in  the  twentieth  century.  Peru  became  the  world's  leading  producer 
offish  products  in  the  1950s. 

The  seminar  covering  the  analysis  of  Peruvian  naval  campaigns  is  given  by 
several  retired  admirals  and  includes  three  campaigns:  Independence  (1818— 
1826),  the  war  with  Chile  (1879-1880),  and  the  war  with  Ecuador  (1941).  Two 
other  seminars  are  directed  by  this  author,  which  are  efforts  to  provide  lieutenant 
commanders  and  commanders  with  an  overview  of  the  evolution  of  war  at  sea 
and  of  the  Peruvian  Navy  itself.  This  course  on  naval  history,  given  in  the  Naval 
Academy,  has  not  been  taught  regularly  in  the  last  few  years,  and  for  this  reason 
will  not  be  analyzed  fully.  In  1992,  the  professor  for  the  course,  a  retired 
commander,  died  and  was  replaced  by  his  assistant,  a  young  civilian  historian. 

The  course  of  maritime  history,  mentioned  above,  offers  a  common  base  for 
researchers  who  work  on  maritime  and  naval  themes.  It  should  be  noted  that 
no  similar  course  has  ever  been  given  in  the  country.  As  a  result,  in  the  past 
every  researcher  approached  the  topic  with  his  own  understanding  of  what  was 
naval  and  what  was  maritime,  but  often  with  little  understanding  of  the  big 
picture  and  how  the  two  fields  meshed.  So,  for  example,  we  not  only  try  to 
present  general  ideas  on  the  evolution  of  naval  ships,  but  also  emphasize  points 
on  worldwide  maritime  and  naval  history  as  well. 


272      Peru 

Having  already  mentioned  the  work  carried  out  by  the  Instituto  de  Estudios 
Historico-Maritimos  del  Peru  in  reference  to  the  development  of  maritime 
studies,  its  organization  and  editorial  efforts  should  be  presented  as  well.  The 
Institute  is  a  private  enterprise,  strongly  linked  to  the  Navy,  but  independent  in 
all  its  activities.  It  is  made  up  of  forty  members,  half  of  them  naval  officers,  and 
the  other  half  academics  of  diverse  disciplines,  including  historians,  diplomats, 
biologists,  etc.  Its  principal  endeavor,  The  Maritime  History  of  Peru  [Historia 
Maritima  del  Peru]  which,  as  previously  noted,  is  the  primary  resource  for  those 
who  wish  to  become  acquainted  with  the  maritime  and  naval  history  of  Peru. 
In  addition,  they  have  published  more  than  a  dozen  other  titles,  and  a  reputable 
journal  is  issued,  although  on  a  somewhat  irregular  basis. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Navy  itself  carries  out  and  promotes  historical  research 
through  the  Direccion  de  Intereses  Maritimos,  which  administers  the  Navy 
Museum  and  the  Historic  Archives  of  the  Navy,  and  which  contains  documents 
dating  from  the  beginnings  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Another  important 
archive  for  study  of  Peruvian  and  South  American  maritime  and  naval  history 
is  the  National  Archive,  with  documentation  dating  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  Navy  has  an  editorial  fund  that  has  published  almost  thirty  titles  in  the  last 
few  years,  not  all  of  which  are  on  strictly  naval  history  topics. 

Apart  from  these  two  institutions,  other  works  are  being  or  have  been 
produced  which  touch  on  maritime  or  naval  themes.  One  of  these  is  a  thesis 
currently  in  preparation  for  presentation  to  the  Catholic  University,  and  another 
is  the  collected  works  of  Dr.  Maria  Rostworowsky  de  Diez  Canseco,  published 
by  the  Institute  of  Peruvian  Studies,  which  deals  with  the  Peruvian  coast  in  the 
Late  Prehispanic  Period. 

Finally,  it  should  be  noted  that,  given  the  importance  of  the  Peruvian  viceregal 
period,  there  are  more  than  a  few  works,  published  outside  Peru,  which  deal 
with  maritime  or  naval  aspects  of  the  period. 

Naturally,  one  institution  is  not  capable  of  handling  all  these  works.  None- 
theless, there  is  a  concerted  effort  to  establish  links  among  all  those  who  are 
interested  in  these  topics.  This  effort  was  reinforced  in  1991,  with  the  First 
Symposium  of  Ibero-American  Maritime  Studies  of  Peru.  One  of  the  major 
achievements  was  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  secretariat,  and  Chile  as  well 

Maria  Rostworowsky  de  Diez  Canseco,  Costa  peruana  prehispanica  (Lima:  Instituto  de  Estudios 
peruanos,  1989)  2nd  ed.;  Recursos  naturales  renovables  ypesca,  sighs  XVI  y  XVII  (Lima:  Instituto  de  Estudios 
Peruanos,  1981). 

Pablo  E.  Perez-Mallaifha  y  Bibiano  Torres  Ramirez,  La  Armada  del  Mar  del  Sur  (Sevilla:  Escuela  de 
Estudios  Hispano-Americanos  de  Sevilla,  1987).  Peter  T.  Bradley,  The  Lure  of  Peru.  Maritime  Intrusion 
into  the  South  Sea,  1598-1701  (London:  The  Macmillan  Press:  1989).  Peter  T.  Bradley,  "The  ships  of 
the  Armada  of  the  Viceroyalty  of  Peru  in  the  Seventeenth  Century"  in  The  Mariner's  Mirror,  79  (1993), 
pp.  393-402.  Hugo  O'Donell,  El  Viaje  a  Chiloe  de  Jose  de  Moraleda  (1787-1790)  (Madrid:  Editorial 
Naval,  1990). 


Ortiz      273 

as  Argentina  and  Brazil  agreed  to  host  successive  symposia  in  1993,  1995,  and 
1999,  respectively. 

It  is  probably  too  early  to  speak  of  intellectual  tendencies  in  the  fields  of 
maritime  and  naval  history,  as  interest  in  academic  circles  has  not  been  applied 
consistently  over  a  prolonged  period  of  time  to  demonstrate  such  trends  or 
tendencies. 

The  War  of  the  Pacific  (1879-1884),  which  Peru  and  Bolivia  lost  to  Chile, 
endowed  the  Navy  with  its  most  famous  heroes.  This,  combined  with  the  fact 
that  the  war  proved  traumatic  for  the  nation,  has  been  primarily  responsible  for 
so  much  of  Peruvian  naval  and  maritime  history  being  devoted  to  that  war  and 
that  epoch  in  general.  Only  in  recent  times  have  several  works  highlighted  other 
aspects  of  Peru's  rich  and  diverse  maritime  and  naval  past. 

In  this  category,  that  being  the  periods  least  treated  but  also  quite  important, 
the  one  spanning  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginnings  of  the  nineteenth 
centuries  should  be  noted.  It  was  the  period  between  the  authorization  of  the 
entrance  of  British  and  North  American  whalers  and  the  war  for  national 
independence.  A  methodical  study  is  also  needed  on  the  Spanish  South  Sea 
Fleet,  whose  existence  spanned  almost  two  centuries  (between  1579  and  1750). 
Some  work  on  the  topic  exists,  but  much  more  needs  to  be  known  about  this 
important  colonial  entity.  Present  day  Peruvian  maritime  communities  also  need 
study.  One  can  still  find  some  prehispanic  customs  and  artifacts  (such  as  rafts)  in 
a  number  of  small  fishing  villages  and  ports.  It  is  also  necessary  to  research  boats 
in  general.  In  Peru,  many  immigrants  settled  on  the  coast  in  the  past  two 
centuries  and  many  of  the  boats  presently  in  use  by  fisherman  reflect  the  influence 
of  these  immigrants.  Another  theme  that  should  be  dealt  with  urgently  is  the 
conquest  of  the  Amazon,  a  process  begun  in  the  sixteenth  century  via  the  river 
system.  This  began  to  be  systematized  with  the  participation  of  the  Navy  after 
1864. 

As  noted  above,  Peruvian  historical  studies  deal  largely  with  naval  topics. 
Works  on  maritime  themes,  if  they  are  attempted,  face  lack  of  incentives  in  the 
academic  world.  It  is  worth  mentioning  that  while  the  Navy,  through  the 
Instituto  de  Estudios  Historico-Maritimos  and  through  its  own  historic  division, 
supports  and  develops  historic  studies,the  same  does  not  occur  among  the  diverse 
elements  that  make  up  the  maritime  world  of  our  nation. 

In  sum,  Peruvian  maritime  history  is  very  rich,  given  its  diversity  and  the  long 
relationship  that  Peruvians  have  had  with  the  sea.  In  the  case  of  naval  history,  it 
is  equally  abundant,  having  begun  in  the  sixteenth  century  with  the  formation 
of  the  South  Seas  Fleet.  All  this  information  has  been  gathered  and  reviewed  by 

4  Jorge  Ortiz,  El  Vicealmirante  Martin  Jorge  Guise  Wright  (1780-1828)  (Lima:  Direccion  de  Intereses 
Maritimos,  1993).  Jorge  Ortiz  and  Alicia  Castafieda,  Dicaonario  biografico  maritimo  peruatio  (Lima: 
Direccion  de  Intereses  Maritimos,  1993).  Jorge  Ortiz,  "Peru  and  the  British  Naval  Station  (1809-1839)," 
Ph.  D.  Thesis,  St.  Andrews  University,  Scotland,  1994. 


274     Peru 

the  Institute  of  Historic-Maritime  Studies  of  Peru,  however,  much  research 
remains  to  be  done  in  this  field. 


24 
Poland 


Jerzy  Litwin 

and 

Commander  Dr.  Wincenty  Karawajczyk,  Polish  Navy 

Maritime  History 

Studies  of  the  history  of  shipping  and  the  Navy,  which  have  been  conducted 
in  Poland  over  the  past  seventy-five  years,  have  been  strictly  related  to  the 
country's  political  situation.  During  that  period,  the  country's  political- 
economic  doctrines  have  undergone  three  radical  changes.  As  a  result,  with  each 
change,  the  authorities  intensified  demands  to  have  at  their  disposal  syntheses  of 
particular  fragments  of  Poland's  history.  These  were  utilized,  more  or  less,  for 
pertinent  educational  purposes,  but  also  for  specific  propaganda  activities, 
conducted  in  the  name  of  the  politics  of  the  state  at  the  time. 

The  first  such  period  embraced  the  years  1918—1947,  that  is,  from  the 
regaining  of  Poland's  independence  after  123  years  of  annexation  by  Russia, 
Prussia,  and  Austria  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  period  also 
included  the  Second  World  War  and  the  post-war  struggles  for  independence 
conducted  by  the  Polish  underground.  The  second  period  lasted  from  1948  to 
the  spring  of  1989,  when  Poland  was  ruled  by  a  communist  government  whose 
policies  were  imposed  by  U.S.S.R.  authorities.  The  third  period  began  in  the 
spring  of  1989  when,  after  the  agreement  of  the  so-called  "round  table,"  the 
communist  authorities  handed  over  power  in  Poland,  agreeing  to  its  being  taken 
over  by  the  forces  which  produced  the  social  uprising  in  1980,  known  by  the 
name  "Solidarity." 

Polish  Maritime  History  in  Outline.  The  oldest  written  sources  telling  of 
the  riparian  navigation  of  the  Slavic  peoples  date  to  the  sixth  century  A.D.  The 
northern  borders  of  the  Slavic  lands  stretched  along  the  Baltic  coast  from  the 
region  known  today  as  Lubeck  in  the  west,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  in  the 
east. 

The  people  living  adjacent  to  the  western  Slavs  called  them  Wends.  This 
point  is  brought  to  light  in  a  description  by  Wulfstan,  a  ninth  century  Anglo- 

This  section  is  written  by  Dr.  Jerzy  Litwin,  Deputy  Director  of  the  Polish  Maritime  Museum,  Gdansk. 
2     Wfedysfaw  Filipowiak,  Wolin  -  Vineta  (Rostock-Stralsund:  1986);  WTadsysfaw  Filipowiak,  "Poczatki 


276      Poland 

Saxon  traveller,  who  claims  to  have  had  the  Wendic  lands  off  his  starboard  bow 
during  the  entire  voyage  from  Hedeby  (Haithabu)  to  Truso.  From  Gdansk  Bay 
he  sailed  up  the  Vistula  which,  as  he  pointed  out,  was  the  natural  frontier 
between  the  Wends  and  the  "Old"  Prussians. 

To  meet  their  transportation,  communication,  and  fishery  needs,  the  riparian 
Slavs  produced  rafts  and  logboats  and,  if  the  necessity  arose,  larger  craft  as  well. 

It  was  probably  in  the  seventh  century  that  the  Slavs  first  ventured  out  into 
the  open  sea.  To  sail  in  safety  there  required  appropriately  constructed  craft. 
This  usually  involved  increasing  the  ships'  freeboards  by  attaching  single  planks 
to  them,  or  sets  of  two  or  more  overlapping  planks. 

In  the  larger  boats,  the  dugout  part  of  the  ship's  bottom  was  of  no  great 
significance,  and  in  time  it  came  to  be  left  as  a  semicircular  beam:  the  keel.  By 
the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  keels  had  become  T-shaped  in  cross-section. 
Dugout  keels  in  small  boats  persisted  on  the  south  coast  of  the  Baltic  until  the 
beginning  of  the  twentieth  century. 

Ancient  Slavic  boatbuilding  reached  its  peak  of  development  in  the  tenth 
though  the  twelfth  centuries,  when  large  plank-built  boats  made  quite  long 
commercial  voyages.   The  Western  Slavs  also  sent  fleets  to  wage  war  against  the 

Q 

Vikings.  Many  wrecks  and  parts  of  Slavic  vessels  from  this  period  have  been 
discovered  not  only  along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Baltic  but  also  in  Denmark. 
Sweden,  and  Germany. 

Slavic  boats  of  the  ninth  through  the  twelfth  centuries  had  a  number  of 
characteristic  structural  features.  They  were  made  of  oak.  In  silhouette  they 
resembled  Viking  ships,  but  their  cross-sections  were  different.  Their  bottoms 
were  flat  and,  even  though  they  were  made  from  overlapping  planks;  the  10-30 

zeglugi  slowianskiej  u  ujscia  Odry,"  Studia  nad  etnogeneza  Sfowian  i  kultura  Europy 
wczesnosredniowiecznej,  vol.  2  (Wrodaw-Warszawa-Krakow-Gdansk-Lodzl  1988);  Witold  Hensel, 
Stowiariszczyzna  wczesno/redniowieczna  (Warszawa:  1965);  Jozef  Kostrzewski,  Pradzieje  Pomorza 
(Wroclaw- Warszawa-Krakow:  1966);  Zdenek  Vana,  Suriat  dawnych  Sfowian  (Praha:  1985). 

3  Niels  Lund,  Two  Voyagers  at  the  Court  of  King  Alfred  (York:  1984),  p.  22-30. 

4  W.  Hensel,  ibid. 

Przemysiaw  Smolarek,  Studia  nad  szkutnictwem  Pomorza  Gdanskiego  w  X-XIII  w.  (Gdansk:  1969); 
Przemysiaw  Smolarek,  "Szkutnictwo  Pomorza  Gdariskiego  we  wczesnym  sredniowieczu,"  Historia 
budowtiictwa  okretowego  na  Wybrzezu  Gdanskim,  ed.  E.  Cieslak  (Gdansk:  1972). 

Wolfgang  Rudolph,  Handbuch  der  volkstumlichen  Boote  im  ostlichen  Niederdeutschland  (Berlin:  1966); 
Wolfgang  Rudolph,  Inshore  Fishing  Craft  of  the  Southern  Baltic  from  Holstein  to  Curonia  (London:  1974). 

Wfedysfaw  tega,  Obraz  gospodarczy  Pomorza  Gdanskiego  w  XII  i  XIII  wieku  (Poznari:  1949);  P. 
Smolarek,  ibid. 

Q 

Krystyna  Pieradzka,  Walki  Sfowian  na  Battyku  w  X-XII  wieku  (Warszawa:  1953). 

Detlev  Ellmers,  Fruhmittelalterliche  Handelsschiffahrt  in  Mittel-  und  Nordeuropa  (Neumunster:  1984);  P. 
Herfert,  Ralswiek  einfruhgeschichtlicherSeehandelsplatz  aufder  Insel  Rugen  (Greifswald:  1982);  Jan  Skamby 
Madsen,  Danish-wendische  Beziehungen  am  Schluss  des  1 1 .  Jahrhunderts  vom  Fund  einer  Schiffswerft  bei  Frhrodre 
A  auf  Falster  aus  beleuchtet,  Bistum  Roskilde  und  Rugen  (Roskilde:  1987);  K.W.  Struve,  "Ein  slawisches 
SchifBwrack  aus  der  Eckernforder  Bucht,"  Offa  (1978);  "Kazimierz  Slaski,  Slawische  Schiffe  des 
westlichen  Ostseeraumes,"  Offa  (1978). 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     277 

millimeter  diameter  pegs  used  to  hold  the  structural  elements  together  proved 

1  o 
to  be  an  entirely  satisfactory  substitute  for  nails. 

The  East  Baltic  Slavonic  tribes,  which  belonged  to  Poland  from  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century,  continued  to  expand  maritime  economy  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  Piast  monarchy,  which  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  organized  the 
state  of  Poland.  At  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  Poland  was  divided  into  a 
number  of  principalities.  One  of  them,  Masovia,  experienced  problems  with  its 
strong  neighbor  to  the  west,  Prussia.  Masovia's  Prince  Konrad,  in  1226,  invited 
the  Teutonic  Order  Knights  to  fight  with  them  against  Prussia.  These  new- 
comers very  soon  established  their  own  state  on  Prussian  territory,  and  at  the 

beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  they,  in  turn,  invaded  Gdansk.  With  that 

1 1 
act  Poland  lost  her  access  to  the  Baltic. 

Two  points  stand  out  in  fifteenth  century  Poland:  her  economic  growth  and 
her  struggle  for  supremacy  with  the  Teutonic  Order.  Settlement  in  coastal 
towns  was  increasing,  which  helped  to  foster  trade  with  foreign  centres.  By  then, 
goods  were  being  carried  mostly  by  ship.  As  early  as  the  fourteenth  century, 
inland  towns  were  making  their  contribution  to  the  country's  export  drive.  A 
variety  of  goods  were  shipped  downriver  to  the  coast  on  rafts,  large  logboats,  or 
other  craft. 

Cogs  and  hoiks  were  vessels  frequently  used  in  medieval  sea  transport.  Their 
designs  had  generally  become  more  sophisticated,  but  they  differed  from  one 
another  in  detail.  Cogs  became  common  on  the  Baltic  shores  in  the  thirteenth 
century  and,  although  probably  originating  in  the  Frisian  Islands,  they  were  also 
built  in  Gdansk  and  Elblag.  Cogs  had  flat,  flush  bottoms  and  clinker-built  sides, 
closely  resembling  Vistula  ships  in  these  design  features.  Hoiks,  which  were 
usually  larger  than  cogs,  became  common  in  the  fifteenth  century  and  were 
traditionally  built  on  a  keel,  like  boats,  by  means  of  the  shell  technique. 

River  navigation  on  the  Vistula  reached  its  zenith  in  the  sixteenth  through 
eighteenth  centuries,  when  thousands  of  ships  and  rafts  sailed  down  to  Gdansk 
and  Elblag  and  then,  laden  with  overseas  goods,  plied  back  upstream  to  their 
points  of  origin.  Products  of  farm  and  forest,  minerals  and  goods  in  transit,  were 
all  shipped  down  the  Vistula  and  its  tributaries. 

Smolarek,  see  note  5;  Tadeusz  Delimat,  "O  genezie -todzi  klepkowych  na  Pomorzu,"  Lud,  42  (1956); 
Jerzy  Litwin,  "Szkutnictwio  i  zegluga,"  Z dziejow  techniki  w  dawnej  Polsce  (Warszawa:  1992);  K.  Slaski,  ibidem. 
11    Edmund  Cieslak,  Historia  Gdanska,  I  (Gdansk:  1978). 

Marian  Biskup  and  Gerard  Labuda,  Dzieje  Zakonu  Krzyzackiego  w  Prusach  (Gdansk:  1988). 

Aleksander  Gieysztor,  " Wisia  w  sredniowieczu,"  Wisfa,  monografia  rzeki,  ed.  A.  Piskozub  (Warszawa: 
1982);  Stanistaw  Gierszewski,  Wista  w  dziejach  Polski  (Gdansk:  1982);  Przemysfaw  Smolarek,  "Types  of 
Vistula  Ships  in  the  17th  and  18th  Centuries,"  Yearbook  of  the  International  Association  of  Transport  Museums, 
8  (Gdansk:  1981). 

Jerzy  Litwin,  Some  Remarks  Concerning  Medieval  Ship  Construction  (Malta:  1989);  and  From  Studies  on 
Gdansk  and  Elblpg  Ship-building  and  Shipping  in  the  13th-15th  Centuries  (Malta:  1991). 

Jan  W.  Gan,  Z  dziejow  zeglugi  srodlpdowej  w  Polsce  (Warszawa:  1978);  Sebastian  F.  Klonowic,  Flis,  to 


278      Poland 

The  szkuta  was  the  largest  vessel  that  shipped  goods  on  the  Vistula.  A  szkuta 
could  be  up  to  38  meters  long,  8.5  meters  wide,  and  was  capable  of  taking  100 
tons  of  cargo  on  board. 

A  great  opportunity  to  create  a  Polish  navy  arose  in  1570  when  the  Polish  king, 
Zigismund  August,  brought  two  experts  from  Venice  and  entrusted  the  construction 
of  a  galleon  at  Elblag.  This  brought  a  new  type  of  warship  to  the  Baltic.  We  know 
how  the  ship  was  built  from  surviving  expenditure  records.  Construction  of  the 
galleon  began  in  June  1570.  Ready  for  launching  a  year  later,  the  ship  was  completed 
in  1572.  However,  she  was  not  armed  and  never  entered  service,  owing  to  the 

1  8 

premature  death  of  King  Zigismund  August. 

While  Zigismund  August  failed  in  his  effort  to  establish  a  navy,  the  Polish 
kings  of  the  Vasa  dynasty  enjoyed  greater  success  in  that  field  in  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  King  Zygmunt  III  created  a  fighting  fleet  for  which 
five  ships  were  built  at  Gdansk  in  1605—6.  Poland's  naval  successes  included  a 
victory  over  the  Swedish  fleet  in  1627  in  the  Battle  of  Oliwa,  which  took  place 
in  Gdansk  Bay.  During  this  battle  the  Swedish  warship  Solen  was  sunk,  while 
another,  the  Tigem,  was  captured. 

In  1641—43,  King  Wladislaw  IV's  fleet  was  scrapped.  The  consequence  of  this 
was  that  for  the  next  three  hundred  years  the  rulers  of  Poland,  for  a  variety  of 
reasons,  turned  their  backs  to  the  sea.  At  the  same  time,  from  the  mid-seventeenth 
century  onwards,  the  policies  of  Gdansk,  which  had  become  rich  acting  as  the 
middleman  in  Polish-European  trade,  led  to  a  standstill  in  the  local  shipbuilding 
industry. 

Although  Poland  had  never  been  a  major  producer  of  oceangoing  ships,  she 
was  a  major  supplier  of  raw  materials  to  foreign  shipbuilders  through  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  timber  (beams,  planks,  and  masting)  was  shipped  to  the 
sea  ports,  where  it  was  resold,  principally  to  Holland  and  Britain.  Up  to  the 

jest  spuszczanie  statkow  Wisia  i  inszymi  rzekami  do  niej  przypadajjacymi  (Warszawa:  first  edition  1595); 
Stanislaw  Kutrzeba,  Wista  w  historii  gospodarczej  daumej  Rzeczypospolitej  Polskiej  (Warszawa:  1922);  J.M. 
Matecki,  "Wisia  w  okresie  od  pokoju  toruriskiego  do  pokoju  oliwskiego,"  Wisfa,  monografia  rzeki,  ed. 
A.  Piskozub  (Warszawa:  1982);  H.  Obuchowska-Pysiowa,  Handel  wislany  w pierwszej potowie  XVIIwieku 
(Wroclaw:  1964);  Krystyna  Waligorska,  "Konstrukcje  statkdw  prywajacych  po  Sanie  i  Wisle  w  XVIII 
w,"  Kwartalnik  Historii  Kultury  Materialnej,  vol.  8,  no.  2. 

Mieczysfaw  Boczar,  Galeona  Zygmunta  Augusta  (Wroclaw- Warszawa-Krakow-Gdarisk:  1973);  Jerzy 
Litwin,  "The  First  Polish  Galleon  and  its  Construction  Register  from  1570-1572,"  Carvel  Construction 
Technique,  Oxbow  Monograph  12  (Oxford:  1991). 

17  Adam  Kleczkowski,  Regestr  budowy  galeony  (Krakow:  1915). 

18  M.  Boczar,  ibid.;].  Litwin,  "First  Polish  Galleon." 

Witold  Hubert,  "Bitwa  pod  Oliwa,"  Przeglpd  Historyczno-Wojskowy,  vol.  1  (Warszawa:  1929); 
Stanislaw  Bodniak,  Zwipzekjloty  i  obrona  wybrzeza  w  wojnie  Zygmunta  III  z  Karolem  IX  (Poznan:  1930); 
Kazimierz  Lepszy,  Dziejejloty  polskiej,  (Gdarisk-Bydgoszcz-Szczecin:  1947);  Eugeniusz  Koczorowski, 
Bitwa  Pod  Oliwa  (Gdynia:  1968). 

20  K.  Lepszy,  ibid. 

21  Edmund  Cieslak,  Historia  Gdanska,  vol.  I-III  (Gdansk:  1978;  1982;  1993). 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     279 

eighteenth  century,  the  materials  specification  for  ships-of-the-line  built  in  British 
yards  expressly  required  4  to  4  1/2  inch-thick  oaken  planks  from  Gdansk. 

Steam  power,  which  revolutionised  industry  in  Western  Europe  at  the  turn 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  also  had  an  effect  on  inland  shipping.  The  first  river 
and  canal  steamships  made  their  appearance,  making  transport  on  those  water- 
ways more  efficient. 

Moreover,  companies  operating  steamships  came  into  existence  despite  the 
fact  that  the  powers  partitioning  Poland  were  wilfully  neglecting  the  country's 
waterways.  The  pioneers  in  this  respect  were  Piotr  Steinkeller  and  Konstanty 
Wolicki,  who  established  a  shipping  company  in  1825—27.  In  1827  they 
imported  two  ships  from  England,  the  Victory  and  the  Ksipzp  Ksawery.  Unfor- 
tunately, both  ships  were  sunk  during  the  November  Insurrection  of  1830.  In 
1840-42,  Steinkeller  bought  two  new  ships,  again  in  England,  intended  for 
passenger  transport  in  the  Warsaw  area. 

The  most  successful  steamship  company  operating  on  the  Vistula  at  that  time 
was  the  "Steamship  Company  on  the  Navigable  Rivers  of  the  Kingdom,  Count 
Zamoyski  et  Companie,"  founded  in  1848  with  the  assistance  of  French  capital 
provided  by  Eduard  Guibert.  In  1849,  this  firm  had  ten  lighters  with  two 
steamboats  to  move  them  (the  Prince  de  Varsovie  and  the  Vistule),  both  built  at 
Nantes  in  1847.  Eduard  Guibert  was  also  the  managing  director  of  the  company 
until  1852.  Additional  ships  were  built  for  this  company  in  Poland,  most  of  them 
at  the  Steamship  Workshops,  founded  in  1851  in  Solec,  a  suburb  of  Warsaw. 
The  company's  operations  ended  as  a  result  of  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the 
tsarist  authorities  after  the  January  Insurrection  of  1863.  Count  A.  Zamoyski  was 
also  deported  and  his  estate  confiscated.  In  1871  the  company  was  formally 
dissolved  and  the  ships  sold. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  passenger  travel  by  boat  became 
very  popular,  not  only  as  a  means  of  getting  from  one  place  to  another,  but  also 
as  a  form  of  recreation.  Many  pleasure  steamers  were  built  at  Solec  (Warsaw), 

Oft 

Wfodawek  and  Krakow.  M.  Fajans'  company  was  the  leader  in  this  field. 

After  the  First  World  War,  inland  navigation  was  reactivated  under  Polish 
auspices.  The  leading  companies  operating  on  the  Vistula  were  the  Polish 

John  Charnock,  An  History  of  Marine  Architecture  (London:  1800);  John  Fincham,  An  Outline  in  Ship 
Building  (London:  1852);  James  Dodds  and  James  Moore,  Building  the  Wooden  Fighting  Ship  (London: 
1984). 

23  Witold  Arkuszewski,  Wislane  statki  pasazerskie  XIX  i  XX  uneku  (Gdansk:  1973). 

24  Ibid. 

25  Ibid. 

26  Ibid. 

27  Ibid. 

28  Ibid. 


280      Poland 

Navigation  Company  of  Krakow,  the  Polish  River  Navigation  "Vistula"  of 
Warsaw,  and  Lloyd  of  Bydgoszcz. 

From  1918  to  1939  inland  Polish  shipyards  prospered.  Among  their  achieve- 
ments were  the  large  passenger  ships,  Polska  and  Francja,  built  in  1925,  and  the 
Bajka  built  at  Solec  in  1927.  The  largest  vessel  of  all  was  the  Baftyk,  built  at  the 
Gdansk  yard  in  1928.  Other  yards  produced  smaller  ships  and  lighters.  They 
also  received  orders  for  specialised  craft.  Particularly  profitable  for  the  shipyards 
were  vessels  supplied  to  the  Polish  Navy  for  the  Vistula  and  Pinsk  flotillas,  and 
those  supplied  to  the  customs  and  frontier  guards  at  Gdynia.  The  Zieleniewski 
yard  in  Krakow  built  a  series  of  monitors.  The  Navy's  own  yards  at  Pinsk  and 
Modlin  built  armed  cutters  and  minelayers,  and  the  Modlin  yard  built  the  first 
sea-going  ship  for  the  modern  Polish  Navy,  the  Jaskotka. 

As  well  as  fostering  the  growth  of  inland  navigation,  Polish  authorities  in  that 
period  emphasized  the  organisation  of  a  sea-going  fleet.  Among  the  most 
important  undertakings  of  that  period  were  the  construction  of  a  modern  port 
at  Gdynia  and  the  formation  of  a  navy  and  a  merchant  fleet.  The  Higher  Naval 
School  was  founded  to  train  future  ship's  officers,  and  a  nationwide  association, 
the  Maritime  League,  was  brought  into  existence  to  disseminate  information 
about  and  to  organise  activities  dealing  with  the  sea  among  the  populace  in 
general  and  among  young  people  in  particular. 

At  that  time,  France  was  very  active  in  helping  establish  Poland's  maritime 
activities.  It  was  in  France  that  Poland  purchased  her  first  modern  warships, 
destroyers,  and  submarines,  as  well  as  a  series  of  cargo  ships,  popularly  known 
as  "Frenchmen,"  many  of  which  were  still  in  service  after  1945. 

One  tremendous  achievement  on  the  part  of  the  organisers  of  the  Polish 
maritime  economy  was  the  founding  of  a  shipyard  at  Gdynia,  where  construction 
of  sea-going  vessels  developed  rapidly.  Unfortunately,  this  healthy  progress  was 
interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Second  World  War. 

After  the  war,  cleanup  operations  got  under  way  in  the  ports  and  shipyards 
along  Poland's  devastated,  but  now  very  much  longer,  coast.  Harbours  and 
shipyards  were  rebuilt.  A  system  of  maritime  education  came  into  being,  and 
specialist  design  offices  were  established. 

The  industrialization  of  Poland  undertaken  after  the  war  has  also  effected  the 
dynamic  development  in  the  shipbuilding  industry  which  was,  until  1989,  the 
pride  of  Poland's  maritime  economy.  Even  today*  following  the  recent  political 
and  economical  changes,  the  shipbuilding  industry  seems  well  positioned  to  be 
a  dominant  force  in  the  Polish  economy. 

The  Study  and  Preservation  of  Polish  Maritime  History.  Compared  to 
other  European  literature  on  naval  and  shipping  history,  Polish  research  publi- 

29  Ibid. 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     281 

cations  remain  rather  modest.  The  reason  for  this  state  of  affairs  is  that  systematic 
studies  on  these  questions,  as  well  as  ship  and  boat-building,  and  fishers,  started 
relatively  late.  This  was  due  to  a  large  extent  to  the  country's  unstable  political 
situation  prior  to  1918  and  to  the  prolonged  lack  of  access  to  the  sea,  which 
precluded  the  development  of  more  important  maritime  traditions. 

Characteristic  of  the  post-1918  period  was  the  positively  enthusiastic  interest 
in  maritime  matters  demonstrated  by  the  whole  population.  This  followed  the 
award  to  Poland  of  a  land  corridor  to  the  sea  by  the  Treaty  of  Versailles.  This, 
in  connection  with  access  to  the  seaport  of  Gdansk  (which  had  been  given  the 
status  of  a  free  city),  led  to  the  development  of  a  maritime  economy.  A  social 
organization,  most  frequently  known  as  the  Maritime  League,  was  also  estab- 
lished. 

The  first  popular  maritime  publications  also  appeared.  These  offered  articles 
on  the  Slavs'  struggles  on  the  Baltic,  the  times  of  King  Zygmunt  August,  the 
founder  of  the  Maritime  Commission,  and  the  only  naval  victory — the  Battle 
of  Oliwa,  in  1627.  The  results  of  studies  were  also  published  by  such  historians 
as  S.  Bodniak,  A.  Czolowski,  W.  Hubert,  W.  Konopczynski,  and  others. 
Of  particular  importance  in  these  considerations  is  the  work  of  K.  Lepszy,  whose 
crowning  study  was  The  History  of  the  Polish  Fleet. 

Traditional  fishery  and  small  boat-building  was  primarily  the  subject  of 
interest  to  ethnographers.  Unfortunately,  these  subjects  did  not  constitute  a 
specific  concerted  area  of  study  but,  rather,  just  a  fragmented  body  of  papers 
presenting  the  material  culture  of  the  people  inhabitating  Poland  at  the  time.  Of 
a  dozen  or  so  papers,  that  by  K.  Moszyriski,  "The  Popular  Culture  of  the  Slavs,"' 
was  of  particular  importance.  It  was  an  attempt  to  present  the  basic  types  of 
Slavonic  floating  structures,  including  rafts  and  canoes. 

With  regard  to  linguistic  studies  concerning  aquatic  occupations,  B.  Slaski's 
Fishery-Nautical  and  Boat-building  Dictionary remains  a  good  source  of  information 
when  studying  earlier  boat-building. 

Information  on  research  and  publications  concerning  shipping,  shipbuilding, 
navies,  fishery,  rafting  and  boat-building  was  substantially  supplemented  by 
periodicals  published  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century.  An  important 

Stanisfaw  Bodniak,  Zwiazek  Jloty  i  obrona  wybrzeza  w  wojnie  Zygmunta  III  z  Karolem  IX  (Poznarf: 
1930);  "Morze  w  gtosach  opinii  dawnej  Rzeczpospolitej,"  Rocznik  Gdanski,  vol.  IV  (Gdansk:  1931); 
"Sprawy  morskie  w  'Ksiegach  Hetmariskich'  Sarnickiego,"  Rocznik  Gdanski,  vol.  XII  (Gdansk:  1938). 

Aleksander  Czolowski,  Marynarka  w.  Polsce  (Lwow:  1922). 

Witold  Hubert,  "Proba  tworzenia  marynarki  wojennej  podczas  powstania  1863-64,"  Przeglpd 
Morski,  vol.  2,  no.  4  (1929);  "Bitwa  pod  Oliwa,"  Przeglad  Historyczno-Wojskowy  (1937). 

Wfadyslaw  Konopczynski,  Pohka  polityka  battycka  (Poznan:  1930). 

Kazimierz  Lepszy,  "Straznicy  morza  Stefana  Batorego,"  Rocznik  Gdanski,  vol.  7  (Gdansk:  1933); 
Kazimierz  Lepszy,  Dzieje  Jloty  polskiej  (Gdarisk-Bydgoszcz-Szczecin:  1947). 

Kazimierz  Moszyriski,  Kultura  ludowa  Stowian,  vol.  1;  Kultura materialna  (Krakow:  1929). 

Bolesfaw  Slaski,  Stownik  rybacko-zeglarski  i  szkutniczy  (Poznarf:  1930). 


282      Poland 

popularizing  role  here  was  played  by  The  Sea  [Morze]  and  TJie  Maritime  Review 
[Przeglad  Morski]  concerning  naval  matters;  The  Technical  Review  [Przeglad 
Techniczny],  which  was  devoted  to  industry,  including  shipyard  questions;  Fishery 
Review  [Przeglad  Rybackt] ,  which  was  dedicated  to  fishermen;  The  People  [Lud\ , 
The  Land  [Ziemia]  and  The  Vistula  [Wista],  which  were  designed  for  a  wider 
circle  of  readers.  There  were  also  a  whole  series  of  weeklies  containing  articles 
on  maritime  subjects. 

During  that  period  efforts  were  also  made  to  establish  museums  of  a  maritime 
character.  This  was  not  an  easy  task,  as  Poland's  maritime  traditions  were  not  as 
extensive  as  those  of  many  other  European  countries.  The  first  attempts  to 
establish  such  institutions  were  taken  up  in  the  1930s,  when  a  private  maritime 
museum  was  organized  in  Warsaw  and  a  fishery  museum  in  the  small  fishing 
village  of  Debki.  Neither  of  these  survived  the  ravages  of  the  war.  Numerous 
relics  from  other  museums  and  private  collections  also  met  the  same  fate. 

Despite  the  tremendous  enthusiasm  to  learn  about  and  propagate  maritime 
matters  in  Poland  in  the  years  1918—1947,  no  comprehensive  system  of  profes- 
sional studies  and  education  in  the  field  of  historical-maritime  problems  could 
be  established.  Only  the  staff  of  the  Baltic  Institute  conducted  studies  on  Poland's 
maritime  history,  although  there  was  also  a  fairly  large  group  of  scholars  who 
took  up  sporadic  studies  in  this  field.  That  group  managed  to  create  the  climate 
for  the  propagating  of  maritime  history  in  postwar  times. 

The  period  following  the  Second  World  War,  particularly  in  the  years 
1945-1947  was,  for  Poles,  a  period  of  continued  struggle  to  regain  independence. 
The  Yalta  Conference  of  1945  had  bound  the  future  of  the  nation,  oppressed 
by  the  six  years  of  war,  to  a  treaty  of  unreserved  subordination  to  Soviet  Russia, 
which  was  imposed  by  force.  This  struggle  was  carried  out  with  considerable 
effort  throughout  Poland.  Diplomatic  steps  were  taken  up  in  allied  countries 
but,  in  view  of  the  declining  political  force  of  Polish  emigre  circles,  these  efforts 
failed  to  achieve  expected  results.  Thus,  after  1948,  following  the  wiping  out  of 
the  patriotic  groups  throughout  the  country,  Poland  became  totally  subordinate 
to  the  Soviet  Union. 

The  consequences  of  this  situation  became  apparent  in  all  spheres  of  learning, 
including  history,  the  fields  of  studies,  and  dissemination  of  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  the  Polish  nation,  as  well  as  its  modest  maritime  history.  All  of  these 
were  conducted,  particularly  until  1956,  in  the  new  communist  spirit.  It  became 
customary  to  avoid,  or  hold  back  information  regarding  the  country's  economic 
achievements  of  the  pre-war  time  when,  for  over  a  dozen  years,  Poland  had 
managed  to  establish  genuine  bases  for  a  versatile  maritime  economy.  It  was  also 
not  advisable  to  glorify  the  Navy's  combat  achievements  during  the  1939-1945 
period,  when  it  was  on  active  service  with  the  Western  allied  fleets.  Perfidious 
communist  authorities  generated  political  trials  based  on  false  accusations  against 
war  heroes  who  continued  to  serve  as  officers  during  the  Stalinist  rule  of  terror 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     283 

(1949—1953).  These  acts  of  repression  included  Navy  men,  and  resulted  in  the 
sentencing  of  several  outstanding  officers  for  (unproven)  espionage.  The  senten- 
ces included  the  death  penalty. 

Later,  the  Polish  Navy,  thanks  to  the  dedicated,  professional  attitude  of  its 
officers,  refused  to  participate  in  the  suppression  of  the  so-called  social  protests 
which  took  place  with  particular  intensity  in  1956,  1970,  and  1981.  Thanks  to 
this,  it  earned  the  respect  and  friendship  of  the  Polish  society. 

Generally  speaking,  the  achievements  in  the  organization  of  the  maritime 
economy  in  Poland  in  1948-1989  were  considerable.  Not  only  were  the 
commercial  and  fishing  port  complexes  established,  but  shipowning  firms  were 
developed  and  shipyards  organized.  An  extensive  system  of  education  for  this 
field  of  the  economy  began  to  function,  beginning  with  basic  vocational  studies 
and  leading  to  specialized,  postgradate  work.  Several  schools,  particularly  the 
Gdansk  and  Szczecin  technical  universities,  as  well  as  other  universities  and 
merchant  navy  academies  in  the  towns  previously  mentioned,  promoted 
hundreds  of  graduates  each  year.  The  Navy  could  also  boast  of  its  own 
university-level  academies. 

In  the  field  of  propagation  of  maritime  culture  and  history,  as  well  as  the 
conservation  of  nautical  relics,  Poland's  achievements  were  the  most  distinctly 
manifested  of  all  the  countries  in  the  "Eastern  Block." 

Attempts  to  found  a  maritime  museum  in  Poland  were  made  just  as  soon  as 
hostilities  ceased,  and,  in  fact,  the  first  such  museum  was  set  up  in  Szczecin  in 
1946.  Unfortunately,  this  museum  was  subordinated  to  the  Museum  of  Western 
Pomerania  in  1950,  where,  to  this  day,  it  functions  as  the  Maritime  Department 
of  the  National  Museum  in  Szczecin.  Despite  its  subordinate  status  it  continues 
to  play  an  important  part  in  the  preservation  of  historical  nautical  objects  and  in 
encouraging  townspeople  to  visit  its  attractive  maritime  exhibition.  That  exhibi- 
tion is  housed  in  a  building  apart  from  the  main  body  of  the  museum  and 
comprises,  among  other  things,  the  wrecks  of  three  early  medieval  Slavic  boats 
and  other  artifacts  illustrating  the  maritime  traditions  of  the  western  Slavs.  The 
museum  has  a  varied  collection  of  ship's  fittings,  many  of  which  are  from  the 
ship  Poznan,  one  of  the  "Frenchmen"  mentioned  earlier. 

The  second  museum  to  be  established  in  Poland  was  the  Naval  Museum, 
established  in  1953,  which  can  today  boast  of  approximately  ten  million  visitors. 
It  has  no  dedicated,  permanent  display  ship,  but  the  destroyer  Btyskawica,  built 
in  Great  Britain  in  1936,  has  been  on  display  since  1976.  Following  successful 
adaptations  to  its  new  purpose,  substantial  exhibition  space  was  gained.  This  was 
improved  by  a  special  passageway  made  through  the  turbine  and  steam  boiler 
rooms. 

An  important  achievement  of  the  museum  employees  is  the  permanent 
exhibition  of  armaments.  Thanks  to  this,  it  has  been  possible  to  safeguard  several 
examples  of  what  are  now  relies  of  armaments  used  at  sea  in  the  twentieth 


284      Poland 

century.  It  warrants  mention  here  that  the  experience  in  keeping  a  ship  as  an 
exhibit  afloat  was  gained  by  the  museum  in  the  years  1960-1975  when  another 
worthy  veteran  of  World  War  II,  built  in  France  in  1928,  the  destroyer  Burza, 
was  opened  to  the  public.  Unfortunately,  such  exploitation  was  the  reason  for 
the  ship  finally  being  scrapped. 

A  significant  achievement  on  the  part  of  the  scientific  staff  of  the  Naval 
Museum,  is  the  publishing  of  the  Historical  Bulletin  [Biuletyn  Historyczny] .  The 
twelfth  edition  appeared  in  1992.  Such  publications  present  articles  concerning 
various  aspects  of  naval  history. 

The  Naval  Museum  is  not  the  only  entity  that  accumulates  relics  and 
disseminates  information  on  questions  of  war  at  sea.  A  considerable  role  is  played 
by  the  fourteen  halls  of  tradition  found  in  the  particular  barracks,  which 
constitute  local  historical  centres  not  only  for  the  sailors,  but  also  for  local 
communities.  Among  these,  the  most  interesting  exhibitions  and  collections  are 
accommodated  at  Gdynia-Oksywie  and  Hel,  where  one  of  the  exhibits  is  the 
Coast  Guard  cutter  Batory,  built  in  Poland  before  the  war.  In  October  1939,  the 
Batory  managed  to  break  through  the  German  blockade  and  reach  neutral 
Sweden.  One  commendable  tradition  is  the  custom  of  naming  new  naval  vessels 
after  units  previously  famous  for  their  active  service.  For  example,  a  third  Polish 
submarine  now  bears  the  famous  name  of  Orzet  (Eagle). 

The  Polish  Navy  also  conducts  several  cultural-educational  activities.  An 
example  of  this  is  the  organizing  of  numerous  training-propaganda  voyages  for 
young  people  and  teachers.  Within  the  framework  of  training  activities,  salvage 
vessels  traditionally  cooperate  with  the  Gdansk  Maritime  Museum,  providing 
assistance  in  the  search  for  and  exploration  of  shipwrecks. 

A  third  museum  dealing  with  the  sea  is  the  Oceanographic  Museum  and 
Aquarium  in  Gdynia.  As  a  part  of  the  Sea  Fisheries  Institute,  it  has  discharged 
its  statutory  responsibilities  in  strict  accordance  with  its  original  charter.  Only 
recently  has  it  begun  to  develop  broader  interests,  such  as  the  study  of  the 
ethnography  of  fisheries. 

The  leading  museum  of  this  kind  in  Poland,  however,  is  the  Central  Maritime 
Museum  in  Gdansk,  established  in  1960  and  financed  by  the  Ministry  of  Culture 
and  Art.  Considering  the  country's  remaining  economic  difficulties,  Gdansk's 
Maritime  Museum  has  become  a  museum  giant  in  the  last  thirty  years,  employing 
a  staff  of  about  250.  In  the  same  way,  it  constitutes  the  centre  of  Polish 
nautological  studies  and  provides  protection  for  these  types  of  relics.  Through 
the  staffs  efforts,  it  has  been  possible  to  purchase  and  adapt  two  historical 
sea-going  ships:  the  sail-training  frigate  Dar  Pomorza,  and  the  first  coal-ore  carrier 
to  be  built  entirely  in  Poland  after  the  last  war,  the  S.S.  Sotdek.  The  museum 
also  possesses  a  large  collection  of  traditional  inland  and  sea-going  craft,  both 
from  Poland  and  from  elsewhere  in  the  world. 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     285 

The  Museum's  continually  expanding  premises  are  already  extensive:  the 
unique  port  crane  on  the  Motlawa  river  in  the  old  city  of  Gdansk;  a  group  of 
three  port  granaries  and  a  building  taken  over  from  the  city's  former  power 
station  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Motiawa;  a  branch  museum  in  Hel,  displaying 
exhibits  from  the  history  of  fisheries;  and  a  branch  in  Tczew,  the  museum  of  the 
Vistula  River.  The  Central  Maritime  Museum  also  has  a  large  conservation 
laboratory  specialising  in  the  preservation  of  artifacts  recovered  form  the  seabed. 
It  merits  mention  that  the  museum  initiated  in  1965  the  first  regular  underwater 
archaeological  research  in  Poland.  It  has  had  its  own  ship  for  these  purposes  since 
1973.  The  permanent  exhibitions  at  the  museum  have  become  very  much  more 
diverse  as  a  result  of  the  exploration  of  the  numerous  wrecks  lying  around  and 
on  the  bed  of  Gdaiisk  Bay. 

Having  organised  a  historical  monument  conservation  service,  the  Polish 
Maritime  Museum  has  taken  on  the  responsibility  of  curator  of  all  nautical 
objects  of  historical  interest  in  the  whole  of  Poland.  As  a  result,  the  museum  has 
also  developed  extensive  programmes  of  ethnological,  underwater,  and  land- 
based  archaeological  investigations. 

The  Central  Maritime  Museum  attaches  considerable  attention  to  educational 
activities,  offering,  among  other  things,  systematic  classes  for  groups  of  school 
children.  It  also  conducts  lectures  and  practical  workshops  for  archaeology 
students  from  the  universities  of  Toruii  and  Warsaw. 

A  number  of  societies  have  been  important  in  assisting  the  Polish  Maritime 
Museum  fulfil  its  statutory  obligations.  These  include  the  Friends  of  the  Polish 
Maritime  Museum,  who  have  made  an  important  contirbution  towards  the 
founding  and  expansion  of  this  institution;  the  Friends  of  the  Dar  Pomorza,  who 
are  raising  funds  for  the  construction  of  a  dry  dock  for  this  ship;  and  the  Friends 
of  the  S.S.  Sofdek,  through  whose  efforts  this  vessel  was  adapted  to  museum 
purposes. 

A  few  other  museums  in  Poland  are  involved  in  the  protection  of  maritime 
heritage.  Among  them  is  the  Toruii  Museum  of  Ethnography,  with  its  extensive 
exhibition  of  traditional  fisheries  in  Poland.  This  is  yet  another  institution  playing 
its  part  in  the  conservation  of  objects  of  nautical  interest.  It  has  a  collection  of 
Vistula  craft  dating  from  the  early  twentieth  century.  A  number  of  other 
museums  each  have  several  boats  and  dugouts.  In  all,  there  are  some  thirty 
traditional  boats  in  Polish  museums  (not  counting  the  maritime  museums)  as 
well  as  nearly  150  dugouts,  mostly  obtained  from  archaeological  excavations. 

Company  museums  have  also  played  an  important  part  in  preserving  Poland's 
cultural-industrial  heritage.  The  idea  of  creating  such  museums  was  born  in  the 
early  days  of  communism  in  Poland.  Their  purpose  was  to  collect  documents 
and  artifacts  illustrating  the  achievements  of  that  era.  Today,  in  the  wake  of  major 
political  and  economic  change,  these  museums  face  serious  difficulties.  Still,  their 
collections  illustrate  an  important  era,  that  has  come  to  an  end  and  are  of 


286      Poland 

significant  historical  value.  Two  companies  with  such  museums  are  shipyards: 
The  Gdynia  Shipyard,  known  as  the  Paris  Commune  yard  before  1990,  which, 
besides  its  own  museum,  has  managed  to  preserve  and  exhibit  on  it  premises  the 
first  ship  it  ever  built  there  in  1930.  The  Gdansk  Shipyard  Museum  has  by  far 
the  largest  display  area,  much  of  which  is  now  devoted  to  the  birth  of  the  social 
movement,  known  to  the  world  today  as  "Solidarity." 

Apart  from  direct  steps  taken  to  safeguard  material  nautological  relics,  various 
scientific  institutions  and  societies  play  an  important  part  in  popularizing  and 
promoting  that  role.  Thus,  those  conducting  their  activities  in  Gdansk  include 
the  Institute  of  Pomeranian  History  and  Maritime  Affairs,  the  Baltic  Institute, 
and  the  Maritime  Institute.  Additionally,  the  University  of  Gdansk  is  becoming 
more  and  more  "maritime"  in  character,  boasting  a  huge  library  with  a  significant 
maritime  profile.  For  several  years  now,  an  Institute  of  Ocean  Technology  has 
been  in  existence,  but  there  are  no  lectures  provided  in  the  history  of  this  field. 
Toruri  University,  in  contrast,  has  an  active  faculty  of  Underwater  Archaeology. 

The  scientific  societies  boast  a  considerable  contribution  to  the  study  and 
propagation  of  maritime  history  in  Poland.  The  Gdansk  Scientific  Society, 
whose  members  include  scholars  from  various  fields,  including  a  considerable 
group  of  historians  interested  in  maritime  problems,  is  a  force  with  substantial 
potential.  Its  achievements  include  several  books  on  Gdansk's  maritime  history, 
shipbuilding  and  shipping.  Another  such  association  is  the  Polish  Nautological 
Society,  located  at  Gdynia.  Its  trademark  is  the  quarterly  Nautologia,  which  has 
appeared,  uninterrupted,  for  twenty-eight  years.  While  considering  the  various 
societies,  mention  must  also  be  made  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Submarine  Lovers, 
memberships  of  which  include  former  crew  members  of  such  ships,  among 
others. 

Recently,  the  "Cutter  Brotherhood"  has  become  very  active.  This  is  a  society 
whose  aim  is  the  preservation  and  proper  operation  of  craft  that  have  become 
rare  or  have  been  withdrawn  from  service. 

Poland's  return  to  democracy  in  1989  is  clearly  reflected  in  her  domestic 
politics.  The  outcome  of  this  change  includes  elimination  of  publication  cen- 
sorship, which  has  allowed  impartial  study  of  naval  history  to  reappear.  One 
example  of  this  is  the  intensification  of  studies  on  the  inland  Pinsk  flotilla.  That 
unit  was  the  only  formation  of  the  Polish  Navy  to  participate  in  operations  against 
the  Soviet  armies  which  invaded  Poland  without  declaring  war  in  September, 
1939.  We  still  await  the  results  of  these  and  other  studies. 

Several  new  steps  have  recently  been  taken  in  respect  of  the  protection  and 
popularisation  of  Poland's  maritime  heritage.  Not  all  can  boast  visible  effects 
today,  but  it  is  expected  that  there  will  be  continued  increase  in  interest  in  naval 
history  and  the  protection  of  such  relics  in  the  future.  This  was  supported  by 
the  establishment  in  1991  of  twelve  Regional  Centres  of  Studies  and  Preserva- 
tion of  Built  Environment.  Among  these,  Gdansk's  centre  has  been  entrusted 


LitwJn  and  Karawajczyk     287 

with  an  additional  specialization:  the  study  and  protection  of  our  waterside 
cultural  heritage.  The  Gdansk  centre  also  collects  documents  and  evidence  of 
relics  of  technology  connected  with  the  shipbuilding  industry  and  shipping. 

One  expression  of  this  new  outlook  on  our  heritage  is  the  call  for  a  conference 
devoted  to  the  protection  of  relics  of  industrial  heritage.  This  conference,  to  be 
held  at  Gdansk  Technical  University  in  1999,  will  devote  the  sessions  to  the 
protection  of  the  maritime  heritage  and  will  be  held  at  the  Central  Maritime 
Museum  in  Gdansk. 

There  is  hope,  therefore,  that  the  combined  activities  of  all  these  groups  will 
ensure  the  continued  growth  of  interest  in  the  protection  of  maritime  heritage 
and,  particularly,  the  completest  possible  preservation  of  artifacts,  inluding 
traditional  craft  which,  because  of  their  physical  characteristics  and  condition, 
present  serious  technical  problems. 

Naval  History3 

In  Poland,  there  is  a  distinct  division  between  maritime  and  naval  history,  as 
well  as  a  significant  absence  of  works  considering  their  relationship.  Naval  history 
is  regarded  as  a  sub-discipline  of  military  history  which,  in  turn,  is  considered  a 
part  of  general  history.  This  makes  it  a  subject  of  special  interest  to  the  Polish 
Navy  and  Army.  The  vast  majority  of  books  and  articles  on  Polish  naval  history 
have  been  published  by  naval  officers  or  other  researchers  connected  with  the 
armed  forces,  since  they  have  had  better  access  to  documents  kept  in  military 
archives  than  their  civilian  colleagues.  Access  to  source  materials  plays  an 
important  role,  particularly  in  writing  contemporary  history  on  the  Polish  Navy. 

There  are  now  in  the  Polish  armed  forces  three  principal  institutions  inter- 
ested in  naval  history:  the  Institute  of  Military  History  in  Warsaw,  the  Naval 
Museum  in  Gdynia,  the  Institute  of  Humanities  at  the  Naval  Academy  in 
Gdynia. 

The  Institute  of  Military  History  conducts  research  in  all  branches  of  military 
history,  including  naval  history.  The  most  famous  naval  historian  at  the  Institute 
is,  in  my  opinion,  Captain  W.  Dyskant,  an  assistant  professor.  Dyskant  has 
written  several  books  and  many  articles  on  the  history  of  the  Polish  Navy  up  to 
1939,  with  an  emphasis  on  the  history  of  river  flotillas.  It  is  appropriate  to  note 
that  doctoral  students  of  the  field  of  naval  history  from  all  over  Poland  may 
defend  their  theses  at  the  Institute  and,  if  successful,  earn  their  degrees  in  military 
history. 

The  Naval  Museum  in  Gdynia  is  busy  collecting  all  kinds  of  items  related  to 
the  past  and  present  history  of  the  Polish  Navy,  including  Polish  and  foreign 
publications.  The  Museum  has  a  large  collection  of  diaries,  memoirs,  accounts 
and  reports  produced  by  officers  and  seamen  who  took  part  in  World  War  II, 

37  This  section  has  been  written  by  Commander  Wincenty  Karawajczyk,  Polish  Navy.  Dr.  Karawajczyk 
is  assigned  to  the  Polish  Naval  Museum  in  Gdynia. 


288      Poland 

as  well  as  many  personal  documents  and  keepsakes  presented  by  members  of 
naval  personnel  or  their  families.  The  Museum  has  two  distinct  parts:  the 
museum  ship  Btyskawica,  and  an  open-air  exhibit  of  naval  armaments.  It  warrants 
mention  here  that  the  staff  of  the  Naval  Museum  is  engaged  in  publishing  the 
Historical  Bulletin  [Biuletyn  Historyczny] ,  which  has  produced  thirteen  issues  thus 
far.  All  Polish  naval  historians  may  publish  articles  in  this  bulletin.  At  present, 
Commander  Dr.  Z.  Wojciechowski  is  director  of  the  Naval  Museum. 

The  Naval  Academy's  Institute  of  the  Humanities,  part  of  which  is  the 
Department  of  Naval  History,  plays  a  leading  role  in  studies  and  teaching  of 
Polish  naval  history.  The  staff  is  headed  by  Captain  J.  Przybylski,  an  assistant 
professor  and  a  prominent  Polish  naval  historian.  The  Department  of  Naval 
History  is  conducting  research  on  the  development  of  the  Polish  Navy  during 
its  most  interesting  period:  1918—1989.  Its  staff  prepares  doctoral  and  habilitation 
theses  which  include  the  main  results  of  this  research.  These  theses  are,  in  most 
cases,  defended  at  the  Institute  of  Military  History  in  Warsaw. 

The  Department  of  Naval  History  is  presently  engaged  in  writing  a 
monograph  on  the  Polish  Navy  and  its  role  in  coastal  defense  through  the  years 
1918-1989.  This  effort  should  appear  in  print  in  1996.  It  is  worthwhile  to 
emphasize  that,  in  preparation  of  this  monograph,  not  only  have  professional 
historians  from  the  Institute  of  the  Humanities  taken  part,  but  also  economists 
who  study  economic  problems  within  the  Navy  in  that  period,  teachers,  who 
examine  the  process  of  education  and  training  of  naval  officers  and  seamen,  and 
sociologists,  who  study  social  aspects  of  the  Navy. 

Captain  J.  Przybylski's  research  concentrates  on  the  postwar  development  of 
the  Polish  Navy.  He  also  conducts  a  seminar  in  naval  history  for  doctoral 
candidates.  His  students  prepare  theses  on  the  organization,  tasks,  development, 
training,  and  armament  of  various  parts  of  the  Polish  naval  forces  for  the  years 
1918—1989.  They  have  contributed  significantly  to  the  development  of  the 
previously  mentioned  monograph.  Under  Captain  Przybylski's  leadership,  the 
Institute  of  the  Humanities  has  organized  many  symposia  in  the  field  of  naval 
history. 

Apart  from  naval  historians  working  for  military  institutions,  there  is  a  small 
group  of  academic  historians,  dispersed  in  a  few  universities,  who  are  also 
interested  in  naval  matters.  Most  of  them  are  located  at  the  University  of  Gdansk 
(for  example,  Professors  C.  Ciesielski,  Z.  Machalirfski  and  S.  Ordon  are  part  of 
the  faculty  there).  A  fair  number  of  writers  producing  popular  books  about  the 
Polish  Navy  and  its  role  in  war  at  sea  should  also  be  mentioned.  Among  them, 
E.  Kosiarz  and  J.  Pertek  deserve  special  attention.  Many  valuable  publications 
on  the  history  of  the  Polish  Navy  have  also  been  authored  by  "researchers  living 
abroad."  Most  of  them  were  originally  members  of  the  Polish  Navy  who  did 
not  return  to  Poland  after  the  dissolution  of  Polish  naval  forces  in  Great  Britain 
in  1947.  They  have  had  excellent  access  to  original  documents  from  World  War 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     289 

II.  S.  Piaskowski  from  the  older  generation,  and  M.  Kiriakowski  from  the 
younger,  both  conducting  their  studies  in  Canada,  are  the  most  eminent  authors 
in  this  category,  and  are  cited  in  later  footnotes. 

With  regard  to  the  teaching  of  naval  history,  only  the  Polish  Navy 
demonstrates  a  great  interest.  Except  for  the  Naval  Academy  in  Gdynia,  this 
subject  is  not  taught  at  any  university  in  Poland.  The  Academy  has  two  courses 
in  naval  history  that  midshipmen  must  study:  the  history  of  the  Polish  Navy, 
and  the  history  of  the  art  of  naval  warfare.  Each  course  is  composed  of  sixty 
hours  of  lectures  and  seminars  and  must  be  taken  by  students  during  the  fourth 
year  of  study.  The  course,  on  the  history  of  the  Polish  Navy,  examines  the 
antecedents,  origins  and  development  of  the  Polish  naval  forces  in  both  their 
national  and  international  setting.  Special  attention  is  paid  to  the  Polish  fleet 
between  the  fifteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  and  to  the  period  after  1918, 
when  Poland  regained  its  independence.  The  Last  seventy-five  years  are  divided 
into  three  main  time  frames:  (1)  the  Navy  of  the  Second  Republic,  1918—1939; 
(2)  the  Polish  Navy  in  World  War  II  and  in  the  postwar  period  in  Great  Britain, 
1939-1947;  and  (3)  the  Navy  of  the  Polish  People's  Republic,  1945-1989. 

The  second  course  examines  the  development  of  maritime  strategy  and  tactics 
from  ancient  to  modern  times.  It  is  made  up  of  three  parts;  first  is  the  art  of  naval 
war  from  the  age  of  rowing  fleets  through  World  War  I;  second  is  the  art  of  naval 
warfare  in  World  War  II;  and,  third,  the  development  of  the  art  of  naval  warfare 
after  World  War  II.  The  focus  is  on  tactical  analysis  of  actions  carried  out  by  surface 
ships  and  submarines  against  shipping  lanes,  and  on  the  ways  and  means  of 
conducting  anti-surface  and  anti-submarine  warfare  in  the  two  World  Wars. 

The  academic  staff  for  teaching  naval  history  at  the  Naval  Academy  includes  one 
professor  and  three  lecturers,  all  of  whom  possess  Ph.D.  degrees  in  Military  History. 

Not  only  prospective  naval  officers,  but  also  ordinary  seamen  (conscripts),  are 
introduced  to  naval  history  in  the  Polish  Navy.  During  the  so-called  "patriotic 
education"  they  take  an  eighteen-hour  course  entitled  "Tradition  and  the 
present  day  of  the  Polish  arms  at  sea."  This  course  includes  such  topics  as  Polish 
arms  at  sea  before  1918,  the  Polish  Navy  in  the  years  1918—1939,  combat 
operations  of  the  Polish  Navy  in  World  War  II,  and  the  Polish  Navy  in  the  years 
1945—1990.  Commanding  officers  at  company  or  ship's  department  level  per- 
form all  teaching  duties  in  this  course. 

The  Naval  Museum  is  not  involved  in  the  regular  teaching  process,  but  it 
plays  an  important  role  in  popularizing  and  protecting  our  naval  heritage. 

It  must  be  emphasized  that  there  is  no  organization  in  Poland  that  coordinates 
and  brings  together  the  various  studies  in  naval  history.  Each  institution  has  its 
own  research  program.  Individual  historians  choose  problems  for  studies  in 
accordance  with  their  personal  preferences.  At  times,  plans  for  research  are  made 
only  in  a  small  way,  as  in  the  Department  of  Naval  History  at  the  Naval  Academy, 
where  the  academic  staff  has  focused  its  efforts  on  the  comprehensive  study  of 


290      Poland 

the  Polish  Navy  in  the  years  1918—1989.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Polish  naval 
historians,  in  order  to  be  more  effective,  need  a  proper,  underlying  platform  to 
develop  a  common  research  scheme. 

