====================================== S T O P - P R E S S Chapter one of MUTINY on the website soon! ====================================== "THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world --- VOL.3, ISSUE 7, July 2003 Avast there - and welcome aboard from the Bosun of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates' Network! 1) SPOTLIGHT 2) ASK JULIAN 3) RECOMMENDED READING 4) SALTY SAYINGS 5) WHO'S WHO 6) FEATURE 7) CONTESTS 8) NEW ON THE WEB ==================== 1) SPOTLIGHT --- happenings, reviews, shipmates ahoy! --- PRAISE FOR SEAFLOWER The audiobook (Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 1-84032-421-X) "The third book in the block-busting adventure series sees the hero sailing to yet more high escapades in the Caribbean... Gripping and superbly read by Andrew Lincoln this is a real treat." - Best Choice in Ad Lib magazine. And from one satisfied reader: "I have just finished SEAFLOWER. What can I say? An absolutely marvellous novel! Throughout, I have experienced a tremendous internal conflict, should I read on or devour in one gulp, or maintain a disciplined read, enjoying the companionship of the characters for as long as possible? Truly captivating!..." === German Edition The German edition of SEAFLOWER, published by Ullstein, is now available. ISBN 3 548 25646 5 === A superbly produced limited edition print of "Seaflower" will soon be available. More details next month. +SHIPMATES AHOY Stan Blanch, of Auckland, New Zealand, particularly enjoys the nautical detail in Julian's books. Stan was a boy entry into the Royal New Zealand Navy. A keen sailor, Stan spends most weekends on a 30 ft. traditional keeler, "Gypsy Rose". He is planning to sail her singlehanded to Fiji next May. Stan kept a diary of a recent voyage from the top of the North Island to Auckland; he was accompanied part of the way by sailing friends. "Whangaroa-Opua leg. Andy on board. 10 am, Tuesday. 18 knots of wind, heavy rain and no visibility... Cold, wet, the tops of the waves breaking, we wedge ourselves into the boat and bear it... We start the run to Cape Wikiwiki. Some improvement in the boat's movement but still rough. It is the first time I have heard the hull talk. 5 pm. Well down the Channel and off Russell. We haven't eaten anything all day. A beer goes down well. Tie up in Marina berth. Wednesday. Decide not to sail today. Wind is down but it will take some time for the Easterly swell to drop. Begin to tidy up the boat. Soon the sun is out and sleeping bags, pillows and boat squabs are on deck. Autohelm dead. Clean with toothbrush and CRC - presto, works again! Thursday. On my own again. Motor out of the Marina, setting course for Cape Brett. Rounding Cape Brett in a moderate swell I am struck by the sheer, almost vertical cliff face rising high out of the sea. 4 pm sees me close to Tutukaka. When I arrive I wander up to the club for a jug of beer and some company... Sunday. A nice day with wind rising. There is a chill in the air and the unmistakable feel of impending winter. Tying up at Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, I am pleased to be home and in need of a good long sleep. 385 miles showing on the log. I tell shirl [Stan's wife] I need some TLC and she show me the housework and gardening she has done that day while I have been off sailing. I am lost for words..." +ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE This year the Royal Naval Reserve celebrates its centenary with functions around the UK. Julian and Kathy were invited to attend a special programme of events at HMS Vivid in Plymouth on June 18. Julian served in the RNR for a number of years and retired with the rank of lieutenant commander. There's a picture of his farewell mess dinner at HMS Tamar, Hong Kong, in the Album on the website. ===================== 2) ASK JULIAN --- a forum for Shipmates questions --- Darryl Haddaway of Nottinghamshire in the UK, emailed: "I am greatly enjoying the Kydd novels but one thing I don't quite understand is the terminology for different admirals, i.e. of the red, blue or white. What does this actually mean?" Julian replies: "This has a fascinating history. At the time of Elizabeth I, the three squadrons of her fleet were denoted by a red flag for the admiral's squadron, a white for the vice admiral's and blue for the rear admiral's. Later, as the number of ships in the fleet grew, and the three squadrons into which they were divided became larger, three admirals were allocated to each squadron (based on the line of battle) - a full admiral in command; a vice admiral as his second, taking the van (forward); and a rear admiral as third in command in the rear. The squadrons ranked in the order red, white and blue and admirals took rank according to the colour of their squadron. (Some officers were promoted rear-admiral, but to no particular squadron. They were known colloquially as yellow admirals.) Generally - and there were many variations - the white squadron controlled the waters around Britain itself, the coasts of France and the Mediterranean; the red squadron had the rest of the North Atlantic and the Caribbean, as well as the northern South Atlantic; the blue had the rest of the South Atlantic and all of the Pacific and Indian oceans. In 1864 the organisation of the British fleet into coloured squadrons was discarded. The red ensign was allocated to the merchant navy; the Royal Navy adopted the white ensign, the blue ensign being used by naval auxiliary vessels." ==================== 3) RECOMMENDED READING --- books, magazines and journals about the sea --- The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea Edited by Peter Kemp ISBN 0 19 282084 An absorbing reference work of the sea