Other editions of book The Two Admirals : A Tale

It is a strong proof of the diffusive tendency of every thing in this country, that America never yet collected a fleet. Nothing is wanting to this display of power but the will. But a fleet requires only one commander, and a feeling is fast spreading in the country that we ought to be all commanders; unless the spirit of unconstitutional innovation, and usurpation, that is now so prevalent, at Washington, be controlled, we may expect to hear of proposals to send a committee of Congress to sea, in command of a squadron. We sincerely hope that their first experiment may be made on the coast of Africa. It has been said of Napoleon that he never could be made to understand why his fleets did not obey his orders with the same accuracy, as to time and place, as his corps d'armée. He made no allowances for the winds and currents, and least of all, did he comprehend that all important circumstance, that the efficiency of a fleet is necessarily confined to the rate of sailing of the dullest of its ships. More may be expected from a squadron of ten sail, all of which shall be average vessels, in this respect, than from the same number of vessels, of which one half are fast and the remainder dull. One brigade can march as fast as another, but it is not so with vessels. The efficiency of a marine, therefore, depends rather on its working qualities, than on its number of ships.

This collector-quality edition includes the complete text of James Fenimore Cooper's classic tale of the adventures of two Royal Navy officers and the British fleet in action in a freshly edited and newly typeset edition. With a large 7.44"x9.69" page size, this Summit Classic edition is printed on hefty bright white paper with a fully laminated cover featuring an original full color design. Page headers and proper placement of footnotes exemplify the attention to detail given this volume. With the publication of "The Spy" in 1821, James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) became the first great American novelist, widely read and critically acclaimed in both the New World and the Old. The series of novels which became known as "The Leatherstocking Tales" made him the first chronicler of the American frontier experience. And with the publication of "The Pilot" in 1824 he became the father of the "sea tale". "The Two Admirals" actually evolved from Cooper's long-held intent to write a "queer sort of tale" in which the ships themselves were the characters, but once he started the actual composition of the work he quickly abandoned the idea and proceeded with human characters and an "ordinary sea tale". The concept, though, remains embedded in the story, as the ships which feature prominently in Cooper's narrative are at times imbued with individual traits and characteristics and function almost like human characters. Cooper's general intent was to write a book about the movement of fleets on a grand scale, and he offered a none-too-subtle criticism of the United States' failure to establish and maintain a saltwater fleet by going out of his way to explain that the lack of such a fleet forced him to set his story in the navy of some other nation. Yet Cooper, probably the most widely-read author of the first half of the 19th century, was savvy enough to appreciate the importance of maintaining his audience on both sides of the Atlantic and set the story before the American Revolution, when the colonies also thought of the Royal Navy as their navy. On its face, "The Two Admirals" is an adventure story which follows the careers and friendship of British naval officers Sir Gervaise Oakes and Richard Bluewater, loosely based on composites of Collingwood and Nelson, with the main fleet action set during "The 45", the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745 occasioned by the last attempt by the Stuarts to regain the Scottish crown. The main naval battle portrayed by Cooper, between the British and French fleets in the English Channel,is entirely fictional, as are most of the major events in the novel. Cooper, though, uses real historical events to explore complex themes of legitimacy and the rule of law, drawing parallels between the claims of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and Whycherly Whychecomb, a young naval officer from Virginia and heir to an English estate, and offering references to the series of usurpations and successions by force of arms in British history. Ever a fierce proponent of American republicanism, Cooper also used the British "Law of the Half-Blood", which prevents half-brothers from inheriting one from the other and escheats the inheritance to the Crown, to demonstrate the absurdities inherent in the aristocratic monarchies of the Old World. The publication of "The Two Admirals" in 1842 coincided with a major recession in both England and America, and sales were not impressive. But the book nonetheless seems to have been well-regarded, and by 1850 publishers were competing for the rights to the novel. The original American publisher issued a reprint, and a version slightly updated by the author was published in 1851 and reprinted in 1852. After Cooper's death the rights to that revised edition passed to a third publisher and illustrations were inserted. The illustrated version became part of a set of Cooper's works issued between 1859 and 1861, and reprints of that edition continued throughout the late 19th century.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Two Admirals is an 1842 nautical fiction novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The novel was written after the Leatherstocking Tales novel The Deerslayer. Set during the 18th century and exploring the British Royal Navy, Cooper wrote the novel out of encouragement of his English publisher, who recommended writing another sea novel. Cooper had originally intended to write a novel where ships were the main characters, though eventually decided not to. The novels is one of three novels which Cooper would revise for editions following their first printing, the other two being The Pathfinder and Deerslayer.

Many are unfamiliar with James Fenimore Cooper, even though every American comes across his work in the class or on TV. Today he is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Cooper’s most famous novel is The Last of the Mohicans, which was one of the novels comprising The Leatherstocking Tales and was later made into a popular movie.