Just Finished Reading: The Last Gentleman of War – The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden by R K Lochner (FP: 1979) [303pp] 

In 1914 the war drums, ever louder, could be heard all the way in China. It would only be a matter of time before Germany's Far East fleet was trapped in her home port and either starved into submission or destroyed by the Allies superior numbers. There was only one thing to do – leave port and strike at the superior enemy forces wherever they could be found. In order to do that the commander, Admiral Graf von Spee, wanted to keep his entire force together. One captain, Karl von Muller, asked is his ship Emden could be detached to operate independently. After some musing the Admiral agreed and the historic exploits of that ship began. In the coming months Commander Muller not only managed to evade the sweeps of British, French, Russian and Japanese warships but he also managed to sink thousands of tons of Allied cargo vessels, destroy an oil facility in Madras, raid Penang (an Allied port) sinking both a Russian and a French warship running the Allies a very merry chase for over 3 months without any access to port facilities or the possibility of resupply. What's more, all of the encounters with civilian vessels – both enemy and neutral resulted in not a single death or injury (except maybe to their pride) which was universally praised by all sides. 

But such a run of luck (and skill) cannot last forever. Deciding to attack and destroy an isolated British radio station and cut the international cables which met there, Commander Muller made a fatal mistake. Believing that the nearest Allied warship was at least 250 miles away he sent ashore a party of men to undertake the task at hand. Aware that a message had been sent out of a 'strange ship' in the harbour the German crew knew that they had to work fast. What they didn't realise was just HOW fast they needed to move. Unfortunately for the Emden a heavily escorted Allied troop convoy was only 50 miles away and a fast cruiser – the Australian HMAS Sydney – was dispatched to investigate. Sydney was a more modern, faster and more heavily armed vessel than Emden which quickly found that it was outgunned and could neither stand and fight nor successfully run from her bigger opponent. Within a few hours of the opening salvo Emden lay wrecked, beached on a carol reef surrounded by the dead and dying. It was over – or not... 

The landing party has seen part of the fight and had a decision to make. They could either hide on the island (unlikely) or stand and fight (suicide against a cruiser and any troops sent to follow up any offshore bombardment). Neither option found favour. There was only one alternative – escape and return to Germany, which would mean sailing from North Keeling island (located 1750 miles west of Australia in the Indian ocean) across the Indian ocean, to the Red Sea coastal area, across Arabia to Constantinople and from there, by train, finally to Germany itself. This is exactly what they accomplished with minimal casualties all round. Unsurprisingly they were treated like heroes on their return over a year later. 

I knew the early part of this story having read about Graf von Spee's fleet actions at Coronel and the Falklands (where his command was destroyed much to the relief of the Royal Navy). But I didn't know much detail (or just how heroic) the actions of Emden were. It's an amazing story, well told with lots of detail gleaned from the dairies and reports of those involved on all sides. I was particularly impressed by the logistical nightmare of keeping a ship in action that needed HUNDREDS of tons of coal on a regular basis just to keep going - never mind food and other items. I can definitely see why they shifted to oil ASAP! If you're interested in WW1 away from the mud, shells and gas of the Western Front this is definitely a recommended read for you and worth the effort of tracking down a copy. 

Translated from the German by Thea and Harry Lindauer.  

Just Finished Reading: The Spanish Armada by Robert Hutchinson (FP: 2013) [254pp] 

It was, without doubt, a turning point heralding both the rise of England to global power status and the long slow decline of the Spanish Empire into eventual obscurity. The Great Enterprise of the Spanish Armada was supposed to ring the death knell of Elizabeth’s Protestant England. Not only did it fail in rather spectacular fashion it set in motion a chain of events that would change Europe and the world forever. 

The launch of the Armada in 1588 came as no great surprise to anyone. Not only was Spain an avowed enemy of England after the accension of Elizabeth to the throne in late 1558 but Phillip II (ex-husband of Mary I of England) had publicly vowed to expunge the heretical monarch by fire and invasion if necessary. As the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) dragged on plans were drawn and ships began to cluster in various ports ready to destroy the English navy [I had to constantly correct myself thinking of England’s forces as “British” or thinking of England as either Britain/Great Britain or the UK as such entities had yet to come into existence] and facilitate a full invasion from the Spanish held Netherlands. Such a fleet took an inordinate amount of time to bring together. So long indeed that the early stores brought aboard began in rot in their casks. The fleet itself was a motley collection of newly commissioned ships, barges, older warships and even oar powered/assisted galleons. In all the fleet consisted of 141 ships and took two days just to leave port. Moving at the speed of the slowest ship it progressed towards England at a pace of 4MPH.  