Polish  naval  tradition  goes  back  to  the  period  between  the  fifteenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  when  Polish  kings  made  several  attempts,  some  of  them 
successful,  to  organize  a  fleet  in  order  to  protect  the  coast  and  seaborne  trade. 
Unfortunately,  at  the  end  of  eighteenth  century,  Poland  lost  its  independence 
and  for  many  decades  could  only  dream  about  naval  affairs.  Hopes  revived  in 
1918,  when  Poland  again  became  independent.  On  28  November  1918,  Marshal 
Pilsudski,  the  Polish  head  of  state,  issued  a  decree  bringing  the  Polish  Navy  into 
being.  After  the  outbreak  of  World  War  II,  the  Polish  Navy  moved  to  Great 
Britain,  and  it  was  the  only  branch  of  the  Polish  armed  forces  that  fought  against 
Nazi  Germany  and  its  allies  from  the  very  beginning  to  the  very  end  of  that  war. 
That  navy  was  officially  dissolved  in  March  1947. 

When  Poland  was  liberated  from  Nazi  occupation,  reconstruction  of  another 
navy,  brought  into  being  by  the  order  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Polish 
Army  on  7  July  1945,  was  undertaken.  So,  for  almost  two  years,  there  were 
actually  two  Polish  navies  in  existance;  one  in  Great  Britain  and  the  other  in 
Poland,  subordinate  to  the  Soviet  Union.  That  is  why  the  Polish  Navy,  which 
operated  in  conjunction  with  the  British  during  World  War  II,  did  not  return 
to  Poland  as  an  entity.  More  than  85  percent  of  its  personnel,  totalling  over 
4,000  men,  remained  in  Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  France,  Canada,  and 
Australia.  The  current  Polish  Navy  is  building  on  the  traditions  of  both  the 
prewar  and  postwar  navies. 

Most  naval  historians  in  Poland  have  placed  most  of  their  research  emphasis 
on  combat  actions  and  on  where  Polish  Navy  ships  served  during  World  War 
II,  rather  than  on  any  other  problems  or  periods  of  Polish  naval  history.  Curiously 
enough,  the  majority  of  comprehensive  books  on  the  role  of  the  Polish  Navy 
in  the  Second  World  War  have  been  produced  by  popular  marine  writers  like 
E.  Kosiarz  and  J.  Pertek,  rather  than  by  professional  historians.  Their  works 
have  been  very  well  received  by  the  younger  generation.  Among  the  numerous 
works  devoted  to  World  War  II,  there  are  a  considerable  number  of  studies 
made  by  professional  historians  as  well.  For  example,  A.  Rzepniewski  and  R. 
Witowski,  among  others,  have  carefully  examined  the  efforts  of  Polish  seamen 
in  the  defense  of  the  Polish  coast  in  September  1939,  and  later  on  the  side  of 
the  Allies.     Some  diaries  and  memoirs  published  by  naval  officers  taking  part  in 

38  E.  Kosiarz,  Flota  Bialego  Orta  (Gdansk:  1980);  E.  Kosiarz,  Od  pierwszej  do  ostatniej  salwy  (Warszawa: 
1973);  J.  Pertek,  Matajlota  wielka  duchem  (Poznari:  1989);  J.  Pertek,  Wielkie  dni  matejjloty  (Poznarf:  1967); 
W.  Kosianowski,  ed.,  Polska  Marynarka  Wojenna  od  pierwszej  do  ostatniej  salwy  w  drugiej  wojnie  swiatowej. 
Album  pamiptkowy  (Rome:  1947). 

A.  Rzepniewski,  Obrona  Wybrzeza  w  i939  roku  na  tie  rozwoju  marynarki  wojennej  Polski  i  Niemiec 
(Warszawa:  1970);  R.  Witkowski,  "Udziai Polskiej  Marynarki  Wojennej  w  drugiej  wojnie  swiatowej," 
40  lat  Ludowego  Wojska  Polskiego  (Warszawa:  1984);  A.  Jaskowski,  Kampania  norweska  (Glasgow:  1944). 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     291 

World  War  II  supplement  a  vast  literature  in  this  field.  Most  valuable  are  the 
diaries  of  B.  Romanowski,  B.  Karnicki,  W.  Kon  and  J.  Kfossowski.  Thus,  the 
role  of  the  Polish  Navy  in  the  war  against  the  Kriegsmarine  is  one  of  the  best 
explored  and  most  fully  described  areas  of  Polish  naval  history. 

Studies  of  the  1918—1939  Polish  Navy  have  also  been  undertaken  quite 
frequently.  Although  no  elaborate,  scientific  description  of  that  period  has  thus 
far  been  completed,  many  interesting  monographs  on  particular  subjects  have 
been  produced.  For  example,  C.  Ciesielski  wrote  about  the  Polish  fleet  in  the 
Baltic,  and  about  naval  education  in  Poland  between  the  two  World  Wars. 
W.  Dyskant  made  a  thorough  analysis  of  river  flotillas  in  Polish  war  plans,  S. 
Ordon  described  legal  and  economic  problems  of  the  Polish  Navy,  S.  Roz- 
wadowski  touched  upon  the  history  of  naval  air  division,  and  R.  Witowski 
showed  the  role  of  the  naval  base  of  Hel  in  the  defense  of  the  coast.  Some 
authors  have  attempted  to  present  a  comprehensive  vision  of  the  Polish  Navy 
during  that  period  as  well.  Chronicles  by  S.  Piaskowski,  and  two  volumes  of  M. 
Kuaikowski's  monograph  are  among  the  best  known  works  written  with  such 

.  ..     ....  46 

intentions. 

After  World  War  II,  having  discovered  new  original  materials,  many  naval 
historians  focused  their  efforts  on  the  era  between  the  fifteenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  The  privateer  fleets  attracted  much  attention  and  were  described 
in  works  authored  by  K.  Lepszy,  M.  Biskup,  E.  Koczorowski,  and  J.  Trzoska 
among  others. 

With  regard  to  the  history  of  the  People's  Navy  (the  naval  forces  in  Poland 
in  the  years  1945—1989) — that  is  becoming  an  increasingly  interesting  subject  of 
thorough  studies,  although  archival  materials  for  the  last  twenty-five  years  are 
still  unavailable.  Articles  and  books  published  by  W.  Radziszewski  deal  with  the 
first  period  of  the  People's  Navy.      Recent  periods  have  been  explored  by  J. 

B.  Romanowski,  Torpeda  w  celu  (Warszawa:  1985);  B.  Karnicki,  Marynarski  worek  wspomnieri 
(Warszawa:  1987);  W.  Kon,  At lantyckie patrole  (Warszawa:  1958);  J.  Kfossowski,  Wspomnienia  z  Matynarki 
Wojennej  (Warszawa:  1970). 

C.  Ciesielski,  Polskajlota  wojenna  na  Baftyku  w  latach  1920-1939  na  tie  batiyckichjlot  wojennych  (Gdansk: 
1985);  C.  Ciesielski,  Szkolnictwo  Marynarki  Wojennej  w  II  Rzeczypospolitej  (Warszawa:  1974). 

W.  Dyskant,  Flotylle  rzeczne  w planach  i  dziataniach  wojennych  II  Rzeczypospolitej  (Warszawa:  1991). 
S.  Ordon,  Polska  Marynarka  Wojenna  w  latach.  1918-1939.  Problemy prawtie  i  ekonomiczne  (Gdynia:  1966). 

44  J.  Rozwadowski,  Morski  Dywizjon  Lotniczy  1918-1939  (Albany:  1973). 

45  R.  Witkowski,  Hel  na  strazy  Wyhrzeza  1920-1939  (Warszawa:  1974). 

M.  Kudakowski,  Marynarka  Wojenna  Polski  Odrodzonej  (Toronto:  1988),  vols  I— II;  S.M.  Piaskowski, 
Kroniki  Polskiej  Marynarki  Wojennej  1918-1946  (Albany:  1983-1990),  vols.  MIL 

K.  Lepszy,  Dziejejloty polskiej  (Gdarlsk-Bydgoszcz-Szczecin:  1947);  M.  Biskup,  Gdanskajlota  kaperska 
w  okresie  wojny  trzynastoletniej  1454-1466  (Gdarfsk:  1953);  E.  Koczorowski,  Flota  polska  w  latach 
1581-1632  (Warszawa:  1973);  E.  Koczorowski,  Bitwa  pod  Oliwa  (Gdynia:  1968);  J.  Trzoska,  Kaprzy 
krola  Augusta  Mocnego  1116-1121  (Gdansk:  1993);  Z.  Cieckowski,  Kaprowie  krola  Kazimierza  (Gdynia: 
1968);  M.  Krwawicz,  Marynarke  Wojenna  i  obrona polskiego  wyhrzeza" w  dawnych  wiekach  (Warszawa:  1961). 

W.  Radziszewski,  "Powstanie  i  rozwqj  Marynarki  Wojennej  PRL  (Zarys  historyczny),"  Dzieje  oreza 


292      Poland 

Przybylski  who,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  most  competent  researcher  in  this  field. 
His  doctoral  thesis  covered  the  development  of  the  Polish  Navy  between  1949 
and  1956,  while  his  work,  which  qualified  him  as  an  assistant  professor,  deals 
with  more  recent  times.  It  is  worth  mentioning  that  in  1992  J.  Przybylski, 
together  with  C.  Ciesielski  and  W.  Pater,  produced  the  most  comprehensive 
work  on  the  history  of  the  Polish  Navy  for  the  years  1918— 1980. 51  Apart  from 
such  fundamental  works,  a  great  number  of  detailed  studies  on  the  above  subject 
have  been  published  in  the  Maritime  Review  [Przeglad  Morski\,  the  Historical 
Bulletin  [Biuletyn  Historyczny],  the  Review  of  Military  History  [Wojskowy  Przeglad 
Historyczny]  and  other  journals.  The  most  important  of  them  were  recounted 
by  Z.  Wasko  and  R.  Witkowski  in  their  article  about  the  state  of  research  on 

52 

the  People's  Navy. 

Historians  of  the  Polish  Navy  have  written  not  only  on  the  main  periods  of 
its  development  but  also  on  some  particular  problems.  Unfortunately,  not  all 
essential  problems  have  been  touched  upon  so  far.  Among  the  best  examined 
and  described  are  studies  of  famous  Polish  men-of-war,  such  as  the  Btyskawica, 
Burza,  Grom,  Wicher,  and  Orzet.  The  history  of  Polish  submarines  in  the  years 
1926-1969,  published  by  C.  Rudzki  should  also  be  included  in  this  group  of 
works. 

Another  question,  relatively  well  explored,  is  the  education  of  Polish  naval 
officers.  The  period  between  two  World  Wars  was  thoroughly  researched  by 
C.  Ciesielski,  while  the  postwar  period  was  studied  by  W.  Biatek  and  T. 
Struniewski.  A  special  70th  anniversary  issue  of  the  Przeglad  Morski  (September 
1992)  was  devoted  entirely  to  Polish  naval  education. 

Other  problems  have  not  been  investigated  so  comprehensively.  As  a  result, 
we  experience  numerous  lacunae  and  other  weaknesses  in  Polish  naval  history. 
From  this  long  list,  at  least  a  few  should  be  mentioned.  For  instance,  the 

polskiego  na  morzu  (Gdynia:  1961);  W.  Radziszewski,  XXX  lat  marynarki  wojennej  PRL  (Warszawa: 
1975);  W.  Radziszewski,  Marynarka  Wojenna  w  latache  1945-1949  (Gdansk:  1976). 

J.  Przybylski,  Rozwdj Marynarki  Wojenttej  ijej  rola  w obronie  Wybrzeza  w latach  1949-1956  (Warszawa:  1979). 

50  J.  Przybylski,  Marynarka  Wojenna  PRL  w  latach  1956-1980  (studium  historyczno-wojskowe) 
(Gdynia:  1988). 

51  C.  Ciesielski,  W.  Pater,  J.  Przybylski,  Polska  Marynarka  Wojenna  1918-1980  (Warszawa:  1992. 

Z.  Wasko,  R.  Witkowski,  "Proba  oceny  stanu  badan  historii  Marynarki  Wojennej  PRL,"  Przeglad 
Morski,  1980,  no.  9. 

53  W.  Szczerkowski,  ORP  "Btyskawica"  (Gdansk:  1970);  J.  Marczak,  Niszczyciel  "Btyskawica" 
(Warszawa:  1970);  J.  Marczak,  Kontrtorpedowiec  "Burza"  (Warszawa:  1970);  R.  Mielczarek,  ORP 
"Grom."  Zarys  dziejow  (Gdansk:  1970);  J.  Pertek,  Niszczyciele  "Grom"  i  "Btyskawica"  (Gdansk:  1969); 
J.  Pertek,  Niszczyciele  "Wicher"  i  "Burza"  (Gdansk:  1971);  J.  Pertek,  "Burza"  -  weteran  atlantyckich 
szlakow  (Gdynia:  1965);  J.  Pertek,  Dzieje  ORP  "Orzet"  (Gdansk:  1972). 

54  C.  Rudzki,  Polskie  okrety  podwodne  1926-1969  (Warszawa:  1985). 

C.  Ciesielski,  Szkolnictwo  Marynarki  Wojennej  w  II  Rzeczypospolitej  (Warszawa:  1974). 

W.  Bialek,  T.  Struniewski,  Wyzsza  Szkoia  Marynarki  Wojennej  imienia  BonaterSw  Westerplatte  (Warszawa: 
1978). 


Litwin  and  Karawajczyk     293 

development  of  naval  aviation  has  not  been  sufficiently  covered.  There  are  only 
two  important  publications  from  a  scholarly  point  of  view:  one  dealing  with 

C"J  CO 

prewar  times  and  the  other  with  postwar  times.  In  addition,  economic  and 
legal  aspects  of  the  Navy  have  not  attracted  much  attention.  So  far,  only  one 
naval  historian,  S.  Ordon,  has  considered  this  subject.  In  the  1960s  he  wrote  two 
remarkable  books  devoted  to  the  period  between  1918  and  1939.  Further- 
more, the  history  of  ports  and  naval  bases  has  been  almost  completely  ignored. 
Apart  from  one  of  R.  Witkowski's  publications  relating  to  the  Hel  naval  base 
in  the  years  1920—1939,     there  is  virtually  no  literature  in  this  field. 

One  of  the  serious  drawbacks  of  Polish  naval  historiography  has  been  lack  of 
a  "Mahanian"  school,  or  even  individual  researchers  thinking  like  A.T.  Mahan. 
Such  a  situation  can  be  understood  to  a  certain  degree  because  Poland  never 
intended  to  become  a  sea  power.  It  is  much  more  difficult  to  understand, 
however,  why  Mahan's  works  are  almost  unknown  in  Poland.  None  of  them, 
for  instance,  have  even  been  translated  into  Polish. 

International  naval  history  issues  have  often  been  evaluated  by  Polish  authors. 
I  note,  for  example,  E.  Kosiarz,  J.  Lipiriski,  and  J.  Pertek.  In  most  cases, 
however,  their  publications  have  not  been  based  on  their  own  sound  studies, 
but  rather  on  the  research  of  foreign  naval  historians.  Very  few  publications  have 
been  dedicated  to  the  art  of  naval  war,  strategy,  and  fighting  tactics.  Those 
authored  by  W.  Glinski  and  R.  Pietraszkiewicz  are  the  most  valuable. 

Since  World  War  II,  ideology  and  politics  have  been  very  important  to  Polish 
naval  history.  Under  the  communist  regime  a  few  topics,  such  as  brotherhood 
in  arms,  and  friendship  and  cooperation  between  fleets  of  socialist  countries  in 
the  Baltic,  were  particularly  well  received.  Others,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
prohibited;  for  example,  the  role  of  the  Polish  Navy  in  the  war  against  Soviet 
Russia  in  1920  and  in  September  1939,  or  the  oppression  of  prewar  naval  officers 
in  the  postwar  period.  Sweeping  political  changes  in  Central  and  Eastern  Europe 
from  1989  on  have,  to  some  extent,  affected  the  development  of  naval  history 
in  Poland.  There  are  no  longer  forbidden  themes  or  problems  for  scientific 

57  J.  Rozwadowski,  Morski  Dywizjon  Lotniczy  1918-1939  (Albany:  1973). 

Z.  Misztal,  "Poczatki  Lotnictwa  Marynarki  Wojennej,"  Rocznik  Osrodka  Nauk  Spotecznych  i 
Wojskowych  Marynarki  Wojennej,  no.  5  (1975). 

S.  Ordon,  Kampania  wrze'sniowa  1939  r.  na  morzu  w  swietle  prawa  miedzynarodowego  (Gdynia:  1963); 
S.  Ordon,  Polska  Marynarka  Wojenna  w.  latach  1918—1939.  Problemy  prawne  i  ekonomiczne  (Gdynia: 
1966). 

60   R.  Witkowski,  Hel  na  strazy  Wybrzeza  1920-1939  (Warszawa:  1974). 

E.  Kosiarz,  Wojna  na  Battyku  1939  (Gdansk:  1988);  E.  Kosiarz,  Wojna  na  morzach  i  oceanach 
1939-1945  (Gdansk:  1988);  J.  Lipinski,  Druga  wojna  swiatowa  na  norzu  (Gdansk:  1976);  J.  Pertek,  Od 
Reichsmarine  do  Bundesmarine  1918-1965  (Poznari:  1966). 

W.  Glinski,  Morski  operacje  desantowe  w  drugiej  wojnie  swiatowej  (Gdansk:  1969);  H.  Pietraszkiewicz, 
"Rozwoj  polskiej  morskiej  mysli  wojskowej  w  latach  1945-1969,"  Rocznik  Osrodka  Nauk  Spotecznych 
i  Wojskowych  Marynarki  Wojennej,  no.  5  (1970);  E.  Kosiarz,  L.  Ratajczak,  "Taktyka  'wilczych  stad' 
niemieckich  okretow  podwodnych,"  Przeglad  Morski,  no.  10  (1958). 


294      Poland 

research,  but  that  does  not  mean  that  the  current  political  situation  has  no  impact 
on  naval  history.  Sometimes  one  can  come  away  with  the  impression  that  some 
historians  investigate  particular  problems,  not  because  they  are  important,  but 
because  they  have  been  prohibited  for  a  long  time.  In  the  war  against  Soviet 
Russia  in  1920,  for  example,  the  Polish  Navy  played  an  altogether  insignificant 
role.  Only  about  one  hundred  seamen  took  part  in  the  fighting  on  land,  as  there 
were  no  actions  at  sea.  Still,  a  number  of  historians  have  devoted  research  to  this 
subject,  while  there  are  many  considerably  more  important  topics  to  explore. 

To  sum  up  these  remarks  on  the  state  of  naval  history  in  Poland,  I  must  point 
out,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  exists  a  wide  gulf  between  the  study  of  military 
affairs  on  the  seas  and  of  non-military  maritime  history;  additionally,  naval  history 
is  taught  exclusively  in  the  Navy,  mainly  at  the  Naval  Academy,  and  research 
in  this  field  is  being  done  primarily  by  historians  employed  by  military  institu- 
tions; furthermore,  most  researchers  have  concentrated  on  military  operations 
of  the  Polish  Navy  while  other  topics  have  been  to  some  extent  neglected.  Also 
of  concern  is  that  there  is  no  organization  or  journal  that  brings  the  studies  in 
naval  history  together;  and,  finally,  ideology  and  politics  have  shaped,  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  debates  about  naval  history,  mostly  by  creating  demands  for  inves- 
tigation into  specific  problems. 


25 
Portugal 


Commander  J.  A.  Rodrigues  Pereira,  Portuguese  Navy 


The  geographical  position  of  Portugal,  at  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the 
European  continent,  has  placed  it,  throughout  history,  astride  important 
sea  routes.  The  territory  of  Portugal,  which  includes  several  parallel  river  systems 
with  good  havens  and  ports,  permits  easy  penetration  of  the  country's  interior 
by  ships  and  has  led  the  various  populations  to  pursue  maritime  activities, 
sometimes  as  a  complement  to  their  terrestrial  ones. 

The  Portuguese  Navy  evolved  from  the  twelfth  century  and  attained,  through 
judicious  legislative  measures,  a  great  development  by  the  fourteenth  century. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  under  the  guiding  hands  of  the 
maritime  bourgeoisie  and  the  Military  Order  of  Christ,  the  nation  became 
conscious  of  its  maritime  capabilities  and  launched  the  enterprise  of  maritime 
discoveries.  In  the  space  of  about  one  century,  this  endeavor  gave  the  Portuguese 
extensive  knowledge  of  two  thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  world  and  produced  an 
immense  maritime  empire.  Using,  for  the  first  time,  innovative  strategic 
concepts  that  would  later  be  adopted  by  other  nations,  Portugal  succeeded  in 
obtaining  for  a  time  a  command  of  the  seas,  which  are  written  about  today  by 
many  respected  naval  strategists. 

Portugal  is  definitively  connected  with  the  sea.  Its  maritime  history  has  played 
a  significant  role  in  the  development  of  some  of  the  most  important  chapters  of 
the  world's  history:  its  maritime  achievement,  its  ships  and  seamen,  its  caravels 
and  carracks  that  voyaged  over  "seas  that  had  never  been  previously  navigated;"' 
the  transportation  and  supply  of  military  expeditions;  and  seaborne  trade  and 
fishing.  The  importance  of  leaving  this  rich  history  of  our  maritime  and  military 
accomplishments  to  future  generations  was  recognized  very  early  by  responsible 
national  leaders. 


The  Military  Order  of  Christ  replaced  the  Templars,  who  had  previously  been  predominant  in 
Portugal. 

Passing  through  many  vicissitudes,  and  suffering  various  amputations,  this  maritime-colonial  empire 
would  last  until  1975. 

Luis  de  Camoes,  The  Lusiads  (1655:  reprint,  with  introduction  by  Geoffrey  Bullough,  Cartendale: 
Southern  Illinois  University  Press,  1964).  For  a  broad  general  overview  in  English  of  early  Portuguese 
maritime  history,  see  the  essays  by  Charles  Verlinden  and  George  Winius  in  Hattendorf,  ed.,  An 
Introduction  to  Maritime  History:  The  Age  of  Discovery  (Malabar,  Fla.:  Krieger  Publishing,  1995). 


296      Portugal 

We  can  say  that  the  history  of  the  Portuguese  Navy  began  with  the  scribes 
of  the  sixteenth  century  carracks  and  with  the  chroniclers  of  the  realm  who  left 
us  detailed  accounts  of  Portuguese  voyages,  and  military  and  naval  actions, 
particularly  those  that  took  place  in  the  Orient  and  Africa.  Although  this  was 
done  in  a  style  that  was  very  characteristic  of  that  age,  we  find  in  them  a 
comprehensive  account  of  Portuguese  maritime  activities  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries. 

In  1 835  the  first  attempt  to  write  a  systematic  study  of  our  maritime  history 
appeared  in  the  Annals  of  the  Portuguese  Navy,  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences. 
However,  whether  due  to  the  possibility  that  the  original  author  had  not  finished 
his  work,  or  that  it  was  lost,  only  the  part  that  covers  the  years  of  1 140-1 640  has 
been  preserved,  and  that  deals  only  with  the  events  that  took  place  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

The  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  beginning  of  the  twentieth  witnessed 
the  appearance  of  numerous  scattered  studies  of  our  maritime  history.  The 
majority  of  these  were  produced  by  illustrious  naval  officers. 

In  the  1930s,  when  the  commemorations  of  the  eighth  centenary  of  the 
founding  of  Portugal  and  the  third  centenary  of  the  restoration  of  Independence 
were  taking  place,  The  Clube  Militar  Naval  promoted  the  writing  of  a  history 
of  the  Portuguese  Navy,  the  absence  of  which  was  felt  by  all.  This  project,  which 
emerged  from  an  organizing  commission  presided  over  by  Commander  Fon- 
toura  da  Costa,  was  divided  into  six  parts,  and  sub-divided  into  chapters. 
Unfortunately,  only  the  first  volume,  covering  the  period  1140—1385,  was 
eventually  published. 

In  the  1960s,  when  the  great  commemoration  of  the  fifth  centenary  of  the 

Q 

death  of  Prince  Henry  took  place,  the  absence  of  a  comprehensive  naval  history 
was  once  again  made  a  prominent  issue.  At  that  time  an  important  work  of 
maritime  historiography  was  published,  containing  a  repository  of  all  the  known 
Portuguese  nautical  charts  of  the  fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries. 

On  5  March  1969,  a  Ministry  of  the  Navy  decree  led  to  a  group  of  studies  of 
maritime  history.  These  proved  to  be  the  embryo  of  the  present  Academia  de 
Marinha,  created  in  1978,  which  presently  comprises  over  one  hundred  mem- 
bers. The  Academia  includes  some  of  the  most  dedicated  and  zealous  inves- 


Between  1580  and  1640,  Portugal  and  Spain  were  united  under  a  dualist  monarchy. 

A  Club  of  naval  officers  founded  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
6     The  Periods  that  were  to  be  covered  were  1)  from  the  founding  of  the  nation  to  the  battle  of 
Aljubarrota  (1 140-1385);  2)  The  dynasty  of  Aviz  (1385-1580);  3)  The  Philippine  dynasty  (1580-1640); 
4)  The  dynasty  of  Braganca  (until  1820);  and  5)  the  Constitutional  Monarchy  and  the  Republic 
(1820-1926). 

Each  period  was  intended  to  focus  on  administration,  personnel,  materials,  and  operations. 
8     The  Master  of  the  Military  Order  of  Christ,  and  the  great  stimulator  of  the  Portuguese  discoveries. 

Armando  Cortesao  and  Avelino  Teixeira  da  Mota,  Portugaliae  Monumenta  Cartagraphica  (Lisboa: 
Comissao  Executiva  das  Comemorancoes  do  V  Centenaria  da  Marte  do  Infante  D.  Henrique,  1960). 


Rodrigues  Pereira     297 

tigators  of  maritime  history,  although  it  must  be  recognized  that  other  excep- 
tional workers  in  the  same  field  exist  outside  that  fine  organization,  as  well. 

At  a  time  when  Portugal  is  commemorating  the  centennials  of  its  most 
important  maritime  voyages  and  discoveries,  the  Academia  de  Marinha  has 
now  undertaken  the  task  of  publishing  a  history  of  the  Navy.  The  intent  of  this 
project  is  to  recognize  in  a  significant  manner,  the  transition  from  past  to  future. 
After  having  made  an  analysis  of  previous  attempts,  and  their  planning,  the 
decision  was  made  to  produce  a  profound  and  well-documented  work  that  could 
be  consulted  by  serious  scholars  and  investigators,  and  one  which  would  serve 
as  a  fundamental  source  for  study  and  investigation.  According  to  the  elaborated 
plan,  the  work  would  be  divided  into  periods,  materials,  parts  and  chapters,  with 
each  period  being  designated  a  tome  and  containing  the  necessary  number  of 
volumes  based  on  the  development  of  the  parts  and  the  required  chapters.  A  first 
estimate  suggested  that  the  complete  work  would  consist  of  thirty-three  tomes 
in  about  one  hundred  volumes.  The  theses  would  be  coordinated  by  a  scientific 
commission  of  seven  members,  who  would  select  the  authors  and  make  a 
preliminary  evaluation  of  their  proposed  work  so  as  to  ensure  compliance  with 
the  defined  directives. 

The  work  is  to  be  divided  into  six  periods,  according  to  the  following 
distribution: 

1)  From  the  beginning  of  the  nation  to  the  beginning  of  expansion 
(1140-1415). 

2)  From  the  conquest  of  Ceuta  to  the  death  of  D.  Joao  II  (1415—1484). 

3)  From  the  reign  of  D.  Manuel  I  to  the  invasion  by  the  Duke  of  Alba 
(1484-1580). 

4)  From  the  Philippine  period  until  the  end  of  the  War  of  Restoration 
(1580-1669). 

5)  The  period  of  absolute  monarchy  (1669—1820). 

6)  The  period  of  constitutional  governments  (after  1820). 

Each  period  consists  of  generically  equal  parts  comprising  the  following 
subject  areas  in  general: 

-  Ships,  seamen,  the  art  of  navigation,  and  war  at  sea. 

-  Men,  doctrines,  organization,  and  legislation. 

-  Voyages  and  naval  operations. 

-  The  passage  to  India. 

-  Ports  and  maritime  trade. 


10   Those  being  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (1487),  the  maritime  route  to  India  (1487-1488),  Brazil  (1500), 
and  the  arrival  in  Japan  (1543). 


298      Portugal 

Maritime  history  was  first  taught  in  the  Naval  Academy  in  1864,  with  the 
aim  of  providing  "a  brief  and  simple  presentation  of  facts,  some  development  of 
outstanding  events  and  a  very  brief  synthesis  of  the  various  periods."  A  course 
of  naval  history  is  currently  being  taught  at  the  Naval  Academy  to  give  the 
students  a  perspective  of  the  development  of  naval  power  throughout  history, 
its  use  by  the  peoples  who  possessed  it,  and  its  consequences  for  the  political 
structure  of  the  world.  At  the  same  time,  it  emphasizes  the  Portuguese  maritime 
position. 

The  following  themes,  dedicated  exclusively  to  the  History  of  the  Portuguese 
Navy,  are  also  explored: 

-  The  Portuguese  Navy  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century; 

-  Portuguese  discoveries  and  expansion  in  the  fifteenth  century; 

-  The  Portuguese  maritime  empire  in  the  sixteenth  century; 

-  The  Evolution  of  cartography  and  Nautical  Science; 

-  The  Portuguese  Navy  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries; 

-  The  Portuguese  Navy  in  the  nineteenth  century:  technical  evolution  and 
occupation  of  the  coasts  of  the  continent  of  Africa. 

-  The  Portuguese  Navy  in  the  twentieth  century:  participation  in  World 
War  I,  NATO  and  the  war  in  Africa. 

The  Higher  Institute  of  Naval  Warfare  also  teaches  some  facts  about  our 
maritime  history,  but  only  from  the  strategic  point  of  view. 

Courses  at  several  Portuguese  universities  teach  maritime  history  in  the 
programs  leading  to  degrees  in  history,  but  under  different  names;  for  example, 
the  history  of  the  expansion  versus  the  history  of  the  discoveries.  The  Lisbon 
Faculty  of  Letters  even  has  a  course  that  is  designated  the  History  of  the 
Portuguese  Navy.  There  is,  in  the  Faculty  of  Letters  of  the  University  of 
Oporto,  a  Centre  of  Historical  Studies  which  is  dedicated  to  study  of  the 
country's  traditional  vessels  in  their  historical  and  archaeological  context.  The 
Luis  de  Camoes  University  also  has  a  discipline  on  naval  archaeology  included 
in  its  curriculum. 

The  Faculty  of  Social  and  Human  Sciences  of  the  Universidade  Nova  de 
Lisboa  awards  a  master's  degree  in  the  History  of  the  Portuguese  discoveries  and 
Expansion,  with  a  specific  area  of  study  in  Portuguese  maritime  activities  during 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  The  Faculty  of  Letters  of  the  classical 
University  of  Lisbon  awards  a  master's  degree  in  Modern  History,  for  the  study 

Vicente  Almeida  d'Eca,  LJpcaes  historia  maritima  geral  (Lisboa:  Imprensa  Nacional,  1895). 

The  author  taught  at  the  Naval  Academy  from  1982  to  1988,  and  collaborated  in  the  elaboration 
of  the  present  study  programme. 

Faculty  of  Letters  of  the  Lisbon  Classical  University,  Faculty  of  Letters  of  the  University  of  Coimbra, 
Faculty  of  Letters  of  the  University  of  Oporto,  Faculty  of  Social  and  Human  Sciences  of  the  Universidade 
Nova  de  Lisboa,  University  of  Evora,  University  of  the  Minho,  and  University  of  the  Azores,  these 
being  all  teaching  establishments  of  the  State. 

Luis  de  Camoes  University  is  a  private  institution. 


Rodrigues  Pereira     299 

of  the  Maritime  Discoveries,  and  conducts  seminars  on  nautical  science  and 
cartography.  Other,  recently  created,  Portuguese  universities  give  courses  in 
military  history,  which  naturally  includes  the  naval  aspects  of  the  conflicts  in 
which  Portugal  has  been  involved. 

There  is  also  the  Maritime  Museum  in  Lisbon  which  is  a  dependency  of  the 
Portuguese  Navy.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  study,  gathering,  and  presentation  of 
elements  related  to  Portuguese  maritime  activities.  Its  director  enjoys  the 
collaboration  of  a  consultative  technical  commission  of  eight  members  who  are 
specialists  in  various  fields  and  who  support  the  Museum  with  their  studies  and 
investigation.  The  Museum  also  provide  replies  to  consultations  requested 
from  abroad.  There  are,  in  addition,  about  ten  small  regional  museums  in 
Portugal,  dedicated  to  local  maritime  affairs,  regional  craft,  and  fishing  activities. 

The  period  of  maritime  discoveries  and  Portuguese  expansion  (fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries)  is  the  period  best  studied,  albeit  with  a  few  lapses,  because 
it  belongs  to  the  most  important  period  of  Portuguese  history,  when  Portugal 
was  a  great  maritime  power  and  when  significant  developments  in  nautical 
science  and  cartography  occurred. 

On  the  contrary,  the  least  studied  period  is  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries,  when  there  was  a  progressive  reduction  in  the  importance  of  the 
nation  in  international  affairs,  primarily  as  a  consequence  of  the  decline  in 
Portuguese  naval  power. 

Students  of  our  maritime  history  have  been  predominantly  naval  officers. 
Thus,  those  aspects  of  it  which  are  connected  with  military  activities  are  logically 
more  developed  than  those  linked  to  civilian  ones.  However,  there  are  also  other 
dedicated  investigators  who  have  made  studies  of  our  merchant  marine,  regional 
or  traditional  vessels  (history  and  archaeology),  and  fishing  activities.  In  some 
parts  of  northern  Portugal,  these  have  special  characteristics  since  they  are,  at 
times,  associated  with  agricultural  pursuits. 

The  lack  of  a  comprehensive  history  of  the  Portuguese  Navy  is  a  serious  lapse 
in  national  historiography,  and  one  which  must  be  corrected.  The  Portuguese 
people,  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  need  to  understand  what  our  seafarers  did  and 
how  they  lived — from  the  anonymous  sailors  of  the  medieval  galleys,  to  those 
who  have  collaborated  recently  with  the  United  Nations  in  the  embargoes 
placed  on  Iraq  and  Serbia — so  that  other  cultures  that  presently  possess  maritime 
power  will  not  forget  that  it  was  Portugal  that  pioneered  those  ocean  voyages 
that  made  it  possible  for  it  to  "give  new  worlds  to  the  world." 

The  Director  is  an  active  naval  officer. 

Specifically  in  the  fields  of  strategy  and  naval  shipbuilding. 

The  Napoleonic  wars  and  Liberal  wars  are  stressed  here,  particularly  from  the  perspective  of  naval 
power. 

Luis  de  Camoes,  The  Lusiads. 


Singapore 


Malcolm  H.  Murfett1 


It  is  rather  paradoxical  to  think  that  the  Republic  of  Singapore,  which  owes 
a  great  deal  of  its  phenomenal  commercial  success  to  its  close  involvement 
with  the  sea,  has  still  to  develop  more  than  a  token  appreciation  of  the  roots  of 
its  maritime  and  naval  history. 

Little  is  done  on  the  island,  for  example,  in  an  academic  sense,  to  further  the 
cause  of  either  of  these  branches  of  Singapore's  local  history.  No  courses  on 
these  themes  are  offered  at  its  two  universities  (the  National  University  of 
Singapore  (NUS)  and  the  Nanyang  Technological  University  (NTU),  or  at  the 
Singapore  Command  and  Staff  College  (SCSC)  at  Seletar  Base.  Apart  from  a  few 
lectures  devoted  to  the  ideas  and  influence  of  Mahan,  Corbett,  and  Richmond 
in  the  strategic  studies  course  offerings  at  NUS  and  SCSC,  there  is  little  attempt 
to  cover  international  naval  history  in  a  systematic  way  at  either  of  these 
institutions.  Although  specific  naval  topics,  such  as  the  Anglo-German  naval 
armaments  race,  the  Washington  Conference  and  the  Singapore  Strategy,  do 
find  their  way  onto  existing  regional-based  courses  at  NUS,  and  the  war  at  sea 
is  studied  as  part  of  a  much  broader  military  component  within  its  history 
department,  the  fact  remains  that  naval  issues  appear  more  as  an  accompaniment 
rather  than  a  core  of  these  academic  courses.  Maritime  history  fares  little  better 
in  comparison.  Several  lectures  by  Associate  Professor  Ng  Chin  Keong  are 
devoted  to  the  development  of  Chinese  maritime  trade  as  part  of  a  third  year 
B.A.  general  degree  course  on  the  Economic  and  Social  History  of  Modern 
China  at  NUS,  but  there  is  little  else  on  the  existing  slate  of  courses  that  takes 
account  of  maritime  subjects. 

Fortunately,  some  element  of  change  is  likely  in  light  of  the  modularization 
of  curricula  that  both  the  NUS  and  NTU  are  planning  to  introduce  at  the 

Senior  Lecturer  in  British  and  European  History,  National  University  of  Singapore. 

In  some  senses,  the  irony  is  greater  still  since  in  the  recent  past  Singapore  has  not  only  become  the 
world's  busiest  port,  but  also  has  been  actively  expanding  its  relatively  small  but  modern,  well-equipped, 
naval  fleet. 

Ng  Chin  Keong  is  best  known  for  his  admirable  book,  Trade  and  Society:  The  Amoy  Network  on  the 
China  Coast  1683-1735  (Singapore:  Singapore  Univ.  Press,  1983),  on  the  maritime  trade  of  Fukien. 
His  book  is  a  revised  version  of  his  award  winning  Ph.D.  thesis  at  the  Australian  National  University 
in  Canberra. 


302     Singapore 

beginning  of  the  1994-95  academic  year.  It  is  highly  probable  that  a  postgraduate 
course  in  International  Naval  History  will  be  launched  at  the  NUS  by  the  author 
of  this  article  at  the  earliest  opportunity  after  1994,  and  the  likelihood  is  that 
once  the  Singapore  Armed  Forces  Training  Institute  (SAFTI)  is  expanded  and 
upgraded  into  a  military  academy  in  1995,  it  will  be  better  able  to  offer  a  greater 
variety  of  naval  topics  for  its  students  than  is  possible  at  the  present  time.  On  the 
maritime  front  at  the  NUS,  Associate  Professor  Ng  Chin  Keong  is  intending  to 
introduce  a  postgraduate  level  course  on  the  Maritime  History  of  China  from 
the  Twelfth  Century  to  the  Fall  of  the  Ch'ng  Dynasty,  but  apart  from  this  new 
offering,  nothing  else  is  planned  for  the  immediate  future.  Clearly,  much  more 
could  be  done  than  is  being  tackled  at  present,  particularly  in  the  sphere  of 
Southeast  Asian  economic  history  and  on  specific  issues  such  as  piracy,  which 
have  a  contemporary  relevance  in  Southeast  Asian  waters. 

While  the  development  of  Singapore's  maritime  trade  and  its  management 
by  the  Port  of  Singapore  Authority  does  receive  some  attention  from  the  staff 
of  both  the  Geography  and  Economics  Departments  at  the  NUS  and  NTU,  a  far 
more  rigorous  set  of  practical  and  technical  training  courses  are  offered  to  school 
leavers  at  the  well-equipped  Singapore  Polytechnic  and  Ngee  Ann  Polytechnic. 
At  the  Singapore  Polytechnic,  which  has  a  marine  simulator  on  the  premises, 
diploma  courses  are  offered  in  marine  engineering,  maritime  transport,  and 
nautical  studies,  whereas  Ngee  Ann  Polytechnic  provides  a  diploma  course  in 
shipbuilding  and  offshore  engineering. 

Of  those  academics  currently  working  in  the  area  of  maritime  studies  at  the 
tertiary  level  in  Singapore,  arguably,  the  best  known  is  Associate  Professor  Chia 
Lin  Sien  of  the  Geography  Department  of  NUS.  Amongst  his  many  research 
publications  are  articles  on  container  port  development,  ship-generated  marine 
pollution,  navigational,  resource,  and  environmental  impacts  upon  the  Straits  of 
Malacca  and  Singapore;  and  a  chapter  on  "The  Port  of  Singapore"  in  the 
magisterial  volume  edited  by  Kernial  Singh  Sandhu  and  Paul  Wheatley  entitled 
Management  of  Success:  The  Moulding  of  Modern  Singapore. 

C.  Northcote  Parkinson  was  among  the  first  of  the  academics  in  Singapore 
to  write  about  maritime  and  naval  affairs.  As  Raffles  Professor  of  History  at  the 

4  Chia  Lin  Sien,  "The  Port  of  Singapore"  in  Kernial  Singh  Sandhu  and  Paul  Wheatley,  eds., 
Management  of  Success:  The  Moulding  of  Modem  Singapore  (Singapore:  ISEAS,  1989),  pp.  314—36. 

A  selection  of  Chia 's  prolific  output  is  provided  below: 

"Ship-Generated  Marine  Pollution  Issues  in  Southeast  Asia,"  a  conference  paper  presented  to  the 
SEAPOL  International  Conference  on  the  Implementation  of  the  Law  of  the  Sea  Convention  in  the  1990s:  Marine 
Environmental  Protection  and  Other  Issues,  Denpasar,  Bali,  Indonesia,  28—30  May  1990,  pp.  264—303; 
"Container  Port  Development  in  Asean:  Shaping  up  for  the  Future,"  Shipper's  Times,  vol.  1 1(2),  1991, 
pp.  2-6;  "The  Strait  of  Malacca  and  Singapore;  navigational,  resource  environmental  considerations," 
in  Chia  Lin  Sien  &  Colin  McAndrews  eds.,  Southeast  Asian  Seas:  Frontiers  for  Development  (Singapore: 
McGraw  Hill,  1981),  pp.  239—66;  "Transportation  of  Oil  in  the  Strait  of  Malacca  and  potential  Marine 
Pollution,"  in  P.R.  Burbridge,  Koesoebiono,  H.  Dirschl  &  B.  Patton  eds.,  Coastal  Zone  Management  in 
the  Strait  of  Malacca  (Halifax,  Nova  Scotia:  Dalhousie  Univ.  Press,  1988),  pp.  165-78. 


Murfett     303 

University  of  Malaya,  Singapore,  in  1950—58,  Parkinson  published  several  books, 
including  his  famous  book  on  naval  administration,  Parkinson's  Law,  as  well  as 
more  regionally  oriented  books,  such  as  War  in  the  Eastern  Seas,  1793—1815, 
and  British  Intervention  in  Malaya,  1867—1877.  After  the  university  changed  its 
name,  Kenneth  G.  Tregonning  became  Head  of  the  Department  of  History  at 
the  University  of  Singapore  (Uni  of  S)  and  wrote  Home  Port  Singapore:  A  History 

Q 

of  Straits  Steamship  Company  Limited  1890-1965,  while  he  was  still  working  in 
the  republic.  His  successor  as  Raffles  Professor,  Wong  Lin  Ken,  a  distinguished 
economic  historian  in  his  own  right,  was  the  author  of  the  standard  work  on 
Singapore's  early  nineteenth  century  trade.  He  felt  that  Singapore's  unique 
geostrategic  position — lying  as  it  does  between  the  Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans — 
deserved  a  more  comprehensive  study  of  this  equatorial  island's  place  in  the 
scheme  of  things  than  had  been  attempted  hitherto.  His  exploratory  findings, 
which  were  published  for  the  first  time  as  an  article,  merely  whetted  the 
appetite  for  more.  Sadly,  his  untimely  death  in  February  1983  robbed  the 
academic  community  of  the  fruits  of  his  ongoing  research  on  this  fascinating 
subject.  Following  on  from  Wong's  work  on  trade,  Ambassador  Chiang  Hai 
Ding  published  his  doctoral  thesis  from  the  Australian  National  University,  A 
History  of  Straits  Settlement  Foreign  Trade,  1870-1915. 

Despite  the  relative  paucity  of  local  academicians  working  in  the  realm  of 
maritime  history,  Singapore's  close  relationship  with  the  sea  has  continued  to 
exert  quite  an  appeal  for  a  fair  number  of  tertiary  students  in  the  past.  Over  the 
years  there  has  been  no  shortage  of  honours  degree  dissertations  (known  as 
Academic  Exercises)  and  masters'  theses  devoted  to  maritime  affairs.  A  selection 
of  the  more  interesting  is  provided  in  the  appendix  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

Outside  the  realm  of  the  academic  world,  the  Port  of  Singapore  Authority 
(PSA)  does  have  an  educational  function  to  perform  and  one  which  it 
discharges  responsibly.  Apart  from  holding  regional  conferences  and  seminars 
on  a  host  of  specialist  maritime  subjects  from  bunkering  to  container  traffic, 

C.  Northcote  Parkinson,    Parkinson's  Law  and  Other  Studies  in  Administration  (Boston:  Houghton, 
Mifflin,  1957). 
6     C.  Northcote  Parkinson,  War  in  the  Eastern  Seas,  1793-1815  (London:  Allen  and  Unwin,  1954). 

C.  Northcote  Parkinson,  British  Intervention  in  Malaya,  1867—1877,  Malayan  Historical  Studies 
(Singapore  and  Kuala  Lumpur:  University  of  Malaya  Press,  1960).  Although  much  of  this  deals  with 
the  Royal  Navy,  it  is  a  written  only  from  the  Colonial  Office  papers,  not  the  Admiralty  papers. 

Q 

Kenneth  G.  Tregonning,  Home  Port  Singapore:  A  History  of  Straits  Steamship  Company  Limited 
1890-1965  (Singapore:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1967). 

Wong  Lin  Ken,  "The  Trade  of  Singapore,  1819-69,"  Journal  of  the  Malaysian  Branch,  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  vol.  xxxiii,  part  4,  no.  192  (December  1960),  pp.  1-315. 

Wong  Lin  Ken,  "The  Strategic  Significance  of  Singapore  in  Modern  History"  Commentary,  (the 
Journal  of  the  NUS  Society),  vol.  5,  no.  2  (1981),  pp.  3-16. 

Chiang  Hai  Ding,  A  History  of  Straits  Settlements  Foreign  Trade,  1870-1915.  Memoirs  of  the  National 
Museum,  no.  6  (Singapore:  National  Museum,  1978). 


304     Singapore 

the  PSA  encourages  members  of  its  executive  team  to  undertake  postgraduate 

courses  overseas  in  business  management.  In  addition,  the  PSA  also  does  its  best 

not  only  to  cater  to  the  demands  of  MBA  students  from  a  wide  range  of 

Singaporean  and  foreign  business  schools  and  trade  missions,  but  also  services 

requests  from  secondary  school  students  in  the  republic  who  wish  to  work  on 

various  port-related  projects.  It  has  recently  established  a  new  computerized 

library  at  the  Singapore  Port  Institute  in  Maritime  Square  with  an  array  of 

specialist  books  and  reports,  microfilm  resources,  a  reasonable  file  of  press 

clippings  from  the  early  1970s  onwards,  numerous  trade  periodicals,  and  the 

proceedings  of  the  many  conferences  and  seminars  the  PSA  has  held  on  maritime 

subjects  in  the  past  two  decades.  Furthermore,  the  PSA  also  publishes  its  own 

monthly  in-house  staff  magazine,  Port  View,  and  assists  in  the  production  of  the 

annual  factual  handbook,  Singapore  Port  &  Shipping,  which  is  actually  published 

by  Charter  Pacific  Publications  of  Victoria,  Australia.  Being  an  important 

element  in  Singapore's  commercial  development,  the  PSA  naturally  takes  its 

economic  role  very  seriously  and  is  justifiably  proud  of  its  record  of  achievement 

in  the  maritime  world.  Its  buoyant  and  polished  self-image  is  reflected  in  the 

two  elegant  pictorial  studies  which  it  has  commissioned  in  the  past  decade.  Both 

1  o 
of  the  quasi-coffee  table  variety,  Singapore:  Portrait  of  a  Port     and  A  Port's  Story: 

1  ^ 
A  Nation 's  Success,     are  expensively  produced  books  that  look  good  and  provide 

a  clue  to  the  unabashed  professionalism  of  the  PSA.  Eric  Alfred,  the  former 
curator  of  the  PSA— sponsored  Maritime  Museum,  also  wrote  and  compiled  an 
interesting  sixteen-page  illustrated  booklet,  Singapore  Port  History,  which  does 
much  to  complement  Chris  Yap's  text  in  A  Port's  Story:  A  Nation's  Success. 

Apart  from  its  publications,  the  PSA  has  also  endeavoured  in  the  past  to  bring 
Singapore's  success  as  a  modern  port  to  the  attention  of  the  general  public 
through  the  medium  of  its  Maritime  Museum  sited  on  the  offshore  island  of 
Sentosa.  Unfortunately,  the  static  display  items,  faded  photographs,  and  unex- 
citing textual  commentaries  on  the  growth  of  Singapore's  maritime  trade  and 
port  are  not  calculated  to  appeal  to  the  younger  generation.  In  addition,  no 
lectures,  seminars,  or  conferences  on  maritime  subjects  are  held  on  the  premises, 
and  the  Museum  does  not  have  a  manuscript  collection  or  a  library  or  resource 
centre  for  research  purposes.  It  has  produced  a  few,  well- written,  information 
sheets  on  various  aspects  of  Singapore's  seafaring  tradition,  but  these  are  not 
readily  available  to  any  but  the  most  inquisitive  or  persistent  visitor.  It  is, 
therefore,  difficult  to  imagine  that  the  Maritime  Museum  will  be  able  to  attract 
large  numbers  of  appreciative  and  enthusiastic  visitors  to  its  various  galleries 
without  a  large  infusion  of  money,  a  change  of  location,  and  the  introduction 
of  a  much  more  interactive  set  of  items  than  it  has  at  present.  As  the  Maritime 

Port  of  Singapore  Authority,  Singapore:  Portrait  of  a  Port  (Singapore:  MPH  Magazines  (S)  Pte,  1984). 
Port  of  Singapore  Authority,  A  Port's  Story:  A  Nation's  Success  (Singapore:  Times  Editions,  1990). 
14   Eric  Alfred,  Singapore  Port  History  (Singapore:  1987). 


Murfett     305 

Museum's  long-term  future  on  Sentosa  is  far  from  certain,  the  PSA  is  under- 
standably reluctant  to  provide  it  with  the  investment  it  so  badly  needs.  This  lack 
of  funds  ensures  that  regardless  of  how  committed  its  staff  may  be,  the  Maritime 
Museum  looks  destined  to  remain  a  sad  and  unsatisfactory  relic  on  a  holiday 
island  given  over  to  leisure  and  entertainment  on  a  grand  scale.  Its  future  may 
also  be  compromised  to  some  extent  by  the  anticipated  success  of  the  so-called 
Singapore  Maritime  Showcase — a  multimillion-dollar  development  on  the 
waterfront  by  the  World  Trade  Centre  on  the  main  island  of  Singapore.  This 
high-tech,  multimedia  attraction — a  celebration  of  Singapore's  global  port 
status — will  be  roughly  5,000  square  feet  in  surface  area  when  the  exhibition  is 
completed  and  opened  to  the  public  by  the  end  of  1993.  If  it  proves  to  be  as 
successful  as  the  PSA  imagines  it  will  be,  the  death  knell  is  likely  to  sound  for 
the  Maritime  Museum  on  Sentosa.  Should  that  happen,  the  PSA  may  try  to 
house  some  of  the  more  interesting  artifacts  from  the  Maritime  Museum,  such 
as  the  racing  jongs,  outrigger  canoes,  and  keeled  boats  (Kolek  Sauh,  Kolek  Selat, 
Kolek  Chiau,  and  Pomehai),  in  the  large  foyer  of  the  PSA  head  office  in  Alexandra 
Road  on  the  main  island  of  Singapore. 

Shipping  companies  who  have  played  their  part  in  the  development  of 
Singapore's  maritime  trade,  such  as  the  Keppel  Corporation  and  Neptune  Orient 
Lines  (NOL),  have  also  recently  felt  the  necessity  to  commission  histories  of  their 
past  deeds.  Although  NOL  has  already  produced  an  earlier  slim  account  of  its 
corporate  history,  it  decided  against  releasing  Only  Yesterday:  The  Story  of  Neptune 
Orient  Lines  1969—1983  into  the  public  domain.  Now  it  has  decided  to 
commission  Dr.  Grace  Low,  the  Head  of  the  History  Department  at  NTU,  to 
prepare  an  updated  version  for  publication  in  1994.  Keppel's  plans  for  a 
corporate  history  are  still  shrouded  in  mystery  despite  the  planned  launch  in  late 
September  1993  of  Richard  Lim's,  Tough  Men,  Bold  Visions — The  Story  of  Keppel. 
Although  it  is  expected  to  have  a  print  run  of  1 1 ,000,  Lim's  book  on  one  of 
Singapore's  flagship  companies  is  unlikely  at  this  stage  to  be  sold  to  the  general 
public  and  appears  to  be  reserved  for  the  exclusive  use  of  customers  and  staff 
only. 

Singapore's  controversial  (some  would  describe  it  as  infamous)  military  legacy, 
wrapped  up  as  it  is  with  the  fate  of  the  British  Empire,  has  never  failed  to  attract 
the  attention  of  a  host  of  historians  from  all  over  the  world  ever  since  the  island 
fortress  fell  to  the  outnumbered  troops  of  the  Imperial  Japanese  Army  on  15 
February  1942.  Apart  from  the  military  historians  who  have  sought  a  convincing 
explanation  for  this  allied  debacle,  other  diplomatic  and  international  scholars 
moved  into  the  arena  in  the  hope  of  placing  Singapore's  surrender  into  a  wider 

Dr.  Low  has  just  completed  a  manuscript  on  the  development  of  the  port  ofjurong  (located  on  the 
western  coast  of  Singapore)  which  she  is  hoping  to  publish  in  1994. 

Richard  Lim,  Tough  Men,  Bold  Visions — The  Story  of  Keppel  (Singapore:  Keppel  Corp.,  1993),  141 
pp. 


306     Singapore 

context  of  Britain's  spectacular  fall  from  grace  on  the  world's  stage  in  the 
twentieth  century.  As  a  result,  research  work  on  British  military  involvement 
with  Singapore  developed  into  one  of  the  historical  growth  areas  in  the  1970s 
and  early  80s  without  much  help  from  any  of  the  island's  academics.  Interestingly 
enough,  much  of  this  work  was  concerned  with  unravelling  the  so-called 
"Singapore  Naval  Strategy."  William  Roger  Louis's,  British  Strategy  in  the  Far 

1 7 

East  1919—1939,  may  be  seen  as  opening  up  the  field  for  others  to  exploit  in 
the  years  that  followed.  W.  David  Mclntyre  went  much  further  in  exploring  a 

r-r-rt  1  ft 

purely  naval  theme  in  his  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Singapore  Naval  Base,  as  did 
James  Lord  Neidpath  in  The  Singapore  Naval  Base  and  the  Defence  of  Britain's 
Eastern  Empire  1919-1941.  Paul  Haggie's,  Britannia  at  Bay,  Ian  Hamill's,  The 
Strategic  Illusion,  Peter  Lowe's,  Great  Britain  and  the  Origins  of  the  Pacific  War 
and  Malcolm  H.  Murfett's,  Fool— proof  Relations,  all  managed  to  add  something 
to  the  naval  story  of  what  S.  Woodburn  Kirby  was  to  describe  as  "the  greatest 
national  humiliation  suffered  by  Britain  since  Yorktown."  After  losing  some 
of  its  research  topicality  for  a  few  years,  the  "Singapore  Strategy"  has  resurfaced 
once  more  in  the  vanguard  of  the  republican  movement  in  Australia.  David 
Day's,  The  Great  Betrayal:  Britain,  Australia  and  the  Onset  of  the  Pacific  War,  led 
the  way  and  the  Rt.  Hon.  Paul  Keating,  the  Australian  Prime  Minister,  joined 
in  the  fray  with  a  series  of  outspoken  remarks  about  the  iniquities  of  the  British 
military  and  government  in  allowing  the  island  of  Singapore  to  fall  to  the  Japanese 
in  1942.  Malcolm  Murfett  wrote  an  answer  to  these  charges.  While  not  going 
as  far  as  Day  and  Keating  in  their  scathing  denunciations  of  the  perfidious  British, 
his  article  is  critical  of  what  he  sees  as  both  British  and  Australian  wishful  thinking 
as  far  as  Singapore  was  concerned  during  the  inter- war  period. 

Given  the  high  level  of  interest  in  Singapore's  part  in  British  naval  history  up 
to  1942,  the  fact  that  its  immediate  postwar  role  is  usually  passed  over  in  silence, 

17  William  Roger  Louis,  British  Strategy  in  the  Far  East  1919-1939  (Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1971). 

18  W.  David  Mclntyre,  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Singapore  Naval  Base  (London:  Macmillan,  1979). 

19  James  Lord  Neidpath,  The  Singapore  Naval  Base  and  the  Defence  of  Britain's  Eastern  Empire  1919-1941 
(Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1981). 

20  Paul  Haggie,  Britannia  at  Bay:  The  Defence  of  the  British  Empire  Against  Japan,  1931-1941  (Oxford: 
Clarendon  Press,  1981). 

Ian  Hamill,  The  Strategic  Illusion:  The  Singapore  Strategy  and  the  Defence  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand, 
1919-1942  (Singapore:  Singapore  Univ.  Press,  1981). 

22  Peter  Lowe,  Great  Britain  and  the  Origins  of  the  Pacific  War  (Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1977). 

23  Malcolm  Murfett,  Fool-proof  Relations:  The  Search  for  Anglo-American  Naval  Cooperation  during  the 
Chamberlain  Years,  1937-1940  (Singapore:  Singapore  Univ.  Press,  1984). 

24  S.  Woodburn  Kirby,  Singapore:  The  Chain  of  Disaster  (London  and  New  York  :  Macmillan,  1971), 
p.  xiii. 

25  David  Day,  The  Great  Betrayal:  Britain,  Australia  and  the  Onset  of  the  Pacific  War  (New  York:  W.W. 
Norton,  1989). 

26  Malcolm  Murfett,  "  Living  in  the  Past:  A  Critical  Re-examination  of  the  Singapore  Naval  Strategy, 
1918-1941  "  War  &  Society,  vol.  11,  no.  1  (May  1993),  pp.  73-103. 


Murfett      307 

or  in  a  few  sentences  at  most,  looks  a  little  odd  and  requires  some  investigation. 
Sadly,  it  is  all  too  explicable  since  it  results  largely  from  the  deficiencies  in  the 
primary  source  material  covering  this  topic.  All  of  the  authors  who  have 
published  works  on  British  defence  policy  east  of  Suez  in  the  post— 1945  period 
have,  for  example,  been  denied  access  to  more  than  a  mere  fragmentary  record 
of  the  deliberations  of  the  extremely  important  regional  policy-making  com- 
mittee in  Southeast  Asia  known  as  the  British  Defence  Coordination  Committee 
(Far  East) .  This  mixed  civil-military  review  body  was  chaired  by  the  Commis- 
sioner-General Malcolm  MacDonald  and  included  the  regional  Chiefs  of  Staff 
from  all  three  British  armed  services  based  at  the  Far  East  Station  in  Singapore. 
It  was  in  virtually  constant  communication  with  the  Chiefs  of  Staff  and  the  Joint 
Planning  Section  in  London,  as  is  witnessed  by  the  large  number  of  references 
to  the  COSSEA  and  SEACOS  cables  which  litter  the  Ministry  of  Defence  files 
for  the  immediate  post— 1947  period.  Its  work  embraced  review  studies  and 
military  appreciations  which  were  sent  to  both  departmental  and  Cabinet  sources 
in  Whitehall.  Unfortunately,  the  British  government  has  embargoed  all  the  files 
relating  to  the  work  of  this  committee  under  Section  3(4)  of  the  Public  Records 
Act  1958  and  steadfastly  refuses  to  relent  and  release  this  information  into  the 
public  domain.  As  a  result,  scholarship  on  the  Singaporean  end  of  the  British 
defence  story  east  of  Suez  in  the  post-war  period  has  been  sparse,  although  Toni 
Schonnenberger  did  try  to  do  justice  to  this  theme  in  his  book.  Unfortunately, 
little  scholarly  activity  on  this  topic  followed  in  his  wake.  After  vainly  pursuing 
the  British  government  for  clearance  to  use  the  British  Defence  Coordination 
Committee  (Far  East)  papers  throughout  the  decade  of  the  1980s,  Malcolm 
Murfett  finally  decided  in  1992  to  write  up  the  research  project  on  Singapore's 
role  in  British  naval  defence  of  the  Far  East,  which  he  had  been  working  on  for 
a  number  of  years. 

Complaints  about  the  lack  of  access  to  the  British  records  may  also  be 
advanced  in  the  case  of  the  Singaporean  National  Archives.  Although  Singapore 
has  officially  adopted  a  twenty-five-year  rule  for  its  public  records,  there  are  two 
notable  departmental  exceptions  to  this  rule,  namely,  the  Ministry  of  Defence 
and  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs.  Neither  of  these  departments  are  required  by 
the  government  to  lodge  their  official  records  with  the  National  Archives,  and 
both  will  remain  independently  responsible  for  all  their  documents  in  the  years 
to  come.  Presumably,  therefore,  public  access  to  these  primary  sources  will  be 
severely  restricted.  Even  those  departments  and  statutory  boards  that  are  required 
by  law  to  send  their  primary  source  material  to  the  National  Archives  have 
somehow  managed  to  circumvent  the  ruling  and  retain  their  most  important 
and  confidential  files.  Moreover,  they  have  even  imposed  a  restricted  access  on 

Toni  Schonnenberger,  Derbritische  Riickzug  aus  Singapore  1945- 191 6 (Zurich:  Atlantis  Verlag,  1981). 

Malcolm  Murfett,  hi  Jeopardy:  The  Royal  Navy  and  the  Role  of  Singapore  in  British  Far  Eastern  Defence 
Policy,  1945-51  (Kuala  Lumpur:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1994). 


308      Singapore 

those  papers  which  they  have  been  willing  to  pass  to  the  National  Archives. 
Applications  from  researchers  for  approval  to  examine  these  records  in  the 
National  Archives  will  be  handled  on  a  strictly  case-by-case  basis.  Although  it 
is  not  specifically  stated,  one  may  infer  that  Singaporean  nationals  are  more  likely 
than  foreign  scholars  to  get  what  access  may  be  granted  to  these  records  in  the 
years  to  come.  It  is  a  moot  point,  of  course,  whether  or  not  the  individual  public 
bodies  will  ever  trust  the  National  Archives  sufficiently  to  handle  their  most 
sensitive  material.  An  additional  problem  is  posed  by  the  fact  that  some  of  the 
statutory  boards  may  not  have  established  a  file  registry  as  yet — the  PSA  is  a  prime 
example — an  administrative  omission  that  will  vastly  complicate  the  process  of 
anyone  using  these  official  records  for  research  purposes  in  the  future. 
Moreover,  before  the  bulk  of  these  files  are  turned  over  to  the  National  Archives, 
the  individual  ministries  and  statutory  boards  will  have  to  evaluate  all  this  material 
and  decide  on  what  ought  to  be  released  for  public  inspection,  or  that  which 
must  be  embargoed  for  a  specific  number  of  years — or  even  indefinitely.  Once 
this  stage  has  been  completed,  and  before  the  public  records  of  the  Republic  of 
Singapore  can  be  made  available  to  bona  fide  scholars,  the  staff  of  the  National 
Archives  will  have  to  compile  a  number  of  reference  ledgers  that  list  by  name 
and  number  all  the  individual  files  which  these  public  bodies  have  passed  to  the 
National  Archives  for  its  safeguarding.  If  these  are  not  sufficient  reasons  for 
pessimistic  concern,  the  fact  is  that  the  National  Archives  desperately  needs  a 
purpose-built  building  to  house  its  permanent  records.  Its  present  building — an 
old,  labyrinthine  structure,  which  it  shares  with  the  Oral  History  Archive  and 
other  assorted  ventures — is  thoroughly  unsuitable  on  a  number  of  grounds. 
Apart  from  its  somewhat  dilapidated  appearance,  the  Hill  Street  building  is 
neither  secure  nor  large  enough  to  act  as  a  repository  for  all  the  official 
Singaporean  records  generated  since  1959,  nor  is  it  equipped  to  serve  as  a  modern 
search-room  for  scholars  and  interested  members  of  the  general  public  to  consult 
those  public  records  that  it  possesses.  Its  Oral  History  Archive  (OH A)  has  some 
considerable  potential,  but  its  catalogue  is  hardly  user-friendly  and  provides 
insufficient  information  to  potential  researchers  about  the  contents  of  the  taped 
interviews  or  personal  reminiscences  which  form  the  bulk  of  the  OHA's  stock 
of  material. 

