Until now there has never been a full biography of America's most accomplished naval commander in the Age of Sail, Johnston Blakeley, probably because most of his papers went down with him and his sloop-of-war Wasp in 1815, under circumstances that have yet to be fully explained. Consulting previously untapped sources on both sides of the Atlantic, Stephen Duffy has resurrected the remarkable life and career of this forgotten hero and in the process painted one of the most vivid portraits available of the early American Navy in war and peace.
Filling an important gap in the literature of early U.S. naval history, this book focuses on the Wasp's historic cruise of 1814, when Blakeley defeated a force larger than any of his more famous contemporaries--Decatur, Bainbridge, and Hull--and with fewer resources, in waters closer to English soil, and with less sea time than any other British or American commander. Blakeley was the only officer to take two enemy vessels of similar size in a single cruise, one a hard-fought boarding action and the other at night. But Blakeley eventually paid the ultimate price because, unlike his fellow ship captains, he followed orders and pressed the attack.
Relying almost exclusively on primary sources, Duffy debunks many myths about Blakeley's battle exploits, early career, and untimely end. His use of uncataloged pension and accountant records as well as British court-martial records, official correspondence, logs, and unpublished journals contribute to an unparalleled examination of the lives of junior officers, warrant officers, and able seamen. The result is one of the best descriptions ever written of life aboard ship under sail. In addition, Duffy's research unearthed new details about the design and building of the 22-gun corvette and Wasp's sister ships, as well as their operational contributions to the fledgling American Navy's legacy of victory. With the publication of this landmark study, the shamefully neglected Blakeley, takes his proper place in the pantheon of American military honor and establishes Stephen Duffy as a bold new voice in historical scholarship.