From the ‘off’ things did not go well. Bad weather forced several ships back into port almost immediately and later storms forced several ships to leave for repairs. Finally reaching the English Channel it began to face increasing attacks from English warships which although smaller than many of their Spanish counterparts where much nimbler, better crewed and better armed. The failings of the Armada began to become obvious to all concerned. Barely half of the actual Armada were warships whilst most of the English ships could be described as such. Although the English did have a number of armed merchantmen the majority were very much men-o-war manned by experienced and hardened combat veterans. Retiring to Calais to await the invasion force from the Netherlands, the Spanish fleet were set upon by 8 English fireships causing only slight damage overall but scattering the remainder and beaching several ships. Interestingly, these 8 ships were the only English losses attributed to the fighting.  

Scattered, harried and with contrary winds – to say nothing of the dead and dying from various encounters including the Battle of Gravelines – the Armada pushed into the North Sea with the idea of circumnavigating the British Isles and returning to Spain. This is where things got really bad for the fleet. A mixture of unseasonably stormy weather, lack of charts, death, disease and fast running out supplies meant that the remaining 110 ships suffered greatly on their journey home. Finally, months after they sailed certain of their victory, only 35 ships made it back many containing hundreds of dead and dying. It was a disaster of epic proportions. Spain would never fully recover. 

Naturally the tale of the Spanish Armada is taught with pride (or at least it was in my time) in British schools – despite the fact that most of the damage was done by our notoriously fickle weather. Although its arguable if the Armada could ever have been successful even without the storms it's equally arguable that a successful invasion (if possible) would have ended Elizabeth’s reign reasonably easily. But I think a LOT would have had to have been different for this counter-factual to have much credence. Evidence at the time as well as later evidence from the many wrecks around the coast shows just how unprepared the Spanish had been relying as they did on God and the justice of their cause rather than solid logistics, a well thought out plan and seaworthy ships.  

As an aside, after receiving the rather odd update on my ancestry – that my DNA is apparently 2% Spanish – I paid particular attention to the crews of Spanish ships that washed up on the Irish coast on their way home. It seems that the vast majority either drowned (the idea I understand that it was ‘bad luck’ for a sailor to know how to swim) or were killed on the shoreline (as either invaders or, rather strangely, because of an idea that if you saved someone from the sea then it would be ‘compensated’ by the drowning of a local). Some of the richer survivors did manage to pay their way home (as always) but there is some evidence that a handful of survivors did settle in Ireland in various capacities. It's possible (just) that one of these Spaniards was an ancestor of mine – although I doubt very much if I’m going to find any documentation of a Pedro Gonzales married to Bridget Doyle in 1589.  

Overall, this was a very good examination of why the Armada happened and why it ultimately failed. Even if you have a reasonable familiarity with the events this can still highlight much that you might have missed from your school, movies or casual reading. Definitely worth a read.

Just Finished Reading: A Prayer for the Ship by Douglas Reeman (FP: 1958) [255pp] 

England’s South coast, early in WW2. After several months on armed trawlers, sub-lieutenant Clive Royce is transferred to HMS Royston, a motor torpedo boat mothership. Now second in command of an MTB Royce is both looking forward to action and is worried that he’ll let his squadron down if he doesn’t perform as needed. Learning the ropes, learning command and learning how to fight in the ever-changing environment of the English Channel is a steep enough challenge. What he doesn’t really need is a new commanding officer how is a stickler for the rules and who is jealous of anyone else’s success. Both making and losing friends, worrying about his aging parents and, just maybe, falling in love he has enough to think about on the cold, dark patrols.  

This is yet another of those books I picked up a while back (although WELL after its publication date!) that I’ve been meaning to get around to. Small craft combat in the English Channel isn’t something that gets much attention – in fiction or non-fiction – so I thought it’d be interesting if nothing else. It was, unfortunately, a book of two halves. The main narrative was typical enough: young (but not entirely green) officer recruit learning the ropes, worried about fitting in and being up to the task – especially as he’s never seen combat before. Also, we have the trope of an overbearing officer who can (if annoyed) inhibit if not destroy his military career. Most of that was decently handled. As often with these books the combat side of things is well done, and this was no exception. There wasn’t a HUGE amount of combat sequences – as in real life its mostly waiting for things to happen – but once the shells and the torpedoes where flying the pace picked up and it was all rather well done. 

As often the case though, the more personal aspects of the plot were rather less competently handled – but that might have been more the times it was written in rather than any shortcomings by the author. The hospital scenes with Royce’s parents as he recovered from a very close shave were OK, but it was the love story in the second half of the book that REALLY slowed the narrative down and honestly read like something an inexperienced (but romantically inclined) teenage might produce. I cringed more than once as that particular plot thread SLOWLY progressed. 

Overall, this was generally reasonable although I would have preferred more action and less mooning over a pretty face. I don’t think I have any more from this author in various stacks and am not really looking to buy any more, but I’m sure that I have others to fill the gap.   

