The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812

Mainstream of America

by C.S. Forester

No one has been so well equipped as C. S. Forester to dramatize the sea battles of the War of 1812, to characterize the heroes more skillfully, or to comprehend more shrewdly the world unrest that made it possible for an infant republic to embarrass a great nation rich in one hundred years of sea triumphs.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Naval History, Military Fiction, War, Military History, Nautical

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

Reviews

[Chris D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vibrant look at the encounters between ships of the United States Navy and the Navy of Great Britain during the period of the War of 1812. Forester, who is a well-known chronicler of Naval action, does not disappoint in this book when it comes to action. Great detail is given in these mostly one on one battles in the Atlantic.

This is not a military history of the War of 1812 which might frustrate some as the big picture is not addressed and at times it feels like the reader has entered in the middle of a conversation. This work is very well written but is also technical and will not be for everyone.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scholarly look at the War of 1812. Forester covers the situation leading up to the war, current events of the time affecting the war, the politics and public sentiment on both sides, and the military abilities of both America and the United Kingdom. In the midst of all that he submits detailed accounts of strategic sea battles across the globe, from New York harbor to Java, the English Channel to the Great Lakes. As usual, his portrayal of sailing ships in pitched combat is unrivaled and riveting.

Forester shows how the War of 1812 was mainly due to a question of national sovereignty, as the United States wanted to establish themselves as a legitimate nation whose citizens should be respected, and the U.K. treated American shipping as an easy place to gather sailors through impressment. Only the conditions of the time allowed the U.S. to even consider any action against the British; the number of U.S. Navy ships in 1812 could be counted by a man on his fingers and toes with digits left over, while his Majesty's Navy numbered over 1000 vessels, more than 10% of which were ships of the line. But most of the British Navy was held up in the blockade of Europe and the Peninsular Campaign against Bonaparte, so the U.S. could conceivably achieve a satisfactory result. The American plan was basically to be a nuisance to the British until the British agreed to stop impressment, and the British plan was to use as little materiel as possible to swat away the tiresome Americans and get back to the war they had been fighting for twenty years. Both sides overestimated how quickly things could be resolved.

Much more is covered, including the personalities, strengths, and weaknesses of pivotal figures involved. The very reason for the war led to early victories for the U.S. and allowed them to lengthen the conflict, as after twenty years of fighting the French the British were woefully short of able seamen, and their technology and tactics had become stagnant in a long period of easy victories and blockade duty. They were slow to adapt, overly bureaucratic, and if not for the defeat of Napoleon the War of 1812 might have dragged on for years longer. In the end won a war that achieved them little, while the U.S., though it did not reach its stated goals, made the leap from backwards former colony to actual nationhood and someone to be reckoned with, and broke the last barrier to a standing national military force.

This book could serve as standard textbook material in public schools teaching the history of the War of 1812, or just as easily an enjoyable read for the fans of Horatio Hornblower and the Master and Commander guy.

[Mark]

Great history by a great writer! 'Nuff said.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one can tell the history of the naval battles of the 18th and 19th centuries quite like C.S. Forester. Many Americans know very little about the War of 1812, let alone that most of its most important battles took place on water between sailing ships of various kinds and armament, not only in and around coastal North America but across the world's oceans and seas. If you want to know more about this forgotten war, its heroes, its battles and the politics at play in the young American Republic and the ascendant British Empire, this book is an excellent place to start.

[Curtiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

C.S. Forester describes the War of 1812 in his usual engaging and informative style.

This is another of my old Book-of-the-Month Club editions which I first read in grade school.

[Tom King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forester really understands the Napoleonic era navy. This is a terrific book if you love history and wooden sailing ships.

And I do.

[M. Shipley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather esoteric history. It is also extremely academic and it would do well to have a thesaurus on hand while reading. But it is extremely informative. When I say esoteric that’s because they’re author assumes a ton of previous knowledge concerning generals and admirals and other events. But it is very much a interesting look at all the naval engagement during the war of 1812. It’s not so much about the techniques of fighting in Boats or ships of line like I thought it would be, but more of a look at the overall strategy of warfare during the war 1812. I learned a ton and would recommend it to any body interested in learning about that.

[John J Stover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not an Easy Read

This a very scholarly analysis of the naval aspects of the War of 1812. It covers the political background and provides insight into both the American and British thinking behind the origins and the conduct of the war.

This book is both complex and technical and really is aimed at an audience familiar with and keenly interested in naval warfare in the late 18th century.

[John Vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories and insights

Forester gives a great view of the naval aspects of the War of 1812. It is amazing the things that figured important in that conflict. In particular, the analysis of the various captains, good and bad, was most interesting. Much better appreciation of the effect of that war on US history.

[G. Korizan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought history to life.

