Fire on the Waters: A Novel of the Civil War at Sea (Thorndike Large Print Adventure Series)

Rating:
Summary: "A Nation At War With Itself"
Review: Another winner by David Poyer with "Fire On The Water." A Nation at war with itself as a Southerner fights battles within himself as well as on the high seas!

Rating:
Summary: A Navy Classic
Review: David Poyer has once again demonstrated his leadership talent in telling an unique Navy story. This novel will be a Navy classic alongside such books as the Sand Pebble. It brings into the reader's face the struggle between those who wore the uniform between their allegience to their respective states or to their country. It was only after the Civil War that Robert E. Lee is said to have remarked that before the war he was a Virginian and afterwards he was an American. This novel is a glimpse into that gray area just before full hostilities broke out. It is captivating and it will keep you turning pages. If you can only read one historical Navy fiction this year, then this is the one.
CAPT David E. Meadows, USN
Author of THE SIXTH FLEET series

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Fiction
Review: Fire on the Waters is the first novel in a projected series of books set during the Civil War. The action of the entire book takes place during the month of April 1861, but there's no lack of conflict and danger. The fictional U.S. sloop-of-war OWANEE begins and ends the novel at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but in between she attempts to bring relief supplies to Fort Sumter, hunts a Confederate battery on the Potomac, and plays a critical role in the destruction of the Gosport Navy Yard.

The novel focuses on Elisha Eaker, a tubercular young volunteer officer who joins the Navy to achieve independence from his domineering father, a wealthy New York merchant who is as ruthless with his family as he is with his competitors. Poyer's creation of Eaker as the protagonist is a smart move, because it allows the reader to see OWANEE and her crew through the new officer's inexperienced eyes. We get to learn the working of OWANEE's engine room, for example, as it is explained to Eaker by the ship's chief engineer. It's an effective technique for introducing readers to a time and technology that lies beyond most peoples' experience.

One of the fun things about Fire on the Waters is the parade of historical characters that appear throughout the book. Virtually every important person connected with the U.S. Navy in April 1861 is present, including Gideon Welles, Hiram Paulding, Benjamin Isherwood and Charles Wilkes among others. Some, like Gustavus Fox, play a pivotal role in moving the plot along, while others add important color to a scene or event. The Army is represented, with Eaker's brief encounter with Major Anderson and Captain Doubleday inside beleaguered Fort Sumter, and Horace Greeley and Frederick Douglass even make brief cameos. It's a credit to Poyer's skill at crafting the plot that the regular appearance of these figures doesn't seem like a historical novelist's attempt at name-dropping; rather, they all turn up in a plausible sequence of events and never steal the scene from the main focus of the book, the fictional officers and crew of U.S.S. OWANEE.

Even without the dust jacket's announcement of Fires on the Waters as the first in a series of novels, it's obvious that the book was written with that intent. Two major characters in the book "go South" during the course of the novel, leaving unresolved plot threads that will have to be sorted out later. One or the other of these men, no doubt, will be conning C.S.S. VIRGINIA into Hampton Roads two or three novels hence.

A significant sub-plot in the novel involves Eaker's cousin Araminta Van Velsor, who is betrothed to Eaker and who is also struggling to get out from under the stifling "protection" of Eaker's father. This story is less fully developed than Eaker's, and appears to exist as much for the sake of a change of scenery in the novel as for anything else. Miss Van Velsor is not fully explored as a character. Her rebellion against her uncle's domination is mildy interesting, but it's difficult for her personal struggle to count for much in readers' minds when contrasted against the momentous events her cousin is witnessing. One hopes that she will play a more important role in future volumes of the series.

Poyer's book is a good read, and unlike O'Brian's over-adulated work, it never seeks to impress the reader with the author's command of obscure linguistic or culinary trivia. There's not a pretentious word in this book. If you want a good sea story on a subject that has been almost entirely overlooked by

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: I decided to try this book because I am a fan of historical fiction in general; naval fiction (O'Brien) and Civil War (Shaara) in particular. I actually picked up a Country of Our Own first and was only partway into that book before I went out and purchased this one to start over at the beginning.

I was very pleased. There are several interesting characters, the main ones being Ker Claiborne, the conflicted Southern officer and Elisha Eaker, a young Northern idealist. The setting is superb. We get a real sense of the building anxiety and tension among shipmates as political events unfold. I would say that this book has a little less action and is more character focused than most in the genre. But you get the sense that much more action is set to occur in the next installment. Here the big question was would there or would there not be war. We readers all know that a bloody explosion is coming but the characters in the novel can't quite see the future.

My only complaint about this novel is the whole storyline involving Elisha's fiancee, Araminta. It really doesn't contribute much at all. I get the feeling it was put in as filler to provide a change of scenery, given that the events of the book only cover a couple of weeks' time. There's one scene in particular where she attends an abolitionist meeting that seems so much historical name dropping. I was lost and confused by what she was trying to do at the end of the book and the final revelation involving her character was totally lame and cliché.