Of  the  documents  that  are  open  in  the  National  Archives  and  relate  to  naval 
and  maritime  history,  there  are  five  War  Office  files  drawn  from  the  WO  32 
and  WO  106  classifications  (originating  in  date  between  1924—1939  on  the 
subject  of  the  Singapore  Naval  Base);  thirty-nine  documents  are  to  be  found  in 
the  CO  273  series  on  a  range  of  different  naval  and  maritime  subjects,  and  an 
index  of  Straits  Settlements  records  for  the  years  1890—1946  is  also  available.  It 
should  be  noted,  however,  that  all  this  archival  material  and  much  else,  besides, 
in  the  Ministry  of  Defence  (DEFE)  and  Foreign  Office  General  Correspondence 


Murfett     309 

(FO  371)  files  can  be  consulted  in  the  Public  Records  Office  at  Kew  Gardens 
in  London. 

Owing  to  the  highly  sensitive  nature  of  its  work,  the  Ministry  of  Defence 
(Mindef)  in  Singapore  is  officially  exempt  from  observing  the  twenty-five-year 
rule  on  the  release  of  its  departmental  papers.  According  to  the  staff  of  the 
Military  Heritage  Branch  at  Mindef  s  new  headquarters  at  Bukit  Gombak,  the 
likelihood  is  that  non-military  personnel  will  not  be  granted  permission  to 
examine  its  confidential  files  at  any  time  in  the  foreseeable  future.  If  such  a  ruling 
is  likely  to  apply  to  local  researchers,  it  stands  to  reason  that  foreigners  will  not 
have  the  faintest  chance  of  gaining  access  to  Mindef  s  files  for  many  years  to 
come.  Research  possibilities  into  aspects  of  the  history  of  the  Republic  of 
Singapore  Navy  (RSN)  are,  therefore,  very  limited  and  largely  dependent  upon 
the  information  the  RSN  wishes  to  yield  to  the  general  public  in  the  com- 
memorative volumes  which  the  Naval  Archives  produces  from  time  to  time. 
The  Republic  of  Singapore  Navy  is  one  such  volume — a  slim  thirty-page  affair 
replete  with  colourful  snapshots  capturing  the  essence  of  an  active  and  demand- 
ing service.  It  does  not  seek  to  be  a  scholarly  tome,  but  looks  and  reads  as  though 
it  were  designed  as  part  of  a  recruitment  campaign  to  sell  the  merits  of  the  RSN 
to  the  youth  of  the  island.  The  Pointer,  the  journal  of  the  Singapore  Armed 
Forces  (SAF),  can  also  be  relied  upon  to  publish  uncontentious  pieces  on  the 
RSN  from  time  to  time.  Far  more  important  than  either  of  these  sources  of 
information  is  the  ongoing  research  project  on  the  history  of  the  RSN,  which 
was  set  in  motion  in  the  early  1990s  by  Teo  Chee  Hean,  the  then  Commander 
of  the  RSN.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Lim  Kwong  Hoon,  a  trained  historian  with  a 
master's  from  Duke  University,  was  asked  to  begin  the  task  before  he  took  early 
retirement  from  the  service.  According  to  Lieutenant  Colonel  Lim,  he  had 
finished  a  chapter  on  the  Confrontation  period  (1963—65),  written  up  a  proposed 
outline  for  a  thirteen-chapter  manuscript  covering  the  entire  history  of  the 
Singaporean  fleet  and  had  found  source  references  for  many  of  the  individual 
topics  which  he  thought  should  be  included  in  this  work  before  he  left  the  RSN 
in  1992.  One  may  assume  that  the  project  will  continue  to  be  advanced  through 
the  work  of  other  naval  officers  until  the  complete  history  of  the  RSN  is 
concluded.  Whether  this  manuscript  will  be  published  or  merely  used  as  an 
in-service  information  tool  for  RSN  personnel  is  far  from  clear  at  this  stage. 

Despite  its  silence  on  this  matter,  the  RSN  is  nonetheless  keen  to  provide  the 
general  public  with  what  it  describes  as  "a  showcase  of  the  RSN's  Heritage" 
through  the  establishment  of  the  Naval  Museum  which  was  opened  at  RSS 
Panglima — the  School  of  Naval  Training — in  Sembawang  Camp  on  22  June 
1987  by  Lieutenant  General  Winston  Choo,  Chief  of  General  Staff  on  the  SAF. 


The  Republic  of  Singapore  Navy  (Singapore:  RSN  Archives,  1988) 

See  also  the  Singapore  Nava 
Singapore  Navy  (Singapore:  1987) 


See  also  the  Singapore  Naval  Archives  booklet,  Pictorial  History  of  Brani  Naval  Base:  Republic  of 


310     Singapore 

Unfortunately,  it  has  neither  a  library  nor  an  archive  of  its  own,  nor  is  it  used  as 
a  centre  for  lectures,  seminars,  or  conferences  on  the  RSN's  historical  develop- 
ment. Far  from  being  a  research  facility,  the  Naval  Museum  is  designed  as  a  visual 
experience.  On  display  are  a  range  of  interesting  artifacts  (including  such  items 
as  the  mine-sweeping  hammer,  a  decompression  chamber,  and  a  host  of  naval 
guns)  that  have  been  collected  over  the  years  by  S.W.O.  Wee  Cheng  Leong,  the 
part-time  curator  of  the  Naval  Museum.  Despite  the  fact  that  S.W.O.  Wee  has 
done  a  good  job  in  gathering  display  items  to  reflect  the  history  of  the  RSN,  the 
Naval  Museum  lacks  a  certain  sophistication  and  is  chronically  underfunded.  Its 
very  existence  may  be  an  encouraging  step  in  the  right  direction,  but  unless  the 
RSN  has  a  change  of  heart  and  decides  to  upgrade  its  facilities,  it  looks  destined 
to  remain  a  small  amateur  venture  rather  than  a  glamorous  professional  attraction. 
On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  record  of  maritime  and  naval  history  in 
Singapore  today  is  mixed.  While,  admittedly,  some  work  is  being  done  on  both 
subjects,  research  on  a  whole  range  of  interesting  contemporary  topics- — espe- 
cially for  the  post— 1959  period — is  full  of  potential  pitfalls  even  for  those  trusted 
and  empowered  to  undertake  this  work  on  behalf  of  the  Singaporean  authorities. 
By  the  same  token,  foreign  scholars  who  wish  to  work  on  these  topics  in 
Singapore  face  an  even  more  daunting  challenge.  If  they  are  denied  access  to 
archival  sources  (a  reasonable  assumption  in  the  circumstances!),  they  will  almost 
certainly  be  forced  to  rely  upon  conducting  oral  interviews  and  scouring  the 
pages  of  the  local  English-language  daily  newspapers,  The  Straits  Times  and 
Business  Times,  together  with  those  quality  journals,  such  as  The  Economist,  Asia 
Wall  Street  Journal  and  the  Far  East  Economic  Review,  in  an  effort  to  stitch  together 
what,  under  the  circumstances,  cannot  be  anything  more  than  an  incomplete 
story.  Unless  the  government  relaxes  its  rules  on  the  freedom  of  information, 
and  major  companies  follow  suit — an  unlikely  scenario — quality  research  work 
on  Singaporean  maritime  and  naval  subjects  in  the  modern  era  will  remain 
regrettably  compromised.  This  is  particularly  unfortunate  since  there  are  lessons 
for  others  to  learn  from  Singapore's  postwar  experience.  At  this  stage,  however, 
debate  on  various  aspects  of  Singapore's  maritime  and  naval  past  remains 
muted — a  casualty,  one  imagines,  of  the  prevailing  belief  that  history  is  somehow 
irrelevant  at  a  time  when  a  nation  is  in  active  pursuit  of  commercial  success  and 
material  prosperity.  For  these  reasons  the  unusual  paradox  mentioned  in  the 
opening  paragraph  looks  likely  to  remain  ironically  valid  for  many  years  to  come. 


Bibliographical  Appendix 

Economics  and  Statistics  Department  (University  of  Singapore  and 
National  University  of  Singapore) 

Unpublished  Academic  Exercises: 
Chou  Sook  May,  "Marine  Resources  and  Tourism:  The  Case  of  Singapore" 

(1986) 
Kaur,  Pirtpal,  "Pricing  of  Services  at  Telok  Ayer  Basin"  (1973) 
Kuek  Eng  Chyne  (Anthony),  "Development  of  Coastal  Shipping  in  Singapore" 

(1971) 
Lee  Fou  Yoong,  "A  Manpower  Study  of  the  PSA  Operations  Division"  (1973) 
Lee  Tuan  Penh  (Michael  J.),  "The  Port  of  Singapore"  (1969) 
Leong  Mun  Keong,  "Shippers  and  Agents  in  Singapore's  Coastal  Trade"  (1971) 
Loh  Fong  Kwee  (Daniel),  "Concentration  in  the  Shipbuilding  and  Repairing 

Industry  in  Singapore"  (1971) 
Ng  Chee  Keong,  "The  Effects  of  the  Free  Trade  Zone  or  the  Entrepot  Trade 

of  Singapore"  (1973) 
Oh  Kim  Wee,  "Flags  of  Convenience:  Practice  and  Implications  for  Singapore" 

(1977) 
Sze  Toh  Kok  Leang,  "A  Study  of  Cargo  Handling  in  Singapore  in  Singapore's 

Coastal  Shipping"  (1971) 
Yeo,  Annie,  "The  Structure  of  Singapore  Shipping  Industry"  (1973) 

Geography  Department  (University  of  Singapore  and 
National  University  of  Singapore) 

Unpublished  Academic  Exercises: 
Chia  Beng  Hock  (Alan),  "The  Malacca  Straits:  A  Study  in  Political  Geography" 

(1986) 
Kalyanam,  Ganesh  s/o  R.,  "Container  Port  Development  in  ASEAN"  (1990) 
Lee  Kai  Yin,  "South  Asian  Shipping  and  its  Links  with  Singapore"  (1989) 
Teo  Kiew  Ting  (Mary  Celine),  "The  development  of  the  port  of  Singapore 

1819-1959"  (1962) 
Wee  Siew  Sun,  "The  port  of  Singapore — postwar  development  of  its  physical 

facilities"  (1977) 

History  Department  (University  of  Singapore  and 
National  University  of  Singapore) 

Unpublished  Academic  Exercises: 
Richard  Cheong,  "The  Singapore  Naval  Base,  a  local  history"  (1983) 


312     Singapore 

Chiang  Ming  Shun,  "Military  Defences  and  Threat  Perceptions  in  Nineteenth 

Century  Singapore"  (1992) 
R.D.  Jansen,  "The  idea  of  Singapore  as  a  Naval  Base  &  the  abandonment  of  that 

idea  1885-1905  (1954)" 
Bhajan  Singh,  "The  Defence  of  Singapore  from  1902  to  the  Washington 

Conference"  (1975) 
E.  Wong,  "The  Singapore  Harbour  Board  1913-1941  (1961)" 
Yeo  Piah  Woon,  "The  Singapore  Harbour  Board  1946-57  (1975)" 

History  Department 

Master  of  Arts  Thesis: 

George  Bogaars,  "The  Tanjong  Pagar  Dock  Co."  (1952) 

Political  Science  Department  (National  University  of  Singapore) 

Unpublished  Academic  Exercises: 
Kuldip  Singh,  "Implications  for  security  in  Southeast  Asia  of  the  1982  Conven- 
tion on  the  Law  of  the  Sea"  (1985). 


South  Africa 


C.I.  Hamilton 


To  most  South  Africans,  the  sea  is  the  hidden  frontier.  There  are  so  many 
who  appear  to  regard  it  as  nothing  more  than  a  pleasing  background  to  a 
holiday,  or  perhaps  a  source  of  vicarious  excitement  when  a  storm  endangers 
ships  off  the  coast.  This  indifference  is  striking,  given  the  strong  maritime 
elements  present  in  the  country's  geography,  history,  and  economy.  Maritime 
studies  have  inevitably  suffered,  and  to  a  degree  not  to  be  found  in  other 
countries  known  to  this  author.  The  circumstances  peculiar  to  South  Africa  will 
be  addressed  after  a  survey  of  what  is  taught  there  and  its  current  state  of  research. 
A  suitable  beginning  is  maritime  archaeology,  because  it  offers  a  striking 
example  of  South  Africa's  uninterest  in  its  maritime  heritage.  There  are  nearly 
three  thousand  recorded  wrecks  off  the  coast  of  South  Africa,  dating  from  the 
sixteenth  century;  but  scarcely  any  of  these  have  been  properly  investigated. 
There  is  a  telling  contrast  here  with  another  "new  country,"  Australia,  where 
there  are  few  wrecks,  but  much  research.  It  is  encouraging,  however,  that  interest 
has  been  increasing  lately.  Admittedly,  some  of  the  growing  interest  in  wrecks 
is  from  scuba-looters,  and  there  are  increasing  complaints  about  their  selfish 
depredations,  but  there  are  also  private  divers  who  are  putting  their  energies  and 
enthusiasm  at  the  disposal  of  institutions.  Museums  have  also  become  more 
active  in  the  area.  Those  in  ports,  notably  the  Local  History  Museum,  Durban; 
the  East  London  Museum;  the  Port  Elizabeth  Museum  and  the  Natal  Museum 
in  Pietermaritzburg,  and  to  a  lesser  extent  the  Bredasdorp  Museum,  tend  to  have 
good  collections  of  artefacts  from  wrecks,  look  to  extend  them  and,  where 

Dr.  C.I.  Hamilton  is  a  member  of  the  Department  of  History,  University  of  the  Witwatersrand, 
Republic  of  South  Africa. 

Acknowledgenment:  I  wish  to  thank  all  those  who  responded  to  my  requests  for  information  about 
maritime  studies  in  South  Africa,  though  I  am  obliged  in  particular  to  the  generous  help  of  Commander 
W.M.  Bisset,  Dr.  L.  van  Sittert,  Miss  H.  Van  Niekerk  (Transport  Economics,  University  of  Stellenbosch), 
and  Drs  B.  Werz.  Of  course,  only  the  author  can  be  held  responsible  for  his  opinions.  I  also  owe  much 
to  those  who  suggested  (with  perfect  politeness,  apart  from  one  oddity)  a  degree  of  surprise  that  members 
of  their  departments  should  be  thought  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  sea:  such  replies  set  the  context 
to  the  chapter. 

The  references  given  are  almost  entirely  limited  to  work  undertaken  in  the  last  twenty  years.  It  is 
not  exhaustive;  notably,  short  reports  and  undergraduate  theses  have  been  excluded;  but  it  is  hoped  that 
at  least  the  great  majority  of  recent  significant  work  has  been  included. 


314     South  Africa 

possible,  study  them  and  publish  results.  The  South  Africa  Cultural  Museum 
in  Cape  Town  has  a  Maritime  Archaeology  Unit,  though  at  present  it  has  only 
one  member,  and  the  Local  History  Museum,  Durban,  hopes  soon  to  make  a 
similar  appointment.  These  museums  are  also  much  concerned  with  educating 
the  public  in  regard  to  salvage. 

University  interest  in  the  subject  has  grown  somewhat,  but  is  still  more 
limited.  There  is  no  specialist  department  in  the  country,  but  in  1988  a  trained 
maritime  archaeologist  was  appointed  to  the  Archaeology  Department  at  the 
University  of  Cape  Town  (UCT).  The  departmental  courses  reflect  this, 
perhaps  most  interestingly  in  the  one  on  maritime  traffic  around  the  African 
coast  from  about  1500  to  1800,  dealing,  inter  alia,  with  shipboard  life  and  contacts 
with  indigenous  peoples.  Moreover,  joint  student  projects  have  been  arranged 
with  surveying,  oceanography,  chemistry,  marine  law  and  marine  geo-science. 
With  regard  to  research,  one  must  note  the  work  on  the  wrecked  V.O.C.  vessel 

C.  Auret  and  T.  Maggs  [Natal  Museum],  "The  Great  Ship  Sao  Bento:  Remains  from  a  mid-sixteenth 
century  Portuguese  wreck  on  the  Pondoland  Coast,"  Annals  of  the  Natal  Museum,  25,  1  (1982),  pp.  1—39. 
G.  Bell-Cross  [Curator,  the  Provincial  Museum,  Mossel  Bay],  "The  Occurrence  of  Cornelian  and  Agate 
Beads  at  Shipwreck  Sites  on  the  Southern  African  Coast,"  The  Coelacanth,  25,  1  (1987)  pp.  20-32. 

Bell-Cross,  "Portuguese  Shipwrecks  and  Identification  of  their  Sites,"  in  E.  Axelson,  ed.,  Dias  and  his 
Successors,  (Cape  Town:  Saayman  &  Weber,  1988),  pp.  47—80. 

T.  Maggs,  "The  Great  Galleon  Sao  Joao:  Remains  from  a  mid-sixteenth  century  wreck  on  the  Natal 
South  Coast,"  Annals  of  the  Natal  Museum,  26,  1  (1984),  pp.  173-86. 

B.R.  Stuckenberg  [Director,  Natal  Museum],  research  on  the  Santiago  wreck  is  far  advanced  and 
publication  is  planned. 

G.N.  Vernon  [East  London  Museum],  "Oriental  Blue  and  White  Porcelain  Sherds  at  Shipwreck  Sites 
between  the  Fish  and  Kei  Rivers,"  The  Coelacanth,  25,  1  (1987),  pp.  15—19. 

On  also  the  human  consequences  of  wrecks,  see: 

G.  Bell-Cross,  "A  brief  Maritime  History  of  the  Coast  between  the  Kei  and  Fish  Rivers,"  The 
Coelacanth,  20,  2  (1982),  pp.  27-39,  and  21,  1  (1983),  pp.  7-12. 

J.M.  Costello  [East  London  Museum],  "S.S.  Umzimvubu,"  The  Coelacanth,  24,  2  (1986),  pp.  6-15. 

D.A.  Webb  and  K.  Stripp  [East  London  Museum],  "Wrecked  Twice  in  one  Voyage.  The  Experiences 
of  an  Eastern  Cape  Merchant,"  The  Coelacanth,  26,  1  (1988),  pp.  35-47. 

J.  S.  Bennie  [Port  Elizabeth  Museum],  M.A.  research  on  the  Amsterdam. 

For  an  enthusiastic  account  of  a  non-professional  survey  of  a  wreck,  see  Allan  Kayle,  Salvage  of  the 
Birkenhead  (Johannesburg:  Southern  Book  Publishers,  1990). 

B.E.J. S.  Werz  [Archaeology,  UCT],  "Saving  a  Fragment  of  the  Underwater  Heritage;  a 
Multi-Faceted  Approach,"  CABO:  Yearbook  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Cape  Town,  4,  4  (1989),  pp.  13-18. 

Werz,  "A  Preliminary  Step  to  Protect  South  Africa's  Undersea  Heritage,"  IJNA,  19,  4,  (1990),  pp. 
335-38. 

Werz,  "The  Excavation  of  the  Oosterland  in  Table  Bay:  the  first  Systematic  Exercise  in  Maritime 
Archaeology  in  Southern  Africa,"  South  African  Journal  of  Science,  88,  2  (1992),  pp.  85—90. 

Werz,  "Tafelbaai  gee  sy  geheime  prys.  'n  Histories-argeologiese  ondersoek  van  die  VOC-skip 
Oosterland,"  Huguenot  Society  of  South  Africa  Bulletin,  29  (1992),  pp.  54-61. 

Werz,  "Maritiem  argeologiese  ondersoeke  in  'n  Suid-Afrikaanse  konteks:  doelstelling,  metode  en 
pratyk,"  Tydskrifvir  Geesteswetenskappe,  33,  1  (1993),  pp.  20-6. 

D.  Miller,  J.  Lee-Thorp,  &  B.  Werz,  "Amber  in  Archaeological  Contexts  in  South  Africa,"  The  South 
African  Gemmologist,  1 ,  2  (1993),  pp.  4-8. 

Werz  and  U.A.  Seemann,  "Organic  Materials  from  Wet  Archaeological  Sites:  the  Conservation  of 
Waterlogged  Wood,"  The  South  African  Archaeological  Bulletin,  48(1993),  pp.  37-41. 


Hamilton      315 

Oostetland,  the  first  scientific  underwater  excavation  in  South  Africa.  In  the  same 
general  context,  one  ought  to  mention  the  Maritime  Law  Institutes  at  the  Universities 
of  Natal,  Durban  (ND)  and  UCT,  and  the  Department  of  Public  Law  at  UCT,  not 
so  much  because  the  two  former  offer  courses  of  inevitable  historical  maritime 
significance  (more  striking  in  the  case  of  UCT),  but  because  there  are  researchers  at 
all  three  studying  jurisdiction  in  coastal  waters  (which  is  crucial  to  control  of  wrecks) 
as  well  as  other  matters  of  interest  to  maritime  historians. 

One  area  in  which  there  has  long  been  interest  is  port  development  and  the  urban 
history  of  ports.  Here,  too,  the  port  musuems  are  engaged,  not  just  at  the  level  of 
organizing  exhibits  and  exhibitions,  but  occasionally  also  publication.  One  museum 
unmentioned  so  far,  Simon's  Town  Museum,  has  its  own  historical  society,  which 
regularly  publishes  articles  on  the  local  history  of  the  town  in  its  Bulletin,  and  some 
years  ago  published  a  solid  and  well-illustrated  volume  of  research  work.  (This  is 
separate  from  the  new  Simon's  Town  Naval  Museum,  in  the  Dockyard.) 

4     Professor  Devine,  (Institute  of  Maritime  Law,  UCT),  was  good  enough  to  send  me  the  following 
list  of  relevant  publications  of  himself  and  his  colleagues: 

D.J.  Devine  and  G.  Erasmus,  "International  Environmental  Law,"  chapter  9  of  M.A.  Rabie,  et  at., 
Environmental  Management  in  South  Africa  (Cape  Town:  Juta,  1982),  pp.  155—79. 

Devine,  "The  Cape's  False  Bay:  a  Possible  Haven  for  Ships  in  Distress,"  SAYIL,  16  (1990-91),  pp. 
81-91. 

J.I.  Glazewski,  "The  Admiralty  Reserve — an  Historical  Anachronism  or  a  Bonus  for  Conservation  in 
the  Coastal  Zone,"  Actajuridica,  (1986),  pp.  193-201. 

Glazewski,  "The  International  Law  of  the  Sea,"  Marine  Science  and  Technology  in  South  Africa,  (1990), 
pp.  12-13. 

Glazewski  &  M.A.  Rabie,  "The  Evolution  of  Public  Policy  with  regard  to  the  Environment:  a  Legal 
Perspective  over  the  last  Fifty  Years,"  S.  A.  Journal  of  Science,  86  (1990),  pp.  413-19. 

Glazewski,  "The  Regulation  of  Whaling  in  International  and  South  African  Law,"  SAYIL,  16 
(1990-91),  pp.  61-80. 

Glazewski,  A.  Dodson,  and  H.  Smith,  "Tightening  Up  the  Law"  in  M.  Ramphele,  con.  ed.  with  C. 
McDowell,  Restoring  the  Land:  Environment  and  Change  in  Post-Apartheid  South  Africa,  (London:  The 
Panos  Institute,  1991),  pp.  139-54. 

Glazewski,  J.  Gurney,  and  J.  Kirkley,  "Offshore  Minerals,"  in  M.A.  Rabie,  et  al.,  Environmental 
Management,  pp.  380-416. 

Glazewski,  A.  Heydorn,  and  B.  Glavovic,  "The  Coastal  Zone,"  in  M.  A.  Rabie,  pp.  669-89. 

One  should  note,  too,  B.L.  Allen,  Coastal  State  Control  over  the  Historical  Wrecks  Situation  on  the 
Continental  Shelf  as  Defined  in  Article  16  of  the  Law  of  the  Sea  Convention  1982,  M.A.,  Public  Law,  UCT, 
1991;  and  H.  Staniland  (Institute  of  Maritime  Law,  ND),  is  working  on  Admiralty  Court  jurisdiction 
over  salvage  and  wreck  claims. 

G.N.  Vernon,  [East  London  Museum],  "From  Sail  to  Ro-Ro:  the  Story  of  a  River  Port,"  The 
Coelacanth,  19,  1  (1981),  pp.  5-10. 

See  also  M.  Parkes  and  V.M.  Williams,  Knysna  the  Forgotten  Port.  The  Maritime  Story,  (Knysna:  EMU, 
1988). 

B.B.  Brock  and  B.G.  Brock,  in  close  collaboration  with  H.C.  Willis,  Historical  Simon's  Town.  Vignettes, 
Reminiscences  and  Illustrations  of  the  Harbour  and  Community  from  the  Days  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Co.  and  of 
the  Royal  Navy  at  the  Cape  of  its  Administrators,  Personalities  and  Buildings,  with  Special  Notes  on  Shipwrecks 
and  Navigation,  published  on  behalf  of  the  Simon's  Town  Historical  Society  (Cape  Town:  A.  A.  Balkema, 
1976). 


31 6     South  Africa 

However,  it  is  the  universities  that  take  the  lead  in  studying  the  history  of 
ports,  although  there  appear  to  be  no  courses  with  a  strong  enough  historical 
and  maritime  element  to  qualify  for  inclusion  here.  The  Architecture  Depart- 
ment at  the  University  of  Port  Elizabeth,  however,  is  considering  a  course  on 
shipbuilding  and  urban  development.  On  the  other  hand,  at  the  research  level 
there  is  much  activity;  a  number  of  masters  and  even  doctoral  theses  have  been 
written  since  the  Second  World  War  and  more  are  in  hand,  with  consequent 
publications,  not  just  in  history  departments  but  also  economics,  architecture, 
and  geography.  The  approaches  vary,  but  even  where  the  ultimate  aim  is  to 
write  a  contemporary  study,  at  least  some  historical  context  is  given;  inevitably, 
though,  it  is  the  history  departments  where  port  research  is  most  relevant  to  this 
survey.  The  UCT  department  is  predominant,  having  issued  several  volumes  of 
working  papers  over  the  past  years  on  various  aspects  of  Cape  Town's  past  and 
members  of  the  staff  have  also  published  independently  on  the  subject.  A 
three-year  project  is  now  under  way  to  write  the  history  of  the  "mother  city." 

However,  once  one  looks  beyond  work  on  the  ports  and  the  shoreline,  far 
less  research  activity  is  to  be  found.    Seamen,  shipping,  fishing,  and  exploration 

7  D.P.  De  Beer,  "A  Study  of  the  Utilisation  of  East  London  Harbour  and  its  Relative  Importance  in 
the  South  African  Import  and  Export  Trade  to  1975,"  doctoral  thesis,  University  of  Rhodes,  1979. 

H.R.  Fitchett  [Architecture,  Witwatersrand],  doctorate  research  on  early  architecture  at  the  Cape 
under  the  VOC,  1652-1710. 

EJ.  Inggs  [Ec.  History,  University  of  South  Africa],  "Liverpool  of  the  Cape:  Port  Elizabeth  Harbour 
Development,  1820—70,"  M.A.,  Economics  &  Ec  History,  University  of  Rhodes,  1984. 

A.B.  Lumby  [Economics,  ND],  and  I.  H.  McLean,  "The  Economy  and  the  Development  of  the  Port 
of  Durban,"  in  B.  Guest  and  J.M.  Sellars,  eds.,  Receded  Tides  of  Empire:  Aspects  of  the  Economic  and  Social 
History  of  Natal— Zululand  since  1910  (Pietermaritzburg:  Natal  Univ.  Press,  in  press).  §  D.W.  Rush, 
"Aspects  of  the  Growth  of  Trade  and  the  Development  of  Ports  in  the  Cape  Colony,  1795-1882," 
M.A.,  Economics,  University  of  Cape  Town,  1972. 

H.E.  Soonike,  "The  Development  of  the  Port  and  Harbour  of  Table  Bay  with  Special  Reference  to 
the  Period  1825-1848,"  M.A.,  History,  UCT,  1974. 

K.P.T.  Tankard  [History,  University  of  Rhodes,  East  London]  "East  London.  The  Creation  and 
Development  of  a  Frontier  Community,  1835—1873,"  M.A.,  University  of  Rhodes,  1985. 

Tankard,  "The  Development  of  East  London  through  Four  Decades  of  Municipal  Control,"  doctoral 
thesis,  University  of  Rhodes,  1990. 

Tankard,  "Strangulation  of  a  Port:  East  London,  1847-1873,"  Contree,  23  (March  1988),  pp.  5ff. 

LJ.  Twyman  (Heydenrych),  [History,  University  of  South  Africa],  Durban  Harbour  in  the  History  of 
Natal,  1845-1900,  doctoral  thesis,  University  of  South  Africa,  1986. 

Twyman,  "Port  Natal  Harbour,  cl850-1897,"  in  B.  Guest  and  J.  M.  Sellars,  eds.,  Enterprise  and 
Exploitation  in  a  Victorian  Colony:  Aspects  of  the  Economic  and  Social  History  of  Colonial  Natal, 
(Pietermaritzburg:  Univ.  of  Natal  Press,  1985),  pp.  17-45. 

Twyman,  "Port  Natal  Harbour  and  the  Colonial  Politics  of  Natal,"  Historia,  36,  2(  1991),  pp.  5-16. 

Twyman,  "The  First  Harbour  Works  at  Port  Natal — the  Role  ofjohn  Milne,  1849-1857,"  The  Civil 
Engineer  in  South  Africa,  1993. 

C.  Saunders  [History,  UCT],  et  al.,  Studies  in  the  History  of  Cape  Town,  5  vols.  (Cape  Town:  Centre 
for  African  Studies,  UCT,  1980+). 

Recently  a  volume  has  been  published  about  the  Cape  (in  the  sumptuous  Brenthurst  series)  of  wider 
maritime  significance:  (the  late)  M.  Boucher  and  N.  Penn  [History,  UCT],  eds.,  Britain  at  the  Cape  1 195 
to  1803  (Johannesburg:  Brenthurst,  1992).  For  more  information  on  publications  about  the  history  of 


Hamilton     317 

attract  relatively  little  attention.  Take  the  case  of  the  last.  One  thinks  of  the 

activities  of  the  Van  Riebeeck  Society,  which  since  1918  has  been  publishing 

editions  of  historical  documents,  many  of  them  of  maritime  importance. 

One  thinks  as  well  of  Professor  E.  Axelson,  famous  for  the  discovery  and 

uncovering  of  the  Dias  cross  at  Kwaaihoek  in  1937—8,  and  author  since  then 

of  numerous  works  on  Portuguese  navigation.     He  was  also  the  prime  mover 

behind  the  commemoration  in  1988  of  the  Dias  voyage,  when  the  replica 

caravel,  Bartolomeu  Dias,  built  in  Portugal,  sailed  to  South  Africa.  (The  replica 

is  now  at  Mossel  Bay.)  He  is  both  a  leading  figure  in  the  country  and  a  nearly 

isolated  one.     Seamen,  shipping  and  fishing  however,  do  not  have  someone 

of  Professor  Axelson's   eminence,   though   there   are   a   number   of  re- 

1  "^ 
searchers,    and  there  is  a  Whale  Research  Unit  at  the  University  of  Pretoria 

Cape  Town,  and  confirmation  about  the  emphasis  on  the  terra  firma,  see  C.  Saunders,  ed.,  and  T. 
Strauss,  comp.,  Cape  Town  and  the  Cape  Peninsula,  1806+:  A  Working  Bibliography,  (Cape  Town:  Centre 
for  African  Studies,  UCT,  1989). 
Recent  relevant  publications  are: 

M.D.  Nash,  ed.,  The  Last  Voyage  of  the  Guardian.  Lieutenant  Riou,  Commander  1798—1791,  Van 
Riebeeck  Society,  Second  Series  no.  20  (Cape  Town:  1990). 

Randolphe  Vigne  ed.,  Guillaume  Chenu  de  Chalezac,  the  "French  Boy. "  The  narrative  of  his  experiences  as 
a  Huguenot  refugee,  as  a  castaway  among  the  Xhosa,  his  rescue  with  the  Stavenisse  survivors  by  the  Centaurus, 
his  services  at  the  Cape  and  return  to  Europe,  1686-9,  Van  Riebeeck  Society,  Second  Series  no.  22,  (Cape 
Town,  1993). 

E.   Axelson    [History,    UCT],    Portuguese  in   South— East  Africa,    1600-1700,   (Johannesburg: 
Witwatersrand  Univ.  Press,  1960). 

Axelson,  Portuguese  in  South-East  Africa:  1488-1600  (Cape  Town:  Struik,  1973). 

Axelson,  Congo  to  Cape:  Early  Portuguese  Explorers  (London:  Faber,  1973). 

Axelson,  Portugal  and  the  Scramble  for  Africa,  1875—1891  (Johannesburg,  Witwatersrand  Univ.  Press, 
1967). 

Axelson,  E.N.  Katz,  and  E.C.  Tabler,  Baines  on  the  Zambesi,  1858-1859  (Johannesburg:  Brenthurst, 
1982). 

Axelson,  "Recent  Identifications  of  Portuguese  Wrecks  on  the  South  African  coast,  especially  of  the 
Sao  Goncalo  (1630),  and  the  Sacramento  and  Atalaia  (1647),"  II  Seminario  Intemacional  de  Historia 
Indo-Portuguesa,  Actas  (Lisbon:  1985),  pp.  41—61. 

Axelson,  "The  Dias  Voyage,  1487—1488:  Toponymy  and  Padroes,"  Revista  da  Universidade  de  Coimbra, 
XXXIV  (1988),  pp.  29-55. 

See  also  note  2. 
2   See  E.  Axelson,  Early  Portuguese  Explorers  of  Southern  Africa,  Camoes  Annual  Lecture,  no  2,  1981,  at 
the  University  of  the  Witwatersrand;  and  "The  Voyages  of  Bartolomeu  Dias  1487-88  and  of  the 
Bartolomeu  Dias  1987—88,"  Congresso  Intemacional  Bartolomeu  Dias  e  a  sua  Epoca,  Actas,  Volume  II, 
Navegacoes  na  segunda  Metade  do  Siculo  XV  (Porto:  1989),  pp.  106—9. 

Commodore  N.R.  Guy  is  currently  editing  a  volume  Charting  and  Navigation  in  Southern  Africa,  with 
a  significant  historical  bias,  to  be  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Hydrographic  Office.  Despite  her 
base  just  outside  South  Africa,  perhaps  one  ought  also  to  mention  J.  Kinahan,  [Curator  of  Historical 
Archaeology,  State  Museum  of  Namibia],  By  Command  of  their  Lordships.  The  Exploration  of  the  Namibian 
Coast  by  the  Royal  Navy,  1795-1895,  (Windhoek:  Namibia  Archaeological  Trust,  1992). 
a.  Seamen: 

M.C.  Kitshoff  [Church  History,  University  of  Zululand],  currently  researching  on  Mission  and 
Ministry  to  Seamen  in  S.A. 


318     South  Africa 

(although  housed  in  the  South  Africa  Museum)  with  some  historical  interests. 

With  regard  to  courses  involving  shipping  and  fishing,  one  can  point  to  those 

in  maritime  economics  in  the  Transport  Economics  Department  at  the 

University  of  Stellenbosch,  which  go  up  to  honours'  level  and  beyond, 

though  the  historical  element  is  comparatively  small,  at  least  at  the  lower 

levels. 

Looking  to  other  topics,  there  is  a  research  project  to  compile  a  catalogue 

raisonne  of  the  William  Fehr  collection  at  Rust-en- Vreugd,  Tichiu  nowal  art. 

This  is  particularly  interesting  because  it  is  a  group  effort — one,  moreover,  that 

involves  the  cooperation  of  members  of  the  Art  History  Department  at  UCT  as 

C.I.  Hamilton  [History,  Witwatersrand],  "Seamen  and  Crime  at  the  Cape,  c  1850-1 880,"  The 
International  Journal  of  Maritime  History,  1,  2,  (December  1989),  pp.  1—35. 

b.  Shipping: 

E.A.G.  Clark,  presently  at  work  on  British  merchants  and  the  establishment  of  new  ports  and  trades 
in  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  1795-1840.  Education,  University  of  Rhodes. 

P.  Dickinson  [Ec.  History,  Witwatersrand],  "Smith's  Coasters:  the  Shipping  Interests  ofC.G.  Smith, 
1889-1966,"  The  South  African  Journal  of  Economic  History,  3,  1  (1988),  pp.  20-32. 

N.P.  Fawcett,  M.A.  research  on  shipping  in  the  Eastern  Mediterranean  in  the  first  millennium  B.C., 
Semitiese  Tale,  University  of  Stellenbosch. 

B.D.  Ingpen,  South  African  Merchant  Ships.  An  Illustrated  Recent  History  of  Coasters,  Colliers, 
Containerships,  Tugs  &  Other  Vessels  (Cape  Town:  S.S.  Balkema,  1979). 

Ingpen,  "The  Coastwise  Shipping  Industry  of  Southern  Africa — A  Study  in  Transportation 
Geography,"  M.A.  thesis,  Geography,  UCT,  1983. 

A.L.  Muller  (Economics,  University  of  Port  Elizabeth],  "Coastal  Shipping  and  the  Early  Development 
of  the  Southern  Cape,"  Contree  (July  1985),  pp.  10-15. 

V.E.  Solomon  [former  Ec.  Hist,  Witwatersrand,  now  S.A.  Treasury],  "The  South  African  Shipping 
Question,  1886-1914,"  doctoral  thesis,  History,  University  of  Rhodes,  1979.  (Published  1982  by  the 
Historical  Publications  Society.) 

Solomon,  "The  Freight  Rates  crisis  of  1907,"  Journal  of  Natal  and  Zulu  History,  4  (1981),  pp.  39-48. 
Dr.  Solomon  is  presently  working  on  a  biography  of  Sir  Donald  Currie. 

c.  Fishing: 

K.  Cadle,  "The  Response  of  a  Coloured  Fishing  Community  to  their  Marine  Resource  Base,"  M.A. 
thesis,  School  of  Environmental  Studies,  UCT,  1983. 

A.  Kirkaldy,  "The  Sea  is  in  our  Blood:  Community  and  Craft  in  Kalk  Bay,  1880-1939,"  master's 
thesis,  History,  UCT,  1988. 

T.  Quinlan,  "Line  Fishing  in  Kalk  Bay:  An  Account  of  a  Marginal  Livelihood  in  a  Developing 
Industrial  Environment,"  M.A.  thesis,  Soc.  Anth.,  UCT,  1981. 

L.  van  Sittert  [Oral  History  Project,  UCT]. 

"Labour,  Capital,  and  the  State  in  the  St.  Helena  Bay  fisheries,  cl856-cl956,"  doctoral  thesis,  History, 
UCT,  1992. 

Van  Sittert,  "Making  Like  America:  the  Industrialisation  of  the  St  Helena  Bay  Fisheries  cl936-1956," 
Journal  of  Southern  African  Studies  (September  1993). 

Van  Sittert,  "'More  in  the  Breach  than  the  Observance':  Crayfish,  Conservation  and  Capitalism, 
1890-1939,"  Environmental  History  Review,  forthcoming.  Dr.  van  Sittert  also  has  several  other  papers  in 
preparation,  and  his  work  is  particularly  interesting  in  drawing  on  both  oral  and  archival  sources. 

P.B.  Best,  [South  African  Museum],  "Seals  and  Sealing  in  South  and  South  West  Africa,"  S.A. 
Shipping  News  and  Fishing  Ind.  Rev.,  28  (1973),  pp.  49,  51,  53,  55,  57. 

Best  and  P.D.  Shaughnessy.  "An  Independent  Account  of  Captain  Benjamin  Morrell's  Sealing  Voyage 
to  the  South  West  Coast  of  Africa  in  the  Antarctic,  1828-29,"  Fish.  Bull.  S.  A.,  12  (1979),  pp.  1-19. 

Best,  "Sperm  Whale  Stock  Assessments  and  the  Relevance  of  Historical  Whaling  Records,"  Rep.  Int. 


Hamilton      319 

well  as  staff  of  the  collection.  It  certainly  contrasts  with  the  general  pattern 
of  maritime  studies  research  in  the  country,  much  of  which  is  a  matter 
of  individual  work  carried  on  in  relative  isolation,  often  little  known 
outside  the  sheltering  institution. 

'  However,  one  category  of  maritime  studies  has  not  yet  been  spoken  of  at  all: 
the  history  of  war  navies,  or  naval  history  proper.  It  has  been  left  aside  until  now, 
because  in  South  Africa  it  is  very  largely  confined  to  one  institution  outside  the 
universities.  This  is  not  to  say  that  there  is  no  naval  history  carried  on  at  the 
universities,  but  there  is  little  of  it,  only  a  handful  of  researchers  carrying  on 
individual  work.  There  are  also  two  courses  that  have  a  considerable  naval 
history  element:  the  honours  course  offered  by  the  Strategic  Studies  Centre  at 
the  University  of  South  Africa,  and  the  History  of  Diplomacy  course  occasionally 
offered  by  the  International  Studies  Unit  at  the  University  of  Rhodes.  Outside 
the  universities,  some  amateur  historians  have  performed  sterling  work,  above 
all  Wilhelm  Griitter,  who  in  one  book  openly  raised  some  interesting  (if 

Whal.  Comn.  (Special  Issue  5),  1983,  pp.  41-55. 

Best  &  G.J.B.  Ross,  "Catches  of  Right  Whales  from  shove-based  establishments  in  Southern  Africa, 
1792-1975,"  ibid  (Special  Issue,  10),  1986,  pp.  275-89. 

Best,  "Estimates  of  the  landed  Catch  of  Right  (and  other  whalebone)  whales  in  the  American  fishery, 
1805-1909,"  U.S.  Fish.  Bull,  85  (1987),  pp.  403-18. 

Best,  "Right  Whales  (Eubalaena  australis)  at  Tristan  da  Cunha — a  Clue  to  the  'Non-Recovery'  of 
Depleted  Stocks?"  Biol.  Cons.,  1988,  46,  pp.  23-51. 

Best  and  G.J.B.  Ross,  "Whales  and  Whaling,"  in  Oceans  of  Life  off  Southern  Africa,  Vlaeberg  Publishers, 
Cape  Town,  1989,  pp.  315-38. 

Best,  "The  1925  catch  of  Right  Whales  off  Angola,"  Rep.  Int.  Whal.  Comn.,  40  (1990),  pp.  381-82. 

C.  de  Jong,  (Ec.  History,  University  of  South  Africa,  "Walvisvangst  bij  Kaap  de  Goede  Hoop  tijdens 
de  Bataafse  Republiek,"  Historia,  12,  2,  (September  1967),  pp.  171-98. 

a.  History  of  Art:  M.  Godby,  S.  Klopper,  M.  Stevenson. 

b.  William  Fehr  collection:  L.  Melzer,  B.  Cole. 

E.A.  Biggs,  M.  A.  research  on  the  development  of  traditions  and  customs  in  the  S.A.N.  Afrikaanse 
Kultuurgeskiedenis,  University  Stellenbosch. 

E.  and  F.  Bradlow,  (respectively  History,  UCT,  and  Chairman,  Van  Riebeeck  Society,  Witwatersrand 
Here  Comes  the  Alabama,  (Cape  Town:  A. A.  Balkema,  1958). 

G.  Burford,  M.A.  research  on  Seapower  and  the  Second  Gulf  War.  I.R.,  Wits. 

D.F.S.  Fourie  (Strategic  Studies,  UNISA),  studying  problems  of  doctrine  for  the  navies  of  middle  to 
minor  powers. 

C.I.  Hamilton,  "Naval  Hagiography  and  the  Naval  Hero,"  The  Historical  Journal,  University  of  South 
Africa  23,2  (1980),  pp.  381-98. 

Hamilton,  Anglo-French  Naval  Rivalry  1840-1870  (London:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1993). 

D.B.  Saddington  (Classics,  Witwatersrand),  "Praefecti  classis,  orae  maritimae  and  ripae  of  the  Second 
Triumvirate  and  the  Early  Empire,"  Jahrbuch  des  Romish- Germanischen  Zentralmuseums  Mainz,  XXXV, 
(1992),  pp.  299-313. 

Saddington,  "The  origin,  and  character,  of  the  Provincial  Fleets  of  the  Early  Roman  Empire," 
Proceedings  oftheXVth  International  Congress  of  Roman  Frontier  Studies,  ed.  V.A.  Maxfield  and  M.J.  Dobson, 
(Exeter:  1991),  pp.  413-8. 

Saddington,  "The  origin  and  nature  of  the  German  and  British  fleets,"  Britannia,  XXI  (1990),  pp. 
223-32. 


320      South  Africa 

embarrassing)  questions  about  the  recent  history  of  the  South  African  Navy, 
notably  concerning  the  Afrikanerization  of  the  force  in  the  1950s.  Otherwise, 
naval  history  in  the  country  is  essentially  the  province  of  the  South  African  Navy. 

Naval  history  has  only  a  small  role  in  the  courses  at  the  Gordon's  Bay  college 
for  midshipmen,  but  is  significant  at  the  Muizenberg  staff  college:  one  of  the 
four  modules  at  the  latter  is  largely  historical  in  nature.  The  colleges'  staffs  are 
principally  responsible  for  the  teaching,  but  Commander  W.M.  Bisset,  the  senior 
staff  officer  at  the  Simon's  Town  Naval  Museum,  gives  an  illustrated  survey  of 
S.A.  naval  history,  principally  with  the  intention  of  fostering  esprit  de  corps.  And 
at  Muizenberg,  Professor  D.F.S.  Fourie  of  the  Strategic  Studies  Centre  at  the 
University  of  South  Africa  gives  lectures  on  strategy  and  revolution. 

At  Saldanha  Bay  is  the  tri-service  academy,  which  (in  association  with  the 
University  of  Stellenbosch)  offers  a  bachelor's  degree  in  military  science. 
Students  may  take  military  history  as  one  of  their  majors  and  spend  some  time 
on  a  topic  in  naval  history.  The  potential  for  concentration  is  all  the  greater  at 
honours'  level. 

Naval  officers  are  also  encouraged,  where  feasible,  to  take  research  degrees; 

few  are  relevant  to  this  survey,  though  one  officer  has  just  completed  an  M.A. 

at  Randse  Afrikaans  Universiteit  on  the  recent  history  of  missile-carrying 

1  ft 
vessels.      Some  officers,  retired  as  well  as  active,  also  undertake  non-degree 

research  and  publication.  Unfortunately,  Union  War  Histories  are  no  longer 

being  written;  the  organization  was  discontinued  in  1961 ,  in  part  as  an  economy 

measure,  though  some  hitherto  unpublished  chapters  appeared  recently  in  Navy 

News  and  Militaria.     But  there  is  at  least  a  small  historical  section  of  the  South 

African  Defence  Force,  although  not  at  present  engaged  with  any  specifically 

naval  project. 

The  survey  has  already  suggested  not  just  a  general  inadequacy  but  also  some 

specific  weaknesses.  First,  there  is  the  "patchiness"  of  coverage  of  subjects  and 

periods.  Particularly  noticeable  is  the  way  that  interest  declines  markedly  with 

increased  distance  from  the  shore;  if  coastal  shipping  and  fishing  arouse  little 

enough  attention,  the  maritime  history  of  other  nations  is  usually  ignored,  at 

least  outside  the  naval  colleges.  There  is  also  a  certain  narrowness  of  approach 

discernable  in  the  universities,  to  be  observed  in  South  Africa  as  elsewhere:  the 

barriers  of  the  discipline  often  appear  to  be  the  barriers  to  inquiry;  this  is  certainly 

apparent  in  the  history  departments.  It  does  not  seem  wholly  accidental  that 

A  Name  among  Sea  Faring  Men.  A  History  of  the  Training  Ship  General  Botha  (Cape  Town:  The  T.B.F. 
Davis  Memorial  Sailing  Fund,  1973). 

Lt.  Commander  L.T.  Potgieter.  In  Afrikaans;  restricted  circulation. 
19  By  (the  late)  Commander  H.R.  Gordon-Cumming,  "The  Loss  of  HMSAS  Parktoum"  Navy  News, 
September  1992,  pp.  5f.  Militaria,  S.A.  Navy  Anniversary  Issue,  22,  1  (1992).  On  pp.  51f  of  the  latter, 
Gordon-Cumming  expresses  a  strong  opinion  about  the  poor  understanding  shown  at  the  S.A.  Ministry 
of  Defence  about  sea  power  and  the  role  of  a  navy.  He  was  discussing  an  early  period,  but  later  officers 
might  well  find  the  statement  still  has  some  pertinence. 


Hamilton      321 

Professor  Couzens'  life  of  Trader  Horn,  undeniably  the  best  recent  local  work 
in  maritime  studies,  and  generous  in  its  multidisciplinary  approach,  came  from 
an  African  Studies  Centre  (Witwatersrand)  and  not  a  history  department. 

But  the  most  obvious  point  to  be  picked  out  from  the  survey  is  the  few  links 
between  institutions,  notably  between  the  universities  and  the  South  African 
Navy.  In  part,  this  is  because  of  long-standing  mutual  suspicion  that  is  common 
enough  in  other  countries,  but  is  particularly  sharp  in  South  Africa  where  politics 
have  long  had  a  severe  effect  upon  maritime  studies.  Many  academics  identify 
all  the  armed  forces  with  apartheid  tyranny,  and  many  officers  believe  that  at 
least  the  English-speaking  universities  are  radical  hotbeds.  Each  side  has  had  its 
misconceptions:  the  one,  failing  to  notice  the  outward-looking,  even  liberal 
strand  implicit  in  naval  policy  making,  and  the  other,  confusing  opposition  to 
vicious  stupidity  with  attempted  revolution.  And  naval  history  has  suffered.  If 
one  looks  at  what  has  been  published  in  recent  years,  ignoring  the  works  of 
anecdote  or  piety  or  nostalgia,  a  too-common  tendency  is  found  towards 
unadorned  factual  accounts.  One  looks  back  with  regret  to  the  last  of  the  Union 
War  History  volumes,  War  in  the  Southern  Oceans,  with  its  insight,  telling  detail 
(a  most  valuable  comparative  element),  and  even  some  humour.  But  that  was 
written  in  more  accommodating  days.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  that  the  S.A.D.F. 
historical  section  is  currently  attempting  to  develop  military  history  through 
approaching  the  universities  to  sponsor  projects  and  encourage  more  use  of  the 

20  T.  Couzens,  Tramp  Royal.  The  True  Story  of  Trader  Horn  with  such  of  his  Philosophy  as  is  the  gift  of  Age 
and  Experience  learned  in  his  Quest  from  Joss  House  to  Doss  House  and  in  which  appear  severally  Cannibals  and 
Pyrates,  Gorillas  and  Lynchings  with  a  guest  appearance  by  Greta  Garbo  as  well  as  numerous  other  adventures  of  a 
Remarkable  Nature,  (Johannesburg:  Ravan  Press  and  "Witwatersrand  Univ.  Press,  1992). 

Other  interesting  works  of  maritime  significance  from  outside  the  history  departments,  so  far 
unmentioned,  are: 

J.  Hilton,  (Classics,  ND),  "Azania — Some  Etymological  Considerations,"  Acta  Classica,  XXXV  (1992), 
pp.  151-59. 

Hilton,  "Peoples  of  Azania,"  Scholia,  ns,  2  (1993),  pp.  3-16. 

M.H.  Lategan,  M.A.  research  on  autobiographical  literature  with  special  reference  to  the  writings  of 
single-handed  sailors,  English,  University  of  the  Orange  Free  State. 

H.P.  Maltz,  M.A.  research  on  myth  in  the  novels  of  Herman  Melville,  a  study  of  the  function  of  the 
myths  of  Eden,  the  Golden  Age  and  Hero  and  Dragon  in  Typee,  Moby  Dick,  and  Billy  Budd,  Sailor, 
English,  ND. 

R.  Laverde  (International  Studies  Unit,  University  of  Rhodes),  Development,  Pursuit  and  Maintenatice 
of  the  South  African  Antarctic  Policy:  1926-1988,  M.A.,  1990. 

A.  Vos  (English,  ND),  presently  researching  on  the  relationship  between  myth,  literature,  and  history, 
in  connection  with  the  schooner  Mazeppa. 

B.  Warner  (Astronomy,  UCT),  presently  researching  on  the  early  history  of  the  Cape  Observatory. 
Professor  Warner  is  also  contributing  a  chapter  to  the  Guy  volume  (see  note  12)  concerning  the  role  of 
astronomers  in  the  history  of  navigation  in  southern  waters. 

By  L.C.F.  Turner,  H.R.  Gordon-Cumming,  and  J.E.  Betzler  (Cape  Town:  Oxford  Univ.  Press, 
1961).  Also  worthy  of  note  are  South  Africa's  Navy:  the  First  Fifty  Years  (Cape  Town:  WJ.  Flesch,  1973), 
by  the  late  J. C.  Goosen  (this  incorporates  work  by  the  late  Commander  Gordon-Cumming.  It  was  also 
published  in  an  Afrikaans  version),  and  Sailor  Women,  Swans:  A  History  of  the  South  African  Women's 
Auxiliary  Naval  Service,  1943-49  (Simon's  Town:  Simon's  Town  Swans  History  Publication  Fund,  1986). 


322      South  Africa 

Pretoria  military  archives'  still  largely  unexploited  resources,  although — and 
perhaps  this  is  in  itself  indicative — the  section  has  put  forward  no  naval  history 
topics. 

Politics  have  to  be  considered  in  another  way  as  well.  Given  the  fractured  state  of 
maritime  studies  within  the  country,  there  were  no  serious  interior  debates  that  politics 
could  sharpen.  But  politics  could  work  from  the  outside  to  encourage  uninterest  or  even 
aversion  towards  the  subject  as  a  whole.  The  sea  has  been  politically  suspect  to  most  of 
the  peoples  of  the  country.  Evil  came  from  over  the  sea,  according  to  the  different 
viewpoints,  taking  the  form  of  Dutch  settlers,  or  English  ones,  or  capitalism,  or  godless 
communism,  or  sanctions.  Furthermore,  politics  encouraged  South  African  historians  to 
look  inwards,  to  study  the  trekkers  fleeing  from  English  imperialism  or,  more  recendy, 
to  study  those  previously  historically  disfranchised.  As  one  of  my  correspondents 
commented,  it  can  seem  almost  perverse  today  for  a  South  African  historian  to  work  on 
anything  other  than  the  history  of  the  oppressed  majority.  The  politics  of  race  and 
domination  are  usually  the  major  theme,  even  in  ostensibly  maritime  research. 

It  is  easy  to  over-generalize  about  the  country.  One  must  allow  that  it  is  the  heartland 
which  remains  most  indifferent  to  the  sea.  A  news  item  about  it  might  reach  the  front 
pages  at  the  coast,  only  to  be  relegated  to  the  inside  of  a  Johannesburg  newspaper.  At  the 
coast  one  can  find  excitement  about  some  maritime  events,  such  as  the  raising  of  a  sunken 
cannon.  It  is  also  there  that  one  can  expect  to  find  numbers  of  maritime  enthusiasts,  such 
as  the  Friends  Association  of  the  Local  History  Museum,  Durban,  or  the  engagingly 
obsessive  "ship-spotters"  who  publish  their  sightings  in  the  Cape  Town  journal,  Flotsam 
and  Jetsam,  now  more  enthusiastic  than  ever  since  there  is  no  longer  any  need  to  disguise 
the  identity  of  certain  ships  that  appear  in  South  African  ports.  It  is  also  the  coastal 
branches  of  the  Navy  League  that  have  tended  to  be  the  most  active.  However, 
both  heartland  and  rimland  have  suffered  alike  from  two  recent  forces  inimical  to 
maritime  studies — sanctions  and  depression.  The  former  was  instrumental  in 
choking  the  two-way  relationship  that  encouraged  some  to  look  towards  the  sea. 
When  one  can  see  only  turned  backs  on  another  shore,  the  response  is  also  to  turn 

22  Slavery  is  usually  dealt  with  only  in  its  shore-based  manifestations.  But  there  is  one  researcher  working 
on  the  maritime  slave  trade: 

G.  Campbell  (Ec.  History,  Witwatersrand):  "Madagascar  and  the  Slave  Trade,  1810-1895,"  Journal  of 
African  History,  XXII  (1981),  pp.  203-27. 

Campbell,  "The  East  African  Slave  Trade,  1861-1895:  the  'Southern  Complex,'"  International  Journal 
of  African  Historical  Studies,  XXII,  1  (1989),  pp.  1-27. 

Campbell,  "Madagascar  and  Mozambique  in  the  Slave  Trade  of  the  Western  Indian  Ocean, 
1800-1861 ,"  in  W.G.  Clarence—Smith  ed.,  The  Economics  of  the  Indian  Ocean  Slave  Trade  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  (London:  Frank  Cass,  1989),  pp.  166-93. 

Campbell,  "Disease,  Cattle,  and  Slaves:  the  Development  of  Trade  between  Natal  and  Madagascar, 
1875-1904,"  African  Economic  History,  XIX(1990-91),  pp.  105-33. 

23  The  S.A.  Navy  League  remains  vigorous  overall,  in  large  part  because  the  naval  cadet  corps  operates 
under  its  auspices.  For  the  League,  and  a  brief  history  of  the  cadet  corps  by  the  League's  Federal  Secretary, 
Captain  D.  Brown,  plus  numerous  other  details  about  the  sea  and  S.A.,  see  the  current  Navy  League's 
Mariner's  Diary,  published  by  Walker-Ramus  Trading  Co.  (Pty)  Ltd,  Durban. 


Hamilton      323 

away.  Significantly,  the  recent  permission  for  South  Africa  to  participate  in 
commemorating  the  Battle  of  the  Atlantic  immediately  led,  even  in  Johannes- 
burg, to  richly  nostalgic  newpaper  articles  about  the  war  at  sea. 

Sanctions  also  deepened  the  depression,  which  has  been  a  powerful  factor 
affecting  all  levels  of  maritime  studies.  The  lack  of  money  has  been  bedeviling  the 
universities,  forcing  severe  reductions  and  a  concentration  on  core  subjects  rather 
than  something  that  can  be  described  with  dangerous  ambiguity  as  "peripheral."  It 
has  affected  the  museums,  where  many  artefacts  cannot  be  given  proper  storage  let 
alone  the  treatment  vital  to  their  preservation.  The  Navy  has  been  forced  "to  cut 
fat"  and  rationalize.  And  bodies  such  as  the  Maritime  Institute,  at  Durban,  which 
offers  courses  in  maritime  trade  and  transport,  have  been  forced  to  focus  on  narrowly 
vocational  training,  cutting  away  any  historical  context. 

But  there  are  a  few  hopeful  signs.  The  central  grant-giving  body,  the  Human 
Sciences  Research  Council,  is  improving  its  data  base,  so  perhaps  the  present 
difficulty  in  gathering  information  about  maritime  research  will  be  mitigated. 
Moreover,  an  attempt  is  being  made  to  formulate  a  maritime  policy  for  the 
country.  Three  conferences  have  been  held,  attended  by  academics,  museum 
staffs,  naval  officers,  and  others,  and  a  drafted  policy  is  about  to  be  sent  to  the 
cabinet.  The  main  aim  is  to  coordinate  the  various  coastal  maritime  agencies, 
and  there  are  implications  inter  alia  for  fishing,  customs,  air-sea  rescue,  tourism,  and 
salvage. 

The  significant  aspect  of  that  attempt  is  the  way  it  has  been  pushed  through 
by  a  comparatively  small  number  of  people,  led  by  B.C.  Floor,  lately  of  the 
University  of  Stellenbosch,  but  now  the  head  of  a  private  agency.  This  is 
typical  of  the  country.  The  shortage  of  the  highly  trained,  and  the  narrowness 
of  the  elites,  means  that  individual  expertise  and  energy  can  achieve  results 
that  would  not  be  expected  in  Western  societies,  at  least  when  the  correct 
contacts  have  been  made.  One  thinks  also  of  Vice-Admiral  G.  Syndercombe, 
former  Chief  of  the  Navy,  who  acts  as  a  universal  armature,  linking  together 
many  of  the  maritime  organizations  in  the  country.  Or  there  is  Drs  B.  Werz, 
the  maritime  archaeologist  at  The  University  of  Cape  Town,  in  the  midst  of 
a  coming  together  of  the  Navy  and  the  National  Monuments  Council  (itself 
an  important  organization  and  responsible  for  coordinating  salvage  work).  " 
This  grouping  articulated  "Operation  Sea  Eagle,"  a  survey  of  the  shipwrecks 
around  Robben  Island,  followed  by  a  general  management  plan  for  the  area, 

The  papers  are  available  as  a  bound  volume  from  the  National  Maritime  Policy  Committee, 
University  of  Stellenbosch. 

Dr.  J.  Deacon  has  the  general  supervisory  role:  see  her  "Protection  of  Historical  Shipwrecks  through 
the  National  Monuments  Act,"  given  at  the  Third  National  Maritime  Conference,  at  Durban,  in  March 
1993  (see  note  24);  and  "Conservation  of  Historical  Shipwrecks:  A  Need  for  Cooperation,"  Information 
Bulletin.  Council  for  the  Environment,  no.  9  (August  1993),  pp.  8—11. 


324     South  Africa 

one  that  may  lay  a  basis  for  the  future  rational  exploitation  of  the  island  for  leisure 
as  well  as  research. 

Of  course,  such  schemes  depend  for  their  ultimate  success  upon  political 
stability,  economic  prosperity,  and — crucially — the  attitudes  of  the  coming 
government.  As  yet,  those  attitudes  remain  uncertain.  From  what  some  A.N.C. 
representatives  have  said,  one  might  have  cause  for  pessimism  about  maritime 
studies,  for  instance  in  the  calls  for  researchers  to  concentrate  on  the  history  of 
the  black  majority,  which  would  largely  mean  a  history  of  the  soil  and  of  struggle. 
But  there  are  also  reasons  for  optimism,  as  in  the  suggestion  that  South  Africa 
should  follow  the  U.S.  example  and  set  up  a  National  Endowment  fund  with 
only  a  relatively  light  control  over  subjects  of  research,  though  duplication  of 
effort  is  to  be  avoided.  Moreover,  the  A.N.C.  is  actively  discussing  the  subject 
of  fishing,  something  the  Nationalists  tended  to  avoid.  A  conference  in  March 
1993  in  Cape  Town,  organized  by  the  South  African  Institute  of  International 
Affairs  (Cape)  and  the  Institute  for  Defence  Policy,  also  suggested  that  the 
A.N.C.  has  some  sympathy  towards  the  Navy  and  sees  a  significant  future  for 
it.  These  are  only  straws  in  the  wind,  but  one  has  to  agree  with  supporters  of 
the  fishing  industry  and  at  least  some  officers  in  the  Navy  who  think  that  the 
future  holds  promise  for  them,  if  only  because  it  cannot  be  worse  than  the  past. 
In  a  mood  of  cautious  optimism,  one  might  well  say  the  same  about  maritime 
studies  in  South  Africa. 


B.E.J. S.  Werz  and  J.  Deacon,  Operation  Sea  Eagle:  Final  Report  on  a  Survey  of  Shipwrecks  around  Robben 
Island  (Cape  Town:  National  Monuments  Council,  pending). 

Some  of  the  papers  and  comments  were  printed  in  the  South  African  Defence  Review,  10  (1993),  issued 
by  the  Institute  for  Defence  Policy,  Halfway  House  (Midrand),  S.A.  1685. 1  am  grateful  to  Dr.  J.  Cilliers 
for  letting  me  have  a  copy  of  the  issue. 


Spain 


Carla  Rahn  Phillips 


Spain's  relationship  with  the  sea  goes  back  as  far  as  recorded  history,  when 
mariners  from  Carthage,  Greece,  and  Rome  established  settlements  of  their 
seaborne  empires  on  the  Iberian  peninsula.  Muslims  from  North  Africa  invaded 
Spain  by  sea  in  the  eighth  century,  and  again  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  naval 
engagements  marked  important  phases  in  the  Christian  reconquest  of  the 
peninsula  in  the  late  Middle  Ages.  During  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  Castile  governed  a  vast  worldwide  empire,  held  together  by  maritime 
trade  and  communication  and  defended  by  an  impressive  naval  establishment. 
Seaborne  trade  and  defense  loomed  large  in  Spanish  affairs  as  long  as  the  empire 
lasted — that  is,  until  the  late  nineteenth  century — although  with  inevitable  shifts 
of  emphasis  after  most  of  Spanish  America  became  independent.  The  twentieth 
century  presented  a  different  set  of  challenges,  as  the  civilian  shipbuilding 
industry  eclipsed  the  naval  establishment. 

