The History of Our Navy from Its Origin to the Present Day, 1775-1897, Vol. 1 (of 4)

Before America had a navy, it had defiance. In 1775, a young nation with no warships, no naval tradition, and little hope faced the most powerful maritime empire in history. This is the account of how that impossible challenge was met, and how a scrappy collection of merchant vessels, fishing boats, and captured prizes was transformed into a fighting force that helped win a nation's independence. John Randolph Spears wrote this history in 1897, when the Navy he chronicled had grown into a global power, but he tells the story from those who remembered the scrappy early years. He brings to life pivotal figures like the legendary John Paul Jones and Commodore Esek Hopkins, tracing the American naval journey from the first acts of rebellion, the capture of the British schooner Gaspé with nothing but paving stones, through the wars that forged a maritime nation. For readers drawn to American history, naval warfare, or stories of improbable triumph, this volume offers both the detailed scholarship of a 19th-century scholar and the romantic spirit of a young republic finding its feet on the sea.