Quarterdeck MARITIME LITERATURE & ART REVIEW
Compliments of McBooks Press THE DESTINATION FOR NAUTICAL FICTION
www.mcbooks.com / www.rowman.com Quarterdeck MARITIME LITERATURE & ART 17 REVIEW
T S C
Quarterdeck is published quarterly by Tall Ships Communications 6952 Cypress Bay Drive Kalamazoo, MI 49009 269-372-4673
EDITOR & PUBLISHER George D. Jepson Contents [email protected] AUTUMN 2020 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Amelia A. Yeoman
INTERVIEW COLUMNS Quarterdeck is distributed by McBooks Press, an imprint of 13 DAVID POYER Globe Pequot 5 By George 246 Goose Lane, Suite 200 The author takes a retrospective Discovering Nelson’s England Guilford, CT 06437 look at his Dan Lenson novels EDITORIAL DIRECTOR George D. Jepson 8 AUTHOR’S NOTES Phone: 269-372-4673 FEATURE Balkan Glory - From Conception [email protected] www.mcbooks.com to Completion 17 BRITISH MARINE by Julian Stockwin Visit Quarterdeck and McBooks Press WATERCOLORS on Facebook James Mitchell, London gallery proprietor, offers a brief guide to collecting DEPARTMENTS 5
4 SCUTTLEBUTT
26 BOOK REVIEWS
29 MARITIME FICTION
33 MARITIME HISTORY ON THE COVER: Detail from “An East Indiaman, with men on the yards taking in sail” by English marine artist Samuel Atkins (active 1787-1808) Pen and ink, and watercolor.
© Tall Ships Communications
3 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 SCUTTLEBUTT
SETH HUNTER NEW BOOK RELEASES fter a three-year hiatus, McBooks Press 2020 - 2021 SETH HUNTER will publish a rousing new Nathan Peake A naval adventure in the United States and US (United States) THE the United Kingdom in May 2021. The Sea of UK (United Kingdom) Silence is the seventh title in the acclaimed nauti- TPB (Trade Paperback) SEA OF cal historical fiction series from the pen of Eng- PB (Paperback) HB (Hardback) lish novelist Seth Hunter. SILENCE EB (Ebook) Peake, the Anglo-American British naval offi- NF (Nonfiction) cer, is the man who saved the life of Napoleon Bonaparte – and now he must stop him from OCTOBER conquering the world. After seizing power in France and subduing the rest of Europe, Napo- Balkan Glory (UKHB) leon has made a truce with the British who rule by Julian Stockwin A Nathan Peake Novel the seas and turned his attention to the Americas. A King’s Cutter (USTPB) All that stands between Napoleon and his global by Richard Woodman ambition is one small sloop, a handful of British and American sailors, a diminishing band of rebel slaves – and Nathan Peake, the Anglo-American naval officer who A Brig of War (USTPB) saved the dictator’s life. by Richard Woodman Seth Hunter is the pseudonym used for the Nathan Peake series by the author of award-winning novels for both adults and children. He is also a writer, director and Word of Honor (USHB) by Robert N. Macomber producer of television dramas and documentaries for leading broadcasters in Europe and the USA, including the BBC and PBS. He makes his home in London. NOVEMBER
TERRY MORT By Force of Arms (USTPB) by James L. Nelson n April, McBooks Press will launch Hunters in the Stream, the first title a new series by Ameri- The Maddest Idea (USTPB) I can author Terry Mort, featuring Riley Fit- by James L. Nelson zhugh, a hard-boiled LA private eye turned naval officer. MARCH As war clouds gather in Europe, Fitzhugh, using an FBI connection, applies for officer candidate Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas (USHB) school. After graduation, Ensign Fitzhugh is as- by James L. Haley signed to PC 475, an anti-submarine vessel sta- tioned in Key West, as second in command to her APRIL skipper, an up-from-the-ranks lieutenant. Called Nameless by her crew because patrol craft Hunters in the Stream (USHB) only carried numbers, PC 475 cruises the Gulf of by Terry Mort Mexico searching for U-boats preying on Allied Crash Boat (USHB) shipping in the days just after Pearl Harbor. With by Earl A. McCandlish and regular stops in Havana to meet with the Cuban Navy and enjoy the local surround- George D. Jepson ings, Fitzhugh learns of a clandestine U-boat fueling station in eastern Cuba’s wilds. Nameless sails into dangerous waters with orders to locate and destroy the base. MAY Along the way, Fitzhugh encounters novelist Ernest Hemingway in a Havana wa- tering hole and shares PC 475’s adventures. Hemingway and his pals, seeking their The Sea of Silence (USHB) own excitement, also stalk the Nazis with his deep-sea fishing yacht. With Heming- by Seth Hunter way away for days at a time, Fitzhugh and the author’s wife, writer Martha Gellhorn, cross paths and feel some mutual stirrings – and give in to them.