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Fiction
Review: I decided to try this book because I am a fan of historical fiction in general; naval fiction (O'Brien) and Civil War (Shaara) in particular. I actually picked up "A Country of Our Own" first and was only partway into that book before I went out and purchased this one to start over at the beginning.

I was very pleased. There are several interesting characters, the main ones being Ker Claiborne, the conflicted Southern officer and Elisha Eaker, a young Northern idealist. The setting is superb. We get a real sense of the building anxiety and tension among shipmates as political events unfold. I would say that this book has a little less action and is more character focused than most in the genre. But you get the sense that much more action is set to occur in the next installment. Here the big question was would there or would there not be war. We readers all know that a bloody explosion is coming but the characters in the novel can't quite see the future.

My only complaint about this novel is the whole storyline involving Elisha's fiancee, Araminta. It really doesn't contribute much at all. I get the feeling it was put in as filler to provide a change of scenery, given that the events of the book only cover a couple of weeks' time. There's one scene in particular where she attends an abolitionist meeting that seems so much historical name dropping. I was lost and confused by what she was trying to do at the end of the book and the final revelation involving her character was totally lame and cliché. Good riddance to her.

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: I decided to try this book because I am a fan of historical fiction in general; naval fiction (O'Brien) and Civil War (Shaara) in particular. I actually picked up a Country of Our Own first and was only partway into that book before I went out and purchased this one to start over at the beginning.

I was very pleased. There are several interesting characters, the main ones being Ker Claiborne, the conflicted Southern officer and Elisha Eaker, a young Northern idealist. The setting is superb. We get a real sense of the building anxiety and tension among shipmates as political events unfold. I would say that this book has a little less action and is more character focused than most in the genre. But you get the sense that much more action is set to occur in the next installment. Here the big question was would there or would there not be war. We readers all know that a bloody explosion is coming but the characters in the novel can't quite see the future.

My only complaint about this novel is the whole storyline involving Elisha's fiancee, Araminta. It really doesn't contribute much at all. I get the feeling it was put in as filler to provide a change of scenery, given that the events of the book only cover a couple of weeks' time. There's one scene in particular where she attends an abolitionist meeting that seems so much historical name dropping. I was lost and confused by what she was trying to do at the end of the book and the final revelation involving her character was totally lame and cliché.

Rating:
Summary: Cinders in a Mud Puddle
Review: One would have hoped that Fort Sumpter beseiged and bombarded, Old Glory hauled down before a jeering Charleston, and Norfolk Navy Yard aflame had inspired a more engaging and consequential story than this one. And too, that an author so intimately in touch with the modern Navy had stuck closer to the truth of its history.

But sadly enough, Poyer's flat-figured characters bob around in front of these historical spectacles as they were fastened to puppeteer's sticks, tediously and repetitiously satisfying what must have been the author's one- or two-element lists of their respective key traits. Here is the powerful and ruthless financier; the headstrong orphan heiress; the noble but superstitious fugitive slave; the hot-headed engineer, full of technological dreams; the callow but emergingly courageous young man (too bad about his tuberculosis); the sage and terrible naval captain, true to his orders in spite of his Southern principles (he holds no brief for slavery, mind you); the sage and gracious naval lieutenant, true to HIS orders in spite of HIS Southern principles (HE holds no brief for slavery, either). Apparently Southern principles had nothing to do with slavery, but in any case, novelistic principles have nothing to do with this book: nothing happens to cause any of these characters to change in the slightest.

But Poyer's worst sins are against U.S. naval history. The shabby old warship of his story, the "Owanee," Southern-sympathizing Captain Trezevant in command, is a stand-in for the redoubtable U.S. sloop-of-war Pawnee, Union-sympathizing Captain C.D. Rowan in command. The Pawnee under Rowan's command saw vigorous continued service into the war. Rowan did not desert the Old Flag as Poyer's Trezevant does.

One would think from the "Owanee's" example that the wardrooms of the Navy were full of Southern sympathizers. While many Navy men did go south, in truth the pre-Civil War Navy was an institution dominated by New Englanders, and the Confederacy had a correspondingly small pool of talent from which to draw its officers and ratings.

The book's only account of naval combat is laughably unrealistic: returning from the burning of Norfolk Navy Yard, the "Owanee" and and the Cumberland are surprised in the Potomac by an armed Confederate schooner. The little ship dances around them, delivering salvos with its small guns and dealing much death and destruction. The Federal warships wallow in confusion, and the stealthy Conferderate glides away into a fog bank without suffering a scratch.

No such action occurred. The Pawnee and the Cumberland returned from Norfolk Navy Yard without encountering an enemy ship. One can hardly begrudge the author of a historical sea novel an invented naval action, but the action invented should be something that could have happened. Where in the annals of the Civil War is there an account of two United States line ships bested by a mere schooner?

