| Contents |
Early life and connections, 1703-1730 -- North America: first taste of war, 1730-1740 -- War, 1740-1744: the West Indies and New York -- The siege of Louisbourg -- Cape Breton and the conquest of Canada, 1745-1746 -- The Western squadron, 1747-1748 -- Half-pay Admiral, 1748-1752. |
| Review |
"Sir Peter Warren, one of the most imaginative officers in the history of the British Navy, played a key role in the defense and expansion of British naval power in colonial America. In this biography, Julian Gwyn, an authority on Warren, describes Warren's military vision and sympathetic view of colonial life as well as his frustrated political aspirations and entrepreneurial real-estate ventures in both New York and England." "Born into an Irish Catholic family, Warren signed on as a seaman at age thirteen and rapidly advanced in rank in the Royal Navy, a new profession in the early 1700s. Through the turmoil and warfare of the mid-eighteenth century, Warren cruised up and down the North American coast from one theater of conflict to the next, becoming particularly associated with colonial New York, New England, South Carolina, and the West Indies. He participated in the failed siege of St. Augustine in 1740, commanded the North American Squadron when it was first created in 1745, and cooperated with American forces at the successful siege of Fort Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. He also helped to plan the conquest of Canada, which in 1746 proved to be abortive, and served in the Western Squadron until 1748, contributing to the humiliation of the French Navy at the conclusion of the French and Indian War." "With his marriage to New Yorker Susannah DeLancey, Warren became part of the social and commercial life of New York. Rich with prize money from his naval career, he also became a prominent landowner with property in Manhattan that later became Greenwich Village. Though he hoped his in-laws' connections and his English patrons would help his bid to become governor of New York, he forfeited a promising career in politics in 1749 by opposing his patrons on a proposed naval reform bill." |
