<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> T H E B O S U N ' S C H R O N I C L E All the latest on Julian Stockwin's Kydd series <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> VOL. 5, ISSUE 1, February 2005 + S T O P P R E S S + We have just learned from the Cutty Sark Trust that they have been successful in their bid for Heritage Lottery funds! Many thanks to all Shipmates who emailed their support. There's still fund raising work to do but here's to the last surviving tea clipper in the world! www.cuttysark.org.uk + S T O P P R E S S + Avast, Shipmates - and anchors aweigh! 1 DISPATCHES 2 ASK JULIAN 3 BOOKSHELF 4 WHAT VESSEL? 5 SALTY SAYINGS 6 A DAY IN THE LIFE 7 CONTEST 8 COUNTDOWN TO TRAFALGAR 9 THE ANSWER IS 10 NEW ON THE WEB ==================== 1 DISPATCHES Thank you for all your emails about the newsletter; we love hearing from you and getting your feedback. We know many of you print out the Chronicle each month to retain for reference and it's very gratifying to hear that you really enjoy keeping in touch with Julian this way, in between the annual appearance of the books. As mentioned in the Dec/January issue, we've made some changes to the Chronicle. We've retained your favourite items and, based on your many excellent suggestions, launch two new departments this month - WHAT VESSEL? (test your knowledge of the boats and ships of Kydd's day) and A DAY IN THE LIFE (behind the scenes in a ship o'-the-line). Please keep your comments coming in! + American publisher news We're delighted to announce that McBooks Press will be publishing QUARTERDECK and subsequent volumes in the series in the U.S. McBooks have a world-wide reputation for the calibre of their nautical fiction offerings, and they're proud to say that they never let a book they've published go out of print. Publication date for QUARTERDECK has been set for this October. + Book and Magazine Collector magazine There's a feature in the January issue about the brisk trade for First Editions and Proof Copies of Julian's books. First Editions of KYDD are fetching GBP25 and more and proof copies of any of the editions can bring between GBP35 and GBP50. Signed postcards are also commanding good prices - worth hanging on to! + TENACIOUS Julian has just sent the manuscript of TENACIOUS to his UK publisher (it is scheduled for October publication) and he is currently in Malta doing research for the seventh book in the Kydd series. Chapter One of TENACIOUS will be posted on the website at the end of March! Mid-year, we'll also run our popular annual contest with a chance for six Shipmate Reviewers to win an advance copy of the book. + Shipmates Ahoy! Alan Norton-Smith got in touch recently offering to send Julian a copy of Captain Irving Johnson's video "Around Cape Horn". Julian was delighted with his kind gesture - Johnson's atmospheric film of sailing aboard the massive barque "Peking" is a classic record of the awesome power of the sea and the tough men who manned these ships in the last days of commercial sail. Alan recalls meeting Johnson at the age of fourteen and later he was to see him again, during the war when USS "Sumner" was in Sydney and Irving was her navigator. No stranger to adventure himself, before he was twenty-one Alan had experienced a hurricane at sea, risen to the rank of lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy, spent a brief time in the Fleet Air Arm, been shot down over the Mediterranean, made a prisoner of war (and escaped), and jumped overboard from his ship at sea in Malta to save the lives of two army liaison officers. Over the years Alan had many more adventures at sea in a variety of vessels, including a schooner he designed and constructed himself. We've tracked down where Shipmates can purchase their own copies of the "Around Cape Horn" video In the US - www.tallshipsbooks.com In the UK - http://www.choicesdirect.com/templates/product.asp?ProductGuid=1346&Ca llerID=NKLK9042 ===================== 2 ASK JULIAN Australian shipmate Kelvin Antaw wants to know "How were marines viewed by seamen in Kydd's time? And what were their actual day to day roles?" Julian replies: "Every warship with more than about ten guns had some kind of marine detachment. On 'Victory', for example, the Marines included 146 officers and men. Marines were not seamen; they could not be impressed. Marines served as a professional military unit, both afloat and ashore. Marines aboard ship were employed to guard vital areas of the ship - the powder rooms, magazines, spirit room and the entrances to officers' and admiral's quarters. They also gave general assistance to seamen when unskilled heavy labour was required, such as hauling on ropes or turning the capstan. Marines were not obliged to go aloft. If there was any danger of mutiny, the marines had a paramount role in protecting the naval officers. During battle they provided extra manpower to operate guns, and were useful for small arms fire and close quarters defence. They also participated in cutting out expeditions of the enemy. According to one captain who served in the Napoleonic wars, the difference between seamen and marines was absolute: 'No two races of men. differ from one another more completely than the 'Jollies' and the 'Johnnies'. The marines are enlisted for life, or for long periods in the regular army. The sailors when their ship is paid off are turned adrift. and generally lose all they have learned of good order during the previous three or four years.' Seamen had no great inclination to mix with marines, and this was deliberately encouraged; they ate and slept separately. There was also a certain amount of resentment among the officers of the two services, partly due to the fact that the marines had a more impressive uniform, but also due to the fact that mixed parties were generally put under the command of naval officers." ==== If you have