SINK
OR BE SUNK!
THE NAVAL
BATTLE IN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND THAT PRECEDED THE BATTLE OF
NEW ORLEANS
by Paul
Estronza La Violette
Maps By Sarah Foster
192 pp
$29.95 Hardback with Dust Jacket
©
2003 by Paul Estronza La Violette
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"SINK
OR BE SUNK" BRINGS HISTORICAL
NAVAL BATTLE TO LIFE
In "Sink or be Sunk," La Violette
has brought to life the events that preceded and surrounded
the Battle of New Orleans, the 1815 battle in which Gen. Andrew
Jackson defeated the British, thus halting their efforts to
contain the United States and thwart its ability to expand westward.
LaViolette has focused his work on the naval battle in the Mississippi
Sound between U.S. gunboats and British barges in mid-December
1814. The battle "does not follow the usual setting of such
actions: large warships yards apart, battering one another with
each one's cannons at point blank range, with the falling of
spars and immense wooden masts crashing down, and uniformed
officers standing almost remotely on quarterdecks shouting orders,"
he writes. "The ships in this battle are too small to even be
called ships in the approved nautical definition of the early
1800s. But don't be put off, there were bloody actions, there
were exploding and sinking boasts, and there were the cries
and screams of desperate, determined men."
Unlike many historical books that concentrate on one side of
a war, he gives readers a careful, unbiased look at both sides
of the battle. He takes readers through the massive, physically
demanding preparations that both sides underwent. Then he follows
the battle from both the American and English perspectives.
Readers will come to feel that they feel they know the principal
officers on both sides quite well. Purists may object to La
Violette's use of dialogue in the book, saying that putting
undocumented words into the mouths of real people is wrong.
But La Violette makes it work, and work well. And there is not
question that he has researched his subject thoroughly, not
only through a variety of written resources but also going as
far as to prevail upon the Naval Oceanographic Office to provide
a research vessel and underwater instrumentation so that he
could explore the debris field remaining on the sea bottom from
the actions in the Bay of St .Louis and St. Joe Pass.
The well-drawn maps by artist Sarah Foster contribute significantly
to the reader's ability to visualize and understand the historical
events of the book, and the ink sketches by Patricia Rigney,
who has illustrated several of La Violette's other books, also
brings this story of the sea to life. The book also contains
a chronology of events, beginning with the Louisiana Purchase
in 1803, plus copies of Lt. Thomas AP Catesby Jones' and Commander
Nicholas Lockyer's official reports of the battle. La Violette
reminds readers that both reports undoubtedly put the most positive
light on their respective sides.
La Violette, a professional oceanographer who lives in Waveland,
Miss., has years of experience conducting marine research in
almost all of the world's oceans. He has written three books
of vignettes about life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: "View
from
a Front Porch," "Waiting for the White Pelicans,"
and "Where the Blue Herons Dance."
"Sink or be Sunk" adds a new
chapter to La Violette's life as a writer and should garner
a new set of readers who are avid history buffs. …………………
(Nan Patton Ehrbright is a retired
journalist and free-lance writer who lives in Waveland, Miss.)
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