Out of the distant past come the voices of four men who sailed warships on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Sailors of 1812, published in 1997 by the Old Fort Niagara Association, presents the first person accounts of Master James Richardson, RN, Captain Arthur Sinclair, USN, Lieutenant Henry Kent, RN, and Barzallai Pease, US Army Transport Service.
An introductory chapter informs the reader about the corps of naval officers and to each of the men. Richardson's recollections about his time with the Provincial Marine and the Royal Navy under Commodore Yeo, originally published in 1915, have been overlooked by previous researchers. The private letters of Arthur Sinclair, Commodore Chauncey's prickly flag captain, have never been published before. Lt. Kent was a subordinate to Commander Edward Collier during the Royal Navy's long march overland from Saint John to Kingston during the winter of 1814. He recounted his experiences in a letter to his father, which was published in 1815 and then forgotten. Pease, a worldly jacktar, kept a journal of his brief tour of duty with the army's transport service in 1814. Like Sinclair's letters, Pease's comments have not been printed before.
Sailors of 1812 was conceived as a companion piece for Donald E. Graves's Soldiers of 1814: American Enlisted Men's Memoirs of the Niagara Campaign. The naval memoirs and letters are presented verbatim and supported by 222 descriptive footnotes. The outstanding original illustrations by artist George Balbar also enhance the text.
Sailors of 1812: Memoirs and Letters of Naval Officers on Lake Ontario is a soft cover book measuring 25 cm x 14 cm. It is 96 pages in length and includes 28 illustrations and maps and extensive footnotes. ISBN: 0-941967-19-0. Retail price: $10.95 (Cdn), $7.95 (US).
| Other Books and Material on the War of 1812 | ||
|---|---|---|
| medium | Title | Author |
| book | Sandy Antal | |
| book | Gilbert Collins | |
| VHS movie | Robert Livesay | |
| book | Anthony S. Pitch | |
This page was created by John Sek © 1996-9.