High Seas Adventure (NAPSA)—The authoritative account of Captain David Porter, who took his ship into the Pacific during the War of 1812, is the gripping subject of The USS Essex and the Birth of the American Navy (Adams Media). Thebook, co-authored by Frances Robotti and James Vescovi, became nl : wa ‘obotti and Vescovi)/are|storytellers,ands, I gE Cee. ) i The-New York tLe ieee The stirring tale of a naval hero during the War of 1812 is now in paperback. a bestseller among navy enthusiasts whenit came out. The paperback edition is now in bookstores. The Essex, a 32-gunfrigate (versus some 100-gun British ships of the line) was built in 1799 at a cost of $74,000 with funds raised bycitizens of Salem, Massachusetts. The book follows Porter’s career as the appointed Commodore in charge of the Caribbean Fleet. In 1824, the naval hero was discharged by the Secretary of the Navy and ordered to face a court martial for recovering goods stolen by pirates and stored in Foxardo, Puerto Rico. Porter was found not guilty. However, he was charged for writing “insubordinate and disrespectful” letters to the President and the Secretary of the Navy. “A stirring tale.”—The New York Times.
