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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naval warfare, edited historical documents, conference proceedings, and bibliographies. 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 ofJoseph H. Wellings, Assistant Naval Attache, London,

1940-41, edited by John B. Hattendorf (1983).

No. 6. Angel on the Yardarm: The Beginnings ofFleet Radar Defense and the Kamikaze

Threat, by John Monsarrat (1985).

No. 7. A Bibliography of the Works ofAlfred 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 andMaritime History

Edited by

John B. Hat 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 inJune 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-CommanderJ. 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.

InirodLTiicltion

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 ofthis 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 ofawareness ofthe 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 ofthe situation in the United States and have

tried to take steps toward a remedy. In the course ofthis, 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 ofone 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 ofscholarship, scope ofteaching, 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, government 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 ofthese 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 ofhistory but in the breadth and range

ofhistorical 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 ofour field and to discuss its state in terms ofthe 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 approach. 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 ofindividuals

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

ofnational and general history. For this audience, he stressed the need to promote

an understanding ofthe 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 undertaking 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 ofstrategical 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 dimension 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 ofthe present state ofmaritime 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 ofevents 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 understanding. 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 ofmany

strands in human affairs. When seen together, they constitute a broad theme

within general history that should be neither isolated nor ignored. The development, 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 ofthe 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 undergraduate and graduate students approaching the broad spectrum of historical

issues often entirely miss the maritime dimension. One hopes that, as methodology 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 incomplete 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 offuture 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 ofships. 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 ofconsiderable 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 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 ofthe 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 ofthe rigors ofa sea battle. Tarn, ofcourse, insisted

they were all one-level, even though this produced some meaningless arrangements.

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 ofthe 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 extraordinary "forty"—were by no means display pieces but saw action in many a battle;

they were the ancient world's equivalent ofdreadnoughts. 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 ofjust

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 ofActium 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 oframs 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 ofthese 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 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 ofbuilding 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. Thisjournal, started in 1972, specializes in the publication ofarticles 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 ofplanks 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 ofthe seventh century A.D. clearly reveals changes

in the direction ofskeleton-first construction; a wreck ofabout 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 ofA.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 ofmaritime 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 ofsea 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 ofmassive oak planks, bound edge to edge

by lashings of yew withes.

P.Johnstone, The Sea-craft ofPrehistory (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 ofnaval 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

ofthe 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 of35 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 ofthe 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 ofBuenos

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 Giambernardino, 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 ofArgentine 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 ofpapers 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 publications. 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 MoyanoMarino, Explorador y Qobernante. The Naval Historical Center not only centralized historical research and publishing, but also took charge ofthe 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 ofthe 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 discoveries up to current times..

Among the periodicals, there are two more sources ofinterest 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 ofArgentine history, depicting

the contemporary naval participation.

The naval side ofthe 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 ofthe 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 Campaign" 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 oftwentieth

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 ofstudy

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 ofindividual 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 ofjournals 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 Reintroduction 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 ofthe 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 ofthe

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 historical 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 ofnaval 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 ofAustralia 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 interests of veterans and enthusiasts. Australia's small population and the great

distances between its chapters stifled initiative forjoint 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 semiofficial 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 ofMaritime 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 ofmaritime affairs, although it has—to the chagrin ofthe editor,

Dr. Graydon 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 ofpreparation. 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 ofwhich have been funded. Apart from the 1989 Naval History

Seminar, the annual history conferences ofthe 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 ofAustralia'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 ofthe 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) (ADFA), 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 ofDefence Studies program,

such as "Seapower and Australian Society" (Dr. Anthony Bergin and Commodore 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 McCarthy). Some undergraduate courses include a component offoreign 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 ofSoutheast

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 University 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 undergraduate 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 ofProfessor 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 international political, technological, and economic change. Due to changes in university rules, Professor Broeze now teaches a semester-long course on "Maritime

Australia." This study covers a wide variety ofsubjects, 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 ofworks 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 otherjournals

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 supplemented by authors who, although not possessing formal training, are, nonetheless, 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 completed 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 ofAustralia (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 adrninistra1 00

tion as well as RayJones' work, which covers the development ofAustralian

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 ofmore or less popular

works. While the majority of academic publications within Australia are essentially 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

ofbeautifully illustrated and comprehensive guides to Australian warships, useful

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

ofthe 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 ofthe 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 intellectual 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 ofnaval 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

Topresent 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 unthinkable 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 ofthe series, Bibliographie de l'histoire des grandes

routes maritimes, which had already appeared. Apart from the practical advantages 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 ofthe delimiting periods oftime 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 historiography 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 ofshipping 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 navigation—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 ofthe 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 ofinland 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 ofvessel 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 ofthe 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 ofMatadi, the outer

harbour of Leopoldville-Kinshasa, although its historiography cannot be compared 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 ofthe 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 navigation 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 ofmaritime

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, representing 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 ofpublications 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 ofthe 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 historiography is dominant.

Looking at the other categories of Belgian maritime historiography: shipbuilding (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 concluded without a word about the heading "generalities," which includes such

works as encyclopedias, reference works, dictionaries, bibliographies, inventories, 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 ofenthusiasm for maritime history, in general. Further,

we have to point out the striking lack ofmaritime history in the programmes of

Belgian universities and even in that ofthe 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 ofboth 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 Materialfor the History ofAntwerp 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 ofoverseas 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 ofthe sea in warfare,

but in practice very often ignored it. Students ofstrategic 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 ofdisconnected 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 ofmaritime 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 ofnational 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 ofnaval and maritime history as distinct by dipping

briefly into the history ofhistory as a serious scholarly pursuit in Britain. For our

present purposes we may begin exactly a century ago in 1893, with the

foundation ofthe Navy Records Society, which shows most ofthe 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, ProfessorJ. K. Laughton, but most ofthem

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 ofrediscovering the fundamental verities ofnaval 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 Profession," 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 ofnaval operations, often studied in close detail. Many ofthem—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 ofPolicy, to use the title ofone ofRichmond'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 ofthe defence ofseaborne trade. Few ofthem 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 CommanderJ. 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 Policyfrom 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 SirJulian 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 ofImperial 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 andJCenneth

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

ofwarfare 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 ofeconomic 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 derogative 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 universities as a cause ofeconomic decline and talked seriously of closing some or even

many of then as superfluous, academics entered a prolonged and uncomfortable

period ofchange which shows no signs ofending. Among the many consequences 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 ofBritain 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 ofthe field. The study ofwar 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

ofWar Studies at the University ofLondon, 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 ofthe 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 ofall 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 ofshipping 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 ofhistory 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 ofsubjects 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 ofsome 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 interesting 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 ofmodern 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 established 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 oftheir 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 ofMaritime 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 ofthe 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 ofother 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 ofcounties 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 threequarters 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 ofsources 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 ofmerchant 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 ofNewcastle-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 represented 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 InternationalJournal ofMaritime

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' Conferences, 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofvaluable work is being undertaken, much ofit 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 ofmedieval 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 ofthe 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 ofDevon, 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 ofinstitutions and walks

oflife 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 ofthe 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 ofyour 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-confidence 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 ofthe 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 presentjournalists

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 ofWales, Cardiff, author of The Armada ofFlanders: 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 ofBritish 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 ofsubmission 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

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 5 3

1910-19 1 11 1 1920-29 1 22 6

1930-39 6 45 27

1940-49 1 12 5

1950-59 6 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

4

4

4

13

19

24

12

13

7

8

2

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 ofthe "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 ofintra-continental migrants, most ofwhom arrived

by sea. Until the coming ofthe railways in the middle ofthe 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 ofmarine 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 ofthe 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 ofpublic 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 ofantiquarianism. 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 ofthis 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 ofscholars 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 scholarship, 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 ofbibliographies; 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 ofscholarly 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

ofthe state ofmaritime 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 ofthe authors present has conducted several surveys in the past few years

of Canadian maritime scholars. They are worth citing here, both as an introduction 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 History (ICMH), published a research directory in its newsletter, ARGONAUTA. 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 ofthe directory shows that approximately two-thirds ofthe scholarly

membership had a primary focus on maritime rather than naval topics.

4 An

analysis ofan 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

ARGONAUTA, IV, no. 4 (October1987). 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 ofthe field rather than on any precise

empirical criteria. See RolfWalter, "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 something 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 ofgraduates

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 ofothers offer maritime courses on an irregular basis. But the school with

the greatest commitment to maritime history is Memorial University of Newfoundland, which is the only institution in North America to offer a regular program

ofboth 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

ofsupplemental 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 ofgraduate 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

ofwhich were on non-naval topics. Ofthe 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 twentythree national commissions that comprise ICMH, a reflection ofits 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

ofother marine organizations, although the goals ofmany ofthese 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 publication 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 ofessays 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 ofthe committee.