4 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 By George! © Alamy Discovering NELSON’S ENGLAND
ABOVE Nelson’s Column in n a brilliant spring afternoon I almost expected him to speak. Trafalgar Square, with the in 2002, Amy and I traveled to Over the last two decades, our visits to Eng- Houses of Parliament in the background, and the dome the Portsmouth Historic Dock- land have invariably taken us to places related of the National Gallery in yard for the launch of to the Royal Navy under sail, and, the right foreground in OJulian Stockwin’s Artemis, the sec- specifically, to locations touched London. The Nelson monu- ment was constructed be- ond title in the Thomas Kydd by Nelson, which stretch far tween 1840 and 1843 to a naval adventures. and wide across the country. design by William Railton The festivities took place Autumn is our preferred at a cost of £47,000. in the National Museum of season in England, but as RIGHT Lord Nelson by John the Royal Navy across I write, there will be no Hoppner, English portrait from Admiral Lord Nel- visit this year, with the painter, 1758 - 1810. son’s flagship, HMS Victo- world under siege from ry. Ahead of the celebra- COVID-19. tion, while browsing While “beached” for a through a gallery displaying time, I’ve had pause to re- a collection of Nelson-related call our travels to Nelson’s articles, I stepped around a par- bits of England – sometimes tition and came face-to-face with to very public places and, on the man. other occasions, to out-of-the-way PD Art Startled, I took a step backward to eye a locations. life-like figure depicting Nelson immediately Arriving in London for the first time in May before Trafalgar in 1805, based upon current of 1997, we ventured into Trafalgar Square, research at that time. The figure seemed so real where Nelson’s Column rises 169 feet and †
5 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 Photos George D.by Jepson.
son – who had gone to sea over the centuries to defend Britannia. In the distance, Victory’s top ABOVE LEFT The ornate en- three inches over the area formerly known as hamper rose above a building. try port greets visitors to Charing Cross. Nelson’s statue atop the fluted Walking through the dockyard, with its an- HMS Victory at the Ports- mouth Historic Dockyard. column faces down Whitehall, towards the cient storehouses on our left, we passed by the
Admiralty, HMS Victory at Portsmouth, and mast pond and ropewalk before Victory hove © Alamy ABOVE RIGHT Victory’s fig- toward Cape Trafalgar in southern Spain. into view. urehead, a replica of the This was the first of many visits to the ship. Hanoverian royal arms sup- A short stroll away, we peered into the ported by two cherubs, courtyard on Whitehall where so many naval Each time we pass through the ornate entry which was originally fitted officers – real and those imagined in fiction – port, my imagination wanders back to life in during between 1801 and had passed through the portals into history the Georgian Royal Navy, visualizing Nelson in 1803. The sculpture was carved in 1801 by George and the writings of C S Forester, Alexander his surprisingly spacious cabin in the hours be- Williams. During of the Kent, Patrick O’Brian, David Donachie, and fore Trafalgar or hosting his captains – his Battle of Trafalgar, the star- Julian Stockwin, among others. “band of brothers” – in his dining cabin. board figure had its leg shot On another sunny morning, we made our The year of the Artemis launch, we stayed at away, and the port figure, its arm. Sadly, in October way to St Paul’s Cathedral via the Under- the Angel Posting House and Livery on the 2009, rot was discover- ed ground to pay our respects to Admiral Nelson cobbled High Street in Guildford, home to Ju- in the figurehead and it was and the Duke of Wellington, who lie in the lian Stockwin’s naval hero Thomas Kydd. In removed from the ship. crypt. the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, By the time we boarded a train a day later at British naval officers, including Nelson, often Waterloo Station for Portsmouth Harbour broke their passages at the Angel, while coach- and the Historic Dockyard, I was deeply in ing from London to Portsmouth. arrears to Amy, who had indulged my passion Though spring had arrived, a bitter cold for all things related to Royal Navy history – front blew in from Russia. Returning to the and Horatio Nelson. Angel after a stroll, we warmed ourselves with Disembarking from our carriage at Ports- tea and biscuits in front of a blazing fire on the mouth Harbour, after a lovely journey great hearth just inside the entry. through the Hampshire countryside, crisp sea One morning, with a chill wind blowing, I air awakened our senses. HMS Warrior, the met up with Julian Stockwin and we traveled world’s first ocean-going, iron-hulled, and ar- by rail to the Historic Dockyard in Chatham – mored warship in her 1860 configuration, was another Nelson connection. It was here in moored across from the station. March 1771, that the 12-year-old lad climbed Approaching Victory Gate, flanked by its aboard a man-of-war for the first time. two iconic golden globes, I realized that we The 64-gun third-rate Raisonnable lay at her were walking in the footsteps of generations of moorings in the Medway when he arrived by naval officers and Jack Tars – including Nel- coach from London to assume his position as †
