"Until now there has never been a full biography of Johnston Blakeley, one of America's most accomplished naval commanders in the Age of Sail. When he went down with his sloop-of-war Wasp in 1815, most of his papers went with him, and the circumstances of his death have yet to be fully explained. Stephen Duffy has resurrected the remarkable life and career of this forgotten hero by consulting previously untapped sources on both sides of the Atlantic and in the process paints a vivid portrait of the early American navy in war and peace." "The focus of this book is the Wasp's historic cruise of 1814, when Blakeley defeated a larger force, with fewer resources, in waters closer to British soil, and in less time than any other American commander. In fact, Captain Blakeley was the only naval officer to take two enemy vessels of similar size in a single cruise - the Reindeer and the Avon - one a hard-fought boarding action, the other a night battle. Unlike his fellow ship captains, Blakeley followed orders and pressed the attack, paying the ultimate price."--BOOK JACKET.

Part 1 The Captain : Choose now for Mr. B -- Presidential studies -- Rodger's boy -- The spirit of Yankee enterprise -- Some refractory characters on board -- Delay, disappointment, and disaster -- Chained to the moorings -- Part 2 The Corvette : The Argus accurately extended -- The autumn of discontent -- Two Connecticut Yankees in Newburyport -- A dull, harmless drone -- Provisioning the Piscataqua -- Part 3 The cruise : The testing begins -- The carnage was dreadful -- L'Orient -- The Wasp, to be sure -- Adieu -- No more shall Blakeley's thunder roar.