The book award, which was inaugurated in 1984, has gone to non-naval books

about halfthe 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 ofwhich CNRS

is a part, the International Commission for Maritime History. The SecretaryGeneral 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 ofthe 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 Liverpool, 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 ofthe 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 InternationalJournal 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 ofindividuals 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofAtlantic 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 ofthe 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 ofthe ACSP

to merchant shipping has not been emulated for other parts ofthe 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 ofthe 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 Tidskriftfor 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 ofMedieval Technology: Images ofNoah 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 ofBaltic and Lower Countries Grain Markets,"

Interactions ofAmsterdam 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 ofthe 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 byJean-Francois Briere, OlafJanzen, 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 ofBritish 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 ofMaritime 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 ofMaritime 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 ofNorwegian 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 ofSail: The Price ofSailing Ship Labour in Towns along the Oslofjord,

1899-1914," Norsk Sjofartsmuseum Arsberetning 1987 (Oslo: 1988), pp. 159-86; "Salaries ofthe 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 ofLate 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 ofEngland-Newfoundland Fisher" (unpublished D.Phil,

thesis, Oxford University, 1968).

Among Briere 's most important contributions are La Pechefrancaise 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 VAmerique 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 ofJersey-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 communities. 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. Ofparticular importance is the collaborative volume written by Patricia Marchak, Neil Guppy, and John

McMullan, which not only examines the history ofthe 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 ofthese 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 ofAlexander'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 ofpublications 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 ofwhaling

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 ofthe 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 ofDaniel 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," InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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 ofRegulated 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," InternationalJournal

ofMaritime 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,"

InternationalJournal 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. Borrowing insights from the social sciences, some talented scholars are beginning to use them to illuminate previously dark corners ofthe 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 ofthe "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 ofessays which brings many ofthe best Canadian and American

scholars into the field. Canadian social historians also have had a special interest

50

J.E. Candow, "OfMen and Seals": A History ofthe Newfoundland Seal Hunt (Ottawa: 1989); Shannon

Ryan, Seals and Sealers: A Pictorial History ofthe Newfoundland Seal Fishery (St. John's: 1987); Ryan, "The

Industrial Revolution and the Newfoundland Seal Fishery," InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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," InternationalJournal of Maritime History, II, no. 2 (December 1990), pp. 33-68.

52 Eric W. Sager, Seafaring Labour: The Merchant Marine ofAtlantic 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 InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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 Norwegian 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 beenJohn Stanton, Life and Death ofa 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, TJ.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 ofMigration

(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 ofEconomic 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 ofLewis 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

ofJack 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 ofa World Economy, 1500-1914 (Wiesbaden: 1986), pp. 519-44; Fischer,

"A Flotilla ofWood 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 theJapanese

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," InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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: CasesfromJapan'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 ofwhat 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 positivejudgements on the state ofCanadian 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 ofthe discipline

has come from people. The increased awareness ofthe importance ofmaritime 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 ofscholarly 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 ofwhat we believe has underpinned this resurgence ofscholarly 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

Ofall 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 ofthe country. Not surprisingly, the brevity and

peculiar nature of Canada's naval history have profoundly shaped its historiography 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 ofthat 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 ofher

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

ofthese, Rainbow, was at sea offVancouver Island when war was declared. Slow,

tired, under-gunned and equipped only with sand-filled training rounds, Rainbow 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 ofthis 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 offisheries 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 ofit was a dreary war ofpatrols. Even the U-boat

operations of 1918 offthe east coast failed to feed the public imagination with images

ofCanadian 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 ofthe Second World War Canada—for a briefmoment

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 ofwartime

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 ofbudgets 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 history—as presently structured—is, therefore, drawn from a very narrow base in

space and time. Ironically, the only uniquely Canadian naval missions in defence

ofCanadian 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

ofthe Imperial Navy; training, uniforms, equipment, ships, tactics, doctrine were

all British, and Canadian officers appeared on a combined Empire and Commonwealth 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 ofarmed 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 ofthe Canadian

naval experience, its very "British" character, and the importance ofCanada'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 ofthe Canadian navy. In fairness, though,

the British colonial period also stands outside ofmainstream Canadian naval history,

despite the efforts ofW.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), andJacques 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 ofUpper 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 ofNorth 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 ofits traditions from the age ofsail—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 imagination 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 ofcrisis, and the myriad ofsmall ships required ofmodern

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 administration ashore between 1939 and 1945, chronicled the growth ofthe 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 delightfully 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 generaG.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 ofthe 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 oftwentieth-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 ofbreadth and depth, emphasising the larger context ofnaval

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) andJ.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 ofNew Brunswick, where one ofGerald 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 ofpublished 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 ofTrafalgar Day in favour ofBattle ofthe 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. Concurrent with this altered state within the Navy and the nation was the opening

ofwartime 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 experience—and the inadequacies ofTucker 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 ofthe 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 ofsuch 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 ofevents, 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 ofthe

Second World War. Several major research projects were underway and the

voice ofveterans began to be heard in the first ofwhat 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 Storiesfrom Canada's Atlantic War (Toronto: Macmillan, 1977) and
88 The Historiography of the Canadian Navy

serious, scholarly questioning ofthe Navy's wartime policy in the form ofW.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 ofDr. Jim Boutilier, a member ofthe 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—ofthe surviving senior officers of

the RCN, who dominated the program. Ofthe nineteen speakers during the three

day conference, eleven were "Old Salts" speaking largely within their own sphere

of expertise. Among the more innovative elements ofBoutilier'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 ofthe 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 ofofficial

history, the proceedings ofBoutilier's conference, a few more memoirs (including 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 ofJeff 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 ofthe 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. ofBritish Columbia Press, 1982). The table of contents is unaltered from the list of speakers.

The model was used later by CommanderJames 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 ofa 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 Battlefor 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: TinPots & 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 Affairs, Canadian Military History, The Naval War College Review, and The

RUSIJournal. 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 ofthe 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. Haydon'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, MichaelJ. Whitby, "In Defence ofHome Waters: Doctrine and Training

in the Canadian Navy during the 1930s," Mariner's Mirror, May 1991, pp. 167—77, and a series ofworks 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 ofmemoirs 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 ofsea power, also invariably set the Canadian naval story in a much

wider context. It forms a piece, sometimes bigger, usually quite small, ofa 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 ofindividual seminars on aspects ofCanadian 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 ofthe 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 ofthe elements ofnational naval and maritime policy and will help bridge

that gap between naval history proper and the wider fields ofwhich 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 ofCanadian history, Canadian naval history will truly have come ofage.

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, ifcompared

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 ofthe period between 1822—23 in a very

interesting book.

Another important author ofthis 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 ofSpanish 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 ofDundonald, Autobiography ofa Seaman (London, 1860); Narrative ofService

in the Liberation of Chile, Peru and Brazilfrom 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

ofthe 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- almirante 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 mentioned 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 ofnavies, gave way to a stage ofgreat 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 foliowing 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 ofAmerica. 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

Universo, 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,

AdmiralJorge Martinez Busch, author ofan 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 specializing on the independence period and on the efforts ofthe 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 ofhis 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, Elfactor 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 interesting articles on naval and maritime activities. Otherwise unavailable background 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 ofthe 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 ofthe Chilean Navy have been

published during the last decade, some of them with many illustrations and

-1-1 io

references. Such is the case ofbooks 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 ofstudy in the U.S. Besides the articles

ofthe 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 ofthese 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 ofinterest for American authors is the

participation ofthe 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 distinguished 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 ofthe Navy. These two centers ofwork,

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, Armedforces 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 offorce: 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

ofthe Pacific" (M.A. thesis, University ofFlorida, 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 ofthe papers ofVice-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 specialized 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 ofour country and has given it the essence ofits historical identity.

It's curious, therefore, to observe that the maritime aspect ofDanish history has

been assigned a relatively humble position in historical literature, research, interpretation, and consciousness. Apparently, in the general consciousness ofthe Danish

people, their country is more an agricultural nation than a maritime one.

Fortunately, that state ofaffairs 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 ofCopenhagen 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 ChiefArchivist and head ofthe 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 ofKronborg, 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 ofexperts.

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 ofthe 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. Ofcourse, 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 ofthis 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 ofthe 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-lieutenantSelskabet), 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 ofAsian 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 ofthe Navy

on naval historical matters and has, in reality, worked as the official naval historian.

The Board ofMarinehistorisk 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 consequence, the Board decided to initiate the First Danish Conference on Maritime

History in March 1974. The purpose ofthe 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 investigations. 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 ofthe 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 four7 _ 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofJuly

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 bibliography 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 publication 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, NielsJuel, liv oggeming i den danske seetat (Arhus: 1977). The discussions about the

Battle of Koge Bugt can be followed in articles in Tidsskriftfor 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 ofa 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

ofthe 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 ofDenmark,

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, Commanders 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 ofneglect

in recent times. It is this issue which merits our attention.

Authentic historiography in the Dominican Republic began withJose 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 ofthe 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 ofHaiti 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 ofinformation, 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 ofthe history ofthe 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 ofmaritime

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 ofthe 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 community 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 ofmaritime 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 ofthe 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 ofa bibliography ofoceanic 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 community: 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 Scientifique. Additionally, no journal of maritime history enjoying the same importance 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 ofa 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 ofresearchers 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 ofprivateers 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

ofmilitary 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 everything which concerns the ships themselves, while maritime history would be

more one ofthe 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 understandable 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 marinefrancaise. 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 ofa 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 ofthe 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 exceptional 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 ofthat form ofliterature 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 ofthem 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 ofthe 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 etJean-Jacques Antier, Histoire maritime de la premiereguerre 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 ofgranting 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 duJutland 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, Lesforces maritimes du Nord, 1955; C.F. Caroff, Le thS&tre atlantique, 1958—1959; Le tht&tre mtditerranken, 1960; Lesformations 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 marinefrancaise 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, LeJutland 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

oflacunae 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 ofbiographies, 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 ofthe lack ofbiographical research ofFrench

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 ofthe 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 ofprosopography.

