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The Geoff Hunt CoversGeoff says he drew inspiration for this from the first few pages of the book. His painting shows vessels at anchor in the Thames estuary at the Fleet anchorage of the Great Nore - and there is a real sense of enormity at being alongside these huge weapons of war. “I was interested in the idea of echoing the basic theme of the book which I took to be `starting out' - an introduction to the world of Nelson's Navy. I gave this visual form by showing a motley collection of press‑gangees clambering up the tall, technically complex side of a 98‑gun ship. And at the top awaits a whole new system of authority, personified in the smartly turned out NCO.”
With seaflower Geoff wanted to give a strong sense of place, and also some of the sense of mystery and excitement - and apprehension - connected with preparing for night operations. “It's quite different from Kydd and Artemis” Geoff told Julian before he showed him the cover, “Be prepared for colour!” The finished painting, in golds, purples and dusky pinks, features the cutter Seaflower anchored off the coast of San Domingo at sunset while her longboat goes in, ready for a dawn attack. In preparation to paint this cover Geoff read not only the manuscript but James's and Clowes's naval histories. “I felt the whole weight of this book fell upon the description of the mutiny about the anchored ships. The image of the red flag hoisted was an obvious idea, and I reinforced this a little by including the Union Flag thrown aside over the taffrail. I used the stern of a 64‑gun ship, which could well have been Achilles herself.” “Quarterdeck was the first title to carry a significant re‑design of the book covers. Hodder & Stoughton's art director was attracted by the look of the publicity material for the film Master and Commander and asked me to paint some artwork which could be fitted in with that kind of look; in particular, a ship in rough seas. I discussed this brief with Julian, read the manuscript, and in chapter six I found a splendidly pictorial piece of writing which has Tenacious going through as much rough weather as you could wish for! And the sixty‑four is a class of ship I rather like to paint, having depicted Nelson's Agamemnon several times; I've also often come across sixty‑fours in my researches into the American War of Independence.” “In Tenacious Julian gave me such a wonderful - and terrifying - image to paint. The night battle of the Nile and the firing of the French flagship is surely the most apocalyptic scene in the whole of the age of fighting sail.” Geoff had not done a rendition of L'Orient before, but he had painted the Battle of the Nile. Geoff explained that he was not aware of any existing plan for the huge ship but that French ship designs tended to be standardised so he used the plan of Commerce de Marseilles which the British captured at the fall of Toulon in 1793. What caught his artist's imagination for this cover was the fact that Julian introduced a small boat into the scene, with Kydd aboard, picking up survivors. Geoff had painted brig‑sloops before, most notably Patrick O'Brian's Sophie. As usual, he undertook extensive research before even picking up his brush, including making this detailed sketch. “Teazer is a small, handy, fast vessel, almost yacht‑like, very much a young man's command. I wanted to get over this feeling of excitement, brio, high performance - reflecting Kydd's own delight in his first real command.” This, the Eighth book cover in the series, has a superbly atmospheric feel of the rugged Cornish coast. As usual, Geoff had read the manuscript in full before embarking on the painting; he had worked out Teazer’s appearance in some detail for the previous book cover. Geoff depicts Kydd’s men landing by moonlight to set a trap for smugglers who would be at large later in the night, under cover of darkness. “This is a fairly impressionistic piece of work to do with moonlight and clouds and a rocky coast”, Geoff says. The cover of Treachery does not feature a man-o-war of the Royal Navy as in this book Kydd has been dismissed his ship. The Witch of Sarnia, the Guernsey-built topsail schooner that will bring Kydd fame as a privateer slices through the seas in hot pursuit of her prey. Art Marine publish the Kydd Collection, signed limited edition prints of Geoff’s original paintings that were commissioned for these covers. Further examples of Geoff’s work can be found in The Marine Art of Geoff Hunt THE FACE OF KYDDJulian has had quite a few emails about the face on the covers of the earlier UK editions of the series, among them one from Graeme Rodgers of New Zealand, who asked: “Are the photographs of Kydd of the same person over a period of time or are they different people?”
Julian told him: “Amazingly, it is the same person, very cleverly ‘aged’ with makeup, special period clothing, and studio lighting.” |
When Geoff was thinking over ideas for this cover he kept coming back to a line in the manuscript: It was dangerous on deck and lifelines were rigged the
length of the vessel. Thus was born the wonderful image of Artemis, as Geoff explains in 