6 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 a midshipman under his uncle and captain of the ship, Maurice Suckling. On January 23, 1759, a few months after little Horatio’s birth at Burnham Thorpe, HMS Victo- ry’s keel was laid in No. 2 Dock at Chatham at the height of the Seven Years’ War. She was finally launched on May 7, 1765. Four decades later, on October 21, 1805, Admiral Nelson and Victory took part in Britain’s greatest naval triumph over the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar, forever linking them. Nelson would likely recognize parts of Sands, a 10-mile-long sandbank at the southern ABOVE Chatham Dock- Chatham Dockyard today, including the Rop- end of the North Sea, lies six miles off Deal, cre- yard, circa 1777-1778, ery, which was one of four supplying the Royal ating a haven for ships in the Downs. by Elias Martin, a Swedish genre, history, Navy in the eighteenth century, including Nelson lived ashore at the Three Kings Inn and landscape painter Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Woolwich. on Beach Street, facing the Downs. The build- and engraver from On another occasion, I met Richard ing still exists, along the town’s historic Stockholm. Woodman, the English maritime Georgian seafront. novelist and historian, in Green- After a failed cutting out assault LEFT Captain Edward wich, where we visited the on French ships across the Chan- Thornbrough Parker, Painted Hall at the Old Royal nel at Boulogne on the night of who was a favorite of Nelson and Lady Emma Naval College. Nelson’s body August 15, Sir William and Hamilton, from a min- lay in state there before his Emma Hamilton arrived and iature by an unknown funeral at St Paul’s in 1806. took rooms at the inn. artist. The portrait min- The hall boasts a brilliant Ba- Captain Edward Parker, iature was discovered roque interior conceived and Nelson’s aide de camp, was se- among a collection executed by British artist Sir verely wounded during the ac- kept by Parker's de- James Thornhill. tion and died in late September. scendants. At the nearby National Mari- Two years ago, with light rain fall- time Museum, we viewed the ex- ing, we stood quietly in St George’s tensive collection of Nelson artifacts, Churchyard with David Donachie next PD Art including his pigtail, his undress uniform to Parker’s grave, where Nelson wept over coat, the shot hole visible, and his bloodied his dear friend’s loss. breeches and stockings from Trafalgar. Once, while walking the streets in Bath, we In the last two autumns, we’ve visited Deal, chanced upon No. 2 Pierrepont Street, where the historic seaport on the border of the Eng- Nelson’s father arranged for him to recover after lish Channel and the North Sea, hosted by Da- returning from Nicaragua stricken with malaria vid Donachie, author of the John Pearce naval in 1781. A bronze plaque commemorates this adventures, and the Nelson and Emma Trilogy. first of his many visits to the town. On July 27, 1801, Admiral Nelson sailed This October 21st, marks the 215th anniver- from Sheerness to the Downs anchorage at sary of the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson’s Deal between the Goodwin Sands and the death, a day that will awaken memories of our Kent coast, with 30 ships under his command. brief brushes with his England. There is no natural harbor there. The Goodwin – George Jepson
7 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 AUTHOR’S NOTES Photo by George D. Jepson. BALKAN GLORY From Conception to Completion
BY JULIAN STOCKWIN
ABOVE Julian Stockwin Balkan Glory is the 23rd title in the acclaimed leans back in his study Thomas Kydd naval adventures set in the Great where he is surrounded by Age of Fighting Sail. Quarterdeck asked Julian Derek G. M. Gardner prints Stockwin to take us behind the scenes of the cre- and other naval artifacts, ation and production of this book. His report be- bringing the Thomas Kydd low gives an insight into his creative process and novels alive. and the manuscript’s journey to its readers, whether they “live the adventure” via physical book, ebook, or audio book.