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 marineJrancaise et la guerre 1939-1945 (Paris: Tallandier, 1991).

Amiral Auphan et Jacques Mordal, La marineJrancaise pendant la secondeguerre 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

the French Fleet Air Arm looks forward eagerly for a historian,

.9^

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 marinefrancaise et la mer Noire (Paris: Publicatioons de la Sorbonne, 1982).

1 Captain Huan is working on this subject.Philippe Masson, La marinefrancaise et la mer Noire (Paris:

Publications de la Sorbonne, 1982).

Rene Sabatier de Lachadenede, La marinefrancaise 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 cuirasseJean 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 ofhighly 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 offorce 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 ofthe scuttling ofthe French fleet in Toulon. A number ofimportant

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. Furthermore, 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 rupturefranco-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 somewhat thin; Redde did not take a keen interest in these important aspects ofnaval

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 byJean 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 ofhis 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 ofJean 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?" VEvolution de la pensee navale III; "Les Thalassocraties antiques" et "Geostrategie maritime d'Athenes" in Herve

Coutau-Begarie, La lutte pour Vempire 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 ofthe Byzantine navy, has, unfortunately, serious shortcomings

in the areas of tactics and strategy. We find the same institutional tendencies in

the works ofHelene 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 ofLouis 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 (NewJersey: 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 ofsynthesis 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 ofthe Inscription

maritime (administration ofthe 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 ofsocial 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 ofview, largely by using

methodologies belonging to economic history.

The studies on social history are widely dispersed at the extremeties ofthe 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 VAtlantique 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 marinejrancaise 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 insignificant. 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 ofdocuments that provide

a better view on naval operations. Finally, it is important to mention the

fundamental contribution thatJean 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 ofbiographical studies after several

decades of indifference. The well-written and popular biographies based on

rather limited documentation byJean 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 traditionally 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 byJacques Dars, although

it was long delayed in publication, as mentioned earlier. Dars deepened the intuitive

ideas ofLo Jun Pang, whose pioneer work dealt with the expansion ofthe Chinese

Navy from the Song period to the Ming period. It is a very highly focussed work,

but one ofvery 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 oftradition

in maintenance of archives, and the destructive effects of domestic and international 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 ofmost ofthe great sailors cannot

be found today, and there are no collections ofdocuments 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 FrancoBritish 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, byJean 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 Vocean 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 ofJenkins, 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 ofresearch which were previously lacking and which

now signal new developments. Rear Admiral Fremy has published a splendid

dictionary ofships. Etienne Taillemite, for his part, is the author ofan 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 ofthe traditional points ofview, certain ofwhich

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 ofher Navy, the Navy has some grounds to be ashamed ofFrance"

(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 ofgood

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. ofToronto 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 ofa 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 marinsfrancais (Paris: Editions maritimes et d'outremer, 1982).

H.E.Jenkins, Histoire ignore"e de la marinefrancaise (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 lafrancaise (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 ofthe 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 ofthis 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 comprising 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 ofbudget difficulties, we regret that nothing ofit 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 exception. 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 ofthe 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 Vocean 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 ofVanney'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 ofthat 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 commenced 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 ofthe 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 byJulie 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 ofBrittany 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 ofEurope, in comparison, has received much less investigation than the Mediterranean. Still, there are at least two important studies: one

by Stephane Lebecq on the medieval Frisians, which is an exemplary collabora80

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 andjustly

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 VOrient

hellenise (Paris-Geneve: Minard-Droz, 1980).

Michel Mollat, Le commerce maritime normand a lafin du Moyen-Age (Paris: Plon, 1952).

Henri Touchard, Le commerce maritime breton & lafin du Moyen-Age (Paris: Les Belles-Leteres, 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 Tarrade 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 ofJean 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 offishing. 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 ofMarseilles. This is largely because

oftheir 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 laJin 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 ofstudies 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 ofthe studies under the rubric of economic history. The

work by Michel Mollat, which bears a significant subtitle, "Studies ofEconomic

and Social History," is typical ofthe 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 ofmaritime 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 Compagniefrancaise des Indes 1719-1795, and another by

Jacques Weber Les etablissementsjrancais 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. UOccident et le desir du rivage 1 750-1850 (Paris: Aubier, 1988).

Alain Cabantous, Dix mille matinsface a Voce"an. Lespopulations 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofLa 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 ofJean-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 ofmaritime history in France. As General medical doctor Niaussat,

Denys Lombard, Le carrefourjauanais (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 Jehan Desanges, Recherches sur les activities des MediterranSens le long des cStes africaines (Rome: Ecole

francaise de Rome, 1980).

Jean-Paul Faivre, L'expansionfrancaise 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 unquestionably 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 ofa 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 ofthe ship as well as many other spheres are fields ofresearch 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 ofstate 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 ofmilitary

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 ofbasic 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 ofproblems 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 oftime 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 ofnaval 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 ofsubjective 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 ofWorld 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 ofview. 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 periodJune

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 ofhistorians 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 ofHistory 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

DerAdmiralstab 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 ofthe 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 ofthe

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 ofnaval 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

ofnaval armament policy which Berghahn had already characterized as a "decline

ofTirpitz' original concept." Epkenhans establishes that Tirpitz succeeded until

1914 in keeping his armaments program going despite declining public enthusiasm 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 "development 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 interdependence 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 ofsociety. 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 ofland 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 ofthe 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 byJiirgen Rohwer. In addition, the memoirs ofErich 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 ofnaval 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 ofparticular 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 ofJ. 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 ofthe entire German U-boat construction 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 ofU-boats. In Das Deutsche Reich

und der Zweite Weltkrieg, the problems ofthe German war economy are examined

primarily at the level ofthe Wehrmacht High Command and the Reich Ministry

ofArmaments 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 ofall 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 ofongoing 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 oftheir cadet and officer training programs.

The naval cadets receive an instruction in naval history as part oftheir 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 ofGerman

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 ofthe 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 oftheir continued training, some 10 to 12 percent ofevery 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 ofachievement

is defined as follows:

The officer on Admiral Staff Duty should be able to understand the interdependence and mutual influence of political and military leadership. He should

understand the influence ofthe various elements ofwar on past concepts ofwarfare

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 ofthe reality ofwar. About thirty-five hours,

i.e., about 40 percent ofthe 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 ofteaching 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 RolfJohannesson, 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 RolfJohannesson (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 ofimperialism. 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 ofthe museum's staff deal mostly with problems ofsocial 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'sjournal, 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 ofmaritime 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 ofemigration, social history ofshipbuilders 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 Shipping 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 ofShipping. Strategy and Structure (Tokyo:

University of Tokyo Press, 1985), pp. 185-213, and "The Harriman-Hamburg-American Line

Agreement ofJune 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 ofmaterial

from different eras ofmaritime history. From the point ofview oftheir 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 ofBremerhaven decided not to fill in the old docks located

directly on the Weser but to preserve them as an expanse ofwater. This created

ideal conditions for a subsequent museum harbor, which got its first old ship in

1966.

• The salvage in 1962 ofa 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 foliows:

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.

InJanuary 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 ofthe major difficulties ofmaritime 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 ofniinirnization

that this involves. To counterbalance this, the German Maritime Museum has

attached particular importance to establishing the relation to the original dimensions—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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe cog took place

in a foggy atmosphere, since otherwise the saturated, almost six-hundred-yearold 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 preservation 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe advantages and disadvantages ofthe 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.

InJune 1991, the first sailing trials ofthe 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 offunds. 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 therefore 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 ofarms 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 ChiefExecutive of Springer Publishing Company, Peter Tamm, in

Hamburg. This collection includes not only a special library of about 60,000

volumes, it consists ofa vast number ofextremely 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, Marineschule 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 ofdevelopment. Large parts ofthe 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, respectively, 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 ofways by a number ofcolleagues. I am grateful to Colonel

(GS) Dr. Roland Foerster and Major Winfried Heinemann, both ofthe 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

ofthe German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, and ProfessorJohn 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 ofIndian 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 ofhistory 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 ofthe 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 oflieutenant

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 correlation 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 ofMidway, the Normandy landing, along with the

Korean War landing at Inchon. More recently, the Falklands campaign and the

GulfWar 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 perspective, 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 Perspective" 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

ofthe naval and maritime events under study is from that ofa 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 ofa 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 ofAsian trade: 10th-15th centuries; the Portuguese domination ofthe

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 contribution 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 ofany 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 oflargely 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 consideration 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 imposition 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 ofIrishmen served in the British Navy (probably 15 percent ofits personnel were Irish over a long period) and in the merchant

navy. Shipbuilding flourished in Ireland and hundreds ofIrishmen 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 ofsuch 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 ofthe 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 ofIreland 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 oflessons 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 ofthe 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 MaritimeJournal.
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 ofarchival

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 ofTrade 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 insufficient 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 ofthe 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 ofJewish 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 ofthe Jewish national movement at the end ofthe 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 ofJaffa

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 ofJewish 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 ofJewish, illegal, maritime immigration as a historical phenomenon during this period.

