In 1816, he published his first pamphlet, An inquiry into the merits of the principal naval actions between Great Britain and the United States.
James went on to write his six-volume Naval History of Great Britain, 1793 – 1827 in reaction to American accounts of the War of 1812.
In this pursuit he noted, for example, that the USS Constitution was not only much larger, but also more heavily manned and armed, than HMS Guerriere – contrary to previous American claims that the ships had been equal at the time of their engagement.
The book remained a major reference work and was so often consulted that the Navy Records Society published an index to the history in 1895, which is now available on the Internet.
[2] Theodore Roosevelt, as a young Harvard University undergraduate in 1876–77, began work on a response from the American perspective.
[3] James's primary conclusion – that no American vessel of equal force ever captured a British ship – essentially remains unchallenged.