The British Raid on Essex
The British Raid on Essex

Author: Jerry Roberts

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press

Published: 2014-04-30

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0819574775

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This is the dynamic account of one of the most destructive maritime actions to take place in Connecticut history: the 1814 British attack on the privateers of Pettipaug, known today as the British Raid on Essex. During the height of the War of 1812, 136 Royal marines and sailors made their way up the Connecticut River from warships anchored in Long Island Sound. Guided by a well-paid American traitor the British navigated the Saybrook shoals and advanced up the river under cover of darkness. By the time it was over, the British had burned twenty-seven American vessels, including six newly built privateers. It was the largest single maritime loss of the war. Yet this story has been virtually left out of the history books—the forgotten battle of the forgotten war. This new account from author and historian Jerry Roberts is the definitive overview of this event and includes a wealth of new information drawn from recent research and archaeological finds. Lavish illustrations and detailed maps bring the battle to life.

The British Raid on Essex
The British Raid on Essex

Author: Russell F. Anderson

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13:

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Examines the 1814 British attack on the privateers of Pettipaug, also known as the British Raid on Essex, when an American traitor guided the enemy up the Connecticut River to where they burned 27 American vessels.

Essex in the First World War
Essex in the First World War

Author: Michael Foley

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0750962534

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Before the First World War, Essex was a very different county from that which we know today. The economy was largely based on agriculture, and its people rarely travelled beyond its borders, or even out of their towns or villages. The war opened up a whole new world for the people of Essex. Men from the county enlisted in Kitchener's Army and travelled abroad, and many troops came into the camps and barracks which sprang up around the countryside. Some of these men came from all points of the British Empire and had enlisted to fight for the mother country. Essex was a key area during the war. Situated on the east coast, it was thought that the enemy could potentially use it as a site for invasion, so many defences were set up all round the county. Essex was subjected to great danger and harsh times by the enemy in the form of air raids from Zeppelins, and later, from the more potent aeroplane attacks. This well-illustrated and informative book sets out the experiences of the county and its inhabitants against what was happening in the broader theatre of war. It offers a valuable insight into life for Essex folk in the First World War and will appeal to anyone interested in the county's history.

1812
1812

Author: George C. Daughan

Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)

Published: 2011-10-04

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0465020461

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Tells the story of how America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, was able to defeat the world's greatest imperial power through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado to win the War of 1812.

The Sea Devils
The Sea Devils

Author: Mark Felton

Publisher: Icon Books Ltd

Published: 2015-07-30

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 1848319096

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July 1945. Eighteen young British, Australian and New Zealand special forces from a top-secret underwater warfare unit prepare to undertake three audacious missions against the Japanese. Using XE-craft midget submarines, the raiders will creep deep behind Japanese lines to sink two huge warships off Singapore and sever two vitally important undersea communications cables. Success will hasten ultimate victory over Japan; but if any of the men are captured they can expect a gruesome execution. Can the Sea Devils overcome Japanese defences, mechanical failures, oxygen poisoning and submarine disasters to fulfil their missions? Mark Felton tells the true story of a band of young men living on raw courage, nerves and adrenalin as they attempt to pull off what could be the last great raid of World War Two.

Connecticut in the American Civil War
Connecticut in the American Civil War

Author: Matthew Warshauer

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press

Published: 2014-08-01

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0819571393

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“Serves as a model of what a state-level survey of the Civil War can achieve . . . a potent combination of description and analysis.” —The Civil War Monitor Connecticut in the American Civil War offers a remarkable window into the state’s involvement in a conflict that challenged and defined the unity of a nation. The arc of the war is traced through the many facets and stories of battlefield, home front, and factory. Matthew Warshauer masterfully reveals the varied attitudes toward slavery and race before, during, and after the war; Connecticut’s reaction to the firing on Fort Sumter; the dissent in the state over whether or not the sword and musket should be raised against the South; the raising of troops; the sacrifice of those who served on the front and at home; and the need for closure after the war. This book is a concise, amazing account of a complex and troubling war. No one interested in this period of American history can afford to miss reading this important contribution to our national and local stories.

At the Point of a Cutlass
At the Point of a Cutlass

Author: Gregory N. Flemming

Publisher: ForeEdge

Published: 2014-06-03

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1611685621

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A handful of sea stories define the American maritime narrative. Stories of whaling, fishing, exploration, naval adventure, and piracy have always captured our imaginations, and the most colorful of these are the tales of piracy. Called America's real-life Robinson Crusoe, the true story of Philip Ashton--a nineteen-year-old fisherman captured by pirates, impressed as a crewman, subjected to torture and hardship, who eventually escaped and lived as a castaway and scavenger on a deserted island in the Caribbean--was at one time as well known as the tales of Cooper, Hawthorne, and Defoe. Based on a rare copy of Ashton's 1725 account, Gregory N. Flemming's vivid portrait recounts this maritime world during the golden age of piracy. Fishing vessels and merchantmen plied the coastal waters and crisscrossed the Atlantic and Caribbean. It was a hard, dangerous life, made more so by both the depredations and temptations of piracy. Chased by the British Royal Navy, blown out of the water or summarily hung when caught, pirate captains such as Edward Low kidnapped, cajoled, beat, and bribed men like Ashton into the rich--but also vile, brutal, and often short--life of the pirate. In the tradition of Nathaniel Philbrick, At the Point of a Cutlass expands on a lost classic narrative of America and the sea, and brings to life a forgotten world of ships and men on both sides of maritime law.

The Defeat of the Zeppelins
The Defeat of the Zeppelins

Author: Mick Powis

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2017-10-30

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1526701499

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Mick Powis describes the novel threat posed to the British war effort by the raids of German airships, or Zeppelins, and the struggle to develop effective defenses against them. Despite their size and relatively slow speed, the Zeppelins were hard to locate and destroy at first. They could fly higher than existing fighters and the early raids benefited from a lack of coordination between British services. The development of radio, better aircraft, incendiary ammunition, and, above all, a more coordinated defensive policy, gradually allowed the British to inflict heavy losses on the Zeppelins. The innovative use of seaplanes and planes launched from aircraft carriers allowed the Zeppelins to be intercepted before they reached Britain and to strike back with raids on the Zeppelin sheds. July 1918 saw the RAF and Royal Navy cooperate to destroy two Zeppelins in their base at Tondern (the first attack by aircraft launched from a carrier deck). The last Zeppelin raid on England came in August 1918 and resulted in the destruction of Zeppelin L70 and the death of Peter Strasser, Commander of the Imperial German Navys Zeppelin force.

The Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid

Author: Robin Neillands

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780253347817

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In 1942, a full two years before D-Day, thousands of men, mostly Canadian troops eager for their first taste of battle, were sent across the Channel in a raid on the French port town of Dieppe. Air supremacy was not secured; the topography of the town and its surroundings - hemmed in by tall cliffs and steep beaches - meant any invasion was improbably difficult; the result was carnage, the beaches turned into killing grounds even as the men came ashore, and whole regiments literally decimated. Why was the Raid ever mounted? Was the whole thing even, as has been darkly alleged, expected and even intended to fail, a cynical conspiracy to prove to the Americans, at the expense of so many Canadian lives, the impracticability of staging the Normandy landings for another two years? Robin Neillands goes behind the myths to tell what really happened, and why.