====================================== S T O P - P R E S S Limited Edition Prints now available ====================================== "THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world the first week of each month --- VOL.2, ISSUE 3, March 2002 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) ANATOMY OF A MAN-O'-WAR 5) ON THE STOCKS 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS 7) DAYS OUT 8) REPORTS ==================== 1) DECKLOG --- events and activities --- With the preparations for the launch of ARTEMIS next month in the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, underway, the Bosun asked Julian to look back over an event- filled year since the debut of KYDD. + Only a few years ago I hadn't the slightest intention whatsoever to become a writer. I was a software designer, but that's another story... Probably the happiest day of my life was April 3, 2001. That was when I stood before over 100 guests at the launch party for KYDD. It was held in the historic Admiralty House in London, which had been the official residence of the First Lord of the Admiralty from 1788 to 1964 - there certainly could be no more splendid venue to honour a novel set in the Great Age of Sail. As I stuttered my speech of thanks, around me I could feel the ghosts looking on of all the great sea heroes of the past that noble building had seen. Naively, as I walked out in a daze into the night, I thought I would just return to my writing. But then it all started - interviews on radio, television and with print media journalists. Literary festivals. Book signings. My feet hardly touched the ground for the six weeks after the launch. It was both exhilarating and daunting. By nature I am somewhat reticent, especially when answering questions about myself, but a strange thing happened - I found that when I started talking about the world of Thomas Kydd my inhibitions disappeared. I have a huge respect for the eighteenth century seamen - and I take particular pleasure when people can share with me the challenges and fascination of their hard world. The events to which I have been invited have taken me all over the world, from press lunches in New York to UK venues ranging from a 900-year-old Minster in Nottinghamshire to the seaside resort of Southwold, and on to Hay-on-Wye, the tiny market town in the Welsh Marches that hosts probably the world's most prestigious literary festival. I have met people from all walks of life - other authors, of course, and not just in my genre - and readers of every kind. I realise I am very privileged to be able to write full-time now - I still sometimes pinch myself as it really does all seem like a dream ... + THE DIARY Full details of upcoming author events are on the website . ===================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind KYDD is a great team; each month "The Bosun's Chronicle" goes behind the scenes to talk to one of the Shipmates who have been involved in some aspect of the book --- This month we feature Kerry Hood, Head of Publicity at Hodder & Stoughton. Kerry has been with Hodder as a full-time member of staff for six years, freelancing in the Publicity Department before that. She adds: "In previous lives I've worked at various other publishing houses, with intermittent and less rewarding sojourns into advertising, personnel and sales promotions." +Bosun: In the run-up to the auction for KYDD and a number of subsequent volumes, you were present at Hodder's first meeting with Julian. What was your initial impression of the author of Kydd? Any surprises? +Kerry: Delightful. Big. Bearded. Modest. A great naval career behind him, so lots of stories to be teased out! Also a man most obviously in love with his subject. No surprises, no (except Julian's height [6' 2"]) but just a wonderful adventurous addition to the Hodder stable. +Bosun: In the UK there must be well over 100 arts/literary festivals each year. How do you match author to event? +Kerry: Sometimes by instinct, sometimes by subject matter of the book and festival theme, sometimes by audience profile and sometimes by geography! +Bosun: How do you decide on the balance between publicity for an author and the time/space for him to actually write? +Kerry: Julian is so organised in his research and writing that I can't see there ever a being a problem here. We work around the writing pattern of an author - after all, if they can't write, we don't get the book, and I have nothing to publicise! +Bosun: Readers are very interested in the backgrounds of their favourite authors. Has this become more the case now than in the past? +Kerry: These days an author is asked to have more of a public face and less of a private one! The days of the author locked away in solitary endeavour are long gone... +Bosun: What initiatives has Hodder taken to promote Julian on the company website? +Kerry: On the Hodder website, Julian had the Book of the Month slot on the site for the release of the hardback and a banner advertisement on the Home and Bestsellers page as well. We have created a website dedicated to Julian and Kydd direct from his author section. We also have plans to interview Kathy, who works very closely with Julian, for the website. NEXT MONTH: The Bosun is Down Under for a chat with Hodder Headline Australia's Mary Drum and Hodder Moa Beckett's Sue Murray in New Zealand. ==================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Every month Julian talks about a website with sea links --- THE MARINE ART INFORMATION CENTER A rich site for anyone interested in marine art. There are sections on museums with large collections of marine art, art galleries specialising in the field, articles and information about maritime art history and much more. The eighteenth century witnessed the development of Britain as the world's dominant power in terms of naval strength and maritime trade. Artists like John Cleveley Snr and his twin sons John and Robert, Dominick Serres followed by his son John Thomas, Nicholas Pocock, William Anderson and Samuel Atkins were among the superb artists who recorded the mighty ships and the men who served in them for posterity. The article in the history section "British Marine Watercolours (1750-1900)" is a good starting point for exploration of this fascinating subject. ==================== 4) THE ANATOMY OF THE SHIP --- The sailing ships of Kydd's day were the most complex machines on the planet at that time --- SAILS. Sails were the "engines" of a ship in Kydd's day. A ship-of-the line such as "Duke William" carried some four acres of canvas! Made from flax, sails come in a number of different grades, from very light to heavy weather. There are two types of sails: fore and aft (which run along the length of the vessel) and square (which go across the ship). Some ships, such as in-shore craft, have only fore and aft sails. A square-rigged vessel, however, carries fore and aft sails as well, for manoeuvrability. As any mariner will agree, there is a lot of science (sails are a type of aerofoil), but much more "art" in the ability to set sails for best effect. A subtle change in orientation can produce a large change in how a ship performs. In bad weather, sail area is reduced by "taking in a reef"; in harbour the sail is "furled", gathered up and tied neatly to the yards. One of the reasons that New Zealand was colonized was to ensure supplies of flax for Navy sails! ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, translations, audio versions, other products --- LIMITED EDITION PRINTS DISCOUNT The covers of KYDD and ARTEMIS were taken from commissioned paintings by Geoff Hunt, Vice President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Further paintings are planned for later books in the series. Each print is limited to 850 copies, signed by the artist and numbered. A special discount is being offered to subscribers to "The Bosun's Chronicle". The prints normally retail at œ85 each or œ150 for the two. Shipmates ordering the prints need only mention they are subscribers and will be entitled to a discount of œ10 for one print and œ20 for two. Art Contact Ltd. 2 Rickett St, London, SW6 1RU. cm@artcontact.co.uk ==================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- Shipmates come from all countries, all walks of life. This month's shipmates are Matt Best, Stephen Bradshaw and Charles Minchinton. Matt, who lives in Tasmania, Australia, writes that his maritime career is in a way similar to Kydd's. Matt went to sea at 17 (albeit voluntarily!) as a deck boy and steadily worked his way up to able seaman. After a while he decided there was more to sea life than chipping and painting and studied to become a deck officer. He is now sailing as Second Officer on a chemical tanker, studying to be a Captain. Matt has "a beautiful baby boy who is about to turn one". Stephen, who as born in England, (and is, like Julian, a graduate of TS "Indefatigable") served some time in the Army before starting his own business. It was very successful, but came to dominate his life. In 1966 he decided to emigrate to Australia and start all over again. His only regret is that he never got a chance to go to sea as a mariner - but that will be remedied when he retires in 10 years and sails a yacht around the world. Stephen adds that the wait for ARTEMIS is killing him... Charles joined HMS Ganges as Boy Seaman second class, at the age of sixteen. He served nine years in the Navy. At Ganges, Charles became a "button boy", one of a select band of boy seamen who actually climb to the "button", a small round cap at the very tip of a fully rigged mast. Charles writes that in KYDD Julian captured the feeling exactly of those last few feet that had to be shinned up to the truck. He remembers making use of the halliards on the opposite side to pull himself up, his arms and legs about to drop off, his heart trying to get out of his chest. Are there any other Button Boys reading "The Bosun's Chronicle"? Julian would love to hear from you! Contact ==================== 7) DAYS OUT --- Each month we visit somewhere of special nautical interest --- SHEERNESS HERITAGE CENTRE, THE ISLE OF SHEPPEY By the end of the eighteenth century some of England's six Royal Dockyards (Deptford, Portsmouth, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness and Plymouth) had been in existence for more than 300 years. The Chatham Dockyard was, from the seventeenth century until its closure in 1960, the major employer on the Isle of Sheppey. Warships were brought there for careening and Charles 11 famously visited the site. Pepys recorded the event in his diary on August 18, 1665. Shortly thereafter the Dutch made a daring raid on the Medway and captured the dockyard. When peace was restored in July 1667 the King returned to view the dockyard and its fort but it was still quite small and grew in a haphazard way. It was not really until the beginning of the nineteenth century that Sheerness was greatly enlarged. John Rennie and his son undertook the work which cost one and a half million pounds. This became the dockyard which locals remember and remained virtually unchanged until 1960. It is now a busy commercial port. The Sheerness Heritage Centre is situated in what is one of the few remaining shipwright's cottages - and gives a fascinating insight into how dockyard artisans at about Kydd's time lived. Until the area was cleared for the car parks, both sides of Rose street were lined with similar cottages. Sheerness Heritage Centre, 10 Rose Street, Sheerness. 01795 663317 =================== 8) REPORTS Since its launch in April KYDD has attracted a great deal of notice - and many column inches in publications all around the world. These reviews are on the official Julian Stockwin website Books on Tape's uanbridged version of KYDD (ISBN 0-7366-7034-3), recorded by John Lee, has been very well received in America. One five-star listener review had this to say: "Barely knowing the difference between aft and stern, I began this book not knowing whether I could ever get through all the nautical terms. So I could sympathise completely with poor lost Kydd. But Mr Stockwin cleverly developed an understanding mentor for Kydd and as Kydd learned so did I. By the end Kydd proves his worth as a seaman and I am ready to give Kydd, Stockwin and John Lee a twenty-one gun salute - and bring on the next book!" - CH Currently the Collector's Edition is being offered at a special discounted price of $28.00. Hear an excerpt ================== ++FEATURE COMPETITION++ Question two: In "Duke William" where is the Bosun's cabin? (Question one appeared last month and further questions will appear in the next two newsletters.) To enter the competition to win a complete set of signed editions of the English language editions of KYDD, send the answers to all four questions to . Deadline May 25. First correct entry drawn on May 30 wins! Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter by request ++ (To unsubscribe this newsletter email )