and the men who sail on it. As well as biographies, descriptions of major naval events and famous ships, there are articles on navigation, shipbuilding - and many other aspects of the sea world. There are also a large number of drawings and line diagrams that amplify the text. It is the sort of book you open to look something up, and then are drawn into many other interesting entries. ==================== 4) SALTY SAYINGS --- what today's English owes to Jack Tar --- By the Board Today, if we say something has gone by the board, it has been neglected, omitted or discarded. The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. In Kydd's day "board" was a word with a variety of meanings at sea - such as the distances which the vessel ran between tacks when working to windward. The more frequently the ships tacked, the shorter the boards, the less frequently, the longer the boards. Board also meant the side of the ship, thus "by the board" was over the ship's side. If a mast, for example, was carried away, it was said to have gone by the board. ==================== 5) WHO'S WHO --- bio details of the characters in the series --- Caird In SEAFLOWER, we first meet Zachary Caird as he leads the small dockyard party to inspect the storm- damaged "Trajan" when she arrives in Antigua. Born and brought up in Wapping, the boy Caird was no stranger to the colourful world of docklands around the great Pool of London, the biggest port in the world. Thrilled by tales of the seven seas told by seamen from every corner of the globe, he longed to go to sea. But his hard father, a brewery drayman, swore that Zachary should not be a common sailor but have a proper trade, and Zachary was bound apprentice to the Royal Dockyard in Deptford. The lad promised his father he would not disappoint him. There were many temptations, but he always kept faith. After his apprenticeship was over and he started work as a shipwright's sidesman he continued his habits of moderation and self-control, unusual among his hard- bitten workmates. As a journeyman shipwright he had occasion to repair a Bethel - a floating chapel for seamen. There, he was touched by the selfless devotion of the lay workers. Later, he answered a need for skilled craftsmen for the dockyard at Antigua in the Caribbean, and among the slaves in this exotic locale, he, too, found himself called to become a lay preacher. ==================== 6) FEATURE A Trip Down Memory Lane Julian and Kathy were guests at the Annual Reunion Dinner of the "Indefatigable Old Boys Association" on May 31 at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc h, in Wales (Which, translated, means, The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel where the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tyslio are by the red cave.) Sir Edward Pellew commanded the first "Indefatigable", a razee frigate, during the Revolutionary wars. T.S. Indefatigable came into existence in 1864 and served as a training ship until it became a MOD mountaineering training school in 1994. Overlooking the Menai Straits, the building is actually an old castle, and it was here that Julian spent fifteen months as an impressionable fourteen-year-old before joining the Navy. The life was tough - before breakfast among other things the boys had to polish the school's wooden floors on hands and knees. But Julian recalls how instead of the algebra and Latin of his grammar school, Inde lessons were on seamanship and signal bunting; for him there was no contest! Giving the After Dinner speech, Julian spoke of how this was the first time back to the Inde for him in over 44 years. He said that like everyone who makes the pilgrimage, he was unprepared for the flood of memories that come back - but they were mostly good! Among the staff he recalled were the quietly spoken 2nd Mate Coxall (who had no time for fools), Knocker White (he'd been a signals yeoman in the "Amethyst" on the Yangtse) and the granite faced Capt. Superintendent Irvine. Julian was shown his old admission records. On entry he was 5' 10" and ten stone one pound; on discharge (to HMS "Fisgard") he was 6' 1" and ten stone eleven pounds. Several Old Boys came up to Kathy and told her how Julian used to tell wonderful stories to the other boys in the dormitory, sometimes having them quaking under the bedsheets! The Inde that Julian attended is no more - but her spirit lives on. Several of the attendees at the Annual Reunion could not help climbing again the infamous Nozzer's Rock, only to be told very firmly by a passing corporal to "please come down, sirs." COMING NEXT MONTH: A multi-part feature on Julian's favourite maritime artists, and how they have influenced his writing. ==================== 7) CONTESTS Congratulations to the six Shipmates who have won advance review copies of MUTINY: Simon Nobbs, Mark Hudson, Tony Davidson, Jim Schultz, Bill Aves and Daniel Manning. We'll share their reviews with Shipmates in September. +Kydd Memorabilia The Bosun has just taken delivery of new Kydd series bookmarks. They have been specially laminated for durability and as a response to requests for "extras" in the past, the first 20 Shipmates to email the Bosun will be sent two bookmarks - one to keep, and one for a friend... Please write Bookmark in the subject line and include your postal address. =================== 8) NEW ON THE WEB This month we've added more of Julian's favourite sea POETRY, and consolidated material from earlier newsletters into CAST and BOOKSHELF. There's also a new contest for four signed copies of MUTINY. And, don't forget to take a peek at chapter one of MUTINY! It will be posted July 4. Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter downloadable from the website ++