<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 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 10, November 2006 Avast, Shipmates and anchors aweigh! This month there's recipes to concoct eighteenth-century drinks to try at home, a Kydd Memorabilia draw, your comments about COMMAND, some great book prizes and a special reader offer from Conway Maritime... 1 DISPATCHES 2 BOOKSHELF 3 FEATURE 4 SALTY SAYINGS 5 CONTESTS 6 CAPTAINS OF TRAFALGAR 7 THE FLINDERS CONNECTION 8 ASK JULIAN ==================== 1 DISPATCHES + Praise for COMMAND Julian has been very touched by all the emails coming in about COMMAND. The general consensus is that this book is his best yet! There have been far too many to reprint even a small sample but here's two that reflect what many of you have said:- J.Alcock-Towse: > Having been an avid fan of the series from the outset, and having just put down COMMAND, I say "Come on, get yer finger out and get the next one wrote!" In all seriousness, an enjoyable read - so much so that I want to slap Renzi for being such a loob and trying another one of his hare-brained schemes. I look forward to the next instalment with impatience and excitement! Ian Hewes: >There is an authenticity in Kydd's existence that is missing in so many works of fiction. I am sure your experiences in the maritime service have helped you bring a reality to your work that others who lacked that experience could not create. Kydd is a real person, not leading a charmed life, just brave, intelligent, compassionate, hard working and prepared to take a chance when the opportunity arises - a real man of action! (Ian is taking his wife Sue to Malta for her 50th birthday next year - and promises to report back with a reader's-eye view of Kydd's Malta.) + Poignant passages New Zealand Shipmate Don Allan emailed Julian saying how much he is enjoying the Kydd books, in particular the perspective and characterisation from the lower deck, "such as Bowyer who befriended Kydd when he was first taken aboard 'Duke William' and young Luke, befriended by Kydd himself." Don has a personal interest in this. He explains: "My lineal/paternal great-great-grandfather John Allan served before the mast in the Royal Navy between 1800 and 1815. He was the son of Ayrshire Scots settler farmers in Ulster and became orphaned at an early age, then ran away from an uncle when he was about nine years old. He entered the Navy as a boy, and was first mustered aboard the gun-brig 'Speedy' under Thomas, Lord Cochrane. He may have been aboard during Cochrane's historic capture of the Spanish 'El Gamo' and was wounded during the French taking of 'Speedy' in June 1801. Subsequently he was again captured while a member of a beach party during General John Moore's evacuation of Corunna in January 1809 and spent two years as a prisoner. He also served aboard 'Imperieuse' and was discharged from HMS 'Aboukir' at Chatham on September 13, 1815. Other than these bones of his service I have learnt little of his time in the Navy. Your portrayal and characterisation of Thomas Kydd's shipmates and their environment leads me to speculate - was John Allan as fortunate? Did the little orphan and runaway receive such friendship and encouragement? I can but hope so." + Writer of the year For the past three years Julian has donated a signed copy of his latest book to the Writer of the Year at the Macarthur School in New South Wales, Australia. Amy Swan, this year's winner, was presented with her prize at a special awards evening on October 25. + Where did you discover Kydd? John Wong from Hong Kong recalls: "I suppose there is nothing worse than milling around in an airport lounge waiting for further news of your delayed flight. You have read the day's papers, you have retrieved all the emails from your laptop and responded to them, you have visited the gents too many times to recount after all your local currency has been used up at Starbucks. That was the position I found myself in six years ago at Sydney airport. I wandered into Smiths and began browsing along a shelf marked 'new releases' and just as the announcement came that my flight was ready to board I grabbed a copy of your first novel KYDD without thinking too much about it. The imposed delay and those few minutes spent in Smiths were not to be regretted!" John went to boarding school in Devon and visits friends there when time affords. "Lovely part of England, especially near Chagford where I have spent many weekends (milking the odd cow and shooting crows)." We'd love to hear when and where you first came across the world of Thomas Kydd... + Electronic access to naval history There is now a searchable catalogue of the 12,000 items in the Royal Naval Museum's archive. Worth checking out! www.royalnavalmuseum.org/research_online.htm + Plaudits for the Bosun We know Shipmates value the Chronicle as a monthly salty fix between the yearly release of Julian's latest book - and also find it a useful reference on the age of fighting sail. David Baggott who hails from the Isle of Wight recently downloaded all the archived issues of the newsletter and told us: "Thank you for such an interesting insight into the life of the Navy at the time of Nelson. Reading the Chronicles has also encouraged me to reread all of the Kydd books." David has always loved the sea and spent two years on a tramp steamer, visiting New Zealand twice, West Africa, America, Canada and the Mediterranean, but sadly had to leave the merchant service for health reasons. We always welcome comments and suggestions for the Chronicle, and at the moment are planning some exciting new features for 2007! We will also be producing an index to the Chronicle for your ease of reference. It will