<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> T H E B O S U N ' S C H R O N I C L E The official Ezine of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' network <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> VOL. 7, ISSUE 5, June 2006 + S T O P P R E S S + - 2006 Shipmate Reviewers wanted - 1 DISPATCHES 2 BOOKSHELF 3 SCRAN 'N PROG 4 SALTY SAYINGS 5 MARITIME BRITAIN 6 CONTESTS 7 NELSON'S CAPTAINS 8 NEW ON THE WEB ==================== 1 DISPATCHES + Father's Day A Kydd book makes a perfect Father's Day gift. Julian has been invited to several Father's Day signings this month in Plymouth and Exeter (details on the website) but if you can't make these, and would like to have the next best thing - a bookplate signed by Julian - we have twelve to give away to the first dozen names out of the hat on June 5. Please include your full postal address, and put "Bookplate" in the subject line. And speaking of dads, Shipmate John Anderson, who lives in Montana, recently emailed saying he reads Julian's books aloud to his son Tor. We'd love to hear of any other Shipmates who share their love of the Kydd series this way. + The sea - and the power of the human spirit Hilary Lister is a young quadriplegic who can only move her head. Yet despite seemingly overwhelming obstacles, she sailed single-handed across the English Channel. The next challenge Hilary has set herself is to sail around the British Isles, which she plans to do in the summer of 2007. www.hilarylister.co.uk + World's oldest seafaring charity The Marine Society is 250 years old this month. It began on 25 June 1756, when a group of 22 London gentlemen gathered in the King's Arms Tavern. Concerned to protect their business interests in the face of another war with France, they pledged to recruit boys for the Navy in the hope that this would remove the need for pressgangs to poach seafarers from their merchant vessels. Within forty years, the Marine Society had become the first organisation in the world to offer pre-sea training in a dedicated ship. At Trafalgar, at least 12 percent of Admiral Nelson's sailors were supplied, trained and equipped by the Marine Society. The organisation is now merged with the Sea Cadets. www.ms-sc.org + Wrong Fleet! Apologies from the Bosun for an error in last month's Chronicle which a number of eagle-eyed American Shipmates pointed out. Julian's Hong Kong connection was of course with the US Third Fleet. + Navy Days in Plymouth A unique opportunity to meet the Royal Navy first hand August 26-28 at the Devonport Naval Base, the largest such establishment in Europe. Julian will be there, too, aboard the Jubilee Sailing Trust's barque "Tenacious" signing copies of his book of the same name! 13:30-15:30, Saturday 26. http://www.royal- navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h00100800100200c + Welcome to new Shipmates Each month we are delighted to welcome new subscribers to the Bosun's Chronicle. Among those signing up recently was Rodolfo Hernandez, who hails from a navy family from Uruguay, with grandfather and father both navy captains. Rodolfo says he has not followed in their footsteps by joining the navy, but has sailed all his life for pleasure and competition - and he loves anything connected with the sea! + Amazon Thank you to the Shipmates who have helped "spread the word" about the Kydd books by posting comments on Amazon recently. It's a fairly straightforward process to share your thoughts, and does help the cause... + A blast from the past Not many readers of the Kydd books know that Julian is a fully qualified shipwright. He trained at HMS Fisgard, Portsmouth, and also at HMAS Nirimba, Sydney (when he transferred to the Australian navy as a result of his parents emigrating). Recently Julian was delighted to hear from a "chippy" from his Nirimba days, John Simmons, who is a great fan of the Kydd books. Julian has warm memories of his time Down Under - and has promised to chat about the highlights of his Aussie sojourn in a future issue of the newsletter. + "Victory" sails again! Shipmate Mark Tindall launched his splendid radio-controlled model of "Victory" on May 13 at Rick Pond, Hampton Court Palace. Mark told the Bosun that there was a wind of about force 5, making the sailing brisk. In addition to his boat, there were a number of other models - HMS "Mars", a 74-gunner; a topsail schooner and a tea clipper. Marine artist Geoff Hunt stopped by, and took a turn at sailing "Victory". Mark hopes to repeat the event later in the year. [see -> LINKS -> SHIP MODELLING -> RADIO CONTROLLED MODELS in the website for further details of Mark's models.] + Meet the author Catch Julian at www.meettheauthor.co.uk talking about his writing. You'll also soon be able to play the clip at major supermarkets and on Amazon. ===================== 2 Bookshelf We've had many emails about your favourite books on the last days of commercial sail. Incredibly, square-riggers sailed on into the 1950s before they struck sail. At the top of the list of your recommendations: + "The Last Grain Race" by Eric Newby. + "The Way of a Ship" by Derek Lundy. + "Sailing Tall" by Max Wood. + "Remember the Tall Ships" by Frank Brookesmith. + "Last of the Cape Horners" by Spencer Appollonio. A number of you also mentioned Alan Villiers's books. ==================== 3 SCRAN 'N PROG - a taster of food and drink + Spruce beer Kydd is introduced to spruce beer in QUARTERDECK, in the North American Station. In chapter five, the commissioner for lands, Mr Lawrence Greaves, offers him a winter warmer: "Calibogus?... A Nova Scotian cure for the wind's chill - spruce beer stiffened with rum. I believe we will have King's calibogus, which is taken hot, and is a sovereign remedy." The Arcadian French began brewing spruce beer in the early seventeenth century, "improving" the native Indians' recipe by adding yeast and Molasses. The French considered it a delicacy and an aid to health. Here's an old recipe for making spruce beer: "Take seven pounds of good spruce and boil it well with sufficient water for a barrel of thirty gallons until the bark peels off, then take the spruce out and put three gallons of molasses into the liquor and boil it again. Scum it well as it boils, then take it out of the kettle and put it into a cooler. When milk-warm in the cooler put a pint of yeast into it and mix well. Then put it into a barrel and let it work for two or three days, keep filling it up as it works out. When done working, bung it up with a tent peg in the barrel to give it vent every now and then. It may be used in two or three days after. If wanted