Flotilla

Donald G. Shomette is a marine archaeologist and cultural resource manager in Dunkirk, Maryland. He is the author of many books, including Shipwrecks, Sea Raiders, and Maritime Disasters along the Delmarva Coast, 1632-2004, also published by Johns Hopkins.

• Foreword, by Fred W. Hopkins, Jr.Preface1. Depredations of the Usual Character2. No Other Mode of Defense3. A Commander of Capacity and Influence4. Miserable Tools5. Sails and Oars6. Pen the Flotilla Within7. They Opened All the Feather Beds8. By the Light of the Blaze9. An Act of Madness10. Old Barney in Hell11. Leviathan Awakened12. Frightened Out of Their Senses13. Our Polar Star14. Jonathan Confounded15. The Buccaneers Spared Nothing16. The Sweets of Plunder17. Gathered Like a Snow-ball18. Blown to Atoms19. Not a Bridge Was Broken20. Came Up at a Trot21. I Told You It Was the Flotillamen22. A Great Fire23. The Ounce of British InfluenceEpilogue: All Eyes Will Be upon YouAppendix A: Muster of the U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla from Its Inception to Its DissolutionAppendix B: Cost and Type of Materials and Workmanship for Building and Equipping the Row Galley Black SnakeAppendix C: Fleet Maneuver Exercises for the U.S. Chesapeake FlotillaAppendix D: African Americans from the Patuxent Valley Enlisted in the Royal Colonial Marine CorpsNotesBibliographyIndex

As the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 approaches, Donald Shomette's book, updated from a similar work published by him in 1981, is a most appropriate addition to the literature. -- Robert F. Dunn Washington Times 2009 Flotilla is valuable both to those interested in naval history, and to those focusing on small boat and irregular warfare strategies. I highly recommend it. -- Robert Farley Information Dissemination 2009 A rare look at the complex nature of the naval war and its impact on the inhabitants of Tidewater Maryland and the nation's capitol at Washington, D.C... Shomette details all of this with meticulous research in archives on both sides of the Atlantic. Past In Review 2009 Flotilla is a colorful, detailed history of Barney and his Sailors and the amphibiious war waged in the Chesapeake By in the summers of 1813 and 1814... Shomette makes clear, they provided the only light in one of the darkest periods in American military history. -- Frederick C. Leiner Proceedings 2010 Flotilla offers considered treatment of both the British and American sides of the Patuxtent campaign... an invaluable resource: a mine of information for scholars of the war, and more-than-penetrable for the casual reader. -- Samuel Negus Northern Mariner 2010 It is well written, and filled with details and facts that bring the story of this campaign to life. -- James Greathouse Nautical Research Journal 2010 Shomette is a scholar and a gifted writer, and his work is eminently readable as human drama... I heartily recommend Flotilla as essential to students of this war and to general readers of fine military history. -- Richard Barbuto Journal of America's Military Past 2010 The scholarship and breadth of understanding demonstrated in the new edition of Flotilla shine a bright light on this important part of our history, and make this an indispensable resource for students of the era. -- Dennis Knepper Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society 2010 Flotilla is a delight to read, carefully crafted and nicely paced, mixing telling human interventions from key players with analysis of the unfolding drama. The illustrations, contemporary drawings, portraits and modern maps are ideally placed... This will be an essential text for students of war, and of maritime strategy. -- Andrew Lambert International Journal of Naval History 2010