From Stanford, he went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his Master of Arts degree in 1960 with a thesis on "Muscat and Oman: Anglo-French conflict, 1894-1914' and his Ph.D. in 1965 with a dissertation on "British policy in the Persian Gulf, 1894-1914."
In 1978, he was given an academic chair as the William R. Kenan, Junior, Professor of History.
He served as Chairman, History Department, 1980–1985, and then Director, Social Sciences Division, 1985-1991.
For more than a decade, he was a leading figure in the field of maritime history in the United States, particularly with the North American Society for Oceanic History, where he served as a member of the executive council in 1983-1988; chairman of the book awards committee from 1987 to 1992; vice president 1991-92; and president, 1991–1992 and 1995-1998.
In addition, he was a member of council of the International Commission for Maritime History, 1996 to 2000, and served as Book Review editor of the country's leading scholarly journal for maritime history in the United States, The American Neptune, from 1991 to 2003.