Just Finished Reading: Icemen – A History of the Artic and Its Explorers by Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (FP: 1998) [180pp] 

It is no real exaggeration to call it an obsession. For several centuries now Europeans and, more recently Americans, have become fascinated with the Artic – AKA the North Pole. First it was the idea, largely a fantasy until Global Warming made it an increasing reality, of the Northwest Passage across the top of the world. Rumours of an ice-free ocean at the Pole warmed by a sun always above the horizon but enclosed behind a wall of ice drove explorers on, often to their deaths or disappearance. Many tried and the lucky ones returned to tell their tales of hardship and failure. 

Technology seemed to come to the aid of explorers everywhere with the invention of balloons and, later, rigid airships. Able to accomplish much with somewhat reduced risk – although crashing into the ice (or worse the Artic Ocean) was a real possibility – these allowed improved mapping of the region and were swiftly followed by heavier-than-air craft to break further records and more than a few bones and bank accounts. As technology advanced even further it was the submarine that allowed humans to glide under the ice and surface even at the Pole itself. The Cold War had found its very own cold home. 

Of course, technology all too often meant military technology from long-range nuclear bombers to ballistic missiles. The only early ‘defence’ was early warning and the best place for those early warning stations was the Artic. Much was learned from building, supplying and maintaining outposts in some of the most hostile places on Earth. 

The pull of the Artic wastes has a long and often fascinating history. Despite the comparative brevity of the book the authors pack a LOT of information here along with a host of brave and often very strange people who helped write that history – and themselves in to it. I was particularly interested in the weird battle between Allied and German weather stations during WW2 scattered throughout the region each giving their owners vital information with which to plan their attacks. Hopefully more on THAT topic at some point! 

Well written, often humorous, sometimes tragic and endlessly interesting this was a delight from beginning to end. Much more to come on both Poles and the very brave people who went there to find out everything they could about some of the most inhospitable and dangerous places on the planet. Recommended if you can source a copy. 

Just Finished Reading: Guns Off Cape Ann by Kenneth Poolman (FP: 1961) [154pp] 

After years of having their ships harassed and their crews ‘pressed’ into service American patience finally gave way and war was declared. Already deep into its own war with Napoleon, Great Britain was dismissive of this latest act of an upstart nation and with good reason. The Royal Navy, who would be taking the first actions of the conflict, had over a thousand vessels it could call upon whilst the newly formed United States Navy had SIXTEEN. The ‘war’ was going to cause barely a ripple.  

The shock of the first ship to ship fight can be imagined. When the two frigates faced off the outcome was confidently expected – an easy and clear victory for the British. Unfortunately for the pundits at the Admiralty in London it was quite the reverse with the British ship being comprehensively defeated. Tricks, it was proposed, or bad luck! Yet when the navies met again, and again, each time the British ship was roundly defeated. Disbelief was followed by panic. Could the minute American navy really represent a credible threat? More ships were sent across the Atlantic to bolster the overwhelming force already present but it wasn’t a matter of numbers, not at all. It was a matter of neglect, pride and complacency. Something needed to be done to regain the pride and place of the senior service and the British had just the man to do it. 

Captain Philip Broke of the British frigate Shannon was a man who knew his ship and his crew very well indeed. They had sailed together and trained together for years and the ship was renowned for its skill in gunnery. Facing him, presently in Boston harbour, was his opposite number Captain James Lawrence of the American frigate Chesapeake. He was new to the ship (only taking command a matter of days previously) and had hardly begun to know the officers or crew who manned her. Without the benefit of a shakedown cruise or a much-needed refit, Lawrence was determined to make his mark and his name by continuing Britain’s humiliation. Sailing out of harbour he was determined that he would use no tricks, no finesse, no clever tactics but would face his British adversary broadside to broadside. That would be a fatal mistake. 

A mere 13 minutes after the sound of the first cannon shot had faded both ships were wrecked and over a hundred men lay dead or dying. But the Chesapeake took by far the most damage. Barely able to keep afloat and with all of its officers either dead, dying or injured (including its captain who was mortally wounded), boarded and with its ensign struck it was eventually towed to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prize. Honour had been restored at a great cost to all involved and many lessons had been learned – at least for the British. 

The War of 1812 seems to have been largely forgotten by the world and by historians. Naturally it was overshadowed by the much larger and much more significant Napoleonic Wars but still it does seem somewhat more than an oversight. I can’t help wondering if both sides aren’t more than a little embarrassed about it all. The notable absence (or at least rarity) of books on the subject seems to point that way. I came across this old, slim and out of print volume almost by accident and have only managed to acquire two more books – one almost as old – on the subject. It was an interesting little scrap for a number of reasons and I’m interested to find out more about it. This book filled in a very small part of the story but I need something a bit more expansive. I hope that will be covered by my next book on the subject. A recommended read, especially for all Age of Sail enthusiasts, if you can source a copy.