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Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution Paperback – June 6, 2023
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Winner of the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award
A Massachusetts Center for the Book "Must-Read"
Finalist for the New England Society Book Award
Finalist for the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Book Award
The bestselling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters reclaims the daring freelance sailors who proved essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War.
The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.
In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. Privateers came in all shapes and sizes, from twenty-five foot long whaleboats to full-rigged ships more than 100 feet long. Bristling with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes, they tormented their foes on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.
The men who owned the ships, as well as their captains and crew, would divide the profits of a successful cruise―and suffer all the more if their ship was captured or sunk, with privateersmen facing hellish conditions on British prison hulks, where they were treated not as enemy combatants but as pirates. Some Americans viewed them similarly, as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Yet Dolin shows that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and moreover that they greatly contributed to the war’s success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, playing a key role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States, providing much-needed supplies at home, and bolstering the new nation’s confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world.
Creating an entirely new pantheon of Revolutionary heroes, Dolin reclaims such forgotten privateersmen as Captain Jonathan Haraden and Offin Boardman, putting their exploits, and sacrifices, at the very center of the conflict. Abounding in tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents this nation’s first war as we have rarely seen it before.
105 illustrations, 8 pages of full-color illustrations- Print length344 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLiveright
- Publication dateJune 6, 2023
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
- ISBN-101324093641
- ISBN-13978-1324093640
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Editorial Reviews
Review
― Gerard Helferich, Wall Street Journal
"Rebels at Sea is sure to be another successful addition to Dolin’s catalog. The narrative is fast-paced and exciting. . . . The work also has some stunning and colorful pictures, including paintings, maps and portraits. This ranks as one of the best books the Journal of the American Revolution has reviewed."
― Timothy Symington, Journal of the American Revolution
"The author makes this solid work of scholarship the sort of book that starts a young person’s love of reading and interest in history. Dolin never loses the reader in his clear and concise prose."
― Robert S. Davis, New York Journal of Books
"Rebels at Sea is a worthwhile addition to Eric Jay Dolin’s superb scholarly library of maritime works. . . . [it] is a broad and well-researched examination of the role of letter-of-marque vessels during the American Revolution. This new work is a very much welcome addition to Revolutionary War maritime history."
― Louis Arthur Norton, Sea History
"Dolin’s valuable achievement in recognizing and honoring these sailors’ oft-ignored contributions to American independence more fully fleshes out American naval history."
― Mark Knoblauch, Booklist, starred review
"Scholars and general readers will enhance their knowledge of an often-neglected yet essential aspect of Revolutionary War history with Dolin’s cogent, absorbing, thoroughly researched account."
― Margaret Kappanadze, Library Journal, starred review
"The bestselling maritime historian returns with a study of privateering activity during the Revolutionary War and its role in bolstering the Colonial cause . . . In this exciting narrative, Dolin, a 2020 Kirkus Prize finalist for A Furious Sky, demonstrates how privateering was a key element in America’s ability to secure independence . . . The author digs deep into the whole enterprise . . . In this characteristically well-researched history, Dolin describes the vital activities of two main types of privateers . . . The author also explores in fascinating detail the desperate circumstances of captured Americans aboard British prison ships . . . A thrilling, unique contribution to the literature on the American Revolution."
― Kirkus Reviews
"[A] spirited account . . . The book’s greatest strength are the up-close portraits of the sailors themselves . . . This is a well-researched and thoroughly entertaining tribute to men who ‘stepped forward and risked their lives to help make [the United States] a reality.'"
― Publishers Weekly
"Eric Jay Dolin is an excellent writer, straightforward with a style that keeps the book moving while thoroughly engaging the reader. Rebels at Sea is destined to become the starting place to understand the privateer war during the American Revolution."
― Eric Sterner, Emerging Revolutionary War Era Blog
"Rebels at Sea gives readers not only an insight into the nature of privateering and all it involved, but it provides a good picture of the heroism, suffering, and sacrifices necessary in creating the United States."
― Stan Grayson, WoodenBoat
"There may be no better read for an American Revolution history lover this summer than Eric Jay Dolin‘s latest Rebels at Sea, a look at the forgotten role of the privateer during America’s battle for independence. . . . [It] presents a great introduction to this hidden corner of American history."
― Greg Young, The Bowery Boys Podcast Bookshelf
"A compelling tale of patriots whose bravery was integral to America’s victory in the War of Independence, Rebels at Sea is highly recommended."
― Chris Szepessy, WindCheck Magazine, Sailing the Northeast
"Rebels at Sea is captivating reading for those drawn to American and British history or armchair sailors seeking high seas adventure. It is also an important contribution to American Revolution literature."
― George Jepson, Quarterdeck Magazine
"Most naval history focuses on battles between national fleets, and so the swaggering history of the Revolution’s American privateers may have sailed past some readers. Eric Jay Dolin’s comprehensive effort helps correct that oversight. . . . [Rebels at Sea is] fascinating."
