<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> T H E B O S U N ' S C H R O N I C L E The newsletter of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' network <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> May 2008 - S T O P P R E S S - Advance Readers Wanted! Register now for a chance to win an early proof copy of book nine in the Kydd series, THE PRIVATEER'S REVENGE. See Contests for details. Also in this issue: one of the first female shipwrights at the historic Portsmouth Dockyard; why the Royal Navy toasts the reigning monarch sitting down; and recommended reading from Shipmates. 1 DISPATCHES 2 SALTY SAYINGS 3 THE LOYAL TOAST 4 SHIPMATES AHOY! 5 CONTESTS 6 GEORGIAN PASTIMES 7 ASK JULIAN 8 NEW ON THE WEB ==================== 1 DISPATCHES + New cover treatment The UK paperback of THE ADMIRAL'S DAUGHTER is out this month, launching a new look for the UK editions of the Thomas Kydd series. See it on the website! + HMAS Sydney - II Last month we reported her incredible discovery, 66 years on... Read more about the search for the ship that in her day was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy + A stitch in time A variety of wonderful models have been made of the Kydd ships. Now, Jean Barry in Ireland has come up with the idea of an embroidery of one of the vessels in Julian's books, possibly "Artemis". Jean has worked on some very complex projects, including an embroidery of the 32 counties and six islands around the coast of Ireland, but this would be her first foray into a maritime theme employing a variety of techniques, including the sails being worked on wire and thus appearing to be blowing in the wind. + Plaudits for Many of you emailed saying how much you enjoyed exploring the new-look website! We always welcome suggestions for content. Terry Hoyle sent a moving poem about the great lifeboat disaster of 1886. You can read the verses on the website in POETRY. And we're planning a feature on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for a future issue. + Watch the wall... while the gentlemen go by In THE ADMIRAL'S DAUGHTER Julian brings to vivid life smuggling in eighteenth-century Cornwall. Some of the methods of concealment used by the "free traders" in Kydd's day are on display at the HM Customs and Excise National Museum in Liverpool, which re-opens this month. Worth a visit if you're in the area! + The Queen of the Lakes Readers of the Kydd series are particularly attracted to the iconic ships of the Age of Sail, but they also can appreciate a fine vessel of any period. Joseph Zerbey has a special feeling for the "Willis S Boyer", now a museum ship moored in Toledo, Ohio, harbour. When launched in 1911, then called the "Col. James M Schoonmaker", she was the largest ship afloat, longer than the "Titanic"! In the ship's heyday Andrew Carnegie and other industrial giants sailed in the "Queen of the Lakes", in impressive staterooms fitted out in mahogany and brass. Last summer there was a celebration aboard when the US Brig "Niagara", Commodore Perry's flagship from the 1812 Battle of Lake Erie, visited Toldeo. Joe recalls: "When she saluted Toledo with her carronades as she sailed up the Maume River they damn near blew out all the windows in downtown Toledo. It was magnificent!" In 2009 The Queen of the Lakes will go into dry dock to be repainted in her original colours and name. + The face of Kydd? Among the suggestions that have come in for Robert Squarebriggs to consider when he carves the face of Thomas Kydd is a young Patrick Swayze. + Shipmate Recommendations Following Steven Garland's query to Julian last month about reference books related to the Georgian Navy, we've had quite a few recommendations from Shipmates, among them Commander Steven Montgomery of the Royal Australia Navy, who suggests Dean King's "A Sea of Words" lexicon, and "Lobscouse and Spotted Dog" by Anne Grossman and Lisa Thomas, a gastronomic companion to the Patrick O'Brian books. And the suggestions were not confined to non-fiction. Brian Ward enjoyed "Under Enemy Colours" by Sean Thomas Russell, published earlier this year. Do you have a favourite book with a nautical connection? Let us know! + BOOK NINE taster... THE PRIVATEER'S REVENGE is the ninth title in the series and will be launched in October 2008. Book synopsis: His career in tatters and his happiness destroyed, Command Kydd is sent to Guernsey in disgrace. Consigned to a quiet backwater guarding the Channel Islands, he despairs. Will he ever escape this exile? His sense of duty becomes his lifeline. Hungering for victories over the French, he becomes reckless, ready to sacrifice not only himself but his men too. His best friend Nicholas Renzi warns him of the dangers looming but to no avail. Brutally betrayed off the Normandy coast, Kydd loses everything. Penniless and alone, he refuses to leave Guernsey till he can clear his name. Then he is given an extraordinary opportunity to salvage his fortunes and return to the sea: as captain of a hated privateer... You can read chapter one on the website! + Praise for TENACIOUS The Japanese edition of TENACIOUS is receiving rave reviews, both for Julian's engrossing story-telling and the translation skills of Ms Yoko Omori, who has worked on all the titles to date. > From Admiral Yukio Kobayashi: "I greatly enjoyed the way the author evokes the drama of the Battle of the Nile - which I, like Julian, believe to be Nelson's greatest triumph. TENACIOUS is a splendid read!" > From Yoshiki Morishita, editor