t’s always somewhat daunting starting a new book – 100,000 words seems a big target. When I first embarked on chron- icling Thomas Kydd’s journey from Ipressed man to admiral, I drew up a flowchart of twelve titles, showing types of ships, rates and ranks of the characters, location, point in time, etc. However, as I delved deeper into the histori- cal record, I found so much to inspire the cre- ative juices that this number grew consider- ably. I now project at least twenty-six titles. †
8 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 AUTHOR’S NOTES PD – Art
“I chose this location partly because of the Battle of Lissa, a little-known but rousing naval action . . .”
My Kydd books follow chronologically, and to time throughout my writing to fine-tune ABOVE English marine artist Nicholas Pocock created this Balkan Glory is set in 1811, in the Adriatic. I aspects of the plot development. I am a view of the Battle of Lissa chose this location partly because of the Battle “visile” – I see the story unfolding in my fought in the Adriatic Sea be- tween a British frigate squad- of Lissa, a little-known but rousing naval ac- mind's eye, so I have to have the structure ron and a much larger tion, partially to take Kydd and his doughty sorted and organized before I feel comfortable Franco-Venetian squadron of crew to an area they’d never been to before. writing. frigates and lesser vessels on Wednesday, March 13, The Adriatic was a fascinating part of the 1811. The prize was control world – a cul-de-sac of the sea extending from CHARACTERS of the strategically significant Croatian island of Vis (Lissa in the boot of Italy on one side and Ottoman I am a firm believer that novels should be Italian). French command of Greece on the other far up to Venice and Tri- character-led. While the background of ac- the Adriatic was key to sup- plying its growing army in the este at its head. In between, on one side was tion is important, it is the stage on which the Illyrian Provinces. British Cap- Italy; on the other, the Balkan shore. Corfu reader gets to know the characters. Of course, tain William Hoste and his four ships, based on the is- and the Ionians were gatekeepers to the whole, the central character is the main focus, but land, engaged the French in- under the iron rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. one of the delights in writing a series is the vasion force under Bernard chance to bring back various minor characters Dubourdieu. During the bat- tle, the British sunk the WHITEBOARDING from time to time, such as that great favorite French flagship, captured With these preliminary thoughts, Kathy and I of Kydd readers, Tobias Stirk. two others, and dispersed the remaining enemy ships. sat down in front of a large whiteboard and I also enjoy exploring the motivations and Britain lauded its victory for sketched out the book’s narrative arc. As al- behavior of various real-life historical charac- the disparity between the forces and the signal Hoste ways, I paid special attention to the beginning ters. In Balkan Glory, the colorful Sidney raised as the French ap- and ending. I always endeavor to have the Smith once again appears on the pages. One proached: “Remember Nel- ending reflect the title and theme of the book. of the most enigmatic characters I’ve ever son.” We returned to whiteboarding from time come across is Klemens von Metternich. †
9 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 PD - ART PD - ART PD - ART
“. . . I’ve always admired William Hoste, whose actions at Lissa formed the basis for Kydd’s victory . . .”
