TEXAS NAVY EDITION - God Favors the Bold - Voices of the Texas Navy - 1836-1845

The Most Complete Book on the Texas Navy Ever Published 

Never more than seven ships, always underfunded and sometimes not funded at all. . . our little navy took the battle to the enemy and effectively turned the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of Texas.

Without her navy, Texas might never have won her independence, and certainly wouldn't have been able to keep it.

Yet most Texans know little or nothing about the Texas Navy. If you fall into that group, don't feel too bad. For some reason, Texas historians have rarely ventured out to sea.

So we decided it was high time that the men of the Texas Navy were allowed to raise their voices and tell their stories. . . in their own words.

We gathered every available first-hand account by the men of the Texas Navy and put them into a single volume.

There has never been a book like this. All hands are on deck to tell their stories.

Battles and wrecks. Mutineers and profiteers. Grogging and flogging. Raiding the Mexican coast and capturing prizes. The vain, mundane, and profane. Bravery, duty and above all, honor.

Here's what's inside:

• Excerpts from the journal of Midshipman James Mabry, who served aboard the schooner-of-war San Antonio and sloop-of-war Austin, 1839-1841
  
• The writings of Lieutenant William Tennison - spanning both the first and second Texas Navies. Collected from newspaper accounts, ships logs and Tennison's own experiences. He was the only officer to serve for the entire existence of the Texas Navy, and it was he who delivered the remaining ships to US authorities upon annexation. His papers were primary source material for Alexander Dienst's The Navy of the Republic of Texas, and are published here in their entirety for the first time
  
• RARE - Commodore Edwin W. Moore's "A Brief Synopsis of the Doings of the Texas Navy," defending his acts as commander of the fleet in the controversy with Sam Houston. Published for the first time since 1847
  
• Commodore Moore's two pamphlets relating to the controversy of Texas officers being granted commissions in the United States Navy after annexation. These have never been reprinted till now
  
• George Fuller's "Sketch of the Texas Navy." Fuller served aboard the flagship Austin. He records the daily life of a sailor, the hanging of the San Antonio mutineers and the Battle of Campeche, the only time in history that sailing vessels defeated steam powered warships in battle. It was published in book form in 1935, but there are only two copies in library holdings worldwide
  
• Cornelius Cox's account of the cruise of the San Jacinto in 1839. Cox was the brother-in-law of General Sidney Sherman, who was able to secure him an appointment as a midshipman at the age of 14. This is the first time it has been published in book form
  
• The Journal of Alfred Walke for April of 1843. Walke served aboard the sloop-of-war Austin. His journal details the courts-martial and punishment of mutineers. First time in book form
  
• S. W. Cushing's account of the first Texas Navy as a midshipman aboard the Liberty. Cushing joined the Texian cause at New Orleans in January of 1836.  Cushing hoisted the first Texas flag to fly over a vessel...a flag that had been used at the Siege of Bexar the previous December. Details all of the earliest engagements, including the capture of the Pelicano. Cushing briefly left the naval service to fight with the first regiment of volunteers at the Battle of San Jacinto, and gives a detailed account of the battle
  
• Various cruise and incident reports, including the fall 1837 cruise of the Brutus and Invincible, in which Thompson's fleet menaced the Mexican coast...and even claimed Cozumel for Texas.