EASTWARD THE SEA.

By Charles F. Haywood '25. Lynn, Massachusetts: Jackson &Phillips, 1959. 304 pp. $3.50.

In the years about the turn of the eighteenth century many an American ship trading in the Mediterranean fell prey to the Barbary pirates of North Africa, and hundreds of American seamen were enslaved or held to ransom. In the end these outrageous practices led to our war with Tripoli.

Such is the historical background of Eastward the Sea, a lively tale of an attempt to rescue from Tripolitan slavery the crew of the Salem ship Clematis. The captain of this unfortunate vessel, Tom Bartlett, had eventually escaped, but on returning to Salem found himself in disgrace for having lost his ship and crew. That he happened to be a Marblehead man did not help matters. Fortunately for Captain Bartlett, he was able to save from a bad beating Benjamin Merrill, a bright young lawyer from Lynn who had just arrived in Salem hoping to establish a practice. Merrill had run afoul of one Captain Felch of the Diana, a rough character who was his rival for the hand of Deborah Lee, the daughter of the Lynn minister. Felch soon proves to be the villain of the story.

Urged by Merrill, Captain Bartlett persuaded the great Salem merchant William Gray to give him a new ship with which to trade again in the Mediterranean and, if possible, rescue the crew of the Clematis. Thwarted by Captain Felch in his efforts to sign on a crew of Salem men, Captain Bartlett had better luck among his friends in Marblehead, and the Hunter, commissioned as a Letter of Marque, was soon on her way to Tripoli with Merrill as supercargo and brains of the venture.

Skillfully evading the dangers of impressment by the British off Gibraltar, the Hunter entered the Mediterranean where she was promptly picked up by the United States ship Argus, under suspicion of being engaged in trade with the enemy, and taken into Syracuse, the base of Commodore Preble's operations against Tripoli. This of course was the result of dirty work by Captain Felch and Murad Rais, Grand Admiral of Tripoli, with whom Felch was carrying on a treasonable trade. Eventually Commodore Preble, realizing the truth, released the Hunter, but not before Captain Bartlett and Merrill had joined Stephen Decatur in the most spectacular incident of the Tripolitan war, the burning of the captured American frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli.

After leaving Syracuse the Hunter, cruising between Tripoli and Crete, seized such Tripolitan shipping as she ran across, hoping to exchange her captives for the crew of the Clematis. This did not immediately succeed, but eventually, after a series of well fought battles, including a brush with the traitorous Felch in the Diana, Ben Merrill in a spectacular coup seized the Grand Admiral who was quickly induced to make the desired exchange. Her mission accomplished, and loaded with the valuable cargoes which had been captured, the Hunter set sail for Salem where she arrived in good time for Ben Merrill to thwart Captain Felch's effort to make off with Deborah, and to bring about Felch's downfall as a traitor.

Eastward the Sea is an excellent and exciting adventure story. The sea battles are convincing, and the story is enriched by Mr. Haywood's knowledge of the personalities and customs of old Salem and Marblehead.