<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> T H E B O S U N ' S C H R O N I C L E All the latest news/views for fans of Julian Stockwin ++ always sent in plain text: guarantees no virus/malware on your computer ++ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> MAY 2010 It's the VICTORY issue! Ahead of the publication of the eleventh book in the Kydd series next month we proudly dedicate this Chronicle to VICTORY. And there's a special page on the website, "VICTORY Extra" with a selection of images relating to the book, along with Julian's comments. You can also read an excerpt from chapter one of VICTORY, plus the author's note. 1 DISPATCHES 2 THE JOHN MURRAY CONNECTION 3 BEHIND THE LINES 4 BZ for VICTORY 5 CONTESTS 6 BOOKSHELF 7 ASK JULIAN 8 SHIPMATES AHOY! ==================== 1 DISPATCHES + Meet the author... Julian will be out and about next month with various promotional activities for the launch of VICTORY. The EVENTS page on the website is updated regularly. + Oldest lost sea dog! Staff at the Mary Rose Museum staff have called her "Hatch", and she has now returned home after nearly 500 years away... + Julian's blog As his website is now of considerable size (around 150 pages!) Julian has added a blog to the site so that you can see at a glance what is new. You can also read Julian's musings on various salty topics... + "Little ships of Dunkirk" This month some 50 vessels will return to the beaches of France in a commemoration sailing to mark the 70th anniversary of Operation Dynamo. They will be accompanied by a Royal Navy frigate as escort. + Rodska back in the recording studio We've just learned that Christian Rodska will be the reader for the unabridged audiobook of VICTORY. We'll report back on the publication date when details are to hand. This will be Christian's eleventh Kydd title for BBC Audiobooks. INVASION will be available in CD format this month. + Astrodene interview Julian was recently interviewed by David Hayes for his nautical fiction site. + Unique piece of maritime history A restoration group in Tasmania, Australia, has brought a grand old wooden boat back to life. Hopefully eventually she may find a permanent home on Hobart's historic waterfront. + Ebook release The ebook of VICTORY will be available simultaneously with the hardback launch on June 24. + Bligh boat voyage An intrepid group has set out to recreate the famous open-boat voyage by Captain Bligh after the mutiny on "Bounty". Julian selected Bligh's remarkable voyage for his non-fiction book STOCKWIN'S MARITIME MISCELLANY, describing the achievement as one of the most remarkable feats of seamanship and survival of all time. Relics of this heroic voyage still survive, including a coconut shell from which Bligh ate his rations and on which he carved his name and the following words: "The cup I eat my miserable allowance out." It is now in the possession of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. + Canadian display Prince Edward Island may be tiny, but it is one of the most beautiful of the Canadian provinces. The area of course features in QUARTERDECK and Julian was delighted to send a special display pack about his books to the Stratford Public library, PEI. + World's navies updates Julian continues to add to individual sub-pages. Do get in touch if you have any suggestions for books, links - or have your own photos for submission. + Memorabilia to go The March Giveaway was heavily oversubscribed and the 250 first out of the hat have now received their sets of Stockwin memorabilia. If you weren't among the lucky winners, by popular request you can now get your hands on a Set for a nominal charge. ==================== 2 THE JOHN MURRAY CONNECTION In VICTORY Julian takes us into the literary world of the early nineteenth century when Renzi visits the publisher John Murray. In the interests of historical accuracy Julian contacted the National Library of Scotland's John Murray Archives to check whether the publisher was at the famous Albemarle Street address in London at that time. As it happened, they were yet to move there, and the business was conducted from no. 32 Fleet Street... The publishing house has a long heritage. The founder, John Murray, acquired a bookselling and publishing business in Fleet Street in 1768. His son, John Murray II, took over the business in due course, and after publishing Byron to great commercial success he bought no. 50 Albemarle St, which was to remain the home of the publishing house for 200 years. The drawing room at Albemarle Street became the meeting place for the leading literary figures of the day. The publisher continued to thrive, always with a family member bearing the name "John Murray" at the helm. In 2002 John Murray was sold to Hodder Headline, which has now in turn become part of Hachette UK. When the company acquired John Murray, Roland Philipps became the managing director of John Murray. And guess who was the editorial director at Hodder who took on Julian Stockwin and the Kydd books - none other than Roland Philipps... Julian warmly remembers the day he first met Roland. Carole Blake, Julian's literary agent, had set up meetings with all the UK publishing houses who were bidding for the Kydd series. "It was an impressive lineup with all the senior Hodder team - Roland Philipps, Sales Director Sheila Crowley, Jamie Hodder-Williams, Head of Marketing, Kerry Hood, their publicity guru, and others, all seated around the boardroom table. What couldn't fail to win me over, however, was when Roland spliced the main brace with a tot of rum to open proceedings..." ==================== 3 BEHIND THE LINES Julian talks about writing VICTORY: "When I first started writing the Kydd series I knew at one point I would have to deal with the Battle of Trafalgar, perhaps the most famous naval engagement in all history, and consequently the subject of many hundreds of books, both fiction and non-fiction. Could I handle such a well-known event in a fresh, compelling way? It seemed daunting, but as I was only at the year 1793 in book one, I put that thought out of my mind and got down to the business to hand... Last year, the time had to be faced, however, as I embarked on book eleven