<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> T H E B O S U N ' S C H R O N I C L E <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> S T O P P R E S S + Shipmate Reviewers Contest for QUARTERDECK + New department launched this month + US edition of MUTINY published Welcome aboard the world of Thomas Kydd! VOL. 4, ISSUE 6, June 2004 1 NEWS & VIEWS 2 ASK JULIAN 3 BOOKSHELF 4 SALTY SAYINGS 5 FEATURE 6 ACCUL TO ZOLL 7 CONTEST 8 NAUTICALIA 9 NEW ON THE WEB ==================== 1 NEWS & VIEWS --- publishing happenings, Shipmates ahoy! --- + US Hardback edition of MUTINY out this month Says Tyrone G Martin, former commander of USS Constitution: "Julian Stockwin tells his sea story with a proper amount of salt and nice attention to historical detail. His hero Tom Kydd takes us +inside+ the action at two of the defining events of 1797 - the Nore Mutiny and the Battle of Camperdown - for a thrilling read." ISBN: 0 7432 5800 2 + Shipmates around the globe The readership of the Chronicle continues to grow - among new Shipmates signing up last month were readers from Estonia, Tonga and the Cocos(Keeling) Islands. + Shipmates Ahoy - Sea-going ancestors Mary Jo Neyer of Maryland in the US says she discovered the Kydd books about a month ago. Her interest in the genre stems, in part, from a long tradition of family sea-faring in Chesapeake Bay, and Cornwall and Devon in England, going back to the seventeenth century. Mary Jo herself was born in a naval hospital in San Diego! One family story that has been handed down through the generations is about one of her great-grandfathers from Anchor of Hope on Hooper's Island, who built and owned his own schooner. He was caught in a terrible storm coming back from the West Indies carrying rum. In a desperate attempt to save the ship, the precious cargo was thrown overboard and he lashed himself to the mast. During the height of the tempest he made a promise to God that if he lived he would never transport rum again. And he never did! Mary Jo says there were so many seafarers in her family that she is not sure of his identity, but it may well have been Capt. John Travers, who died age 99. A newspaper article about him in 1879, when he celebrated his 94th birthday reported: "He was never what the world terms a temperance man, and believes with St Paul, that a little wine is good for the stomach's sake, and in the absence of wine, thinks a little whiskey toddy answers just as well. Neither can the anti-tobacco advocate point to him as evidence of longevity from his standpoint, he having ever been fond of the weed both as a smoker and as a chewer... He thinks nothing of walking three or four miles a day to visit his friends and unlike the average widower he has not been bobbing around on the hunt for a second wife, though if he should evince any signs of changing his mind in this regard we doubt not that there are fair maidens on the island who would not object to his scooping them in..." Do you have a sea-going ancestor whose life has drawn you to maritime tales? Let us know! + HMS Gannet, last Victorian sloop, opens at Chatham HMS Gannet is a surviving example of the Victorian Royal Navy in transition from sail to steam. She has now been restored and refloated in Chatham's Historic Dockyard in Kent in the south of England. Shipmate Ron Morris emailed: "On April 1, I was among the first public to be allowed on board. Gannet was equipped to be driven by steam, but with the propeller hoisted inboard she was as fast as the Cutty Sark!" Ron had a special reason to visit - he slept on board Gannet when she was the dormitory ship of Training Ship Mercury, the subject of his recent book "The Indomitable Beatie". + Shipmate Reviewers Once again, we're offering Shipmates the opportunity to receive a signed Advance Proof copy of Julian's next book. Email the Bosun saying, in no more than 50 words, which is your favourite book in the series and why. Six winners, selected by a special panel representing Julian's publishers, will be sent a signed Advance Proof Copy of QUARTERDECK and asked to write a short review to share with Shipmates. Advance proof copies of QUARTERDECK are printed in very limited numbers, mainly for distribution to major booksellers, and are Collectors' Items. Email: Bosun@JulianStockwin.com. Please put REVIEWER in the subject line, and include your postal address. Deadline: end June. Chapter one of QUARTERDECK will be on the website around the middle of the month! ===================== 2 ASK JULIAN --- a forum for Shipmates' questions --- Australian Shipmate Grant Thomson, who lives just outside Sydney, wanted to know: "Why do we measure speed at sea in knots?" In the age of sail the speed of a ship was calculated using the Chip Log apparatus, a small weighted wood panel attached to a reel of rope and a time measuring device, a 28-second sand glass. The rope had knots tied at equal distances (47 feet 3 inches) along its length. Sailors would throw the wood panel into the sea behind the ship and the rope would start unwinding from the reel. By counting the number of knots that went overboard in a given time interval, measured by the sand glass, they could tell the ship's speed - in knots. One knot is the speed of one nautical mile (6080 feet) per hour. As a measure of speed it is always knots, never knots an hour - and is still used today at sea - and in the air. ==================== 3 BOOKSHELF --- books, magazines and journals about the sea --- And, by