{"product_id":"warship-under-sail-the-uss-decatur-in-the-pacific-west-emil-and-kathleen-sick-book-series-in-western-history-and-biography","title":"Warship under Sail: The USS Decatur in the Pacific West (Emil and Kathleen Sick Book Series in Western History and Biography)","description":"\u003cp\u003eOrdered to join the Pacific Squadron in 1854  the sloop of war Decatur sailed from Norfolk  Virginia  through the Strait of Magellan to Valparaiso  Honolulu  and Puget Sound  then on to San Francisco  Panama  Nicaragua  and Costa Rica  while serving in the Pacific until 1859  the eve of the Civil War. Historian Lorraine McConaghy presents the ship  its officers  and its crew in a vigorous  keenly rendered case study that illuminates the forces shaping Americas antebellum navy and foreign policy in the Pacific  from Vancouver Island to Tierra del Fuego.  One of only five ships in the squadron  the Decatur participated in numerous imperial adventures in the Far West  enforcing treaties  fighting Indians  suppressing vigilantes  and protecting commerce. With its graceful lines and towering white canvas sails  the ship patrolled the sandy border between ocean and land.  Warship under Sail focuses on four episodes in the Decaturs Pacific Squadron mission: the harrowing journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan; a Seattle war story that contested American treaties and settlements; participation with other squadron ships on a U.S. State Department mission to Nicaragua; and more than a year spent anchored off Panama as a hospital ship. In a period of five years  more than 300 men lived aboard ship  leaving a rich record of logbooks  medical and punishment records  correspondence  personal journals  and drawings. Lorraine McConaghy has mined these records to offer a compelling social history of a warship under sail. Her research adds immeasurably to our understanding of the lives of ordinary men at sea and American expansionism in the antebellum Pacific West.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44987656831029,"sku":"ByrdShop_0295989556","price":30.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780295989556_5944b6c1-f6ce-48d6-a980-bace24b58cc3.jpg?v=1772686081","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/warship-under-sail-the-uss-decatur-in-the-pacific-west-emil-and-kathleen-sick-book-series-in-western-history-and-biography","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}