Archives
BookPick: Salty Memoirs
Posted on October 12, 2018 1 Comment
This Autumn Selection brings together a collection of true life nautical adventures, both above and below the waves. There’s a diving trilogy, one woman’s 18,000 mile epic journey of self discovery across the Atlantic and back – and a poignant portrayal of life at sea and ashore in the 1900s. Delightful reads for both arm-chair […]
Summer Selections
Posted on May 24, 2018 2 Comments
With summer well underway in the Northern Hemisphere one of the great pleasures of this time of year is relaxing outdoors with a good book – and a chilled beverage. This BookPick features three engrossing reads for the beach or patio plus two additional offerings, one on knots, splices and whippings; the other providing the […]
Books for Santa’s Sack 2017
Posted on November 14, 2017 2 Comments
I’m a bit of a bah humbug creature when it comes to the commercialisation of Christmas – but there’s one thing that I fervently believe: a book is a present that, if well chosen for the recipient, will give hours of pleasure and be a lasting reminder in itself of someone putting thought, not just […]
BookPick: Letters of Seamen in the Wars with France
Posted on August 16, 2016 2 Comments
Behind my decision to begin the Kydd series with a common seaman, rather than an officer, was my curiousity about (and admiration for) that tiny handful of men who crossed the great social divide in the eighteenth century from before the mast as a seaman to the quarterdeck as a king’s officer. In the bitter […]
BookPicks: Man and the Sea
Posted on April 26, 2016 2 Comments
I’ve selected three BookPicks, separated in time from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. Although spanning half a millenium, together they deal with a number of important aspects of man’s relationship with the sea – courage facing danger in the exploration of the unknown; the struggle for supremacy of the oceans throughout much of our […]
The Weymouth Leviathan Maritime Literary Festival
Posted on December 8, 2015 1 Comment
The picturesque town of Weymouth is situated in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It has a long and proud history, with a number of maritime, sporting – and royal – connections. In 1583 Captain Richard Clark departed from there to join Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his discovery of Newfoundland. In […]
BookPick: Britain’s Heritage Coast Exmouth to Plymouth
Posted on May 26, 2015 4 Comments
Kathy and I moved to Devon a dozen years ago and we know we’re privileged to live in one of the nation’s loveliest regions, with superb coastal and maritime vistas at almost every turn. The regular tweeted photographs from @GaryHolpin rarely fail to brighten my day, especially those with a salty bent. Says Gary: ‘I’m […]
BookPick: A Christmas Double Helping
Posted on December 9, 2014 1 Comment
Kathy always tells me men are hard to busy presents for – so here are two suggestions for Christmas gifts for males with an interest in the maritime world: Early Ships and Seafaring and The Royal Navy and the War at Sea 1914-1919. The former covers the earliest days of water transport up to the […]
BookPick: The Gathering Storm
Posted on April 16, 2014 4 Comments
[To leave a comment or reply go to box at the end of the page] This year sees the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. Many excellent books are being published on various aspects of this terrible conflict and from time to time I’ll highlight some of these in BookPick, beginning […]
Ask BigJules: Rates and Ranks at Sea
Posted on March 14, 2014 22 Comments
[To leave a comment or reply go to box at the end of the page] I’ve had questions from a number of readers recently asking about the different rates and ranks in Kydd’s day, so herewith a ready reference. In the Georgian Navy the main division was between officer and seaman. There were very few […]
Julian Stockwin 