Judge John Powers’ The First Texas Navy is a remarkable compilation of data on the fabled first Texas Navy, which plied the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from 1835 to 1837. [The book] contains a wealth of detailed information, all woven into a fascinating story that most Texans have never known – the story of the fight for Texas independence at sea.

 Highlighting the importance of maritime commerce to the suffering Texas colonists… Powers’ explanations of naval procedures and warfare during the twilight of the Age of Sail give the scholar and general reader a level of detail unmatched in any previous work.

 Judge Powers, a long-time Texas court of appeals jurist, brings to modern scholarship the critical eye of a man familiar with the process of piecing together fragmentary evidence into a story that will appeal to a lay audience.  The result is an indispensable record of the wooden walls that protected the fledgling republic during its darkest, most uncertain years.