happy coincidence, this month's selection is... The Handbook of Knots This little book is by Des Pawson, who has studied knots and ropework since the age of seven. Over 100 knots are covered, with illustrations and clear instructions on how to tie them. A useful primer to a skill so essential in the age of sail. Des is the co-founder of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. ISBN 0 7513 0536 7 ==================== 4 SALTY SAYINGS --- what today's English owes to Jack Tar --- Chock a Block The origins of this phrase are definitely salty. Today if we say something is "chock a block", or "chocker" for short, we mean that it is completely full, packed extremely close-fitting. In Kydd's time, When the sails were pulled in tight so that the ship could sail as close to the wind as possible the blocks (pulleys) would be pulled "hard up" together until they could go no further. This was called "chock a block" or "chock full". ==================== 5 FEATURE Crossing the line In Chapter 5 in ARTEMIS, "[the ship] was boarded by a messenger from King Neptune himself..." and Kydd and Renzi experience "the rampageous saturnalia" of a Crossing the Line ceremony. It provided a welcome respite from the tedium of being becalmed in the doldrums, which could be for many weeks. Celebrated by both naval and merchant ships whenever they pass through the equator in a north-south direction, this ancient ceremony's exact origins are lost in time, but derive from pagan rites connected with the propitiation of the sea god. The early ceremonies could be pretty violent, and possibly were to try the crew to determine whether they could endure the hardships of life at sea. Later, more of a festive air came to characterise the event. Early written accounts of visits to ships from King Neptune survive from 1702 (Dictionnaire Nautique) and 1712 (A Cruising Voyage Around the World.) For the ceremony that sea travellers and mariners today know, and the one that Kydd experienced, King Neptune is accompanied by his wife Queen Aphrodite, together with an evil-looking barber, a grim-faced surgeon, fierce-looking guards and various nymphs and bears. After parading round the ship the group convenes a "court" on a platform beside a large canvas bath filled with seawater. King Neptune summons the pollywogs (the uninitiated) and after receiving the attentions of both the barber and the surgeon these unfortunates are tipped into the bath for a good ducking! The Bosun would love to hear from Shipmates of their own experiences of Crossing the Line. ==================== 6 ACCUL TO ZOLL --- an 18th C sea glossary --- All the words we will bring you in this section were familiar aboard ship in the age of sail + Dying man's dinner A snatch of refreshment when the ship is in extreme danger. ==================== 7 CONTEST Win a signed copy of the American hardback edition of MUTINY. Email the Bosun with your answer: In SEAFLOWER, which frigate sailed with "Trajan" into Grande Baie? =================== 8 NAUTICALIA --- from courses to cruises --- We launch a new department this month, in response to Shipmates' requests for information about products and services relating to the age of sail and the sea. + Conway Maritime Books Based in London, and an imprint of Chrysalis books, this is one of the world's foremost publishers of maritime history. We are delighted to announce a special relationship with Conway Maritime - over the next twelve months Julian will be reviewing a number of their recent titles, and there will also be contests for Shipmates, with Conway Maritime books as prizes. Look out for the first contest next month! Meanwhile, you might want to browse at some of the offerings available - and there is 15 per cent discount for web orders! http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/books/publisher/conway Or you can go to www.JulianStockwin.com -> Setting -> Sea -> Bookcase for direct links to Conway books Julian has reviewed. =================== 9 NEW ON THE WEB + Nautical Fiction Page One of the "complaints" about Julian's writing is that he doesn't write fast enough! As much as he'd like to come out with more than one title a year, it's just not possible given the enormous amount of research that goes into each book. If you're craving more nautical fiction to fill the gap, take a look at this page of other writers in the genre. -> Olla -> Links -> Nautical Fiction + HMS Unicorn We've added HMS Unicorn to the Historic Ships and Museums Links. Now preserved at Victoria Dock, Dundee, Scotland, she was designed as one of the last of the successful Leda class frigates. Their lines were based on a French frigate, the Hebe, captured in 1782 and the whole class was one of the best of the age. http://www.frigateunicorn.org/ + Kydd Web Discussion Group Log on and sign up to have your say about the Tom Kydd series! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tom_Kydd/ =================== ++ Shipmate Ambassadors ++ We've had a wonderful response to the Shipmate Ambassador programme launched in last month's newsletter. It's not too late to sign up. If you'd like to help "spread the word" about the Kydd series, just contact the Bosun with your postal address and we'll send you a Pack of postcards, bookmarks and other material. The offer is currently restricted to UK residents, but we hope to extend it to other countries in the future. Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter downloadable from the website ++