By Thomas E. Crocker
Published by McBooks Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot
429 pages $29.95
The years known as the Federal Period (1783-1822) were a time of unprecedented expansion for the fledgling United States of America, on both the largely unexplored continent and the Atlantic Ocean. As the closest American port to Europe, Portland, Maine prospered greatly from sea trade. Adam Hale, an industrious and self-made captain, had been a blockade runner during the Revolutionary War. From the late 18th to early 19th century, Hale and his sons built a fortune in trade with France, England, Portugal and Jamaica.
With sweeping global events turning the entire world upside down, the narrative includes a purloined and invaluable map of the Royal Navy’s mast timbers in Maine, the armed privateer with which Captain Hale builds his fortune, Barbary pirates, press gangs, Regency balls, a slave revolt, storms at sea, a decades-long vendetta, duels, Napoleon’s Peninsular Campaign and pitched naval battles. An gripping historical novel based on a true story, Captain Hale’s Covenant is highly recommended. To learn more, log onto thomascrocker.com.
A graduate of St. Albans School, Princeton University (School of Public & International Affairs) and Columbia University Law School, Thomas E. Crocker is a retired partner at a large U.S. law firm and a former U.S. diplomat. His other books include Braddock’s March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History, and Empire’s Eagles: The Fate of the Napoleonic Elite in America. He and his wife Beth live in Washington, DC. ■