be uploaded to the website and updated regularly. + Kydd Memorabilia offer There are twelve colour A4-size posters of COMMAND, signed by Julian, for the first dozen names out of the hat on November 25. Emails to the Bosun with "Kydd Memorabilia" in the subject line and please include your full postal details. + Good investment! Those Shipmates who have collected a full set to date of Signed First Editions of the Kydd books will no doubt be happy to see that a set of the UK editions is commanding many hundreds of pounds on the internet. We have a small number of signed First Editions for sale and we've managed to procure a few more Collector's Editions of COMMAND - email Admin@JulianStockwin.com for details - but don't delay, they are strictly first-come, first-served... ===================== 2 BOOKSHELF "Churchill's Navy" The Ships, Men and Organisation 1939-1945 by Brian Lavery. Conway Maritime. ISBN 1844860353. GBP40.00 When Julian is asked to recommend books about the great age of sail, one author rarely fails to be included - Brian Lavery. His "Nelson's Navy", now in its twelfth reprint, is a superlative resource for anyone interested in enriching their appreciation of the Kydd books by delving more into this fascinating period. Now Lavery has come out with a definitive guide to the role of the Royal Navy in the Second World War in this superbly illustrated and fascinating volume. Although in so many respects different from the Navy Kydd knew, some things remained constant, such as the hatred of failure. Sir Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord from 1939-1943, may not have achieved Nelson's stature, but he echoed the great admiral when he said: "So long as a ship remains afloat and has even one gun in action she may cause damage to the enemy." Conway Maritime is offering Shipmates a special discount on "Churchill's Navy" - you can order a copy for GBP35.00 including free p&p in the UK. Call 0870 787 1613 and quote reference CH664. www.conwaymaritime.co.uk For a chance to win a copy of the book, see CONTESTS. ==================== 3 FEATURE Sailors have always enjoyed a drink; here's a guide to some of the more interesting tipples in Kydd's day. In MUTINY, the mutineer leader Richard Parker asks for a "Dog's nose". This is made with one ounce of gin to which is added 12 ounces of ale. Flip was a lower-deck favourite, made by pouring one ounce of rum into a glass, followed by one pint of cold beer or ale. Caudle was recommended for those convalescing after illness - note the delightful injunction about the quantity of wine, taken verbatim from a recipe book of the day... Take two quarts of water, four spoonfuls of oatmeal, a blade or two of mace, a piece of lemon peel and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, strain, then sweeten to your palate, adding a little nutmeg and "what wine is proper". Negus, basically a form of mulled wine, was particularly popular during late-night parties and balls held during winter when the revellers needed a warming beverage between periods of activity. To make: mix one pint of port wine, two pints of boiling water, the juice of one lemon, a little grated nutmeg and 12 lumps of sugar. Serve warm. It was a hard-drinking age! Men often recorded their wine consumption in terms of bottles, rather than glasses. Admiral Lord Cochrane recalled attempting not to get too drunk during his youthful years in the Navy by pouring some of his wine down his sleeve. He admits to being discovered - and narrowly escaping the standard punishment of having to drink a whole bottle himself. ==================== 4 SALTY SAYINGS Spin a yarn Today if we say someone is spinning a yarn we mean they are at worst lying outright, or at best, stretching the truth. The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. Aboard even the smallest ship in Kydd's day there were miles and miles of rope, which needed regular maintenance and repair. Spun yarn was the basic material used for this. Often, a group of sailors got together for the task, swapping old sea stories as they worked - and the tales were usually embellished in the telling. And quite often the work took a little longer than strictly necessary... From this we get the variant saying "spin it out"; if someone spins something out, like the sailors taking extra time on deck with their rope-work, he or she is stretching out a task beyond a time that would be considered reasonable. ==================== 5 CONTESTS Emails to Bosun@JulianStockwin.com Deadline: November 25 Please include your full postal address in all entries. For a chance to win a copy of "Churchill's Navy" email the Bosun with the names of two other books Lavery has written that are published by Conway Maritime. And there's a signed large-format paperback of COMMAND up for grabs for the first two correct entries to identify what it was that so terrified Cecilia during the famous open-boat voyage in SEAFLOWER. Winners all... Congratulations to last month's winner of a copy of "Charts of War" - John Ackroyd. A full set of signed series postcards went to Graham Brazendale, whose name was first out of the hat on October 5. ==================== 6 CAPTAINS OF TRAFALGAR Continuing our look at six of the men who were so instrumental in securing Britain's great victory Tyler - "This will be a glorious day" Charles Tyler was born into an army family and joined the Navy at eleven. He received the first of many wounds during the American War of Independence and was left with a permanent limp. After six years serving in convoy work around British coasts Tyler was given his own ship in the Mediterranean. When Nelson arrived to take command of the Trafalgar fleet on 29 September 1805 Tyler came to him