The final volume of Harvey Haislip's Midshipman Tommy Potter trilogy, Sea Road to Yorktown (Doubleday, 1960), carries young Potter through 1782. As the (fictional) years slip by, Haislip's conceit that an American midshipman would remain on a privateer (even if both Potter and his ship, Princess, become attached to Admiral de Grasse's fleet) begins to wear thin. Much of the action is ashore and, while there are some wonderful feats of seamanship, we are not treated to any real naval battles -- either fleet or single ship actions.
(The Princess stays in Chesapeake Bay while de Grasse sails off to fight the Battle of the Capes and the book ends just before the Battle of the Saintes.) Most of the book is set in the Caribbean and the endpaper maps in the first edition are well done and add interest -- true as well for Sailor Named Jones, but there are no maps in the middle volume. I am disappointed that Sea Road to Yorktown does not sustain the high level of can't-put-it-down narrative I enjoyed in the first two books. Still, it's not bad and if you've read the first two, you'll want to read this one as well.
Description of: Sea Road to Yorktown
Author: Harvey Haislip
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