Promotional Information

Offers a compelling social history of a warship in the nineteenth century

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Young America on the Pacific: "The Sailor of Manifest Destiny Views"

2. The Decatur in the Old Navy: "To Command Our Own Seas and Coasts"

3. Boston: Getting Under Way

4. Episode 1. Through the Strait of Magellan: "Off to Californio!"

5. Episode 2. Seattle: "Down Came the Indians, Like so Many Demons"

6. San Francisco: "This Reckless Life"

7. Episode 3. Nicaragua: "Seeing the Elephant"

8. Episode 4. Panama: "All the Subtle Demonisms of Life and Thought"

9. The Civil War and Beyond

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Lorraine McConaghy is the historian at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.

Reviews

"The world that Dr. McConaghy has captured, both aboard the Decatur and in the ports it visited, will be unfamiliar to almost everyone who reads this book; indeed, that strangeness or lost-ness is one of her major points. The maps and historic images help to make that world more concrete." Coll Thrush, author of Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place "The story the authors tells is fresh and original and relates to a number of significant subjects, including the history of the Old Navy, the Pacific Northwest, antebellum national politics, the Manifest Destiny movement, and the lore of the sea." James Vale, Delaware State University "In Warship Under Sail, McConaghy has found a lens through which to examine anew the founding of Seattle. The vessel participated in the iconic 'Battle of Seattle,' that day-long skirmish during January 1856 between 'Natives' and 'non-Natives' that looms so large in historical accounts of the city." John M. Findlay, University of Washington