"THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world the first week of each month --- VOL.1, ISSUE 3, JULY 2001 Avast there - and welcome aboard from the Bosun of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' Network! 1) DECKLOG 2) HANDS TO MUSTER 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH 4) THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 5) ON THE STOCKS 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS 7) DAYS OUT 8) REPORTS ==================== 1) DECKLOG --- events and activities --- Father's Day was the official launch day for KYDD in the United States. Kristine Puopolo, Julian's editor at Scribner, reports that sales for the American edition of KYDD are strong and that a number of national publications are planning features or reviews of the book. June was a busy month for Julian. He spoke at the Sole Bay Literature Festival, met readers at the new Fiction Wing of the Guildford Library and attended a sell-out talk/book signing at Waterstones, Canterbury. But the highlight of the month was when Julian and his wife Kathy joined the crew of The Earl of Pembroke, a three-masted full-rigged barque sailing from Ireland to England. He has promised to talk about his experiences in a future "Bosun's Chronicle". (See Nautical Website of the Month.) In July Julian will be speaking at a number of literary events. +Chichester Festivities+ 2001 is the 27th year of the Chichester Festivities - even though the first festival in 1975, marking the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Chichester Cathedral, was scheduled to be a one-off event! The topic is "Flavour of the Sea" and Julian will be chatting with writer and novelist Libby Purves about how their experiences at sea have influenced their writing. Wednesday July 4, 6 p.m. St John's Chapel, St John's Street Contact Box Office 01243 780192 +Chelmsford Literary Panel+ Julian joins a literary panel discussing the process of getting a new writer's novel published. His co-speakers are premier literary agent Carole Blake and the editorial director of Hodder & Stoughton, Roland Philipps. Saturday July 14, 2:30-4:30 p.m. Essex Restaurant, County Hall, Chelmsford. Contact: Malcolm Burgess, Literature Development Officer for Essex County Council, PO Box 47 Chelmsford, CM2 6WN. !! STOP PRESS !! Julian has been invited to speak at The Historical Novel Society's first ever conference. It will be held on Saturday 6 October at The New Cavendish Club, Great Cumberland Place, London. Tickets cost œ30, including lunch and refreshments. Further information from Sarah Cuthbertson on 01293 884 898 or . ==================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind KYDD is a great team; each month "The Bosun's Chronicle" goes behind the scenes to talk to some of the Shipmates who have been involved in a particular aspect of the book --- This month we feature George Jepson, an acknowledged historical nautical fiction expert and proprietor of Tall Ships Books, an internet bookstore located in the rolling hills of eastern Iowa, USA. George's family boasts a long maritime history: his great-grandfather and grandfather operated a shipping line and his father served in the South Pacific during the Second World War aboard an air-sea rescue boat. +Bosun. What particularly attracted you about Julian's writing? +George. Julian has said that he wrote the book he wanted to read. And KYDD turned out to be the book I wanted to read. Julian's descriptions of the environment - particularly the sea - placed me right in my favourite element. By the final page, I was ready to move on to the second [as yet unpublished] book, ARTEMIS. +Bosun. How would you describe KYDD? +George. KYDD is a wonderful story of the sea. A true love of the Age of Sail, during which time the Royal Navy and Britannia ruled the oceans, is conveyed to the reader in the author's crisp prose, which is laced with nautical and period terminology to give it a salty touch. KYDD is a delightful read for both armchair sailors and those who themselves set sail. +Bosun. Why do you think there is such an appeal about the Great Age of Fighting Sail? +George. The romance of the sea has great appeal to readers. Putting interesting characters aboard a large, wooden sailing ship, which requires great skill to manoeuvre, with only the wind as power, results in a tremendous human challenge. Sprinkle in a bit of historical fact and the reader is transported back in time to a simpler, more adventurous era, far away from the day-to-day life of the twenty-first century. This formula has worked for generations of readers from the first publication of Marryat in the early 1800s - and I think, will continue to do so for generations to come. +Bosun. Is the genre more popular now than say five or ten years ago? +George. As a bookseller, I see increased numbers of readers picking up series in the genre, and once finished, moving on to others. There are more series available today than at any time in the history of nautical fiction. This is due to publishers reprinting series from the past, as well as commissioning new authors like Julian. New generations of readers are purchasing these books - and asking for more. +Bosun. How important is the internet in book selling these days? +George. The internet is a growing influence on the sale of books around the world. Traditional stores probably still sell the lion's share of books to readers but internet businesses are making considerable headway. And there are other benefits of the web: We were very pleased at Tall Ships Books to have been able to alert our readers to the impending launch of Julian's naval fiction series a few months in advance of publication. NEXT MONTH THE BOSUN TALKS TO CAROLE BLAKE, THE LITERARY AGENT WHO SPOTTED JULIAN'S MANUSCRIPT IN HER SLUSH PILE! ==================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Each month Julian selects a website with sea links --- This month it is The Square Sail Experience - Many of you will remember the wonderful ships of the classic TV series "The Onedin Line". These were provided by Square Sail. As well services to marine related film work and traditional shipbuilding, Square Sail offers berths for people wishing to experience the magic of sail. Julian's voyage with them was in "The Earl of Pembroke", a full-rigged three-masted Barque. She was originally built in Sweden as one of the last three masted trading schooners in 1945. She traded timber in the Baltic until being laid up in 1974. Square Sail purchased her in 1979 and she underwent complete restoration and in 1994 she was commissioned as the three masted eighteenth century wooden barque that