Building the Mosquito Fleet:: The Us Navy's First Torpedo Boats

The building of the Mosquito fleet began with a blind man and his mechanically minded brother. These two men, John Brown and Nathanael Greene Herreshoff both boat lovers began their careers when John Brown was commissioned to build a yacht for Thomas Clapham. John Brown would dictate the design to his brother who would then turn the drawings into a model. John would then go over the model with his hands to feel for defects and actually design the full size boat based upon his minds eye and his touch. Thus the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company was born, a name synonymous with many a successful America's Cup defender. Building the Mosquito fleet was a most enjoyable book to read. It's filled from cover to cover with original black and white photos, drawings, and first hand accounts. The pictures truly add a touch of class to this work and allow the reader to fully understand what took place during the building process. The picture of the 1893 Herreshoff steam engine on page 11 shows the simplicity yet durability of design and the side bar states that it?s still in operation 109 years later. As you traverse your way through this book you will also appreciate the amount of research that the author put forth and it shows in his well-organized Bibliography. One story to note is of Ens. Irving V. Gillis and his capture of a Spanish Schwartzkopf torpedo in 1898. The story is fascinating and after reading you can actually go to the Naval War College Museum, at Newport's Naval Education and Training Center and ask to see the very same torpedo.As it stands, this is a well written and researched work on the United States Navy's First Torpedo Boats and the author has done a beautiful job in putting the material together in such an interesting manner. I highly recommend this book to fellow enthusiasts and Naval Buffs alike.