in the series, VICTORY, in which of course the Battle of Trafalgar would be a prime focus. Kathy and I had had the recent great pleasure of re-visiting Portsmouth for 10 days for specific location research. I know the city very well, and have written about it in both ARTEMIS and INVASION, but there was a special reason for going again - I had been granted permission from the Keeper & Curator of Victory to have virtually unlimited access to the ship. As always, one of my objectives in location research is in my mind's eye to go back in time some 200 years. This involves a sort of mental subtraction process as I look out on a scene, taking away the trappings of modern life such as cars, telegraph poles etc. A remarkable number of aspects of Kydd's Portsmouth still exist to this day. Most notable of course is the naval dockyard where 'Victory' is preserved for posterity. Portsmouth Point, or Spice Island as it was known in the eighteenth century, certainly certainly looks different from Rowlandson's wonderful rendition but many of the old Georgian taverns and buildings remain. Research always turns up fascinating facts and my work for VICTORY was no exception. I'd known that many different nationalities were represented in the crew of 'Victory' but I must admit that I was surprised to find that at least 22 of her complement were from North America. Among them was a young midshipman called Richard Bulkeley, and in line with the historical record he makes an appearance in the book. His father (also a Richard, but serving in the army) had been with Nelson in the San Juan expedition in Nicaragua. Throughout naval history there have been a number carrying the Bulkeley name. John Bulkeley of HMS "Wager" under Captain Bligh sailed with Anson's Squadron to raid Spanish silver ships in the new world, and Lt. Charles Bulkeley raised the Union Jack for the first time on an American warship, "Alfred", commanded by John Paul Jones. Vice-Admiral John L Bulkeley, 'the Sea Wolf', died in 1996, a highly respected American war hero - and a direct descendant of that young midshipman aboard 'Victory'. Admiral Bulkeley was awarded the Medal of Honor and a destroyer is named after him. His son Charles carried on the tradition of naval service. As I say in my Author's Note in the book, as I worked on the manuscript my respect for Nelson, already huge, if anything increased. But I did not want to write a book about Nelson, a giant on the maritime stage, I wanted my readers to see and feel the battle through my hero's eyes and also those of a lowly midshipman actually aboard Victory. I do hope you enjoy reading VICTORY. Trafalgar was a global clash at arms of a dimension never before seen - or indeed after. It defined the shape of the modern world that still exists today. And geopolitics aside, it was one of the most personally moving books I've written so far. For a man such as Nelson, who had endured so much in his short life through sickness and injury, to meet his maker at the moment of his greatest victory was very poignant. But now it's on to work on the next title in the series - Kydd will venture to a very different world half way across the planet... and the race for Empire begins!" ==================== 4 BZ for VICTORY One of the challenges an author faces in writing a series is to maintain a high standard of story-telling throughout. Rest assured, Julian's eleventh book will not disappoint! Here's what two of his editors said of VICTORY:- Anne Clarke, Hodder & Stoughton: "VICTORY is absolutely brilliant. I love the battle scenes (and the fact that the action starts practically from page 1). What an opening chapter! I was completely swept up in the story, the agonizing strategic decisions for Nelson and Kydd, the flights back and forth across the Atlantic, and the eventual clash of the two mighty fleets. It was altogether a joy to read. With the successful new jacket branding we've established with INVASION and the current high level of interest in the market for historical fiction we decided to bring forward the publication date to June 2010. I know this will delight all Stockwin fans..." And from Hazel Orme, consultant copy editor: "Every one a winner - but this is surely the best of the Kydd series so far! The Trafalgar scene reads as freshly as though the battle happened yesterday, and Nelson's death is beautifully, movingly, understated. This is a magnificent yarn, and has left me looking forward eagerly to the next, wherever it takes Kydd and Renzi." [BZ is short for the naval flag hoist "Bravo Zulu", high praise for a job well done...] ==================== 5 CONTESTS Deadline: May 25. Emails to . Please include your full postal address. + The VICTORY Tote This month there's another chance to win this great prize - an exclusive bound proof copy of VICTORY (which means you get to read the book before it hits the shops), "The Authentic Nelson", a superbly illustrated book that tells the great hero's story through his personal effects, and a pack of Trafalgar notelets - all in a handy Julian Stockwin jute tote. To enter, email the Bosun with the full name of the captain of HMS "Victory" at Trafalgar. + Signed hardback VICTORY is of course not the first Kydd book in which Horatio Nelson appears. We've got a signed hardback of TENACIOUS up for grabs. Here's the question - name one country where Julian went for location research in December last year? --- Winners all! Michael Bigley was the recipient of the Stockwin Goodie Bag; Fred Willson received a limited edition print of "Artemis"; a VICTORY Tote is on the way to Mike Brown, and George Russell and Chelsea Woodward will be getting their unabridged audiobooks of INVASION shortly. ==================== 6 BOOKSHELF For readers interested in delving further there are a number of suggested books to read about Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar on Julian's website. Additionally, you might be interested in some of these titles, also well-thumbed, in Julian's personal library: The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson by Roger Knight, published by Allen Lane Nelson: The New Letters, edited by Colin White, published by Boydell Press Nelson: A Dream of Glory by John