This  essay  surveys  the  historiography  of  Spanish  naval  and  maritime  affairs 
over  the  past  ninety  years  or  so,  during  which  time  virtually  every  aspect  of 
Spain's  long  relationship  with  the  sea  has  been  discussed  in  print.  Bibliographic 
aids,  such  as  listings  of  books  and  articles  published  during  the  twentieth  century, 
yielded  1,328  items.  Although  they  seem  to  represent  a  valid  sampling  of  the 
field,  undoubtedly  many  items  eluded  me.  The  most  serious  deficiency  in  my 
search  is  that  I  was  able  to  deal  only  superficially  with  the  enormous  output  of 
the  Revista  General  de  Marina  (RGM),  founded  in  1877.  The  RGMwas  published 
regularly  except  for  a  hiatus  during  the  Spanish  Civil  War;  in  over  115  years  of 
existence,  nearly  10,800  articles  on  a  wide  range  of  topics  have  appeared  in  its 
pages.  A  conference  in  1990  focused  on  the  RGM  and  its  impact  on  the  field  of 
naval  and  maritime  history.  Ten  short  papers  analyzing  the  journal's  contents 
since  its  foundation  were  prepared  for  that  conference  and  appeared  in  print  as 
part  of  the  monographic  series  published  by  the  Institute  of  Naval  History  and 

Lawrence  Mott,  a  graduate  student  in  history  at  the  University  of  Minnesota,  served  as  my  research 
assistant  on  this  project,  assembling  the  references  and  entering  them  on  the  bibliographic  program 
Pro-Cite.  I  can  provide  the  computer  files  for  the  bibliography  on  "WordPerfect  5.0  to  any  interested 
parties.  Send  a  diskette  (3.5  or  5.25  in.)  and  a  self-addressed  stamped  mailer  to  Prof.  Carla  Rahn  Phillips, 
Department  of  History,  University  of  Minnesota,,  Minneapolis,  MN  55455. 


326      Spain 

Culture  (Instituto  de  Historia  y  Cultura  Naval).  Because  the  full  run  of  the 
RGMwas  not  available  to  me,  I  relied  primarily  on  indirect  analyses  such  as  these 
to  characterize  the  journal's  output.  I  also  used  a  computerized  index  of 
key-words  in  the  titles  of  RGM  articles,  prepared  by  a  researcher  at  the  Consejo 
Superior  de  Investigaciones  Cientificas  in  Madrid.  In  the  discussion  that  follows, 
I  have  included  material  from  the  RGM  wherever  possible,  but  I  cannot  pretend 
to  have  analyzed  its  contents  as  thoroughly  as  they  deserve. 

Judging  from  that  index  and  from  an  unsystematic  survey  of  articles,  the  RGM 
seems  to  deal  more  heavily  with  naval  history  than  with  maritime  history,  as 
those  distinctions  are  commonly  used,  though  its  range  is  too  broad  to  define  in 
simple  terms.  Moreover,  in  publications  of  all  sorts,  distinctions  between  naval 
and  maritime  history  have  little  relevance  in  Spain.  Many  books  and  articles  deal 
with  all  aspects  of  Spanish  seaborne  experience,  and  journals  regularly  publish  a 
variety  of  articles  that  defy  rigid  labels.  Moreover,  books  about  naval  and 
maritime  history  are  regularly  reviewed  in  national  newspapers,  as  well  as  in 
scholarly  periodicals;  in  other  words,  the  field  is  not  marginalized  as  it  is  in  some 
countries. 

The  authors  who  publish  in  Spanish  naval  and  maritime  history  are — not 
surprisingly — mostly  Spanish.  Of  the  publications  I  surveyed  in  detail,  nearly  80 
percent  were  written  by  Spaniards,  and  the  foreign  authors  generally  focused  on 
matters  concerning  their  home  countries.  For  example,  the  ill-fated  armed  fleet, 
or  armada,  that  Spain  sent  against  England  in  1588  inspired  a  predictable  interest 
among  English  authors,  and  the  naval  actions  of  the  1898  Spanish-American  war 
attracted  a  number  of  authors  from  the  United  States.  Very  few  non-Spaniards 
have  published  on  broader  Spanish  nautical  topics,  however,  and  some  detailed 
research  by  non-Spaniards  is  not  likely  ever  to  be  published.  I  have  in  mind  here 
the  international  fraternity  and  sorority  of  treasure  hunters  who  have  leafed 
through  countless  documents  looking  for  clues  to  sunken  treasure  from 
Spain's  Atlantic  and  Pacific  fleets,  and  whose  interests  are  more  pecuniary 
than  scholarly. 

Among  the  Spanish  authors  my  survey  turned  up,  the  vast  majority  are  male, 
many  of  them  serving  in  the  Spanish  Navy.  That  is  predictable,  given  the  nature 
of  the  topic.  Several  extraordinary  scholars  and  naval  officers  in  the  nineteenth 
century  provided  ideal  models.  Martin  Fernandez  Navarrete  and  Cesareo 
Fernandez  Duro  each  published  numerous  works  of  their  own  research,  as  well 
as  editing  multivolume  series  of  documents  related  to  Spanish  naval  and  maritime 

"La  Re  vista  General  de  Marina  y  su  Proyeccion  historica,"  Cuademos  monograficos  del  Instituto  de 
Historia  y  Cultura  Naval,  no.  10  (Madrid:  1990). 

Fernando  Alonso  Castellanos,  "Indizacion  de  la  Revista  General  de  Marina  mediante  un  sistema 
automatico:  El  indice  rotado  de  titulos.  Utilidades,"  Cuademos  monograficos  del  Instituto  de  Historia  y  Cultura 
Naval,  no.  10  (Madrid:  1990),  pp.  57-68.  The  author  analyzed  key  words  in  the  titles  of  nearly  11,000 
articles.  A  listing  of  words  mentioned  fifteen  or  more  times  is  included  in  that  article. 


Phillips     327 

history.  They  were  followed  in  the  twentieth  century  by  Julio  Guillen  Tato 
and  Jose  Maria  Martinez-Hidalgo  Teran,  to  name  only  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  generation  that  began  to  publish  in  the  middle  of  this  century.  The 
tradition  continues  with  Ricardo  Cerezo  Martinez  and  Jose  Cervera  Pery,  each 
noteworthy  for  publications  on  themes  that  span  several  centuries,  and  a  score 
of  other  naval  officers  who  are  also  naval  and  maritime  historians. 

Members  of  the  military  establishment  are  by  no  means  the  only  Spaniards 
publishing  in  the  field,  however.  A  small  minority  of  the  authors  currently  active 
seems  to  have  no  direct  connection  with  the  Navy  and  was  trained  in  regular 
history  doctoral  programs  in  various  Spanish  universities.  Others  studied  nautical 
archaeology,  a  relatively  new  field  everywhere,  whose  practitioners  are  not 
necessarily  part  of  the  naval  establishment  in  Spain.  Federico  Foerster  Laures  is 
the  most  noteworthy  Spaniard  publishing  in  this  field;  his  articles  regularly  appear 
in  English  in  the  International  Journal  of  Nautical  Archaeology,  where  they  find  a 
wide  audience. 

Somewhat  unexpectedly,  a  few  Spanish  women  have  also  published  on  naval 
and  maritime  history.  Spanish  naval  archives — in  the  last  several  decades  at 
least— have  been  staffed  in  large  measure  by  women.  Some  of  them  come  from 
naval  families,  and  it  is  quite  natural  for  them  to  work  for  the  ministry  and  to 
publish  on  nautical  themes.  Others  are  university-trained  professional  archivists 
who  happen  to  specialize  in  naval  and  maritime  archives.  Ana  Maria  Vigon 
Sanchez  served  as  Director  of  the  General  Marine  Archive  (Archivo  General  de 
la  Marina)  in  the  Naval  Museum  (Museo  Naval)  in  Madrid  for  many  years.  The 
Museo  Naval  houses  a  prominent  research  collection  of  documents  as  well  as 
ship  models  and  other  artifacts.  Currently,  Maria  Dolores  Higueras  Rodriguez 
and  Maria  Luisa  Martin-Meras  head  research  sections  at  the  Museo  Naval  and 
publish  regularly  on  naval  and  maritime  history.  The  significant  presence  of 
women  might  be  typical  of  the  naval  history  establishment  in  other  countries  as 
well,  although  I  have  not  made  a  study  of  the  matter. 

The  1,328  publications  in  my  survey  showed  a  sharply  defined  pattern  of 
distribution  over  time,  with  an  enormous  increase  from  the  1970s  onward.  The 
number  of  publications  began  very  modestly,  with  twenty  to  forty  books  and 
articles  per  decade  from  1900  to  1930.  Despite  the  disruptions  of  the  Spanish 
Civil  War  (1936-39)  and  World  War  II  (1939-45),  however,  I  noted  nearly 
fifty  publications  in  the  1930s  and  nearly  one  hundred  in  the  1940s.  The  number 
of  publications  stayed  at  an  average  of  nearly  one  hundred  per  decade  in  the 
1950s  and  1960s  as  well,  but  the  1970s  marked  an  increase  to  one  hundred 
forty-one  publications.  During  the  1980s,  nearly  six  hundred  books  and  articles 

Fernandez  Duro  was  the  subject  of  an  issue  of  the  Cuademos  monograftcos  del  Institute  de  Historia  y 
Cultura  Naval,  no.  6  (Madrid:  1990). 

Even  Admiral  Luis  Carrero  Blanco,  for  several  decades  the  principal  adviser  of  General  Francisco 
Franco,  published  several  extended  works  on  naval  history. 


328      Spain 

were  published  about  Spanish  naval  and  maritime  history,  and  the  upward  trend 
seems  to  be  continuing  in  the  1990s.  The  10,800  titles  from  the  Revista  General 
de  Marina  would  probably  change  the  temporal  distribution  somewhat,  although 
the  same  impulses  inspired  publications  in  the  field  as  a  whole.  Moreover, 
although  my  search  captured  recent  publications  much  more  easily  than  older 
ones,  the  sharp  increase  of  activity  shown  for  the  1980s  seems  to  be  real  rather 
than  a  statistical  illusion. 

SPANISH  NAVAL  AND  MARITIME  HISTORY 
FREQUENCY  OF  TOPICS 


OTHER  15% 


NAVAL  EDUCATION  1% 
FISHERIES  1°/c 
MEDICAL  CARE  2% 
CORSAIRS  2% 
MARITIME  LAW  2% 

PORTS  3% 
NAVIGATION  6% 


COMMERCE  8% 


EXPLORATION 
&  COLONIES 

25% 


BIOGRAPHIES  10% 


NAVAL  BATTLES 

14% 


SHIPS  &  SHIPBUILDING 

11% 


THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  1 ,328,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN  ONE  TOPIC. 
THE  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


The  Revista  de  Historia  Naval,  founded  by  the  Instituto  de  Historia  y  Cultura 
Naval  in  1983,  responded  to  the  growing  interest  in  the  field  by  adding  another 
venue  for  publication.  Both  the  Revista  de  Historia  Naval  and  the  Revista  General 
de  Marina  sponsor  additional  publications  on  a  diversity  of  themes  as  well.  The 
topics  covered  by  the  field  in  any  given  decade  show  a  wide  variety,  but  the 
anniversaries  of  historical  events  with  a  nautical  dimension  attract  particular 
interest. 

The  books  and  articles  in  my  detailed  survey  of  1,328  publications  were 
characterized  by  topic  and  chronological  period.  The  largest  cluster  of  topics — 
fully  one-quarter — concerned  voyages  of  exploration  and  the  maritime  links 
connecting  Spain  with  its  overseas  empire.  By  contrast,  the  key-words  in  titles 
published  in  the  RGM  suggest  that  Spanish  exploration  figures  much  less 
prominently  in  that  journal  than  in  the  field  as  a  whole.  This  is  probably  due  to 
the  RGM*s  emphasis  on  modern  maritime  topics  rather  than  historical  ones.  A 
similar  example  emerges  from  publications  about  physical  ships.  In  my  survey, 
over  1 1  percent  of  the  books  and  articles  dealt  with  shipbuilding,  repair,  wrecks, 


Phillips      329 

and  the  lives  of  individual  ships,  heavily  weighted  toward  the  period  before  the 
nineteenth  century.  In  article  titles  in  the  RGM,  nearly  14  percent  of  the  key 
words  concerned  ships  and  shipbuilding,  but  with  a  decided  bias  toward  modern 
times.  In  other  words,  there  were  hundreds  of  references  to  aircraft  carriers, 
submarines,  cruisers,  and  other  modern  vessels.  By  contrast,  caravels,  galleons, 
galleys,  and  other  historical  ship  types  of  importance  do  not  appear  in  the 
published  index  of  key  words  at  all,  because  they  fall  beneath  the  threshold  for 
inclusion. 

Naval  battles  accounted  for  about  14  percent  of  the  titles  in  my  survey,  and 
about  10  percent  of  the  key  words  in  the  RGM.  Biographies  of  famous  mariners 
and  naval  strategists  also  figure  prominently  in  the  field  as  a  whole.  Matters 
relating  to  Spanish  commerce  and  the  merchant  marine  account  for  over  8 
percent  of  my  surveyed  publications,  but  for  a  much  smaller  proportion  of 
articles  in  the  RGM.  Other  matters  that  have  attracted  notable  attention  include 
navigation,  ports,  maritime  law,  piracy  and  privateering,  medical  care,  nautical 
education,  and  fisheries.  Because  no  Spanish  river  is  navigable  very  far  from  the 
coast,  inland  navigation  forms  no  part  of  the  field.  Taken  as  a  whole,  Spanish 
naval  and  maritime  history  reflects  the  broader  patterns  of  Spanish  history  and 
interests  in  Europe  and  around  the  world.  Therefore,  it  makes  sense  to  discuss 
the  published  work  according  to  the  chronological  periods  covered. 

Very  little  has  been  published  in  Spain  about  ancient  nautical  history,  and 
much  of  that  has  concerned  Greek  and  Roman  shipwrecks  near  the  Spanish 
coast  rather  than  topics  specifically  Spanish.  Similarly,  the  early  medieval 
centuries  and  the  period  of  Muslim  domination  in  Spain  have  attracted  little 
attention,  presumably  because  the  most  important  historical  developments  in 
that  period  occurred  on  land.  The  late  medieval  period  has  been  somewhat  better 
served;  I  noted  twenty-nine  publications  dealing  with  the  tenth  through  the 
fourteenth  centuries.  The  largely  land-based  Reconquest  of  the  Iberian  Penin- 
sula from  the  Muslims  dominates  Spain's  late-medieval  historiography.  None- 
theless, visual  evidence  of  ships  in  illustrated  devotional  works  and  architectural 
embellishments  provides  a  range  of  hull  types  and  nautical  equipment  for 
historians  to  interpret.  Modern  scholars  have  only  just  begun  to  mine  these 
riches.  The  documentary  record  for  the  Atlantic  fleets  of  the  medieval  kingdom 
of  Castile  and  for  the  Mediterranean  fleets  of  the  eastern  regions  of  Catalonia 
and  Valencia  in  the  kingdom  of  Aragon  have  begun  to  attract  scholarly  attention 
as  well.  They  may  soon  provide  important  insights  into  the  evolution  of 
European  ship  design  in  the  era  of  the  Crusades. 

The  number  of  scholarly  publications  about  nautical  matters  in  the  fifteenth 
century  nearly  doubles  that  for  all  previous  periods.  The  fifteenth  century  is 
usually  considered  part  of  the  Middle  Ages,  yet  it  contained  developments  such 
as  the  consolidation  of  large  territorial  monarchies  in  Europe  that  heralded  the 
early  modern  age.  The  late  fifteenth  century  also  witnessed  the  first  persistent 


330      Spain 

efforts  by  Europeans  to  explore  the  African  coastline  and  to  conquer  and  colonize 
various  groups  of  Atlantic  islands. 

Not  surprisingly,  books  and  articles  about  Christopher  Columbus  over- 
whelmingly dominate  works  on  the  fifteenth  century — one  hundred  one  of  the 
one  hundred  forty-five  publications  in  my  survey  for  the  century  as  a  whole. 
Also,  predictably,  the  majority  appeared  in  years  centered  around  1942  and  1992, 
the  450th  and  500th  anniversaries  of  his  first  voyage  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
Revista  General  de  Marina  also  published  extensively  on  Columbus.  Most  of  the 
publications  about  Columbus  are  much  more  concerned  with  his  life  and  the 
consequences  of  his  voyages  than  with  his  ships  or  his  methods  of  navigation. 
Nonetheless,  nautical  matters  occupy  a  sizeable  percentage  of  the  publications. 
Many  authors  have  tried  to  estimate  the  tonnages  and  configurations  of 
Columbus's  ships  over  the  past  century,  and  replicas  have  been  designed,  built, 
and  sailed  in  attempts  to  bring  them  back  to  life.  It  is  not  clear,  however,  that 
we  are  any  closer  to  knowing  their  characteristics  now  than  we  were  in  1892. 
The  documentary  and  pictorial  record  is  simply  too  sparse  to  help  us  much,  and 
the  craftsmen's  traditions  that  produced  the  original  ships  are  all  but  lost  in  the 
modern  world.  Fortunately,  underwater  archaeology  may  eventually  analyze 
enough  shipwrecks  from  the  early  years  of  European  global  exploration  to 
suggest  believable  configurations,  not  only  for  Columbus's  ships  but  also  for 
other  Spanish  ship  types  in  the  late  medieval  period. 

Scholars  concerned  with  the  fifteenth  century  have  also  focussed  on  the  art 
and  science  of  navigation.  Modern  methods  of  celestial  navigation  were 
pioneered  by  Portuguese  and  Spanish  mariners  and  refined  as  they  confronted 
the  challenges  of  sailing  far  from  shore  in  unfamiliar  parts  of  the  globe.  One  of 
the  liveliest  controversies  surrounding  Columbus  concerns  his  first  landfall  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere,  a  matter  intimately  related  to  his  navigational  track 
across  the  Atlantic  and  in  the  waters  of  the  Caribbean.  An  extraordinary  amount 
of  effort  has  been  expended  in  exploring  this  mystery,  most  of  it  by  non- 
Spaniards.  A  team  of  researchers  at  National  Geographic  in  November  of  1986 
claimed  to  have  solved  the  matter  by  computerized  analysis  of  Columbus's  log 
of  his  1492  voyage — or,  rather,  of  the  only  existing  version  of  that  log,  an  abstract 
by  Friar  Bartolome  de  las  Casas,  prepared  several  decades  after  Columbus's  death. 
Many  scholars,  including  several  Spanish  experts  on  navigation,  greeted  the 
National  Geographies  findings  with  marked  skepticism.  The  Columbian  Quin- 
centenary produced  several  new  editions  of  the  abstracted  log,  yet  the  text  itself 
is  so  questionable  that  any  definitive  replication  of  Columbus's  course  remains 
unlikely. 

Books  and  articles  in  whole  or  in  part  about  the  sixteenth  century  accounted 
for  over  a  quarter  of  the  1,328  items  surveyed  for  this  study — some  373  in  all. 
During  the  sixteenth  century  Spain  reached  the  peak  of  its  power,  with  an 
extensive  empire  in  Europe,  a  large  and  growing  colonial  empire  in  the  Western 


SPANISH  NAVAL  AND  MARITIME  HISTORY 
FREQUENCY  OF  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


CORSAIRS 

I     2 

III 

PORTS 

(J 

I     2 

INSURANCE 

1     3 

NAVIGATION 

20 

SHIPS  & 
SHIPBUILDING 

llllll 

36 

COLUMBUS 

101 

( 

) 

— -l 
2 

i 
0 

i 

40 

■ —   i          — 
60 

-     -  -  r  J—     — 

80 

100 

12 

THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  145,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


FREQUENCY  OF  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


CORSAIRS 

MARITIME  LAW 

ASIA 

EUROPE 

EXPLORERS 

AMERICAS 

SHIPS  & 
SHIPBUILDING 

EXPLORATION 
NAVAL  BATTLES 


h 

39 

:■■■■■        .; 

79 

88 

102 

104 

m 

107 

'i^^^Wi^^^^S^ 

111 

I 

■ 

■ 

■ 

20 


40 


60 


80 


100 


120 


THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  373,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


332      Spain 

Hemisphere,  and  outposts  in  Asia  as  well.  As  the  dominant  Roman  Catholic 
power  in  Europe,  Spain  also  bore  the  brunt  of  defending  Catholicism  in  Europe 
after  the  Protestant  Reformation  began  in  1517,  and  from  external  enemies  in 
the  Islamic  Ottoman  Empire  and  its  North  African  tributaries  and  allies.  The 
Ottomans  had  captured  the  Christian  stronghold  of  Constantinople  in  1453  and 
remained  on  the  offensive  against  the  eastern  borders  of  Christian  Europe,  as 
well  as  in  the  Mediterranean. 

The  defense  of  Catholicism  can  be  said  to  have  dominated  Spanish  foreign 
policy  during  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Naval  operations  such  as  the 
campaigns  to  capture  and  hold  Tunis  and  Goleta  on  the  North  African  coast  in 
the  1 530s  were  part  of  the  struggle  waged  against  the  Islamic  world  by  Charles 
I,  the  king  of  Spain  who  also  served  as  Holy  Roman  Emperor  with  the  title 
Charles  V.  Even  Charles'  perennial  wars  against  Catholic  France  had  a  religious 
dimension  once  the  French  allied  with  the  Ottomans  in  1536.  The  naval  and 
maritime  aspects  of  these  wars  in  the  early  sixteenth  century  have  attracted  some 
scholarly  attention,  but  not  as  much  as  one  would  expect. 

Dynastic  politics  in  Europe  and  abroad  shaped  Spain's  national  policies 
throughout  the  1500s,  but  maritime  and  global  concerns  came  to  the  fore  in  the 
last  half  of  the  century,  during  the  reign  of  Philip  II.  Historians  have  written 
about  the  Spanish  naval  expedition  against  Djerba  in  1560  and  about  Philip  II's 
efforts  to  reinforce  Spanish  presidios  in  North  Africa,  policies  that  aimed  to  secure 
the  Western  Mediterranean  against  Muslim  pirates  and  privateers  allied  with  the 
Ottomans.  The  Christian  and  Islamic  powers  confronted  one  another  defini- 
tively in  1571  at  the  battle  of  Lepanto  in  the  Gulf  of  Corinth.  Spain  provided 
the  majority  of  ships  and  men  for  the  Christian  fleet,  with  smaller  contingents 
from  the  papacy  and  the  Republic  of  Venice.  Spain  also  provided  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, in  the  person  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  half-brother  of  Philip  II. 
The  great  Christian  victory  at  Lepanto  was  commemorated  with  lavish  celebra- 
tions all  over  Europe  and  long  remained  a  symbol  of  Christianity's  response  to 
the  loss  of  Constantinople.  Because  of  its  psychological  importance,  Lepanto 
also  generated  a  wealth  of  commemorative  engravings  and  paintings,  providing 
precious  visual  evidence  for  maritime  historians. 

Lepanto  has  continued  to  attract  the  interest  of  scholars  in  this  century, 
especially  during  the  four-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battle  in  1971.  Ten 
publications  in  my  survey  were  devoted  entirely  to  Lepanto,  and  numerous 
others  dealt  with  it  in  conjunction  with  other  naval  engagements  in  the 
Mediterranean.  Although  the  battle  itself  settled  nothing  decisively,  it  marked  a 
turning  point  in  the  struggle  between  the  Ottoman  and  Spanish  empires.  After 
Lepanto,  the  Ottomans  turned  to  more  pressing  matters  on  their  eastern  land 
frontier  with  Persia,  and  Philip  II  turned  toward  northern  Europe,  where 
rebellion  in  the  Netherlands  and  worsening  relations  with  England  threatened 
Spain's  grip  on  its  European  possessions. 


Phillips      333 

Naval  actions  during  the  early  phase  of  the  Netherlands  rebellion  have  not 
figured  prominently  in  writings  about  the  late  sixteenth  century,  though  the 
Spanish  convoys  of  men  and  money  through  the  channel  appear  in  all  the  general 
histories  of  that  conflict.  By  contrast,  the  fleet  sent  by  Spain  against  England  in 
1588  has  attracted  an  extraordinary  amount  of  attention,  primarily  from  writers 
in  England  and  Spain.  Although  the  Great  Armada,  as  the  Spanish  called  it,  has 
long  held  a  prominent  place  in  sixteenth-century  naval  scholarship,  the  four- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  that  fleet  in  1988  produced  a  floodtide  of  publications, 
over  23  percent  of  all  sixteenth- century  themes.  A  series  of  international 
conferences  in  1988  brought  Spanish  and  English  scholars  together  to  reconsider 
various  aspects  of  the  armada  campaign,  moving  the  debate  away  from 
simpleminded  nationalism  toward  a  deepened  understanding  of  the  ships, 
armament,  men,  and  tactics  involved.  A  number  of  distinguished  publications 
resulted  from  those  conferences,  as  well  as  a  wealth  of  other  serious  work.  For 
example,  the  Instituto  de  Historia  y  Cultura  Naval  in  Madrid  sponsored  a  series 
of  monographs  on  the  armada  in  its  many  aspects:  ships,  medical  care,  political 
concerns,  armaments,  tactics,  and  so  on.  Regrettably,  1988  was  also  marked  by 
publication  of  the  inevitable  drivel  that  often  accompanies  important  anniver- 
saries. 

One  of  the  primary  reasons  that  Philip  II  decided  to  launch  the  Great  Armada 
had  its  origins  far  from  Europe,  in  the  Spanish  empire  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. To  the  extent  that  English  privateers  threatened  Spanish  control  of  that 
empire,  they  threatened  a  major  source  of  tax  revenue  for  the  crown,  and  a 
much  larger  source  of  profits  for  Spanish  merchants.  Publications  dealing  with 
maritime  aspects  of  the  American  empire  accounted  for  over  27  percent  of  the 
total  publications  on  the  sixteenth  century. 

Spanish  scholars  have  also  shown  a  keen  interest  in  the  numerous  voyages  of 
exploration  by  their  countrymen  in  the  late  sixteenth  century,  especially  in  the 
vast  Pacific  Ocean.  Books  and  articles  on  the  Pacific,  Asia,  and  Spain's  outpost 
in  the  Philippines  account  for  over  10  percent  of  the  publications  in  my  survey 
dealing  with  the  sixteenth  century.  The  Revista  General  de  Marina  also  published 
many  titles  dealing  with  discovery  (22  percent)  and  the  Pacific  (25  percent), 
though  not  necessarily  all  on  the  sixteenth  century. 

Predictably,  famous  expeditions  such  as  Ferdinand  Magellan's  circumnaviga- 
tion of  the  globe  in  1519—22  have  attracted  greater  attention  than  more  obscure 
voyages.  Pedro  Sarmiento  de  Gamboa, — navigator,  natural  philosopher,  poet, 
and  tireless  explorer  of  the  Pacific  in  the  late  sixteenth  century — formed  the 
subject  of  several  full-fledged  biographies  and  a  half  dozen  articles,  and  many 
other  explorers  inspired  at  least  one  author.  Samuel  Eliot  Morison,  John  H. 
Parry,  and  other  historians  of  European  exploration  dealt  with  many  of  these 
voyages  in  the  1950s,  but  the  next  generation  of  historians  turned  to  other  topics. 
Only  recently  has  global  exploration  resumed  its  role  as  an  active  field  for 


334     Spain 

scholarly  investigation.  Overall,  the  range  of  exploratory  voyages  has  been  fairly 
well  covered  by  Spanish  authors,  especially  in  the  concerted  effort  at  publication 
spawned  by  the  Columbian  Quincentenary.  The  Spanish  government  endorsed 
numerous  series  of  publications  starting  in  the  1980s  that  edited  explorers' 
accounts  of  their  voyages  and  provided  scholarly  analyses  of  them. 

The  Netherlands  rebellion,  the  Spanish  empire,  and  further  voyages  of 
exploration  have  also  piqued  the  interest  of  scholars  publishing  on  maritime 
aspects  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  first  decade  of  that  century,  marked  by 
a  new  king  and  the  winding  down  of  Spain's  conflicts  with  France,  England, 
and  the  Netherlands,  has  often  been  seen  as  a  static  period  in  maritime  affairs. 
Scholars  are  just  beginning  to  realize  that  a  decade  and  more  of  peace  allowed 
the  government  of  Philip  III  to  sponsor  debate  on  the  ideal  sizes  and  configura- 
tions of  ships  for  the  Atlantic  run.  The  regulations  of  1607,  1613,  and  1618 
established  measurements  for  shipbuilders  to  follow,  in  effect  forcing  private 
industry  to  produce  ships  that  would  be  suitable  for  the  government  to 
commandeer  and  rent  in  wartime.  Spanish  governments  in  the  early  seventeenth 
century  also  promoted  advances  in  salvage  technology.  Pedro  de  Ledesma's 
beautifully  illustrated  manuscript  on  that  topic  in  1623  recently  appeared  in 
facsimile  in  a  limited  edition. 

The  Netherlands  rebellion  resumed  in  1621  after  a  twelve-years'  truce, 
forming  one  phase  in  The  Thirty  Years'  War  from  1618  to  1648.  In  its  various 
phases,  the  war  used  up  Spanish  men,  money,  and  ships  at  an  alarming  rate. 
Stretching  its  resources  to  the  limit,  the  Spanish  government  frequently  sent 
ill-manned  and  poorly  supplied  fleets  into  battle,  relying  on  the  courage  and 
self-respect  of  commanders  and  men  to  overcome  adversity.  Surprisingly,  they 
often  succeeded  in  defiance  of  the  odds,  which  only  encouraged  the  government 
to  demand  more  and  supply  less. 

Some  distinguished  commanders  such  as  Antonio  de  Oquendo  have  found 
their  biographers,  but  most  of  his  colleagues  remain  little  known  outside  the 
Spanish  naval  establishment.  Only  eight  biographies  of  prominent  figures 
surfaced  in  publications  about  the  seventeenth  century  compared  to  thirty-two 
such  biographies  for  the  sixteenth  century,  although  brief  histories  of  individual 
commanders  appear  in  studies  devoted  to  broader  issues  of  seventeenth-century 
war  and  politics.  This  neglect  may  simply  reflect  a  distaste  for  dealing  with  Spain's 
loss  of  power;  Spanish  archives  contain  ample  documentation  for  a  more 
extensive  collection  of  biographies,  if  only  scholars  seek  it  out. 

The  conflicts  subsumed  under  the  heading  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  broke 
Spain's  power  in  Europe.  Incessant  warfare  on  land  and  sea  coincided  disastrously 
with  a  steep  decline  in  Spain's  internal  economy  and  in  revenues  from  the  empire 
in  the  middle  third  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Given  the  circumstances,  it  is 
astonishing  that  Spain  held  on  to  as  much  as  it  did,  including  the  American 
empire.  With  the  peace  treaties  of  1648,  the  Netherlands  officially  won  its 


Phillips      335 

independence  from  Spain.  With  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  in  1659,  Spain  and 
France  disengaged  and  France  emerged  from  their  century  and  a  half  of 
intermittent  warfare  as  the  dominant  power  in  Europe.  Louis  XIV  of  France, 
the  great-grandson  of  Philip  II  of  Spain,  also  held  one  of  the  strongest  claims  to 
the  Spanish  throne  itself,  in  case  the  Spanish  Habsburg  line  died  out.  Just  as 
interest  in  England  and  the  Netherlands  featured  prominently  in  publications 
about  the  sixteenth  century,  interest  in  France  increased  in  publications  about 
the  seventeenth  century. 

Spain's  American  colonies  and  exploration  and  colonization  in  the  Pacific  and 
Asia  held  a  prominant  place  among  seventeenth-century  topics.  Of  the  one 
hundred  thirty  publications  dealing  with  that  century  in  my  survey,  fifty-six  (43 
percent)  concerned  the  Americas,  and  another  two  dozen  or  so  dealt  with 
exploration.  Their  focus  could  be  as  narrow  as  the  voyage  of  a  single  obscure 
mariner  or  as  broad  as  the  geopolitical  strategies  pursued  by  Spain  in  the  Pacific. 
The  continued  interest  in  global  topics  serves  as  a  reminder  that,  whereas  Spain 
had  slipped  to  second-rank  status  in  Europe  by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  it  was  still  the  foremost  colonial  power  abroad,  by  a  large  margin. 

Spanish  ship  design  changed  little  in  the  seventeenth  century  after  the  activity 
of  the  early  years.  The  galleon  continued  to  be  the  workhorse  of  the  Atlantic 
fleets,  and  vessel  size  edged  upward  as  the  century  progressed.  A  series  of  wars 
in  the  last  three  decades  of  the  1600s,  provoked  by  French  aggression,  sapped 
the  waning  strength  of  Spain's  navy,  but  the  country  nonetheless  maintained 
fleets  to  protect  commercial  voyages  to  America.  Spain's  internal  economy  and 
its  American  trade  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  recovery  by  1680.  It  is  likely 
that  this  revival  encouraged  renewed  attention  to  Spain's  fleets  on  the  part  of 
the  government.  The  recent  discovery  of  an  important  manuscript  on  ship  design 
by  Antonio  de  Gaztaneta,  from  the  end  of  the  century,  is  already  generating 
more  interest  in  Spanish  naval  architecture. 

At  the  start  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Bourbon  dynasty  of  France 
inherited  the  Spanish  throne  when  the  Habsburgs  died  out.  The  change  was  not 
welcomed  by  other  European  countries,  however,  which  waged  the  War  of  the 
Spanish  Succession  (1701—1713)  in  an  attempt  to  block  Bourbon  power.  Land 
engagements  during  the  war  of  succession  have  attracted  much  more  attention 
than  naval  battles,  though  British  grand  strategy  has  inspired  one  thorough 
treatment  by  John  Hattendorf.  On  the  Bourbon  side,  Spain  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  limited  action  at  sea,  as  France  had  a  very  small  navy,  and  Spain  also  had  to 
protect  its  overseas  colonies  from  English  incursions.  The  strains  of  war  and  the 
simultaneous  restructuring  of  the  Spanish  bureaucracy  by  the  Bourbon  govern- 
ment of  Philip  V  meant  that  even  major  naval  engagements  were  documented 
erratically.  After  more  than  a  decade  of  struggle,  the  Bourbons  kept  the  Spanish 
throne,  but  at  the  cost  of  virtually  all  Spain's  remaining  territory  in  Italy  and  the 
Mediterranean,  plus  Gibraltar  on  Spanish  soil. 


SPANISH  NAVAL  AND  MARITIME  HISTORY 
FREQUENCY  OF  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


NAVAL  BATTLES 

BIOGRAPHIES 

CORSAIRS 

DEFENSES 

EUROPE 

EXPLORATION 
SHIPS  & 


L^fc^yUHMIMM  ll.fch 


11 

12 


MlllllltlllllllllIMM 


18 


SHIPBUILDING    K  Pi26 




w.v,v,vav.v//.vw/,v/w,v,v.v.v.vav/.v/av.v.vXv:^^^ 


56 


10 


20 


30 


- 1 — 
40 


- 1 — 
50 


60 


THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  130,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


FREQUENCY  OF  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


" fiem 


PORTS    | 
CORSAIRS 
CATALONIA 


DEFENSES 

SHIPS  & 
SHIPBUILDING 

BIOGRAPHIES 


EXPLORATION 

EUROPE 

COLONIES 


V.'.V.V.V.V.'.V.'.V.'.V, 


■ ' ' * n  a . . . 


12 


13 


II  IIMIIIIIII  IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHMIIIinilllH Ill 


20 


,•.•.•.•.•.•.'.■.•,•.•.•.•.'.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.■■•:•.•.■.■.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.■.'.•.•■■.•.•.•.•.■■•.•.•.•.» 


nrwwTTfTrmriTiTnT!irwFfnimwr»TPwr 


i  I '    ■  1 1 J  ! 


27 


i>Vi'ri"i'riYriYiYiVM''Vri'iViYi'iVi'i"i\YiYi'iViViVi'rriYiYi'iYiViYiVi'iYi'i'iYi'iViYiYiVi^ViYi'ri'»YiVi^Vii>YiYrr'ri 


I^^M^^J^n^^TT^IJTTTTTW^T^T^TTTTTTTT^T^ 


w-iwrrw  1 1 1 1 1  i.u  1 1 1 1 1  i.i  1 1 1 1  i.i  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  i.i.i.i  MjgwwmiwiaiTiTiwiTi 


42 


i  i  i  i  i  i  i 

10  15  20  25  30  35  40  45 


THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  206,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


Phillips     337 

Once  the  Bourbons  settled  in,  during  the  reigns  of  Ferdinand  VI  (1746—59) 
and  Charles  III  (1759—88),  they  pursued  a  vigorous  policy  of  administrative 
reform  that  included  a  revival  of  the  navy.  The  monarchy  and  a  succession  of 
extraordinarily  able  ministers  found  their  efforts  aided  by  demographic  and 
economic  growth  that  spanned  most  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Within  Europe, 
England  mounted  increasing  challenges  to  the  power  of  France,  while  Spain 
aimed  to  protect  its  empire  and  enhance  its  fortunes  by  turning  the  rivalry  of  its 
neighbors  to  advantage.  More  often  than  not,  Bourbon  Spain  allied  with 
Bourbon  France  in  a  series  of  so-called  "family  pacts."  The  reason  for  this  stance 
was  less  dynastic  loyalty,  however,  and  more  a  realization  that  England  posed 
the  more  serious  danger  to  Spanish  America.  Books  and  articles  about  England 
account  for  nearly  12  percent  of  the  historiography  of  Spain's  eighteenth  century 
naval  and  maritime  history;  publications  about  France  account  for  nearly  8 
percent.  As  an  ally  of  France,  Spain  participated  in  the  maritime  wars  of  the 
mid-eighteenth  century  and  aided  the  North  American  colonies  rebelling  against 
England  after  1776,  inspired  in  part  by  the  vain  hope  of  regaining  control  of 
Gibraltar.  Several  articles  deal  with  each  of  these  conflicts  and  with  noted  Spanish 
commanders. 

Imperial  concerns  outside  Europe  loomed  large  in  Spanish  naval  policies 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  which  is  reflected  in  published  scholarship.  The 
defense  of  Spain's  American  colonies  continued  to  claim  government  resources, 
and  the  much-vaunted  "Bourbon  reforms"  of  colonial  administration  aimed  in 
part  to  foment  seaborne  commerce.  All  of  these  initiatives  have  attracted 
scholarly  interest. 

Spanish  voyages  of  exploration  also  gained  a  new  impetus  under  the  Bourbon 
dynasty,  and  thirty-eight  publications  in  my  survey  reflect  that  activity.  Voyages 
in  the  Pacific  figured  in  thirty-three  (16  percent)  of  the  publications  dealing  with 
the  eighteenth  century.  Prominent  among  those  voyages  were  the  expeditions 
of  Alessandro  Malaspina,  an  Italian  sailing  for  Spain,  in  1789—94.  In  1989,  spurred 
by  the  bicentenary  of  Malaspina's  expedition,  authors  of  seventeen  publications 
examined  its  various  aspects.  Much  of  the  impetus  behind  Malaspina's  voyage 
was  scientific — to  study  and  illustrate  the  flora  and  fauna  encountered  in  diverse 
regions.  The  expedition's  sojourn  on  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America  had 
an  important  geopolitical  focus  as  well,  to  pursue  Spain's  interests  from  San 
Francisco  to  the  Aleutian  Islands  against  rival  English  and  Russian  claimants. 
Unfortunately,  the  expedition  began  in  the  same  year  that  Bourbon  France 
erupted  in  revolution  and  returned  to  find  Spain  involved  in  war  against  the 
revolutionary  French  regime.  The  subsequent  chaos  in  Spain's  administration 
ensured  that  the  lengthy  documentation  and  exquisite  illustrations  generated  by 
the  Malaspina  expedition  were  largely  forgotten.  Thanks  to  the  bicentenary, 
they  have  finally  come  to  light. 


338     Spain 

The  nineteenth  century  began  disastrously  for  Spain  and  its  navy.  After  a  brief 
flirtation  with  the  anti-French  coalition  in  1792—95,  Spain  returned  to  alliance 
with  France  and  was  drawn  into  the  Napoleonic  wars  that  followed.  Although 
individual  ships  and  crews  performed  well,  the  Spanish  fleet  as  a  whole  was 
ill-prepared  to  face  Britain  and  its  allies.  The  Spanish  Navy  was  effectively 
destroyed  at  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar  in  1805,  an  engagement  that  featured  in 
twelve  of  the  one  hundred  seventy-two  books  and  articles  about  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Worse  was  yet  to  come,  as  Napoleon  sent  his  armies  into  Spain,  bamboozled 
the  Bourbon  king  Charles  IV  into  abdicating  in  his  favor,  and  then  appointed 
his  brother  Joseph  Bonaparte  as  king  of  Spain.  With  the  Bourbon  royal  family 
in  exile  in  France,  and  no  effective  central  leadership  against  the  Bonapartes,  the 
people  of  Spain  organized  their  own  government  from  the  bottom  up  and 
launched  a  crusade  to  oust  the  French  invaders.  Unaided,  they  dealt  Napoleon's 
armies  their  first  defeat,  and  thus  attracted  the  help  of  the  British-led  coalition. 
As  the  war  proceeded,  and  Joseph  Bonaparte  tried  to  govern  in  Madrid,  Spanish 
patriots  met  in  Cadiz  in  the  name  of  the  exiled  Bourbons  and  wrote  a 
constitution  to  govern  the  country  after  Bourbon  rule  was  restored.  Eventually 
the  allies  defeated  Napoleon's  forces  in  Spain  and  throughout  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Spain's  struggle  for  and  against  the  French  during  the  revolutionary  epoch 
resulted  in  catastrophe,  not  only  for  the  Navy  at  Trafalgar,  but  for  the  internal 
economy  and  the  American  empire  as  well.  No  sooner  had  the  Bourbon 
monarchy  been  restored  under  Ferdinand  VII  than  Spain's  American  colonies, 
one  after  another,  declared  their  independence,  after  over  three  centuries  of 
colonial  rule.  Virtually  without  a  navy,  and  with  the  government  still  in  disarray, 
Spain  lost  most  of  its  American  empire  by  1824.  The  large  viceroyalties  that  had 
governed  nearly  fifteen  million  people  in  the  late  eighteenth  century  were  split 
into  sixteen  republics  that  undertook  the  difficult  task  of  governing  themselves. 

Most  of  the  twenty-nine  publications  dealing  with  the  Americas  in  the 
nineteenth  century  concern  one  aspect  or  another  of  the  colonial  wars  of 
independence.  Not  surprisingly,  most  of  the  officer  corps  in  the  navies  formed 
by  the  new  American  republics  had  begun  their  careers  in  Spanish  service.  With 
their  loss,  the  Spanish  faced  yet  another  obstacle  to  rebuilding  after  the 
Napoleonic  era. 

Within  Spain,  government  ministers  formulated  a  variety  of  plans  to  restore 
the  Navy,  but  they  proved  largely  ineffectual  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  With  most  of  the  empire  gone,  the  Navy  could  not  claim 
to  be  a  top  priority  any  longer,  and  the  government  of  Ferdinand  VII  lacked  the 
will  and  the  resources  to  accomplish  much.  Civil  War  erupted  after  Ferdinand's 
death  in  1833,  between  supporters  of  a  continued  constitutional  monarchy  and 
those  who  favored  a  return  to  absolutism  and  a  tight  alliance  between  the  crown 
and  the  Catholic  Church.  The  triumph  of  the  constitutionalists  in  1839  led  to 


SPANISH  NAVAL  AND  MARITIME  HISTORY 
FREQUENCY  OF  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


COMMERCE  I 

CATALONIA 

SHIPS  & 
SHIPBUILDING 

ASIA 
AMERICAS 

BIOGRAPHIES 

POLITICS  & 
ORGANIZATION 

NAVAL  BATTLES 


..'.'■   ...-.■.■■.■; '  .  ..'."".. 

11 

11 

14 

■:■:■:•;•:■ 

; 

Vyk 

"WiW&J&^WMmIMm^  ^ 

■ 

:::x: 

1   48 

50 

! - 

i               r               i 

■ 

■ 

0  5  10         15        20        25        30        35        40        45        50        55 

THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  172,  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


FREQUENCY  OF  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  TOPICS 


AMERICAS 

UNITES  STATES 

CATALONIA 

COMMERCE 

NAVAL  EDUCATION 

EUROPE 

SHIPS  & 
SHIPBUILDING 

POLITICS  & 
ORGANIZATION 

SPANISH  CIVIL  WAR 


1 

2 

61 

4 
5 

9 

11 

16 

18 

25 

■ 

• 

• 

i                  i 

10 


20 


30 


40 


50 


60 


70 


THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  PUBLICATIONS  IS  128.  MANY  OF  WHICH  DEALT  WITH  MORE  THAN 
ONE  TOPIC.  THE  BAR  CHART  REPRESENTS  ONLY  THE  MOST  FREQUENT  THEMES. 


340      Spain 

several  decades  of  fairly  stable  government,  though  elections  were  largely 
irrelevant  to  the  process.  Through  largely  bloodless  military  coups,  the  right  and 
left  wings  of  the  constitutionalists  succeeded  one  another  as  advisers  to  Queen 
Isabel  II. 

Naval  reform  began  in  earnest  in  1847—51,  with  the  administration  of  the 
Marques  de  Molina.  His  plans  were  aided  by  the  quickening  pace  of  the  Spanish 
economy,  which  was  increasing  in  population  and  agricultural  output,  as  well 
as  gradually  industrializing.  Encouraged  by  this  growth  and  by  the  recovery  of 
the  navy,  the  Spanish  government  engaged  in  several  naval  expeditions  around 
the  globe  in  the  1850s  and  1860s.  Spanish  fleets  traveled  to  Morocco  and  to 
Cochin  China  (Vietnam),  they  engaged  in  a  brief  unsuccessful  naval  war  against 
three  South  American  republics,  and  they  embarked  on  a  joint  expedition  with 
the  French  to  Mexico  in  the  early  1860s,  while  the  United  States  was  embroiled 
in  Civil  War.  Scholars  have  examined  these  activities  in  print,  even  though 
nineteenth-century  events  pale  in  comparison  with  Spanish  global  voyaging  in 
previous  centuries. 

A  dozen  publications  about  the  nineteenth  century  dealt  with  naval  architec- 
ture, centered  around  the  shift  from  the  age  of  sail  to  the  age  of  steam.  From  the 
first  steamship  in  1817  through  the  rest  of  the  century,  designers  worked  with 
new  materials  and  new  specifications,  as  the  naval  administration  tried  to  remedy 
a  shortage  of  engineers  and  machinists  needed  to  crew  the  new  ships.  Chronic 
governmental  disarray  during  the  late  nineteenth  century  hindered  the  work  of 
naval  reformers  and  architects,  however.  Isabel  II  had  been  forced  into  exile  in 
1868  by  a  military  conspiracy,  and  for  the  next  several  years  a  succession  of 
monarchist  and  republican  governments  attempted  unsuccessfully  to  consolidate 
their  rule.  The  period  of  experimentation  ended  in  1875  with  the  restoration  of 
the  Bourbons  in  the  person  of  Alfonso  XII,  Isabel's  eldest  son. 

Although  several  capable  ministers  formulated  plans  for  a  large-scale  program 
of  naval  construction  in  the  1870s  and  1880s,  political  in-fighting  within  the 
government  nullified  their  efforts.  A  plan  proposed  in  1887  had  better  success, 
although  its  original  aims  had  to  be  scaled  back  to  match  the  financial  and  political 
realities  of  the  times.  In  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  increasing 
strife  caused  by  clashes  between  government  forces  and  increasingly  militant 
labor  organizations  created  a  high  degree  of  tension  within  the  Spanish  state.  In 
that  atmosphere,  a  major  naval  construction  program  was  simply  not  feasible, 
although  some  ships  were  built  for  both  the  Navy  and  for  the  merchant  marine. 
The  merchant  fleet  was  owned  by  several  large  private  companies,  including  the 
Transatlantic  Company  founded  in  1850.  Together  these  companies  played  a 
major  role  in  maintaining  commercial  ties  between  Spain  and  the  remnants  of 
its  overseas  empire  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  centenary  of  the  Transatlantic 
Company  in  1950  resulted  in  several  articles  analyzing  its  organization,  successes, 
and  failures  over  the  long  term. 


Phillips      341 

Spain  managed  to  hold  on  to  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico  with  great  effort  during 
the  early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  also  retain  the  Philippines.  In 
1898  those  colonies  rebelled,  providing  a  pretext  for  the  United  States  to 
intervene.  The  ensuing  Spanish-American  War  found  the  Spanish  Navy  un- 
prepared. Major  defeats  at  Santiago  Bay  in  Cuba  and  Cavite  in  the  Philippines 
led  to  Spain's  being  stripped  of  its  remaining  colonies.  Publications  about  Cuba, 
Puerto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines  in  the  nineteenth  century  focus  on  that  war, 
its  antecedents,  its  battles,  and  its  aftermath.  The  war  itself  generated  thirty-nine 
publications  in  my  survey,  most  of  them  analyzing  the  reasons  for  Spain's  defeat. 

The  national  anguish  at  Spain's  final  loss  of  empire  in  1898  spawned  a 
generation  of  novelists,  poets,  and  essayists  who  explored  the  national  psyche  in 
a  passionate  outpouring  of  self-criticism  and  a  quest  for  renewal.  This  so-called 
"Generation  of '98"  had  its  governmental  counterparts,  as  well,  in  civil  servants 
and  in  the  person  of  King  Alfonso  XIII.  During  the  first  decade  of  the  new 
century  the  Navy  languished,  widely  blamed  for  the  defeat  of  1898.  Spurred  by 
the  need  to  supervise  an  unstable  situation  in  Morocco,  however,  and  by  the 
increasing  sophistication  of  Europe's  premier  navies  in  England  and  Germany, 
the  Spanish  government  adopted  a  far-reaching  plan  of  naval  reform  in  1908. 
Enthusiastically  supported  by  Alfonso  XIII,  naval  reform  made  considerable 
progress,  especially  as  Spain  arrived  at  a  modern  level  of  industrialization  and 
managed  to  stay  out  of  World  War  I. 

During  the  nineteenth  century,  Army  officers  had  often  intervened  in  politics, 
protraying  themselves  as  the  guarantors  of  the  liberal  constitutional  monarchy. 
Bloodless  takeovers  by  one  faction  of  the  Army  or  another  had  shifted  the 
emphasis  of  the  government  on  a  half  dozen  or  more  occasions.  Against  the 
rising  tide  of  left-wing  demands  for  worker  representation  in  the  late  nineteenth 
century,  the  Army  seemed  to  see  itself  as  the  preserver  of  stability  against  the 
fractious  divisions  of  civilian  politicians.  The  Navy  largely  absented  itself  from 
these  confrontations,  concentrating  on  its  own  priorities. 

The  Spanish  armed  services  as  a  whole  underwent  significant  professionaliza- 
tion  in  the  late  nineteenth  and  early  twentieth  centuries,  and  the  Army  in 
particular  became  more  conservative.  When  the  Army  intervened  once  again 
in  politics  in  1922,  General  Miguel  Primo  de  Rivera  took  power  for  himself, 
with  the  acquiescence  of  King  Alfonso  XIII,  rather  than  working  through  civilian 
politicians.  He  used  his  dictatorial  powers  to  bolster  the  economy  and  to  coerce 
the  political  left  and  right  into  cooperating  with  his  national  program,  modeled 
on  the  corporate  fascism  of  Mussolini's  Italy. 

The  Navy  concentrated  on  rebuilding  its  strength  and  modernizing  the 
structure  and  training  of  its  officers,  following  the  initiative  launched  in  1908, 
with  an  additional  program  of  naval  construction  in  1915.  The  Navy  recovered 
much  of  its  prestige  in  military  culture,  attracting  a  higher  class  of  officers  and 
staying  apart  from  political  concerns.  Publications  about  the  early  twentieth 


342     Spain 

century  focus  on  naval  education,  naval  architecture,  shipbuilding,  and  the 
merchant  marine.  Very  few  publications  even  allude  to  the  Army's  takeover  of 
the  government  under  Primo  de  Rivera. 

The  king  withdrew  his  support  from  Primo  in  1930,  but  Primo 's  dictatorship 
had  discredited  the  monarchy  and  civilian  politicians  as  well  as  the  Army.  In 
1931  municipal  elections  favored  republican  candidates  so  strongly  that  Alfonso 
XIII  abandoned  the  field  and  went  into  exile.  Civilian  politicians,  largely  on  the 
left  of  the  political  spectrum,  organized  the  Second  Republic,  wrote  a  new 
constitution,  and  tried  to  consolidate  a  stable  government.  Instead,  they  managed 
to  alienate  a  broad  range  of  opinion  from  center  to  right,  as  well  as  irritating  the 
left  by  cautious  approaches  to  social  and  economic  reform.  The  republic 
descended  into  chaos  as  rebellions  of  the  left  and  of  the  right  brought  down  a 
succession  of  governments  between  1932  and  1936. 

Street  violence  by  both  extremes  of  the  political  spectrum  inspired  factions 
of  the  Army  to  launch  a  major  coup  in  July  of  1936.  Rather  than  submit,  the 
elected  Republican  government  determined  to  fight  back,  arming  civilian 
militias.  The  Civil  War  that  ensued  in  1936—39  would  convulse  Spain  and 
engage  the  rest  of  Europe  in  an  ongoing  debate  about  the  merits  of  intervention. 
Hitler's  Germany  and  Mussolini's  Italy  openly  aided  the  Army's  rebellion.  The 
Soviet  Union  and  Mexico  openly  aided  the  Republic.  Everyone  else  watched 
as  Spain  tore  itself  apart. 

The  Spanish  naval  high  command  generally  backed  the  Army's  insurgency, 
though  many  ordinary  sailors  tried  to  rally  to  the  Republic's  defense.  Sailors  at 
the  southeastern  naval  base  in  Cartagena  mutinied,  murdered  many  officers,  and 
commandeered  dozens  of  ships,  which  became  the  navy  of  the  Republic.  They 
then  steamed  for  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar  to  prevent  the  Army's  insurgents  from 
ferrying  troops  from  Morocco.  The  uprising  would  have  failed  before  it  began, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  airborne  support  of  Germany  and  Italy.  Naval  matters  in 
the  Spanish  Civil  War  emerge  in  the  historiography  as  the  most  compelling 
topics  among  all  twentieth-century  themes.  Whether  authors  deal  with  in- 
dividual ships  and  their  commanders,  with  actions  at  sea,  or  with  other  themes, 
the  Civil  War  accounts  for  nearly  half  of  the  one  hundred  twenty-eight 
publications  about  the  twentieth  century. 

From  this  brief  survey  it  is  clear  that  Spanish  naval  and  maritime  history  has 
followed  the  agenda  established  by  Spanish  history  in  general,  rather  than 
defining  a  set  of  topics  from  within.  Some  of  the  topical  distribution  of 
publications  is  predictable  and  logical.  Exploration  and  matters  related  to  Spain's 
overseas  empire  loom  large  in  publications  about  the  several  centuries  wherein 
the  empire  flourished;  then  they  fade  precipitously.  Other  topics,  despite  their 
continuing  importance  and  a  wealth  of  documentation,  ebb  and  flow  as 
appendages  to  other  concerns.  For  example,  the  history  of  ship  design  is  only 
sporadically  considered  in  the  published  literature,  surfacing  in  periods  or  around 


Phillips     343 

events  that  are  judged  important  for  other  reasons.  Sixteenth  century  ship  design 
is  fairly  well  known  because  the  sixteenth  century  defined  the  peak  of  Spanish 
power  in  Europe  and  abroad.  Seventeenth  century  ship  design  has  been 
neglected  because  Spain's  loss  of  hegemony  has  attracted  less  attention. 

Although  I  have  not  examined  naval  and  maritime  historiography  systemati- 
cally for  other  countries,  I  suspect  that  the  pattern  I  have  found  for  Spain  is 
typical.  To  a  certain  extent,  naval  and  maritime  themes  cannot  and  should  not 
be  considered  separately  from  their  broader  historical  contexts.  The  history  of 
the  sea,  broadly  conceived,  is  of  necessity  also  the  history  of  the  land  and  can 
best  be  understood  as  part  of  a  larger  whole.  Yet  naval  and  maritime  history  also 
needs  to  have  definitions  of  its  own  and  priorities  for  research  independent  of 
general  history.  How  can  we  establish  valid  comparisons  among  nations  if  the 
published  work  about  a  given  period  is  abundant  for  the  dominant  country  and 
sparse  for  the  rest?  Without  such  comparisons,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  naval  and 
maritime  history  can  progress  beyond  the  narrow  and  often  nationalistic  con- 
cerns that  have  defined  it  in  the  past. 


:9 


Sweden 


Jan  Glete 


By  strong  tradition,  Swedish  naval  and  maritime  history  is  divided  into  what 
the  two  words  imply:  the  history  of  the  Swedish  Navy  and  the  history  of 
the  Swedish  maritime  community:  maritime  trade,  seafaring,  shipowning, 
shipbuilding,  and  fishing.  This  tradition  is  to  a  considerable  extent  based  on  the 
realities  of  naval  and  maritime  history  itself.  The  Swedish  Navy  has  had,  over 
the  centuries,  fewer  connections  with  general  maritime  life  than  many  other 
navies.  The  Navy  has  been  closely  associated  with  the  expansion,  defence,  and 
decline  of  Sweden's  Baltic  empire  and,  in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries, 
with  Swedish  anti-invasion  planning  and  coastal  defence.  Trade  warfare  has  been 
of  less  importance  and  the  connections  between  naval  seamen  and  mercantile 
sailors  weaker  than  in  most  navies. 

The  bulk  of  our  present  stock  of  written  Swedish  naval  history  was  published 
from  the  late  nineteenth  century  up  to  the  1940s.  The  last  major  work  of  this 
type  was  a  five-volume  study  of  the  Navy's  central  administration,  written  partly 
by  academic  historians  and  published  between  1950  and  1983.  Most  of  it  was 
produced  by  sea  officers  or  others  connected  with  the  Navy.  Few  of  these  works 
were  official  history,  but  much  of  the  research  was  sponsored  by  the  Navy.  To 
their  credit,  some  of  these  naval  historians,  even  in  the  late  nineteenth  century, 
put  great  emphasis  on  naval  administration,  personnel  and  finance,  rather  than 
concentrating  on  naval  operations,  as  most  naval  historians  in  other  countries 
did  in  this  period.  There  was  no  strong  "Mahanian"  or  "blue  water"  school  in 
Swedish  naval  historiography.  Most  authors  stressed  the  interdependence  be- 
tween naval  and  land  warfare  in  the  Baltic  area  rather  than  the  independent 
importance  of  sea  power.  There  was,  however,  a  certain  bias  in  favor  of  the 
battle  fleet  compared  to  the  archipelago  fleet.  This  had  much  to  do  with  the 
intense  nineteenth  century  political  debate  about  Swedish  naval  doctrine:  a  navy 
for  the  open  sea  or  only  for  the  archipelagoes?  The  debate  about  the  role  of  the 
Navy  in  twentieth  century  strategic  planning  also  influenced  the  naval  historians. 
As  long  as  most  sea  officers  wished  to  have  ships  with  heavy  guns  and  armor, 
naval  historians  often  tried  to  derive  lessons  from  the  past  which  showed  the 
importance  of  big  ships  with  heavy  guns. 


346      Sweden 

These  studies  are  still  useful,  but,  as  they  are  fifty  to  one  hundred  years  old, 
inevitably  much  of  the  research  is  now  dated.  Today,  the  descendants  of  Navy- 
sponsored  historical  research  are  found  in  the  activities  of  the  Military  History 
Department  at  the  Swedish  Staff  and  War  College  of  the  Armed  Forces 
(Militarhogskolan  or  MHS)  in  Stockholm.  In  recent  decades,  the  naval  side  of  this 
activity  has  been  very  limited  and  concentrated  on  the  twentieth  century.  The 
school  also  favors  integrated  studies  which  cover  the  armed  forces  as  a  whole,  and 
much  twentieth  century  Swedish  naval  history  is  to  be  found  in  studies  of  defense 
policy  as  a  whole.  The  possibly  last  major  research  project  about  older  history 
sponsored  by  MHS  is  a  multi- volume  work  about  Sweden's  wars  in  the  Baltic  area 
from  1655  to  1660.  It  is  perhaps  typical  of  the  present  lack  of  interest  in  Sweden  in 
writing  operational  naval  history  that  the  volume  about  sea  warfare  in  this  period 
was  entrusted  to  a  Danish  historian,  Finn  Askgaard. 

Historical  research  about  the  armed  forces  is  also  to  some  extent  government-spon- 
sored through  the  Delegation  for  Military  Historical  Research  (Delegationen  for 
militarhistorisk  forskning).  This  organization  gives  at  least  partial  financial  support  to 
several  research  projects;  it  supports  conferences  and  it  distributes  grants  for  the  printing 
ofbooks.  However,  it  has  no  coordinating  responsibility  for  military  and  naval  history. 

Academic  interest  in  naval  history  has  been  limited,  although  rather  more  has 
been  written  about  defense  policy  and  wars,  where  the  Navy  is  treated  usually 
as  a  junior  partner  to  the  Swedish  Army.  A  pioneering  study  in  its  day  'was  the 
doctoral  dissertation  of  Oscar  Nikula  in  1933.  The  author,  a  Swedish-speaking 
Finnish  historian,  wrote  about  the  large  Swedish  eighteenth  century  archipelago 
fleet.  More  recent  studies  are  about  the  Navy  during  the  Second  World  War  by 
Ake  Holmquist,  the  debate  about  future  coast  defence  armoured  ships  before 
World  War  I  by  Anders  Sandstrom,  and  the  interplay  between  politicians  and 
sea  officers  as  experts  in  the  debate  about  the  structure  of  the  Navy  from  1918 
to  1939  by  Anders  Berge.  Within  a  project  about  military  professionalization, 
the  present  author  has  undertaken  a  study  of  the  change  of  Swedish  naval 

ft  7 

doctrine  during  the  nineteenth  century,    while  Lars  Nilehn   wrote  about  the 
early  development  of  the  Swedish  Naval  Staff  College. 

Finn  Askgaard,  Kampen  om  ostersjbn  pa  Carl  X  Gustafs  tld:  Ett  bidrag  till  nordisk  sjokrighistoria  (Stockholm: 
Militarhistoriska  fbrlaget,  1974). 

Oscar  Nikula,  Svenska  skargardsflottan  1 156- 1191  (Helsingfors:  Samfundet  Ehrensvard  Seura,  1 933) . 

3  Ake  Holmquist,  Flottans  beredskap  1938-1940  (Stockholm:  Allmanna  Forlaget,  1972). 

4  Anders  Sandstrom,  Pansarfartyg  at  Sverigesjlotta:  En  studie  omjlottan  och  striden  om  F-baten  1906-1909, 
(Stockholm:  Sjohistoriska  museet,  1984). 

Anders  Berge,  Sakkunskap  ochpolitisk  rationalitet:  Den  svenska  jlottan  och  pansarfartygsfragan  1918—1939 
(Stockholm:  Almqvist  &  Wiksell  International,  1987). 

Jan  Glete,  Kustjbrsuar  och  teknisk  omuandling:  Teknik,  doktriner  och  organisation  inom  svenskt  kustforsuar 
1850-1880  (Stockholm:  Militarhistoriska  Forlaget,  1985). 

Lars  Nilehn,  Vagen  till  erkannande:  Militar  professionalisering  och  tillkomsten  av  en  svensk  sjokrigshogskola 
(Stockholm:  Militarhistoriska  Forlaget,  1986). 


Glete      347 

Older  periods  of  naval  history  are  still  being  investigated,  although  with 
limited  resources.  The  present  author  has  made  a  study  of  Swedish  sixteenth 
century  warships  and  their  connections  to  naval  policy  and  the  developing 
technology.  Nils-Ake  Villstrand,  a  Finnish  historian,  has  made  a  minor,  but 
important,  study  of  the  Navy's  recruitment  of  sailors  during  the  seventeenth 
century.  I  have  also  written  the  naval  chapter  in  a  recent  study  of  the 
Swedish-Russian  war  of  1788— 1790,  one  of  the  few  studies  about  older  history 
recently  undertaken  by  the  Military  History  Department.  Furthermore,  the 
Karlskronavarvet  Company,  formerly  the  main  naval  dockyard,  is  sponsoring  a 
two— volume  study  about  its  history  from  1680  to  the  present  day  (1993).  This 
work  is  being  undertaken  by  several  historians  and  it  concentrates  on  the  relations 
between  the  yard  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Navy. 

The  author  of  this  essay  has  also  published  his  research  in  international  naval 
history.  The  intent  is  to  analyze  naval  shipbuilding  and  its  long-term  develop- 
ment as  part  of  the  state-building  process  from  the  sixteenth  to  the  nineteenth 

1  o 

century;  it  was  published  in  a  two-volume  work  in  1993. 