a question, just email JulianStockwin@JulianStockwin.com. Please put ASK JULIAN in the subject line; every published question goes into a quarterly draw for a special prize. ==================== 3 BOOKSHELF There's an impressive selection of non-fiction books available now about Nelson and the Royal Navy in the Age of Fighting Sail. Here are two that caught our eye: Nelson: The Immortal Memory By David and Stephen Howarth. Conway Maritime Press ISBN: 0 85177 993 X Written by two of the UK's finest naval biographers, this is an immensely human portrait of Nelson. First published in 1988, it is fittingly reprinted for 2005. Nelson: A Dream of Glory By John Sugden. Random House ISBN 0 224 06097 X A major work of scholarship, and a powerful reconstruction of Nelson's private and public life, Sugden's book runs to over 900 pages. ==================== 4 WHAT VESSEL IS THIS? Throughout the series Julian describes many of the great variety of vessels of Kydd's time, from small craft to large ships. We introduce a new department this month. It's a bit of fun - see if you can guess what vessel is this from the clue below. Can you also remember in which book she appeared? (The answer is at the end of the newsletter.) A small naval boat, up to about 60 tons, largely used for carrying cargo. ==================== 5 SALTY SAYINGS Plain sailing Today, if we say something is plain sailing, we mean it is easy, or straightforward to do. At sea, plain sailing is sailing using navigation techniques that assume the earth is a flat plane. This makes computations fairly simple. Obviously, this is only possible over fairly short distances, longer distances require spherical trigonometry. "Plane sailing" originated with the plane charts of the sixteenth century, drawn on the assumption that the earth was flat. Over time the expression changed to "plain sailing". If a ship is said to be carrying all plain sail, or under all plain sail, she is rigged with the ordinary working sails - not studdingsails, upper staysails etc. ==================== 6 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SHIP-O'-THE-LINE Julian often compares the complexity of a ship o' the line in Kydd's day to a moon rocket in our time. A ship like "Duke William" was the wonder of the age, capable of taking to the seas for months, even years at a time. Over the course of the next seven issues of the Chronicle, we'll go behind the scenes of one of those great sailing ships and take a look at the structure and organisation of some 800 men and officers by time periods. The basic division of time was the watch, a four-hour spell of duty; every half hour was marked by ringing the ship's bell. The seven watches were: Morning watch, Forenoon Watch, Afternoon Watch, First Dog Watch, Last Dog watch, First watch and Middle Watch. Seamen were divided into two other watches: Starboard and Larboard, working every other watch during the working day. The Starboard Watch worked 14 hours, the Larboard, ten. These hours were reversed the following day because of the two short two-hour dog watches. When manoeuvring ship, tacking or wearing, both watches would be deployed. In an emergency "all hands on deck" could be called to attend the ship. Each of the watches were subdivided into two parts - first and second part. This enabled the work load to be split when sailing was easy. All hands turned to during the forenoon, cleaning, repairing etc. at their appropriate "part of ship". In the early evening and sometimes during the forenoon they were exercised at gun drill. Next month we'll begin with the Morning Watch. ==================== 7 CONTEST Two great book prizes this month. Email entries Bosun@JulianStockwin.com. Please include your postal address and put CONTEST in the subject line. Deadline: February 25. +NELSON: The Immortal Memory For a chance to win a copy, email the Bosun with the name of Nelson's son. +To RULE THE WAVES by Arthur Herman. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN: 0 340 73418 3 A fascinating new book that tells the story of how the British Navy shaped the modern world. If you'd like your name to go into the hat, email the Bosun with the first name of the Admiral Hood whose flagship was HMS "Victory" from 1790 to 1794. Congratulations to the winners of the contests in the last issue: Nicholas Pisarchuk, John Harvey, Jeremy Campbell and Alan Birch. =================== 8 COUNTDOWN TO TRAFALGAR Events for the celebrations connected with the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar are gathering momentum. You can check out the latest news about the UK's offerings on www.seabritain.co.uk. Around the world, there are many plans to honour Admiral Nelson this year. In New Zealand, in a city bearing the same name as the hero of Trafalgar, there's an exciting mix of activities scheduled for October. http://www.nelsoncitycouncil.co.nz/aboutnelson/Battle-of- Trafalgar/battle-events.htm And at Canada's Naval Museum of Alberta, a special exhibition opens in May: "Trafalgar: 200 years of Tars, Naval Tradition and Nelson's Inspiration". www.trafalgar2005.ca We'd love to hear from Shipmates about other international tributes. =================== 9 THE ANSWER IS Hoy! Were you right? In KYDD, the unfortunate harvest of the press-gang was transported out to "Duke William" in a hoy. A small coastal sailing vessel, a hoy usually had a single mast and a fore-and-aft sail. =================== 10 NEW ON THE WEB We're working on new features for the website. More details soon! www.JulianStockwin.com =================== Coming Next month - Julian talks about his location research trip to Malta and there's a Special Feature on the world of today's Tall Ships. Plus an interview with Alex Scutt, Publisher, McBooks Press about their plans for the Kydd series in the U.S. Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter downloadable from the website ++