Books I'm Reading: The Command of the Ocean

I've finally finished reading N. A. M. Rodger's The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 (Penguin paperback edition, 2006), as thorough and excellent a piece of history writing I've encountered in a long time. I picked up the book at Heathrow Airport nearly two months ago now, on my way to France following a week in England (mostly Cornwall and the southern coast), inspired by a desire to at least somewhat reduce my ignorance of British naval history following a visit the day before to the HMS Victory in dry dock at Portsmouth.

My shelves are peppered with similar book purchases, some of which I have yet to read (I will get to them someday). Looking over at my bookshelves, I can see Stories of Hawaii, by Jack London (Edited by A. Grove Day, Mutual Publishing Co., Honolulu), picked up in a Big Island book store on a visit to Hawaii in 1996. I can see A History of Scotland, by J. D. Mackie (Penguin paperback, 1991), purchased on a trip to Scotland around 1993, along with A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell (Penguin Classics, 1984), picked up on or just after the same trip. I can see Northwest Wines, by Paul Gregett, Dan McCarthy, and Jeff Prather (Sasquatch Books, Seattle, 1996) acquired on a trip to the Oregon wine country, and The British Columbia Wine Companion, by John Schreiner (Orca Book Publishers, 1996), acquired on one of many skiing trips to Blackcomb, in British Columbia. I see The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Edited by John Bakeless, Signet Classics, 2002), purchased on a road trip into northern California and Oregon years ago. And there was Rubber, Madelon Lulof's 1931 novel about life on the rubber plantations of Sumatra, acquired on a visit to Bali (although I don't seem to have kept my copy). A certain melancholy surrounds my memories of these volumes. In every case, I wish I had read the book before embarking. Travel feeds curiosity--a good thing--but I always feel I should have known more beforehand.

The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 is one of two formidable-looking books on British Naval history by Rodger (this one follows an earlier volume covering the period from 660 to 1649). The book is 907 pages long, but it's not quite as long as that suggests. The main text ends on page 583, followed by a number of appendices (including a chronology, technical data on ships, pay rates, lists of admirals and officials, and financial data), extensive references, a glossary, an impressive bibliography, and a thorough index. There is a section of detailed maps at the start of the book as well. It was exactly what I wanted, providing the background that I would like to have had before visiting HMS Victory. Better late than never.

The writing is clear and concise even in the denser sections on shipbuilding and naval architecture, manning of warships, logistics and victualing, disease, commercial shipping, finance, administration, and politics, and these are covered in detail. Accounts of military operations occupy a comparatively small number of pages, which may be disappointing to anyone looking mainly for bloody battles and heroics, but the reward of this approach is to provide a broad understanding of the technical and political context of the many battles fought during the nearly two centuries the text covers--and these battles, of course, are not neglected. I would have liked a section on sailing technique for the layman, but that's the only thing that seemed remotely "missing" from this book, as a complete understanding of the sketches of operations depend on a greater familiarity with the details of sailing than I (and I suspect many other modern readers) can draw on.

I was particularly impressed by the author's approach to controversial issues. His method is always to step back, give an overview of various opinions and new scholarship, and then to detail reasons for supporting one view or another, or for taking a new view--always giving the impression that he has gathered all the evidence, sifted it, and come to the most correct conclusion possible. A feat of scholarship and a wonderfully entertaining piece of writing at the same time, this is one of those books that you wish would just keep on going. Highly recommended.