Except  for  some  very  elementary  education  given  to  future  sea  officers,  naval 
history  is  not  taught  in  Sweden.  Officers  taking  courses  at  MHS,  the  Staff 
College,  may  study  naval  history  as  a  special  subject  and  prepare  papers  on 
historical  subjects,  but  there  are  no  regular  courses.  No  university  teaches  naval 
history  as  a  special  subject. 

The  interest  among  sea  officers  about  naval  history  is  not  dead,  and  the  history 
of  naval  technology  provokes  public  interest.  In  recent  years  a  naval  engineer, 
Curt  Borgenstam,  has  edited,  together  with  several  co-authors,  illustrated  books 
about  Swedish  twentieth  century  warships.  Captain  Bertil  Ahlund  has  pub- 
lished two  studies  about  Swedish  naval  policy  from  the  late  nineteenth  century 
to  the  Second  World  War.  Part  of  this  research  has  been  sponsored  by  the 
Royal  Swedish  Academy  of  Naval  Science  (Kungliga  Orlogsmannasallskapet), 

Jan  Glete,  "Svenska  orlogsfartyg  1521-1560:  Flottans  upbyggnad  under  ett  tekniskt  brytningsskede," 
Forum  Navale,  30  (1976),  pp.  5-74;  31  (1977),  pp.  23-119. 

Nils-Erik  Villstrand,  "Manskap  och  sjofolk  inom  den  svenska  orlogsflottan  1617-1644,"  Historisk 
Tidskrift  for  Finland,  1  (1986). 

Jan  Glete,  "Kriget  till  sjoss  1788-1790,"  in  Gunnar  Arteus,  ed.,  Gustav  libs  ryska  krig  (Stockholm: 
Probus,  1992). 

Erik  Norberg,  ed.,  Karlskronavarevts  historia,  2  vols.  (Karlskrona:  Karlskronavarvet  AB,  1993). 

Jan  Glete,  Navies  and  Nations:  Warships,  Navies  and  State  Building  in  Europe  and  America,  1500-1860, 
2  vols.  (Stockholm:  Almqvist  &  Wiksell  International,  1993). 

Curt  Borgenstam  &c  Bo  Nyman,  Motortorpedbat:  En  Kronika  i  ord  och  hild  om  "Havetsjlygande  brigad," 
(Mjolby:  BM-fbrlaget,  1981),  Curt  Borgenstam  &  Bo  Nyman,  Attack  till  sjoss:  Med  svenska  flottans 
torpedbatar  i  100  ar  (Karlskrona:  CB  Marinlitteratur,  1985),  Curt  Borgenstam  et  al.,  Jagare:  Med  svenska 
flottans  jagare  under  60  ar  (Vastra  Frolunda:  CB  Marinlitteratur,  1989). 

Bertil  Ahlund,  Fran  vanmakt  till  sjbmakt:  Oscariansk  sjofdrsvarspolitik  1 8 12- 1905  (Karlskrona:  Kungliga 
orlogsmannasallskapet,  1989),  Bertil  Ahlund,  Svensk  maritim  sakerhetspolitik  1905-1939  (Karlskrona: 
Marinlitteraturforeningen,  1992). 


348      Sweden 

an  organization  of  sea  officers  founded  in  1771,  which  recently  has  tried  to  raise 
interest  in  the  naval  aspects  of  the  history  of  the  Baltic  area.  The  sweeping 
political  changes  in  this  area  from  1989  onward  has,  to  some  extent,  increased 
the  public  interest  in  Baltic  history. 

Maritime  history,  as  such,  is  hardly  a  coherent  tradition  in  Sweden.  There  is 
considerable  study  of  economic  history  with  maritime  connections:  maritime 
trade,  the  development  of  the  mercantile  marine  and  shipbuilding.  Among 
recent  works,  one  may  mention  Steffan  Hogberg's  study  of  the  eighteenth 
century  Swedish  maritime  trade,  the  same  author's  biography  of  the  twentieth 
century  shipowner  Axel  Ax:son  Johnson  (1990)  and  Ake  Sandstrom's  study  of 
Stockholm's  maritime  trade  during  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Swedish— Dutch  maritime  trade  in  the  eighteenth  century  has  been  treated  with 
econometric  methods  by  J.  Thomas  Lindblad,  a  Swedish  historian  working  in 
the  Netherlands.  Nineteenth  century  Swedish  shipbuilding  has  been  studied 
from  an  economic  perspective  by  Sven  A.  Bjorkenstam. 

The  late  nineteenth  and  twentieth  century  Swedish  shipbuilding  industry,  its 
companies,  economic  conditions,  subcontractors  and  trade  unions,  has  been  the 
subject  of  several  studies.  Jan  Kuuse,  Kent  Olsson,  Bo  Strath  and  Tommy 
Svensson,  and  Jan  Bohlin  have  given  a  comprehensive  survey  of  this  industry, 
which  from  its  heyday  up  to  the  1970s,  was  one  of  the  largest  producers  of 

Of) 

mercantile  shipping  in  the  world.  These  studies  put  a  strong  emphasis  on  the 
labor  market  conditions  in  the  industry.  Bo  Strath  has  also  undertaken  a 
comparative  study  of  the  decline  of  the  European  shipbuilding  industry  in  recent 
decades. 

Apart  from  studies  written  by  academic  historians,  Sweden  also  has  a  fair 
amount  of  writers  producing  popular  books  about  ships  and  shipping,  especially 

Staffen  Hoberg,  Utrikeshandel  och  sjofartpa  1 700-talet:  Stapelvaror  i  svensk  export  och  import  1 738—1808 
(Stockholm:  Bonniers,  1969). 

Staffan  Hoberg,  Generalkonsuln:  Axel  Ax:  son  Johnson  somfbretagare  (Stockholm:  Norstedts,  1990). 

Ake  Sandstrom,  Mellan  Tomea  och  Amsterdam:  En  undersokning  av  Stockholms  roll  somfbrmedlare  av  uaror 
i  regional  -  och  utrikeshandel  1600-1650.  Stockholmsmonografier,  vol.  102    (Stockholm:  Stockholms 
Universitet,  1990). 
18  J.  Thomas  Lindblad,  Sweden's  Trade  with  the  Dutch  Republic,  1138-1195  (Assen:  1982). 

Sven  A.  Bjorkenstam,  Svenskt  skeppshyggeri  under  1800-talet:  Marknad  och  produktion  (Goteborg: 
Ekonomisk-historiska  institutionen  vid  Goteborgs  universitet,  1989). 

Kent  Olsson,  Fran  pansarbatsvarv  till  tankfartygsvarv:  De  svenska  storvarvens  utueckling  till  exportindustri 
1880-1936,  (Goteborg:  Svenska  Varv  AB,  1983);  Thommy  Svensson,  Fran  ackord  till  m&nadslbn:  En 
studie  av  lonepolitiken,  fackforeningama  och  rationaliseringama  inom  svensk  varvsindustri  under  1900-talet 
(Goteborg:  Svenska  Varv  AB,  1983);  Bo  StrSth,  Varvsarbetare  i  TV  A  varvsstader:  En  historisk  studie  av 
verkstadsklubbama  vid  varven  i  Goteborg  och  Malmo  (Goteborg:  Svenska  Varv  AB,  1983);  Jan  Kuuse,  Varven 
och  underleverantorema:  Forandringar  ifartygsbyggandets  industriella  lankeffekter  (Kungalv:  Svenska  Varv  AB, 
1983);  Jan  Bohlin,  Svensk  varvsindustri  1920-1915:  Lbnsamhet,  finansiering  och  arbetsmarknad  (Goteborg, 
Ekonomisk-historiska  institutionen  vid  Goteborgs  universitet,  1989). 

Bo  Strath,  The  Politics  of  Deindustrialisation:  The  Contraction  of  the  west  European  Shipbuilding  Industry 
(London:  Croom  Helm,  1987). 


Glete      349 

sailing  merchantmen  and  early  steamers.  Several  such  studies  have  the  character 
of  local  history,  covering  a  certain  area  of  the  long  Swedish  coast.  There  are  few 
monographs  about  Swedish  shipping  companies,  but,  the  one  hundred-year 
jubilee  of  the  Johnson  shipping  group  in  1990  produced  two  books  of  this 
character,  one  about  the  ships  and  one  about  the  company. 

Maritime  history  as  a  special  subject  is  not  taught  at  Swedish  universities  or 
other  institutions.  This  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  total  lack  of  interest  in  maritime 
questions,  but  "maritime"  is  not  identified  as  a  coherent  historical  subject.  It  is 
rather  divided  into  various  economic  and  social  subjects  which  have  asserted  a 
stronger  position  in  the  Swedish  academic  world. 

History  is,  however,  not  the  only  academic  discipline  involved  in  the  study 
of  the  naval  and  maritime  past.  In  Scandinavia,  archaeology  and  ethnology  have 
strong  traditions  in  these  spheres  of  interest  and,  through  the  museums,  primarily 
the  Swedish  National  Maritime  Museum  (Statens  Sjohistorika  Museer),  Stock- 
holm, these  disciplines  have  a  considerable  institutional  base.  In  1956,  under- 
water archaeology  was  much  stimulated  by  the  discovery  of  the  Wasa  (1628). 
Through  its  salvage  and  restoration,  Swedish  archaeologists  developed  consid- 
erable skill  in  this  special  field.  Since  the  1980s,  the  Sjohistoriska  Museer  has 
cooperated  with  the  Department  of  Archaeology  at  Stockholm  University  in  a 
research  and  education  program  in  nautical  archaeology.  This  program,  which 
includes  education  up  to  the  Ph.D.  level,  is  led  by  Carl  Olof  Cederlund,  who 
wrote  his  dissertation  about  carvel-built  wrecks  known  to  exist  in  the  Baltic 
Sea.  Two  other  major  archaeological  studies — based  on  interpretations  rather 
than  excavations  are  those  of  Sibylla  Haasum  and  Bjorn  Varenius.  Both 
concentrate  upon  the  Viking  period,  about  1,000  years  ago. 

The  raising  and  excavation  of  Wasa  offered  a  unique  opportunity  to  study 
the  sculptural  ornamentation  of  a  large  seventeenth  century  warship.  Hans  Soop 
took  advantage  of  this  opportunity  and  wrote  a  major  study  of  these  sculptures 
as  his  dissertation  in  the  History  of  Arts.  Bjorn  Landstrom,  the  internationally 
well-known  maritime  artist  has  given  his  analysis  of  the  design  and  construction 

9A 

of  Wasa  in  a  book  with  his  usual  high-quality  illustrations. 

Maritime  ethnology  is  an  important  subject  in  all  of  Scandinavia,  covering 
both  the  near  past  of  maritime  history  and  long  traditions  in  ship—  and  boat- 

Soren  Larsson  &  Jaak  Saving,  Nordstjeman:  The  Inside  Story,  1890-1990  (Stockholm:  Norstedts, 
1990),  Torsten  Rinman,  The  Johnson  Line,  1890-1990  (Goteborg:  Rinman  &  Linden,  1990). 

Carl-Olof  Cederlund,  The  Old  Wrecks  of  the  Baltic  Sea:  Archaeological  recording  of  the  wrecks  of  carvel-built 
ships.  BAR  Internaitonal  Series,  no  186  (Oxford,  1983). 

Sibylla  Haasum,  Vikingatidens  segling  och  navigation  (Stockholm:  Theses  and  papers  in  North  European 
Archaeology,  1974),  Bjorn  Varenius,  Det  nordiska  skeppet:  Teknologi  och  samhallsstrategi  i  vikingatid  och 
medeltid  Stockholm  Studies  in  Archaeology,  10  (Stockholm:  Stockholm  Universitet,  1992). 

Hans  Soop,  The  Power  and  the  Glory:  The  Sculptures  of  the  Warship  Wasa  (Stockholm:  Almqvist  & 
Wiksell  International,  1986). 

Bjorn  Landstrom,  The  Royal  Warship  Wasa  (Stockholm:  Interpublishing,  1988). 


350      Sweden 

building.  Olof  Hasslof,  an  internationally  known  Swedish  ethnologist,  did  much 
to  develop  this  tradition.  In  recent  years,  doctoral  dissertations  and  other  major 
studies,  covering  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  have  been  produced:  deep  sea  sailors 
(Knut  Weibust,  1969),  a  coastal  area  in  change  1800—1970  (Orvar  Lofgren, 
1977),  fishing  (Lars  Skotte,  1981),  nineteenth  century  countryside  shipowners 
(Kerstin  G:son  Berg,  1984),  harbor  workers  in  Gothenburg  and  a  shipyard. 
The  Sjohistoriska  Museet  has  a  department  for  ethnological  studies,  and  research 
reports  are  published  regularly.  In  spite  of  this  considerable  research  activity, 
maritime  ethnology  is  nowhere  taught  as  a  special  subject  and  the  theories  and 
methods  used  are  the  same  as  in  ethnology  in  general. 

As  we  have  seen,  with  the  exception  of  archaeology  and  a  limited  amount  of 
staff  college  teaching,  there  is  no  regular  teaching  of  naval  and  maritime  history 
in  Sweden.  Maritime  history  is  a  part  of  history,  economic  history,  ethnology, 
and  archaeology,  and  methods  and  theories  common  to  these  academic  dis- 
ciplines are  used.  Naval  history  is  part  of  political  history,  archaeology,  and  (to 
a  very  limited  extent)  the  training  of  officers.  Books  about  naval  and  maritime 
history  are  read  in  courses  of  more  general  subjects,  such  as  trade  and  defence 
policy.  Scholars  with  naval  and  maritime  interests  are  conducting  research  into 
their  subjects  with  the  expectation  that  they  will  be  evaluated  in  comparison 
with  studies  of  entirely  different  subjects. 

The  result  is  that  such  studies  often  are  well  connected  with  Swedish  history 
in  general.  The  intellectual  trends  are  the  same  as  in  the  historical  disciplines  in 
general.  On  the  other  hand  the  naval  and  maritime  studies  are  little  connected 
with  each  other  or  with  international  debate  in  the  same  field.  Naval  history  is 
not  used  in  debates  about  defence  policy,  nor  is  it  possible  today  to  detect  any 
systematic  bias  due  to  contemporary  debate  in  naval  historiography.  Although 
ideology  and  political  issues  have  for  a  long  time  been  more  or  less  dead  in  this 
field  of  research,  an  exception  is  developing:  in  the  1980s  and  early  1990s  several 
incidents,  or  supposed  incidents,  where  foreign  submarines  were  reported  in 
Swedish  territorial  waters,  became  major  foreign  policy  problems  and  are  now 
evolving  into  a  controversial,  historical  debate. 

There  is  no  organization  that  holds  responsibility  for  coordinating  naval  and 
maritime  history  on  an  academic  level.  The  Statens  Sjohistoriska  museer  has 
considerable  activity  in  ethnology  and  archaeology — in  the  latter  subject  in 
cooperation  with  Stockholm  University — but  it  undertakes  no  comparable 
research  activity  in  history.  This  museum  also  has  the  largest  collections  of  books 

27  Knut  Weibust,  Deep  Sea  Sailors:  A  Study  in  Maritime  Ethnology  (Stockholm:  Nordiska  museet,  1969), 
Orvar  Lofgren,  Fangstman  i  industrisamhallet:  en  hallandsk  kustbygds  omvandling  1800-1970  (Lund:  Liber, 
1977),  Lars  Skotte,  Slutfiskat  (Stockholm:  Akademilitteratur,  1981),  Kerstin  G:son  Berg,  Redare  i 
Roslagen:  Segelfartygsrederier  och  deras  verksamhet  igamla  Vato  socken  (Stockholm:  Nordiska  museet,  1984), 
Anders  Bjorklund,  Hamens  arbetare:  En  etnologisk  undersbkning  av  stuveriarbetet  i  Goteborg  (Stockholm: 
Nordiska  museet,  1984),  Magnus  Wikdahl,  Varvets  tid:  Arbetarliv  och  kulturellfdrandring  i  en  skeppsbyggarstad 
(Stockholm:  Gidlund,  1992). 


Glete      351 

and  journals  in  naval  and  maritime  history,  and  it  has  published  bibliographies 
covering  Swedish  literature.  The  lack  of  coordination  may  have  drawbacks,  but 
from  a  qualitative  point  of  view,  it  is  an  advantage  that  historians  interested  in 
naval  and  maritime  subjects  regard  themselves  primarily  as  historians  and  avoid 
isolation  into  a  special  group.  There  is  no  Swedish  journal  of  maritime  history. 
The  yearbooks  of  the  naval  and  maritime  museums  in  Stockholm,  Karlskrona, 
and  Gothenburg  publish  historical  articles  as  does  Forum  Navale,  the  yearly 
publication  of  The  Society  for  Sea  History  (Sjohistoriska  Samfundet).  The  latter 
was  founded  in  1939  and,  over  the  years,  has  published  several  important  papers 
in  naval  and  maritime  history,  but  it  has  no  resources  for  undertaking  research 
of  its  own. 

Finally,  which  periods  and  subjects  are  well  covered  and  which  require  further 
research?  Sweden  has  a  long  naval  and  maritime  tradition  with  vast  archival 
sources  and  a  large  amount  of  surviving  artifacts  above  and  under  water.  The 
rather  small  population  makes  it  difficult  to  cover  all  these  potential  fields  of 
research.  In  naval  history,  the  old  historiography  remains  as  a  foundation 
covering  all  periods  and  aspects,  but  most  of  this  research  is  ripe  for  reinterpreta- 
tions  and  expansion.  Recruitment  and  training  of  sailors,  the  development  of 
the  corps  of  sea  officers,  the  social  conditions  in  the  Navy,  the  connections 
between  policy  and  administration  and  naval  technology  are  especially  tempting 
fields  for  more  research  for  d// periods.  The  same  applies  to  the  economic  history 
of  the  Navy:  finance,  the  supply  of  timber,  iron,  sails  and  hemp,  the  dockyard 
activities.  Operational  history  up  to  about  1650,  the  period  of  Swedish  expansion 
in  the  Baltic,  has  also  been  neglected.  This  was  an  era  of  many  naval  opera- 
tions— -blockades,  amphibious  operations,  logistic  support  of  the  army — but  few 
battles,  and  it  attracted  little  attention  from  traditional  naval  historiography, 
which  puts  its  emphasis  on  battle  fleet  operations. 

The  state  of  Swedish  maritime  history  displays  a  more  scattered  picture. 
Shipping  and  maritime  trade  have  been  most  extensively  treated  for  the 
eighteenth  century,  while  other  periods  are  rather  neglected  compared  to  other 
fields  of  economic  history.  The  modern  Swedish  shipbuilding  industry  is  well 
covered,  while  shipbuilding  as  an  economic  phenomenon  before  the  late 
nineteenth  century  is  much  neglected.  Social  conditions  for  Swedish  seamen 
before  the  period  studied  by  ethnologists  are  almost  forgotten,  especially  com- 
pared to  the  considerable  interest  shown  to  workers  in  the  shipbuilding  industry 
and  to  harbor  workers. 

Swedish  naval  and  maritime  history  is  not  neglected  compared  to  other  fields 
of  Swedish  history,  but  naval  history  has,  from  an  academic  point  of  view,  been 
a  small  part  of  a  field  of  research  where  the  Army  has  dominated.  Most  of  the 
literature  about  warfare  and  the  armed  forces  are  dominated  by  the  studies  on 
the  Swedish  Army,  which  was  so  important  during  the  period  1560—1721.  The 
technical  questions  are  often  important  in  naval  history,  but  such  questions  have 


352      Sweden 

seldom  been  tempting  fields  of  research  for  academic  historians.  This  may  be  a 
further  reason  for  a  comparative  neglect  of  naval  history.  Maritime  history  is, 
like  most  modem  economic  and  social  history  dominated  by  quantifications — a 
fully  justified  emphasis  considering  that  Sweden  generally  has  a  good  supply  of 
quantitative  sources.  The  drawback  from  a  maritime  point  of  view  is  that 
historians  seldom  attempt  to  put  maritime  life  in  the  centre  of  research.  For  more 
recent  periods,  ethnological  research  fills  this  gap,  but  older  periods  are  simply 
neglected.  Looking  upon  the  problem  from  a  more  positive  view,  we  may 
conclude  that  naval  and  maritime  history  belongs  to  the  underexplored  and 
promising  fields  of  future  research  for  Swedish  historians. 


30 
Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan 


Vice  Admiral  Liu  Ta-tsai,  ROCN,  Retired 

and 
Wang  Chia-chien 


China  is  a  country  with  an  exceptional  history  and  ancient  origins.  The 
Yellow  River  area  was  its  birthplace.  It  was  over  five  thousand  years  ago 
that  the  Chinese  people  established  civilization — one  based  primarily  on  agricul- 
ture. The  Loess  plateau  region  symbolizes  this  traditional  and  ancient  Chinese 
culture. 

For  thousands  of  years,  Chinese  culture  valued  agriculture  more  than  com- 
merce. As  an  agricultural  society,  it  was  inclined  to  be  conservative  and 
isolationist;  the  Chinese  people  are  accustomed  to  staying  where  they  are  and 
have  a  strong  affinity  for  the  land.  Thus,  the  development  of  Chinese  culture 
has  been  land-oriented,  nearly  to  the  exclusion  of  seafaring  development. 

Just  the  same,  China  is  located  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Pacific  Ocean;  it 
has  a  vast  territory,  abundant  resources,  a  warm  climate  and  a  long  and  winding 
coastline.  Thus,  it  commands  a  superior  position  for  development  of  sea  power. 
History  also  shows  that  there  has  been  a  relationship  between  the  Chinese  people 
and  the  ocean,  albeit  limited,  for  more  than  three  thousand  years. 

Even  in  medieval  times,  China  was  renowned  for  its  shipbuilding  and 
navigation  techniques,  which  were  actually  far  more  advanced  than  Western 
countries  for  that  period.  During  that  time,  China's  maritime  trade  expanded 
significantly,  and  relations  with  foreign  countries  were  very  close.  However, 
after  seven  naval  expeditions  by  Zheng  He  in  the  fifteenth  century,  China's 
maritime  activities  were  suspended.  Why  China  did  not  become  a  maritime 
super  power  continues  to  puzzle  Western  historians  of  maritime  affairs. 

Given  China's  extensive  history,  many  maritime  activities  of  the  ancient 
Chinese  people  have  been  recorded.  Modern  Chinese  history  reflects  the  fact 

Vice  Admiral  Liu  Ta-tsai  is  currently  Senior  Research  Fellow  at  the  Society  for  Strategic  Studies, 
Taipei;  Professor  Wang  Chia-chien  is  with  the  Department  of  History  at  the  National  Taiwan  Normal 
University. 

The  editor  is  grateful  to  Professor  Arthur  Waldron  for  his  assistance  with  some  of  the  footnotes  to 
this  essay. 

Geoffrey  Till,  Maritime  Strategy  and  the  Nuclear  Age  (New  York:  St.  Martin's  Press,  1982),  p.  4. 


354     Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan 

that  China's  maritime  development  is  closely  tied  to  the  rise  and  decline  of  the 
various  dynasties  that  have  ruled  the  country. 

The  records  of  Chinese  maritime  history  support  study  in  a  variety  of  topics, 
such  as  the  development  of  shipbuilding  and  nautical  technology,  ocean 
transportation,  maritime  trade,  maritime  expeditions,  and  overseas  emigration 
and  exploitation,  to  name  a  few.  Hence,  there  is  a  broad  base  of  Chinese 
maritime  history  for  scholars  to  explore.  Chinese  historians,  including  scholars 
from  both  sides  of  the  Taiwan  Straits,  have  undertaken  detailed  research,  and 
fruitful  results  have  already  been  obtained. 

The  television  program,  "River  Elegy,"  shown  in  mainland  China  in  1988, 
had  a  great  impact  on  the  minds  of  Chinese  people,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
This  program  provided  them  an  opportunity  to  ponder  and  explore  the  history 
created  by  the  Chinese  continental  and  maritime  culture.  The  broadcast  literally 
caused  a  sensation  throughout  the  Chinese  mainland.  When  the  book  was  finally 
published  in  Taiwan,  it  was  the  best  selling  book  there  for  nearly  a  year. 

River  Elegy  was  written  by  a  group  of  scholars  in  mainland  China,  and  describes 
their  meditations  over  the  maritime  history  of  China.  Their  motive  was  to  arouse 
the  maritime  consciousness  of  the  Chinese  society,  while  calling  for  the  Chinese 
people  to  face  and  march  toward  the  vast,  blue  ocean. 

China's  Maritime  Civilization 

As  noted  earlier,  China  is  not  only  a  continental  nation,  but  it  is  also  bound 
to  the  sea.  Early  in  the  "Emperor  Huang  Di"  period,  the  maritime  industry  of 
building  wooden  boats  had  already  evolved  in  China.  In  the  "Spring  and 
Autumn"  and  the  "Warring  State"  periods  (771—221  B.C.),  feudal  states  along 
the  coast  of  the  continent  were  constantly  bickering  or  making  war  upon  each 
other,  employing  their  individual  boat  forces  to  do  so.  However,  influenced  by 
the  vastness  of  the  land,  and  feudal  tendencies  of  kings  with  their  wild  ambition 
for  annexing  territory,  the  focus  of  interest  remained  continental. 

Over  the  last  several  thousand  years,  foreign  aggression  toward  China  often 
came  overland,  from  the  north.  The  Great  Wall,  one  of  the  great  architectural 
feats  in  world  history,  was  originally  designed  and  built  to  protect  against 
these  northern  invaders.  It  is  correct  to  say  that  the  Great  Wall  symbolizes 
ancient  China's  powerful  and  prosperous  strength.  However,  the  perception 
of  China  as  a  landlocked  culture  is  reinforced  by  the  Wall  and  has  emphasized 

Su  Hsiao-k'ang  and  Wang  Lu-hsiang,  He  shang  (Taipei:  Feng-yiin,  Shih-tai,  Chin-feng  ch'u-pan 
gong-ssu  lien-he  ch'u-pan,  1988).  Su-Hsiao-k'ang  and  Wang  Lu-hsiang,  Deathsong  of  the  River:  A 
Reader's  Guide  to  the  Chinese  TV  series  Heshang.  Introduced  and  annotated  by  Richard  W.  Bodman  and 
Pin  P.  Wan  (Ithaca,  N.Y.:  East  Asia  Program,  Cornell  University,  1991). 

4  Ts'ao  Pao-chien  and  Kuo  Fu-wen,  Meditation  in  Face  of  the  Pacific  Ocean — A  Revived  Perception  of  the 
Ocean  and  National  Defense  (Beijing:  Defense  Univ.  Press,  1989),  p.  133. 


Liu  and  Wang      355 

the  evolution  of  Chinese  history,  to  a  great  degree,  on  purely  continental  issues. 
This  has  seriously  undermined  the  understanding  of  China's  maritime  culture. 

Nevertheless,  ancient  China's  technique  in  shipbuilding  and  navigation  were 
extremely  advanced.  British  scholar  Joseph  Needham  produced  a  comparative 
research  of  the  nautical  technology  of  ancient  China  and  the  West.  In  this  book, 
he  stated,  "As  far  as  many  ship  building  and  navigation  theories  are  concerned, 
the  West  fell  behind  China  by  several  centuries.  With  regard  to  operation  of  a 
rudder,  the  West  lagged  behind  China  by  four  centuries  and  to  the  utilization 
of  the  compass  by  about  one  century." 

Early  on,  before  the  Han  Dynasty  (202  B.C.— A.D.  220),  China  had  built  a  "Silk 
Road"  at  sea,  which  brought  economic  prosperity  to  ancient  china  and 
propagated  the  advanced  Chinese  culture  to  the  West. 

According  to  historical  documentation,  there  were  three  great  inventions  in 
China:  paper,  powder,  and  the  compass.  They  provided  a  superiority  in 
shipbuilding  and  navigation  to  the  ancient  Chinese  navies.  In  the  Yuan  Dynasty 
(1279—1367),  several  expeditions  to  Southeast  Asia,  Java,  and  Japan  were 
recorded.  Although  these  expeditions  ultimately  failed,  they  did  prove  the 
superior  technology  of  the  Chinese  Navy. 

In  the  Ming  Dynasty  (1368—1644),  China's  greatest  navigator,  Zheng  He, 
conducted  seven  expeditions  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  They  were  the  most  brilliant 
achievements  in  the  maritime  history  of  China.  However,  after  Zheng  died,  the 
Ming  government  imposed  restrictions  on  maritime  navigation.  Thereafter, 

Q 

China's  leadership  in  the  world  of  maritime  affairs  suffered  a  disastrous  decline. 

China's  Maritime  History 

As  previously  noted,  nautical  technology  in  ancient  China  was  well 
developed,  allowing  China  to  become  one  of  the  earliest  ancient  countries 
possessing  a  naval  force.  The  "Silk  Road,"  predating  the  Han  Dynasty,  has 
already  been  mentioned.  Following  the  Tang  Dynasty  (618—907),  the  Silk  Road 
on  land  was  closed  by  wars.  It  was  at  that  time  that  the  maritime  Silk  Road 
entered  its  golden  age.  With  the  Sung  (960-1279)  and  Yuan  (1279-1386) 
Dynasties,  China's  maritime  transportation  entered  its  most  prosperous  period. 
Maritime  trade  became  the  country's  major  financial  source.  During  this  period, 
Chinese  ships  nearly  monopolized  the  entire  sea  lane  from  China  to  the  Indian 
Ocean.  In  addition  to  trade,  China's  ships  greatly  stimulated  the  communication, 
development,  and  integration  of  the  ancient  Chinese,  Indian,  and  Arab  civiliza- 
tions, as  well  as  other  Western  and  Pacific  cultures. 


Ibid.,  p.  164. 

Joseph  Needham,  Science  and  Ciuilisation  in  China,  Vol.  4:  "Nautical  Technology,"  p.  484. 

Ts'ao  Pau-chien  and  Kuo  Fu-wen,  Mediation,  p.  132. 

Chang  Wei  and  Hsu  Hua,  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Sea  Power  (Beijing:  Ocean  Publishing  Co.,  1991),  pp.  40-2. 

Ts'ao  Pao-chien  and  Kuo  Fu-wen,  Mediation,  pp.  136-7. 


356     Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan 

China's  navigation  was  at  its  zenith  in  the  early  Ming  Dynasty.  Seven 
expeditions  and  goodwill  missions,  led  by  Zheng  He,  to  the  countries  along  the 
South  China  Sea  and  the  Indian  Ocean  preceded  the  grand  discovery  of  world 
geography  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 

For  twenty-eight  years,  from  1405  to  1433,  Zheng  He  led  a  goodwill  fleet 
southward  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  Red  Sea,  and  to 
the  farthest  eastern  African  coast.  Such  an  accomplishment  was  unprecedented. 
Zheng  He's  navigation  feat  preceded  Christopher  Columbus's  discovery  of  the 
New  World  by  87  years,  Vasco  Da  Gama's  transit  past  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  India  by  92  years,  and  antedated  Ferdinand  Magellan's  circumnavigation  of 
the  world  by  114  years.  He  surely  deserved  recognition  for  such  a  great 
geographical  discovery.  The  impact  on  the  politics,  economy  and  culture  of  the 
countries  along  the  South  China  Sea  and  the  Indian  Ocean  of  Zheng  He's 
missions  has  been  clearly  recorded  in  the  histories  of  those  regions.  It  was  a 
prelude  to  the  most  glorious  achievement  in  China's  maritime  history. 

Since  Zheng  He's  expedition  imposed  a  tremendous  financial  burden  on  the 
government,  it  came  to  be  considered  a  flawed  policy.  The  government  of  the 
Ming  Dynasty,  therefore,  returned  the  policy  of  isolationism  and  ordered  that 
construction  of  big  ships  be  stopped.  Even  the  files  of  Zheng  He's  expedition 
were  burned.  Large-scale  overseas  navigation  in  China  ceased. 

Throughout  the  Qing  Dynasty  (1644-1912),  pirates  pillaged  Chinese  coastal 
provinces.  Resistance  to  the  Qing  Dynasty  remained  strong  in  southeastern  China 
along  the  coast.  The  Qing  Dynasty,  therefore,  also  adopted  policies  prohibiting 
navigation  and  other  activities  of  maritime  trade  in  order  to  isolate  China  from  the 
outside  world.  Only  after  the  European  Industrial  Revolution  did  the  influence 
of  the  West  become  overwhelming,  forcing  China  to  end  this  policy. 

In  every  conflict  with  the  Western  powers  (the  Opium  War,  the  Sino-French 
War,  the  Sino-Japanese  War,  and  the  seizure  of  Beijing  by  the  joint  forces  of 
the  eight  Western  powers)  China  met  defeat.  The  effect  of  this  series  of  defeats 
was  that  China  became  a  miserable,  semi-colony  of  the  Western  powers.  This 
loss  of  Chinese  sovereignty  and  dignity  was  a  direct  result  of  its  lack  of  sea  power. 

Modern  Maritime  China 

After  World  War  II  China  was  split  into  two  political  entities.  In  1949  the 
government  of  the  Republic  of  China  (ROC)  moved  to  Taiwan,  and  mainland 

Chang  Wei  and  Hsu  Hua,  Sea,  p.  41. 

A  British  Army  major,  George  Henry  Mason,  travelled  to  China  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Out  of  curiosity,  he  recorded  what  China  looked  like  to  him.  To  depict  vividly  the  Chinese  acrobatics 
and  dramatic  costumes,  he  hired  a  Chinese  painter.  Additionally,  Major  Mason  also  adopted  the  works 
of  a  British  painter,  William  Alexander,  who  had  travelled  along  the  Grand  Canal  from  north  to  south; 
George  Henry  Mason  and  William  Alexander,  Views  of  18th  Century  China  (1804  and  1805;  reprint 
New  York:  Portland  House,  1988).  In  the  eyes  of  those  British  who  saw  the  illustrations  and  had  no 
idea  of  this  oriental  country,  China  was  a  mysterious,  but  rather  civilized  country.  The  book  has  recently 
been  translated  into  Chinese. 


Liu  and  Wang     357 

China  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  communists.  The  two  sides  adopted 
and  practiced  two  completely  different  maritime  strategies. 

Taiwan,  surrounded  by  the  sea,  adopted  an  island-oriented  economic  system. 
Its  economic  development  and  national  framework  are  closely  related  to  its 
maritime  environment.  Taiwan's  economic  miracle  is  a  maritime-oriented 
model  which  has  enabled  Taiwan  to  transform  from  a  backward,  agricultural 
society  to  a  newly  developed,  industrial  nation. 

Throughout  Chinese  history,  Taiwan's  people  have  been  a  maritime  society, 
using  the  surrounding  oceans  to  make  their  fortunes  and  accomplish  great 
achievements.  Now,  Taiwan  serves  as  the  example  for  mainland  China  to  follow 
as  that  country  develops  for  the  future. 

The  Chinese  mainland,  under  the  cloak  of  socialism,  largely  ignored  the 
ocean,  becoming  an  introverted  and  isolated  society  in  the  process.  Fortunately, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  1980s,  mainland  China  adopted  a  more  open  policy, 
developing  a  coastal  economy  and  working  on  reforms.  It  moved  toward  a 
market  economy  and  even  publicly  expressed  the  slogan:  "learn  economic 
experience  from  Taiwan."  After  more  than  a  decade  of  efforts,  mainland  China's 
economic  reform  has  made  substantial  progress. 

Currently,  a  trilateral  "Greater  Chinese  Economic  Ring"  is  taking  shape. 
This  is  a  great  cooperative  effort  of  Chinese  people,  both  in  the  homeland  and 
abroad.  At  the  same  time,  mainland  China's  economic  reform  has  accelerated. 
Its  sea  power  development  and  naval  expansion  has  earned  the  serious  concern 
of  other  countries  worldwide.  In  particular,  neighboring  countries  in  Asia  and 
the  Pacific  worry  that  mainland  China  will  soon  become  a  great  maritime  power. 

During  the  current  period  of  growth  and  change,  many  observers  hope  that 
a  democratic  and  open  China,  possessing  a  market  economy  and  maritime 
strengths,  will  be  a  strong  and  rich  country  contributing  to  the  stability  and 
prosperity  of  the  region  in  the  twenty-first  century. 

Studies  in  Maritime  History 

Despite  its  continental  tendencies,  the  evolution  of  Chinese  history  is  closely 
related  to  maritime  activities.  In  order  to  foster  the  study  of  Chinese  maritime 
history,  the  Sun  Yat-sen  Institute  for  Social  Sciences  and  Philosophy,  led  by  Dr. 
Mai  Chao-cheng,  has  regularly  gathered  scholars  interested  in  this  respect  to 
exchange  viewpoints.  It  also  holds  symposia  on  the  history  of  Chinese  maritime 

1 2 

developments  biannually  to  promote  systematic  academic  researches.  There 
are  three  main  reasons  for  this. 

First,  China  is  a  continental  as  well  as  an  oceanic  nation.  In  the  past,  local 
scholars  made  substantial  research  relevant  to  the  former.  The  symposia  are 
recognition  that  the  latter  has  not  received  the  attention  it  warrants. 

Academia  Sinica,  Proceedings,  Studies  in  Maritime  Development  in  Chinese  History,  vol.  1  (Taipei: 
Academia  Sinica,  Sun  Yat-sen  Institute  for  Social  Science  and  Philosophy,  1984),  p.  1. 


358     Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan 

Second,  the  boom  of  maritime  navigation  and  colonialism  advocated  by  the 
Western  nations  since  the  fifteenth  century  brought  forth  changes  in  all  civiliza- 
tions affected  by  the  intersection  of  China  with  other  cultures.  Therefore,  the 
scholar  of  traditional  Chinese  maritime  history  must  realize  just  how  far-reaching 
the  impact  of  western  nations  has  been  on  Chinese  culture  and  maritime  history. 

Third,  the  successful  reclamation  and  cultivation  of  Taiwan  by  the  Han  people 
not  only  sets  a  good  example,  but  also  reflects  the  historical  evidence  that  the 
Chinese  have  the  capacity  for  oceanic  exploration.  The  study  of  Taiwan's  history 
can  contribute  to  an  understanding  of  the  developmental  process  of  the  Han 
society  and  provide  a  historical  tracing  for  the  burgeoning  maritime  society  in 
Taiwan  today. 

Based  upon  the  aforementioned  reasons,  the  Institute  has  gathered  a  number 
of  domestic  historians  in  this  field  to  promote  these  research  programs.  So  far, 
the  number  of  participants  has  increased  annually,  and  the  quality  of  essays  has 

also  become  much  more  refined.  It  has,  therefore,  received  close  attention  from 

1  ^ 
the  academic  circles,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

1990  was  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  first  publication  of  Admiral 
Mahan's  well-known  work,  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  Upon  History.  It  was  also 
the  150th  anniversary  of  the  Opium  War.  Therefore,  1990  was  a  particularly 
important  year  to  Chinese  naval  officers.  When  considering  modern  history,  it 
becomes  apparent  that  the  Opium  War  was  the  prelude  to  a  series  of  disasters 
that  befell  China.  Therefore,  in  order  to  revive  the  memory  of  the  Opium  War, 
to  review  Admiral  Mahan's  thoughts  on  sea  power,  to  recall  the  historical  lessons 
learned  from  past  failures,  and  to  facilitate  the  correct  recognition  of  sea  power, 
Admirals  Ko  Tung-hwa  and  Liu  Ta-tsai  established  a  Chinese  Sea  Power 
Research  Workshop,  officially  titled  "The  21st  Century  Sea  Power  Seminar." 

The  first  conference,  held  in  the  Republic  of  China,  combined  local  scholars 
with  experts  from  all  relevant  academic  areas  to  produce  research  on  sea  power. 
It  produced  an  emphatic  response  and  received  immediate  attention  from  a 
variety  of  scholarly  circles. 

The  second  conference,  held  in  July  of  1992,  stressed  the  review  of  maritime 
strategy  as  well  as  a  review  of  and  consideration  of  the  perspectives  on  the  future 
development  of  Chinese  naval  power.  It,  too,  was  characterized  as  a  very 
successful  and  fruitful  academic  activity  by  the  gathered  military  and  civilian 
scholars  and  experts.  The  two  communities  worked  together  to  engender 
exchange  and  to  discuss  current  or  prospective  issues  regarding  Chinese  sea 
power. 

Ibid.,  vol.  4,  ed.  Wu  Chien-hsiung,  (Taipei:  Academia  Sinica,  Sun  Yat-sen  Institute  for  Social 
Science  and  Philosophy,  1991),  pp.  1-7. 

Proceedings,  First  Seminar  on  the  21st  Century  Sea  Power,  (Taipei:  Naval  Academic  Press,  1991), 
pp.  1-3. 


Liu  and  Wang     359 

Both  conferences  were  supported  by  the  shipping  industry  and  by  the 
Foundation  of  the  United  World  Chinese .  Commercial  Bank.  This  support 
serves  to  confirm  that  the  study  of  Chinese  sea  power  has  earned  a  broadening 
and  important  interest. 

In  addition,  as  the  Sino-Japanese  War  of  1894—1895  approaches  its  one 
hundredth  anniversary,  the  local  historical  circle  has  already  engaged  in  prepara- 
tions to  convene  an  international  academic  seminar  which  will  be  held  by  the 
National  Taiwan  Normal  University.  The  main  subjects  of  the  seminar  will  be 
a  discussion  of  the  Sino-Japanese  War  of  1894— 1895  and  its  influence  on  Chinese 
history  as  well  as  its  historical  significance  and  lessons  learned. 

It  is  understood  that  this  seminar  has  already  received  many  sponsors  and 
assistance  across  the  board.  In  addition,  since  both  the  People's  Republic  of 
China  and  the  Republic  of  China  in  Taiwan  have  actively  prepared  for  the 
convention,  it  appears  that  a  significant  seminar  may  be  in  the  offing. 

Because  of  its  diversity,  Chinese  maritime  history  offers  many  subjects  for 
study.  Among  them  are  foreign  trade,  foreign  relations,  overseas  immigration 
and  exploitation,  and  overseas  Chinese  societies.  Developments  in  these  areas 
have  had  an  important  impact  on  modern  Chinese  history.  Many  scholars  in 
Taiwan  have  undertaken  professional  studies  in  a  variety  of  subjects.  Study  efforts 
in  mainland  China  may  be  even  more  extensive.  A  sampling  of  Taiwanese 
scholars  provides  the  following: 

In  naval  history,  for  instance,  Professor  Pau  Tzun-peng,  the  former  curator 
of  National  Historical  Museum,  is  a  noted  author  on  Chinese  naval  history.  Rear 
Admiral  (retired)  Cheng  T'ien-chieh  and  Captain  (retired)  Chao  Mei-ching,  are 
co-authors  of  Sino-Japanese  War  (1894—1895)  and  Li  Hung-chang.  Another  is 
Wang  Chia-chien,  professor  of  history  at  the  National  Taiwan  Norman  Univer- 
sity and  author  of  the  Anthology  of  Chinese  Modern  Naval  History.  He  is  also  the 
author  of  a  series  of  articles  on  Chinese  naval  history.  Dr.  Ma  You-huan,  a 
professor  of  oriental  language  and  literature  at  the  University  of  Hawaii  in  the 
United  States  has  authored  a  series  of  studies  regarding  Chinese  naval  history. 

In  the  field  of  maritime  history,  Mr.  Wu  Hsiang-hsiang,  a  former 
professor  of  history  at  the  National  Taiwan  University,  is  making  many 
contributions  to  the  study  of  modern  Chinese  maritime  history.  Professor 
Tsao  Yung-he,  a  scholar  versed  in  the  Dutch  language,  enjoys  a  solid 
reputation  in  historical  circles  for  his  specialized  study  in  Taiwan 
maritime  history  and  related  writings.  Dr.  Chang  Pin-tsun,  a  research 
fellow  of  the  Chung  Shan  Social  Science  Institute  of  Academia  Sinica,  is 
the   author  of  a   series   of  articles   concerning  his   specialized  study   in 

Naval  Academic  Monthly,  Proceedings,  Second  seminar  on  the  21st  Century  Sea  Power,  (Taipei: 
Naval  Academic  Monthly,  1992),  pp.  1-3. 

For  example,  Wang  Chia-chien,  "Li  Hung-Chang  and  the  Peiyang  Navy,"  Chinese  Studies  in  History, 
25  (1991),  pp.  52-66. 


360     Chinese  Maritime  History  in  Taiwan 

modern  maritime  trade.  Additionally,  Chu  Te-lan,  an  assistant  researcher 
at  the  Chung  Shan  Social  Science  Institute  of  Academia  Sinica,  has  authored  a 
series  of  writings  relating  to  his  specialized  study  in  Sino-Japanese  maritime  trade. 

Formal  Naval  and  Maritime  History  Courses 

There  are  courses  regarding  naval  and  maritime  history  at  the  Naval  Com- 
mand and  General  Staff  College,  the  Armed  Forces  University  and  the  ROC 
Naval  Academy.  Additionally,  courses  in  the  history  of  warfare  at  sea  are  also 
given  at  the  War  College  and  Naval  Command  and  General  Staff  College,  as 
well  as  the  Armed  Forces  University.  Those  courses  include  instructions  in 
ancient  Chinese  sea  battles,  studies  on  the  Sino-Japanese  War,  the  Falkland 
Islands  War,  and  the  Persian  Gulf  War.  All  lecturers  for  the  courses  are  active 
duty  military  and  naval  officers. 

Modern  Chinese  history  is  closely  related  to  maritime  history.  Although  the 
departments  of  history  in  our  universities  have  no  specific  maritime  history 
course,  "Modern  Chinese  History"  is  a  required  course  and  provides  a  substantial 
introduction  to  maritime  history. 

Museums 

The  Naval  Historical  Museum,  located  on  the  campus  of  the  Chinese  Naval 
Academy  at  Tso-ying  harbor  in  southern  Taiwan,  is  a  three-story  building 
decorated  with  an  artistic  and  systematic  design  for  its  collection  and  exhibition 
of  naval  relics.  The  elaborate  planning  for  the  presentation  of  these  artifacts  of 
modern  Chinese  naval  history  are  particularly  conspicuous  according  to  the 
stages  of  development.  The  rich  and  varied  collections  of  naval  relics,  particularly 
the  huge  number  of  historical  files  and  records  dating  from  the  Qing  Dynasty 
to  the  early  days  of  the  ROC,  are  of  great  value  to  historical  research.  This 
museum  both  helps  students  understand  Chinese  naval  history  and  facilitate  the 
implementation  of  esprit  de  corps. 

The  Tamkang  University  established  the  first  domestic  maritime  museum  in 
Taiwan  to  assist  the  development  of  marine  education.  Mr.  Rong-fa  Chang, 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Evergreen  Marine  Corporation,  not  only 
contributed  to  the  funding  of  its  construction  but  also  provided  equipment, 
books,  and  documents  on  navigation  and  marine  engineering  for  exhibit.  Based 
on  the  meticulous  planning  and  design  of  Dr.  Tien-fu  Lin,  the  founder  and 
honorary  chairman  of  the  board,  construction  was  completed  smoothly.  Dr.  Lin 
is  well  known  in  this  country  and  was  engaged  in  the  shipping  business  in  his 

Chang  Pin-tsun,  "Chinese  Maritime  Trade:  The  Case  of  Sixteenth-Century  Fu-chien  (Fukien)" 
Ph.D.  dissertation,  Princeton  University,  1983;  "The  Evolution  of  Chinese  Thought  on  Maritime 
Foreign  Trade  from  the  Sixteenth  to  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History 
1(1989),  pp.  51-64;  "Maritime  China  in  Historical  Perspective,"  International  Journal  of  Maritime  History, 
4  (1992),  pp.  239-255. 


Liu  and  Wang      361 

early  years.  It  is  particularly  commendable  that  during  the  preparation  stage  of 
the  maritime  museum,  Dr.  Lin  travelled  around  the  world  to  collect  various 
models  of  sailing  ships  and  combatants  for  its  exhibits. 

The  Tamkang  Maritime  Museum  is  a  five-story,  ship-shaped  building.  The 
first  two  floors  display  model  ships,  the  third  floor  houses  a  library,  and  an 
audio-video  room  for  maritime  science  books  and  relics  as  well.  The  fourth  floor 
is  a  bridge  house  exhibiting  diversified  navigation  equipment. 

The  maritime  museum  is  a  non-profit  organization,  open  to  the  public  free 
of  charge  in  an  attempt  to  promote  maritime  education.  Besides  welcoming 
visitors,  it  engages  in  marine  data  collection  and  research  and  also  has  undertaken 
extensive  exchanges  with  maritime  museums  around  the  world  to  gain  ex- 

1  8 

perience  and  develop  its  academic  position  to  a  world  class  level. 


Tamkang  University,  The  Convergence  of  the  Ships,  (Taipei  County:  Tamkang  University,  Maritime 
Museum,  1992),  p.  2. 


1 


The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

in  the  1 990s 


Benjamin  W.  Labaree 


In  a  paper  of  this  sort,  it  is  best  to  open  with  a  definition  of  its  scope.  By 
"American  maritime  history,"  I  mean  the  teaching,  writing,  or  exhibiting  of 
matters  pertaining  to  American  maritime,  but  not  naval,  history.  By  "American" 
I  mean  that  which  pertains  in  some  fashion  to  the  territory,  both  before  and  after 
its  independence,  that  became  the  United  States.  I  should  also  make  clear  that 
the  paper  considers  only  work  being  done  in  the  United  States  (taught,  published, 
or  exhibited  here).  Under  "maritime"  I  have  included  such  land-based  activities 
as  inland  waterways  and  seaports.  These  are  difficult  limitations  at  best,  par- 
ticularly for  a  maritime  historian.  We  are  here,  after  all,  to  bring  our  disparate 
interests  together — naval  and  maritime;  national  and  oceanic;  political, 
economic,  and  social;  academic,  archival,  and  curatorial.  The  sea  connects 
everything,  as  Gaddis  Smith  has  observed,  and  it  is  difficult  to  draw  rigid  lines. 

Teaching 

Historians  are  well  used  to  taking  a  running  start  to  their  subject,  and  so  "The 
State  of  American  Maritime  History  in  the  1990s"  very  much  depends  on  what 
has  been  happening,  and  in  this  case,  also  what  has  not  been  happening,  over 
the  last  decade  or  so.  We  shall  begin  with  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  subject: 
the  teaching  of  American  maritime  history  in  the  United  States  today.  To  look 
at  the  worst  of  it  first,  the  American  Historical  Association's  Directory  of  History 
Departments  shows  only  sixteen  faculty  members  at  American  institutions  who 
describe  themselves  as  American  maritime  historians.  We  know  and  admire  the 
maritime  work  of  at  least  a  dozen  Americanists  who  do  not  describe  themselves 
in  the  field,  and  we  can  add  several  medieval  historians  or  Europeanists,  like  Tim 
Runyan  and  Tony  Busch,  who  are  also  active  in  American  maritime  history. 
And  then  there  are  the  broad-gauged  navalists  such  as  Clark  Reynolds,  Ken 

Robert  B.  Townshend,  ed.,  Directory  of  History  Departments  and  Organizations  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  1991-92,  17th  ed.  (Washington,  DC:  American  Historical  Association  Institutional  Services 
Program),  1991.  Of  course  one  cannot  know  whether  Directory  information  is  provided  by  the  scholars 
themselves  in  every  instance. 


364     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

Hagan,  and  Craig  Symonds,  who  work  both  sides  of  our  street.  Further- 
more, not  all  institutions  are  listed  in  the  Directory,  and  in  the  excitement 
of  reading  five  hundred  pages  of  names  I  probably  missed  a  few.  Yet, 
taking  all  of  these  matters  into  consideration,  we  must  still  conclude  that 
there  are  no  more  than,  say,  thirty  American  maritime  historians  on  the 
faculties  of  our  colleges  and  universities  today.  Add  naval  specialists  and 
that  number  might  double. 

The  purpose  of  this  search  was  to  get  a  rough  idea  of  how  many  university- 
level  courses  in  American  maritime  history  might  be  offered  in  the  United  States 
each  year.  Many  of  these  professors  do  not  teach  the  subject  at  all;  others  offer 
such  a  course  once  every  two  or  three  years,  Gaddis  Smith  at  Yale,  for  example; 
still  others  get  to  teach  their  specialty  only  at  off-campus  programs.  There  are, 
fortunately,  two  or  three  such  opportunities.  Williams  College  co-sponsors  with 
Mystic  Seaport  Museum  an  undergraduate  Program  in  American  Maritime 
Studies.  Since  its  beginning  in  1977,  nearly  seven  hundred  undergraduates  have 
taken  that  subject  in  the  unequalled  setting  of  one  of  our  leading  maritime 
museums.  The  Sea  Education  Association  in  Woods  Hole,  Massachusetts,  offers 
a  somewhat  similar  course.  And  the  Frank  C.  Munson  Institute,  also  at  Mystic 
Seaport,  has  been  teaching  American  Maritime  History  on  the  graduate  level 
every  summer  since  1955.  Munson  alumni  are  now  represented  in  universities 
and  maritime  museums  throughout  the  country.  But  by  whatever  reckoning,  it 
is  not  easy  for  any  American  student  interested  in  pursuing  the  subject  to  do  so 
in  the  United  States. 

The  biggest  setback  in  the  teaching  of  maritime  history  has  been  at  the  one 
American  university  that  actually  has  an  endowed  chair  in  the  field.  In  1947  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  William  H.  Gardiner  gave  Harvard  University  the  then  princely  sum 
of  $250,000  to  endow  a  chair  in  "Oceanic  History  and  Affairs."  Robert 
Greenhalgh  Albion  was  appointed  its  first  occupant,  and  he  was  followed  at 
retirement  by  John  H.  Parry.  It  was  for  the  hundreds  of  students  who  took  this 
course,  incidentally,  that  Albion  prepared  the  first  comprehensive  annotated 
bibliography  of  books  in  English  relating  to  naval  and  maritime  history.  Since 
Parry's  untimely  death  in  1982,  however,  Harvard  has  failed  to  fill  this  important 
chair,  and  the  best  opportunity  for  American  graduate  students  to  prepare  in  this 
field  has  been  lost. 

To  close  this  section  on  a  happier  note  let  us  turn  to  East  Carolina  University. 
Here  is  located  the  largest  collection  of  maritime  historians  and  archaeologists 
in  the  States.  Offering  a  broad  array  of  maritime-related  courses,  including 
extensive  underwater  research  (a  field  sadly  neglected  in  this  country),  East 
Carolina  may  soon  become  our  first  and  only  institution  to  offer  a  Ph.D.  in  the 
field.  Others  could  do  so  as  well,  like  Brown  University  with  the  splendid 
resources  of  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library  QCB)  on  campus.  Director  Norman 
Fiering  of  the  JCB  and  John  Hattendorf  of  the  Naval  War  College  have  teamed 


Labaree      365 

up  to  co-sponsor  at  Brown  a  summer  maritime  studies  program  under  the 
auspices  of  the  National  Endowment  for  the  Humanities. 

The  teaching  of  American  maritime  history,  then,  remains  an  undeveloped 
field,  so  undeveloped  in  fact  that  no  one  should  at  present  encourage  graduate 
students  to  enter  the  job  market  primarily  as  maritime  historians.  Rather,  they 
should  follow  the  example  of  Bob  Albion,  originally  a  historian  of  the  British 
Empire— or  Gaddis  Smith,  an  American  diplomatic  historian,  or  Ted  Sloan,  a 
historian  of  American  business  and  technology — and  pursue  at  the  outset  a 
mainstream  position,  sneaking  a  maritime  history  course  into  the  catalog  when 
only  eager  students  are  looking.  Concerning  the  graduate  level,  far  more 
important  than  our  struggling  to  establish  entire  Ph.D.  degree  programs  in 
maritime  history  at  various  universities  is  to  offer  the  subject  as  an  ancillary  field 
in  as  many  graduate  schools  as  possible.  Unless  more  American  universities  do 
so,  the  men  and  women  who  will  become  our  future  faculty  members  will  not 
have  the  opportunity  to  study  the  subject,  and  the  number  of  courses  offered 
will  continue  to  dwindle. 

Publication 

Fortunately,  the  next  section  of  this  report  presents  a  more  positive  picture. 
In  the  last  decade  or  so,  the  publication  of  works  in  American  maritime  history 
has  continued  apace,  both  in  quantity  and  quality.  As  compiler  of  a  supplement 
to  Albion's  bibliography  of  naval  and  maritime  history,  I  can  vouch  for  the 
quantity — over  two  thousand  for  the  years  1971—1986.  While  the  great  majority 
of  these  volumes  concerns  naval  matters  or  the  maritime  history  of  nations  other 
than  the  United  States,  over  the  past  decade  or  so  hundreds  of  first-rate  books 
and  articles  have  enhanced  our  knowledge  and  understanding  of  America's 
maritime  past.  There  follows  some  of  the  more  important  works  that  have 
appeared  in  the  past  decade  or  so,  arranged  under  a  number  of  subject  headings 
and  chosen  to  demonstrate  the  breadth  of  range  within  those  headings.  Brief 
comments  suggest  their  particular  contributions.  In  the  first  group  are  books  on 
more  traditional  subjects. 

Ships,  Shipbuilding,  and  Shipping.  George  F.  Bass,  the  eminent  marine 
archaeologist  at  Texas  A&M  University,  has  provided  an  excellent  place  to  begin 
the  study  of  vessels  that  have  sailed  in  American  waters  in  his  Ships  and  Shipwrecks 

This  position  may  seem  unnecessarily  self-limited  by  those  readers  from  institutions  where  graduate 
work  is  more  narrowly  specialized  than  in  the  United  States. 

3  Benjamin  W.  Labaree,  comp.  A  Supplement  1971-1986  to  Robert  G.  Albion's  Naval  &  Maritime 
History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography  (Mystic,  Conn.:  Mystic  Seaport  Museum  for  the  Munson  Institute 
of  American  Maritime  Studies,  1988). 

Robert  Greenhalgh  Albion,  comp.  Naval  &  Maritime  History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography.  4th  ed.  rev. 
and  expanded  (Mystic,  Conn.:  The  Marine  Historical  Association  for  the  Munson  Institute  of  American 
Maritime  History,  1972). 


366     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

of  the  Americas.  One  of  the  nation's  premier  shipbuilding  regions, 
Connecticut's  Mystic  River  is  the  subject  of  William  N.  Peterson's 
"Mystic  Built"*  a  book  that  is  particularly  noteworthy  for  the  way  in 
which  the  author  integrates  shipbuilding  activities  into  the  community 
as  a  whole.  In  Steam  and  the  Sea,  Paul  Johnston  gives  us  a  well-written 
and  handsomely  illustrated  book  to  accompany  the  Peabody  Museum's 
exhibit  on  the  origins  and  development  of  steam  in  American  coastal 

Q 

waters  and  transoceanic  routes.  Virginia  S.  Wood's  Live  Oaking  is  the 
definitive  study  of  how  timber  from  the  live  oak  forests  of  the  American 
south  was  procured  for  mercantile  and  naval  shipbuilding.  The  eleven 
essays  comprising  Robert  A.  Kilmarx,  ed.,  America's  Maritime  Legacy 
provide  a  much-needed  update  of  J.G.B.  Hutchins'  American  Maritime 
Industries,  published  in  1941.  In  each  of  these  works,  as  in  all  good  books 
about  ships  per  se,  vessels  are  shown  to  be  the  carefully  wrought  products 
of  designers  and  builders  and  are  the  means  to  some  further  end,  be  it 
commerce,  fishing,  science,  or  whatever,  rather  than  merely  ends  in 
themselves. 

Discovery  and  Exploration.  Daniel  Boorstin  provides  a  sweeping  intro- 
duction to  the  expansion  of  Europe  in  The  Discoverers,  the  overarching 
theme  of  which  is  the  intellectual  progress  that  opened  up  "the  world  we 
now  view  from  the  literate  West."  One  of  the  most  exciting  books  in  this 
category  must  certainly  be  Alfred  W.  Crosby's  The  Biological  Expansion  of 
Europe,  an  expansion  of  the  theme  first  set  forth  twenty  years  ago  in  his 
Columbian  Exchange,  showing  how  European  disease,  animals,  and  plants 
contributed  to  the  conquest  of  the  native  populations  in  the  world's  temperate 
zones.  "Maritime  History?"  one  might  ask.  Certainly,  for  Crosby's  work  explores 
the  paradoxical  role  of  the  sea  in  human  affairs,  isolating  peoples  from  one 
another  for  centuries  and  then  carrying  foreign  diseases  into  their  society.  The 

George  F.  Bass,  Ships  and  Shipwrecks  of  the  Americas:  A  History  based  on  Underwater  Archaeology  (London: 
Thames  and  Hudson,  1988). 

6  William  N.  Peterson,  "Mystic  Built:"  Ships  and  Shipyards  of  the  Mystic  River,  Connecticut,  1 784-1919 
(Mystic,  Conn.:  Mystic  Seaport  Museum,  1989). 

Paul  Johnston,  Steam  and  the  Sea  (Salem,  Mass.:  Peabody  Museum,  1983). 

Virgiania  S.  Wood,  Live  Oaking:  Southern  Timber  for  Tall  Ships  (Boston:  Northeastern  Univ.  Press, 
1981). 

Robert  A.  Kilmarx,  ed.,  America's  Maritime  Legacy:  A  History  of  the  U.S.  Merchant  Marine  and 
Shipbuilding  Industry  since  Colonial  Times  (Boulder,  Colo.:  Westview,  1979). 

Daniel  Boorstin,  The  Discoverers  (New  York:  Random,  1983). 
11    Alfred  W.  Crosby,  The  Biological  Expansion  of  Europe,  900-1900  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ. 
Press,  1986). 

1  0 

Alfred  W.  Crosby,  The  Columbian  Exchange:  Biological  and  Cultural  Consequences  of  1492  (Westport, 
Conn.:  Greenwood  Publishing,  1972). 


Labaree      367 

best  of  the  many  works  cornmemorating  the  Columbian  quincentenary  are  William  D. 

Phillips  and  Carla  Rahn  Phillips,  The  Worlds  of  Christopher  Columbus     and  Felipe 

Fernandez-Armesto's  Columbus.     More  specialized  essays  on  the  history  of  North 

American  discovery  and  exploration  are  edited  in  a  useful  volume  by  Stanley  H. 

Palmer  and  Dennis  Reinhartz.     Two  recent  works  give  us  contrasting  insights 

1  f\ 
into  American  exploration  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  Icebound      Leonard 

Guttridge  makes  the  tragedy  of  a  failed  polar  expedition  into  a  fascinating  study 

of  leadership.   Voyage  to  the  Southern  Ocean,      on  the  other  hand,  is  an  ably  edited 

collection  of  letters  by  a  participant  in  the  highly  successful  Wilkes  Expedition. 

Whaling  and  Fishing.  A  perennially  popular  subject  for  American  maritime 

writers  is  whaling,  and  to  a  lesser  extent  commercial  fishing.  The  past  decade  has 

1  ft 
brought  several  significant  additions  to  this  literature.  Robert  L.  Webb     and  John 

Bockstoce     add  much  to  our  understanding  of  the  whaling  industry  by  taking  their 

readers  into  new  waters.  In  Doum  on  T- Wharf,     Andrew  German's  excellent  text 

accompanies  a  superb  collection  of  photographs  and  reminds  us  of  how  the  New 

England  fishing  industry  used  to  be.  In  contrast,  William  Warner's  study  of  Atlantic 

deepwater  fishing,     though  ten  years  old,  nevertheless  foretells  in  timely  fashion 

the  decline  in  both  coastal  and  offshore  fishing  that  has  only  recendy  brought  drastic 

action  by  both  U.S.  and  Canadian  authorities.  The  outstanding  book  in  this  general 

category  is  Briton  Cooper  Busch's  remarkable  history  of  sealing.      It  is  the  first 

definitive  study  of  this  highly  charged  subject  and  offers  both  the  commercial  and 

environmental  points  of  view  fair  hearings. 

Commerce  and  Shipping.  Surely,  one  might  think,  there  can  be  little  new 
to  be  said  about  maritime  trade  and  commerce,  and  yet  each  year  increasing 

William  D.  Phillips  and  Carla  Rahn  Phillips,  The  Worlds  of  Christopher  Columbus  (Cambridge: 
Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1992). 
14   Felipe  Fernandez- Armesto,  Columbus  (New  York:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1991). 

Stanley  H.  Palmer  and  Dennis  Reinhartz,  Essays  on  the  History  of  North  American  Discovery  and 
Exploration  (College  Station:  Texas  A&M  Univ.  Press,  1988). 

Leonard  Guttridge,  Icebound:  The  Jeannette  Expedition's  Quest  for  the  North  Pole  (Annapolis:  Naval 
Institute  Press,  1986). 

Anne  Hoffman  Cleaver  and  Jeffrey  Stann,  eds.,  Voyage  to  the  Southern  Ocean:  The  Letters  of  Lieutenant 
William  Reynolds  from  the  U.S.  Exploring  Expedition,  1838-1842  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1988). 
18  Robert  L.  Webb,  On  the  Northwest:  Commercial  Whaling  in  the  Pacific  Northwest,  1790-1961 
(Vancouver:  Univ.  of  British  Columbia  Press,  1988). 

