====================================== S T O P - P R E S S Special discount for Shipmates at Tall Ships Books this month ====================================== "THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates the first week of each month --- VOL.2, ISSUE 6, JUNE 2002 Avast there - and welcome aboard from the Bosun of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' Network! 1) DECKLOG 2) HANDS TO MUSTER 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH 4) ANATOMY OF A MAN-O'-WAR 5) ON THE STOCKS 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS 7) DAYS OUT 8) CONTEST - Win a signed limited edition print of ARTEMIS! -==================== 1) DECKLOG --- events and activities --- In May, Julian presented copies of KYDD and ARTEMIS to the Britannia Royal Naval College Library and also signed copies of his books at the Harbour Book Store in Dartmouth, which was originally owned by A A Milne's son, the original Christopher Robin. This month Julian has been invited to speak at two UK Book Festivals: "WORDSWORK" - The Mole Valley Literature Festival. This year is the fourth in this popular arts festival. On June 12, Julian will be giving a talk and readings. The venue is Corbett's Bookshop, Swan Centre, Leatherhead; guests will be offered a glass of wine. 8pm. Box office: 01306 881717 Lowdham Book Festival. On June 17 Julian travels to Lowdham, in Nottinghamshire, to take part in their third annual festival. 7:30 pm. Contact: Ross Bradshaw, 01623 647229. Ticket price includes a tot of rum! ===================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind the Thomas Kydd series is a great team; each month "The Bosun's Chronicle" goes behind the scenes to talk to one of the Shipmates who have been involved in some aspect of the books --- This month we feature Roz Lippel, Scribner's Associate Publisher. Roz started her career working for Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist. She joined Simon and Schuster in 1987 as a managing editor, and worked as a marketing manager and also a publishing manager before moving to the Scribner imprint seven years ago. +Bosun. Scribner launches the hardback of ARTEMIS this month and also the paperback of KYDD. Why was June chosen as publication date? +Roz. Thoughts of the sea and beach come to mind as summer approaches and readers often gravitate to books about the sea in the summer months. We wanted to take advantage of this seasonal trend. Scribner's Summer catalogue opens with June titles and we thought this was the perfect month to publish KYDD last year and ARTEMIS this month. +Bosun. What are your promotional plans for ARTEMIS? +Roz. We started by repackaging ARTEMIS in a larger trim size than we had used for KYDD, with a more open design and a colourful jacket image by illustrator Geoff Hunt that complements the new Scriber Paperback edition of KYDD, which features Hunt's illustrations for that book. The paperback of KYDD was available in MAY, a few weeks before ARTEMIS, and includes a teaser chapter from ARTEMIS. We hope this early preview of Thomas Kydd's continuing adventures will help convert some paperback readers to the new hardcover. A press kit for ARTEMIS and the paperback edition of KYDD was sent to book reviewers with finished copies of both books, a joint letter from the publishers of Scribner and Scribner paperback fiction, reviews and quotes from KYDD and ARTEMIS pre-publication reviews, including Kirkus' wonderful endorsement of ARTEMIS which concludes: "Likeable Tom and his shipmates make a snug fit in the page-turning Forester & O'Brian tradition - thanks to retired Royal Navy author Stockwin." Hardcover books will land in stores from the last week in May. Julian will be featured on a radio satellite tour June 25. This radio tour consists of featured interviews with Julian who will talk about the two books, his own background, and his plans for additional Thomas Kydd adventures. We are targeting seaport cities for this radio satellite, including the seven cities Julian will visit on his formal publicity tour in July. We've had many requests for Julian to speak and sign books while he's in the States. We chose the following seven cities: *Mystic, Connecticut. Julian's first speaking engagement will be at Mystic Seaport - the Museum of America and the Sea - on July 20. A perfect place to start this book tour! *Madison, Connecticut. R J Julia Booksellers, one of the premier independent bookstores situated in an old whaling town on the Connecticut coast will host Julian on July 22. *Nantucket, Massachusetts. Julian will speak at the Egan Institute in historic Nantucket, inspiration and setting for many sea stories, real and imagined. Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" was based on the true story of the Nantucket whaling ship "Essex". *Martha's Vineyard. This island sanctuary can be reached only by ferry. Julian will be the guest speaker at two wonderful bookstores on the island, both known for their author events. Locals and tourists alike can spend the evening of July 26 with Julian at Bikerton and Ripley; and can join him for more conversation and booksignings on the 27th , just steps from the waterfront at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore. *The Yellow Umbrella Bookstore in Chatham Massachusetts is the site of Julian's last Cape Cod event. This charming seaside town is home to many sailors waiting to meet Julian and hear all about Thomas Kydd. *No seafaring tour of the U.S. would be complete without a stop in Boston, home to many sailors who can be seen daily on the Charles River. Julian will spend a day touring bookstores in Boston and will sign at the Gloucester Bookstore in a charming fishing village. *The culmination of Julian's publicity tour will be New York City - home to numerous bookstores, publishers, weekend seafarers and armchair seamen. New York's famed Southstreet Seaport will be the site of Julian's New York speaking engagement and booksigning. [Full tour details will be posted on the website as they come to hand.] NEXT MONTH: The Bosun