It took quite some time delving into biogra- ABOVE LEFT Royal Navy Cap- William Hoste by Thomas Pocock. tain William Hoste was a Lord phies and the historical record until I had a Nelson protégé, a great frig- sense of this man. And I’ve always admired ate captain during the Napo- And for something lighter, I enjoyed delving leonic wars. He participated William Hoste, whose actions at Lissa formed in six major actions, but was into Made in Sicily by Giorgio Locatelli. A the basis for Kydd’s victory there. absent from Trafalgar while mouth-watering tribute to the cuisine of Sicily. carrying gifts to the Dey of On our return, Kathy and I brought back happy Algiers. RESEARCH memories by cooking dishes from this book. Or By now, I have an extensive collection of refer- ABOVE CENTER Admiral Sir should I say Kathy cooked and I was the chief William Sidney Smith served ence books, both primary and secondary sourc- the Royal Navy in the Ameri- taster. And she had also spent a day in the great es. For this book, as well as my general Age of can and French revolutionary kitchens of the Duchess of Palma learning wars, rising to the rank of ad- Sail references, among the many others I con- miral. Looking back later in something of the art of Sicilian cooking. sulted here’s a random selection: life, Napoleon Bonaparte As usual, my professional electronic sea charts said: “That man made me miss my destiny.” proved invaluable in plotting sailing routes and A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and conditions. I have an extensive library of these the Problems of Peace 1812 - 1822 by Henry ABOVE RIGHT Klemens von and can call up high seas or harbors with the Metternich, an Austrian diplo- Kissinger. mat, was the Austrian Em- click of a button. pire’s foreign minister from 1809 and Chancellor from Napoleon’s Satellite Kingdoms: Managing Con- 1821. In 1848, during the lib- LOCATION RESEARCH quered Peoples by Owen Connolly. eral Revolutions, he was Although it’s not absolutely necessary to visit a forced to resign. location before writing about it, I feel that it is Prince Metternich: Statesman and Lover by important for my books. As well as being able Raoul Auernheimer. to consult various experts in situ – in museums, universities, etc., there is the opportunity to get Sicily: The Insecure Base by Desmond Gregory. a real feel for the geography, culture, and histo- ry by being there. And there are the intangibles The Hapsburg Monarchy by A J P Taylor. – the smells of a city, the nature of the light, peculiar characteristics of the inhabitants, etc. Remember Nelson: The Life of Captain Sir For this book, we set off on two research †
10 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 “One solitary frigate was anchored some miles from the harbour, which nestled in the shadow of a single massive brooding mountain.” – Balkan Glory © Alamy
trips. Our first took us to the magical city of uscript for Balkan ABOVE Palermo Harbor (circa 1795), with a view of the city, Vienna, where Renzi would find himself Glory to my editor and Mount Pelegrino in the caught up in Machiavellian plots and grand Oliver Johnson was background as rendered by an betrayals. The great Hofburg complex exists April 30. Not long unknown artist. today virtually as how Renzi knew it. From after that, I received Vienna, we went by car over the Alps to Trieste his comments, and thence to Split near modern-day Du- which warranted brovnik. cracking a bottle of Our second location research expedition bubbles that eve- took us to the glorious sun-drenched island of ning. Sicily, where we spent some time in Catania, Oliver Johnson “Congratulations Syracuse, and Palermo. once more on an As usual, I took hundreds of photographs on absolutely splendid book,” he wrote. “You have my pocket camera for reference later – and co- managed to bring together not only the intri- pious verbal notes on my little Dictaphone for cate schemes and subterfuges of two royal transcription every evening. courts but married their plots with page-turn- ing naval action. In one way, though, this book THE POLISH exceeds all your others: bringing in first Perse- Once I finished the manuscript, it was the all- phone and then Cecilia as major players in the important polish – final, careful reads several plot and giving them such magnificent agency times, double-checking, etc. Then came the in both. A very interesting development in- compilation of the list of dramatis personae and deed!” the glossary. I left the choice of dedication to last, and was pleased when I came across this COPY-EDITS AND PROOFING rather apt comment from a rueful French revo- After resolving a small number of editorial que- lutionary poet: “The trident of Neptune is the ries for Oliver, the manuscript moved to Hazel sceptre of the world!” Orme, who has been the copy editor for all the Kydd titles. Hazel picked up a small number of EDITORIAL REVIEW grammatical inconsistencies and tightened the My deadline for submitting the complete man- narrative in a few places. She has an excellent †
11 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 Photo courtesy of Julian and Kathy Stockwin.