John  Bockstoce,  Whales,  Ice,  and  Men:  The  History  of  Whaling  in  the  Western  Arctic  (Seattle:  Univ.  of 
Washington  Press,  1986). 

Andrew  German,  Down  on  T-  Wharf:  The  Boston  Fisheries  as  Seen  through  the  Photographs  of  Henry  D. 
Fisher  (Mystic,  Conn.:  Mystic  Seaport  Museum,  1982). 

21  William  W.  Warner,  Distant  Water:  The  Fate  of  the  North  Atlantic  Fisherman  (Boston:  Litde,  Brown,  1 983) . 

22  Briton  Cooper  Busch,  The  War  Against  the  Seals:  A  History  of  the  North  American  Seal  Fishery  (Kingston 
and  Montreal:  McGill-Queen's  Univ.  Press,  1985). 


368     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

numbers  of  books  and  articles  probe  still  unexplored  aspects  of  this  most 
fundamental  theme  in  maritime  history.  The  challenge  here  is  to  choose  from 
among  hundreds  of  recent  works  five  or  six  that  give  us  new  perspectives  on 
this  old  subject,  that  show  commerce  as  an  activity  with  consequences  that  reach 
far  beyond  the  economic  bottom  line.  Here  we  must  begin  with  Philip  D. 
Curtin's  Cross- Cultural  Trade  in  World  History,  which  concentrates  on  both 
maritime  and  overland  commerce  as  a  vehicle  of  culture  through  many  parts  of 
the  world.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  is  the  study  of  Irish- American  trade  by 
Thomas  M.  Truxes.  Richard  Johnson  has  used  the  career  of  Bostonian  John 
Nelson  to  explain  the  commercial  and  political  relations  between  New  England 
and  New  France  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Finally,  on  a  totally 
different  scale  is  the  business  history  of  the  American  President  Lines  by  John 
Niven,  which  places  the  operation  of  this  important  transpacific  company  into 
the  broad  context  of  maritime  policy. 

Here  is  perhaps  the  best  place  to  note  the  most  recent  attempt  to  put  into  one 
volume  a  maritime  history  of  the  United  States,  this  one  by  the  late  Jack  Bauer. 
Its  strength  lies  in  the  author's  knowledgeable  treatment  of  America's  inland 
waterways  and  their  integration  into  the  maritime  world  beyond  our  coasts. 
Coastal  shipping  and  the  fisheries  are  also  well  treated.  Unfortunately,  Bauer's 
handling  of  the  topic  of  overseas  commerce  after  the  Civil  War  is  marred  by  his 
mounting  distress  over  the  decline  of  American-flag  shipping. 

•   •   • 

The  past  decade  of  scholarly  works  in  maritime  history  would  be  noteworthy 
enough  on  the  strength  of  the  foregoing  works.  But  what  has  made  the  past  ten 
years  particularly  exciting  is  the  abundance  of  new  work  in  less  conventional 
aspects  of  the  field.  Let  us  turn  now  to  this  second  group. 

Seaports.  One  must  begin  somewhere,  and  so  we  will  start  on  dry  land,  with 
some  of  the  books  that  have  illuminated  our  understanding  of  seaports.  Begin- 
ning in  New  England,  Christine  L.  Heyrman's  excellent  study  of  Gloucester  and 
Marblehead     examines  the  culture  of  these  two  fishing  communities  as  it  related 

23  Philip  D.  Curtin,  Cross- Cultural  Trade  in  World  History  (London:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1984). 

24  Thomas  M.  Truxes,  Irish- American  Trade,  1660-1783  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1988). 
Richard  Johnson,  John  Nelson,  Merchant  Adventurer:  A  Life  Between  Empires  (New  York:  Oxford  Univ. 

Press,  1991). 

26  John  Niven,  The  American  President  Lines  and  Its  Forebears,   1848-1984:  From  Paddlewheelers  to 

Containerships  (Newark:  Univ.  of  Delaware  Press,  1986). 

Jack  Bauer,  A  Maritime  History  of  the  United  States:  The  Role  of  America's  Seas  and  Waterways 
(Charleston:  Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press,  1988). 

Christine  L.  Heyrman,  Commerce  and  Culture:  The  Maritime  Communities  of  Colonial  Massachusetts, 
1690-1750  (New  York:  W.W.  Norton,  1984). 


Labaree     369 

to  their  commercial  activities.  In  contrast,  the  planning  and  development  of  New 
York's  waterfront  over  the  course  of  three  centuries  is  the  subject  of  Ann 
Buttenwiser's  Manhattan  Water-Bound,  while  Philip  C.F.  Smith  has  made 
extensive  use  of  maps,  lithographs,  and  photographs  to  demonstrate  that 
Philadelphia  was  and  remains  a  major  port  city.  New  Orleans,  of  all  major 
American  ports  perhaps  the  most  neglected  by  maritime  historians,  has  been  the 
focus  of  several  recent  studies,  the  most  comprehensive  of  which  is  Eric 
Arensen's  Waterfront  Workers  of  New  Orleans.  The  author  considers  such  topics 
as  the  relationship  between  blacks  who  worked  the  waterfront  and  the  larger 
black  community,  and  the  effects  of  race  relations  on  the  unions.  Another 
overlooked  seaport,  Portland,  Oregon,  is  the  subject  of  a  study  by  E.  Kimbark 
MacColl.  Bruce  Nelson's  Workers  on  the  Waterfront  focuses  on  the  1930s  and 
gives  particular  attention  to  west  coast  ports.  In  Atlantic  Port  Cities,  Franklin 
W.  Knight  and  Peggy  K.  Liss  have  edited  the  papers  of  a  1986  conference  that 
took  as  its  point  of  departure  Jacob  Price's  essay  of  1974  entitled  "Economic 
Function  and  the  Growth  of  American  Port  Towns  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury."  Despite  the  title  of  the  conference  essays,  however,  the  book  focuses 
almost  exclusively  on  Latin  America  and  Caribbean  ports. 

Inland  Waterways.  Until  recently  American  maritime  historians  have  largely 
ignored  the  Great  Lakes  and  other  inland  waterways  that  have  carried  a  large 
portion  of  this  nation's  produce  to  the  seaports  from  which  it  was  ultimately 
exported.  Now,  however,  we  have  in  addition  to  Jack  Bauer's  Maritime  History 
of  the  United  States  mentioned  above,  a  number  of  studies  that  focus  on  American 
canals  and  riverways  and  the  men  who  served  them.  Michael  Allen's  Western 
Rivermen,  1 763-1861  is  a  case  in  point.  The  author  explains  how  and  why  the 
men  who  operated  the  flatboats  and  rafts  became  romanticized  by  a  rapidly 
industrializing  nation.  Further  downstream  Harry  P.  Owens  has  studied  the 
effect  of  steam  on  the  transportation  of  cotton  in  the  Yazoo-Mississippi 

Ann  Buttenwiser,  Manhattan  WaterBound:  Planning  and  Developing  Manhattan's  Waterfront  from  the 
Seventeenth  Century  to  the  Present  (New  York:  New  York  Univ.  Press,  1987). 

30  Philip  C.F.  Smith,  Philadelphia  on  the  River  (Pennsylvania:  Philadelphia  Maritime  Museum,  1986). 

31  Eric  Arensen,  Waterfront  Workers  of  New  Orelans:  Race,  Class,  and  Politics,  1863-1923  (New  York: 
Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1991). 

32  E.  Kimbark  MacColl,  Merchants,  Money,  and  Power:  The  Portland  Establishment,  1843-1913  (Portland, 
Ore.:  Georgian,  1988). 

Bruce  Nelson,  Workers  on  the  Waterfront:  Seamen,  Longshoremen,  and  Unionism  in  the  1930s  (Urbana: 
Univ.  of  Illinois  Press,  1988). 

Franklin  W.  Knight  and  Peggy  K.  Liss,  Atlantic  Port  Cities:  Economy,  Culture,  and  Society  in  the  Atlantic 
World,  1650-1850  (Knoxville:  Univ.  of  Tennessee  Press,  1991). 

Jacob  Price,  "Economic  Function  and  the  Growth  of  American  Port  Towns  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century"  in  Perspectives  in  American  History,  vol.  VIII,  pp.  123-86. 

36  Michael  Allen,  Western  Rivermen,  1763-1861:  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Boatmen  and  the  Myth  of  the  Alligator 
Horse  (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana  State  Univ.  Press,  1990). 


370     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

delta.  Of  broader  scope  is  Western  River  Transportation,  by  Erik  Haites  and 
others,  who  put  their  subject  into  the  context  of  national  policy.  Robert  Shaw 
has  given  us  two  useful  books,  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  Erie  Canal  and  a 
fresh  history  of  the  canal  era  itself  in  Canals  for  a  Nation. 

Immigration.  After  a  long  hiatus,  American  historians  are  once  again  writing 
about  immigration,  and  several  of  the  recent  works  on  this  subject  give  at  least 
some  attention  to  the  oceanic  crossing  itself.  Thus  David  Cressy's  "Coming 
Over'  includes  a  perceptive  chapter  on  the  passage  to  America.  Farley  Grubb 
has  published  his  important  research  concerning  immigration  into  colonial 
Philadelphia  in  three  articles,  and  A.  Roger  Ekirch's  Bound  for  America  focuses 
on  the  transportation  of  British  convicts  into  the  mainland  colonies.  Although 
not  literally  about  immigration,  James  P.  Delgado's  To  California  by  Sea  gives 
us  not  only  a  readable  account  of  the  sea  passage  to  the  gold  fields,  but  also  a 
first-rate  history  of  San  Francisco's  early  years  as  a  seaport.  One  could  not  close 
this  section  without  mentioning  Bernard  Bailyn's  splendid  study,  Voyaging  to  the 
West,  although  it  is  perhaps  less  concerned  with  the  maritime  aspects  of  his 
subject  than  the  title  might  suggest. 

Seamen,  Women,  and  Members  of  Ethnic  Minorities.  It  is  clear  to  the 
most  casual  observer  that  the  most  significant  innovation  in  the  writing  of 
American  maritime  history  in  the  past  decade  or  so  has  been  the  increasing 
number  of  younger  scholars  who  have  focused  their  research  on  the  lives  of 

Harry  P.  Owens,  Steamboats  and  the  Cotton  Economy:  River  Trade  in  the  Yazoo-Mississippi  Delta  (Jackson: 
Univ.  of  Mississippi  Press,  1990). 

38  Erik  F.  Haites,  James  Mak,  and  Gary  Walton,  Western  River  Transportation:  The  Era  of  Early  Internal 
Development,  1810-1860  (Baltimore:  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Press,  1990). 

39  Robert  Shaw,  Erie  Water  West:  A  History  of  the  Erie  Canal,  1 792- 1 854  (Lexington:  Univ.  of  Kentucky 
Press,  1990). 

40  Robert  Shaw,  Canals  for  a  Nation:  The  Canal  Era  in  the  United  States  1790-1860  (Lexington:  Univ. 
of  Kentucky  Press,  1991). 

David  Cressy,  "Coming  Over:"  Migration  and  Communication  Between  England  and  New  England  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1987). 

Farley  Grubb,  "British  Immigration  into  Philadelphia:  The  Reconstruction  of  Ship  Passenger  Lists 
from  May  1772  to  October  1773,"  Pennsylvania  History,  vol.  55  (1988),  pp.  118-41;  Farley  Grubb,  "The 
Market  Structure  of  Shipping  German  Immigrants  to  Philadelphia,"  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History 
and  Biography,  vol.  Ill  (1987),  pp.  27-48;  and  Farley  Grubb,  "Morbidity  and  Mortality  on  the  North 
Atlantic  Passage:  Eighteenth  Century  German  Immigration,"  Journal  of  Interdisciplinary  History,  vol.  17 
(1987),  pp.  565-85. 

A.  Roger  Ekirch,  Bound  for  America:  The  Transportation  of  British  Convicts  to  the  Colonies,  1718—1775, 
(New  York:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1987). 

44  James  P.  Delgado,  To  California  by  Sea:  A  Maritime  History  of  the  California  Gold  Rush  (Columbia: 
Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press,  1990). 

Bernard  Bailyn,  Voyaging  to  the  West:  A  Passage  in  the  Peopling  of  America  on  the  Eve  of  the  Revolution 
(New  York:  Knopf,  1986). 


Labaree      371 

ordinary  mariners,  including  those  belonging  to  ethnic  minorities,  and  on  the 
role  of  women  in  this  maritime  society.  It  is  premature  to  proclaim,  as  Marcus 
Rediker  has  done,  that  their  work  constitutes  a  "New  Maritime  History,"  for 
consensus  among  them  has  not  yet  advanced  beyond  a  shared  subject-matter. 
Yet  it  is  encouraging  to  note  how  often  they  discuss  their  work  together,  at 
conferences,  in  "roundtable  articles,"  and  in  collaborative  books.  These  scholars 
also  work  across  international  boundaries,  bringing  to  life  the  dictum  that  "the 
sea  is  one,"  to  which  most  of  their  elders  have  given  little  more  than  lip  service. 
Indeed,  even  to  discuss  this  subject  from  a  "Canadian,"  "American,"  "British," 
or  "Scandinavian"  point  of  view  seems  unnatural.  Like  most  "new"  work,  the 
writings  of  this  generation  have  been  influenced  by  several  precedents,  most 
notably  Ralph  Davis's  The  Rise  of  the  English  Shipping  Industry  (1962)  and  Jesse 
Lemisch's  "Jack  Tar  in  the  Streets" (1968). 

Let  us  begin  with  seamen  in  general  and  therefore  with  Margaret  S. 
Creighton's  Dog  Watch  and  Liberty  Days.  Written  as  the  catalogue  to  accom- 
pany an  exhibit  the  author  arranged  for  the  Peabody  Museum,  Dog  Watch  is 
based  largely  on  research  done  for  her  dissertation.  Creighton  provides  through 
text  and  illustration  an  unembellished  glimpse  into  the  lives  of  ordinary  sailors. 
More  specialized  is  Daniel  F.  Vickers'  "Nantucket  Whalemen  in  the  Deep-Sea 
Fishery,"*  in  which  he  places  mariners  into  the  broader  context  of  the  general 
labor  force.  In  "Physical  and  Social  Profiles  of  Early  American  Seafarers, 
1812-1815,"  Ira  Dye  provides  us  with  invaluable  information  gleaned  from 
British  Admiralty  records  of  American  prisoners.  The  best  known  and  most 
controversial  of  recent  studies  of  maritime  society  is  Marcus  Rediker' s  Between 

CO 

the  Devil  and  the  Deep  Blue  Sea.  Here  the  author  attempts  to  show  that  the 
common  seamen  of  the  mid-eighteenth  century  in  fact  constituted  a  proletariat. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  catalogue  the  critiques  other  scholars  (younger  and  older 

Ralph  Davis,  The  Rise  of  the  English  Shipping  Industry  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries 
(London:  Macmillan,  1963). 

Jesse  Lemisch,  "Jack  Tar  in  the  Streets:  Merchant  Seamen  in  the  Politics  of  Revolutionary  America," 
William  and  Mary  Quarterly,  3rd  ser.  25  (1968),  pp.  371-80. 

Margaret  S.  Creighton,  Dog  Watch  and  Liberty  Days:  Seafaring  Life  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  (Salem, 
Mass.:  Peabody  Museum,  1982). 

Margaret  S.  Creighton,  "The  Private  Life  of  Jack  Tar:  Sailors  at  Sea  in  the  Nineteenth  Century," 
Ph.D.  diss.,  Boston  Univ.,  1985). 

Daniel  F.  Vickers,  "Nantucket  Whalemen  in  the  Deep-Sea  Fishery:  The  Changing  Anatomy  of  an 
Early  American  Labor  Force ,"  Journal  of  American  History,  72  (1985),  pp.  277-96.  This  article  is  largely 
based  on  sections  of  the  author's  "Maritime  Labor  in  Colonial  Massachusetts:  A  Case  Study  of  the  Essex 
County  Cod  Fishery  and  Whaling  Industry  of  Nantucket,  1630-1775"  (Ph.D.  diss.,  Princeton  Univ.,  1981). 

Ira  Dye,  "Physical  and  Social  Profiles  of  Early  American  Seafarers,  1812-1815,"  in  Colin  Howell 
and  Richard  Twomey,  eds.,Jack  Tar  in  History:  Essays  in  the  History  of  Maritime  Life  and  Labour  (Fredricton: 
Acadiensis  Press,  1991),  pp.  220-35. 

Marcus  Rediker,  Between  the  Devil  and  the  Deep  Blue  Sea:  Merchant  Seamen,  Pirates,  and  the 
Anglo-American  Maritime  World,  1700-1750  (Massachusetts:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1987). 


372     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

alike)  have  made  of  Rediker's  book,  but  all  would  agree  that  he  has  stimulated 
our  thinking  as  no  other  maritime  scholar  in  recent  years.  With  co-author  Peter 
Linebaugh,  Rediker  has  expanded  his  challenging  interpretation  in  "The  Many- 
Headed  Hydra." 

One  segment  of  American  seamen  as  a  topic  that  has  attracted  attention 
from  both  older  and  younger  historians  is  the  role  of  blacks  and  members  of 
other  ethnic  minorities  in  the  maritime  workforce.  Martha  S.  Putney's  Black 
Sailors  and  James  B.  Farr's  Black  Odyssey  are  worthy  efforts  to  get  at  a 
difficult  subject.  More  thorough  in  both  concept  and  research  is  Jeffrey 
Bolster's  prize-winning  article  "To  Feel  Like  a  Man."  Judging  from  the 
article,  we  eagerly  await  the  author's  forthcoming  book  on  the  subject. 
Meanwhile,  in  his  biography  of  Captain  Paul  Cuffe,  Rise  to  be  a  People,  ' 
Thomas  D.  Lamont  shows  that  not  all  black  mariners  were  condemned  to  a 
life  in  the  fo'c'sle.  Briton  Cooper  Busch  has  given  us  a  glimpse  into  the  lives 
of  another  ethnic  minority  in  "Cape  Verdeans  in  the  American  Whaling  and 
Sealing  Industry,  1850-1900."58 

One  of  the  first  of  the  younger  historians  to  have  considered  the  role  of 
women  in  the  maritime  community  is  Julia  C.  Bonham.  Fifteen  years  ago  she 
published  the  results  of  her  work  at  Mystic  Seaport  Museum's  Munson  Institute 
and  Brown  University  as  "Feminist  and  Victorian:  The  Paradox  of  the  American 
Seafaring  Woman  of  the  Nineteenth  Century."  Since  that  time  scholars  have 
broadened  the  scope  of  this  topic  through  an  increasing  number  of  articles. 
Among  the  most  ambitious  are  two  by  Lisa  Norling,  "Contrary  Dependencies: 
Whaling  Agents  and  Whalemen's  Families,  1830—1870"  and  "the  Sentimen- 
talization  of  American  Seafaring,"  and  a  particularly  strong  synthesizing  essay 
by  Margaret  S.  Creighton,  "Women  and  Men  in  American  Whaling,  1830— 

53  Peter  Linebaugh  and  Marcus  Rediker,  "The  Many  Headed  Hydra:  Sailors,  Slaves,  and  the  Atlantic 
Working  Class  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  Journal  of  Historical  Sociology.  3  (1990),  pp.  225-52.  This 
article  has  been  reprinted  in  Howell  and  Twomey,  eds.,  Jack  Tar  in  History,  pp.  1 1-36. 

Martha  S.  Putney,  Black  Sailors:  Afro-American  Merchant  Seamen  and  Whalemen  Prior  to  the  Civil  War 
(Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1987). 

James  B.  Farr,  Black  Odyssey:  The  Seafaring  Tradition  of  Afro-Americans  (New  York:  Lang,  1989). 

Jeffrey  Bolster,  "To  Feel  like  a  Man:  Black  Seamen  in  the  Northern  States,  1800-1860,"  Journal  of  American 
History,  vol  76.  1990,  pp.  1173-99,  based  on  research  done  for  Bolster's  "African- American  Seamen:  Race, 
Seafaring  Work,  and  Adantic  Maritime  Culture,  1750-1860"  (Ph.D.  diss.,  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.,  1992). 

Thomas  D.  Lamont,  Rise  to  be  a  People:  A  Biography  of  Paul  Cuffe  (Urbana:  Univ.  of  Illinois  Press,  1986). 

Briton  Cooper  Busch,  "Cape  Verdeans  in  the  American  Whaling  and  Sealing  Industry,  1850-1900," 
American  Neptune,  45  (1985),  pp.  104-16. 

59  Julia  C.  Bonham,  "Feminist  and  Victorian:  The  Paradox  of  the  American  Seafaring  Woman  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,"  American  Neptune,  vol.  37  (1977),  pp.  203-18. 

60  Lisa  Norling,  "Contrary  Dependencies:  Whaling  Agents  and  Whalemen's  Families,  1830-1870," 
Log  of  Mystic  Seaport,  vol.  42  (1990),  pp.  3-12. 

61  Lisa  Norling,  "  The  Sentimentalization  of  American  Seafaring:  The  Case  of  the  New  England  Whale 
Fishery,  1790-1870  "  in  Howell  and  Twomey,  eds.,  Jack  Tar  in  History,  pp.  164-78. 


Labaree     373 

1870."  Noteworthy  among  the  others  are  Caroline  Mosely's  "Images  of 
Young  Women  in  Nineteenth  Century  Songs  of  the  Sea"  and  Joan  Druett's 
"More  Decency  and  Order:  Women  and  Whalemen  in  the  Pacific."  Most 
recently  Ms.  Druett  has  provided  an  award-winning  edition  of  the  American 
Mary  Brewster's  journals.  Focusing  on  a  more  recent  period  is  Amy 
Kesselman's  monograph,  Fleeting  Opportunities,  about  women  shipyard 
workers  during  World  War  II.  Charlene  J.  Allison  et  al.  have  studied  the 
growing  role  of  women  in  the  Northwest  fisheries.  Numerous  other 
memoirs  of  sea-going  women  have  been  published  in  the  last  decade  or  so, 

zro 

includingjane  Balano's  Log  of  the  Skipper's  Wife  and  Julia  FreeHand's  edition 
of  the  memoirs  of  Captain  Sumner  Drinkwater  and  his  wife  Alice. 

In  closing  this  section  I  should  like  to  reiterate  a  point  I  made  at  its  outset. 
Compared  to  the  teaching  of  American  maritime  history,  the  publication  of  books 
and  articles  in  the  field  seems  to  remain  numerically  quite  strong,  perhaps  one 
hundred  or  so  a  year.  And  yet  a  quick  survey  of  the  American  Neptune  during  the 
five-year  period  1988-1992  shows  that  only  fifty-eight  (35.8  percent)  of  the  one 
hundred  sixty-two  books  reviewed  there  concern  American  maritime  history 
(distinct  from  naval),  with  another  thirty  (18.8  percent)  on  European  maritime 
subjects.  In  contrast,  sixty-three  works  on  American  and  European  naval  history 
account  for  38.9  percent  of  the  total.  In  one  sense  these  figures  reflect  how 
broadly  interpreted  the  phrase  maritime  history  is,  and  how  successful  the  efforts 
of  the  Neptune  editors  have  been  in  reaching  beyond  national  boundaries. 

Museums 

Before  we  conclude  that  America's  maritime  past  is  disappearing  as  rapidly  as 
its  deep  water  mercantile  fleet,  let  us  turn  to,  and  close  with,  the  bright  spot  on 

Margaret  S.  Creighton,  "Women  and  Men  in  American  Whaling,  1830-1870,"  Intematiotial  Journal  of 
Maritime  History,  vol.  4  (1992),  pp.  195-218. 

Caroline  Mosely,  "Images  of  Young  Women  in  Nineteenth  Century  Songs  of  the  Sea,"  Log  of  Mystic 
Seaport,  vol.  35  (1984),  pp.  132-39. 

Joan  Druett,  "More  Decency  and  Order:  Women  and  Whalemen  in  the  Pacific,"  Log  of  Mystic 
Seaport,  vol.  39  (1987),  pp.  65-74. 

65  Joan  Druett,  "She  was  a  Sister  Sailor":  The  Whaling  Journals  of  Mary  Brewster,  1845-1851  (Mystic, 
Conn.:  Mystic  Seaport  Museum,  1992).  Properly  speaking,  Ms.  Druett's  book  should  not  be  listed  here 
because  she  is  a  New  Zealander,  but  Mary  Brewster  was  an  American,  her  journal  is  in  the  library  of 
Mystic  Seaport  Museum  library,  and  the  book  was  also  published  by  Mystic  in  its  American  Maritime 
Library  series.  Recently  the  North  American  Society  for  Oceanic  History  recognized  "She  was  a  Sister 
Sailor"  as  the  best  non-naval  book  of  nautical  history  published  in  1992. 

Amy  Kesselman,  Fleeting  Opportunities:  Women  Shipyard  Workers  in  Portland  and  Vancouver  during  World 
War  II  and  Reconversion  (Albany:  State  Univ.  of  New  York  Press,  1990). 

67  Charlene  J.  Allison,  Sue-Ellen  Jacobs,  and  Mary  A.  Porter,  Winds  of  Change:  Women  in  Northwest 
Commercial  Fishing  (Seattle:  Univ.  of  Washington  Press,  1989). 

68  James  W.  Balano,  ed.,  The  Log  of  the  Skipper's  Wife  (Camden,  Maine:  Down  East  Books,  1979). 
Julia  Freehand,  A  Seafaring  Legacy:  The  Photographs,  Diaries,  Letters,  and  Memorabilia  of  a  Maine  Sea  Captain 

(Sumner  Drinkwater  and  his  Wife  [Alice  Drinkwater])  1859-1908  (New  York:  Random  House,  1981). 


374     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

the  scene:  America's  maritime  museums.  With  few  exceptions,  these  institutions 
are  private  and  not  for  profit.  Most  of  them  are  dependent  on  endowments,  gifts, 
and  membership  dues  instead  of  government  subsidies  for  their  support.  Most 
of  them  have  increasingly  come  to  rely  on  such  sources  as  sales  at  retail  stores, 
program  charges,  and  admissions  fees.  For  this  reason,  whatever  activities  might 
attract  tourists  and  other  visitors — chowder  festivals,  Fourth  of  July  celebrations, 
popcorn  and  ice  cream  vendors,  horse-and-buggy  rides — get  serious  attention 
by  the  management. 

But  there  is  an  upside  to  this  unfortunate  aspect  as  well.  To  some  extent  the 
need  to  attract  visitors  accounts  for  what  maritime  museums  in  America  are  most 
noted — the  number  and  quality  of  preserved  vessels  they  have  in  the  water.  Each 
year  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  climb  aboard,  walk  the  decks,  and  go 
below  "tall  ships"  (as  the  ad-writers  love  to  call  them)  from  Mystic  Seaport's 
nineteenth-century  whaleship  Charles  W.  Morgan,  or  South  Street  Seaport's 
Cape  Horner  Peking,  Galveston's  bark  Elissa,  or  San  Diego's  Star  of  India,  to  note 
but  four  out  of  a  score  or  more  such  museum  ships.  Still  more  scores  of  vessels 
are  preserved  on  dry  land  or  under  cover.  The  vessel  should  not  be  romanticized 
as  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  maritime  history,  but  as  a  means  of  educating  the 
public  about  our  maritime  past,  an  invitation  to  inspect  a  historic  vessel  firsthand 
is  hard  to  beat.  On  the  other  hand,  inviting  upwards  of  a  half-million  people  to 
tramp  all  over  your  last  wooden  whaleship  is  hardly  the  best  way  to  preserve  it! 
To  the  non-seagoing  public,  however,  these  vessels  do  not  interpret  themselves 
very  well,  and  no  amount  of  labeling  "martingales,"  "crojacks,"  and  "fo'c'sles" 
will  help.  Not  surprisingly,  therefore,  the  effort  to  explain  these  exhibits  to  the 
visitor  takes  up  a  large  share  of  the  budget  and  leaves  staff  members  of  American 
museums  with  far  less  time  for  research  and  writing  than  have  their  colleagues 
elsewhere. 

With  this  generalized  introduction,  we  should  look  at  what  is  happening  at 
some  of  our  best  maritime  museums,  because  if  this  history  is  to  survive  in 
America,  it  will  depend  largely  on  these  institutions,  not  on  our  universities.  To 
demonstrate  some  of  the  ways  these  institutions  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the 
country  carry  out  their  goals,  the  following  institutions  were  chosen  from  a 
group  of  fifteen  or  so  whose  staff  responded  to  a  recent  questionnaire  concerning 
their  activities. 

At  the  Hawaii  Maritime  Center  in  Honolulu,  forty-five  exhibits  cover 
Hawaii's  maritime  heritage  from  precontact  to  the  present.  Its  most  recent  special 
exhibit  focused  on  the  Japanese  attack  on  Pearl  Harbor.  In  addition  to  numerous 
public  lectures  throughout  the  year,  the  Maritime  Center  sponsors  an  annual 
conference  on  maritime  history  and  underwater  archaeology.  Its  most  active 
educational  program  brings  3,000  school  children  to  the  museum  each  month  to 
plot  the  track  of  the  Museum's  Polynesian  voyaging  canoe.  It  is  now  building  a 
second  canoe  of  traditional  materials  to  retrace  the  route  of  Hawaii's  original 


Labaree      375 

settlers  without  the  aid  of  modern  instruments.  The  Museum's  total  annual 
visitation  is  about  100,000. 

Near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  in  Astoria,  Oregon,  the  Columbia 
River  Maritime  Museum  focuses  on  fur  trade  and  exploration  of  the  Northwest 
coast,  fishing,  and  river  navigation.  The  West  Coast's  last  working  lightship, 
Columbia,  is  now  moored  at  the  museum  and  open  to  visitors.  The  Museum's 
most  recent  special  exhibits  have  been  "Marine  Art  of  the  Pacific  Northwest" 
and  "This  Noble  River:  Robert  Grey  and  the  Columbia."  Four  special  projects 
collectively  called  the  "Year  of  the  Fisherman"  received  the  Award  of  Merit 
from  the  American  Association  of  State  and  Local  History  in  1990.  School  groups 
are  admitted  without  charge  throughout  the  year,  and  Astoria's  community 
college  offers  a  course  on  Columbia  River  Maritime  History.  Other  state  and 
regional  universities  co-sponsor  additional  lectures  and  research  throughout  the 
year.  The  Museum  publishes  a  quarterly  magazine,  Quarterdeck,  featuring 
scholarly  articles  for  its  2,000-plus  members  and  has  an  annual  visitation  of  just 
under  100,000. 

The  Mariners  Museum  at  Newport  News,  Virginia,  is  one  of  the  nation's 
largest  such  institutions,  perhaps  best  known  for  its  research  library  and  archives, 
which  includes  a  superb  collection  of  nearly  500,000  photographs.  The 
Museum's  Chesapeake  Bay  Gallery,  opened  in  1989,  displays  hundreds  of 
artifacts,  photographs,  and  maps  relating  to  that  important  inland  sea.  The  work 
of  William  Francis  Gibbs,  designer  of  the  Liberty  ship  and  the  S.S.  United  States, 
among  many  other  commercial  and  naval  vessels,  is  commemorated  in  another 
new  gallery.  The  Mariners  Museum  sponsors  a  scholarly  lecture  series,  as  well 
as  a  graduate  course  in  Maritime  Geography  through  the  University  of  Virginia. 
More  than  20,000  school  children  particpate  in  classes  and  other  educational 
programs  at  the  museum  each  year.  Annual  visitation  is  just  under  100,000. 

Just  up  the  Bay  on  Maryland's  Eastern  Shore  at  St.  Michael's,  the  Chesapeake 
Bay  Maritime  Museum  has  recently  added  to  its  fine  collection  of  workboats 
several  vessels  including  the  river  tug  Delaware.  A  new  permanent  exhibit, 
"Mechanical  Power,"  traces  two  centuries  of  change  in  the  use  of  engines  for 
propulsion  and  deckwork  and  as  such  is  a  rarity  among  institutions  that  glorify 
the  age  of  sail.  One  educational  program,  "Bay  Heritage  Day,"  really  prepares 
5th  graders  to  get  the  most  out  of  their  class  visit.  Middle-schoolers  can  spend 
an  overnight  tending  to  the  Hooper  Strait  Lighthouse,  now  moved  to  the 
Museum  grounds.  About  85,000  people  visit  the  Chesapeake  Bay  Maritime 
Museum  each  year. 

New  York's  South  Street  Seaport  Museum,  unlike  its  sister  institutions,  was 
actually  begun  to  save  from  the  wrecking  ball  the  historic  maritime  district  it 
now  occupies.  While  restoring  buildings,  the  staff  started  collecting  artifacts  of 
New  York's  maritime  past,  an  effort  enhanced  by  the  acquisition  of  the 
4,000-piece  Seaman's  Bank  for  Savings  collection  of  paintings,  prints,  and 


376     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

models.  One  of  its  most  recent  special  exhibits,  "Hammer  and  Hand,"  tells  the 
history  of  the  New  York's  maritime  trades,  as  does  its  quarterly  journal,  Seaport. 
Over  the  next  two  years  the  museum  will  be  sending  out  four  traveling  exhibits 
and  will  begin  sponsoring  a  regular  symposium  on  maritime  art.  In  addition  to 
the  restoration  work  it  has  done  along  the  waterfront,  the  museum  also  has 
preserved  in  the  water  the  iron-hulled  Wavertree  and  the  big  four-masted  bark 
Peking.  Another  of  its  vessels,  the  schooner  Pioneer,  built  in  1885,  offers  daytime 
sail  training  excursions  for  local  school  children,  who  can  also  spend  an  overnight 
on  board  the  Peking.  Altogether  27,000  school  children  particpate  in  the 
Museum  program,  out  a  total  visitation  of  nearly  500,000. 

Perhaps  America's  finest  maritime  institution  is  Mystic  Seaport  Museum.  The 
Museum's  collections  of  watercraft  now  number  four  hundred  fifty,  with  a  dozen 
vessels  in  the  water,  including  the  whaleship  Charles  W.  Morgan,  the  Danish 
training  ship  Joseph  Conrad  (ex- George  Stage),  and  the  Gloucester  fishing  schooner 
L.A.  Dunton,  all  of  which  are  open  to  the  public.  The  Blunt  White  Library's 
collection  of  manuscripts  grows  steadily  each  year,  along  with  the  necessary 
monographs  and  periodicals  to  support  ongoing  research.  The  oral  history 
division  has  taped  over  two  hundred  interviews  with  fishermen,  mariners, 
shipwrights,  and  others  and  nearly  one  hundred  scholarly  lectures  delivered  at 
the  Museum.  Represented  in  the  ships  plans  division  is  the  work  of  numerous 
marine  architects  from  both  Atlantic  and  Pacific  seaboards. 

Until  the  recent  recession,  70,000  school  children  visited  Mystic  each  year 
(about  half  that  number  still  do).  Annual  conferences  on  such  topics  as  yachting 
history,  small  craft,  and  sea  music  attract  hundreds  of  scholars  and  enthusiasts. 
As  mentioned  earlier,  Mystic  Seaport  cosponsors  an  undergraduate  program  in 
maritime  studies  with  Williams  College  and  since  1955  has  offered  its  own 
graduate-level  courses  to  which  public  school  teachers  are  particularly  welcome. 
Outreach  programs  send  teacher  institutes,  theatrical  productions,  and  maritime 
artifacts  to  area  schools.  Through  the  generosity  of  a  local  family,  the  museum 
awards  several  Paul  Cuffe  Fellowships  each  year  to  encourage  research  in  the 
history  of  mariners  of  native  American  or  African  descent.  The  undergraduate 
Williams  College — Mystic  Seaport  program  offers  young  scholars  the  Albion 
Fellowship  for  teaching  maritime  history  to  the  program's  students. 

The  Publications  department  puts  the  Museum's  best  foot  forward  to 
thousands  of  scholars  and  general  readers.  In  addition  to  its  quarterly  journal, 
The  Log,  the  Museum  keeps  more  than  fifty  books  in  print,  from  John  F.  Leavitt's 
beautifully  crafted  Wake  of  the  Coasters  (1970)  to  the  latest  book,  Classic  Small 
Craft  You  Can  Build  (1993)  by  the  dean  of  American  wooden  boatbuilders,  John 
Gardiner  (age  87).  In  between  are  such  works  as  Andrew  German's  Down  on 
T-Wharf,  Tony  Busch's  Master  of  Desolation,  and  Joan  Druett's  "She  was  a  Sister 
Sailor."  John  Rogers'  Origins  of  Sea  Terms  and  Douglas  L.  Stein's  American 
Maritime  Documents  are  just  two  of  the  useful  guides  recently  published  by  the 


Labaree     377 

museum.  Mystic's  average  annual  attendance  over  the  past  five  years  stands  at 
about  450,000,  and  its  activities  are  supported  by  more  than  20,000  members. 
The  contributions  of  our  maritime  museums  are  impressive.  Collectively, 
they  offer  as  many  accredited  courses  in  one  or  another  aspect  of  American 
Maritime  History  as  do  our  universities.  Through  museums,  several  hundred 
thousands  of  school  children  are  made  aware  of  our  nation's  maritime  past,  along 
with  millions  of  adults.  Counting  the  maritime  museums  that  are  too  small  to 
belong  to  The  Council  of  American  Maritime  Museums  (CAMM),  there  are 
upwards  of  seventy-five  such  institutions  in  the  country.  Because  they  provide 
the  primary  line  of  contact  between  the  public  and  our  maritime  past,  whatever 
we  can  do  to  improve  them  will  in  the  long  run  serve  the  efforts  of  us  all. 

Conclusion 

Looking  back  over  the  state  of  American  maritime  history  today  brings  us  to 
several  conclusions. 

First,  the  sea  is  one,  and  it  does  connect  us  all,  as  so  many  of  us  have  observed 
in  our  research  and  writings.  Maritime  history  is  therefore  an  mter-national 
subject  and  therefore  a  difficult  one  to  fit  into  our  compartmentalized  depart- 
ments of  history. 

Second,  maritime  history  is  popular.  Enrollments  in  the  few  courses  we  do 
offer,  attendance  at  museums,  special  exhibits,  and  tall  ship  extravaganzas  all 
demonstrate  this  fact.  But  in  some  academic  circles  popularity  is  the  kiss  of  death. 
The  Munson  Institute  is  occasionally  criticized  for  making  its  courses  available 
to  public  school  teachers  and  museum  staff  members,  many  of  whom  have  more 
modest  academic  backgrounds  than  one  finds  in  our  graduate  schools.  We  must 
improve  our  standards  without  jeopardizing  our  accessibility. 

Third,  we  must  be  careful  that  our  overuse  of  nautical  terminology  in  our 
work  does  not  become  mere  jargon  for  its  own  sake.  We  must  resist  criticizing 
newcomers  to  our  field  for  not  having  been  aloft  in  a  howling  gale  or  knowing 
the  difference  between  tacking  and  wearing  ship.  There  are  now  more 
important  aspects  to  our  subject  than  shiphandling. 

Fourth,  we  must  put  people  back  into  our  history,  especially  the  men  and 
women  of  the  maritime  labor  force  who,  while  hardly  a  proletariat,  are 
nevertheless  an  all-important  element  in  the  equation.  If  we  ourselves  are  not 
interested  in  the  social  and  cultural  aspects  of  our  topics,  we  should  at  least  give 
encouragement  through  fellowships  and  other  forms  of  recognition  to  those 
who  are. 

Finally,  we  must  bring  the  two  fields  of  naval  and  maritime  history  closer 
together.  Albion  began  that  effort  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  first  with  his  courses 
at  Princeton  and  later  at  Harvard  and  the  Munson  Institute,  and  since  1951  with 

Recent  reviews  of  Barbara  Tuchman's  The  First  Salute  and  Marcus  Rediker's  Between  the  Devil  and 
the  Deep  Blue  Sea  do  just  that. 


378     The  State  of  American  Maritime  History 

his  bibliography,  still  called  a  Naval  and  Maritime  bibliography.  This  volume  gives 
all  of  us  the  opportunity  to  renew  that  effort.  Let  us  now  get  to  work. 


Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

The  Current  State  of  American  Naval  History 

Kenneth  J.  Hagan  and  Mark  R.  Shulman 


The  logos  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy  and  the  Naval  War  College  feature 
the  three-pronged  trident  of  Neptune,  an  apt  icon  for  the  three  principal 
manifestations  of  naval  history  in  the  United  States:  teaching,  museums,  and 
publication.  The  current  state  of  health  of  each  of  these  endeavors  varies 
markedly.  The  teaching  of  naval  history  at  colleges  and  universities  is  uneven  at 
best,  "with  historians  often  forced  to  subsume  naval  history  under  other  subjects 
in  courses  with  broader  orientations.  Naval  museums,  by  contrast,  are  a  thriving 
industry,  although  the  future  of  some  of  them  is  under  a  cloud.  Most  surprisingly, 
in  light  of  the  absence  of  firm  support  from  academic  institutions,  naval  history 
today  is  an  extremely  vigorous  outlet  for  scholarly  and  popular  writing. 

This  essay  attempts  to  substantiate  the  assertions  just  made.  In  doing  so,  it 
examines  several  subsidiary  and  related  topics,  such  as  archival  depositories, 
libraries,  and  bibliographies.  The  conclusions  are  meant  to  be  cautionary,  not 
pessimistic. 

Teaching 

Military  and  naval  history  emerged  as  distinct  subdisciplines  in  the  late 
nineteenth  century.  Since  that  time  they  have  been  consistently  marginalized  or 
ignored  by  history  departments.  In  the  early  twentieth  century,  studies  of  war, 
once  a  prominent  feature  of  the  profession,  gradually  disappeared  from  university 
and  college  curricula.  By  1935—1936,  a  survey  of  the  thirty  leading  universities 
found  no  such  courses,  aside  from  ROTC  offerings.  Even  at  the  height  of  Cold 
War  paranoia  in  1954,  only  thirty-seven  of  four  hundred  ninety-three  surveyed 
departments  were  offering  any  military  history  courses.   A  few  select  departments 

The  surveys  are  reported  in  John  Bowditch,  "War  and  the  Historian,"  H.  Stuart  Hughes,  ed.,  Teachers 
of  History:  Essays  in  Honor  of  Laurence  Bradford  Packard  (Ithaca,  N.Y.:  Cornell  University  Press,  1954), 
pp.  322-3;  Richard  C.  Brown,  The  Teaching  of  Military  History  in  Colleges  and  Universities  of  the  United 
States,  Historical  Studies,  no.  124  (Maxwell  Air  Force  Base,  Ala.:  U.S.  Air  Force  Historical  Division, 
Research  Studies  Institute,  Air  University,  1955).  See  also,  Paul  M.  Kennedy,  "The  Fall  and  Rise  of 
Military  History,"  Military  History  Quarterly  3,  no.  2  (Winter  1991),  pp.  8-12;  and  Louis  Morton,  "The 
Historian  and  the  Study  of  War,"  The  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review  18,  no.  4  (1962):  pp.  599-613. 


380      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

(e.g.,  Princeton,  Dartmouth,  and  Yale)  engaged  trained  historians  to  teach 
military  history  to  ROTC  students,  but  the  rest  surrendered  their  responsibility 
to  active-duty  officers  with  little  or  no  historical  training. 

In  the  late  1960s  and  early  1970s,  dissent  over  the  war  in  Southeast  Asia  drove 
ROTC  from  many  campuses.  A  modest  revival  of  interest  in  military  history 
began  in  the  1980s  as  collegiate  anger  over  Vietnam  faded  and  as  President 
Ronald  Reagan  began  the  last  military  buildup  of  the  Cold  War.  But  the 
resurrection  of  military  history  was  incremental,  and  the  college  and  university 
offerings  most  often  broadly  incorporated  the  study  of  naval  history  or  sea  power 
into  that  of  war  as  a  whole.  The  teaching  of  naval  history  as  a  special  offering 
has  remained  highly  restricted. 

Most  teaching  of  United  States  naval  history  is  done  in  government  educa- 
tional institutions,  specifically  the  National  Defense  University  (NDU),  the 
Naval  Academy  (USNA),  the  Naval  War  College  (NWC),  and  the  Naval  Reserve 
Officers  Training  Corps  units  (NROTC).  The  NDU  has  long  offered  an  elective 
course  on  naval  strategy,  or  on  "The  American  Way  of  War  at  Sea,"  which 
proceeds  chronologically  and  emphasizes  the  interaction  between  national 
policy  and  naval  strategy.  It  attracts  about  a  dozen  students  per  semester.  A 
similar  elective  is  also  taught  with  some  regularity  at  the  Army  War  College  in 
Carlisle,  Pennsylvania. 

Since  its  founding  in  1 884,  the  Naval  War  College  has  regarded  naval  history 
as  an  essential  element  in  a  curriculum  designed  to  educate  mid-career  officers 
for  staff  positions  and  high  command.  Early  presidents  Stephen  B.  Luce,  Alfred 
T.  Mahan,  French  E.  Chadwick,  and  William  L.  Rodgers  made  significant 
written  contributions  to  naval  history  while  encouraging  their  students  to  seek 
lessons  for  the  future  by  studying  the  past. 

Today,  there  is  no  explicit  course  on  naval  history  at  the  NWC,  but  the  subject 
is  emphasized  in  other  ways.  In  terms  of  research,  the  college  maintains  an 
excellent  book  collection  in  naval  history  and  a  growing  collection  of  personal 
papers  and  oral  histories.  The  research  arm  of  the  NWC,  the  Center  for  Naval 
Warfare  Studies,  provides  a  chair  for  the  college's  principal  expert  in  naval 
history:  the  Ernest  J.  King  Professor  of  Maritime  History,  a  position  held  since 
1984  by  John  B.  Hattendorf.  The  occupant  is  required  to  conduct  research, 
write  about  a  wide  range  of  naval  historical  issues,  and  establish  contacts  with 
other  scholars  in  the  field.  Finally,  the  NWC  maintains  the  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan 

2  George  E.  Thibault  taught  this  course  for  several  years,  followed  by  Captain  W.S.  Johnson,  upon 
whose  retirement  the  NDU  hired  on  a  temporary  basis  H.  P.  Willmott. 

The  King  Chair  was  established  at  the  suggestion  of  Admiral  Raymond  A.  Spruance  and  was 
successively  held  by  such  eminent  visiting  historians  as  John  H.  Kemble,  James  A.  Field,  Jr.,  Theodore 
Ropp,  Harry  L.  Coles,  Raymond  G.  O'Connor,  Stephen  E.  Ambrose,  and  Martin  Blumenson.  In  1974, 
the  King  Chair  became  a  long-term  civilian  faculty  position  with  the  six  year  appointment  of  Philip  A. 
Crowl,  followed  a  decade  later  by  the  present  incumbent. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     381 

Chair  of  Maritime  Strategy,  now  occupied  by  George  W.  Baer,  who  has  just 
completed  a  history  of  twentieth-century  American  sea  power. 

While  the  graduate  level  curriculum  of  the  NWC  does  not  provide  formal 
courses  on  naval  or  maritime  history,  these  subjects  continue  to  permeate  two 
core  course  offerings  in  strategy  and  policy  and  in  joint  operations.  The  first 
employs  roughly  a  dozen  civilian  specialists  in  diplomatic,  military  or  naval 
history,  political  science,  and  international  relations  who  use  the  case  study 
method  for  the  critical  analysis  of  strategy.  The  faculty  and  students  scrutinize 
the  Peloponnesian  War,  the  Second  Punic  War,  the  American  Revolution,  the 
French  Revolutionary  and  Napoleonic  Wars,  the  American  Civil  War,  the  wars 
of  German  unification,  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  the  First  and  Second  World 
Wars,  the  Chinese  Civil  War,  the  Korean  War,  the  Vietnam  War,  and  many  of 
the  military  and  naval  events  of  the  Cold  War.  The  Joint  Operations  Course 
also  includes  a  number  of  case  studies,  including:  the  Nazi  German  invasion  of 
Norway;  the  Atlantic  campaign  of  World  War  II;  the  Pacific  war  battles  of 
Midway,  Guadalcanal,  the  Philippine  Sea,  and  Leyte  Gulf;  and  the  recent  Achille 
Lauro  incident,  the  Falklands/Malvinas  War  and  the  Gulf  War.  In  a  somewhat 
catholic  approach,  the  course  examines  the  naval  theories  of  Sir  Julian  S.  Corbett, 
Alfred  T.  Mahan,  Herbert  F.  Rosinski,  and  Joseph  C.  Wylie,  the  analytical 
studies  of  Ken  Booth  and  James  Cable,  and  selected  issues  of  international 
maritime  law.  The  breadth  and  sophistication  of  these  offerings  permit  the 
Naval  War  College  to  award  a  master  of  arts  degree  in  National  Security  Affairs 
to  its  graduates. 

The  Navy's  undergraduate  degree-granting  institution,  the  U.S.  Naval 
Academy,  records  a  somewhat  different  but  not  too  encouraging  experience 
with  naval  history.  Since  World  War  II  the  academy  has  consistently  offered  a 
one  or  two-semester  course  in  the  field.  Until  the  mid-1970s,  this  offering  was 
the  legendary  "sea  power"  course  shaped  by  Professor  E.B.  Potter  and  formatted 
according  to  Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History,  a  book  he  co-edited  with  Admiral 
Chester  W.  Nimitz.    The  course  and  the  book  took  up  the  subject  with  the 

4  Baer,  One  Hundred  Years  of  Sea  Power:  The  U.S.  Navy,  1890-1990  (California:  Stanford  Univ.  Press, 
1994). 

For  Corbett,  see  John  B.  Hattendorf,  ed.,  Mahan  is  Not  Enough:  The  Proceedings  of  the  Corbett-Richmond 
Conference  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1993);  for  Mahan,  see  John  B.  Hattendorf,  ed., 
The  Influence  of  History  on  Mahan  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1991).  Representative  works 
of  the  other  authors  include:  Rosinski,  The  Development  of  Naval  Thought,  ed.,  B.  Mitchell  Simpson  III 
(Newport,  RI:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1977);  Wylie,  Military  Strategy:  A  General  Theory  of  Power 
Control  (Annapolis:  Naval  Institute  Press,  1989);  Cable,  Diplomacy  at  Sea  (London:  Macmillan,  1985); 
Booth,  Law,  Force  and  Diplomacy  at  Sea  (Boston:  Allen  &  Unwin,  1985),  and  Navies  and  Foreign  Policy 
(New  York:  Crane  Russak  &  Co.,  1977). 

The  Naval  Institute  Press  is  cited  hereafter  as  NIP. 

E.B.  Potter  and  Chester  W.  Nimitz,  eds.,  Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History  (Englewood  Cliffs,  N.J.: 
Prentice-Hall,  1960).  There  was  an  earlier  version;  Potter,  ed.,  The  United  States  and  World  Sea  Power 
(Englewood  Cliffs,  N.J.:  Prentice-Hall,  1955). 


382      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

Greeks  and  Romans  but  rushed  rapidly  to  the  golden  age  of  the  U.S.  Navy — the 
vast  operations  of  the  Pacific  campaign  of  World  War  II.  Many  well-known 
naval  historians  taught  the  course,  including  the  prolific  Paolo  E.  Coletta,  Robert 
W.  Daly,  Clark  G.  Reynolds,  Robert  Seager  II,  and  Gerald  E.  Wheeler.  It  was 
a  required  course,  and  it  is  invariably  remembered  with  strong  feelings  by  former 
midshipmen. 

Since  the  mid-1970s  the  history  department  of  the  academy  has  offered  a 
quite  different  one-semester  required  course  in  the  "American  Naval  Heritage." 
As  the  title  suggests,  this  course  focuses  very  heavily  on  American  naval  history. 
It  stresses  the  interrelationship  between  U.S.  national  policy  and  U.S.  naval 
strategy  and  operations.  Among  the  nationally  known  naval  historians  who  have 
contributed  to  this  course  are  James  C.  Bradford,  William  B.  Cogar,  Paolo  E. 
Coletta,  Kenneth  J.  Hagan,  Frederick  S.  Harrod,  Michael  T.  Isenberg,  Robert 

o 

W.  Love,  Jack  Sweetman,  and  Craig  L.  Symonds.  Innumerable  officer-instruc- 
tors have  also  taught  the  course,  the  most  recognizable  of  whom  is  the  widely 
respected  historian  of  the  Marine  Corps,  Merrill  L.  Bartlett. 

For  the  foreseeable  future,  the  American  Naval  Heritage  course  will  remain 
securely  in  place  as  a  staple  of  the  history  department,  but  the  department  itself  has 
demonstrated  an  erosion  of  interest  in  naval  history  in  the  last  decade.  It  has  rather 
consistendy  failed  to  replace  departing  naval  historians  with  new  ones,  choosing 
instead  to  broaden  itself  with  faculty  specializing  in  other  subsets  of  the  discipline. 
This  ecumenical  thrust  is  understandable,  but  it  has  created  a  staffing  crisis.  The 
course  on  the  American  Naval  Heritage  is  offered  to  1 ,000  midshipmen  per  year 

Coletta,  Admiral  Bradley  A.  Fiske  and  the  American  Navy  (Lawrence,  Kans.:  Regents  Press  of  Kansas, 
1979),  and  A  Selected  and  Annotated  Bibliography  of  American  Naval  History  (Lanham,  Md:  Univ.  Press  of 
America,  1988);  Daly,  How  the  Merrimac  Won  (New  York:  Crowell,  1957);  Reynolds,  The  Fast  Carriers: 
The  Forging  of  an  Air  Navy  (New  York:  McGraw-Hill,  1968;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1992),  and  Command  of 
the  Sea  (New  York:  Morrow,  1974);  Seager,  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan:  The  Man  and  his  Letters  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1977);  Wheeler,  Prelude  to  Pearl  Harbor  (Columbia,  Mo:  Univ.  of  Missouri  Press,  1963). 

See  Bradford,  ed.,  Crucible  of  Empire:  The  Spanish— American  War  and  its  Aftermath  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
1993),  Admirals  of  the  New  Steel  Navy:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition,  1880-1930  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1990),  Captains  of  the  Old  Steam  Navy:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition,  1840-1880 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1986),  and  Command  under  Sail:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition,  1115—1850 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1988);  Cogar,  Dictionary  of  Admirals  of  the  United  States  Navy,  vol.  1,  1862-1900;  vol. 
2,  1901-1918  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1989,  1991);  Coletta,  ed.,  American  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  vol.  1, 
1775-1913;  vol.  2,  1913-1972  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1980);  Hagan,  American  Gunboat  Diplomacy  and  the  Old 
Navy,  1811-1889  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1973);  Harrod,  Manning  the  New  Navy:  The 
Development  of  a  Modern  Naval  Enlisted  Force,  1899-1940  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1978); 
Isenberg,  Shield  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States  in  an  Era  of  Cold  War  and  Violent  Peace,  vol.  1,  1945-1962 
(New  York:  St.  Martin's  Press,  1993);  Love,  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  vol.  1,  1775-1941;  vol.  2, 
1942-1991  (Harrisburg,  Pa:  Stackpole  Press,  1992);  Sweetman,  The  Landing  at  Veracruz  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1968),  The  U.S.  Naval  Academy:  An  Illustrated  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1979),  and  American  Naval 
History:  An  Illustrated  Chronology  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1991);  and  Symonds,  Navalists  and  Antinavalists  The 
Naval  Policy  Debate  in  The  United  States,  1185-1821  (Newark,  Del.:  Univ.  of  Delaware  Press,  1980). 
9  Bartlett,  Lejeune:  A  Marine's  Life  (Columbia:  Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press,  1991);  ed.,  Assault  from 
the  Sea:  Essays  on  the  History  of  Amphibious  Warfare  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983). 


Hagan  and  Shulman     383 

and  is  taught  in  small  sections  of  no  more  than  twenty-five  students  each,  for  a 

total  of  forty  sections  per  year.  The  four  practicing  naval  historians  currently  in 

the  department  can  reasonably  cover  only  sixteen  of  these,  leaving  a  shortfall  of 

twenty-four  sections,  or  six  hundred  midshipmen  to  be  taught  by  non-specialists 

or  officers. 

At  Annapolis,  the  1970s  were  marked  by  the  introduction  of  a  series  of 

biennial  conferences  in  naval  history,  and  in  this  respect  the  support  of  the 

department  and  academy  for  naval  history  remains  as  strong  as  ever.  Directed 

by  Robert  R.  Love,  Jr.,  the  Eleventh  Naval  History  Symposium  was  held  in 

Annapolis  in  October,  1993.  With  an  emphasis  on  World  War  II,  it  attracted 

scholars  from  all  over  the  world,  including  delegations  from  Argentina,  Australia, 

Austria,  Canada,  Chile,  Denmark,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Great  Britain, 

Italy,  Japan,  Peru,  Poland,  and  Russia.  Selected  papers  from  the  gathering  will 

1  n 
be  published  within  two  years,  as  has  been  the  tradition. 

The  largest  program  for  teaching  naval  history  in  the  U.S.  remains  that  of  the 
Naval  Reserve  Officers  Training  Corps  (NROTC).  Currently  there  are  about 
fifty-five  college-level  NROTC  units  which  "service"  a  total  of  about  two 
hundred  colleges  and  universities.  For  the  last  seventeen  years,  Naval  Academy 
Professor  Kenneth  J.  Hagan  has  served  as  advisor  for  the  NROTC  course  entitled 
"Sea  Power  and  Maritime  Affairs."  Required  in  most  units,  it  derives  its 
content  and  structure  from  the  American  Naval  Heritage  course  at  the  U.S. 
Naval  Academy. 

In  preparation  for  teaching  the  course,  junior  Navy  and  Marine  Corps  officers 
fresh  from  the  fleet  attend  a  two-week  instructors'  seminar  where  Professor 
Hagan  suggests  teaching  techniques,  analyzes  the  content  of  the  course,  and 
distributes  a  highly  detailed  curriculum  guide  with  lesson  plans.  The  officers 
respond  with  enthusiasm  and  gain  a  sense  of  confidence,  but  they  nonetheless 
remain  underprepared  for  teaching  a  rigorous  history  course  at  the  college  level. 
This  is  one  of  the  reasons  that  very  few  colleges  grant  academic  credit  for  the 
course,  despite  its  Annapolis  pedigree. 

The  future  for  "Sea  Power  and  Maritime  Affairs"  is  not  entirely  rosy.  The 
Navy  Department  has  resolved  to  reduce  the  number  of  NROTC  units  nation- 
ally, even  though  NROTC  is  demonstrably  more  cost-effective  in  producing 
commissioned  officers  than  is  the  Naval  Academy.  An  estimated  twelve  units 
are  scheduled  to  be  decommissioned  in  the  near  future,  and  this  means  that  there 
will  be  twelve  fewer  offerings  of  the  course. 

The  most  recent  proceedings  in  print  is  Jack  Sweetman,  ed.,  New  Interpretations  in  Naval  History: 
Selected  Papers  from  the  Tenth  Naval  History  Symposium,  Held  at  the  United  States  Naval  Academy,  1 1-13 
September  1991  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1993). 

For  the  NROTC  format,  see  Hagan,  ed.,  In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of  American  Naval  History, 
1774-1984,  2d  ed.  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1984). 


384     Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 


•  •  • 

American  naval  historians  traditionally  have  taught  in  subjects  other  than  the 
history  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Harold  H.  Sprout  of  Princeton  was  trained 
as  a  political  scientist,  not  as  a  historian.  With  his  wife  as  co-author,  he  published 
a  major  synthesis,  The  Rise  of  American  Naval  Power  in  1939,  and  he  helped 
establish  Princeton's  Woodrow  Wilson  Center  of  International  Relations  in 
1950.  In  the  early  1960s,  he  directed  a  doctoral  dissertation  on  the  modern  British 
Navy  written  by  Navy  Commander  William  J.  Crowe,  Jr.,  who  later  became 
chairman  of  the  Joint  Chiefs  of  Staff  under  Ronald  Reagan  and  ambassador  to 
Great  Britain  under  President  Bill  Clinton. 

Closer  to  Clio,  if  not  to  the  daily  teaching  of  naval  history,  was  Samuel  Eliot 
Morison.  He  spent  a  professional  lifetime  teaching  surveys  and  American 
colonial  history  at  Harvard  University,  even  though  he  had  distinguished  himself 
in  naval  history  with  biographies  of  John  Paul  Jones  and  Matthew  C.  Perry,  and 
with  the  15-volume  official  history  of  the  Navy  in  World  War  II.  The  fate  of 
teaching  mainly  outside  their  specialty  in  naval  history  also  befell  such  notable 
scholars  as  Raymond  G.  O'Connor  and  Gerald  E.  Wheeler  in  the  1950s. 
Similarly,  the  field's  current  dean,  William  R.  Braisted,  served  three  decades  as 
a  professor  of  Far  Eastern  History  at  the  University  of  Texas. 

Today  the  list  of  naval  historians  who  are  not  regularly  teaching  naval  history 
is  depressingly  long.  Stephen  E.  Pelz  teaches  diplomatic  history  at  the  University 
of  Massachusetts.  Peter  D.  Karsten  has  turned  to  the  study  of  constitutional 
history  at  the  University  of  Pittsburgh.  Roger  Dingman  teaches  Far  Eastern 
history  at  the  University  of  Southern  California.  James  R.  Reckner  specializes 
in  the  Vietnam  War  at  Texas  Tech  University.  Allan  R.  Millett  of  Ohio  State 
University  has  written  extensively  on  the  Marine  Corps  and  on  military  affairs, 
but  he  does  not  teach  naval  history. 

Harold  and  Margaret  Sprout,  The  Rise  of  American  Naval  Power,  1776-1918  (New  Jersey:  Princeton 
Univ.  Press,  1939;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1990).  Crowe's  strategic  viewpoint  can  be  seen  in  "The  Policy 
Roots  of  the  Modern  Royal  Navy,  1946-1963,"  (Ph.D.  diss.,  Princeton  Univ.,  1965),  and  most  recently 
in  his  memoir,  The  Line  of  Fire:  From  Washington  to  the  Gulf  (New  York:  Simon  &  Schuster,  1993).  For 
an  early  homage  to  the  Sprouts,  see  Gordon  C.  O'Gara,  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  the  Rise  of  the  Modem 
Navy  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1 943;  New  York:  Greenwood  Press,  1969). 

For  a  Morison  sampler,  see  History  of  United  States  Naval  Operations  in  World  War  II,  15  vols.  (Boston: 
Little,  Brown,  1947-63),  fohn  Paul  Jones:  A  Sailor's  Biography  (Boston:  Little,  Brown,  1959;  Annapolis: 
NIP,  1989),  and  "Old  Bruin:"  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  1794-1858  (Boston:  Little  Brown,  1967). 
For  the  others,  see  O'Connor,  Origins  of  the  American  Navy:  Sea  Power  in  the  Colonies  and  the  New  Nation 
(Lanham,  Md.:  Univ.  Press  of  America,  1994);  Wheeler,  Prelude  to  Pearl  Harbor:  The  United  States  Navy 
and  the  Far  East,  1921-193 1  (Columbia:  Univ.  ofMissouri  Press,  1963);  and  Braisted,  United  States  Navy 
in  the  Pacific,  1897-1909,  and  United  States  Navy  in  the  Pacific,  1909-1922  (Austin:  Univ.  of  Texas  Press, 
1958,  1971). 

Pelz,  Race  to  Pearl  Harbor:  The  Failure  of  the  Second  London  Naval  Conference  and  the  Onset  of  World 
War  II  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  Harvard  Univ.  Press,  1974);  Karsten,  The  Naval  Aristocracy:  The  Golden  Age 


Hagan  and  Shulman     385 

Much  the  same  can  be  said  of  Carl  Boyd  at  Old  Dominion  University,  Jeffrey 
M.  Dorwart  of  the  University  of  Delaware,  William  M.  Fowler,  Jr.  at  North- 
eastern University,  William  M.  McBride  at  James  Madison  University,  Clark  G. 
Reynolds  at  the  College  of  Charleston,  Alex  Roland  at  Duke  University,  David 
Syrett  at  the  City  University  of  New  York,  Spencer  Tucker  at  Texas  Christian 
University,  Richard  W.  Turk  at  Allegheny  College,  Jonathan  Utley  at  the 
University  of  Tennessee,  Charles  J.  Weeks,  Jr.  at  Southern  College  of  Technol- 
ogy, and  the  recently  retired  David  F.  Long  at  the  University  of  New 
Hampshire.  Harold  D.  Langley  teaches  occasional  courses  in  diplomatic  and 
military  history  at  Catholic  University,  but  his  principal  professional  position  is 
with  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  as  was  the  case  with  Philip  K.  Lundeberg  and 
the  late  Roger  Pineau,  both  proteges  of  Samuel  Eliot  Morison.  In  a  category 
all  his  own  is  Professor  Raimondo  Luraghi  of  the  University  of  Genoa,  Italy 
who  has  completed  a  manuscript  on  the  history  of  the  Confederate  States  Navy 
for  publication  in  the  United  States. 