Apparently, these non-slavery-upholding Confederates of Poyer's were capable of sailing rings around mere Yankees. Is there a Margaret Meade Award of Confederate Apologia, for which Poyer is trying? Perhaps winning it will ingratiate him with the Southern sons in today's Navy.

Rating:
Summary: Flat-Figured Characters, Misleading History
Review: One would have hoped that Sumter besieged and bombarded, Old Glory hauled down before a jeering Charleston, and Norfolk Navy Yard in flames had inspired a more engaging and consequential story than this one, and that an author whose works are required reading at the U.S. Naval Academy had depicted the Navy's history less misleadingly.

The flat-figured characters of this nautical melodrama bob about in front of these historical spectacles as if attached to puppeteer's sticks, tediously and repetitiously exhibiting their respective key traits. Here is the ruthless and powerful financier; the independent-minded young heiress, his ward; the callow but emergingly courageous youth, his son; the hotheaded engineer, dreaming of technological change; the noble but superstitious fugitive slave; the sage and terrible naval captain, true to his orders in spite of his Southern principles (he holds no brief for slavery, mind you); the sage and gracious naval lieutenant, true to HIS orders in spite of HIS Southern principles (HE holds no brief for slavery, either). It would seem that slavery had nothing to do with Southern principles, but in any case, novelistic principles have nothing to do with this book: during the course of this tale, none of these characters changes in the slightest.

One would think, from the rate at which the officers of Poyer's fictional USS Owanee flock to the Confederate cause, that the wardrooms of the navy were teeming with Southern sympathizers. But the pre-Civil War navy was an institution dominated by New Englanders, and of the officers from the South, only about half chose to leave the navy. Poyer's Owanee, a warn-out vessel whose fictional captain eventually joins the rebellion, is a misleading stand-in for the USS Pawnee of real life, a redoubtable ship whose captain, Commander Stephen C. Rowan, served with distinction throughout the war, eventually commanding the Navy's most powerful ship, the New Ironsides. (Rowan later rose to the rank of Vice Admiral.) A technical curiousity is that Poyer gives his Owanee an unusually shallow draft, which was indeed characteristic of the Pawnee, but only gives her five guns, though the Pawnee mounted twelve.

The most misleading part of the naval account comes last, when a Confederate schooner catches the USS Cumberland and the "Owanee" by surprise in the Potomac and inflicts considerable destruction before gliding away unharmed. That no such engagement actually took place is, perhaps, nothing to be held against a writer of fiction. But historical fiction should at least be plausible. When, at any time in the history of sail, did a mere schooner get the better of two United States line ships?

It seems that in Poyer's Civil War, these non-slavery-upholding Confederates could sail rings around mere Yankees. We eagerly await the sequel, when we expect to see the destruction of the Kearsarge by the Alabama and the ironclad Virginia's triumph over the Monitor.

Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to David Poyer...
Review: This Civil War novel by retired navy captain David Poyer was certainly a good introduction to his writings. "Fire on the Waters" , although is heralded as the introduction to a three volume series , does much more than serve as a vehicle to introduce the requisite cast of characters ; it certainly gets the characters in their places and definitely distinguishes the "good guys" from the "bad guys".

From the start we are introduced to young Elisha Eaker , the son of a New York financier Micah Eaker , who joins the navy as an officer-volunteer. As he reports aboard the U.S. Navy steam sloop Owanee , several other primary characters in the drama to follow -- primarily Lieutenant Ker Clairborne , the executive officer , and Commander Trezevant , the Captain of the Owanee -- are brought into focus. The regular Navy men are somewhat taken aback by young Eaker , since the man appears to be in poor health as well as inexpreienced.

Eaker has volunteered for several reasons : to escape his totally domineering father and to either postpone or avoid an arranged marriage to his cousin , Araminta van Velsor. In addition , we find that "Eli" as he comes to be named throughout the story , is also suffering from tuberculosis!

Captain Trezevant allows Eli to sail on board the Owanee due to the political climate -- many of the lower officers on board the sloop have resigned their commissions and headed South prior to the looming outbreak of hostilities in 1861. The first real mission is a voyage to Charleston , S.C. in the relief of Fort Sumter. Eli amanages to distinguish himself to the satisfaction of the "regulars" and is accepted aboard and commissioned properly.

At the outbreak of war , many others leave the Union Navy and because of their loyalties to their homes and families join the Confederacy.

To reveal any more detail than this would belabor the issue and reveal too much that the reader should discover on his own. Altho I labored a little adapting to the author's style at the start of this book , I found the novel to be highly entertaining
and rated it four stars. Only a few warts on this one. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Fiction
Review: What a wild ride! Although I had a little trouble with the nautical jargon, not being a sailing sailor, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book! I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Civil War. It's a delightful change from the "ground pounders" war. This book was so good I read it in 2 days and that's only because I had to go to work part of that time! It's a page turner that's for sure. I'm now an avid fan of Mr. Poyer!