― Tim Queeney, American History
"Eric Dolin majestically rectifies the oversight that the official canon of naval history in Britain and the United States virtually ignores privateers. . . . Eric Dolin’s Rebels At Sea is original, meticulously researched and connects one of the USA’s great missing links in understanding how the land of the free earned its liberty. Rebels At Sea is rich in stories, historical explanation and tales of derring-do – a new and refreshing take on how the West was won."
― Sean Kingsley, Wreckwatch Magazine
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Liveright; Reprint edition (June 6, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 344 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1324093641
- ISBN-13 : 978-1324093640
- Item Weight : 9.5 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #386,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #293 in American Revolution Biographies (Books)
- #745 in Naval Military History
- #779 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
I grew up near the coasts of New York and Connecticut, and since an early age I was fascinated by the natural world, especially the ocean. I spent many days wandering the beaches on the edge of Long Island Sound and the Atlantic, collecting seashells and exploring tidepools. When I left for college I wanted to become a marine biologist or more specifically a malacologist (seashell scientist). At Brown University I quickly realized that although I loved learning about science, I wasn't cut out for a career in science, mainly because I wasn't very good in the lab, and I didn't particularly enjoy reading or writing scientific research papers. So, after taking a year off and exploring a range of career options, I shifted course turning toward the field of environmental policy, first earning a double-major in biology and environmental studies, then getting a masters degree in environmental management from Yale, and a Ph.D. in environmental policy and planning from MIT, where my dissertation focused on the role of the courts in the cleanup of Boston Harbor.
I have held a variety of jobs, including stints as a fisheries policy analyst at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a program manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an environmental consultant stateside and in London, an American Association for the Advancement of Science writing fellow at Business Week, a curatorial assistant in the Mollusk Department at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, and an intern at the National Wildlife Federation, the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, and the U.S. Senate. In 2007, I became a fulltime writer, which is by far the most challenging and rewarding job I have ever had.
I have always enjoyed writing and telling stories, and that's why I started writing books--to share the stories that I find most intriguing (I have also published more than 60 articles for magazines, newspapers, and professional journals). My most recent book is REBELS AT SEA: PRIVATEERING IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. REBELS was awarded the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award and the Samuel Eliot Morison Book Award for Naval Literature, given out by the Naval Order of the United States; and was a finalist for the New England Society Book Award and the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Book Award. REBELS was also selected as a “Must-Read” book by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Before that I published A FURIOUS SKY: THE FIVE-HUNDRED-YEAR HISTORY OF AMERICA'S HURRICANES, which was chosen as a best book of the year by The Washington Post, Library Journal, Booklist, and Amazon's editors. It also was a New York Times Editor's Choice, a "Must-Read" book, and was the winner of Atmospheric Science Librarians International Choice Award for History. Other books include BLACK FLAGS, BLUE WATERS: THE EPIC HISTORY OF AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS PIRATES, which was chosen as a "Must-Read" book and was a finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award given by the Boston Author's Club; BRILLIANT BEACONS: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN LIGHTHOUSE, which was chosen by gCaptain and Classic Boat as one of the best nautical books of 2016, and as as a "Must-Read" book; WHEN AMERICA FIRST MET CHINA: AN EXOTIC TALE OF TEA, DRUGS, AND MONEY IN THE AGE OF SAIL (Liveright, 2012), which was the winner for history, in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards; received a Gold Medal, History, in the Independent Publisher Book Awards; and was chosen as a Highly Recommended Book by the Boston Authors Club, and as a finalist for the New England Society Book Award; FUR, FORTUNE, AND EMPIRE: THE EPIC HISTORY OF THE FUR TRADE IN AMERICA (W. W. Norton, 2010), a national bestseller, was chosen by New West, The Seattle Times, and The Rocky Mountain Land Library as one of the top non-fiction books of 2010. It also won the 2011 James P. Hanlan Book Award, given by the New England Historical Association, and was awarded first place in the Outdoor Writers Association of America, Excellence in Craft Contest; and LEVIATHAN: THE HISTORY OF WHALING IN AMERICA, which was selected as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Providence Journal. LEVIATHAN was also chosen by Amazon's editors as one of the 10 best history books of 2007. LEVIATHAN garnered the the 23rd annual (2007) L. Byrne Waterman Award, given by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, for outstanding contributions to whaling research and history. LEVIATHAN also received the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History, given by the North American Society for Oceanic History, was named an Honors Book in nonfiction for the 8th annual Massachusetts Book Awards (2008-2009), and was awarded a silver medal for history in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (2008).
I am also a Switzer Environmental Fellow, a Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, a member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and a Nantucket Historical Society Research Fellow, and I was awarded a special commendation from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for "Contributing to the Award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC."
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But the privateers never came together as a potent fighting force, and it does not seem as if they influenced the outcome as much as they took advantage of it.
Recommended to those with a strong interest in the American Revolution and the era of sailing ships.
Like Thanksgiving at grandma's, my only complaint is that I wish there was more, namely a chapter about the Quasi-War.