ABOVE Julian and Kathy eye, and I rarely question her work. Her com- four different combinations of dots or pixels to Stockwin at Messina on the island of Sicily while con- ments provided another excuse for a small cele- create a printed reproduction of the original. ducting research for bration. When the paper passes through the press, all Balkan Glory. “Many congratulations! As ever, you’ve ex- four inks hit the paper at once. Meanwhile, the celled yourselves. This outing for Kydd is spec- interiors are printed, folded, sewn, and then tacular. Terrific battle scenes . . . I much trimmed. The cover is then added on the bind- enjoyed the scenes in Sicily and Vienna . . . ing line and then moved onto another machine Great backdrops, including the Alps – this nov- to have the jacket applied. el is so wide-ranging – I truly couldn’t put it down.” MARKETING AND PUBLICITY In early September, the Publicity Department COVER ART AND MAPS at Hodder & Stoughton sent a copy of Balkan For the maps for Balkan Glory, I sent detailed Glory out to all the literary editors in the na- suggestions to my editor. He put these into a tional papers for reviews and features, and tar- format for discussion at the monthly briefing geted, history-focused publications and meeting attended by the Managing Director of bloggers. The book was also uploaded onto Hodder & Stoughton, along with the Sales Di- NetGalley for bloggers to review. At this time, I rector, the Head of Sales, and the Art Director. received my author copies – always a special The Kydd series covers are wonderfully exe- moment to hold a new book in my hand. I’ll cuted by graphic designer Larry Rostant and never forget the day Kydd arrived, and the thrill Hodder and Stoughton’s graphics department. never goes. Sarah Christie, the designer who always handles my titles, worked with Larry to create the strik- INTO THE WILD ing cover of Balkan Glory. Larry works from On October 1, Balkan Glory took a proud place photographic images that are combined and in bookstores all over the United Kingdom and manipulated to create the final art. was shipped out to customers from e-commerce sites around the country. The ebook and audio- PRINTING THE BOOK book were released at the same time as the The jackets are printed in four colors: Cyan, hardback. Balkan Glory is available in the Unit- Visit Julian Stockwin online at Magenta, Yellow, and Black – or CMYK. Every ed States in an ebook edition, and the hardback www.julianstockwin.com image on Larry’s artwork is broken down into will be available early in the New Year. n
12 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 INTERVIEW
David Poyer A retrospective look at the Dan Lenson series
n December, American novelist David Poyer brings World War III to an uneasy conclusion with the launch of Violent Peace: The War with China – Af- termath of Armageddon, the twentieth entry in the DanI Lenson naval thrillers. Over four decades, Poyer, drawing upon his active-duty naval experience, has thrilled readers with his novels fea- turing United States Navy officer Dan Lenson. The road to war with China commenced in Tipping Point, the fif- teenth title in the series, and has carried forward through Onslaught, Hunter Killer, Deep War, and Overthrow. This War with China series into focus a once-unimagi- nable turning point in human history – a cataclysmic world nuclear war – placing Poyer among the foremost authors in present-day naval fiction. Along with his wife, author Lenore Hart, he lives and writes in the Tidewater region on the east coast, where he remains close to his alma mater, the United States Naval Academy, and the world’s largest naval base at Norfolk. David Poyer Poyer’s recent nonfiction work, Heroes of Annapolis, is a collection of inspiring stories about fourteen academy †
13 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 graduates from the American Civil progressed. How have you gone about rather than accepting those of others. War to the present-day war on terror. developing his changing persona? He tries to do the right thing without Catching up with Poyer recently, we thinking too much about whether it’s asked him to take a retrospective look Well, Dan was pretty naïve at first. As what others will expect, or whether it at Lenson’s career, and share the back- most ensigns are notorious for being. will benefit himself. Some call that ground to the War with China novels. He saw things in black and white and “servant leadership” these days, but it’s had little confidence in his own feel- not really a new concept. – George Jepson ings or judgment. He believed that if he did what others told him was the How has the navy in which Dan Len- Violent Peace is the twentieth title in right thing to do, nothing bad would son serves changed since he first ap- the Dan Lenson series. Did you envi- happen to him or others he loved. peared in The Med? sion a lengthy series when the first title, The events in The Med and The Cir- The Med, was published? cle rudely disabused him of these com- Oh, so many changes! Gender, racial, forting illusions. Since then he’s technological. The only constant is the Not really. I thought The Med would struggled to preserve a core of morality challenge of the sea. No matter how be a one-off. Nor did I expect that the while dealing with the realities of life advanced your ship is, no matter the Tiller Galloway or Hemlock County and military