A revealing study on the little-known and misunderstood provincial navies established by North American British colonists
In The First Fleets, Benjamin C. Schaffer reveals how, contrary to widespread beliefs, the American colonies had a long tradition of independent naval defense decades before the Revolution. He demonstrates that Anglo-American governments established and maintained significant provincial naval forces and that the history of provincial navies illuminates broader aspects of colonial history and the colonies' ultimate break with the British Crown.
Based on meticulous research, Schaffer recounts the sea-borne threats that American colonies faced from the French, Spanish, pirates, and others. He reviews colonial governance and the relationships between colonial governments and Great Britain. Highlighting Britain's scant naval power in North America, Schaffer demonstrates how the vulnerable coastal colonies undertook their own self-defense.
Schaffer's readable study offers many fascinating episodes from colonial history. Establishing a navy was controversial in pacifist-minded, Quaker-dominated Pennsylvania. South Carolina deployed its scout-boat navy to pursue enslaved Africans who fled colonial capture. The first paper money issued in North America was an initiative to pay for a naval expedition against French Quebec in 1690. These and other episodes show the intimate connection between these little-known provincial navies and the major sociopolitical developments of their day.
The First Fleets will be of great interest to historians and readers of early American history, particularly colonial maritime and naval activities. Readers interested in the political and military dynamics of pre-Revolutionary America, as well as enthusiasts of naval history and maritime trade, will find The First Fleets both a valuable resource and an engrossing narrative.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Glossary of Naval Terminology
A Note on Early Modern Dates and Historical Grammar
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Transatlantic Roots of Provincial Navies up to 1685
Chapter 2. Provincial Navies in the First Imperial Wars of 1689–1713
Chapter 3. Provincial Navies and Irregular Warfare on Imperial Borderlands, c. 1713–1739
Chapter 4. The War of Jenkins' Ear and the Incomplete "Royalization" of American Naval Defense
Chapter 5. The Replacement of Provincial Navies by the Royal Navy in the Seven Years’ War, c. 1756–1763
Chapter 6. The Legacy of Provincial Navies and the Navies of the American Revolution, c. 1762–1775
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Benjamin C. Schaffer is an instructor of early American history at the University of South Carolina.
Review :
"The First Fleets is one of the most original topics in naval history I’ve seen in a decade. Schaffer's narrative flows in such a way to make it approachable and appealing to a broader audience." —Claude Berube, author of On Wide Seas: The US Navy in the Jacksonian Era
“The First Fleets is a model for writing maritime history. Schaffer connects us not with stories of yard arms and tar barrels, but with social, economic, and political history. . . . It is thoroughly researched, beautifully written, interesting and engaging on every page, and on an important and previously unexplored topic.” —Robert J. Allison, author of The American Revolution: A Concise History
"The First Fleets tells the fascinating story of one of the least studied aspects of American history: the development of colonial navies. Historians have long recognized the importance of colonial soldiers and land-based militias. As Benjamin C. Schaffer reminds us, colonial governments built and manned provincial warships on the high seas. In the process, they created the infrastructure and skills that state and Continental navies used to help Americans win their independence from Britain. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this book should be required reading for anyone interested in the military history of early America." —Eliga H. Gould, University of New Hampshire
