Latham writes such natural, lively dialogue that Carry On, Mr. Bowditch reads like a novel, and readers may forget that it has a firm basis in fact. She gives her characters distinctive speech patterns and favorite phrases that effectively convey their attitudes and personalities. For instance, Ben Meeker always talks about his being "becalmed," a seaman's phrase for going nowhere. In Zack Selby's conversations, he frequently belittles "sailing by the book." The reader thus gets to know each character through the use of dialogue that establishes his or her frame of reference and individuality. The dialogue stresses character, but it also faithfully re-creates ways of speaking that characterized the age of sailing ships in America.

Latham does not rely on excellent dialogue alone to give her biographical novel a realistic flavor and place its events in historical context. For instance, the novel reproduces certain written documents...