Warship under Sail

"The U.S. Navy of the 1850s is a fascinating subject in itself, but it has never been so well integrated into the broader political, social, and cultural history of the antebellum United States. . . . Warship Under Sail illuminates the contradictions and interactions that characterize this period of American expansion. It should, therefore, be read not only by military and maritime historians, but also by scholars interested in the American West, antebellum culture, politics, and imperialism."

"… this bargain-priced book is simultaneously worthy of coffee tables, research desks, and library collections…. While not a pretty picture, it reveals life aboard a warship at the end of the era of sail."

"This is an excellent book for those who are interested in naval history and the Pacific Northwest in the 1850's."

"She situates her study at the intersection of two growing fields of historical interest, 19th century maritime culture and the United States in the world, and makes a notable contribution to both, as well as to our understanding of the navy in the making of the Pacific Northwest."

"The richness of detail regarding the everyday life of a mid-nineteenth century sailor is undoubtedly the book's greatest strength but, McConaghy's skillful ability to bring this sailing adventure to life is equally fascinating, fun, and well, just highly entertaining."

"This is a marvelous book, deserving of high praise."

"Warship Under Sail is an impressive piece of scholarship that provides an unsparing account of the brutality of naval life…. It was a difficult time, and McConaghy has captured the debilitating tedium and the compounded ghastliness of it all without ever succumbing to the seductive scent of salt breezes or the romance of billowed sail."

"No matter what your background, Lorraine McConaghy's extensive research casts a new light on local and national history in the era before the Civil War while providing an intimate look at life aboard a sailing warship. It is an engrossing read that is well worth your time."

"McConaghy emphatically sees all the Decatur's theaters of action through the prism of its daily routines and disruptions of routine . . . By concentrating on the foreground with such gusto, she gives you an extraordinarily vivid idea of how men under pressures of danger, drink and disease (syphilis was rampant) strived to create order out of chaos."

"Warship Under Sail recounts the Decatur's exploits during several years of voyages in the Pacific, but is bound to join the most important works to examine Seattle's earliest history . . . . a fascinating—and factually correct—tale that transcends the more simplistic versions of the city's past."

"This is a rich resource, both for 19th-century American politics and the human side of ship life."

"The world that Dr. McConaghy has captured, both aboard the Decatur and in the ports it visited, will be unfamiliar to almost everyone who reads this book; indeed, that strangeness or lost—ness is one of her major points. The maps and historic images help to make that world more concrete."

"The story the author tells is fresh and original and relates to a number of significant subjects, including the history of the Old Navy, the Pacific Northwest, antebellum national politics, the Manifest Destiny movement, and the lore of the sea."

"In Warship under Sail, McConaghy has found a lens through which to examine anew the founding of Seattle. The vessel participated in the iconic 'Battle of Seattle,' that day—long skirmish during January 1856 between 'Natives' and 'non—Natives' that looms so large in historical accounts of the city."

"An exciting and danger-filled true history of maritime adventure."