Frigates and Foremasts

The first comprehensive study of naval operations involving North American squadrons in Nova Scotia waters, Frigates and Foremasts offers a masterful analysis of the motives behind the deployment of Royal Navy vessels between 1745 and 1815, and the navy’s role on the Western Atlantic.

Interweaving historical analysis with vivid descriptions of pivotal events from the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745 to the end of the wars with the United States and France in 1815, Julian Gwyn illuminates the complex story of competing interests among the Admiralty, Navy Board, sea officers, and government officials on both sides of the Atlantic. In a gripping narrative encompassing sea battles, impressments, and privateering, Gwyn brings to life key events and central figures. He examines the role of leadership and the lack of it, not only of seagoing heroes from Peter Warren to Philip Broke, but also of land-based officials, such as the various Halifax naval yard commissioners, whose important contributions are brought to light. Gwyn’s brilliant evocation of people and events, and the scholarship he brings to bear on the subject makes Frigates and Foremasts a uniquely authoritative history. Wonderfully readable, it will attract both the serious naval historian and the general reader interested in the ’why’ and ’what’ of naval history on North America’s eastern seaboard.

Julian Gwyn is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Ottawa and the author of Excessive Expectations: Maritime Commerce and the Economic Development of Nova Scotia, 1740-1870.

Professor Gwyn’s admirable treatment of the socio-economic aspects of the squadron’s history include the attention paid to the development of the Royal Navy’s docking, building and careening facilities in Bermuda and Nova Scotia; his account of the squadron’s role in imposing London’s trade policies before the American Revolution; and some interesting comments comparing Nova Scotia and Georgia as colonies before 1775. --- One of the great benefits of the recent upsurge in maritime and naval history has been the attention paid to topics or areas heretofore considered marginal. Julian Gwyn has provided here a welcome example of just such a neglected issue. Gwyn attempts, successfully, to correct the imbalance by explaining the essential role played by this marginal theatre in numerous phases of the great conflicts from 1745 to 1815. The book is a most welcome addition to naval and maritime history. The focus is Halifax and Nova Scotian water, but British relations with the Americans, and to a lesser degree the French, are paramount. Gwyn has thoroughly researched the primary and secondary material, and presents his findings clearly. This is a fine book that throws light on a neglected theatre of operations in several wars.