visits Hatchards, the oldest established book shop in London (and booksellers to the Royal Household) - and talks with senior manager Stephen Simpson about ARTEMIS, which made it to Hatchard's Top 10 Best-Sellers shortly after launch. ===================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Every month Julian talks about a website with sea links --- Tall Ships Books This internet-based bookstore is a rich site for lovers of sea literature and non-fiction nautical offerings. Originally founded to source hard-to-find or out-of-print volumes, it now carries over 1500 titles, specialising in complete series of all the major writers in the genre, including signed first editions. Tall Ships Books' free monthly newsletter, "Bowsprit", which is published in print and online, is the only publication of its Kind dealing specifically with the nautical fiction genre and naval/maritime history. Among recent features were a piece on Portsmouth Harbour and one on Thomas Paine Kydd's Guildford. Collectors of marine art are catered to as well, with naval and maritime limited edition prints by artists such as Geoff Hunt, Tom Freeman and Melbourne Smith. Well worth a visit! And Shipmates who order during June will receive a 10% discount off orders, excluding shipping. (Just mention you are a Shipmate when placing the order.) ==================== 4) ANATOMY OF A MAN-O'-WAR --- The sailing ships of Kydd's day were the most complex machines on the planet at that time --- SHIP TYPES Today, pretty well any sea-going vessel of reasonable size is called a ship, but in Kydd's time a ship was a vessel with three or more masts, square-rigged on each, and suitable for navigating the high seas. All rated naval vessels were ship-rigged. Line-of-battle ships (which carried a minimum of 64 guns on at least two decks) were divided into First Rates, Second Rates and Third Rates. First Rates were the largest ships, and were usually flagships, with 100 guns or more on three decks. Second Rates also had 3 gundecks, but carried fewer guns, 98, - and, curiously, only Britain built Second Rates. Third Rates had two decks and carried 80, 74 or 64 guns. Other ships were classified as outside the line of battle (and these included Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Rates). Frigates, depending on the number of guns they carried, were Fifth or Sixth Rates and were generally recognised to be the fastest and most exciting ships in which to serve. Unrated Vessels included brigs, sloops, cutters, luggers and schooners - and these were usually not ship-rigged. ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, foreign translations, audio versions, other products --- THE THOMAS PAINE KYDD COMPANION. Many Shipmates are keen to learn if there will be a Companion to the Thomas Kydd Series. Watch this space for further details! ==================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- This month we feature three Shipmates from Down Under: Barry Jackman, Richard Hersey and John Haskell. Barry has strong connections, past and present, with the sea. He spends many happy holidays sailing around Bruny Island off Tasmania's south coast. On his mother's side of the family, Barry has discovered several interesting ancestors: a John Blacklow who was a Marine with Governor Collins when he first settled in Hobart and a Joshua Fergusson, who sailed his own ship, "The Jupiter", from England in 1815. In Richard's career, maritime links looms large. He served an apprenticeship with BP Tankers, and his many sea roles included Pilotage and serving a stint with Baltic liner trade ice fighters. He now works as a ship inspector for the Oil Companies International Marine Forum, a job he says is the most rewarding of his life. He has two sons, with whom he enjoys offshore fishing when they can all get together. John is an ardent member of "Nelson's Navy in Victoria", a Georgian era Navy re-enactment group, which proudly boasts an original 12 pdr. Carronade, with various side arms, and two 1 pdr. swivel guns. The group's "lieutenant" is Lt Commander John Potter of the Royal Australian Navy. Shipmates can contact John Are you a member of a re-enactment group? We'd love to hear from you. ==================== 7) DAYS OUT --- Each month we visit somewhere around the world of special nautical interest --- CHATHAM DOCKYARD, KENT It takes more than one visit to the historic dockyard at Chatham to really explore the 80-acre estate filled with naval and maritime heritage exhibits. For 400 years the dockyard and naval base at Chatham played a crucial role in supporting the Royal Navy in the defence of Britain and the development of the Empire. Many of the naval battles of the French Revolutionary wars were fought with ships built at Chatham: "Formidable", Rodney's flagship at the Battle of the Saintes, "Queen Charlotte", flagship of Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June - and most famously of all, Nelson's "HMS Victory". Among the many fascinating attractions is the ropery, a unique quarter-mile long building where rope has been produced on the site since 1618. In Kydd's day the Navy constantly needed vast quantities of rope (around 20 miles for each ship's rigging alone). The Wooden Walls exhibit is also a must-see - it recreates the sights, sounds and smells of the dockyard in the latter half of the eighteenth century. =================== 8) CONTEST This month the Bosun is offering a fabulous prize of a signed limited edition print of "HMS ARTEMIS - 32 gun frigate in the Great Southern Ocean" painted by Geoff Hunt RSMA. The image may be viewed at or via the link in Julian's website. Here's the question: What is the name of the anchorage at which Thomas Kydd first came aboard "Duke William"? The prize will be awarded to the first correct entry drawn on June 30. Entries to: +Congratulations to the winner of last month's competition: Chris Teigeler, who lives in Belgium, was first out of the hat with the correct answers. ================== Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter by request ++