In those years, the prevalent opinion was to strengthen the maritime inclination 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 ofJewish 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 byjournalistic 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 ofSea Power upon History. He has also written a monograph on the history

Q

ofAcre. As there are no textbooks in Hebrew for the general history ofseafaring

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 ofPalestinian 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 ofIndependence (Tel Aviv: Ministry ofDefence 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 ofMaritime Civilizations offers courses that aim to broaden

and deepen the historical, archaeological and geographical knowledge of cultures, 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 purpose—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 dojustice 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, ofthe 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

ofship models. Sub-themes have also been developed which include: geography,

including discoveries and cartography; economics, including maritime trade,

types ofships and cargoes; science and engineering, including warships and naval

battles; and art and culture, including the development ofcoastal cities and ports

along with the relationships between peoples.

The museum has produced a number oftemporary 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-goddesses, 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 ofIllegal 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 ofports, the economics ofshipping, the welfare ofseamen, 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 Centerfor 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.

InJerusalem, 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 highschool program of maritime studies and a summer course, "A Maritime Experience in Israel."
16

Twentieth Century Italy

Brian R. Sullivan

Anunderstanding 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 considerably 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 ofthe 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 ofItalian defense spending over the past decade, the Italian government

expends far less per capita on its armed forces than does the American government. 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. However, 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 ofwarships but in size ofwarships. At present, the U.S. Navy

has 23 ships ofover 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 unification 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 commander, Admiral Carlo Persano, and the treachery and cowardice of his

subordinates, Admirals Giovanni Battista Albini and Giovanni Vacca. Thereafter, 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 ofheroism, 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 ofits 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 ofthe monarchy and the weak sense of Italian nationalism by waging expansionist wars. In the mid—1880s, with the

enthusiastic support ofthe monarchy, Italy founded an African empire and began

a series of foreign wars that were to last until 1943. Naturally, the establishment

ofan overseas empire stimulated the expansion ofthe 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 ofmilitary 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 bombarded 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 officiallytolerated corruption—at about twice the expense it should have cost, in a country ofapproximately half the wealth ofFrance. 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 ofthe 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 ofmilitary

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 ofItalian 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 ofthe influence ofdomestic politics on Italian historiography since 1945, see chapter

6, "The eclipse ofanti-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 ofRome 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 ofPisa, the teaching ofnaval

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

ofRome. 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 ofmany aspects ofofItalian

naval history, Raimono has encountered difficulties. In fact, many ofhis 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 ofItaly or ofother nations. The two-year Italian Military Academy

at Modena has abolished the teaching ofthe history ofground, 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 ofeducation 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 Communications that controlled ports and the merchant marine. The archives ofthe 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 ofFascist censorship in 1935—42), to the Italian

Army's official history of its operations and activities in World War II—-the

earlier volumes ofwhich fall so short ofhistorical 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 ofthe 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 ofits publication. Admiral Fioravanzo was himselfthe 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 ofpublishing a series ofvolumes 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 dueguerre 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 ofrelated 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 ofthe 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 ofUSMM 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, ofMussolini's expansion ofthe 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.

Ofindisputable 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 ofthe USMM

archives and provides a detailed finding aid, the result ofthe ongoing reorganization 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 ofMariano Gabriele.

Recently, however, as one sign ofthe revival ofItalian military and naval history, a number of good studies have been published. These include the books and

articles of the above-mentioned Alberto Santoni, 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 Documentazione Marittima e Navale (AIDMEN) and the Associazione Navemodellisti

Bolognesi. Together, these organizations number about 250 members and are devoted to preserving photographs ofships 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 specifications 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 ofall kinds—is ofparticularly 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 ofGabriele in the area ofItalian 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 ofsuch 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 ofthe 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 ofBrin 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 excellent, 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 ofmemoirs, Enea Cerquetti's Marxist analysis ofthe 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 ofboth Venice and ofmodern

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 government. 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 ofEdinburgh, 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 ifthe 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 ofDr. 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 ofvolumes 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 ofessays 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 portfranc 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: Vultimo 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 cittajugo—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 ofVenice, 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 ofthe most luminous chapters" ofhuman 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 Sardinian 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 ofthe 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 ofmaritime 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 ofModem 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 ofterritorial 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, 22January 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)," HistoricalJournal (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 ofstudies, 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. Although 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 ofnaval

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 offoreign scholars is much smaller, as Dr. Sullivan

notes, many, such as Germany's Gerhard Schreiber, have made contributions to the

field

49

Recent naval history thus seems to be thriving; and ifsome cliaffremains, that is the

price the Italians pay to stimulate interest in the subject. The firms ofMursia, 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 ofnaval 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 ofnaval 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 ofthe 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 ofsuch 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 ofMazzini 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 ofthe Powers": Italy's Foreign, Security,

and Naval Policy in the Questfor 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 ofsuch spending, even ifin 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 ofthe

Fascist era" not approved by the Allies. But ifthe 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 ofthe 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 ofsuch 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 ofthe 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).

Ofcourse, 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 ofNaval

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 dellaguerra navale nel Mediterramo, 27-28-29 marzo 1941 (Milan: Mondadori, 1946),

Operaziom mezzogiugno. 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 ofItalian naval

history, and Alberto Santoni has written a number ofvaluable 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 contemporary 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 AngloAmerican naval history is more a function of the number ofworks 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 ofpublishing 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 oftheir 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 community 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 ofdiplomatic 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, VItalia 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 marittime 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 ofthe

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 ofthe 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 ofItalian 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 ofmy 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 community 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 ofus, 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 atJohns 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 ofModem 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 Questfor 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 AJellison, Besieged. The World War II Ordeal ofMalta, 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 ofthe 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 ofjournals 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.

Iffinding 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 ofpublications 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 VOccident musulman et de la Mediterranee

Johns Hopkins, 1991). Also Richard PaulJackson, "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 ofa 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 TheJews ofEurope 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 ofthe 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 Campodonico 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 ofworks 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 nelVArsenate 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 ofVenice 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 ofits 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 ofmajor 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 ofParadise: 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 ofthe 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 ofItalian 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 ofDavid 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 ofthe 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 ofthe navies ofItalian states over the centuries with

each other and with surrounding naval forces, whether Barbary corsairs, Dalmatian 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 ofnaval 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 ofPacific History (1992), and write on such topics as "madamismo" in Italian East African ports and aboard Italian ships.

For example, the exaggeration ofthe 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 ofjournals

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 ofVirginia, 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 Mediterraniefasciste: I'ltalie mussolinienne et la Tunisie (Pairs: Editions Karthala, 1981). Although neither of these is a naval history,

the interaction ofthe 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, Leguerre 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, Quaderni 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, majorjournals 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 ofJapanese 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 ofModem Strategy:

Military Thoughtfrom 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 postwarJapan 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

ofthose 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 ofNavy veterans who

looked forward to reading about the triumphant campaigns in which they had

taken part. InJapan, a large portion ofthe potential audience rested at the bottom

ofthe 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 pronouncements ofanyone who had held a responsible position in either ofthe 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 ofboth services in the China and

Pacific wars. Over the course oftime, 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 antisubmarine 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 community 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 ofthese men from that oftheir

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 ofthe war or as to the reputations ofthe 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 encourage 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 ofthe 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 ofmore

specialized studies on the role of the Navy in the modernization ofJapan 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 ofTokyo 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 ofcritical 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 ofany 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-battleship 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 forJapan'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 ofJapan'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 contemporaryJapanese 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 theirjudgments 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 ofnaval 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 ofstudies 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 ofthe 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 ofnaval history to varying degrees.

The larger ofthese, 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 ofmilitary history amongJapanese academic circles that

the Society was admitted as a member of the Science Council ofJapan in 1984.

A smaller institution, The Navy Library (Kaigun Bunko) in Tokyo, is devoted

entirely to the study ofJapanese 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 ofJapanese 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 ofimportant 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 ofJapan's modern naval history

is the dearth ofprimary sources, at least in comparison to those available in major

archives in the United States and Western Europe. There are a number ofreasons

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 ofthe 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 mostJapanese
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 ofthose 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 Toy6 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 ofJapanese language facility,
220 Japan

we in the West will gain a more sophisticated understanding ofJapanese 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 ofstates." Instructors ofthis course are normally seniorJMSDF 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 ofa narrow technical nature.

Maritime History

This area ofscholarship, in the words ofa knowledgeableJapanese 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 ofthe Maritime Safety (coast guard) Academy, the Marine Technical

Hirama Yoichi's recent article, "The influence ofA.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 ofthe 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 offunding.

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

ofthe 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 transportation. It has, in fact, been demonstrated that intercoastal sea communication

existed, although limited, as early as 4000 B.C. One example ofthis 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 ofJapan, decided to invade the Korean

peninsula with the intent of changing the international balance ofpower 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 ofWan-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 ofKoryo 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. Additionally, the Koreans built combatant vessels ofvarious 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 ofbad weather, which the Japanese called Kami-Kaze (God's

Wind). The first joint invasion force of 1274 consisted of 20,000 MongolChinese and 5,400 Koryos in 900 ships built in Koryo. In 1281, the secondjoint

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 ofNelson, who achieved his victory over the French and Spanish at Trafalgar

three hundred years later.

