The Age of Sail, 1697–1814

During the American Civil War, the term "Brown Water Navy" was coined to distinguish naval riverine and coastal duties from the activities of the Blue Water, or ocean-going fleet. A Brown Water Navy faced a much different set of challenges than the ocean-going fleet.

Coastal and inland waterway operations were always prevalent in North America due to the unique geography of the continent. Lakes such as Erie, Ontario, and Champlain were deep enough and large enough for fleets of vessels to contest their waters, while bays, sounds, and the outlets of large navigable rivers abounded along the continent's east coast from Hudson Bay to New Orleans.

The first volume in this two-volume story, The Age of Sail, 1697–1814, covers the many attempts to control these waterways before the advent of steam warships. It includes the first major clash above the magnetic North Pole in the Hudson Straits during King William's War, Charleston, South Carolina's home-made anti-pirate fleet, the unusual flotilla launched during the Fourth Anglo-Wabanki War of 1722–1725, the campaigns and battles on Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario, Commodore Hazelwood's Delaware Defense Fleet of 1777, the epic Battle of the Virginia Capes in 1781, and the stirring American victories on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812.

Throughout, the technical and strategic advances are fully described.