with a family problem. His son Charles was in financial difficulties and had also deserted his ship to run away with a Maltese opera dancer. Nelson alerted his contacts in Italy to find him, settle his debts and persuade him to return to sea. At Trafalgar Charles Tyler was captain of HMS "Tonnant", the only 80-gun battleship at Trafalgar. Before they went into battle Tyler called his men together and said: "My lads, this will be a glorious day for us." He then ordered bread, butter, cheese and beer for every man at the guns. Able seaman John Cash would later write: "We ate and drank and were as cheerful as ever we had been over a pot of beer." Tyler was below decks, severely wounded, when a French admiral led a boarding party in an hour-long struggle that ended with his death and "Tonnant" capturing the French ship. "Tonnant" and her men sustained horrific injuries: one midshipman and 25 men killed, her captain, his clerk, a master's mate, a boatswain and 46 men wounded. Tyler convalesced at home for two years after the battle. But he was back at sea in 1808 and helped take surrender of a Russian Fleet, possible allies for Napoleon, at Lisbon, and eventually retired as Admiral. His errant son Charles survived his indiscretions and was promoted to captain in 1844. George, Tyler's other son, had also entered the Navy, and lost an arm in a cutting-out expedition but went on to become a vice-admiral. Last year, in a Bonham's auction, the top price in the sale of 179,200 sterling was paid for Tyler's sword, which had been presented to him by Lloyd's Patriotic Fund. ==================== 7 The FLINDERS CONNECTION In COMMAND, Kydd meets Matthew Flinders, one of the most gifted navigators and chart-makers of all time. Flinders was born in Lincolnshire, England; his father and grandfather were both doctors and it was expected that he would take up a medical career, too - but he was drawn to the sea. Between 1796 and 1803 Flinders surveyed the Australian coastline in his ship "Investigator" and became the first European to circumnavigate the continent. Trim, Flinders's much-loved cat, makes a cameo appearance in COMMAND. Trim shared Flinders's life from his days as a kitten aboard "Reliance" in 1799 until his tragic death in Mauritius in 1804. Flinders wrote about Trim with humour and affection in an essay which remained hidden in the archives of the National Museum in Greenwich for many years and was printed in a delightful little book titled "Trim". (Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0 207 19614 1). You can also view the manuscript online via the links below. Here's an excerpt: "Trim was admitted upon the table of almost every officer and man in the ship. His modest reserve was such that his voice was not heard until everybody else was served. By a gently caressing mew, he petitioned for a little, little bit, a kind of tithe from the plate of each, and it was not purpose to refuse it, for Trim was enterprising in the time of need as he was gentle and well bred in ordinary times. Without the greatest attention to each morsel in the person whom he had petitioned in vain, he would whip it off the fork with his paw, on its passage to the mouth with such dexterity and an air so graceful, that it rather excited admiration rather than envy." The Collector's Edition of COMMAND has, as its endpaper, "Chart of Terra Australis" by M Flinders. South Coast Sheet v. 1798, 1802 & 3. There a wealth of material on Flinders in the James Fairfax Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive and the National Maritime Museum Flinders Papers. http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/flinders/ http://www.nmm.ac.uk/flinders/Index.cfm =================== 8 ASK JULIAN Shipmate Lorraine Ham wanted to know when and why the term "larboard" was dropped in favour of "port". Julian replies: "Port, of course, is the nautical term that today refers to the left side of a ship as perceived by a person on board facing towards the bow. Larboard, the old term for this, was used well into the nineteenth century by the Royal Navy, and was officially changed in 1844. Rear Admiral Robert Fitzroy is usually credited with its introduction to the Navy in HMS 'Beagle' in 1828. Larboard, when shouted into the wind, was easy to confuse with the similar-sounding starboard. The origins of the terms come from old boating practices. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered by use of a specialised oar held by a sailor towards the stern of the ship. Most sailors are right-handed (as in the general population) so usually they stood on the right side of the ship. Starboard comes from an Old English word meaning the side on which the ship is steered. Larboard probably derives from the word ladeboard, as many of the old merchant ships had a loading port on their left side to prevent the steering boards being crushed. Port was probably chosen as a replacement term for larboard as the loading port was on the left and also sailing warships had their entry port on that side." If you have a question you'd like to put to Julian, he'd love to hear from you! Julian@JulianStockwin.com =================== Next month - it's our Bumper Double Issue! Watch out for the "Just for Fun" sea quiz, Julian's round-up of what 2006 has meant for him, and lots of great prizes... And if you'd like to help "spread the word" about the Kydd series, email the Bosun for a free Shipmate Ambassador Pack. The Pack contains information about Julian and the Kydd series, bookmarks and postcards. (There is a small charge to cover postage for Shipmates living outside the UK.) Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Download back issues from the WebSite ++ www.JulianStockwin.com