service. makeup of your crew, a moment’s care- books would extend into series. They If readers have come to the series lessness or incompetence will doom simply . . . grew, as more and more late, it’s worth mentioning that those you all. Fires, collisions, explosions, possibilities within the settings and four early novels – The Med, The Gulf, catastrophes of all sorts – it takes un- characters were “revealed” to me. Just The Circle, The Passage – have recently ending alertness to stay safe at sea, as a channel’s twists and turns gradual- been reissued by Macmillan in quality whether you’re on a carrier or a sail- ly reveal what lies ahead, finishing each trade paperback editions. boat. Which is where I should mention book showed the way forward to the These days, as an O-7, he’s much my two sailing novels, Ghosting and next one. My three Civil War at Sea more at ease with himself, though you The Whiteness of the Whale. novels were the only grouping designed will note he still tends to ascribe any that way from the beginning. success to luck and any failure to his The armament portrayed in the recent own shortcomings. But he is compe- Lenson novels is frankly frightening. Over the course of the series, Lenson’s tent, and has over the years evolved How close to operational reality are professional and personal lives have and tested his own guidelines to action these weapons? †
14 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 with updates to tactics, equipment, dialogue, and procedures. Some of these I have to make up, though, in the end, since none of my work is based on classified sources. But a lot is available open-source if you know where to look. Okay, what else? Hector Ramos’s chicken plant memories come from interviews with folks who worked in the many such plants near my current home. His Marine experiences are pret- ty much from imagination, though loosely based on the World War Two island-hopping campaigns in the Pacif- ic, though I consulted with current ac- tive duty Marines in developing them. For example, I read the World War II Allied invasion plans for Taiwan in I set Violent Peace in an alternative near from my naval service, or are exten- preparing that scenario in the books. future, but none of these weapons or sions or reinterpretations therefrom. Nan Lenson’s career in biochemistry tactics are impossible even now and The funny thing is, characters like and epidemiology and Blair Titus’s many are in various stages of research Teddy and Hector Ramos start out as transition from the Department of and development even as we speak. I sketches, but quickly acquire three-di- Defense into bare-knuckle politics are assume that the pressures of a hot war mensional reality in my mind as the also based on research and interviews, would speed development, though. series progresses. I enjoy that process! backstopped by peer vetters who read The biggest change on our horizon, They do seem as real to me as actual my second draft and make extensive of course, is artificial intelligence (AI). people I know. comments and suggestions. They con- As I write this, an AI has just outma- tribute a great deal to making the work neuvered a Navy fighter pilot for the The locations in the Lenson books dur- credible. first time. The War with China series ing the war with China have been far A great deal of research and cogita- has sketched out how that might play reaching. How have you researched tion goes into these books, ninety per- out in some ways, but there will be lots them to provide the vivid details in cent of which is invisible (and should of surprises, dead ends, money pits, your narratives? be) to those who pick them up for en- and rabbit holes to go down over the tertainment rather than strategic prog- next few decades, as our weapons (and I began with my own service and travel nostication! those of our enemies) gain more and in the Pacific, Korea, Micronesia, etc. more autonomy, and as we try to struc- I’ve never been in the Taklimakhan COVID 19 has had a dramatic impact ture a coherent approach to their use. Desert or the specific Xinjiang moun- on the entire world. Has it affected tain ranges where Teddy operates, but your approach to writing? The primary characters in the recent I’ve seen the Pamirs and spent time in Lenson books, aside from Dan, his Central Asia – Uzbekistan, Tadjikstan, Not much, though I’ve had to curtail wife, and daughter, include Captain etc. Scenes set in Switzerland and Mos- some research travel I had planned. It Cheryl Staurulakis and ex-SEAL Mas- cow, etc. are also based on personal was kind of unsettling portraying the ter Chief Teddy Oberg. Are they travel. “Central Flower” flu pandemic in Deep drawn from your real-life experiences? The shipboard scenes are pretty War forward, then having very much straightforward for me to write, and I the same kind of disease spread world- I don’t think the characters are – but have current contacts and fans on ac- wide in real life. Sometimes it’s hard definitely their experiences are drawn tive duty who volunteer to help me to keep ahead of reality. But, really, †
15 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 my days are much the same as ever . . . up, breakfast, write until noon, then the rest of the day teaching or coach- ing. I am planning a motorcycle trip Violent Peace through the Blue Ridge to celebrate the BY DAVID POYER appearance of Violent Peace, though.
