Review (PDF)

Sink Or Be Sunk! The Naval Battle In The Mississippi Sound That Preceded The Battle Of New Orleans

Sink or be Sunk details an almost unknown yet important aspect of the Battle of New Orleans, the last major engagement of the War of 1812. In the waters of the Mississippi Sound in the early winter of 1814, five small American gunboats stood between a British armada of ships loaded with 10,000 of "Wellington’s finest" troops and their invasion of the newly acquired Louisiana and Mississippi territories. This is the story of five critical action-packed days. Days during which the five gunboats held off the British invasion force and gave General Jackson the needed time to finalize his preparation of the defenses of New Orleans. Paul Estronza La Violette tells this true story from both the British and American perspectives using letters and documents from the participants to flesh out the almost forgotten action. La Violette is well equipped to delve into the history of what took place. He has been a military oceanographer for more than forty years with the US Navy and Mississippi State University. He has done his marine research in almost all of the world’s oceans, spending most of his time in the Arctic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and, more recently, the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound. His extensive research for the book included using side-scan sonar to map the debris field of the nearly two hundred year old battle.

Hardcover: 192 pages

Publisher: Annabelle Pub (March 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0967393639

ISBN-13: 978-0967393636

Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 6.5 x 9.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #263 in Books > History > Military > War of 1812 #3999 in Books > History > Military > Naval #35095 in Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local

Once you pick up this book you cannot put it down. It is absolutely thrilling. I had no previous knowledge of the gunboats or the naval engagement that occured prior to the Battle of New Orleans. This is a tale of Yankee ingenuity and unflinching courage in the face of overwhelming odds. This book has been referenced in Ian Tolls' "Six Frigates - The Epic History of the United States Navy" and deservedly so. I highly recommend it.

This would be a great book if the writer had included footnotes

Sink or Be Sunk! The Naval Battle in the Mississippi Sound That Preceded the Battle of New Orleans The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Sound Innovations for String Orchestra -- Sound Development: Viola (Sound Innovations Series for Strings) The Battle for Leyte Gulf: The Incredible Story of World War II's Largest Naval Battle The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale: First-Person Accounts (Penguin Classics) Progress in Heterocyclic Chemistry: A Critical Review of the 1999 Literature Preceded by Three Chapters on Current Heterocyclic Topics: 12 Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812 (New Brunswick Military Heritage Series) Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design (MIT Press) Sound Sleep, Sound Mind: 7 Keys to Sleeping through the Night Report Of A Survey Of The Oyster Regions Of St. Vincent Sound, Apalachicola Bay, And St. George Sound, Florida Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema Production Sound Mixing: The Art and Craft of Sound Recording for the Moving Image (The CineTech Guides to the Film Crafts) Sound Innovations for String Orchestra, Bk 2: A Revolutionary Method for Early-Intermediate Musicians (Viola), Book, CD & DVD (Sound Innovations Series for Strings) Sound Innovations for String Orchestra, Bk 2: A Revolutionary Method for Early-Intermediate Musicians (Bass), Book, CD & DVD (Sound Innovations Series for Strings) Structure-Borne Sound: Structural Vibrations and Sound Radiation at Audio Frequencies Tujague's Cookbook: Creole Recipes and Lore in the New Orleans Grand Tradition Kevin Belton's Big Flavors of New Orleans Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table The Southern Po' Boy Cookbook: Mouthwatering Sandwich Recipes from the Heart of New Orleans The New Orleans Garden: Gardening in the Gulf South