By the nineteenth century, a policy ofisolation 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 KwangHwa 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 ofKorea. 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 ofthe 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 ofPusan has colleges ofsciences, engineering, 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 engineering.

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 ofJapan (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 ofbeing 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 importance of the Dutch activities at sea. A surprisingly high number of books were

published about the exploits at sea, which were always assured ofwide 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 ofhistory 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 ofJ.J. Backer Dirks. A teacher of naval history at the

Royal Naval College ofthe 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 encouraged 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 nineteenthcentury 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 ofthe 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 ofhandsome 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 ofthe 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 Revolutionary 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 ofyearbooks 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 Commission 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 businesses. 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 foliowed by

the society and its biannual publication.

Although the time period ofsea 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 ofits own, dealing with social

and economic aspects ofseafaring. 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 ofthe 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 ofmaritime 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 ofhistory 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 ofresearch 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 Journalfor

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 ofreference 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 ofthe first students was FrankJ. 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 ofmaritime museums—the two great ones at Rotterdam and

Amsterdam plus a variety ofspecialized 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 ofwider 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 ofnaval, 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 ofthe 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 ofresearchers:

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 substantially 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 Verioren, for example. They have published many a Ph.D thesis as a monograph. Modern equipment and the heigtened birth ofone-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 ofthe Communications (later theJournal

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 innovations 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 ofthe 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 ofa 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 ofa 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 ofnavigation, the education ofit, 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 ofinterest. 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 ofJ. 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 ofsocial

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 ofDutch 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 theJoumafs 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 ofthe 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 ofseafaring. 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 ofseafaring, 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 ofresearch 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 Economischen 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.

Ofthe 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 ofview 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 ofa 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, Degeschiedenis van de VOC, first edition Bussum: 1982, second Zutphen: 1992). A short

survey in English is E.M. Jacobs, In pursuit ofpepper 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 comprehensive survey, however, ofthe 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 ofmany 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 ofseamen 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 byJ. 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 companies came into existence. If one needs a survey of all major and middle-sized

companies, chapters 6 and 7 in the Maritime History ofthe 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 Russiafrom 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 ofAmsterdam 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 ofDutch trade is, ofcourse, 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 ofthe one single company, J.N.F.M. a Campo's study ofthe Royal Packet

Company in the East Indies is voluminous but brilliant. He combines the study of

the development ofa network ofliner 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 ofthe shipping industry

are very rare indeed. Most valuable are the diaries of Ernst Heldring covering the

first four decades ofthe twentieth century. The memoirs ofD.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 ofthe shipping

industry is the financing of the Rotterdam maritime sector after World War II. Traditional is Bezemer's study in three volumes ofthe role and fate ofthe mercantile

marine in that war. The hinterland is vital for the Dutch economy. The transportation 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 ofthe Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Columbia, S.C.: 1993); G.J.A. Raven, ed., De Kroon op het anker: 175jaar 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 ofthe historical branch ofthe Navy has been successful. The role

ofthe 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

ofsome important administrators. The same is true ofthe 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 oftime. The amount ofpublications 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 ofMaritime 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 ofmaritime 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 ofa superabundance ofthose events. Dutch maritime historians,

as far as I have observed, bear a fair share ofthat burden. They do not do research

into non-Dutch topics, though well aware offoreign 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 ofthe nineteenth century

Dutch Trading Company (NHM). The soon to be introduced "twenty yearrule" 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 ofmaritime 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 ofa 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 ofthe 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 ofNew 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ajoint project to build a series offrigates 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 ofisolation 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 ofresources 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 ofNew 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 ofNew 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 departments. Maritime history gets limited attention from a few academics in the

universities as part ofmore 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 conspicuous 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 voyaging, 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 ZealandJournal

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 ofa 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 ofC.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 ofnaval 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 establishment, 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 historiographical 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

89

10

1112

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 ofNew Zealand 1914—1942, sought to place these

operations in a strategical context, while outlining the development of the New

Zealand Division ofthe Royal Navy. Naval policy was also covered by W. David

Mclntyre in his New Zealand Preparesfor 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

ofenthusiastic 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 ofprimary 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 Preparesfor 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 ofmaritime 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 Wharfin 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 maritimedominated. 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 individuals 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 ofa 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 Norwegian realm, sparsely populated and ruled by kings in possession ofvery 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 ofthe 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 ofKing Hans (1483—1513), a combined Danish-Norwegian 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—Norwegian 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 important factor in Norwegian national growth. It had, for instance, the very first

institutions ofhigher 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 DanishNorwegian Navy. Traditional writing has tended to overemphasize the importance 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 ofCopenhagen in 1807 and the British capture ofthe 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, Vartfolks 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 andjoint 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 ofAllied forces from

Norway in the beginning ofJune 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 ofhistorical 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 ofdefence 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 Marinensjlyvapen 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofmaritime 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.

282930

31
258 Norway

foremost, the Norwegian Navy is a coastal one, while the Norwegian

merchant fleet ranks among the foremost in the field ofinternational 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 merchantmen. 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 of1651 . However, by the exclusion ofDutch 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 ofthe seas, Great Britain. The British

blockade brought disaster to the Norwegian merchant fleet. Since free transportation

by sea was ofvital importance for Norway, some parts ofthe 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 ofNorwegian maritime expansion, for instance

the favoring ofCanadian instead ofNorwegian timber. The abolition ofthe 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, Vartfolks 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, Vartfolks historie, vol. 6 (Oslo: 1964), p. 129.
Prytz Dahl 259

Navigation Act in 1849, however, was ofthe 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 ofcall, 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 oflife 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-Allied. 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 afterJapan. 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 ofthe 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, Vartfolks 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 Norwegian 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 ofthe 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 ofconvenience," 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 ofshipping.

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 ofNorwegian 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 ofInspectorate ofAncient

Monuments and Historic Buildings [Riksantikvar] has country—wide authority.

As for archeological finds, the country is divided between the University ofOslo

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 ofTromso. 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 respon45

Ibid., p. 579.

46 Chr. A.R. Christensen, Vartfolks 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 ofNorwegian 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 ofthe individual shipping firms, quantitatively the most common

type of maritime history in Norway, has largely been written through commissioned 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-documented 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 oflosses, 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 ofthe 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 ofthe Pakistan Navy was difficult, given the chronic lack offinancial

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 ofa 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 ofnational 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 ofbureaucracy 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 competitive. After a Presidential Order, it was taken over by the Ministry ofDefence

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 ofgoods

from the north would be enhanced. Finally, it was decided that both the steel

mill (which was to be set up with the help ofthe 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 ofthe 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 cooperation 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 ofour 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 Technology 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 organization 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 ofMaritime 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 Communications. All of them have published articles on their activities on special

occasions. A book was published on the occasion ofthe centennial ofthe 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 considered 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, particularly to the north. Very little happened at sea during the rule ofthe 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 StaffColleges

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 ofproducing the

maritime history of the country. One of the functions of a maritime museum is to

make people aware oftheir maritime heritage. In this case, it will be entrusted with

the task ofwriting notes on the achievements ofthe 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 ofthe Story ofthe 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 remainedjust 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 ofthe whaling grounds offthe northern coast ofPeru

by the British and North Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth

centuries, and the development ofthe 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 ofmaritime 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 ofmaritime 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

ofArts at the Universidat Catolica del Peru and have become professional historians.

One ofthe first to accept this challenge was the author ofthis 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 Campaigns, 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 ofPeruvian 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 ofmaritime

topics. That course had three parts: a) evolution of ships, b) history ofwar

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

ofPeruvian 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofDr. 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 ofthe 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. Nonetheless, 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 ofa 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 XVIy 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 ofthe eighteenth and the beginnings ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe history ofshipping 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 politicaleconomic 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 AngloThis 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 ofthe 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 Balticfrom 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 ofprincipalities. 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 newcomers 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 offarm 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," Zdziejow 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

ofa galleon at Elblag. This brought a new type ofwarship 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 ofKing 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 ofthis

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 wpierwszej 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 waterways 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. Unfortunately, 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 ofthe 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 ofthe company

until 1852. Additional ships were built for this company in Poland, most ofthem

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 ofMarine 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 achievements 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 ofinland 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 ofa 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 ofPoland 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 publi29

Ibid.
Litwin and Karawajczyk 281

cations remain rather modest. The reason for this state ofaffairs 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 established.

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.

Ofparticular importance in these considerations is the work ofK. 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 ofthe people inhabitating Poland at the time. Of

a dozen or so papers, that by K. Moszyriski, "The Popular Culture ofthe 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 Dictionaryremains a good source ofinformation

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, DziejeJloty 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 ofa 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 professional studies and education in the field of historical-maritime problems could

be established. Only the staff ofthe 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 ofcontinued struggle to regain independence.

