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Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: The Cruise of 1814 Stephen W. H. Duffy Hardcover: 348 pages including Index, extensive Notes and Bibliography. Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (2001) Language: English ISBN-10: 1557501769 In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the start of his historic, and ill fated, cruise, it is my honor to present to you a brief review of a narrative of Captain Johnston Blakeley's career in the early American navy, culminating in one of the greatest raiding cruises every undertaken. There are many tales of the accomplishments of America’s young navy during the War of 1812, and several of the most famous names in American Naval History were blazed into the national consciousness during that conflict. Although the most successful American naval officer of the War of 1812, Johnston Blakely never enjoyed the fame that he had for so long desired. His fame was posthumous. In Captain Blakeley and the Wasp: The Cruise of 1814, Stephen Duffy tells, in a readable and coherent fashion, the story of Master Commandant Johnston Blakeley and the highly successful cruise of the American sloop of war Wasp in 1814. Duffy draws on archival information from numerous institutions to introduce the reader to the young Blakeley, tracing his youth and formative years through to his early years serving under Thomas Truxton on the President and John Rodgers on the John Adams to his command of the brig Enterprise in 1811. Blakeley’s skills and ambition are rewarded – he is sent to Newburyport, Massachusetts to supervise the construction of the Sloop of War Wasp. Duffy demonstrates his passion for detail and accuracy as he chronicles the building of the Wasp and Blakeley's struggles to outfit and crew his new ship, an effort made more difficult by national politics and by rivalries within the Navy. Designed by Naval Constructor William Doughty as a commerce raider, Wasp was rated at 509 tons and 22 guns with a crew of 173. Blakeley left port on May 1, 1814, at the helm of the newly commissioned Wasp. Blakeley captured his first prize on June 2, 1814. Within the following month, the Wasp captured and burned four more prizes. Blakeley secured his place in American naval history on June 28, 1814. Blakeley and his crew chased and brought to battle the Royal Navy’s HMS Reindeer, a Cruizer class brig sloop of 18 guns. One of the hardest fought battles of the war followed, and when it had concluded, Blakeley’s guns had overpowered and reduced the British vessel to a drifting hulk. Also damaged, Blakeley sailed to L’Orient, France to offload prisoners and seek repairs. En route, despite the damage incurred during the battle with the Reindeer, the Wasp still captured two more prizes. The Wasp was back at sea by August 27, and Blakeley set course for Gibraltar. He continued cruising successfully throughout the fall, even winning a battle over the HMS Avon. As news of Blakeley’s success filtered back to the United States in October and early November, he became a hero, and Congress promoted him to Captain on November 24. Meanwhile, the Wasp’s return was long overdue, and rumors swirled concerning the ship’s fate. The British never made claims to sinking the ship, but the Wasp vanished somewhere on the Atlantic, possibly foundering in a gale. The last confirmed sighting was by a Swedish crew on the Adonis. They saw the Wasp on October 9, 1814, some 225 miles southwest of Madeira. Duffy is able to provide a cogent and informative interpretation of the available archival records, and brings Blakeley to life as a tragic hero of his time. Faced with the common constraint imposed on any student of history, Duffy was faced with the paucity of primary source accounts from Blakeley and his close associates, as well as the conflicting accounts in the British and American records. Duffy was very selective and effective in his use of reasonable speculation about the thoughts of the young officer regarding various situations. Mr. Duffy has succeeded in providing not just a story of a young man who was in the right place with the right ship at the right time, but also presents a well-researched and documented study of a junior officer in the small American navy at the beginning of the 19th Century.
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