Although  the  teaching  of  naval  history  remains  on  the  margin  at  most  private 
and  public  colleges  and  universities,  there  are  several  institutions  where  new 
programs  have  emerged  and  assumed  central  pedagogical  roles.  The  pacesetter 
is  the  concentration  in  Maritime  History  and  Underwater  Research  at  East 
Carolina  University  (ECU),  a  two-year  curriculum  leading  to  a  master  of  arts 
degree  in  history.  Established  in  1981  by  historian  William  N.  Still,  Jr.  and 

of  Annapolis  and  the  Emergence  of  Modem  American  Navalism  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1972);  Dingman, 
Power  in  the  Pacific:  The  Origins  of  Naval  Arms  Limitation,  1914-1922  (Illinois:  Univ.  of  Chicago  Press, 
1976);  Reckner,  Teddy  Roosevelt's  Great  White  Fleet  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1988);  Millett,  Semper  Fidelis:  The 
History  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps,  2d  ed.  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1991). 

Boyd  and  Akihiko  Yoshida,  The  Japanese  Submarine  Force  and  World  War  II  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
forthcoming);  Dorwart,  The  Office  of  Naval  Intelligence:  The  Birth  of  America's  First  Intelligence  Agency, 
1865-1918  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1979),  and  Conflict  of  Duty:  The  U.S.  Navy's  Intelligence  Dilemma, 
1919-1945  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983);  Fowler,  Rebels  Under  Sail:  The  American  Navy  During  the  Revolution 
(New  York:  Scribner,  1976),  Jack  Tars  and  Commodores:  The  American  Navy,  1783-1815  (Boston: 
Houghton  Mifflin,  1984),  and  Under  Two  Flags:  The  American  Navy  in  the  Civil  War  (New  York:  Norton, 
1990);  McBride,  Goodnight  Officially:  The  Pacific  War  Letters  of  a  Destroyer  Sailor  (Boulder,  Colo.: 
Westview  Press,  1994);  Reynolds,  The  Fast  Carriers:  The  Forging  of  an  Air  Navy  (New  York: 
McGraw-Hill,  1968;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1992);  Roland,  Underwater  Warfare  in  the  Age  of  Sail  (Bloomington: 
Indiana  Univ.  Press,  1978);  Syrett,  The  Royal  Navy  in  American  Waters,  1775-1783  (Brookfield,  Vt.: 
Gower  Publishing  Co.,  1989);  Tucker,  Arming  the  Fleet:  U.S.  Navy  Ordnance  in  the  Muzzle- Loading  Era 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1989),  and  The  Jeffersonian  Gunboat  Navy  (Columbia:  Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press, 
1993);  Turk,  The  Ambiguous  Relationship:  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan  (New  York: 
Greenwood  Press,  1987);  Utley,  An  American  Battleship  at  Peace  and  War:  The  U.S.S.  Tennessee  (Lawrence, 
Kans.:  Univ.  Press  of  Kansas,  1991);  Weeks,  An  American  Naval  Diplomat  in  Revolutionary  Russia 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1993);  and  Long,  Gold  Braid  and  Foreign  Relations:  Diplomatic  Activities  of  U.S.  Naval 
Officers  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1988). 

16  Langley,  Social  Reform  in  the  United  States  Navy,  1798-1862  (Urbana:  Univ.  of  Illinois  Press,  1967), 
and  A  Medical  History  of  the  United  States  Navy,  1794-1842  (Baltimore:  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Press, 
1994);  Lundeberg,  Hie  Continental  Gunboat  Philadelphia  and  the  Northern  Campaign  of  1 776  (Washington: 
Smithsonian  Institution  Press,  1966);  Pineau,  ed.,  The  Japan  Expedition,  1852-1854:  The  Personal  Journal 
of  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry  (Washington:  Smithsonian  Institution  Press,  1968). 


386      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

underwater  archaeologist  Gordon  P.  Watts,  the  ECU  endeavor  blends  the 
research  methodologies  of  underwater  archaeology  and  history  to  paint  a  clearer 
picture  of  the  maritime  past.  ECU's  rich  and  divergent  course  offerings  include 
"Sea  Power:  480  BC  to  the  Present,"  a  survey  of  the  nature  of  warfare  at  sea  and 
its  changing  role  in  eras  of  peace  and  war.  East  Carolina's  most  notable 
archaeological  successes  have  been  in  relation  to  the  Civil  War.  Starting  with 
the  discovery  of  the  USS  Monitor  off  Cape  Hatteras  and  the  vessel's  designation 
as  a  national  maritime  sanctuary,  ECU  scholars  have  documented  the  USS 
Southfield,  the  Union  transport  Maple  Leaf,  and  the  Confederate  blockade-runner 
Mary  Celestia.  ECU  archaeologists  have  also  joined  peers  in  the  National  Park 
Service  and  the  Naval  Historical  Center  to  investigate  and  where  possible 
preserve  the  CSS  Gaines,  the  USS  Philippi,  and  the  USS  Tecumseh — all  sunken 
relics  of  the  Civil  War  lying  on  the  bottom  of  Mobile  Bay.  In  association  with 
French  experts  and  with  William  S.  Dudley  of  the  Naval  Historical  Center, 
Professor  Still  and  his  crew  are  investigating  the  remains  of  the  famed  Con- 
federate raider  Alabama,  sunk  off  Cherbourg,  France,  in  1864. 

The  published  historical  scholarship  on  American  naval  topics  by  ECU 
scholars  is  chronologically  and  topically  broad,  ranging  from  Carl  E.  Swanson, 
Predators  and  Prizes:  American  Privateering  and  Imperial  Warfare,  1739—1948  to 
Michael  A.  Palmer,  On  Course  to  Desert  Storm:  The  U.S.  Navy  and  the  Persian 
Gulf  These  ECU  authors  and  other  scholars  are  fortunate  to  have  established 
a  close  working  relationship  with  the  University  of  South  Carolina  Press,  now 
an  excellent  outlet  for  historical  monographs. 

Beyond  ECU,  the  University  of  Alabama  has  long  sponsored  naval  history  in 
the  person  of  three  teaching  scholars:  Robert  E.  Johnson,  recently  retired; 
Ronald  H.  Spector,  briefly;  and  since  1993,  John  F.  Beeler,  who  specializes  in 
the  Royal  Navy.  Spector  moved  to  George  Washington  University  to  direct 
an  international  studies  center,  but  he  does  occasionally  offer  a  course  on  world 
naval  history  since  the  1600s. 

Sharply  focused  on  U.S.  naval  history  is  Texas  A  &  M  University,  where 
James  C.  Bradford  attracts  a  large  audience  to  his  course  on  the  subject.  In 
Philadelphia,  Temple  University  recently  opened  a  Center  for  the  Study  of  Force 
and  Diplomacy,  with  David  A.  Rosenberg  teaching  naval  history.  At  Yale 

Swanson,  Predators  and  Prizes  (Columbia:  Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press,  1991);  Palmer,  On  Course 
to  Desert  Storm:  The  U.S.  Navy  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  Contributions  to  Naval  History  Series,  No.  5 
(Washington:  U.S.  Gov't.  Print.  Off.,  1992).  See  also  Palmer,  Guardians  of  the  Gulf  (New  York:  The 
Free  Press,  1992),  and  William  N.  Still,  Jr.,  American  Sea  Power  in  the  Old  World  (Westport,  Conn.: 
Greenwood  Press,  1980). 

18  Johnson,  Far  China  Station:  The  U.S.  Navy  in  Asian  Waters,  1800-1898  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1979),  and 
Bering  Sea  Escort:  Life  Aboard  A  Coast  Guard  Cutter  in  World  War  II  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1992);  Spector, 
Professors  of  War:  The  Naval  War  College  and  the  Development  of  the  Naval  Profession  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval 
War  College  Press,  1977),  and  Eagle  Against  the  Sun:  The  American  War  with  Japan  (New  York:  The  Free 
Press,  1985);  Beeler,  "Steaming  Erratically  towards  the  Dreadnought:  The  British  Navy  in  the  Era  of 
Gladstone  and  Disraeli"  (Ph.D.  diss.,  University  of  Illinois,  1991). 


Hagan  and  Shulman      387 

University  since  the  early  1980s,  American  military  and  naval  history  has  been 
covered  by  term  appointments.  More  significantly,  at  Yale  in  1983,  Paul  M. 
Kennedy  inaugurated  the  J.  Richardson  Dilworth  Chair  of  International  and 
Diplomatic  History,  and  in  1989,  Sir  Michael  Howard  became  the  Robert  A. 
Lovett  Professor  of  Military  and  Naval  History.  The  Lovett  professorship  passed 
to  Geoffrey  Parker  four  years  later.  By  contrast  with  Yale,  some  major 
university  centers  of  military  and  strategic  studies  have  no  appointments  or 
courses  specifically  in  naval  history;  witness  Harvard's  Center  for  International 
Affairs  as  well  as  that  university's  long  vacant  Gardiner  Chair  of  Oceanic  History 
and  Affairs.  At  Stanford  University,  the  Raymond  A.  Spruance  Chair,  named 
for  the  World  War  II  admiral,  is  traditionally  occupied  by  a  military  historian 
specializing  in  Clausewitz. 

*   *   * 

The  absence  of  university  centers  dedicated  to  the  study  of  naval  history 
explains  why  so  many  doctoral  dissertations  have  been  written  under  the 
direction  of  specialists  in  fields  other  than  naval  history.  The  experience  of  the 
two  authors  of  this  essay  is  illustrative.  Separated  by  a  generation  in  age  and  time 
of  doctoral  work,  neither  author  was  directed  by  a  naval  historian.  The 
diplomatic  historian  Charles  S.  Campbell,  Jr.,  was  Kenneth  Hagan's  mentor. 
Mark  Shulman's  dissertation  was  directed  by  Richard  Abrams,  a  political 
historian.  A  doctoral  dissertation  currently  in  process  (retired  naval  Captain  Peter 
Swartz's  study  of  the  Cold  War  navy)  is  being  directed  by  Warner  R.  Schilling 
at  Columbia.  While  Schilling's  own  dissertation  was  an  able  essay  on  naval 
history,  it  was  never  published  and  he  has  not  continued  to  work  in  the  field. 
A  salient  exception  to  the  portrait  of  doctoral  sponsorship  just  painted  is  Jon  T. 
Sumida's  energetic  direction  of  doctoral  dissertations  at  the  University  of 
Maryland,  but  his  field  is  primarily  British  naval  history,  not  the  history  of  the 
United  States  Navy.22 

Harold  E.  Selesky  taught  these  courses  from  1983  until  1991,  followed  by  Mark  R.  Shulman. 

Of  the  three  professors  holding  endowed  chairs,  only  Paul  Kennedy  has  written  widely  in  naval 
history.  See  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  British  Naval  Mastery  (New  York:  Scribner,  1976). 
21    Schilling,    "Admirals   and   Foreign   Policy,    1913-1919"    (Ph.D.   diss.,   Yale   University,    1953), 
photocopy  of  typescript  (Ann  Arbor:  Univ.  Microfilms,  1970). 

00 

Other  American  historians  of  European  sea  power  include:  Daniel  Baugh,  British  Naval  Administration 
in  the  Age  of  Walpole  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1965),  Professor  of  History  at  Cornell 
University;  Volker  Berghahn,  Der  Tirpitz-Plan  (Dusseldorf:  Droste,  1 97 1) ,  Professor  of  History  at  Brown 
University;  John  T.  Guilmartin,  Gunpowder  and  Galleys  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1974), 
Professor  of  History  at  Ohio  State  University;  Paul  Halpern,  The  Naval  War  in  the  Mediterranean, 
1914-1918  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1987),  Professor  of  History  at  the  University  of  Florida;  Jon  T.  Sumida, 
In  Defense  of  Naval  Supremacy:  Finance,  Technology  and  British  Naval  Policy,  1889—1914  (Boston:  Unwin 
Hyman,  1989),  Associate  Professor  at  the  University  of  Maryland. 


388      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 


•  •  • 

While  it  is  not  a  teaching  organization,  the  Naval  Historical  Center  in 
Washington,  D.C.  is  vital  to  the  national  dissemination  of  historical  information 
about  the  Navy.  The  Center  employs  approximately  twenty-five  naval  his- 
torians, a  greater  number  than  any  other  organization  in  the  United  States. 
These  professionals  write  monographs  and  reference  works,  edit  and  publish 
historical  documents,  record  oral  histories,  organize  scholarly  conferences, 
sponsor  underwater  archaeological  investigations,  and  contribute  to  the  Navy's 
museums.  Some  of  them  teach  courses  on  American  naval  history  as  adjunct 
faculty  at  colleges  and  universities  in  the  Washington  area. 

The  Naval  Historical  Center  is  presided  over  by  the  Director  of  Naval 
History.  Prior  to  July  1986,  this  position  was  occupied  by  a  retired  naval  officer, 
usually  an  admiral.  Since  then,  two  civilian  scholars  have  held  the  post:  Ronald 
H.  Spector  (1986—1989),  followed  by  the  present  incumbent,  Dean  C.  Allard. 
The  director's  headquarters  at  the  Naval  Historical  Center  is  located  in  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Washington,  D.C.  The  Marine  Corps  Historical  Center  is  adjacent  to 
the  Navy's. 

Museums 

Most  training  in  U.S.  naval  history  is  done  by  colleges  or  governmental 
organizations,  but  the  Mystic  Seaport  Museum  in  Connecticut  is  noteworthy 
for  its  long-standing  dedication  to  educating  the  American  public  about  the 
history  of  the  sea.  In  particular,  the  Munson  Institute  at  Mystic  conducts  a 
graduate-level  summer  program  on  American  maritime  studies.  Benjamin  W. 
Labaree,  William  F.  Fowler,  John  B.  Hattendorf,  Jeffrey  Safford  and  Edward  W. 
Sloan  are  those  who  today  continue  the  Mystic  tradition  of  teaching,  which  was 
established  by  the  late  Harvard  Professor  Robert  G.  Albion. 

In  addition  to  Mystic,  other  museums  from  time  to  time  organize  educational 
programs  on  American  naval  history.  In  the  spring  of  1994,  for  example,  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  joined  with  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy  Museum  to  offer 
a  three-day  seminar  on  the  history  of  warfare  in  the  age  of  sail,  a  concentrated 
schedule  of  lectures  and  discussions  directed  by  faculty  of  the  history  department 
of  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis. 

•  •   * 


23  The  Naval  Historical  Center  is  located  at  the  Washington  Navy  Yard,  at  M  and  9th  streets.  It  is 
divided  into  several  branches.  Phone  numbers  for  these  branches  are  as  follows  (all  are  202-433): 
Contemporary  History,  3891;  Curator,  2220;  Early  History,  2364;  Naval  Aviation,  4355/8;  Navy  Art 
Gallery,  3815;  Library,  3172;  Photographic  Section,  2765;  Senior  Historian,  7230;  and  Ships'  Histories, 
2891. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     389 

The  Naval  Academy  Museum  is  one  of  twelve  naval  museums  scattered  at 
bases  and  installations  across  the  United  States.  The  U.S.  Marine  Corps  runs  one 
official  museum  in  the  Washington  Navy  Yard  and  another  at  Quantico, 
Virginia.  This  Navy-Marine  Corps  total  of  fourteen  compares  with  seventy  in 
the  Department  of  the  Army,  one  in  the  U.S.  Air  Force,  and  one  for  the  Coast 
Guard. 

The  twelve  museums  of  the  Department  of  the  Navy  fall  under  the  general 
administrative  umbrella  of  the  Director  of  Naval  History.  He  exercises  imme- 
diate supervision  over  only  the  Navy  Museum  in  the  Washington  Navy  Yard. 
Stimulated  by  former  Secretary  of  the  Navy  John  F.  Lehman,  Jr.,  and  dynami- 
cally directed  by  Oscar  P.  Fitzgerald,  this  museum  has  made  tremendous  progress 
in  the  last  fifteen  years.  It  conducts  outstanding  educational  programs,  displays 
works  by  leading  contemporary  naval  artists,  and  maintains  the  largest  World 
War  II  exhibit  in  the  country.  Its  renovated  Civil  War  exhibit  contains  remnants 
from  David  G.  Farragut's  flagship,  the  USS  Hartford. 

The  Navy's  oldest  official  museum  is  the  one  at  the  Naval  Academy  in 
Annapolis,  Maryland.  Dating  back  to  1845,  the  museum  presently  is  housed  in 
Preble  Hall,  which  was  constructed  in  1939  and  expanded  in  1962  with  the 
sponsorship  of  the  Naval  Academy  Athletic  Association  and  the  U.S.  Naval 
Institute,  both  non-governmental  institutions.  The  museum's  collection  features 
artifacts  and  artwork  as  varied  as  midshipmen's  class  rings,  memorabilia  from 
Matthew  C.  Perry's  nineteenth-century  expedition  to  Japan,  paintings  of 
Columbus's  voyages  and  Commodore  Edward  Preble's  bombardment  of  Tripoli 
in  1804,  and  the  table  on  which  the  Japanese  surrender  was  signed  aboard  the 
battleship  Missouri  in  1945.  Across  the  "Yard"  from  Preble  Hall,  in  the  basement 
of  the  Naval  Academy  Chapel,  the  museum  is  responsible  for  the  crypt 
containing  the  body  of  John  Paul  Jones,  perhaps  the  most  popular  site  for  visitors 
to  the  Academy. 

The  Naval  Academy  Museum  experienced  a  period  of  revitalization  in  the 
early  1990s.  Under  the  directorship  of  Professor  Kenneth  J.  Hagan  (1990-1993), 
it  expanded  in  scope  and  assumed  much  greater  importance  for  the  study  of 
naval  history  by  midshipmen,  scholars,  and  the  general  public.  In  January,  1993, 
it  opened  the  new  Class  of  1951  Gallery  of  Ships,  which  for  the  first  time  properly 
houses  the  phenomenal  Henry  Huddleston  Rogers  Collection  of  wooden 
dockyard  and  bone  models  built  in  the  age  of  sail. 

In  October  1993,  the  museum  loaned  $3.5  million  worth  of  artifacts  to 
Hamburg,  Germany,  for  a  brief  but  extensive  exhibition  on  maritime  and  naval 
history  entitled  ART  MARITIM  '93.  With  an  attendance  of  over  25,000  people, 
this  was  the  largest  overseas  exhibit  ever  mounted  by  any  U.S.  Navy  museum. 

The  Naval  Academy  Museum  is  also  the  repository  of  the  Beverley  R. 
Robinson  Collection  of  historic  naval  aquatints,  messotints,  engravings,  and 
lithographs.  Fully  endowed  to  perpetually  honor  the  donor,  the  collection  now 


390      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

includes  over  6,000  originals,  many  dating  from  the  eighteenth  and  early 
nineteenth  centuries,  before  the  advent  of  photography.  Prints  from  this  precious 
source  for  the  study  of  European  and  American  naval  history  have  been 
reproduced  in  a  carefully  documented  catalog  and  on  a  12-inch  video  disk.  The 
disk  contains  a  total  of  19,000  images  relating  to  naval  history  generally  and  to 
the  Naval  Academy  in  particular. 

The  largest  official  Navy  museum  is  the  National  Naval  Aviation  Museum 
at  Naval  Air  Station  Pensacola,  Florida.  It  ranks  as  the  largest  by  virtue  of  the 
size  of  its  artifacts  and  the  enthusiasm  of  its  supporters,  many  of  whom  are  naval 
aviators.  The  museum  currently  is  undergoing  rapid  growth  funded  by  the 
aviation  industry,  naval  aviation  buffs,  foundation  grants,  and  the  million  dollars 
in  revenues  that  its  gift  shop  generates  annually.  When  completed,  the  five- 
module  museum  will  overshadow  the  Smithsonian's  Air  and  Space  Museum. 

Pensacola  already  dwarfs  the  Naval  Air  Test  and  Evaluation  Museum  at  the 
Naval  Air  Warfare  Center,  Patuxent  River,  Maryland.  Founded  in  1978,  the 
Patuxent  museum  tells  the  hair-raising  story  of  testing  and  evaluating  naval 
aircraft.  The  collection  includes  many  actual  aircraft,  and  a  trainer  for  the  F-4 
Phantom  allows  visitors  to  sit  in  the  simulated  cockpit  of  a  Navy  fighter. 

With  over  a  million  visitors  per  year,  the  historic  frigate  Constitution  in  the 
Charlestown  Navy  Yard  near  Boston  tops  the  Navy  Department  museums  in 
annual  attendance.  Nearby,  the  Submarine  Force  Museum  at  Groton,  Connec- 
ticut has  made  great  strides  since  the  mooring  of  the  USS  Nautilus  at  the  back 
door  of  its  new  facility.  It  now  ranks  among  the  top  five  museums  in  New 
England  in  terms  of  attendance.  More  modest  is  the  nearby  Naval  War  College 
Museum,  which  focuses  on  the  Naval  War  College,  the  naval  and  maritime 
heritage  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  the  seafaring  tradition  of  the  people  of 
Narragansett  Bay. 

Far  to  the  south,  the  Hampton  Roads  Naval  Museum  is  expanding  into  a 
new  facility  in  the  commercial  center  of  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Devoted  to  the  naval 
and  maritime  heritage  of  the  Norfolk  region,  the  exhibitions  are  chronologically 
and  topically  organized  to  maximize  their  pedagogical  potential.  This  expansion 
is  a  success  story  which  the  National  Endowment  for  the  Humanities  declined 
to  finance,  a  regrettable  commentary  on  the  difficulty  of  winning  support  from 
the  NEH  or  the  National  Endowment  for  the  Arts  for  projects  connected  with 
the  federal  government. 

In  Athens,  Georgia,  the  Naval  Supply  Corps  Museum,  established  in  1974, 
serves  also  as  an  archives.  The  Museum  traces  the  development  and  growth  of 
the  Supply  Corps  using  models  of  auxiliary  ships,  uniforms,  equipment,  and  a 
diverse  collection  of  objects.  It  also  houses  a  collection  of  technical  manuals, 
cookbooks,  and  documentary  material  related  to  the  Supply  Corps  School  in 
Athens. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     391 

The  Navy  maintains  three  West  Coast  museums.  The  comprehensive  Naval 
Undersea  Museum  is  located  at  the  Naval  Undersea  Warfare  Center,  Keyport, 
Washington.  It  covers  twentieth-century  technology  as  applied  to  the  'world 
beneath  the  sea,  including  warfare,  exploration,  and  exploitation  of  resources  on 
the  ocean  bed.  The  Civil  Engineer  Corps— Seabee  Museum  at  Port  Hueneme, 
California  commemorates  the  achievements  of  the  Naval  Construction  Force 
(Seabees)  and  the  Navy's  Civil  Engineer  Corps.  In  San  Francisco  Bay,  the 
Treasure  Island  Museum  was  founded  during  the  American  Bicentennial  to 
promote  knowledge  of  naval,  Marine  Corps,  and  Coast  Guard  activities  in  the 
Pacific  basin.  The  future  of  this  small  museum  is  clouded  by  the  uncertainty  over 
base  closures  accompanying  the  Navy's  "downsizing"  in  the  1990s. 

•   •   • 

The  Smithsonian  Institution  in  Washington,  D.C.,  provides  coverage  on 
naval  history  and  occasionally  promotes  the  topic  through  special  travelling 
exhibitions.  In  the  past  twenty-five  years  two  major  naval  exhibitions  have  been 
mounted.  "The  Japan  Expedition  of  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry"  in  1964 
and  "The  Magnificent  Voyagers:  The  U.S.  Exploring  Expedition  of  1838-1842" 
in  1986  were  both  held  in  the  National  Museum  of  Natural  History,  with  the 
latter  also  travelling  to  other  museums.  In  1994  the  Museum  of  American 
History  is  sending  an  exhibition  on  American  culture  to  Japan,  to  include  artifacts 
relating  to  Commodore  Perry's  expedition  borrowed  from  the  Naval  Academy 
Museum. 

The  apparent  vigor  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  the  field  of  naval  history 
masks  an  unfortunate  structural  malady.  The  Museum  of  American  History, 
presumably  the  preferred  locus  for  exhibits  on  American  naval  history,  does  not 
contain  the  Smithsonian's  walk-through  of  a  simulated  World  War  II  aircraft 
carrier.  That  popular  eye-grabber,  which  enables  the  public  to  watch  film-strips 
of  carrier  operations  from  the  vantage  points  of  the  ship's  skipper  and  "air  boss," 
is  situated  in  the  Air  and  Space  Museum  across  the  Mall  from  the  Museum  of 
American  History. 

More  ominous  is  the  Museum  of  American  History's  consistent  retrenchment 
of  support  for  naval  history  during  the  last  two  decades.  Administratively 
subordinated  to  military  history,  the  naval  specialty  has  lost  curatorial  time, 
exhibit  space,  and  research  fellowships.  There  is  now  only  one  curator  of  naval 
history  and  little  prospect  of  replacement  when  he  retires.  A  pool  of  irreplaceable 
expertise  has  evaporated  because  the  Smithsonian  hierarchy  lacks  interest  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States  Navy. 

For  a  comprehensive  view,  see  Philip  K.  Lundeberg,  "Military  Museums,"  John  E.  Jessup,  Jr.,  ed., 
Encyclopedia  of  the  American  Military,  3  vols.  (New  York:  Macmillan,  1994). 


392      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 


•  •  • 

In  the  private  arena,  one  highly  important  organization  is  the  Historic  Naval 
Ships  Association  of  North  America,  which  assists  in  the  preservation  of 
sixty-seven  former  U.S.  Navy  vessels,  including  four  aircraft  carriers,  four 
battleships,  two  cruisers,  ten  destroyers,  one  destroyer  escort,  twenty-four 
submarines,  four  wooden  ships,  and  other  smaller  types  such  as  minesweepers 
and  PT  boats.  More  than  seven  million  people  boarded  these  vessels  in  1990, 
and  in  the  same  year,  their  operating  budgets  reached  $21.5  million.  Besides  the 
ships  themselves,  some  of  these  centers  contain  elaborate  exhibits  on  board  the 
ships  or  in  nearby  shore  facilities.  Some  have  extensive  educational  programs, 
among  the  most  effective  of  which  are  overnight  youth  encampments  with 
lectures,  tours,  and  films. 

Certain  exhibitions  deserve  special  note.  The  Second  World  War  carrier  USS 
Intrepid  is  one  of  the  most  popular  tourist  attractions  in  New  York  City. 
Battleship  Cove  in  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  has  an  outstanding  collection  of 
ships,  including  the  USS  Massachusetts.  And  finally,  the  National  Park  Service 
maintains  the  emotionally  wrenching  USS  Arizona  Memorial  in  Pearl  Harbor — 
one  of  the  most  highly  visited  of  the  national  parks. 

Many  submarines  have  been  saved  and  converted  into  museums  because  they 
are  smaller  and  therefore  easier  and  less  expensive  to  maintain  than  most 
warships.  For  this  reason,  several  submarines  are  located  far  from  the  ocean, 
perhaps  most  dramatically  the  captured  German  U-505  in  Chicago.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  spectrum  are  the  aircraft  carriers,  notably  the  USS  Yorktown  (CV-10) 
in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  hull  maintenance  in  a  semi-tropical 
climate  is  a  fiscal  nightmare. 

The  historic  naval  ships  of  World  War  II  were  saved  in  part  because  so  many 
thousands  of  their  crew  members  came  to  share  a  sense  of  nostalgia  for  the 
exciting  times  of  wartime  shipboard  life.  What  will  become  of  these  ships  once 
the  veterans  of  World  War  II  are  gone  is  a  major  concern  to  those  maintaining 
and  operating  thern  today  as  museums. 

State  aid  may  be  one  answer;  it  has  rescued  two  important  relics  of  earlier 
eras.  In  1988,  the  U.S.  brig  Niagara,  one  of  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard  Perry's 
flagships  in  1813,  was  rebuilt  at  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  and  now  is  used  as  an  official 
promotional  vessel  for  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  Similarly,  the  battleship  Texas, 
the  only  survivor  of  service  in  both  world  wars,  was  rescued  by  the  state  of  Texas 
a  few  years  ago  when  its  veterans'  support  group  became  minuscule.  The  Texas 
recently  underwent  an  overhaul  valued  in  excess  of  $21  million. 

Two  other  masterpieces  have  been  less  fortunate.  Commodore  George  Dewey's 
1898  flagship,  the  cruiser  Olympia  at  Philadelphia,  and  the  sailing  warship  USS 
Constellation  at  Baltimore — both  beguiling  historical  specimens — have  suffered 


Hagan  and  Shulman     393 

devastating  periods  of  neglect.  They  could  sink  at  their  piers  because  they  have 
no  natural  national  constituency  of  concerned  individuals  to  rescue  them. 

The  Historic  Naval  Ships  Association  is  attempting  to  alert  Congress  to  the 
plight  of  these  ships  and  win  appropriations  for  their  repair  in  the  years  ahead. 
One  innovative  idea  is  to  use  funds  obtained  from  the  scrapping  of  less  historic 
ships  in  the  Navy's  inventory  to  maintain  the  wooden  Constellation,  the  U.S. 
destroyer  Kidd,  the  diesel  submarine  USS  Cod,  the  nuclear-powered  USS 
Nautilus,  and  others. 

•   •   • 

Two  non-government  museums  fall  into  a  special  category  and  are  essential 
sites  for  people  interested  in  the  Normandy  invasion  of  6  June  1944.  The  First 
Division  Museum  on  the  Cantigny  estate  in  Wheaton,  Illinois,  contains  a 
remarkable  recreation  of  a  portion  of  the  Normandy  beach  as  it  was  on  D-day. 
In  New  Orleans,  the  Eisenhower  Center  is  planning  a  large  D-day  museum, 
with  groundbreaking  scheduled  for  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  history's  most 
massive  amphibious  landing.  Both  sites  deserve  all  the  popularity  they  will 
receive  in  the  future. 

Archives,  Manuscript  Collections,  and  Libraries 

American  naval  studies  traditionally  have  focused  heavily  on  strategy  and 
operations  and  have  been  based  almost  solely  upon  government  documents, 
mostly  from  within  the  Department  of  the  Navy  or  the  Defense  Department. 
A  stunning  variety  of  resources  used  by  social  and  cultural  historians  remains 
virtually  untapped  by  naval  historians:  the  popular  press;  records  on  immigration, 
health,  and  voting;  television  and  movie  portrayals;  propaganda;  advertising;  and 
even  sermons.  Historians  of  the  United  States  Navy  have  also  neglected  such 
trans-  or  non-national  agencies  as  the  United  Nations,  NATO,  and  the  Red 
Cross — each  of  which  holds  keys  to  the  American  naval  experience.  These 
resources  belong  to  all  historians  and  will  not  be  surveyed  here,  but  one  set  of 
records  external  to  the  Navy  must  be  mentioned. 

Reports  from  U.S.  consuls  and  consulates  are  extremely  useful  for  studies  of 
overseas  naval  operations  and  the  category  of  cruising  known  as  "showing  the 
flag,"  or  "gunboat  diplomacy."  Most  consular  records  have  been  accessioned  by 
the  National  Archives,  and  many  have  been  microfilmed  as  part  of  Record 
Groups  59  and  84.  In  addition,  many  consuls  kept  priceless  letterbooks  that  have 
found  their  way  into  other  depositories.  The  Special  Collections  Division  of  the 
Naval  Academy  Library,  for  example,  contains  the  letterbooks  of  Richard  B. 
Jones  and  Moses  Young  pertaining  to  U.S.  relations  with  North  Africa  at  the 
time  of  the  Barbary  Wars.  Among  the  issues  they  discuss  are  Great  Britain's 
claims  to  two  Tripolitan  prize  ships  taken  by  the  U.S.  Navy.  This  is  an  essential 


394      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

dimension  to  the  proper  analysis  of  nineteenth-century  U.S.  naval  strategy  and 
operations. 

Three  types  of  archival  sources  directly  applicable  to  United  States  naval 
history  present  themselves  for  special  consideration:  those  concerning  construc- 
tion plans  and  blueprints,  operational  records,  and  the  documents  of  high-level 
decision  making.  The  accessibility  of  each  category  of  records  varies.  Plans, 
blueprints,  and  ship-building  folders  have  been  preserved  to  a  considerable 
extent  and  are  available  to  scholars  at  the  National  Archives  Cartographic  Office, 
located  at  the  new  National  Archives  building  at  the  University  of  Maryland. 

The  records  of  the  technical  bureaus  that  did  so  much  to  shape  the  Navy's 
physical  elements  beginning  in  1842 — BuOrd,  BuShips,  BuAer,  etc. — are 
available,  but  pose  a  problem  of  access.  Post-1941  bureau  files  are  stored  at  the 
National  Archives  Federal  Records  Center  in  Suitland,  Maryland,  but  locating 
the  documents  relevant  to  any  particular  study  is  an  uncertain  and  frustrating 
exercise.  One  way  to  get  at  some  of  this  material  for  the  twentieth  century  is  to 
study  the  records  of  the  General  Board  of  the  Navy,  which  have  been  published 
on  microfilm  by  Scholarly  Resources. 

Records  of  operations,  including  ships'  logs,  war  diaries,  and  action  reports, 
are  relatively  easy  to  access  at  the  National  Archives.  For  greater  convenience, 
Scholarly  Resources  of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  has  microfilmed  most  of  the 
material  pertaining  to  the  nineteenth-century  Navy. 

The  third  category  of  archival  naval  records,  covering  policy  and  high-level 
decision  making,  is  difficult  to  save  and  recover,  and  eventually  to  declassify. 
Since  World  War  II,  especially,  decisions  regarding  naval  strategy  and  policy 
have  been  made  by  numerous  bodies,  and  there  is  no  national  standard  for  storage 
and  accessibility  of  interagency  documents.  Among  the  bodies  that  tackle 
strategic  questions  are  such  sensitive  offices  as  those  of  the  State  Department, 
the  Joint  Chiefs  of  Staff,  the  National  Security  Council,  the  National  Security 
Agency,  the  Central  Intelligence  Agency,  and  the  President.  Partly  because  of 
interagency  "turf  wars"  and  partly  because  of  valid  concerns  about  preserving 
state  secrets,  these  records  present  a  myriad  of  challenges  to  the  naval  historian. 
One  helpful  technique  is  to  desert  Washington,  D.C.  in  favor  of  the  presidential 
libraries,  which  often  contain  a  great  deal  of  relevant  interagency  material. 

It  is  important  to  recall  that  many  momentous  decisions  were  made  at  the 
"CinC"  level,  that  is,  by  commanders  of  joint  commands,  or  of  fleets  far 
distant  from  Washington.  Often  the  decisions  were  conveyed  over  message 
traffic.  The  Navy  messages  are  preserved  in  the  Operational  Archives  of  the 
Naval  Historical  Center,  but  accessibility  is  restricted  by  security-classifica- 
tion considerations. 


25     Hearings  Before  the  General  Board  of  the  Navy,  1911-50  (Wilmington,  Del.:  Scholarly  Resources, 
1983),  microfilm,  15  reels. 

For  more  on  these  issues,  see  David  Alan  Rosenberg,  "Process:  The  Realities  of  Formulating  Modern 


Hagan  and  Shulman     395 

The  impediment  of  security  classification  affects  a  broad  range  of  the  Navy's 
Cold  War  archives.  For  all  intents  and  purposes,  systematic  declassification  of 
Navy  records  halted  in  1982  with  the  declassification  of  most  of  the  Korean  War 
files.  Review  of  some  accessioned  records  of  special  interest  to  the  Naval 
Historical  Center  and  the  Naval  Intelligence  Command  continued  after  1982. 
In  general,  however,  there  now  exists  a  forty-year  spread  (1953—1993)  of 
needlessly  classified  and  hence  inaccessible  materials. 

This  regrettable  situation  requires  remedy  through  issuance  of  a  new  declas- 
sification executive  order  and  implementing  directives.  The  emphasis  should  be 
placed  on  the  release  of  information,  as  in  President  Richard  M.  Nixon's  E.O. 
11652,  rather  than  on  security,  as  in  President  Ronald  Reagan's  E.O.  12356. 
The  Clinton  administration  ought  to  address  questions  of  what  should  be 
classified  and  for  how  long,  as  well  as  the  possibility  of  bulk  declassification  of 
Cold  War-era  materials.  Hopefully,  a  new  and  liberal  executive  order  would 
emerge  from  such  a  reexamination  of  policy. 

•   •   • 

The  National  Archives  will  accession  the  World  War  II  operations  and 
planning  records  from  the  Naval  Historical  Center  and  the  Marine  Corps 
Historical  Office  in  1995.  In  that  same  year,  these  and  all  other  military  and 
diplomatic  records  dating  back  to  1941  will  be  moved  to  the  new  National 
Archives  building  on  the  campus  of  the  University  of  Maryland  at  College  Park. 
For  the  first  time,  one  repository  will  house  the  major  documentary  resources 
on  the  politico-military  policies,  decisions,  and  actions  of  World  War  II  and 
after.  This  is  a  major  accomplishment  and  will  alleviate  hours  of  tiresome  travel 
between  various  repositories  scattered  around  Washington. 

The  National  Capitol  contains  valuable  manuscript  collections,  although  the 
personal  records  of  leading  naval  figures  will  always  remain  somewhat  scattered. 
Many  important  papers  assembled  by  the  Naval  Historical  Foundation  have  been 
deposited  with  the  Library  of  Congress  Manuscript  Division  in  the  Madison 
Building.  As  an  aid  to  locating  this  collection  and  others,  the  Naval  Historical 
Center  publishes    U.S.    Naval  History  Sources  in   the   United  States.   A  more 

27 

comprehensive  guide  is  the  National  Union  Catalogue  of  Manuscript  Collections. 

The  Naval  Historical  Center  at  the  Washington  Navy  Yard  is  presently 
making  efforts  to  collect  papers,  including  those  of  Admirals  Arleigh  A.  Burke, 
Elmo  R.  Zumwalt,  Jr.,  and  Arthur  W.  Radford,  as  well  as  those  of  recent  chiefs 

Naval  Strategy,"  in  James  Goldrick  and  John  B.  Hattendorf,  eds.,  Mahan  is  Not  Enough:  The 
Proceedings  of  a  Conference  on  the  Works  of  Sir  Julian  Corbett  and  Admiral  Sir  Herbert  Richmond  (Newport, 
R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1993),  14,  15,  inter  alia. 

27    U.S.  Naval  History  Sources  in  the  United  States  (Washington:  Naval  History  Division,  1979);  The 
National  Union  Catalog  of  Manuscript  Collections  (Washington:  Library  of  Congress,  1959-61). 


396      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

of  naval  operations  (CNOs)  Carlisle  A.H.  Trost,  James  D.  Watkins,  and  Frank 
B.  Kelso.  The  most  recent  collections  will  remain  classified  for  years.  But  they 
bring  up  the  question  as  to  whether  there  ought  to  be  an  American  equivalent 
of  the  successful  British  Naval  Records  Society  to  encourage  the  collection  and 
study  of  the  papers  of  men  and  women  below  the  top  tier  of  the  Navy.  The 
American  Naval  History  Society  has  been  defunct  since  World  War  I  and  the 
Naval  Historical  Foundation,  which  did  so  much  to  create  the  manuscript 
collection  deposited  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  has  not  demonstrated  marked 
energy  in  preserving  papers  in  recent  years. 

Outside  Washington,  manuscript  collections  of  special  importance  to  U.S. 
naval  history  are  found  at  the  Naval  Academy  and  the  Naval  War  College. 
Among  the  more  significant  individual  papers  in  the  War  College's  Historical 
Collection  are  those  of  Admirals  Stephen  B.  Luce,  A.  T.  Mahan,  Ernest  J.  King, 
Harris  Laning,  William  V.  Pratt,  and  Raymond  A.  Spruance.  Fragments  of 
personal  records  can  be  found  in  the  Naval  Academy  Museum  and  in  the  Special 
Collections  Division  of  the  Nimitz  Library  at  the  Naval  Academy.  Elsewhere, 
East  Carolina,  Duke,  Yale,  Harvard,  Brown,  the  New  York  Public  Library,  and 
the  Hoover  Institution  at  Stanford  University  have  notable  manuscript  collec- 
tions, as  do  the  hometown  presidential  libraries  administered  by  the  National 
Archives. 

•   •   • 

Two  invaluable  oral  history  programs  must  not  be  overlooked  by  serious 
scholars  seeking  insights  into  the  mind-sets  of  the  men  and  women  who  made 
policy  and  strategy,  even  though  their  recollections  must  be  somewhat  dis- 
counted because  of  the  inevitable  impact  of  hindsight  on  memory.  One  is 
conducted  by  the  Naval  Historical  Center  in  Washington,  D.C.  and  the  other 
by  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  in  Annapolis. 

Begun  in  1969  and  currently  directed  by  Paul  Stillwell,  the  Naval  Institute 
Oral  History  Program  has  amassed  a  library  of  one  hundred  ninety  bound 
volumes  of  transcripts.  Most  of  the  oral  histories  cover  an  individual's  entire 
career,  but  some  concentrate  on  specialized  topics,  such  as  early  WAVES  officers, 
the  first  black  naval  officers,  and  the  Normandy  invasion  of  June  1944.  The 
volumes  are  available  to  the  researcher  at  the  Naval  Institute's  headquarters  in 
Annapolis,  Maryland,  and  through  rental  or  purchase. 

See  Evelyn  M.  Cherpak,  A  Guide  to  Archives,  Manuscripts  and  Oral  Histories  in  the  Naval  Historical 
Collection  (Newport:  Naval  War  College,  1991). 

29  For  the  oral  histories  at  the  Naval  Historical  Center,  see  Edward  J.  Marolda,  et  al.,  eds.,  Oral  History 
Collection  in  the  Operational  Archives,  Naval  Historical  Center  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1983); 
those  at  the  Naval  Institute  are  cumulatively  listed  in  "U.S.  Naval  Institute  Oral  History  Collection: 
Catalog  of  Transcripts"  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1993-1994). 

For  two  accessible  oral  histories,  see  Paul  Stillwell,  ed.,  The  Golden  Thirteen:   Recollections  of  the  First 


Hagan  and  Shulman      397 

The  Oral  History  Program  is  an  adjunct  of  the  Naval  Institute's  Library 
Services  and  Photo  Archives,  a  research  center  administered  by  Mary  Beth 
Straight.  This  reference  collection  consists  of  4,500  books,  indexed  back  copies 
of  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings  and  Naval  History,  and  more  than  400,000 
photographic  images. 

•   •   • 

One  of  the  nation's  two  best  libraries  for  the  study  of  naval  history  is  the 
Nimitz  Library  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy  in  Annapolis,  Maryland.  The  other 
one  is  the  Navy  Department  Library  at  the  Naval  Historical  Center  in 
Washington,  D.C.  These  two  repositories  house  virtually  every  book  ever 
written  on  the  topic  of  U.S.  naval  history. 

As  part  of  the  Naval  Academy,  the  Nimitz  Library  relies  on  year-end  funding 
to  supplement  its  book  budget.  Without  this  special  but  wildly  fluctuating 
allocation  of  funds,  the  library's  periodicals'  purchases — devoted  mostly  to 
science  and  engineering — would  soon  exceed  70  percent  of  the  library's 
materials'  budget.  As  a  result  of  this  erratic  allocations  system,  the  library's  book 
purchases  have  declined  sharply,  from  10,000  titles  in  fiscal  year  1992  to  slightly 
more  than  6,000  in  fiscal  year  1993.  This  decline  practically  guarantees  that  the 
core  collection  in  naval  history,  so  painstakingly  gathered  by  dedicated  faculty 
and  librarians  in  the  one  hundred  fifty  years  of  the  Naval  Academy's  existence, 
will  cease  to  stand  as  an  infallible  source  of  books  for  scholars  and  midshipmen. 

Published  Collections 

Published  collections  of  personal  papers  and  correspondence  are  of  consider- 
able use  to  the  historian.  Foremost  of  these  is  The  Letters  and  Papers  of  Alfred 
Thayer  Mahan,  edited  by  Robert  Seager  II  and  Doris  D.  Maguire.  Also  useful 
are  the  New  American  State  Papers,  Naval  Series;  microfilm  editions  of  the  papers 
of  John  Paul  Jones,  Samuel  DuPont,  and  John  Ericsson;  the  diaries  of  Josephus 
Daniels;  the  correspondence  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Henry  Cabot  Lodge; 
the  writings  of  Stephen  B.  Luce;  and  the  various  impressive  collections  of 
presidential  papers. 

Black  Naval  Officers  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1993),  and  ed.,  Assault  on  Normandy:  First-Person  Accounts  from 
the  Sea  Services  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1994). 

For  a  dated  but  comprehensive  listing  of  depositories  relevant  to  this  section,  see  Dean  C.  Allard,  et 
al.,  U.S.  Naval  History  Sources  in  the  United  States  (Washington:  Naval  History  Division,  1979). 

31    Seager  and  Maguire,  eds.,  The  Letters  and  Papers  of  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  vol.  1,  1847-1889;  vol.  2, 
1890-1901;  vol.  3,  1902-1914  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1975). 

The  New  American  State  Papers,  Naval  Series,  ed.,  K.  Jack  Bauer  (Wilmington,  Del.:  Scholarly 
Resources,  1981);  The  Papers  of  John  Paul  Jones,  microform  edition,  ed.,  James  C.  Bradford  (Alexandria, 
Va.:  Chadwyck-Healey,  1986);  Official  Dispatches  and  Letters  of  Rear  Admiral  DuPont,  U.S.  Navy: 
1846-48,  1861-63  (Wilmington,  Del.:  Press  of  Ferris  Bros.,  Printers,  1883;  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.: 
University  Microfilm  International,  1986);  The  Papers  of  John  Ericsson,     microfilm  edition,  Esther 


398     Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

Following  the  rise  of  the  modern  American  Navy  in  the  1880s,  the  Navy 
Department  made  several  serious  efforts  to  collect  relevant  historical  books  and 
documents  for  historians.  James  Russell  Soley  created  the  Office  of  Library  and 
Naval  War  Records  (in  1915  the  name  was  reversed)  and  was  given  funds  to 
start  publishing  the  documentary  series,  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Con- 
federate  Navies  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  (1894—1922).  This  series  was  followed 
by  those  on  the  Quasi—  and  Barbary  Wars  at  the  suggestion  of  President  and 
former  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt.  This  type  of 
project  continues  with  the  ongoing  publication  of  the  records  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary and  1812  wars— an  enterprise  based  on  documents  that  FDR  himself 
found  in  the  State,  War  and  Navy  Building.  When  these  projects  are  eventually 
completed,  decisions  must  be  made  concerning  the  future  of  such  documentary 
editing.  Given  the  sheer  volume  of  collections  from  subsequent  wars,  perhaps 
only  representative  selections  should  be  collected,  using  as  a  model  Ronald  H. 
Spector's  Listening  to  the  Enemy. 

Bibliography 

Bibliography  has  always  been  a  thriving  form  of  publication  in  U.S.  naval 
history.  Each  essay  in  Kenneth  J.  Hagan's  In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of 
American  Naval  History,  1775—1984  provides  a  thoughtful  bibliography,  as  do 
the  individual  chapters  of  Allan  R.  Millett  and  Peter  Maslowski,  For  the  Common 
Defense — the  most  widely  used  college  textbook  of  American  military  history — 
and  of  Millett's  Semper  Fidelis.  The  most  important  volumes  specifically  dedicated 
to  bibliography  are:  Robert  G.  Albion,  Naval  and  Maritime  History:  An  Annotated 
Bibliography;  Charles  T.  Harbeck,  A  Contribution  to  the  Bibliography  of  the  History 

Chilstrom  Meixner,  project  director  (Philadelphia:  American  Swedish  Historical  Foundation,  1970); 
The  Cabinet  Diaries  ofjosephus  Daniels,  ed.,  E.  D.  Cronon  (Lincoln:  Univ.  of  Nebraska  Press,  1963); 
Selections  from  the  Correspondence  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  (New  York:  Charles 
Scribner's  &  Sons,  1925);  The  Writings  of  Stephen  B.  Luce,  ed.,  John  D.  Hayes  and  John  B.  Hattendorf 
(Newport  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1975);  The  Letters  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  eds.,  Elting  E.  Morison 
and  John  M.  Blum  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  Harvard  Univ.  Press,  1951—54). 

For  a  general  overview,  see  John  B.  Hattendorf,  "Purpose  and  Contribution  in  Editing  Naval 
Documents,"  in  Editing  Naval  Documents  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1984),  pp.  43—61. 

33  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  30  vols.  (Washington: 
U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1894-1922). 

34  William  B.  Clark  and  William  J.  Morgan,  eds.,  Naval  Documents  of  the  American  Revolution: 
1774-1777,  9  vols.  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1964-1980);  Naval  Documents  Related  to  the 
Quasi- War  Between  the  United  States  and  France:  Naval  Operations  from  February  1797  to  October  1798,  7 
vols.  (Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1935-1938);  and  Naval  Documents  Related  to  the  United  States 
Wars  with  the  Barbary  Powers:  Naval  Operations  Including  Diplomatic  Background  from  1785  through  1807,  6 
vols.  (Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off,  1939-1944). 

35  William  S.  Dudley,  ed.,  The  Naval  War  of  1812:  A  Documentary  History,  vol.  1,  1912;  vol.  2,  1913 
(Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off,  1985,  1992);  Ronald  H.  Spector,  Listening  to  the  Enemy:  Key 
Documents  on  the  Role  of  Communications  Intelligence  in  the  War  with  Japan  (Wilmington,  Del.:  Scholarly 
Resources,  1988). 


Hagan  and  Shulman     399 

of  the  United  States  Navy;  Benjamin  W.  Labaree,  A  Supplement  (1971—1986)  to 
Robert  G.  Albion's  Naval  and  Maritime  History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography;  Robin 
D.  S.  Higharn,  A  Guide  to  Sources  of  United  States  Military  History;  Paolo  E. 
Coletta,  A  Bibliography  of  American  Naval  History  and  A  Selected  and  Annotated 
Bibliography  of  American  Naval  History;  Myron  J.  Smith's  multi-volume  bibliog- 
raphies, The  American  Navy  and  World  War  II  at  Sea;  and  the  Naval  Historical 
Center's  United  States  Naval  History:  A  Bibliography. 

More  particular  bibliographies  include:  John  C.  Fredricksen,  Free  Trade  and 
Sailors*  Rights:  A  Bibliography  of  the  War  of  1812;  John  B.  Hattendorf  and  Lynn 
C.  Hattendorf,  A  Bibliography  of  the  Works  of  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan;  John  D.  Hayes 
and  John  B.  Hattendorf,  The  Writings  of  Stephen  B.  Luce;  and  Edward  J.  Marolda 
and  James  Lesher,  A  Bibliography  of  the  United  States  Navy  and  the  Conflict  in 
Southeast  Asia,  1 950- 1 915?1 

The  Journal  of  Military  History  (formerly  Military  Affairs)  publishes  fine  annual 
bibliographies  on  military  history  by  subject,  including  books,  collections, 
articles,  and  dissertations.  The  JMH  also  publishes  book  reviews — the  critical 
means  of  keeping  bibliographically  current — as  do  The  American  Neptune ,  Naval 
War  College  Review,  and  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings,  and  its  new  offshoot, 
Naval  History. 

Immeasurably  valuable  for  beginning  to  comprehend  the  tortured  history  of 
women  in  the  Navy  and  in  the  military  generally  is  a  bibliographical  essay, 
"Women  in  the  Military,"  by  the  historian  D'Ann  Campbell.  Campbell's 
working  premise  touches  the  Navy  directly:  "The  infamous  'Tailhook'  incident 

Hagan,  In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of  American  Naval  History,  1775—1984  (Westport,  Conn.: 
Greenwood  Press,  1984);  Millett  and  Maslowski,  For  the  Common  Defense  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1984); 
Albion,  Naval  and  Maritime  History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography  (Mystic,  Conn.:  The  Marine  Historical 
Assoc,  1955,  1963,  1972);  Harbeck,  comp.,  A  Contribution  to  the  Bibliography  of  the  United  States  Navy 
(Cambridge,  Mass.:  Harvard  Univ.  Press,  1906);  Labaree,  A  Supplement  (1971-1986)  to  Robert  G.  Albion's 
Naval  and  Maritime  History:  An  Annotated  Bibliography,  4th  ed.  (Mystic,  Conn.:  Mystic  Seaport  Museum, 
1988);  Higham,  ed.,  A  Guide  to  Sources  of  United  States  Military  History  (Hamden:  Archon  Books,  1975), 
also,  three  supplements  covering  five  years  each,  Higham  and  Mrozek,  eds.  (Hamden,  Conn.:  Archon 
Books,  1981-1993);  Coletta,  A  Bibliography  of  American  Naval  History  (Lanham,  Md.:  Univ.  Press  of 
America,  1981),  and  A  Selected  and  Annotated  Bibliography  of  American  Naval  History  (Lanham,  Md.:  Univ. 
Press  of  America,  1988);  Smith,  The  American  Navy,  1789—1941:  A  Bibliography,  5  vols.  (Metuchen, 
N.J.:  Scarecrow  Press,  1972-1974),  World  War  II  at  Sea:  A  Bibliography  of  Sources  in  English,  3  vols. 
(Metuchen,  N.J.:  Scarecrow  Press,  1974-1990),  and  United  States  Naval  History:  A  Bibliography,  Naval 
History  Bibliographies,  no.  1,  7th  ed.,  revised  by  Barbara  A.  Lynch  and  John  E.  Vajda  (Washington: 
Naval  Historical  Center,  1993).  See  also  Dean  L.  Mawdsley,  Cruise  Books  of  the  United  States  Navy  in 
World  War  II:  A  Bibliography,  Naval  History  Bibliographies,  no.  2  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center, 
1993). 

Fredricksen,  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights:  A  Bibliography  of  the  War  of  1812  (Westport,  Conn.: 
Greenwood  Press,  1985);  J.  Hattendorf  and  L.  Hattendorf,  comps.,  A  Bibliography  of  the  Works  of  Alfred 
Thayer  Mahan  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1986);  Hayes  and  Hattendorf,  eds.,  The  Writings 
of  Stephen  B.  Luce  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1975);  and  Marolda  and  Lesher,  comps., 
A  Bibliography  of  the  United  States  Navy  and  the  Conflict  in  Southeast  Asia,  1950-1975  (Washington:  U.S. 
Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1991). 


400      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

and  cover-up  of  1991—1992  has  spotlighted  the  problem  of  sexual  harassment 
in  military  culture. ""  The  strong  implications  of  this  assertion  may  partially 
explain  why  the  Naval  Historical  Center  is  contracting  for  a  comprehensive 
monograph  on  the  history  of  women  in  the  naval  service,  a  project  that  will  take 
several  years  to  complete. 

The  Historiography  of  the  United  States  Navy 

Naval  history  in  the  United  States  is  as  old  as  the  Navy  itself,  with  origins  in 
accounts  of  the  Revolutionary,  Quasi-  and  Barbary  Wars.  The  first  large  body 
of  writing  appeared  soon  after  the  now-famous  frigate  actions  of  the  young 
American  Navy  in  the  War  of  1812.  Heroes  and  martyrs  of  these  early  wars 
provided  most  of  the  subjects  for  battle  narratives  tending  toward  hagiology. 
Nonetheless,  there  were  contemporaneous  efforts  at  institutional  history  by 
Benjamin  Folsom,  Thomas  Clark,  Isaac  Bailey,  and  Abel  Bowen.  In  a  period 
of  relatively  low  literacy  rates,  naval  history  in  the  early  national  period  also 
included  an  impressive  body  of  paintings  and  published  engravings. 

Nearly  three  decades  after  the  War  of  1812,  James  Fenimore  Cooper 
challenged  the  prevailing  eulogistic  interpretation  of  Commodore  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry  and  opened  a  rancorous  debate  about  American  naval  policy 
with  his  controversial  History  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States  of  America.  By 
then  the  service  was  deeply  imbued  with  a  heroic  history,  one  personified 
by  the  Perry  family  that  already  had  third-generation  officers  in  the  Navy. 
George  Bancroft  joined  in  the  Perrys'  defense.  As  the  pre-eminent  historian 
of  mid-nineteenth  century  America,  Bancroft  hastened  the  demise  of 
Cooper's  brand  of  historical  objectivity  by  promoting  an  enduring  tradition 

38  Campbell,  "Women  in  the  Military,"  Choice,  vol.  31  (September  1993):  pp.  63-70. 

39  For  an  example,  see  Alexander  Slidell  Mackenzie,  The  Life  of  Paul  Jones  (Boston:  Hilliard,  Gray,  & 
Co.,  1841). 

40  Folsom,  A  Compilation  of  Biographical  Sketches  of  Distinguished  Officers  in  the  American  Navy 
(Newburyport,  Mass.:  n.p.,  1814),  which  included  Washington  Irving's  "Commodore  Oliver  Hazard 
Perry;"  Clark,  Sketches  of  the  Naval  History  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Commencement  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  to  the  Present  Time  (Philadelphia:  M.  Carey,  1813);  Bailey,  American  Naval  Biography  (Providence, 
R.I.:  H.  Mann  and  Co.,  1815);  and  Bowen,  The  Naval  Monument  (Boston:  A.  Bowen,  1816). 

41  Cooper,  History  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States  of  America  (London:  R.  Bendey,  1839).  His  account 
of  the  Battle  of  Lake  Erie  (1813)  reopened  a  feud  over  credit  and  blame  for  the  great  victory.  For  the 
controversy,  see  Cooper,  The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie:  or,  Answers  to  Messrs.  Burges,  Duer,  and  Mackenzie 
(Coopertown,  N.Y.:  H.E.  Phinney,  1843);  Robert  Emmet  Long,  James  Fenimore  Cooper  (New  York: 
Continuum,  1990);  and  David  Curtis  Skaggs,  "James  Fenimore  Cooper  and  the  Batde  of  Lake  Erie: 
Historical  Veracity  and  Political  Correctness"  (paper  presented  to  the  Eleventh  Naval  History 
Symposium,  U.S.  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis,  Md.,  1993). 

42  See  Morison,  "Old  Bruin:"  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry  1794-1858  (Boston:  Litde,  Brown  &  Co., 
1967),  pp.  447-9.  Much  of  the  historiography  of  the  U.S.  Navy  is  covered  in  Hagan,  "Bibliographical 
Essay,"  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of  American  Sea  Pou>er  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1991),  pp.  391-411; 
and  in  Shulman,  "The  Influence  of  History  Upon  Sea  Power:  The  Navalist  Reinterpretation  of  the 
War  of  1812,"  Journal  of  Military  History  (April  1992),:  pp.  183-205. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     401 

A  'X 

of  heroic  patriotic  nationalism.  Bancroft  also  brought  note  to  the  Navy 
Department  when,  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  founded  the  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis  in  1845,  an  institution  designed  to  instruct  in  the  technical  require- 
ments of  the  profession  while  also  inculcating  the  chauvinism  of  nineteenth- 
century  military  culture. 

The  Civil  War  turned  the  nation's  interest  in  military  history  to  the  opera- 
tions, heroes,  and  villains  of  the  land  war.  The  only  significant  early  volumes  on 
the  naval  aspects  of  the  war  were  written  by  two  naval  officers,  Daniel  Ammen 
and  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  and  a  civilian  employee  of  the  Navy,  James  R. 
Soley.  The  Navy  Department  ultimately  did  what  it  could  to  facilitate  a  broader 
scholarship  with  the  compilation  of  the  multi-  volume  Official  Records  of  the  Union 
and  Confederate  Navies. 

With  the  construction  of  the  first  steel-hulled  warships  in  the  early  1 880s,  a 
new  breed  of  politically  savvy  historians  began  to  search  for  guidelines  from 
American  naval  history  to  encourage  the  creation  of  a  modern  strategy.  The 
young  Theodore  Roosevelt  took  the  lead  in  1 882  with  his  book,  The  Naval  War 
of  1812,  but  several  other  historians  soon  discovered  invaluable  admonitions 
about  the  importance  of  sea  power  to  American  security  in  that  remote 
conflict.  Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Naval  War  College  at  Newport  in  1 884, 
these  lessons  were  sanctified  as  timeless  laws  by  the  new  lecturer  in  naval 
history — Captain  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan. 

Mahan's  successive  studies  on  sea  power  and  history  forever  changed  the  way 
the  nation  would  regard  navies  and,  indeed,  how  the  Navy  would  regard  itself. 
His  notions  on  the  concentration  of  force,  massed  sea  battles  a  la  Trafalgar,  and 
the  importance  of  maintaining  a  battle  fleet  to  insure  international  status  would 
dominate  the  service  and  American  naval  historiography  throughout  the  twen- 
tieth century. 


Oliver  Dyer,  The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie  and  Miscellaneous  Papers:  The  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Bancroft 
(New  York:  R.  Bonner's  Sons,  1891;  Ann  Arbor,  Mich:  University  Microfilm  International,  1976),  1 
reel. 

44  Ammen,  The  Atlantic  Coast  (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1883;  Wilmington,  N.C.: 
Broadfoot  Publishing  Co.,  1989);  Mahan,  The  Gulf  and  Inland  Waters  (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  1883;  Freeport,  N.Y.:  Books  for  Libraries  Press,  1970);  and  James  R.  Soley,  The  Blockade  and  the 
Cruisers  (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1883;  New  York:  J.  Brussel,  1959). 

Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  (Washington:  U.S.  Govt. 
Print.  Off.,  1894-1922). 

46  Roosevelt,  The  Naval  War  of 1812  (New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1882;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1987). 
See  also  James  Barnes,  Naval  Actions  of  the  War  of  1812  (New  York:  Harper  &  Bros.,  1896);  and  Rossiter 
Johnson,  A  History  of  the  War  of  1812-1815  (New  York:  Dodd,  Mead,  &  Co.,  1882). 

47  Mahan,  The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History,  1660-1783  (Boston:  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1890), 
The  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  the  French  Revolution  and  Empire,  1783-1812  (Boston:  Little,  Brown  &: 
Co.,  1892),  and  Sea  Power  and  its  Relations  to  the  War  of  1812  (Boston:  Little  Brown  &  Co.,  1905).  The 
literature  on  Mahan  virtually  dominates  the  non-operational  history  of  the  United  States  Navy.  See 
especially,  Seager  and  Maguire,  eds.,  The  Letters  and  Papers  of  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  vol.  1,  1847-1889; 
vol.  2,  1890-1901;  vol.  3,  1902-1914  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1975),  and  Seager's  "warts  and  all"  biography, 


402      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

The  most  persuasive  and  articulate  naval  spokesman  for  this  viewpoint  was 
retired  Captain  Dudley  W.  Knox,  who  published  A  History  of  the  United  States 
Navy  during  the  debates  over  rearmament  in  the  1930s.  Outside  the  Navy, 
the  Mahanian  torch  was  brightly  carried  by  Harold  and  Margaret  Sprout,  whose 
The  Rise  of  American  Naval  Power  remained  a  standard  interpretation  from  1939 
until  the  1960s.  Challenges  to  this  intellectual  hegemony  were  few  and  diverse, 
featuring  primarily  George  T.  Davis  and  the  noted  economic  determinist, 
Charles  A.  Beard. 

Mahan's  critics  and  supporters  were  writing  with  an  eye  to  the  coming  war, 
and  indeed,  the  lessons  of  sea  power  soon  appeared  to  be  vindicated  by  the 
staggering  American  naval  victories  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  in  1942—1945. 
This,  at  least,  was  the  viewpoint  of  the  late  Harvard  Professor  Samuel  Eliot 
Morison  who  oversaw  the  monumental  fifteen- volume  official  History  of  United 
States  Naval  Operations  in  World  War  II.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
Morison  and  Mahan  were  indirectly  institutionalized  in  the  required  text  at  the 
U.S.  Naval  Academy,  E.B.  Potter's  Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History. 