The Yalta Conference of 1945 had bound the future of the nation, oppressed

by the six years ofwar, 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 ofthe 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 ofthis situation became apparent in all spheres oflearning,

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 ofseveral outstanding officers for (unproven) espionage. The sentences 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 ofWestern

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 exhibition 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 ofapproximately 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 ofwar 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 ofnaming 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 ofthis kind in Poland, however, is the Central Maritime

Museum in Gdansk, established in 1960 and financed by the Ministry ofCulture

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 ofthe Motiawa; a branch museum in Hel, displaying

exhibits from the history offisheries; and a branch in Tczew, the museum ofthe

Vistula River. The Central Maritime Museum also has a large conservation

laboratory specialising in the preservation ofartifacts 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 ofPoland. As a result, the museum has

also developed extensive programmes of ethnological, underwater, and landbased 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 ofthe 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 ofEthnography, with its extensive

exhibition oftraditional 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 ofthat era. Today, in the wake ofmajor

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 ofwhich 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 ofUnderwater 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 censorship, 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 ofthe 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 Preservation 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 ofthis 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 ofworks 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 ofbooks 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 interested 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 ofmilitary

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, ifsuccessful, 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 ofnaval 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 staffprepares 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 ofthem are located at the University ofGdansk

(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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofactions 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 stafffor teaching naval history at the Naval Academy includes one

professor and three lecturers, all ofwhom 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 ofthe Polish Navy in World War II, and the Polish Navy in the years

1945—1990. Commanding officers at company or ship's department level perform 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 ofNaval 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 ofstate, 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 ofthe Polish armed forces that fought against

Nazi Germany and its allies from the very beginning to the very end ofthat war. That navy was officially dissolved in March 1947.

When Poland was liberated from Nazi occupation, reconstruction ofanother

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 ofPolish 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 ofB. 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. Rozwadowski 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 ofM.

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, Atlantyckie 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—1980.51Apart from

such fundamental works, a great number ofdetailed 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 ofthe 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 wobronie 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 ofnaval 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. Furthermore, 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 offoreign 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 ofprewar 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 ofhistorians have devoted research to this

subject, while there are many considerably more important topics to explore.

To sum up these remarks on the state ofnaval 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 ofnon-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 institutions; 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 investigation into specific problems.
25

Portugal

Commander J. A. Rodrigues Pereira, Portuguese Navy

Thegeographical position ofPortugal, at the southwestern extremity ofthe

European continent, has placed it, throughout history, astride important

sea routes. The territory ofPortugal, 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 ofabout 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 ofleaving 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 ofPortugal and the third centenary ofthe restoration ofIndependence

were taking place, The Clube Militar Naval promoted the writing ofa history

ofthe Portuguese Navy, the absence ofwhich was felt by all. This project, which

emerged from an organizing commission presided over by Commander Fontoura 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 ofPrince Henry took place, the absence ofa comprehensive naval history

was once again made a prominent issue. At that time an important work of

maritime historiography was published, containing a repository ofall 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 ofstudies of

maritime history. These proved to be the embryo of the present Academia de

Marinha, created in 1978, which presently comprises over one hundred members. The Academia includes some of the most dedicated and zealous invesBetween 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 ofAviz (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 exceptional 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 ofpublishing 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 ofthe 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 ofGood 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 ofproviding "a brief and simple presentation offacts, some development of

outstanding events and a very brief synthesis ofthe 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 ofthe world. At the same time, it emphasizes the Portuguese maritime

position.

The following themes, dedicated exclusively to the History ofthe 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 ofthe Portuguese discoveries and

Expansion, with a specific area ofstudy 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 ofLetters ofthe Lisbon Classical University, Faculty ofLetters ofthe University ofCoimbra,

Faculty ofLetters ofthe University ofOporto, Faculty ofSocial and Human Sciences ofthe 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 ofit 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 ofour 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 ofa comprehensive history ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofnaval 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

ofboth the Geography and Economics Departments at the NUS and NTU, a far

more rigorous set ofpractical 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 ofthe Law ofthe 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: Frontiersfor Development (Singapore:

McGraw Hill, 1981), pp. 239—66; "Transportation of Oil in the Strait ofMalacca and potential Marine

Pollution," in P.R. Burbridge, Koesoebiono, H. Dirschl & B. Patton eds., Coastal Zone Management in the Strait ofMalacca (Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie Univ. Press, 1988), pp. 165-78.
Murfett 303

University ofMalaya, 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 ofStraits Settlements Foreign Trade, 1870-1915. Memoirs ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofits record ofachievement

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 unexciting 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 ofa 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 understandably reluctant to provide it with the investment it so badly needs. This lack

offunds 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 ofthe 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 oftheir

past deeds. Although NOL has already produced an earlier slim account of its corporate history, it decided against releasing Only Yesterday: The Story ofNeptune

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 ofRichard Lim's, Tough Men, Bold Visions—The Story ofKeppel.

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 ofthe 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—proofRelations, 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 ofSingapore 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 ofthe perfidious British,

his article is critical ofwhat 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 ofBritain's Eastern Empire 1919-1941

(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981).

20 Paul Haggie, Britannia at Bay: The Defence of the British Empire AgainstJapan, 1931-1941 (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1981). Ian Hamill, The Strategic Illusion: The Singapore Strategy and the Defence ofAustralia 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 committee in Southeast Asia known as the British Defence Coordination Committee

(Far East) . This mixed civil-military review body was chaired by the Commissioner-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 ofthis committee under Section 3(4) ofthe 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 ofthe 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, ofcourse, 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 ofthese 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 ofthe general public to consult

those public records that it possesses. Its Oral History Archive (OHA) 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.

Ofthe 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 Mindefs 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. Ifsuch 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 Mindefs 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 commemorative 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 ofan active and demanding 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, Chiefof 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 ofits own, nor is it used as a centre for lectures, seminars, or conferences on the RSN's historical development. 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 goodjob in gathering display items to reflect the history ofthe 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-—especially for the post—1959 period—is full ofpotential pitfalls even for those trusted

and empowered to undertake this work on behalfofthe 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 StreetJournal 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, ofthe prevailing beliefthat 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 ofCoastal 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 ofConvenience: 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 ofSingapore as a Naval Base & the abandonment ofthat

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 ofthe 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea" (1985).
South Africa

C.I. Hamilton

Tomost 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 ofwhat is taught there and its current state ofresearch.

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 ofCommander

W.M. Bisset, Dr. L. van Sittert, Miss H. Van Niekerk (Transport Economics, University ofStellenbosch),

and Drs B. Werz. Ofcourse, 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 ofsurprise 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 ofthe Natal Museum, 25, 1 (1982), pp. 1—39.

G. Bell-Cross [Curator, the Provincial Museum, Mossel Bay], "The Occurrence ofCornelian 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 ofthe 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 AfricanJournal 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

ofNatal, Durban (ND) and UCT, and the Department ofPublic 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 studyingjurisdiction in coastal waters (which is crucial to control ofwrecks)

as well as other matters ofinterest 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 Communityfrom 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 behalfofthe 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 Department 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 ofEast London through Four Decades ofMunicipal 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) ofwider

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

ofnumerous 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 re1

"^ 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 ofhis 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 ofthe 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 ofmembers of the Art History Department at UCT as

C.I. Hamilton [History, Witwatersrand], "Seamen and Crime at the Cape, c 1850-1 880," The

InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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 AfricanJournal 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 ofPort 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 ofNatal 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 ofthe 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 ofCaptain 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 staffofthe 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 ofwar 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 ofSouth Africa, and the History ofDiplomacy 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 ofRight (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 ofLife 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 GulfWar. 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 HistoricalJournal, 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 ofRoman 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 oflong-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 ofthe 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 ofAge

and Experience learned in his QuestfromJoss 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 ofa 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 ofDutch 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 ofaJohannesburg newspaper. At the

coast one can find excitement about some maritime events, such as the raising ofa sunken

cannon. It is also there that one can expect to find numbers ofmaritime 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 Townjournal, Flotsam

andJetsam, 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,'" InternationalJournal

ofAfrican 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 ofthe 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 briefhistory ofthe 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 Johannesburg, 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 ofthat 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 ofthe 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 ofVice-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. Councilfor the Environment, no. 9 (August 1993), pp. 8—11.
324 South Africa

one that may lay a basis for the future rational exploitation ofthe 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 ofthe soil and ofstruggle.

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 oftheir

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 ofbooks 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 RGMwherever possible, but I cannot pretend

to have analyzed its contents as thoroughly as they deserve.

Judging from that index and from an unsystematic survey ofarticles, 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. Ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthem 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 ofdocuments related to Spanish naval and maritime

"La Revista 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 andJose 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 offamous 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 Peninsula from the Muslims dominates Spain's late-medieval historiography. Nonetheless, 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 ofAragon 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 overwhelmingly 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 ofthe Caribbean. An extraordinary amount

of effort has been expended in exploring this mystery, most of it by nonSpaniards. A team of researchers at National Geographic in November of 1986

claimed to have solved the matter by computerized analysis of Columbus's log

ofhis 1492 voyage—or, rather, ofthe only existing version ofthat 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 Quincentenary 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 13

NAVIGATION 20

SHIPS &

SHIPBUILDING llllll

36

COLUMBUS 101

() —-l2

i 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 ofdefending 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 ofConstantinople 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 ofthese 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 definitively 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 commander-in-chief, in the person ofDonJuan ofAustria, half-brother ofPhilip II. The great Christian victory at Lepanto was commemorated with lavish celebrations 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 ofmen 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 fourhundredth anniversary ofthat fleet in 1988 produced a floodtide ofpublications,

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 anniversaries.

