Iron Ships Iron Men

In this well-researched but essentially uninvolving third book in the seafaring McGann family saga ( Old Glory , The Sea and the Sand ), Lt. Rod Bascom is cashiered out of the Royal Navy after he loses his ship going to Jerry McGann's rescue while both are chasing a pirate off Cuba. He accepts Jerry's invitation to visit the McGann family while he decides what to do with his life. While in New York he rescues two beautiful Southern belles, Claudine and Marguerite Grahame, and is offered a job by their father as first mate aboard a Mississippi River steamboat. But the fight over slavery is escalating, and Bascom must choose between his new American friends: the vehemently abolitionist McGanns or the slave-owning Grahames. Bascom marries Claudine but soon regrets his decision; he is in love with Marguerite, who weds Jerry McGann on the rebound. At the start of the Civil War, Bascom is commissioned into the Confederate navy, and he and Jerry spend the war fighting each otherfor their countries and for Marguerite's love. Nicole writes vividly and knowledgeably of the iron shipsthe battle scenes are action-filled and well-executedbut he is less successful with the iron men. Jerry is too idealistic to be convincing, and Bascom's actions after arriving in America, especially in marrying Claudine, are improbable. (Jan.)