of Kazi, Japan's largest yacht magazine: "I read TENACIOUS non-stop till the last page. Julian Stockwin makes history really come alive!" ==================== 2 SALTY SAYINGS Run the gauntlet Today, if you're said to be running the gauntlet you're being severely criticised, metaphorically attacked on all sides. The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. At sea in Kydd's day running the gauntlet was a form of punishment. The unfortunate offender, usually a sailor who had stolen from his shipmates, was made to strip to the waist and advance between two rows of seamen while they lashed him with short knotted ropes. The practice was abolished in 1806. ==================== 3 FEATURE THE LOYAL TOAST In chapter one of TENACIOUS, Bryant, first lieutenant and president of the mess, turns to Kydd as the most junior lieutenant present. "Mr Vice - the King." Kydd lifts his glass and pauses for quiet. "Gentlemen, the King." The words echo strongly around the table and the simple ceremony of the loyal toast seemed to Kydd to draw together all the threads of his allegiance to king and country... To this day in the Royal Navy (and some other British institutions) the Loyal Toast is drunk seated, as it was in Kydd's time. Why this became so has no single agreed explanation. Here are some that have been suggested: 1. King Charles II was aboard one of his ships and bumped his head on a low beam when responding to a toast. He vowed that thenceforth his naval officers would be allowed to remain seated when drinking his health. 2. The Prince Regent (who would later become George IV) while dining aboard a warship told the officers to remain seated when they were about to drink his health, saying, "Your loyalty is above suspicion." This was possibly a reference to the belief that by standing a person carrying side arms would be exposed. 3. William IV, "the Sailor King" served in the Royal Navy and reputedly bumped his head so many times toasting his father that he vowed that when he became king no officer would have to suffer a similar fate... Of course it was almost impossible to stand upright between decks in many men o'-war, only those officers seated between the beams could do so, with some semblance of dignity. And in those ships with a pronounced tumble-home (steeply sloping sides), this was even more of a challenge. It may just have been that the custom of remaining seated evolved over the years for practical reasons with no directives from royal personages... As well as the Loyal Toast, a number of others would have been familiar to Kydd in the Wardroom: Sunday: "absent friends" Monday: "our ships at sea" Tuesday: "our men" Wednesday: "ourselves (as no-one else is likely to concern themselves with our welfare)" Thursday: "a bloody war or a sickly season" Friday: "a willing foe and sea room" Saturday: "sweethearts and wives" (may they never meet...) The Thursday toast is a reference to the opportunity for promotion via a dead man's shoes, in peacetime often the only way to get ahead. ==================== 4 SHIPMATES AHOY! Julian is a fully qualified Naval Shipwright, so one email from a reader particularly caught his eye recently. It was from Stephanie Eacott now living in Canada. Stephanie was one of the first five female shipwright apprentices at the famous Portsmouth Dockyard, and she wanted to thank Julian for enabling her to relive many of her own experiences through Thomas Kydd. Stephanie takes up her story: "I was born within sight of the Portsmouth Dockyard and after leaving school in 1969 was accepted as an apprentice Shipwright. A milestone for a female to be allowed into that hallowed male bastion! At first we were a focus of attention but we were independent, resourceful females there to learn a craft and everything else was secondary. We spent two months in various departments I was then moved to the Main Dockyard and I rarely saw the other girls. This was the hardest part for me as I was now the only female around and still only eighteen. You quickly learn that a good sense of humour is important. With this, and the ability to shed a few tears on cue, I was able to handle most situations. I was taken under the wing of a Master Tradesman, a kindly old shipwright named Joseph, who taught me not only woodworking but worldly wisdom as well. But he could also be an old devil and he once sent me to the Stores to get a 'bucket of two inch holes'. After walking all day around the dockyard from store room to store room I finally smartened up - they had a good laugh at my expense! Joseph was one of the few left who could caulk deck seams the old fashioned way with oakum and pitch. We spent several months in HMS 'Victory' recaulking the deck seams, then move on to HMY 'Britannia' which was being refitted for Charles and Diana's honeymoon. During my five-year apprenticeship I won a position on the 'Sir Winston Churchill' sail training ship and although I had spent my entire life up till then surrounded by the sights, smells and bustle of a large naval port had never actually sailed! It was a thrilling and sometimes scary experience being in a tall ship, especially hanging out at the end of a yard arm fighting an errant sail. Julian's books bring back all these and many more images for this old female salt... A shipwright's basic tools - adze, planes, hand drills, augers, squares etc. have not changed in style or usage since Kydd's day. A shipwright from the past could walk into a wooden boat shop and still use the skills he was taught