One ofthe primary reasons that Philip II decided to launch the Great Armada

had its origins far from Europe, in the Spanish empire in the Western Hemisphere. 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 circumnavigation 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 ofhistorians 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 configurations 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 ofthe 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 ofan 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 ofthe

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 ofwar and the

simultaneous restructuring of the Spanish bureaucracy by the Bourbon government 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 ofvirtually 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 . .

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12

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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 ofthe 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 ofso-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 ofthe historiography ofSpain'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 ofthese 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 ofSpain'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 ofexploration 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) ofthe publications dealing with

the eighteenth century. Prominent among those voyages were the expeditions

ofAlessandro 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 ofNorth 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 ofthe 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, andJoseph 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 ofEurope.

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 ofits 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 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 ofthe 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 architecture, centered around the shift from the age ofsail to the age ofsteam. 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 ofthe 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 unprepared. Major defeats at Santiago Bay in Cuba and Cavite in the Philippines

led to Spain's being stripped ofits 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 ofthem 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 ofleft-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 professionalization 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 ofKing 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 ofEurope in an ongoing debate about the merits ofintervention.

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 individual 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 systematically 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 ofa 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 concerns that have defined it in the past.

:9

Sweden

Jan Glete

Bystrong tradition, Swedish naval and maritime history is divided into whatthe 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 ofSweden'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 ofour present stock ofwritten 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 ofthe 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 ofthese 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 between 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 Navysponsored 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 ofthe present lack ofinterest 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-sponsored 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 svenskajlottan 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 development 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 published 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

Tidskriftfor 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 ofsea 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 ofthe twentieth

century shipowner Axel Ax:sonJohnson (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 ofthe decline ofthe European shipbuilding industry in recent

decades.

Apart from studies written by academic historians, Sweden also has a fair

amount ofwriters 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:sonJohnson 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 TVA 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

oflocal history, covering a certain area ofthe 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

ofthe naval and maritime past. In Scandinavia, archaeology and ethnology have

strong traditions in these spheres ofinterest and, through the museums, primarily

the Swedish National Maritime Museum (Statens Sjohistorika Museer), Stockholm, these disciplines have a considerable institutional base. In 1956, underwater archaeology was much stimulated by the discovery of the Wasa (1628).

Through its salvage and restoration, Swedish archaeologists developed considerable 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 ofa 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 ofthe 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 boatSoren Larsson & Jaak Saving, Nordstjeman: The Inside Story, 1890-1990 (Stockholm: Norstedts,

1990), Torsten Rinman, TheJohnson Line, 1890-1990 (Goteborg: Rinman & Linden, 1990).

Carl-Olof Cederlund, The Old Wrecks ofthe Baltic Sea: Archaeological recording ofthe wrecks ofcarvel-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. OlofHasslof, 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 disciplines 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 ofresearch, 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 ofbooks

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 ofThe 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 ofthis research is ripe for reinterpretations 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 ofSwedish expansion

in the Baltic, has also been neglected. This was an era of many naval operations—-blockades, amphibious operations, logistic support ofthe 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 compared 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 ofresearch. 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 agriculture. The Loess plateau region symbolizes this traditional and ancient Chinese

culture.

For thousands of years, Chinese culture valued agriculture more than commerce. 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 ofsea 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 ofscholars in mainland China, and describes

their meditations over the maritime history ofChina. Their motive was to arouse

the maritime consciousness ofthe 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 ofthe 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 TVseries 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 ofthe nautical technology ofancient 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 ofmaritime 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 civilizations, 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 ofSea 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 ofthe

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 ofmaritime 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 ofChinese sovereignty and dignity was a direct result ofits lack ofsea power.

Modern Maritime China

After World War II China was split into two political entities. In 1949 the

government ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofthis 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 ofefforts, 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 civilizations affected by the intersection of China with other cultures. Therefore, the

scholar oftraditional Chinese maritime history must realize just how far-reaching

the impact ofwestern nations has been on Chinese culture and maritime history.

Third, the successful reclamation and cultivation ofTaiwan 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 ofTaiwan'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 ofthe 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 ofmaritime

strategy as well as a review ofand consideration ofthe 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 preparations 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 ofthe 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 ofsubjects. 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

ofNational 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 ofhistory at the National Taiwan Norman University 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 ofwritings 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 Command 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 ofdevelopment. The rich and varied collections ofnaval 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 ofthe Board of Trustees ofEvergreen 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 ofthe 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," InternationalJournal of Maritime History

1(1989), pp. 51-64; "Maritime China in Historical Perspective," InternationalJournal ofMaritime 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 ex1 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, particularly 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. Ofcourse 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. Furthermore, 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 universitylevel 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 ofthe 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 ofa 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

ofthese volumes concerns naval matters or the maritime history ofnations 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 ofvessels 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 ofAmerican

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 introduction 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 ofthe 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 Timberfor 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 Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (Westport,

Conn.: Greenwood Publishing, 1972).
Labaree 367

best ofthe 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 ofNorth

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 ofletters 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 ofthe 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 ofAtlantic

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 ofview 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 ofLieutenant

William Reynoldsfrom 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. ofBritish 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 ofthe North Atlantic Fisherman (Boston: Litde, Brown, 1 983)

.

22 Briton Cooper Busch, The War Against the Seals: A History ofthe 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. RichardJohnson has used the career ofBostonian 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 ofthis 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 ofthe 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 ofscholarly 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. Beginning in New England, Christine L. Heyrman's excellent study ofGloucester and

Marblehead examines the culture ofthese 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).

RichardJohnson,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 ofNew

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 ofNew 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 Century." 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

ofthe United States mentioned above, a number ofstudies 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 ofthe 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 Canalsfor 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 Boundfor 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 ofthe Erie Canal, 1 792- 1 854 (Lexington: Univ. ofKentucky

Press, 1990).

40 Robert Shaw, Canalsfor 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, Boundfor America: The Transportation ofBritish 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 ofAmerica 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 accompany 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 ofthe 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 ofRevolutionary 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 ofJack 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 ofAmerican 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 ofNantucket, 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 ofMaritime 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 ManyHeaded 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 ofthe 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 Sentimentalization 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 ofAfro-Americans (New York: Lang, 1989).

Jeffrey Bolster, "To Feel like a Man: Black Seamen in the Northern States, 1800-1860,"Journal ofAmerican

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 ofPaul 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 ofAmerican Seafaring: The Case ofthe 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 ofthe Sea" andJoan Druett's

"More Decency and Order: Women and Whalemen in the Pacific." Most

recently Ms. Druett has provided an award-winning edition ofthe 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 ofthe Skipper's Wife andJulia 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 ofAmerican maritime history, the publication ofbooks

and articles in the field seems to remain numerically quite strong, perhaps one

hundred or so a year. And yet a quick survey ofthe American Neptune during the

five-year period 1988-1992 shows that only fifty-eight (35.8 percent) ofthe 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 deepwater mercantile fleet, let us turn to, and close with, the bright spot on

Margaret S. Creighton, "Women and Men in American Whaling, 1830-1870," IntematiotialJournal of

Maritime History, vol. 4 (1992), pp. 195-218.

Caroline Mosely, "Images ofYoung Women in Nineteenth Century Songs ofthe Sea," Log ofMystic

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 ofa 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 ofthem 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 ofJuly 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 ofpreserved 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 ofIndia, 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 ofAmerican

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 offifteen or so whose staffresponded 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 ofthe 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 ofState 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 ofjust

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

ofWilliam 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 ofVirginia.

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 ofits 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 ofwatercraft now number four hundred fifty, with a dozen

vessels in the water, including the whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the Danish

training shipJoseph 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, fromJohn F. Leavitt's

beautifully crafted Wake of the Coasters (1970) to the latest book, Classic Small

Craft You Can Build (1993) by the dean ofAmerican 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 ofschool children are made aware ofour 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 departments 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 ofdeath.

The Munson Institute is occasionally criticized for making its courses available

to public school teachers and museum staff members, many ofwhom 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 ofsome ofthem 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 ofthe 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 ofWar," 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 ofnaval 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 educational 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 ofSirJulian 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 ofSea 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 ofthe Corbett-Richmond

Conference (Newport, R.I.: Naval War College Press, 1993); for Mahan, see John B. Hattendorf, ed.,

The Influence ofHistory 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 ofthe 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-instructors 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 ofthe 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 ofAmerican 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 ofAdmirals 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 ofthe Republic: The United States in an Era ofCold 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., Assaultfrom

the Sea: Essays on the History ofAmphibious 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 ofthe

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 KennethJ. 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 nationally, 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 ofAmerican 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 ofJohn PaulJones 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 ofnaval 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 ofAmerican Naval Power, 1776-1918 (New Jersey: Princeton

Univ. Press, 1939; Annapolis: NIP, 1990). Crowe's strategic viewpoint can be seen in "The Policy

Roots ofthe Modern Royal Navy, 1946-1963," (Ph.D. diss., Princeton Univ., 1965), and most recently

in his memoir, The Line ofFire: 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 PaulJones: 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 ofAmerica, 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. ofTexas 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 ofCarl Boyd at Old Dominion University, Jeffrey

M. Dorwart of the University of Delaware, William M. Fowler, Jr. at Northeastern University, William M. McBride at James Madison University, Clark G.

