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Award winning author, William H. White has been an historian specializing in the maritime heritage and American involvement in the Age of Sail for most of his adult life. A life-long sailor himself, he continues to sail and race actively in his home waters. He has sailed under square rig, giving him a knowledgeable and first hand insight to the complex workings of the vessels about which he writes. He served as an officer in the United States Navy in the ‘60’s and was actively involved in naval operations for three years in Vietnam. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the USS Constitution Museum in Boston, the National Maritime Historical Society, on the Board of Trustees to the LYNX Educational Foundation, and as a consultant to the reproduction 1812 privateer Lynx. White has also been named a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. His
War of 1812 Trilogy (A Press of Canvas, A Fine Tops’l Breeze,
and The Evening Gun – 2000-2001) was well received and he
lectures frequently on the War of 1812 and the Barbary Wars (1803-5). The
Greater The Honor, released in April 2003, centers on the Barbary Wars
and Stephen Decatur’s exploits in that theater. His last book, In Pursuit of Glory, is the sequel to The Greater The Honor, and deals with the events leading up to the War of 1812, especially the infamous Chesapeake/Leopard Incident. It follows the fictitious Oliver Baldwin and many actual characters of the period, including Stephen Decatur, Henry Allen, and John Rodgers as they enforce the Jeffersonian Embargoes, deal with British harassments, and finally, go to war. The story concludes with Decatur’s capture of the British frigate, HMS Macedonian and her arrival in Newport, RI as a prize. His
newest book deals with the follow-up to the Mutiny on the Bounty. Most
people are aware of the story of the mutiny. Few, however, know what happened
to the mutineers. They did not all sail to Pitcairn Island; indeed
only nine of them did, leaving sixteen in Tahiti by their own choice. The
Royal Navy was not about to let them remain at large and sent an armed
frigate, HMS Pandora, to the Pacific to capture them and return
them to England for trial. When Fortune Frowns is the story of this voyage, the capture of the remaining
mutineers, and the perilous and disastrous return voyage to England.
Storms, tropical islands, monotony, and shipwreck all figured into the
epic tale, unearthed and carefully researched by noted maritime author
William H. White. A well crafted conclusion to one of the most heinous and
well known stories of the Age of Sail. Speaking venues include USS Constitution Museum, Boston; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (MA); Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax (NS); Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol (RI); Calvert Maritime Museum, Solomons (MD); and India House, NYC, as well as many others. He has also been a guest lecturer at SUNY Maritime College, Fort Schuler NY. A member of the 1812 Consortium, Mr. White was one of the program speakers at the 2003 Fall War of 1812 Symposium in Baltimore, MD. White has authored, in addition to his novels, a variety of magazine articles on both historical and contemporary subjects. In 2007, White was honored by Sea History Magazine with the first Rodney Houghton Award for Excellence, given for the best feature length article of the year. His article detailed the cruise of Pandora and the capture, trial, and execution of the mutineers. He has appeared on the History Channel on “History or Hollywood” as well as participating as one of the narrators in a “docu-drama” on the Barbary Wars, and has been interviewed numerous times on radio on varying subjects centered on maritime history. |
