"THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world --- VOL 3, ISSUE 5, May 2003 Avast there - and welcome aboard from the Bosun of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' Network! 1) SPOTLIGHT 2) ASK JULIAN 3) RECOMMENDED READING 4) SALTY SAYINGS 5) WHO'S WHO 6) FEATURE 7) SURVEY 8) CONTEST WINNERS ==================== 1) SPOTLIGHT --- publishing and media happenings --- +MUTINY As we announced last month, Hodder & Stoughton, Julian's UK publisher, have brought forward the publication date of MUTINY, the fourth novel in the Thomas Kydd series, to October this year. A new title will follow each October. Julian's American publisher, Scribner, bring out MUTINY in June 2004. Various foreign language editions, audiobooks, large print and book club editions will be detailed in future issues of the newsletter. MUTINY is set in 1797, as Kydd, now master's mate, sails to the fabled Rock of Gibraltar. There, in an attempt to win the heart of a lady, he volunteers to join a dangerous mission to Venice to rescue a diplomat fleeing over the Alps in the wake of Buonaparte's victories. Together with his friend Renzi, he experiences the tumultuous last days of La Serenissima Republica. After returning to Gibraltar, Kydd sets sail for England, longed-for after many years' absence, and becomes centrally involved in one of the most extraordinary events in English history - the Mutiny at the Nore. Ten thousand men, one thousand guns and scores of ships hold the country to ransom, the government is near collapse, the economy on the brink of ruin. The Dutch Fleet at Texel now threaten and in the Battle of Camperdown that ensues, Kydd and Renzi experience all the horror of a fleet action. ---- Chapter One of MUTINY will be posted on the website in July - and we'll also shortly announce details of a contest for six Shipmates to review a special advance copy. ---- Geoff Hunt has produced a superb original painting as the cover art for MUTINY, and Hodder's design department has come up with a stunning typographical treatment of the title. Take a look on Julian's website. ---- +DOCUMENTARY Last month Julian travelled to Falmouth, a picturesque coastal town in Devon, England, and an afternoon's filming for a documentary on the Great Age of Sail, called "Sea Warriors". The backdrop was the historic harbour and a sailing replica of Cook's "Endeavour". Details of the project in progress are on the documentary website www.seawarriors.com +ONLINE FEATURE This month nautical fiction specialist TallShips Books features an extended interview with Julian (and Kathy) plus a review of SEAFLOWER. www.tallshipsbooks.com ===================== 2) ASK JULIAN --- a forum for Shipmates questions --- Ilona Payne of British Colombia, Canada, emailed: "Could you please talk about the mechanics of the galley and food preparation in Kydd's day. And how did they clean the galley?" Julian responds: "The galley provided hot food for the entire ship, up to 950 men and officers. Due to the risk of conflagration, however, the galley fire was put out in rough weather or during action. This meant it could be some time before another hot meal was available. The galley was generally found near the foremast on the gun deck. It was a very small area, considering the number catered for. The crew ate in groups of 8-12 called messes. Each man would take his turn as mess cook and collect the day's rations from the hold to prepare for cooking for the noon meal. The main diet of seamen was salted beef and pork, along with biscuit, peas, oatmeal, sugar, butter and cheese. For example, each man on Thursdays was entitled to a pound of bread, half a pound of dried peas, a gallon of beer (or substitute), and one pound of salt pork. The prepared food was taken to the galley to be cooked (each mess marked their food with a tag). The mess cook was also responsible for washing up the utensils and generally cleaning the eating area after the meal. He was entitled to an extra issue of rum for his trouble. In the galley, the seamen's food would be boiled in two large kettles; there were facilities for roasting and other methods of preparation for the captain and officers. The mess cook also carved and served the meal. To ensure fairness, one of the other men was blindfolded, a portion of the meat was carved, the blindfolded man called out a name and the portion went to that man and so on, until it was served. However this was not always followed, younger mess members were sometimes bullied and deprived of the best victuals by older men. (This method of sharing rations fairly is part of survival training to this day.) On the days when raisins were issued along with flour and suet, the mess cook was ordered to whistle while he prepared the "duff" (steamed pudding) so that he couldn't sneak some raisins into his mouth! The galley was cleaned by the cook's mate, under the supervision of the cook. Sand was used to scour the vast kettles, which were inspected each morning for cleanliness." ==================== 3) RECOMMENDED READING --- books, magazines, CDs and journals about the sea --- The Archive Britain Campaign, launched in 1999, has released a wealth of material stored in British archives. This is mainly available in the form of CD-ROMs at reasonable prices. Among the titles that would be of interest to Shipmates is William O'Byrne's "Naval Biographical Dictionary", 1849. Considered the most comprehensive work of its kind, it was an enormous task to piece together some 5000 biographies. The author noted in his foreword: "... after six years of unremitting toil, mental and physical, I have succeeded, to the entire exclusion of every other pursuit, in accomplishing an undertaking deemed by all most arduous, by many