When Julian first started thinking about a series set in the Age of Fighting Sail other authors in the genre wrote through the eyes of Naval officers issuing their orders from the quarterdeck. But Julian was drawn to another side of the Georgian Navy, the much-maligned lower deck and the common seaman. With his own sea experience, both as a foremast hand, and later as a lieutenant commander, and also his training as a psychologist, he believed that in many ways the real hero of the day was not the officer in his gold lace, but Jack Tar.
Julian also was fascinated by the opportunties for social mobility in the Royal Navy in the eighteenth century. In a very rigid society, the Navy was basically the only way for someone of low birth, but with talent, and in receipt of some luck, to become a gentleman.
As he delved more deeply into the period Julian started to piece together some incredible statistics that fired his imagination. Records from two centuries ago are not precise, but they do give definite trends.
During the 22 years of the bitter French Wars probably 600,000 seaman served their King and country. Of those, some 200 or more made the incredible transition from the lower deck to becoming an officer. The odds were huge – 1 in 2500 – but it did happen! And of those who made the quarterdeck, possibly 16 became captains of their own ship, and six achieved flag rank.
And some of these had been pressed men! So much for the image of the press-gang taking the dregs of society...
As he digested these statistics Julian began to see he had the genesis of the Kydd series. He would take as his hero a man forced into the Navy who would eventually achieve the professional pinnacle of the Service. His books would chart one man's life from pressed man to Admiral.
But what kind of man could have made this incredible journey against huge, almost insurmountable odds? Julian had the names of some of them, but generally there was little else. The historical record of their Service career detailed some of their heroic exploits but what kind of men were they? Was there some common element that enabled them to rise above their peers? How did they cope with such a change in their circumstances? It became a fascinating challenge to conjecture their personal qualities. To try to put himself back in time, to ask if he could have been one of those men.
Julian says Thomas Kydd is not based on any one man, but is a composite drawn from the real-life historical heroes below, and his own personal experiences at sea:
After Nelson and Hardy the two most important people in Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar were both from the lower deck: John Quilliam, first lieutenant, and John Pasco, signal lieutenant.
Provo Wallis joined the Navy as an Able Seaman in 1795, and when he died in 1892 was an Admiral of the Fleet.
James Clephan was a pressed man who was promoted to the quarterdeck from the lower deck. In his case this was in recognition of his role in a desperate cutting-out expedition in 1801.
William Mitchell who incredibly lived after being flogged around the fleet (500 lashes), went on to achieve a King's commission and eventually the rank of Admiral.
George Westcott overcame a humble birth to become captain of Majestic, fighting with Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.
and Admiral Benbow, Captain Cook and Captain Bligh – all rose above lowly origins ...