to be bottled it should stand a fortnight in the cast. It will keep a great while." Admiral Vandeput considered spruce beer essential to the health of the seamen,(as an anti-scorbutic) and ensured there was always a good supply for his squadron. He was not alone in his admiration for the qualities of the beverage. Captain Fremantle [see Nelson's Captains] brewed spruce beer during the long months of blockade duty against the French. ==================== 4 SALTY SAYINGS To be someone's mainstay Today, this is said of a person who is of great support and help. The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. In a sailing ship, a stay is a part of the standing rigging that supports a mast. Stays take their name from the mast they support, thus the mainstay supports the mainmast. If the mainstay was shot away the consequences could be disastrous. ==================== 5 MARITIME BRITAIN Another of Julian's top 10 UK attractions with special links to the sea + Chatham Historic Dockyard For over 300 years Chatham Dockyard, on the banks of the River Medway in Kent, played a vital role in supporting the Royal Navy, building over 400 ships. The sheer size of the dockyard in its heyday made it a wonder of the age. By the mid-18th Century Chatham and England's other royal dockyards had developed into the largest industrial organisations in the world with complex facilities supporting thousands of skilled workers in a wide number of trades. Chatham closed as a working dockyard in 1984 but was redeveloped as a historic dockyard, showcasing four centuries of naval history on an 80-acre site. It is the most complete dockyard of the age of sail to survive in the world. Among the most popular exhibits is the Wooden Walls Gallery, which recreates the actual working of the dockyard in the eighteenth century. A very new addition to Chatham is a rare carved limewood model figurehead of the "Queen Charlotte", which was built at Chatham and the flagship of Black Dick Howe's fleet at the Glorious First of June. www.chdt.org.uk We have a Family Ticket to the Dockyard to give away, see . ==================== 6 CONTESTS + Wanted - Shipmate Reviewers + Our annual shipmate reviewers contest has grown so popular that this year we have ten bound proofs to give away! The winners will write a short review of COMMAND which we will share with Shipmates. These proofs are printed in very limited numbers and rapidly become collector's items. Just take a look on eBay! If you would like to become a Shipmate Reviewer for COMMAND, email the Bosun saying, in not more than 100 words, why you can't wait to read COMMAND. The 10 entries judged the most apt and original will be the winners. Please include your full postal address and put "Reviewer" in the subject line. Deadline: June 25 --- Lots of other great competitions this month! + Family Ticket to Chatham For a chance to win a Family Ticket to Chatham Historic Dockyard email the Bosun with the name of the most famous ship built there. The ticket is worth GBP29.50 and is valid from 12 months of the first visit, enabling you to come back as many times as you like during that period! Deadline: June 25 + Third question And here's the third question for our COMMAND launch contest. (See April newsletter for details.) << In SEAFLOWER who was mastheaded for "rank boneheadedness"? >> === Congratulations to the winner of the splendid prize donated by Conway Maritime Press last month, a signed and numbered limited edition of "The Marine Art of Geoff Hunt" - Tony Shelmerdine. And a runner-up prize of a KYDD paperback goes to: Mike Embleton, Stuart Hatch, Michael Staples and A Perez. ==================== 7 NELSON's CAPTAINS Continuing our look at six of the great men who were so fundamental in securing Britain's glorious victory at Trafalgar Fremantle - "a pleasing countenance" Thomas Francis Fremantle was born in 1765, the third son of a country gentleman. He entered the Navy aged eleven (possibly twelve) and soon saw service in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. In 1796 Fremantle and "The Inconstant" mounted a daring rescue mission to Leghorn to evacuate the British merchants there in the face of Napoleon's advance. Among the refugees were Richard Wynne and his family. The elder Miss Wynne, Elizabeth (Betsey), was obviously taken with Fremantle and wrote in her diary: "How kind and amiable Captain Fremantle is. He pleases me more than any man I have yet seen. Not handsome, but there is something pleasing in his countenance and his fiery black eyes are quite captivating... he seems to possess all the good and amiable qualities that are required to win everybody's heart the first moment one sees him..." Despite initial opposition from her family, Betsey had set her cap for the young captain and married Fremantle in January 1797, in the house of the British Ambassador to Naples, Sir William Hamilton; the wedding arrangements were made by Lady Emma Hamilton. A real love match, their union turned into one of the most abiding romantic relationships of the age. Fremantle was injured when he took two musket balls in the arm during a night assault with Nelson on Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in July of that year. He was awarded a wound pension and for several years enjoyed the life of a country gentleman in Buckinghamshire. Back at sea, he fought with Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen. At Trafalgar, Fremantle's ship "Neptune" was the third to burst through the line, following Nelson, and wreaking huge damage as he passed under the stern of "Bucentaure". Then "Neptune" joined "Victory" in a decisive, close-range attack on "Santissima Trinidad". Very much a man after Nelson's own heart, Fremantle wrote to Betsey: "The loss of Nelson is a death blow - I am well aware that I shall never cease to lament his loss while I live." Fremantle later commanded various operations in the Adriatic. He died suddenly in Naples, December 19, 1819, while commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet. It was a particularly bitter blow to Betsey, as it was there, 22 years earlier that they had married. But she did live to see two of their sons, Charles and Stephen, serve in the Royal Navy with distinction. Charles rose to the rank of admiral and gave his name to the port of Fremantle in Western Australia. =================== 8 NEW ON THE WEB Click on NEW on the front page of the website to see a list of all the items that have been recently added to the website. =================== Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Download back issues from the WebSite ++