C. S. Forester as a talented author of age of sail wartime novels has applied his talents to non fiction . As as a result this book has brought to life the politicians and commanders involved in this crucial time.
This book read like good novel and I found it hard to put down.
A job very well done.

..gk.. 6

[Alex Feldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good account of the war.

Very good and complete account of the complex faces of the war in all theaters, from the border lakes with Canada to the battles in New Orleans.

The ships and commanders from president Madison to the famous ships and captains are all included so that you leave with a complete picture.

[Katherine Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of a trying time in America's history

Until reading this, I had no concept of how close out country came to bring lost. The author's use of the marine viewpoint makes for a much different understanding of the war of 1812. Fact filled but always engaging.

[Tricia Bagley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, obvious’

More detail than u might want, but that detail says to U this was a serious time, possibly more serious than the revolution.
Amazing period, yet today, our navy is not up to strength, we never learn from the past.
Idiots we elect, self centered.

[Stephen Hoyt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, if brief, history.

As an old fan of Forester's novels of war in the North Atlantic I approached a pure history with reservation. But this excellent an a very easy read written with the skill.of the novelist and the authority of the historian.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 1 out of 5]

Normally I love Forester's books, but this would be an exception. It read to much like a text book. The battle scenes were not written with His usual style and the detail was tedious instead of engaging. I was very disappointed and did not finish it.

[Opfor · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of a nearly forgotten war.

C.S. Forested tells the story of the war of 1812 in a compelling and unbiased method. His skillful accounting of the naval actions bring the tang of salt air and wafting smell of gunpowder to the imagination of the reader.

[Elsie Dalton]

I picked this up out of genuine historical curiosity, but I kept reading for the way he writes naval action sequences. Gripping! He covers the drier historical material too, and it does drag occasionally, but Forester was born to write sea battles. Worthwhile.

[Kellyt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting history of the key naval battles and strategies in the War of 1812. It’s evident it was written by a well-known novelist as the writing is engaging, as well as illuminating and historically relevant. Would give it a 4.3 if possible on Goodreads.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forester's The Age of Fighting Sail is an interesting and informative history of the naval war of 1812.

[Frank G. Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

History

There times when history is not very exciting,and this is one. At times this year is exciting, but throughout. From a historical view it is a worthy read.

[C Korker Vrooman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read but I would call it a text book.

[Donald M. Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, kept my interest .. It's written mainly about individual ship battles.

[LARRY MURPHY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

[C. J. Pappas · Rating 5 out of 5]

KnowledgCoupled with Good Storytellinge

This historical drama unfolded as a tripping story with humanitarian of the characters and events well placed in their context

[Wayne Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice

Good history of the War of1812 Naval battles.
Could have been clearer on Who's Who in general,
Three more words

[shari lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curious collection of a poor fledgling navy at war

The 1812-14 war was one which seemed to not have the enthusiasm of either combatant to generate a successful conclusion

[Theodore M. Kunzog · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of the naval war of 1813

Forested is as his best at being a historian of the Sea. Read this book ugly like historical sea battles.

[Andy Gore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of a war I knew very little about and the saddest is, how having agreed peace, ships still fought because the news hadn't filtered through to them.

[Dayo Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard going at times because of the technical terms. As a history of a war, not bad, in fact quite interesting.

[Mark Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about the naval activity during the War of 1812. Written by the author of the classic Horatio Hornblower series (fiction), this book has a similar writing style, which is a somewhat odd fit for a history book; the approach is neither typical storytelling nor typical historical analysis. However, despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of the typical rigor of a historical work (e.g., there is no bibliography, so it's not clear what primary source material the author consulted) the book is quite approachable and interesting.

One particularly interesting thing that I learned from this book is the early battle history of the USS Constitution. I had already known that she was one of the U.S. Navy's earliest successful warships, but I hadn't realized just how much she outshone her sister ships during the War of 1812. Constitution fought and won many battles during the war, under several different captains. Many of these victories were in evenly-matched single-ship actions; this was particularly shocking to the British Royal Navy, who at that time was the foremost sea power of the world. Constitution's last victory of the war came after the peace treaty had been signed, but before she learned of the treaty. (This was hardly unusual in those days; Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans also occurred after the treaty was signed. In fact, one U.S. warship, the USS Peacock, was still capturing British merchantmen in the Indian Ocean six months later!)

One minor complaint is that the book jumped around a bit to follow individual threads, rather than presenting the material in strictly chronological order. I have seen this approach work quite well for other authors, but for some reason I found it a bit hard to follow in this case. However, it may be that this is more a reflection of the complexity of the material (i.e., the sheer number of fronts on which the war was being fought simultaneously) than on any fault of the author.

In any case, despite that minor complaint, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in this era of naval history.