she is today, and in which Thomas Kydd would feel quite at home. ==================== 4) THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY --- Julian takes a look at an aspect of life at sea or ashore in the Great Age of Fighting Sail --- HARD TACK. The carbohydrate ration of the sailor's diet largely took the form of hard tack (ship's biscuit). Fresh bread was usually available close to shore; it was known as "soft tommy". Hard tack was generally known as "bread" at sea. In English ships, hard biscuit had been part of a sailor's diet for several centuries prior to Kydd's time. Large quantities were stored at Deptford as early as 1513. Ship's biscuit (bis coctus = twice baked) actually dates back to the Greeks, and later the Romans. It has always been made the same way by baking the dough twice, or even three or four times for long voyages. Sometimes after the initial baking the biscuit was pounded up, re-mixed and re-shaped before being baked again. Towards the end of the eighteenth century naval ships of the line stored the biscuit in special bread rooms, aft. The steward's assistant's duty was to collect the daily ration from there. Because of the flour dust he was called "Jack in the Dust" and to this day steward's assistants in the Royal Navy are often nicknamed "Jack Dusty". Admiral Muir suggested the polite way of dealing with the weevils often found in the the biscuits was to split the biscuits open with a stout knife and scrape the insects off the cut surfaces. The more usual way to deal with them was to briskly tap the biscuit on the table so that the insects came out of their own accord. Sailors soon learned the best way to crunch the biscuits was to break them open in the crook of your elbow. However if the biscuit was poorly baked the outside would crumble away but leave a hard, rigid centre. These were called "reef nuts" and did not go to waste. Hungry midshipmen collected them and nibbled on them during the day - hence their nickname of "reefer". The daily ration of "bread" per man at sea was one pound. ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, foreign translations and audio versions --- + Doubleday Australia have bought a significant number of copies of KYDD for their book club readers. + The German-language translation of KYDD is well on track for publication later in the year. Ullstein Maritim have commissioned Matthias Jendis M.A. for the project, a highly experienced translator in the genre, who has recently worked on four O'Brian novels and a new translation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The Bosun is hoping to catch up with him in the near future to talk about the challenges of translation of KYDD. + Books on Tape in America have bought unabridged audio rights for three volumes in the Kydd series. "The Bosun's Chronicle" will report back as this project progresses. + Ulisseia, a Portuguese publishing house, will launch a Portuguese-language edition next year. ==================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- In June many Shipmates emailed Julian saying how much they enjoyed reading KYDD. Among them were Tonny Larsen, Cherie Baker and Ken Davis. Orlogskaptajn Tonny Larsen, who served in the Danish Navy for 38 years, has wonderful memories of stunning and dangerous ice-bound coasts when sailing in Greenland. He wonders when Kydd will experience the beauty of Arctic sailing - but Julian is giving nothing away on future plots! Canon Cherie Baker was born in England. Cherie, one of the first four women ordained as priests in New Zealand (1977), now lives in Havelock North, a pretty area perched on a hillside near Hastings. She says the sea has always fascinated her. Ken Davis is a non-ferrous scrap metal recycler living in the West Midlands, England. His warehouse is situated on the site of the old Noah Hingley Works (est. 1838) where the anchor and chain was made for the "Titanic". He writes that he has been enthralled with tales of the sea since his teens and his favourite era is 1750-1820. Julian would love to hear from you. Contact ==================== 7) DAYS OUT ---Each month we visit somewhere around the world of special interest to Shipmates --- Southwold, on England's Suffolk coast, stands proudly sentinel over historic Sole Bay, where on a hazy May day in 1672, a day-long inconclusive battle was fought between the combined British and French fleets and the Dutch fleets. James, Duke of York, and brother of Charles 11, was Lord High Admiral of England and had his headquarters in an early Elizabethan house in the High Street. It can be seen today with its original Jacobean plaster ceilings intact. The Port of Southwold was the centre of the "Free British Fishery Society" formed in 1749 to develop herring fishing in competition with the Dutch. Once home to fishing smacks, herring drifters and sailing punts, it is still very much a working harbour. The Sailors' Reading Room, East Cliff, contains many items of maritime interest. It was built in 1864 for œ546. A Mrs Rayley had it built in memory of her husband, Captain Charles RN, to deter sailors and fishermen from spending too much time and money in local pubs. Outside, there are the rudders of the "Bittern" and the "City of Winchester". Inside is a fascinating collection of eel picks and fids, models of schooners and yawls, ships' figureheads and wonderful old photographs of lifeboat crews and fishermen. ==================== 8) REPORTS --- what people are saying about KYDD --- Here are some of the highlights of recent reviews: + Sunday Age (Australia) "[Stockwin's] attention to detail will please the purist... The battle scene at the climax is memorable" + Courier Mail (Australia) "...remember this name!" + Publishers Weekly (U.S.) "[this is a] delightful first instalment in a new series in the tradition of Patrick O'Brian...[aboard ship] it's a rough life and Stockwin skilfully makes readers share the pain and tedium of it, but this is more than a historical adventure tale, it is the story of the education of a young man...Less literary than O'Brian, more atmospheric than Hornblower. + Amazon.com "Stockwin writes well, crisply and spiritedly, with what I thought was the right level of sharply observed sea-faring detail (the smells are almost palpable, too). This is a gripping start for the KYDD series, may it prosper! I'll ship out for the voyage." + Historical Novel Society (U.K.) "An excellent start to what promises to be an excellent series." These reviews and interviews, and others, are on the official Julian Stockwin website. Yours aye THE BOSUN ++Back issues of the newsletter are available on request++ (To unsubscribe to this newsletter email