form those days. Julian wrote vividly of repair work in the dockyard in Antigua in SEAFLOWER and this was something I could readily identify with, as was his description of hauling a boat over on its side for repair, a procedure we often did. After I qualified, I worked for a time for a small boat- building company in Hampshire. I then got married and my husband and I moved to Canada to work in a shipyard on Lake Ontario. I was first attracted to the Kydd books because of a reference to Portsmouth Town then was quickly caught up in the times and geographical areas portrayed. I could really associate with Kydd being thrown into a totally alien world and empathise with him as he found his way. Although we are from totally different eras and opposite sexes, Thomas Kydd's life struggles and inner fortitude to overcome them, plus a good helping of luck, in many ways seem to mirror my own life. I, like him, have had mentors and particular friends who have made lasting impressions on me and helped and guided me. I'm 55 this year and my training and experiences in the dockyard were a distant memory but then Tom Kydd brought it all back, along with the need to be by the sea again; to walk the paths of my formative years; to revel in the sights and sounds of the busy dock. I shall be returning to Portsmouth this summer and I will sit in the 'Still & West' in Old Portsmouth at a window table overlooking the harbour with my particular friend - and raise a glass to Julian and Thomas Kydd." [The Still & West is an eighteenth-century inn, once the haunt of smugglers and press gangs. In Kydd's day it was called The Still after the Bosun's pipe to call all hands to attention.] ==================== 5 CONTESTS Advance Readers Wanted! If you're feeling frustrated with the wait for Julian's next book, here's an opportunity to get your hands on an advance proof copy of THE PRIVATEER'S REVENGE, months ahead of the official publication in October. We have twelve copies to give away! For a chance to win one, just email your name and postal address to Winners will be drawn at the end of June. Congratulations to last month's winners - Michael Hodgson wins a copy of "Pandora" from Conway Maritime, and a copy of the paperback of THE ADMIRAL'S DAUGHTER will be going to John Miles and Sean Jennings. ==================== 6 GEORGIAN PASTIMES In this occasional feature, we'll take a look at some of the activities the Georgians particularly enjoyed, ashore and at sea. Gambling It has been said that gambling is one of the most deeply ingrained characteristics of the English - and this was certainly true for the Georgians. They gambled on the Stock Exchange, on the prowess of cocks and bull terriers, in lotteries, on prize-fighters or horses, on the results of cricket matches, in card games of every kind - in fact, anything could be an excuse for a bet. Once, the gentlemen in London's Brooks Club (noted for its "deep play") saw a passer-by fall down on the pavement apparently lifeless, and they promptly laid wagers as to whether he was dead or not. Those who maintained he had passed away then strongly objected to the attempts to revive him as affecting the wager. Georgiana, the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, was a compulsive gambler and at one stage was in debt to what amounted to six million pounds in today's money. Her friend, Charles James Fox, also lost vast sums. He would often play for up to 24 hours at a time, usually faro, a game of chance. Gambling was classless and many wagered to the limits of their fortune - and beyond. Betting on the cruel sport of cock-fighting was popular with the rich and poor alike. The comb and wattles of a young bird were cut away, and the neck feather clipped, then the legs were reinforced with metal spurs. Parsons even had a flutter, and there are reports of some men of the cloth almost having to be dragged from the cock-pit when the time came for them to conduct the church service. ==================== 7 ASK JULIAN Richard Dumanowski from Oregon, USA, asks: "In the February issue you defined 'nippers' - what kind of knot was used to secure the capstan messenger line to the larger anchor cable with the nipper line?" Julian replies: "It was not a knot, actually. This process was done with what was called a seizing, which was used to fasten two ropes or different parts of one rope together with turns of small stuff." [Watch out for a special feature on knots in a future issue of the Chronicle.] Several shipmates wanted to know more about the oral exams that had to be passed in order to attain a commission in the Navy. Kydd faces this at the beginning of QUARTERDECK, knowing that if he fails he will have an inglorious return to the lower deck. Julian replies: "The exams did vary in difficulty, but in all cases the applicants were up against a panel of hardened sea captains. That alone must have been a test of courage! I remember my own such grilling to this day..." Why not try your hand at some of the questions that could have been asked at these examinations?" =================== 8 NEW ON THE WEB John Thompson's build log of the model of "Teazer" is now one of the most popular pages on the website. Catch up with his latest report! John says he expects to finish the model in late July or early August. Meanwhile, there's much detailed work to be done... =================== Yours aye, THE BOSUN Coming next month - Black Dick Howe, "Spanish Ladies" and more great contests... ++ Download back issues from the WebSite ++