Sugden, published by Cape Nelson: Britannia's God of War by Andrew Lambert, published by Faber Nelson's Purse by Martyn Downer, published by Bantam The Trafalgar Companion by Mark Adkin, published by Aurum Presss ==================== 7 ASK JULIAN Two questions, recently submitted to Julian, seem particularly relevant to this issue of the Chronicle. Rod Lacey wanted to know: "Nelson was 47 when killed at Trafalgar. Born 29 September 1758, died 21 October 1805 - or did he? I am always confused by the naval day which began at midday in those times. Nelson wrote in his diary in the morning of that fateful day '21st Oct.' so presumably he passed away on the naval date 22nd October as he died well into the afternoon?" Julian replies: "This is an interesting question, and one which has caused confusion to a number of people. The practice at sea for many years was to make up the logs at mid-day, after the noon sighting was complete. Adjustments to the ship's time were made to compensate for its progress across lines of longitude when time was lost or gained to this point. The new time was calculated and the captain would ceremoniously decree 'Make it so!' and a new day began. Until 1805 ships' logs in the Navy were all kept to this nautical time. It is important to note that there was no such things as a ship's log-book in the present sense of the term. The official record was the master's log. On his death or supercession it was sent to the Admiralty - thus it was not a continuous record kept on board as long as a ship was in commission. In some cases if the master was killed in action, no record of the ship's proceedings in that action can be found. In addition to the master's logs, journals were kept by captains, lieutenants and others. These were often copies of the remarks column in the master's log. An Admiralty circular of 11 October 1805 ordered that 'the calendar of civil day is to be made use of, beginning at midnight.' These orders, however, reached the Mediterranean fleet too late for Trafalgar so the original Trafalgar logs are in the old form. In 1913 the Admiralty Trafalgar Committee wrote: "In 1805 the Nautical Day commenced at noon, twelve hours earlier than the civil day. The proceedings given in the logs as for '20 October' are really the proceedings for the afternoon of the 19th followed by those for the morning of the 20th civil time... Similarly the details of the battle from noon onwards are shown in the logs under the next day's entry, '22 October', referring to the events of the previous afternoon." In my copy of 'Logs of the Great Sea Fights 1794-1805' I see that the Navy Records Society recognise the confusion this system causes the reader and have altered the dates of their published logs to those of the civil day. Incidentally, following the practice of most naval officers, the private diary of Lord Nelson was kept in civil time." === And Stuart McKay had this question about broadsides: "I was wondering if it would have been possible for the largest of the fighting ships to fire a full broadside on one side, all decks, simultaneously and if so what would have been the overall movement of the ship as I would imagine that the recoil would have been immense." Julian replies: "It was possible to do this - as the opening fire in a battle. After that, factors like the time for guns to be reloaded, differences in gun crew ability etc. meant further broadsides were rolling broadsides. This is just as well as a simultaneous broadside put a huge strain on the ship's timbers with so much concussion. 'Victory''s broadside weight was 1148 pounds. When she first opened fire at Trafalgar all her guns (with the exception of the carronades on the larboard side) were treble shotted. This gave her an opening broadside weight of nearly 1.5 tons. This mass of iron left the ship at 1600 feet per second. However, given her burthen of nearly 2200 tons, there wasn't too much lateral movement through the water. By contrast, each of the guns of the huge battleships of the Second World War could pack a punch equivalent to the entire broadside of 'Victory'. There was a noticeable dogleg in the wake of the ship after firing!" If you have a question for Julian, do send us an email; please put ASK JULIAN in the subject line. =================== 8 SHIPMATES, AHOY! Martha Berry was born and raised in Cuba but moved to the States and married an American. Her mother and sister visited in 1958 then Castro took over and she never saw her family again. Martha worked as a chemist, and after having three daughters taught science. Although technically retired she still works in the field of special education, teaches at a university and counsels in the field of substance abuse. Oh yes, and she has five grandchildren... Martha told the Chronicle: "I did not know a thing about sailing, or tall ships, even though I was born and raised on an island, until I started reading Patrick O'Brian's series. After I had finished those I was extremely happy to find Julian's books, which I have read twice. I have also bought miniature replicas of ships to see the rigging and different sails. It is a wonderful learning experience reading Julian's books. The way he writes you feel part of the story. One get so much into the book that it is almost impossible to think the book is fiction. I very much look forward to the next in the series. I want to know, though, are Renzi and Kydd's sister ever going to marry? I hope so; I am a 78-year-old romantic!" === And we end with Nelson's Trafalgar Prayer, written on the morning of 21 October 1805 with the combined fleets of France and Spain in sight... "May the great God, whom I worship Grant to my country and for the benefit of Europe in general A great and glorious victory And may no misconduct, in any one, tarnish it And may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British fleet For myself individually, I commit my life to Him who made me And may His blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my country faithfully To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend Amen. Amen. Amen." =================== Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Download back issues from the WebSite ++