impracticable..." ==================== 4) SALTY SAYINGS --- what today's English owes to Jack Tar --- Between the devil and the deep blue sea Today, if we say someone is between the devil and the deep blue sea, we mean he's in a position of being between two equally undesirable alternatives. The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. In Kydd's day, the "devil" was the longest seam of the ship, running from the bow to the stern. When at sea, the "devil" had to be caulked as part of routine maintenance - and the sailor who had the task of doing so was swung out precariously in a bosun's chair over the sea. ==================== 5) WHO'S WHO --- bio details of the characters in the series --- Bunce and Weems Ralf Bunce and Jeremiah Weems come from the rich, flat countryside around Ipswich in Suffolk. Both were agricultural labourers, always seen together in town enjoying an ale on market day. When war was declared, a splendid recruiting sergeant and strapping drummer boy paraded up and down the high street before setting up outside a tavern. Gaping at the sight and thrilling at the stirring tales of glory, Bunce and Weems took the King's shilling and became redcoats. It wasn't bad at first; with the successes of the Revolutionaries, Britain was forced to fall back with its soldiers to its island fastness. But her overseas possessions needed protecting, particularly India, and the two friends found themselves at sea with their regiment on the long voyage to Calcutta. They found it quite different to what they had anticipated - the dusty boredom of the cantonment and the ferocious heat with the squalor and danger outside. Deciding to desert, they slipped away and discarded their uniforms. Hazily aware that the sea was southward, they didn't realise it was over 100 miles distant. Begging and stealing their way, they eventually found an English frigate at anchor in the Hooghly and bribed a foreman of lascars to get them aboard. ==================== 6) FEATURE - In their own words... There aren't many letters from eighteenth century seamen in existence - mainly because most Jack Tars were illiterate, but also because letters of ordinary people were not often saved for posterity. But the ones that have survived often offer special insights into those times. Here are excerpts from three: This one is from a pressed man in "Tiger", writing home to his wife after the capture of Porto Bello. (For ease of reading, archaic spelling has been changed to modern English!) "My dear Life When I left you, heaven knows it was with an aching heart to be hauled from you by a gang of ruffians but however I soon overcame that when I found that we were about to go in earnest to right my native country and found a parcel of impudent Spaniards... and God knows, my heart, I he longed for this for years to cut off some of their ears, and was in hopes I should have sent you one for a sample now. But our good Admiral, God bless him, was too merciful. We have taken Porto Bello with such courage and bravery that I never saw before - for my own part, my heart was raised to the clouds and I would have scaled the Moon had a Spaniard been there to come at him ... My dear, I am well, getting money, Wages secure, and all Revenge on my Enemies, fighting for my King and Country..." The next one is from a young man who visited a friend in his ship who had joined the Navy previously: "I spent the evening with him very pleasantly, and the sailors of his mess, as their manner is in men-of-war, procured us plenty of wine and everything that could be got to make a stranger comfortable; when morning came and I should go ashore, I felt reluctant to part with my friend, and instead of doing so I volunteered to serve His Majesty..." And finally, a letter from an eleven-year-old powder monkey to his mother: "Indeed we live on beef which has been ten or eleven years in corn and on biscuit which makes your throat cold in eating it owing to the maggots which are very cold when you eat them, like blancmange being very fat indeed... I do like this life very much, but I cannot help laughing heartily when I think of sculling about the old cyder-tub in the pond and Mary- Anne capsizing into the pond just by the mulberry bush... I hope I shall not learn to swear, and by God's assistance I hope I shall not ..." ==================== 7) SURVEY --- feedback request from the Bosun --- The Thomas Kydd series is breaking new ground with its approach to the Great Age of Sail - with the emphasis on realism, fully rounded characters who the reader comes to really care about - and the sea in a forward role. The Bosun would like to invite Shipmates to participate in a short survey about the books - email Bosun@JulianStockwin.com with "SHIPMATE SURVEY" in the subject line. You'll be sent a short one-page questionnaire by return email. As a thank-you, all entries will go into a hat for a special gift donated by Julian. ==================== 8) CONTEST WINNERS Congratulations to the winners of the signed First Editions of SEAFLOWER - Robert Shaw of Lancashire, UK; David Porter, Hickam AFB, USA; Bob Campbell, Western Australia; Chris Fisher, Somerset, UK; Paulo Meireles of Portugal and Pierce Riemer of London, UK. Shipmates Mike Coleman and Noel Wheatley both win a copy of the unabridged audiobook of SEAFLOWER for correctly identifying the carpenter's mate at the trial as Abraham Smith. And a special signed photograph of Julian is on its way to David Jarmaine of Leicester, UK, winner of April's prize draw on the website. === Apologies to the foodie Shipmates, but for space reasons we've had to hold back on the Jerk Pork recipe until next month. Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter downloadable from the website ++