Among  the  leading  successors  to  the  Mahan-Morison  navalist  interpretation 
was  Bernard  Brodie,  who  completed  his  first  book,  Sea  Power  in  the  Machine  Age, 
just  in  time  to  start  studying  the  changing  strategic  environment  of  the  postwar 
world.  His  subsequent  works  adapted  the  lessons  of  the  history  of  sea  power  to 

Alfred  Thayer  Mahan:  The  Man  and  His  Letters  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1977).  For  the  influence  of  Mahan, 
seeHagan,  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of American  Sea  Power  (New York:  Free  Press,  1991);  Shulman, 
Naualisnt  and  the  Emergence  of  American  Sea  Power,  1882—1893,  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1995);  Hattendorf,  ed., 
The  Influence  of  History  on  Mahan  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1992);  Hattendorf,  B. 
Mitchell  Simpson,  and  John  R.  Wadleigh,  eds.,  Sailors  and  Scholars:  The  Centennial  History  of  the  U.S. 
Naval  War  College  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War  College  Press,  1984);  Potter  and  Nimitz,  eds.,  Sea  Power: 
A  Naval  History  (Englewood  Cliffs,  N.J.:  Prentice-Hall,  1960);  also,  Potter,  ed.,  Sea  Power:  A  Naval 
History,  2d  ed.  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1981);  and  William  D.  Puleston,  The  Life  and  Work  of  Captain  Alfred 
Thayer  Mahan  (New  Haven,  Conn.:  Yale  Univ.  Press,  1939).  It  should  also  be  noted  that  an  enthusiastic 
following  has  long  existed  for  "popular"  naval  histories  such  as  those  by  J.  Willis  Abbot,  William  Bell 
Clark,  and  Fletcher  Pratt. 
48   48.  Knox,  A  History  of  the  United  States  Navy  (New  York:  G.P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1936,  1948). 

Sprout  and  Sprout,  The  Rise  of  American  Naval  Power,  1776-1918  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ. 
Press,  1939;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1990).  See  also,  Charles  Oscar  Paullin,  The  Navy  and  the  American  Revolution 
(Cleveland:  Burrows  Brothers,  1906),  and  Diplomatic  Negotiations  of  American  Naval  Officers  (Baltimore: 
The  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Press,  1912;  Gloucester,  Mass.:  P.  Smith,  1967).  Paullin  was  the  first 
professionally  trained  American  naval  historian.  The  Sprouts  drew  upon  his  essays,  which  appeared  in 
the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings  early  in  the  twentieth  century. 

Davis,  A  Navy  Second  to  None:  The  Development  of  Modem  American  Naval  Policy  (New  Haven,  Conn.: 
Yale  Univ.  Press,  1940).  Davis  was  a  New  Haven  school  teacher  who  took  a  Yale  Ph.D.  and  then 
disappeared  from  the  field.  Beard,  The  Navy:  Defense  of  Portent}  (New  York:  Harper  &  Bros.,  1932). 
One  of  the  foremost  scholars  of  his  day,  Beard  wrote  widely  in  history,  first  from  Columbia  University 
and  then  from  the  New  School  For  Social  Research. 

Morison,  History  of  United  States  Naval  Operations  in  World  War  II,  15  vols.  (Boston:  Little,  Brown 
&  Co.,  1947-1963). 

52   Potter  and  Nimitz,  eds.,  Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History  (Englewood  Cliffs,  N.J.:  Prentice-Hall,  1960); 
also  Potter,  ed.,  The  United  States  and  World  Sea  Power  (Englewood  Cliffs,  N.J.:  Prentice-Hall,  1955). 


Hagan  and  Shulman      403 

nuclear  strategy  and  established  the  standard  of  discourse  for  this  popular  new 
Cold  War  field.  Beard  and  Davis,  on  the  other  hand,  found  no  successors  until 
the  dissolution  of  consensus  associated  with  the  Vietnam-era  debates  over 
empire,  strategy,  policy,  and  politics. 

In  the  1960s,  historians  of  the  "New  Left"  became  a  potent  force  in  the 
reinterpretation  of  American  diplomatic  and  naval  history.  Many  of  them  were 
schooled  in  the  tradition  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin's  "Progressive  His- 
torians," and  in  particular  by  William  Appleman  Williams,  who  ironically  was 
a  World  War  II  graduate  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy.  These  younger  scholars, 
soon  dubbed  "revisionists,"  quickly  focused  upon  businessmen's  pressure  for 
overseas  investments  and  trade  as  the  source — and  the  Navy  as  the  tool — of 
American  aggression,  especially  in  the  late  nineteenth  century.  Firing  the  first 
shots  in  nearly  a  generation,  Walter  LaFeber,  not  himself  trained  by  Williams, 
wrote  suggestively  in  The  New  Empire  of  the  Navy  secretary  who  oversaw  the 
authorization  of  America's  first  true  battleships:  "In  preparing  the  United  States 
to  occupy  this  'seat  of  empire,'  [Benjamin  F.]  Tracy  had  few  equals."' 

LaFeber's  work,  as  well  as  the  contemporaneous  political  debates  over 
"America's  Empire,"  sparked  a  remarkable  new  industry  of  tightly  focused  works 
examining  the  nonoperational  aspects  of  the  Navy.  The  studies  include  James 
C.  Bradford,  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition,  an  edited  series  of  naval 
biographies  in  three  volumes  thus  far;  Richard  D.  Challener,  Admirals,  Generals, 
and  American  Foreign  Policy,  Benjamin  F.  Cooling,  Benjamin  Franklin  Tracy, 
Vincent  Davis,  The  Admirals  hobby,  JefFery  M.  Dorwart,  The  Office  of  Naval 
Intelligence  and  Conflict  of  Duty;  Frederick  C.  Drake,  The  Empire  of  the  Seas;  James 
A.  Field,  Jr.,  From  Gibraltar  to  the  Middle  East:  America  and  the  Mediterranean  World, 
1776-1882;  J.A.S.  Grenville  and  George  B.  Young,  Politics,  Strategy,  and 
American  Diplomacy;  Kenneth  J.  Hagan,  American  Gunboat  Diplomacy  and  the  Old 
Navy,  1877—1889;  Frederick  S.  Harrod,  Manning  the  New  Navy:  The  Development 
of  a  Modern  Enlisted  Force,  1899-1940;  Walter  R.  Herrick,  The  American  Naval 
Revolution;  Peter  D.  Karsten,  The  Naval  Aristocracy;  Harold  D.  Langley,  Social 
Reform  in  the  United  States  Navy,  1 798—1862;  Christopher  McKee,  A  Gentlemanly 
and  Honorable  Profession:  The  Creation  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Officer  Corps,  1 794—1815; 
Robert  L.  O'Connell,  Sacred  Vessels:  The  Cult  of  the  Battleship  and  the  Rise  of  the 
U.S.  Navy;  Ronald  H.  Spector,  Professors  of  War;  and  Craig  L.  Symonds,  Navalists 
and  Antinavalists.     These  important  volumes  signified  the  emergence  of  a  new 

Brodie,  Sea  Power  in  the  Machine  Age  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1943),  and  The  Absolute 
Weapon  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1946).  For  a  gathering  of  naval  historians  of  the  1950s  and 
early  1960s,  see  Richard  A.  von  Doenhoff,  ed.,  Versatile  Guardian:  Research  in  Naval  History,  National 
Archives  Conferences,  vol.  14  (Washington:  Howard  Univ.  Press,  1979). 

Williams,  The  Tragedy  of  American  Diplomacy  (Cleveland:  World  Publishing  Co.,  1959). 

55  LaFeber,  The  New  Empire:  An  Interpretation  of  American  Expansion,  1860-1898  (Ithaca,  N.Y.:  Cornell 
Univ.  Press,  1963),  127. 

56  Bradford,  ed.,  Admirals  of  the  New  Steel  Navy:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition,  1880-1930 


404     Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

generation  of  historians  dedicated  to  furthering  a  critical  understanding  of  naval 
history. 

To  a  considerable  extent,  the  new  naval  historians  were  scrutinizing  the  late 
nineteenth-century  origins  of  the  modern  American  Navy.  They  and  several 
others  soon  moved  forward.  In  1981  the  diplomatic  historian  David  F.  Trask 
published  a  thoughtful  reappraisal  of  all  aspects  of  the  Spanish  American  War  of 
1898,  including  strategy  and  leadership.  Inevitably,  he  resurrected  the  hoary 
topic  of  who  deserved  credit  for  the  naval  victory  in  Santiago  de  Cuba  on  3  July 
1898:  Rear  Admiral  William  T.  Sampson,  who  was  in  overall  command,  or 
Winfield  Scott  Schley,  the  tactical  commander?  Trask  also  published  a  defini- 
tive study  of  U.S.  naval  preparations  and  operations  during  the  First  World  War, 
joining  a  debate  about  the  relative  merit  of  battleships  and  convoys  originally 
opened  by  the  brilliant  commander  of  U.S.  naval  forces  in  European  waters, 
William  Sowden  Sims,  in  his  Pulitzer  Prize-winning  book,  The  Victory  at  Sea. 


(Annapolis:  NIP,  1990),  Captains  of  the  Old  Steam  Navy:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition, 
1840-1880  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1986),  and  Command  under  Sail:  Makers  of  the  American  Naval  Tradition 
1115—1850  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1988);  Challener,  Admirals,  Generals,  and  American  Foreign  Policy, 
1898—1914  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1973);  Cooling,  Benjamin  Franklin  Tracy:  Father  of  the 
Modem  American  Fighting  Navy  (Hamden,  Conn.:  Archon  Books,  1973);  Davis,  Postwar  Defense  Policy 
and  the  U.S.  Navy,  1943-1946  (Chapel  Hill:  Univ.  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1966),  and  The  Admirals 
Lobby  (Chapel  Hill:  Univ.  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1967);  Dorwart,  The  Office  of  Naval  Intelligence:  The 
Birth  of  America's  First  Intelligence  Agency,  1865-1918  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1979),  and  Conflict  of  Duty:  The 
U.S.  Navy's  Intelligence  Dilemma,  1919-1945  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983);  Drake,  The  Empire  of  the  Seas:  A 
Biography  of  Rear  Admiral  Robert  Wilson  Shufeldt,  USN  (Honolulu:  Univ.  of  Hawaii  Press,  1984);  Field, 
From  Gibraltar  to  the  Middle  East:  America  and  the  Mediterranean  World,  1116—1882  (Chicago:  Imprint 
Publications,  1991);  Grenville  and  Young,  Politics,  Strategy,  and  American  Diplomacy:  Studies  in  Foreign 
Policy,  1813-1911  (New  Haven,  Conn.:  Yale  Univ.  Press,  1966);  Hagan,  American  Gunboat  Diplomacy 
and  the  Old  Navy,  1811-1899  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1973);  Harrod,  Manning  the  New 
Navy:  The  Development  of  a  Modem  Enlisted  Force,  1899—1940  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press, 
1978);  Herrick,  The  American  Naval  Revolution  (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana  State  Univ.  Press,  1966); 
Karsten,  The  Naval  Aristocracy:  The  Golden  Age  of  Annapolis  and  the  Emergence  of  Modem  American  Navalism 
(New  York:  Free  Press,  1972);  Langley,  Social  Reform  in  the  United  States  Navy,  1198-1862  (Urbana: 
Univ.  of  Illinois  Press,  1967);  McKee,  A  Gentlemanly  and  Honorable  Profession:  The  Creation  of  the  U.S. 
Naval  Officer  Corps,  1194-1815  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1991);  O'Connell,  Sacred  Vessels:  The  Cult  of  the 
Battleship  and  the  Rise  of  the  U.S.  Navy  (Boulder,  Colo.:  Westview  Press,  1991);  Spector,  Professors  of 
War:  The  Naval  War  College  and  the  Development  of  the  Naval  Profession  (Newport,  R.I.:  Naval  War 
College  Press,  1977);  and  Symonds,  Navalists  and  Antinavalists:  The  Naval  Policy  Debate  in  the  United 
States:  (Newark,  Del.:  Univ.  of  Delaware  Press,  1980). 

57  Trask,  The  War  With  Spain  in  1898  (New  York:  Macmillan,  1981),  and  the  analysis  continued  in 
James  C.  Bradford,  ed.,  Crucible  of  Empire:  The  Spanish  American  War  &  its  Aftermath  (Annapolis:  Naval 
Institute  Press,  1993).  For  another  endless  controversy  about  the  war,  see  Hyman  G.  Rickover,  How 
the  Battleship  Maine  was  Destroyed  (Washington:  Naval  History  Division,  1976). 

58  Trask,  Captains  and  Cabinets:  Anglo-American  Naval  Relations,  1911-1918  (Columbia:  Univ.  of 
Missouri  Press,  1972);  and  Sims,  with  Burton  J.  Hendrick,  The  Victory  At  Sea  (Garden  City,  N.Y.: 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  1920).  See  also,  Trask,  The  United  States  in  the  Supreme  War  Council:  American 
War  Aims  and  Inter- Allied  Strategy,  1911-1918  (Middletown,  Conn.:  Wesleyan  Univ.  Press,  1961),  and 
The  AEF  and  Coalition  Warmaking,  1911-1918  (Lawrence:  University  Press  of  Kansas,  1993). 


Hagan  and  Shulman     405 

Even  as  they  negotiated  the  terms  of  the  German  surrender  at  the  Paris 
conference  in  1918—1919,  the  Anglo-American  naval  partners  fell  out  over  the 
postwar  naval  force  structure,  thus  setting  the  stage  for  the  Washington  Con- 
ference on  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  of  1921—1922.  The  U.S.  Navy's 
uncompromisingly  hostile  reaction  to  that  conference  set  the  tone  for  the 
conservative,  pro-Mahanian  historiography  of  the  interwar  years  epitomized  by 
the  works  of  Captain  Dudley  W.  Knox.  A  generation  later,  Thomas  H.  Buckley 
and  William  R.  Braisted  analyzed  the  epochal  meeting  with  unparalleled  fairness 
and  clarity. 

While  Trask  and  Braisted  were  dissecting  the  Navy  of  the  early  twentieth 
century,  Ronald  H.  Spector  was  leaping  from  the  formative  years  of  the  "new 
navy"  of  steam  and  steel  to  a  keenly  analytical  study  of  the  American  war  against 
Japan,  1941—1945.  His  searching  book,  Eagle  Against  the  Sun,  puts  the  nostalgi- 
cally glamorous  battles  of  the  Pacific  war  and  the  possibly  decisive  American 
submarine  campaign  against  Japanese  shipping  into  proper  balance.  He  has  been 
joined  by  Dan  van  der  Vat,  an  English  scholar  whose  comprehensive  study  of 
the  Pacific  war  suggests  a  more  influential  role  for  air  power  than  has  previously 
been  conceded.  Van  der  Vat  had  earlier  analyzed  the  Battle  of  the  Atlantic  from 
a  non-Mahanian  perspective. 

•   •   • 

The  story  of  the  United  States  Navy  in  the  Cold  War  remains  largely  untold, 
although  scholars  are  beginning  to  chip  away  at  the  iceberg.  The  two  earliest 
analyses  were  the  studies  of  naval  politics  and  strategy  by  Vincent  Davis  in  the 
1960s.  Next  came  a  pioneering  monograph,  Nuclear  Navy,  1946-1962,  which 
appeared  in  1974  and  was  written  by  two  historians  of  the  Atomic  Energy 

Buckley,  The  United  States  and  the  Washington  Conference,  1921—1922  (Knoxville:  Univ.  of  Tennessee 
Press,  1970);  Braisted,  The  United  States  Navy  in  the  Pacific,  1909-1922  (Austin:  Univ.  of  Texas  Press, 
1971). 

Spector,  Eagle  Against  the  Sun  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1985);  and  van  der  Vat,  The  Atlantic  Campaign: 
World  War  IPs  Great  Struggle  at  Sea  (New  York:  Harper  &  Row,  1988),  and  The  Pacific  Campaign:  World 
War  II,  The  U.S.-Japanese  Naval  War,  1941-1945  (New  York:  Simon  &  Schuster,  1991). 

See  also  H.P.  Willmott,  The  Barrier  and  the  Javelin:  Japanese  and  Allied  Pacific  Strategies,  February  to  June 
1942  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983),  and  Empires  in  the  Balance:  Japanese  and  Allied  Pacific  Strategies  to  April 
1942  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1982);  Clark  M.  Reynolds,  The  Fast  Carriers:  The  Forging  of  an  Air  Navy  (New 
York:  McGraw-Hill,  1968),  and  Admiral  John  Towers:  The  Struggle  for  Naval  Air  Supremacy  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1991).  Clay  Blair,  Silent  Victory  (Philadelphia:  J. P.  Lippincott,  1975)  corrects  oversights  of  the 
Morison  project  arising  from  its  not  having  been  privy  to  the  ULTRA  secrets.  The  debate  continues 
to  be  fought  by  some  of  the  original  actors.  For  the  debates,  books,  and  players,  see  Roger  Pineau, 
review  of  Pearl  Harbor:  Final  Judgement  by  Henry  Clausen  and  Bruce  Lee  (New  York:  Crown,  1992)  in 
U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings  (July  1993),  pp.  98-9. 

The  documentary  point  of  departure  for  balancing  the  American  surface,  subsurface,  and  air  campaigns 
is  United  States,  Strategic  Bombing  Survey,  The  United  States  Strategic  Bombing  Survey,  10  vols.  (New 
York:  Garland,  1976). 


406      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

Commission,  Richard  G.  Hewlett  and  Francis  Duncan.  Dean  C.  Allard,  Floyd 
D.  Kennedy,  Jr.,  and  Lawrence  J.  Korb  continued  the  Cold  War  examination 
four  years  later  with  essays  in  In  Peace  and  War,  edited  by  Kenneth  J.  Hagan. 
For  some  time,  retired  Navy  Captain  Peter  M.  Swartz  has  been  writing  a  doctoral 
dissertation  on  the  Navy  of  the  early  Cold  War.  At  the  Naval  Historical  Center, 
Edward  J.  Marolda  is  sparking  research  and  publication  as  head  of  the  Contem- 
porary  History  Branch.  One  of  his  former  subordinates,  Michael  A.  Palmer, 
has  published  Origins  of  the  Maritime  Strategy:  American  Naval  Strategy  in  the  First 
Postwar  Decade  and  two  monographs  on  the  Navy  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  The 
second  volume  of  Robert  W.  Love's  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy  has  an  extensive 
dissection  of  the  Navy  since  1945.  But  the  hands-down  leader  in  the  race  at  the 
moment  is  the  Naval  Academy's  Michael  T.  Isenberg,  who  has  just  issued  the 
first  of  a  monumental  two-volume  analysis  of  the  Cold  War  Navy.  The  views 
of  Isenberg,  Love,  Palmer,  and  Swartz  differ  fundamentally  from  the  revisionist 
interpretation  in  Kenneth  J.  Hagan,  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of  American 
Sea  Power.  This  wide  disparity  of  interpretation  promises  an  intense  his- 
toriographical  debate  about  sea  power  in  the  Cold  War,  especially  as  scholars 
begin  to  exploit  the  previously  sealed  archives  of  the  former  Soviet  Union. 

•   •   • 

Until  very  recently,  the  "new  military  history"  had  not  yielded  a  complete 
history  of  the  U.S.  Navy.  The  1948  edition  of  Captain  Dudley  Knox's  A  History 

61  Davis,  Postwar  Defense  Policy  and  the  U.S.  Navy,  1943-1946  (Chapel  Hill:  The  Univ.  of  North 
Carolina  Press,  1966),  and  The  Admirals  Lobby  (Chapel  Hill:  The  Univ.  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1967); 
Hewlett  and  Duncan,  Nuclear  Navy,  1946-1962  (Illinois:  The  Univ.  of  Chicago  Press,  1967);  Hagan, 
ed.,  In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of  American  Naval  History,  1775-1984,  2d  ed.  (Westport,  Conn.: 
Greenwood  Press,  1984),  pp.  290-370. 

Marolda's  own  work  concentrates  on  the  Vietnam  War:  Marolda,  comp.,  A  Bibliography  of  the  United 
States  Navy  and  Conflict  in  Southeast  Asia  (Washington:  Contemporary  History  Branch,  Naval  Historical 
Center,  1991),  and  Marolda,  ed.,  Operation  End  Sweep:  A  History  of  Minesweeping  Operations  in  North 
Vietnam  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1993).  For  the  output  of  Marolda's  staff  and  a 
comprehensive  listing  of  other  works  on  the  Navy  in  the  Cold  War,  see  Barbara  A.  Lynch  and  John  E. 
Vajda,  7th  ed.  rev.,  United  States  Naval  History:  A  Bibliography  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center, 
1993),  pp.  70-9. 

Palmer,  Origins  of  the  Maritime  Strategy:  The  Development  of  American  Naval  Strategy,  1945—1955 
(Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1988;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1990);  On  Course  to  Desert  Storm:  The 
U.S.  Navy  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  Contributions  to  Naval  History  Series,  no.  5  (Washington:  Naval 
Historical  Center,  1992);  and  Guardians  of  the  Gulf:  A  History  of  America's  Expanding  Role  in  the  Persian 
Gulf,  1883-1992  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1992).  For  a  contrasting  view,  see  especially  Jeffrey  Record, 
Hollow  Victory:  A  Contrary  View  of  the  Gulf  War  (Washington:  Brassey's  (US),  1993),  pp.  116-7. 

64  Love,  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  1942-1991,  vol.  2  (Harrisburg,  Pa.:  Stackpole  Books,  1992),  pp. 
278-837;  Isenberg,  Shield  of  the  Republic:  The  United  States  in  an  Era  of  Cold  War  and  Violent  Peace,  vol. 
1,  1945-1962  (New  York:  St.  Martin's  Press,  1993). 

65  Hagan,  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of  American  Sea  Power  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1991),  pp. 
333-87. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     407 

of  the  United  States  Navy  remained  a  standard  summary,  often  supplemented  with 
E.B.  Potter's  Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History,  or  the  Sprouts'  Rise  of  American  Naval 
Power.  But  in  the  last  decade,  six  major  syntheses  have  appeared,  giving  the 
reader  a  choice  of  interpretations:  George  W.  Baer,  One  Hundred  Years  of  Sea 
Power:  The  United  States  Navy,  1890-1990;  Captain  Edward  L.  Beach,  The  United 
States  Navy:  200  Years;  Kenneth  J.  Hagan,  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of 
American  Sea  Power,  Stephen  Howarth,  To  Shining  Sea:  A  History  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  1115-1991;  Robert  W.  Love,  Jr.,  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy;  and 
Nathan  Miller,  The  U.  S.  Navy:  A  History.  To  some  extent,  each  of  these  books 
attempts  "to  chronicle  and  explain  the  high  politics  of  American  naval  history.' 

Also  healthy  is  the  list  of  "big  books"  which  place  the  American  naval 
experience  in  a  wider  historical  context.  Foremost  among  recent  contributions 
in  this  line  are:  Martin  van  Creveld,  Technology  and  War:  From  2000  B.C.  to  the 
Present;  John  Keegan,  The  Price  of  Admiralty;  Robert  O'Connell,  Of  Arms  and 
Men:  A  History  of  War,  Weapons,  and  Aggression;  and  Paul  M.  Kennedy,  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Great  Powers:  Economic  Change  and  Military  Conflict  from  1500  to  2000. 
It  should  be  noted  that  fictional  accounts  of  naval  history  have  never  done  better 
than  now,  with  Patrick  O'Brian's  salty  tales  of  warfare  in  the  age  of  Nelson  and 
the  techno-thrillers  of  Tom  Clancy  and  Stephen  Coonts  leading  the  pack. 

66  Knox,  A  History  of  the  United  States  Navy  (New  York:  G.P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1936,  1948);  Potter,  ed., 
Sea  Power:  A  Naval  History,  2d  ed.  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1981);  Sprout  and  Sprout,  The  Rise  of  American 
Naval  Power,  1776-1918  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1939;  Annapolis:  NIP,  1990). 

The  last  comprehensive  synthesis  by  a  member  of  the  old  guard  was  Edwin  B.  Hooper,  United  States 
Naval  Power  in  a  Changing  World  (New  York:  Praeger,  1988). 

While  historians  disagree  widely  on  a  definition  of  new  military  history,  it  would  almost  certainly 
have  to  be  written  by  a  professionally  trained  historian  rather  than  a  career  officer.  It  might  also  be 
characterized  as  less  teleological  ("the  Rise  and  Rise".  .  .),  or  as  giving  less  credence  to  notions  of 
America's  unique  mission  or  righteousness. 

67  Baer,  One  Hundred  Years  of  Sea  Power:  The  United  States  Navy,  1890-1990  (California:  Stanford  Univ. 
Press,  1994);  Beach,  The  United  States  Navy:  200  Years  (New  York:  H.  Holt,  1986);  Hagan,  This  People's 
Navy:  The  Making  of  American  Sea  Power  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1991);  Howarth,  To  Shining  Sea:  A 
History  of  the  United  States  Navy,  1775-1991  (New  York:  Random  House,  1991);  Love,  History  of  the 
U.S.  Navy,  vol.  1,  1775-1941;  vol.  2,  1942-1991  (Harrisburg,  Pa.:  Stackpole  Press,  1992);  and  Miller, 
The  U.S.  Navy  (New  York:  Quill,  1990). 

68  Robert  W.  Love,  Jr.,  introduction  to  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy:  1775-1941,  vol.  1  (Harrisburg,  Pa.: 
Stackpole  Books,  1992),  xi. 

69  Van  Creveld,  Technology  and  War:  From  2000  B.C.  to  the  Present  (New  York:  Free  Press,  1989); 
Keegan,  The  Price  of the  Admiralty:  The  Evolution  of  Naval  Warfare  (New  York:  Viking,  1988);  O'Connell, 
Of  Arms  and  Men:  A  History  of  War,  Weapons,  and  Aggression  (New  York:  Oxford  Univ.  Press,  1989), 
also  Sacred  Vessels:  The  Cult  of  the  Battleship  and  the  Rise  of  the  U.S.  Navy  (Boulder,  Colo.:  Westview 
Press,  1991);  and  Kennedy,  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Great  Powers:  Economic  Change  and  Military  Conflict 
from  1500  to  2000  (New  York:  Random  House,  1987). 

70  O'Brian,  The  Ionian  Mission  (New  York:  W.W.  Norton,  1992),  and  Master  and  Commander  (1970; 
New  York:  W.W.  Norton,  1990);  Clancy,  The  Hunt  for  Red  October  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1984),  and  Red 
Storm  Rising  (New  York:  G.P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1986);  and  Coonts,  Flight  of  the  Intruder  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
1986),  and  The  Final  Flight  (New  York:  Doubleday,  1988). 


408      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 


•  •  • 

Historically,  the  Navy  has  been  the  most  technologically  sophisticated  of  the 
American  armed  services.  Its  historiography  reflects  this  reality,  despite  the 
marked  indifference  of  academic  historians.  Notwithstanding  Jonathan  G. 
Utley's  new  social  history  of  the  battleship  USS  Tennessee,  American  naval 
hardware  traditionally  has  been  the  domain  of  specialists  not  holding  permanent 

71 

university  or  college  positions.  Frank  M.  Bennett,  for  example,  was  chief 
engineer  of  the  Navy.  Howard  I.  Chapelle,  author  of  the  monumental  History 
of  the  American  Sailing  Navy,  was  professionally  associated  with  the  Smithsonian 
Institution.  One  of  his  scholarly  successors  is  Jean  Boudriot  of  France,  author  of 
the  scrupulously  accurate  John  Paul  Jones  and  the  Bonhomme  Richard:  A  Reconstruc- 

72 

tion  of  the  Ship  and  an  Account  of  the  Battle  with  HMS  Serapis. 

Within  today's  community  of  technically  oriented  naval  historians,  it  is  the 
physicist  Norman  Friedman  who  has  made  the  most  indelible  mark  with  his 
studies  of  ships  and  ordnance.  Sometimes  assisted  by  the  naval  intelligence 
specialist  A.  David  Baker  III,  Friedman  has  added  a  ponderous  depth  of  technical 
material  on  types  and  designs  of  "gray-hulled"  American  fighting  ships.  A 
competitor,  free-lance  writer  Norman  Polmar,  shows  a  genius  for  blending  hard 
technical  data  with  operational  aspects  of  the  history  of  weapons  systems.  At  the 
Naval  Academy  Museum,  Ship  Model  Curator  Robert  F.  Sumrall  specializes  in 
the  histories  of  certain  classes  of  American  warships,  his  favorite  being  battleships. 
Another  biographer  of  battleships,  Paul  Stillwell,  is  on  the  staff  of  the  U.S.  Naval 

73 

Institute. 


Utley,  An  American  Battleship  at  Peace  and  War:  The  U.S.S.  Tennessee  (Lawrence,  Kans.:  Univ.  Press 
of  Kansas,  1991). 

72  Bennett,  The  Steam  Navy  of  the  United  States:  A  History  of  the  Growth  of  the  Steam  Vessel  of  War  in  the 
U.S.  Navy,  and  of  the  Naval  Engineer  Corps  (Pittsburgh:  Press  of  W.T.  Nicholson,  1896);  Chapelle,  History 
of  the  American  Sailing  Navy  (New  York:  W.W.  Norton,  1949);  Boudriot,  John  Paul  Jones  and  the 
Bonhomme  Richard:  A  Reconstruction  of  the  Ship  and  an  Account  of  the  Battle  with  HMS  Serapis,  trans.,  David 
H.  Roberts  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1987). 

73  Friedman,  U.S.  Aircraft  Carriers:  An  Illustrated  Design  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983),  U.S.  Cruisers: 
An  Illustrated  Design  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1984),  U.S.  Destroyers:  An  Illustrated  Design  History 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1982),  U.S.  Small  Combatants:  An  Illustrated  Design  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1987), 
U.S.  Submarines:  An  Illustrated  Design  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1994),  Naval  Radar  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
1981),  U.S.  Naval  Weapons  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1985),  and  World  Naval  Weapons  Systems,  2d  ed.  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1992);  Baker,  illus.,  U.S.  Aircraft  Carriers  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1983  and  The  Aircraft  Carrier  Intrepid 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1982);  Polmar,  The  Ships  and  Aircraft  of  the  U.S.  Fleet,  15  editions  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
1978-1992);  Alan  Raven,  Fletcher- Class  Destroyers  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1986),  Essex-Class  Carriers 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1988);  Sumrall,  Iowa  Class  Battleships:  Their  Design,  Weapons,  and  Equipment  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1988),  Summer- Gearing  Class  Destroyers:  Their  Design,  Weapons,  and  Equipment  (Annapolis:  NIP, 
forthcoming),  Ship's  Data  Series,  12  vols.  (Annapolis:  Leeward  Publications,  1973-1979),  and  Warship's 
Data  Series,  5  vols.  (Missoula,  Mont.:  Pictorial  Histories,  1985-1990);  and  Stillwell,  Battleship  Arizona: 
An  Illustrated  History  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1991),  and  Battleship  New  Jersey:  An  Illustrated  History  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1986). 


Hagan  and  Shulman      409 

Gary  E.  Weir,  the  leading  historical  analyst  of  the  technology  of  American 
submarines,  previously  taught  at  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy,  but  today  he  is  on 
the  staff  of  the  Naval  Historical  Center.  A  colleague,  Tamara  M.  Melia,  broke 
new  ground  with  a  history  of  U.S.  naval  mine  countermeasures.  Much  earlier, 
the  Ships'  History  Branch  and  a  team  of  naval  reservists  produced  the 
chronological  biography  of  almost  every  American  warship,  the  Dictionary  of 
American  Naval  Fighting  Ships.  This  extremely  valuable  multivolume  en- 
cyclopedia should  be  used  in  conjunction  with  the  two  volumes  of  ships' 
histories  prepared  by  K.  Jack  Bauer. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  the  burgeoning  analyses  of  naval  technology  have  not 
been  matched  by  a  flowering  of  new  studies  in  logistics  and  administration. 
Older  works  continue  to  be  the  standards.  Duncan  S.  Ballantine's  U.S.  Naval 
Logistics  in  the  Second  World  remains  virtually  unchallenged,  as  does  A.  Hunter 
Dupree's,  Science  in  the  Federal  Government  and  Robert  G.  Albion's  Makers  of 
Naval  Policy,  1798—1947  —  a  volume  which  had  been  quashed  for  many  years 
as  reflecting  unfavorably  upon  its  subject. 

•   •   • 

In  many  ways,  scholars  interested  in  the  human  aspects  of  the  field  dominate 
American  naval  historiography.  Nowhere  is  their  triumph  more  evident  than  in 
the  field  of  biography.  The  long  section  on  biographies  and  memoirs  in  the 

74  Weir,  Building  American  Submarines,  1914-1940,  Contributions  to  Naval  History,  no.  3  (Washington: 
Naval  Historical  Center,  1991),  and  Forged  in  War:  The  Naval- Industrial  Complex  and  American  Submarine 
Construction,  1940-1961  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1993);  Melia,  Damn  the  Torpedoes:  A 
Short  History  of  U.S.  Naval  Mine  Countermeasures,  1777—1991,  Contributions  to  Naval  History  Series, 
no.  4  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1991);  Dictionary  of  American  Naval  Fighting  Ships,  8  vols. 
(Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1964-1981);  K.Jack  Bauer  and  Stephen  S.  Roberts,  Register  of 
Ships  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  1775-1990  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1991);  and  Bauer,  Ships  of  the 
Navy,  1775-1969  (Troy,  N.Y.:  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  1970). 

Weir  now  has  some  high-powered  competition  in  Tom  Clancy,  Submarine:  A  Guided  Tour  from  Inside 
a  Nuclear  Warship  (New  York:  Berkley  Books,  1993). 

For  one  new  study,  see  Thomas  Hone,  Power  and  Change:  The  Administrative  History  of  the  Office  of 
the  Chief  of  Naval  Operations,  1946-1986  (Washington:  Navy  Historical  Center,  1989). 

Ballantine,  U.S.  Naval  Logistics  in  the  Second  World  War  (New  Jersey:  Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1947); 
A.  Hunter  Dupree,  Science  in  the  Federal  Government:  A  History  of  Policies  and  Activities  to  1 940  (Cambridge, 
Mass.:  The  Belknap  Press  of  Harvard  Univ.  Press,  1957);  Albion,  Makers  of  Naval  Policy,  1798-1947, 
Rowena  Reed,  ed.  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1980). 

For  more  on  administration,  see  Julius  A.  Furer,  Administration  of  the  Navy  in  World  War  II 
(Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1959);  Charles  O.  Paullin,  History  of  Naval  Administration 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1968);  and  Robert  W.  Neeser,  Statistical  and  Chronological  History  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  1775-1907,  2  vols.  (New  York:  n.p.,  1909;  New  York:  B.  Franklin,  1970). 

For  more  on  logistics,  see  Robert  H.  Connery,  The  Navy  and  Industrial  Mobilization  (New  Jersey: 
Princeton  Univ.  Press,  1951);  Worrall  Reed  Carter,  Beans,  Bullets,  and  Black  Oil:  The  Story  of  Fleet 
Logistics  Afloat  in  the  Pacific  During  World  War  II  (Washington:  Department  of  the  Navy,  1953);  and 
Carter  with  Elmer  E.  Duvall,  Ships,  Salvage,  and  Sinews  of  War:  The  Story  of  Fleet  Logistics  Afloat  in  Atlantic 
and  Mediterranean  Waters  During  World  War  II  (Washington:  Department  of  the  Navy,  1954). 


410      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

Naval  Historical  Center's  United  States  Naval  History:  A  Bibliography  attests  to  the 
fascination  exerted  on  writers  by  the  men  and  women  who  made  American 

77 

naval  history.  A  perusal  of  the  listings  shows  that  conservative,  often  uncritical 
interpretations  of  wartime  leaders  predominate.  But  there  is  also  a  resilient 
interest  in  officers  whose  most  notable  contributions  lay  outside  the  seas  of  glory, 
such  as  the  new  biography  of  the  naval  diplomat,  Vice  Admiral  Newton  A. 

78 

McCully,  by  Charles  J.  Weeks,  Jr.  And  even  the  revisionists  can  take  comfort 
in  the  existence  of  essays  like  Robert  W.  Love's  "Fighting  a  Global  War,"  an 
incisive  criticism  of  the  strategy  of  Admiral  Ernest  J.  King,  and  books  like 
Frederick  S.  Harrod's  Manning  the  New  Navy:  The  Development  of  a  Modern 
Enlisted  Force,  1899—1940,  Peter  D.  Karsten,  The  Naval  Aristocracy:  The  Golden 
Age  of  Annapolis  and  the  Emergence  of  Modern  American  Navalism,  and  Arnold  A. 

t-r-n  7Q 

Rogow,  James  Forrestal:  The  Study  of  Personality,  Politics,  and  Policy.  This  short 
list  means  the  challenge  and  opportunity  exist  for  the  critical  biographers  of  the 
late  twentieth  century. 

•   •   • 

Finally,  the  U.S.  Marine  Corps,  a  branch  of  the  Navy  always  treated  as  a 
separate  operational  and  administrative  entity,  now  has  a  definitive  history  in 
Allan  R.  Millett's  Semper  Fidelis:  The  History  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps. 
Several  recent  works  also  contribute  significantly  to  the  Marines'  historiography: 
Merrill  L.  Bartlett,  Lejeune:  A  Marine's  Life,  1867-1942;  John  W.  Dower,  War 
Without  Mercy:  Race  and  Power  in  the  Pacific  War,  Craig  Cameron,  American 
Samurai:  Myth,  Imagination,  and  the  Conduct  of  Battle  in  the  First  Marine  Division, 
1941—1951;  and  Timothy  Moy,  "Hitting  the  Beaches  and  Bombing  the  Cities: 
Doctrine  and  Technology  of  Two  New  Militaries." 

United  States  Naval  History.  A  Bibliography  ,  Naval  History  Bibliographies,  no.  1,  7th  ed.,  revised  by 
Barbara  A.  Lynch  and  John  E.  Vajda  (Washington:  Naval  Historical  Center,  1993). 

Weeks,  An  American  Naval  Diplomat  in  Revolutionary  Russia  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1993). 

Love,  "Fighting  a  Global  War,"  In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of  American  Naval  History,  1 775—1984, 
2d  ed.  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1984),  pp.  263-89;  Harrod,  Manning  the  New  Navy:  The 
Development  of  a  Modem  Enlisted  Force,  1899—1940  (Westport,  Conn.:  Greenwood  Press,  1978);  Karsten, 
The  Naval  Aristocracy:  The  Golden  Age  of  Annapolis  and  the  Emergence  of  Modem  American  Navalism  (New 
York:  Free  Press,  1972);  and  Rogow,  James  Forrestal:  A  Study  of  Personality,  Politics,  and  Policy  (New 
York:  Macmillan,  1963). 

For  Forrestal,  see  Robert  G.  Albion  and  Robert  H.  Connery,  Forrestal  and  the  Navy  (New  York: 
Columbia  Univ.  Press,  1962);  and  Townsend  Hoopes  and  Douglas  Brinkley,  Driven  Patriot:  The  Life 
and  Times  of  James  Forrestal  (New  York:  Knopf,  1992). 

Millett,  Semper  Fidelis:  The  History  of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps,  2d  ed.  (New  York:  Free  Press, 
1991);  Bartlett,  Lejeune:  A  Marine's  Life,  1867-1942  (Columbia:  Univ.  of  South  Carolina  Press,  1991); 
Dower,  War  Without  Mercy:  Race  and  Power  in  the  Pacific  War  (New  York:  Pantheon  Books,  1986); 
Cameron,  American  Samurai:  Myth,  Imagination,  and  the  Conduct  of  Battle  in  the  First  Marine  Division, 
1941-1993  (New  York:  Cambridge  Univ.  Press,  1993);  and  Moy,  "Hitting  the  Beaches  and  Bombing 
the  Cities:  Doctrine  and  Technology  of  Two  New  Militaries"  (Ph.D.  diss.,  University  of  California, 


Hagan  and  Shulman      41 1 


•  •  • 


This  section  ends  with  mention  of  a  well-known  paradox:  much  of  the  armed 
maritime  history  of  the  United  States  involves  a  service  other  than  the  United 
States  Navy — the  U.S.  Coast  Guard.  No  attempt  has  been  made  here  to  discuss 
that  important  historiography,  but  the  starting  point  is  the  work  of  Robert  L. 
Schema,  formerly  the  Coast  Guard's  official  historian  and  now  a  professor  at  the 
Industrial  College  of  the  Armed  Forces. 

Outlets  for  Writing 

Naval  history  is  flourishing  as  a  written  art  form  because  many  publishers  are 
willing  to  bring  out  books  for  a  rather  limited  market.  The  larger  commercial 
houses  that  have  had  success  with  broadly  conceived  books  include  The  Free 
Press,  Charles  Scribner's  &  Sons,  Random  House,  and  St.  Martin's.  The  leading 
academic  and  quasi-academic  presses  that  regularly  publish  monographs  in 
American  naval  history  are  Greenwood,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Univer- 
sity of  Kansas,  and  Westview.  Three  potent  but  highly  specialized  outfits 
concentrate  almost  exclusively  on  the  history  of  naval  technology:  Brassey's 
(U.S.),  Conway  Maritime  Press,  and  Jane's.  Brassey's  is  especially  important  to 
watch  because  in  1993  it  sailed  into  uncharted  waters  with  Crossed  Currents: 
Navy  Women  from  World  War  I  to  Tailhook,  by  Jean  Ebbert  and  Mary-Beth  Hall. 
Lastly,  two  quite  different  specialty  presses  always  bear  watching  for  new  titles 
in  naval  history:  Nautical  &  Aviation  Press  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  Press  in  Washington,  D.C. 

Since  its  founding  in  1873,  the  Naval  Institute  has  encouraged  research  on 
naval  history  through  forums,  its  press,  the  Proceedings,  and  its  new  journal,  Naval 
History.  Two  current  series  demonstrate  a  long-term  commitment  to  excellence 
on  the  part  of  the  Naval  Institute  Press.  Classics  of  Sea  Power,  edited  by  John  B. 
Hattendorf  and  Wayne  P.  Hughes,  contains  works  by  Julian  Corbett,  Philip 
Howard  Colomb,  and  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan.  Classics  of  Naval  Literature,  edited 
by  Jack  Sweetman,  embraces  books  by  Herman  Melville,  James  Fenimore 
Cooper,  Frederick  Marryat,  and  C.S.  Forester  as  well  as  memoirs  by  Admirals 
Charles  Clark,  George  Dewey,  and  Robley  D.  Evans. 

In  the  last  two  decades,  the  Naval  Institute  Press  published  three  important 
works  of  collective  biography:  Dictionary  of  Admirals  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  by  William 

Berkeley,  1993). 

81    Scheina,  U.S.  Coast  Guard  Cutters  and  Craft,  1946-1990  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1990),  and  U.S.  Coast 
Guard  Cutters  and  Craft  of  World  War  II  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1982). 

Ebbert  and  Hall,  Crossed  Currents:  Navy  Women  from  World  War  I  to  Tailhook,  (Washington:  Brassey's, 
Div.  of  Maxwell  Macmillan  Co.,  1993). 

83    Hattendorf  and  Hughes,  eds.,  Classics  of  Sea  Power,  9  volumes.  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1988-1994);  and 
Sweetman,  ed.,  Classics  of  Naval  Literature,  30  vols.  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1984-1993). 


412      Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

B.  Cogar;  American  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  edited  by  Paolo  E.  Coletta;  and  The 
Chiefs  of  Naval  Operations,  edited  by  Robert  W.  Love,  Jr.  With  this  track  record, 
the  Naval  Institute  Press  will  remain  the  leading  commercial  publisher  of 
American  naval  history  and  related  technical  writing  for  the  remainder  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

Within  the  Navy,  the  Naval  Historical  Center  has  a  long  history  of  publishing 
edited  collections  of  documents,  bibliographies,  and  scholarly  monographs 
under  its  own  imprint,  or  under  those  of  the  Department  of  the  Navy  and  the 
U.S.  Government  Printing  Office.  Currently,  the  center  is  producing  three 
important  series:  the  three- volume  set  of  documents  on  the  War  of  1812,  edited 
by  William  S.  Dudley;  the  Contributions  to  Naval  History  Series  and  the  series 
known  as  Naval  History  Bibliographies.  Somewhat  less  active  is  the  Naval  War 
College  Press,  which  was  founded  in  1975.  This  press  has  produced  a  series  of 
historical  monographs  based  upon  the  college's  own  collections.  The  Naval  War 
College  Historical  Monograph  Series  now  encompasses  eleven  volumes  of 
edited  manuscripts,  bibliographies,  memoirs,  conference  proceedings,  and 
theses,  with  several  volumes  forthcoming. 

•   •   • 

Scholarly  and  quasi-scholarly  journals  publish  a  large  number  of  articles  on 
U.S.  naval  history  each  year.  The  premier  outlet  for  popular  writing  is  Naval 
History,  published  by  the  Naval  Institute.  This  new  bimonthly  publication 
complements  the  more  scholarly  American  Neptune;  the  long-established  Naval 
War  College  Review,  which  covers  all  aspects  of  sea  power  and  military  affairs  in 
general;  and  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  Proceedings,  which  is  especially  strong  in 
technical  studies.  For  Marine  Corps  topics,  the  leading  journal  is  The  Marine 
Corps  Gazette,  with  an  irregular  schedule  of  publication. 

Another  important  periodical  venue  is  the  National  Maritime  Historical 
Society's  Sea  History.  The  professional  military  historians'  voice  is  Thefournal  of 
Military  History  published  by  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  the  George  C. 
Marshall  Foundation.   The  vital  museum-related  publications  include    The 

84  Cogar,  Dictionary  of  Admirals  of  the  U.S.  Navy,  vol.  1,  1862-1900;  vol.  2,  1901-1918  (Annapolis: 
NIP,  1989,  1991);  Coletta,  ed.,  American  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  vol.  1,  1775-1913;  vol.  2,  1913-1972 
(Annapolis:  NIP,  1980);  and  Love,  ed.,  The  Chiefs  of  Naval  Operations,  vol.  1,  1775-1941;  vol.  2, 
1942-1991  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1980). 

In  addition  to  titles  cited  elsewhere,  in  1993  the  Naval  Historical  Center  published  two  original 
studies:  Edward  J.  Marolda,  By  Sea,  Air,  and  Land:  An  Illustrated  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy  and  the  War 
in  Southeast  Asia  (Washington:  U.S.  Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1993);  and  Curtis  A.  Utz,  Cordon  of  Steel:  The 
U.S.  Navy  and  the  Cuban  Missile  Crisis,  The  U.S.  Navy  in  the  Modern  World,  no.  1  (Washington:  U.S. 
Govt.  Print.  Off.,  1993). 

86  For  the  transition  between  the  Proceedings  and  Naval  History,  see  Clayton  R.  Barrow,  Jr.,  ed.,  America 
Spreads  Her  Sails:  U.S.  Sea  Power  in  the  19th  Century  (Annapolis:  NIP,  1973). 

The  Marine  Corps  Gazette  (Quantico,  Va.:  Marine  Corps  Assoc,  1916-present). 


Hagan  and  Shulman     41 3 

American  Neptune  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Salem,  and  those  published  by  the 
Mystic  Seaport  Museum,  the  South  Street  Sea  Port,  the  Manitowac  Maritime 
Museum,  and  the  National  Maritime  Museum  in  San  Francisco. 

The  journals  just  named  and  those  discussed  in  earlier  sections  contain  reviews 
of  books  related  to  naval  history,  and  these  reviews  are  an  essential  tool  for 
keeping  up  with  a  subdiscipline  that  lacks  a  strong  academic  institutional  base. 

Sources  of  Funding 

The  principal  steady  source  of  financial  support  for  research  and  writing  is 
the  Naval  Historical  Center.  Each  year  the  center  awards  the  Samuel  Eliot 
Morison  Scholarship  of  $3,000  to  a  naval  officer,  as  well  as  two  research  grants 
of  $2,500  each  for  established  scholars,  one  of  $8,000  for  a  doctoral  candidate 
writing  a  dissertation  in  naval  history,  and  the  Ernest  M.  Eller  Prize  of  $1,000 
for  an  outstanding  scholarly  article.  Additionally,  the  center  administers  an 
internship  program  and  occasionally  awards  larger,  multi-year  grants  for  official 
histories.  To  mark  the  bicentennial  of  the  USS  Constitution,  the  Naval  Historical 
Center  will  make  an  award  of  $750  for  an  article  and  one  of  $2,500  for  a  book 
related  to  the  bicentennial  theme  and  based  on  original  research.  The  works 
must  be  published  or  accepted  for  publication  between  1994  and  1998.  The 
Marine  Corps  Historical  Center,  also  located  in  the  Washington  Navy  Yard, 
offers  similar  grants. 

Major  private  foundations  support  naval  history  on  an  ad  hoc  basis.  The  John 
D.  and  Catherine  T.  MacArthur  Foundation  in  Chicago  has  traditionally 
provided  institutional  grants  for  graduate  and  post-graduate  research  in  security 
studies.  In  1994,  the  Chicago-based  Robert  R.  McCormick  Tribune  Founda- 
tion joined  with  the  U.S.  Naval  Institute  in  sponsoring  two  scholarly  observances 
of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Normandy  landings,  one  at  the  Cantigny 
Museum  in  Wheaton,  Illinois,  the  other  in  Annapolis,  Maryland.  The  Eisen- 
hower Center  of  the  University  of  New  Orleans  sponsored  a  more  popularly 
oriented  conference  on  the  same  topic  in  May  1994.  This  was  one  of  the 
Eisenhower  Center's  series  of  annual  conclaves  on  World  War  II  topics  from 
which  naval  historians  are  not  excluded. 

The  Harry  and  Lynde  Bradley  Foundation  of  Milwaukee  has  supported  work 
such  as  the  series  of  Yale  conferences  where  this  chapter  was  spawned.  The  John 
M.  Olin  Foundation  in  New  York  has  engaged  in  this  type  of  activity  and  has 
funded  pre-  and  post-doctoral  fellowships  in  military  history  at  the  Yale 
International  Security  Program,  which  is  directed  by  Paul  Kennedy,  and  in 
security  studies  at  Harvard's  Olin  Institute,  directed  by  Samuel  Huntington.  The 
Smith  Richardson  Foundation  of  Westport,  Connecticut  also  funds  work  in  this 
field.  The  competition  for  all  of  these  awards  is  intense,  and  generally  the  grants 

The  best  way  to  keep  up  with  the  multifaceted  activities  of  the  Naval  Historical  Center  is  by 
subscribing  to  its  newsletter,  Pull  Together. 


414     Mahan  Plus  One  Hundred 

go  to  the  same  few  institutions.  Some,  such  as  the  Eller  Fellowship  in  naval 
history  at  East  Carolina  University,  are  restricted  to  a  particular  college  or 
university. 

Summary:  The  State  of  U.S.  Naval  History 

The  teaching  of  naval  history  has  fallen  on  tough  times.  At  the  Naval 
Academy,  where  it  ought  to  reign  supreme,  naval  history  receives  lukewarm 
support.  In  many  other  departments  nationally,  it  is  denied  a  secure  niche  in  the 
curriculum.  By  contrast,  American  naval  museums  are  stronger  than  ever  before, 
although  their  financial  underpinnings  are  not  as  solid  as  they  might  be,  and  thus 
their  future  vitality  is  not  guaranteed.  Research  and  publication  are  surprisingly 
healthy  activities,  although  many  scholars  have  to  work  alone  and  isolated  in 
departments  indifferent  or  hostile  to  their  field.  And,  as  has  always  been  the  case, 
Washington  and  Annapolis  remain  the  primary  geographic  centers  for  research 
because  of  their  libraries,  archives,  and  manuscript  collections. 

•   •   • 

Despite  pockets  of  encouraging  activity,  a  recent  reviewer  said,  "as  a  sub- 
specialty  of  historical  study,  U.S.  naval  history  is  a  toddler."  That  most  naval 
historians  agree  on  this  is  distressing.  Remedies  must  be  sought,  and  one 
possibility  is  to  write  histories  that  address  the  Navy  along  lines  other  than  policy 
and  strategy.  Sociological,  financial,  and  even  psychological  approaches  should 
be  brought  into  play  in  examining  naval  history. 

The  primary  challenge  facing  naval  historians  is  to  embrace  new 
methodologies,  or  risk  being  considered  completely  irrelevant  to  the  profession 
as  a  whole.  They  must  target  and  address  those  broad  questions  insufficiently 
studied,  such  as  the  social  history  of  sailors,  the  commercial-cultural  history  of 
Navy  yards,  civil-military  relations,  and  the  technical-bureaucratic  history  of 
weapons  systems.  Next,  they  must  establish  a  methodological  framework  for 
investigating  recent  naval  history,  an  area  where  most  high-level  government 
documents  will  remain  highly  classified  for  some  time. 

Finally,  naval  historians  ought  to  ask,  what  is  the  purpose  of  American  naval 
history?  Is  it  to  eulogize  heroes  and  instill  patriotic  virtues  of  self-sacrifice,  as  it 
was  for  much  of  the  nineteenth  century?  Is  it  to  enshrine  a  particular  strategic 
concept,  as  it  was  for  the  first  half  of  the  twentieth  century?  Or  is  it  to  question 
prevailing  interpretive  orthodoxies,  as  much  of  it  has  been  since  the  1960s? 

With  the  end  of  the  Cold  War — if  not  with  the  dawning  of  a  particularly 
bright  "new  world  order" — it  is  imperative  that  the  historians  of  America's  great 
sea  service  ask  questions  relevant  to  the  United  States  Navy  of  the  future,  a  navy 

89  John  B.  Hattendorf,  review  of  History  of  U.S.  Navy,  by  Robert  W.  Love,  Jr.,  Naval  Institute 
Proceedings  (August,  1993)  pp.  99-100. 


Hagan  and  Shulman     41 5 

diminished  in  size  from  its  magnitude  of  1950— 1990,  but  still  the  world's  most 
powerful.  Are  there  historical  antecedents  in  the  American  experience  or  in  the 
experience  of  other  nations  that  will  suggest  strategic,  operational,  technological, 
logistical,  and  administrative  guidelines  for  the  future? 

Some  historians  do  not  believe  in  seeking  lessons  from  the  past  as  lodestars 
for  the  future,  but  if  U.S.  naval  historians  adopt  this  purist  stance,  they  will 
become  even  less  germane  to  the  intellectual  and  political  mainstreams  of  the 
United  States  than  they  are  now.  The  chance  to  reach  out  to  the  American 
people  is  a  happy,  if  daunting,  prospect. 


The  authors  wish  to  thank  several  people  for  their  advice  and  help  on  this  project,  including:  Paul 
M.  Kennedy  and  John  B.  Hattendorf  for  crucial  assistance  and  advice  at  every  stage;  David  A.  Rosenberg 
for  information  and  guidance;  James  C.  Bradford,  Charles  C.  Campbell,  John  P.  Cummings,  Harold 
D.  Langley,  Jane  H.  Price,  Jack  Sweetman,  Richard  Hume  Werking,  and  Stephen  D.  Wrage  for  their 
thoughtful  reading  and  comments;  Richard  A.  von  Doenhoff  for  material  on  the  National  Archives; 
Dean  C.  AUard  and  Edward  Marolda  for  data  on  the  Naval  Historical  Center;  Harold  Langley  for 
information  about  the  Smithsonian;  James  W.  Cheevers,  senior  curator  of  the  Naval  Academy  Museum, 
for  the  section  on  museums;  Erica  Thomas  for  a  jump-start  with  the  footnotes;  and  Ann  Jensen  for 
editing  of  the  very  highest  order.  This  chapter,  however,  represents  only  the  views  of  the  authors. 

The  cutoff  for  information  in  this  essay  was  30  January  1994.  Suggestions  and  comments  for  future 
editions  may  be  addressed  to  the  editor  at  the  Naval  War  College  Press. 

Kenneth  J.  Hagan,  a  retired  captain  in  the  U.S.  Naval  Reserve,  is  author  of American  Gunboat  Diplomacy 
and  the  Old  Navy,  1877-1889  and  This  People's  Navy:  The  Making  of  American  Sea  Power,  and  editor  of 
In  Peace  and  War:  Interpretations  of  American  History,  1775—1984.  Hagan  served  on  the  faculty  of  the 
history  department  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Academy,  1973-1993,  and  was  the  academy's  archivist  and 
museum  director  from  1990  through  1993. 

Mark  R.  Shulman  is  author  of  Navalism  and  the  Emergence  of  American  Sea  Power,  1882-1893 
(Annapolis:  NIP)  and  numerous  articles.  He  has  edited  or  co-edited  An  Admiral's  Yam:  The  Autobiography 
of  Harris  Laning  and  the  Laws  of  War:  Constraints  on  Warfare  in  the  Western  World.  Shulman  has  taught 
history  at  Yale  University  and  is  now  at  The  National  Strategy  Information  Center,  Washington,  D.C. 


Beyond  Toddlerhood 

Thoughts  on  the  Future  of  U.S.  Naval  History 

David  Alan  Rosenberg 


"  /\  s  a  sub-specialty  of  historical  study,  U.S.  naval  history  is  a  toddler."  So 
JL  A.notes  Dr.  John  B.  Hattendorf,  the  Ernest  J.  King  Professor  of  Maritime 
History  at  the  U.S.  Naval  War  College  and  editor  of  the  present  volume,  in  his 
recent  review  of  Robert  W.  Love,  Jr.'s  History  of  the  U.S.  Navy.  Professors  Hagan 
and  Shulman,  in  their  overview  of  the  current  state  of  American  naval  history, 
have  taken  note  of  this  comment  and  have  provided  some  general  suggestions 
about  how  historians  of  American  naval  affairs  can  advance  their  field  as  a 
sub-specialty  of  scholarly  endeavor.  This  paper  presents  some  additional  thoughts 
to  challenge  colleagues  old  and  young  as  they  attack  their  chosen  subject.  The 
challenge  takes  the  form  of  three  questions  historians  might  ask  to  move 
American  naval  history  toward  the  complexity  and  intellectual  sophistication 
envisioned  by  Messrs.  Hattendorf,  Hagan,  and  Shulman. 

The  first  such  question  is  "  What  was  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  who  belonged  to  it?" 
For  far  too  long,  we  have  regarded  the  naval  establishment  very  narrowly, 
concentrating  on  the  uniformed  service,  both  officers  and  enlisted  personnel, 
and  on  primarily  the  seagoing,  operational  components  at  that.  This  has 
reinforced  naval  history's  strong  traditional  focus  on  the  "tip  of  the  spear,"  the 
ships  and  men  that  have  deployed  overseas  and  met  the  enemy  in  battle.  As  a 
result,  if  we  continue  the  metaphor,  we  still  have  only  a  vague  sense  of  the  spear 
shaft,  which  had  a  different  length  and  a  different  composition  at  various  times 
in  the  nation's  history.  Yet  that  shaft  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  naval 
establishment  as  the  spearhead,  and  the  shaft  may  well  have  determined  the 
nature  and  effectiveness  of  the  tip  that  was  sent  into  harm's  way. 

We  need  to  know  more  about  the  naval  establishment,  broadly  defined.  This 
includes  civilian  shipbuilders,  gun,  mine  and  torpedo  makers,  airplane  builders, 
sail  and  rope  makers,  coal  and  oil  suppliers,  producers  of  navigational  charts, 
books  and  instruments,  victuallers,  and  white  collar  bureaucrats.  There  is  also 
much  additional  work  to  be  done  on  analyzing  the  evolution  of  the  naval  officer 
corps  and  the  enlisted  ranks,  from  a  professional  as  well  as  a  sociological 
perspective.  For  example,  navy  wives  and  families  not  only  developed  their  own 


41 8     Beyond  Toddlerhood 

brand  of  naval  culture,  but  in  the  twentieth  century  had  a  profound  role  in 
shaping  personnel  policies,  particularly  with  respect  to  base  housing,  medical 
care,  deployment  schedules,  and  support  services. 

The  political  underpinnings  of  the  American  Navy  deserve  much  more 
attention  as  well.  While  urban  and  social  historians  have  begun  to  explore  the 
role  that  military  bases  have  played  in  shaping  the  growth  of  cities  and 
communities,  naval  historians  have  not  reciprocated  by  analyzing  how  local 
politics  have  influenced  the  development  of  the  American  Navy's  shore  in- 
frastructure. Surprisingly,  the  role  of  national  politics  in  shaping  naval  develop- 
ment has  also  received  much  less  attention  in  articles  and  monographs  than  it 
clearly  merits. 

The  second  question  historians  should  ask  is  "What  did  navies  do?"  This 
question  might  appear  to  be  an  obvious  one,  and  one  which  historians  have 
already  undertaken  to  address,  but  the  task  is  far  from  complete.  Certain  aspects 
have  been  ignored.  While  the  gross  outlines  and  in  many  cases  the  details  of 
American  naval  operations  have  been  traced  and  analyzed,  the  internal  workings 
of  shipboard  life  are  little  understood.  For  too  long  we  have  implicitly  accepted 
Samuel  Johnson's  aphorism:  "being  in  a  ship  is  being  in  jail,  with  a  chance  of 
being  drowned  .  .  .,"  and  have  paid  little  attention  to  how  sailors  occupied  their 
time  while  at  sea.  But  life  at  sea  was  not  simply  a  punitive  exercise.  The  drills 
and  discipline  applied  were  not  designed  just  to  control  human  nature,  but  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  ship. 

In  a  similar  vein,  significant  progress  has  been  made  in  recent  years  in  studying 
the  history  of  naval  invention,  but  equally  important  is  the  as  yet  unwritten 
history  of  the  application  of  such  invention  to  operations  and  combat  at  sea. 
What  sailors  do,  and  are  capable  of  doing,  surely  influences  technical  innovation, 
just  as  technology  shapes  what  is  expected  of  sailors  as  they  sail,  steam,  and  fight 
their  ships.  It  is  a  question  of  education,  training,  drills,  responsibilities,  and 
schedules,  just  as  much  as  it  is  a  question  of  big  guns,  planes  and  missiles,  armor 
plate,  boilers,  nuclear  reactors,  radios,  radar,  and  electronic  warfare.  All  of  these 
facets  come  to  define  naval  tactics,  tactical  doctrine,  and  command  and  control. 
The  extent  to  which  all  of  these  considerations  came  to  shape  American  naval 
strategy  has  never  been  analyzed.  They  may  in  the  end  prove  to  have  been  as 
important  as  the  writings  of  naval  theorists,  even  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan  himself. 

The  third  area  needing  further  attention  is  defined  by  the  question:  "Why 
should  other  historians  care?"  Naval  history  will  not  come  into  its  own  as  an 
academic  discipline  until  naval  historians  are  more  successful  at  spelling  out  the 
connections  between  their  subject  and  the  concerns  of  the  broader  historical 
profession.  Opportunities  for  such  research  abound.  The  development  of  navies 
and  naval  technology  is  not  only  an  important  element  in  national  strategy  and 
diplomacy,  but  in  the  history  of  the  industrial  nation  state.  The  very  existence 
of  a  navy  is  dependent  on  the  choice  of  a  state  to  invest  in  developing  and 


Rosenberg     41 9 

maintaining  the  industrial  capacity  to  build  and  sustain  it.  The  centrality  of  navies 
in  the  history  of  European  states  has  long  been  acknowledged,  particularly  with 
reference  to  Renaissance  Venice,  imperial  Spain,  and  modern  Britain.  In  the 
United  States,  however,  the  relevance  of  the  Navy  to  the  era  of  nation-building 
has  rarely  been  considered.  In  particular,  the  rise  of  the  American  Navy  after  the 
Civil  War  rested  not  just  on  national  policy,  but  on  the  availability  of  industrial 
manpower,  the  advancement  of  steam  technology,  and  major  breakthroughs  in 
understanding  and  applying  the  laws  of  thermodynamics. 

During  the  twentieth  century,  the  American  Navy  began  to  operate  in  three 
dimensions:  on,  over,  and  beneath  the  oceans,  ultimately  fostering  and  employ- 
ing such  technologies  as  nuclear  power,  nuclear  weapons,  guided  and  ballistic 
missiles,  and  a  full  spectrum  of  computer  systems.  The  role  played  by  the  Navy 
in  the  creation  of  new  technology  has  been  acknowledged,  but  the  part  the  naval 
establishment  played  in  sustaining  new  industries  and  shaping  them  to  meet  its 
needs  has  not  been  assessed.  Further,  the  role  the  Navy  played  in  these  matters 
in  contrast  to  the  Army  and  the  Air  Force  offers  a  fruitful  avenue  for  further 
research.  As  America  moves  to  adapt  to  a  post  Cold  War  era  and  the  end  of 
nearly  fifty  years  of  constant  mobilization  for  war,  such  analyses  would  be  of 
great  service. 

But  what  of  "traditional"  naval  history:  of  sea  fights,  and  diplomatic  ac- 
complishments, and  the  evolution  of  policy  and  strategy?  Certainly  in  the  latter 
case,  asking  and  answering  as  best  we  can  the  questions  just  outlined  should 
enrich  such  studies.  For  too  long  the  history  of  policy  and  strategy  has  been 
treated  as  the  self-fulfilling  motion  from  words  to  deeds,  without  careful 
attention  to  the  means — economic  and  financial,  scientific,  technological  and 
industrial— which  would  translate  one  into  the  other.  Knowing  who  made  up 
navies,  what  they  do  and  why  they  matter  cannot  help  but  enhance  our 
understanding  of  the  long-standing  concerns  of  naval  historians,  from  prepara- 
tion in  peacetime  to  achievements  and  failures  in  times  of  war.