Mad Jack Percival: Legend of the Old Navy (Library of Naval Biography). Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Mad Jack Percival: Legend of the Old Navy (Library of Naval Biography)

The colourful Captain John ""Mad Jack"" Percival was a legend in his time. Known as a seaman of uncommon ability and fearlessness, he led such an extraordinary life that he drew the attention of the famous novelists Hawthorne, Melville, and Michener. The fact that his first and last ships are national shrines has only enhanced his reputation. Percival's naval career began in 1797 when he was impressed into British naval service aboard the HMS Victory and ended in 1846 after taking the USS Constitution on her only around-the-world cruise. This book draws from unpublished journals, letters, and logs to provide previously unknown details about his adventures and the formative years of the U.S. Navy.

Hailing from Cape Cod and recognised by Congress for meritorious action in the War of 1812, Mad Jack fought against the French and British and had the Constitution off the coast of Mexico when war with that country broke out. In between he chased West Indies pirates and Globe mutineers, tussled with South Pacific chieftains, policed distant American whalers and merchantmen, charted unknown waters, quarrelled with missionaries, educated and trained midshipmen, and skirmished with local forces in what is now Vietnam. This work is just as entertaining as the tall tales about this heroic figure spun by generations of seamen, but it is completely true.

James H. Ellis served in the Air Force during the Korean War, and graduated from the Honors College, Michigan State University, USA. Following E.B. White's advice, Ellis spent ""the first forty years of his life doing something else"" before turning to writing. He headed the Crime Analysis Unit of the St. Louis Police Department; worked as a senior researcher for good government organisations in Hartford and Boston; and headed the Planning Bureau of the Mass. State Police. After, he worked in management positions with the U.S. Justice, Treasury, and Labor departments and was appointed a New England regional director of the Department of the Interior. In addition to his biography of Captain ""Mad Jack"" Percival and history of the War of 1812, he is a frequent contributor to periodicals and professional journals, and he contributed to two police administration textbooks.