Reynolds at the College ofCharleston, 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 ofTennessee, Charles J. Weeks, Jr. at Southern College ofTechnology, 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 ofnaval 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

ofAnnapolis and the Emergence ofModem 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 TheJeffersonian 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., TheJapan Expedition, 1852-1854: The PersonalJournal

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 ofunderwater 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 ofwarfare 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 Confederate 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 ofForce

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 ofthe Naval Profession (Newport, R.I.: Naval

War College Press, 1977), and Eagle Against the Sun: The American War withJapan (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 ofMilitary 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 ofOceanic 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 ofthis 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 ofEuropean 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 ofHistory 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 ofhistorical information

about the Navy. The Center employs approximately twenty-five naval historians, 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 ofteaching, 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 oflectures and discussions directed by faculty ofthe 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 immediate supervision over only the Navy Museum in the Washington Navy Yard.

Stimulated by former Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, Jr., and dynamically 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 ofTripoli

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 ofJohn PaulJones, 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 ofProfessor KennethJ. 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 ofShips, 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 ofover 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 ofphotography. 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 ofwhom 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 fivemodule 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, Connecticut 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 ofNorfolk, Virginia. Devoted to the naval

and maritime heritage ofthe 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 ofresources 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 ofthis 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 ofthe Smithsonian Institution in the field ofnaval 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 ofthe 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 ofAmerican 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 ofreplacement when he retires. A pool ofirreplaceable

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 ofWorld 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 ofwartime shipboard life. What will become of these ships once

the veterans ofWorld 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 ofservice in both world wars, was rescued by the state ofTexas

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 ofthe

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 construction 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 ofthe General Board ofthe 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 ofthe 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-classification 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 ofmost ofthe 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 declassification 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 ofthe University ofMaryland 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 ofleading 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 ofManuscript 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 ofrecent chiefs

Naval Strategy," in James Goldrick and John B. Hattendorf, eds., Mahan is Not Enough: The

Proceedings of a Conference on the Works of SirJulian 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 ofAdmirals Stephen B. Luce, A. T. Mahan, ErnestJ. 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 collections, 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 discounted 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 ofJune 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 EdwardJ. 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

ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofbooks for scholars and midshipmen.

Published Collections

Published collections ofpersonal papers and correspondence are of considerable 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

ofJohn Paul Jones, Samuel DuPont, and John Ericsson; the diaries ofJosephus

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 Accountsfrom

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 ofAlfred 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 ofJohn PaulJones, 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 ofJohn 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 Confederate Navies in the War ofthe 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 Revolutionary 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 ofsuch 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 ofAllan R. Millett and Peter Maslowski, For the Common

Defense—the most widely used college textbook ofAmerican military history

and ofMillett'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 Operationsfrom 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 Backgroundfrom 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 ofAmerican Naval History; Myron J. Smith's multi-volume bibliographies, 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 ofthe Works ofAlfred Thayer Mahan; John D. Hayes

andJohn B. Hattendorf, The Writings ofStephen 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 TheJournal ofMilitary 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 ofkeeping 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 ofAmerican 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 ofAlfred 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 ofwomen 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 ofAmerica. 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 PaulJones (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 ofthe Naval History ofthe United States, from the Commencement ofthe 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 ofAmerica (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 ofAmerican 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 ofMilitary 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 ofthe Navy, he founded the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845, an institution designed to instruct in the technical requirements of the profession while also inculcating the chauvinism of nineteenthcentury military culture.

The Civil War turned the nation's interest in military history to the operations, heroes, and villains ofthe 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 ofthe multi-volume Official Records ofthe 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 ofthe 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 twentieth 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 ofthe Union and Confederate Navies in the War ofthe 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 ofthe 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 ofAlfred 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 ofAmerican 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 ofAmerican Sea Power (New York: Free Press, 1991); Shulman,

Naualisnt and the Emergence ofAmerican 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 ofAmerican 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 ofModem 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 ofAmerican diplomatic and naval history. Many of them were

schooled in the tradition of the University of Wisconsin's "Progressive Historians," and in particular by William Appleman Williams, who ironically was

a World War II graduate ofthe 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 ofAmerica'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 oftightly 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 ofDuty; Frederick C. Drake, The Empire ofthe 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 ofthe 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 (NewJersey: Princeton Univ. Press, 1946). For a gathering ofnaval 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 ofAmerican Diplomacy (Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1959).

55 LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation ofAmerican 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 ofthe Spanish American War of

1898, including strategy and leadership. Inevitably, he resurrected the hoary

topic ofwho 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 definitive study ofU.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 (NewJersey: 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 ofAmerica'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 ofAnnapolis and the Emergence ofModem 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 Conference 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 ofthe interwar years epitomized by

the works ofCaptain 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" ofsteam and steel to a keenly analytical study ofthe American war against

Japan, 1941—1945. His searching book, Eagle Against the Sun, puts the nostalgically glamorous battles of the Pacific war and the possibly decisive American

submarine campaign againstJapanese 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 ofthe 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. ofTennessee

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 theJavelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies, February toJune

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 AdmiralJohn Towers: The Strugglefor 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: FinalJudgement by Henry Clausen and Bruce Lee (New York: Crown, 1992) in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (July 1993), pp. 98-9.

The documentary point ofdeparture 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 ofthe early Cold War. At the Naval Historical Center,

Edward J. Marolda is sparking research and publication as head of the Contemporary 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 ofAmerican

Sea Power. This wide disparity of interpretation promises an intense historiographical 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 ofthe U.S. Navy. The 1948 edition ofCaptain 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 ofthe 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 ofAmerica'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

ofthe United States Navy remained a standard summary, often supplemented with

E.B. Potter's Sea Power: A Naval History, or the Sprouts' Rise ofAmerican 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 ofthese books

attempts "to chronicle and explain the high politics ofAmerican 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, OfArms and

Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression; and Paul M. Kennedy, Rise and

Fall ofthe Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflictfrom 1500 to 2000.

It should be noted that fictional accounts ofnaval history have never done better

than now, with Patrick O'Brian's salty tales ofwarfare in the age of Nelson and

the techno-thrillers of Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts leading the pack.

66 Knox, A History ofthe 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 ofAmerican

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 ofSea 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 ofNaval Warfare (New York: Viking, 1988); O'Connell,

OfArms 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 Huntfor Red October (Annapolis: NIP, 1984), and Red

Storm Rising (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1986); and Coonts, Flight ofthe 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 ofthe

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 ofspecialists 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 accurateJohn PaulJones and the Bonhomme Richard: A Reconstruc72

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 oftechnical

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 ofweapons systems. At the

Naval Academy Museum, Ship Model Curator Robert F. Sumrall specializes in

the histories ofcertain classes ofAmerican warships, his favorite being battleships.

Another biographer ofbattleships, Paul Stillwell, is on the staff ofthe 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 ofthe Steam Vessel of War in the U.S. Navy, and ofthe Naval Engineer Corps (Pittsburgh: Press ofW.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 ofthe Ship and an Account ofthe 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 NewJersey: 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 encyclopedia should be used in conjunction with the two volumes of ships'

histories prepared by K. Jack Bauer.

With a few exceptions, the burgeoning analyses ofnaval 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 ofAmerican 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 Tourfrom 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 (NewJersey: Princeton Univ. Press, 1947); A. Hunter Dupree, Science in the Federal Government: A History ofPolicies 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 ofFleet 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 ofthe 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 ofglory,

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 ofAmerican Naval History, 1 775—1984,

2d ed. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984), pp. 263-89; Harrod, Manning the New Navy: The

Development ofa Modem Enlisted Force, 1899—1940 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978); Karsten,

The Naval Aristocracy: The Golden Age ofAnnapolis 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 ofJames 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 ofa well-known paradox: much ofthe 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, University 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 Womenfrom World War I to Tailhook, byJean 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 newjournal, 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 ofcollective biography: Dictionary ofAdmirals ofthe 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 Womenfrom 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 ofNaval 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 ofpublishing

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 ofdocuments 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 ofthe 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.

Thejournalsjust 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 ofthe 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 Foundationjoined 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 Eisenhower 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 ofMilwaukee has supported work

such as the series ofYale conferences where this chapter was spawned. TheJohn

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 ofWestport, 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 subspecialty 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 ofAmerica's great

sea service ask questions relevant to the United States Navy ofthe 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 ofother 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 andJohn B. Hattendorffor 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 ofthe 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. KennethJ. Hagan, a retired captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, is author ofAmerican Gunboat Diplomacy

and the Old Navy, 1877-1889 and This People's Navy: The Making ofAmerican 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 ofRobert W. Love, Jr.'s History ofthe 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 ofscholarly 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 ofthe 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 ofthe 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 infrastructure. Surprisingly, the role of national politics in shaping naval development 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 ofdoing, 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 ofnavies

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 ofnavies

in the history ofEuropean states has long been acknowledged, particularly with

reference to Renaissance Venice, imperial Spain, and modern Britain. In the

United States, however, the relevance ofthe Navy to the era ofnation-building

has rarely been considered. In particular, the rise ofthe 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 employing 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 ofnew 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 ofpolicy 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 preparation in peacetime to achievements and failures in times of war.