Is a sequel to Violent Peace on the hori- orld War III is over . . . or is zon? it? Superpowers race to fill W the postwar power vacuum Aye, under way! Arctic Sea was con- in this page-turning thriller, the next in ceived last year in Amsterdam with a the critically-acclaimed Dan Lenson se- visit to the Scheepvartmuseum, the ries about war with China. Dutch maritime museum, and a pre- Mutual exhaustion after a massive sentation there on the race to develop nuclear exchange is giving way to a vio- the Arctic. That book should appear in lent peace. November or December of 2021. I While Admiral Dan Lenson motorcy- should also mention, for those who cles across a post-Armageddon US in enjoy military history, my collection of search of his missing daughter, his wife nonfiction biographical sketches, He- Blair Titus lands in a spookily deserted, roes of Annapolis, which came out late riot-torn Beijing to negotiate the reunification of Taiwan with the last year. rest of China, and try to create a democratic government. But a CIA-sponsored Islamic insurgency in Xianjiang province is Has the final title in the series hove into sight yet? hurtling out of control. Andres Korzenowski, a young case officer, must decide whether ex-SEAL Master Chief Teddy Oberg – now Everything is open. But after nearly the leader of a ruthless jihad – should be extracted, left in place, or four decades writing these, I would like terminated. to end the series gracefully, with a final St. Martin’s Press, $27.99 volume that ties up Dan’s and maybe US Hardback Blair’s arc. The question is, once that’s DECEMBER complete, what comes next? I once thought the Civil War series would occupy my declining years, but they weren’t renewed after the first three books – and I have to admit, they were personal opinions, at least I was in the the least popular. So, I’m open to new ring, fighting until the final bell. I do ideas! enjoy the reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and now and then I n Is there anything else you would like to even adopt a suggestion. share with our readers? With best wishes, yours in the Word, Just my heartfelt thanks. I have done Dave Poyer the best I could with these books and am very grateful for everyone’s support over the years. Not every story pleased everybody (including me), but that Visit David Poyer online at would have been an impossible expec- www.davidpoyer.com tation. If sometimes my reach exceeded my grasp, or I allowed myself a few 16 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 MARITIME ART FEATURE
British Marine Watercolors A brief guide for collectors PD - Art
BY JAMES MITCHELL All images courtesy of John Mitchell Fine Paintings in London
ABOVE Detail from “A Frig- James Mitchell is the co-proprietor of John Mitchell ate and a Yacht becalmed Fine Paintings which has been associated with tradi- in the Solent,” oil on can- tional British and European paintings for ninety years. vas, 25” x 29”, by English marine artist Charles With a gallery just off Brook Street in the heart of Lon- Brooking (1723-1759). don’s Mayfair, the business is now run by James and William Mitchell, the grandsons of John Mitchell who began the dealership in 1931, and their colleague James Astley Birtwistle. ver the centuries, “the silver sea,” of which Shakespeare wrote, shaped Britain’s island home and deepest identity. Britons, many Obelieved, had saltwater running in their veins. However, in modern Britain, our extraordi- nary history as a seafaring nation is not nearly as familiar as it once was. The great Age of Sail has become the esoteric province of historians and enthusiasts sustained by regular doses of Quar- terdeck and the latest gripping novels of our fa- collectors of pictures from the same period. vorite naval authors. Once-acclaimed sea painters – Brooking, Similarly, English marine painting no longer Serres, Cleveley, Swaine, Pocock, among others receives the attention it deserves, and its subject – aren’t a common currency in the way they matter thought too specialized, even among were, say, half a century ago. Collectors no †
17 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 the Age of Fighting Sail and begins to appreciate the many rewards of picture col- lecting.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Before looking at the illustra- tions, it is worth bringing to mind some general thoughts about the rise of marine art in England. The Anglo Dutch Wars of the mid-sev- enteenth century were the earliest in oceanic sailing ship conflicts that continued up to 1815. As Britain fought its “Deptford Creek, River Thames” main rivals – France, Spain, by William Anderson (1757-1837) and Holland – for dominion pen and ink, and watercolor, 8” x 13”, signed and dated 1798 of the seas, images of these wars were created by self-em- longer purchase their naval engage- who was typical of the many painters ployed entrepreneurial artists who ments, seascapes, and ship portraits to working from first-hand knowledge of needed to sell their work to earn a liv- hang in offices and private homes. ships and the sea. ing. Therefore, the marvelous exhibition A Scotsman brought up among ship- Not only were these wars determin- “Spreading Canvas,” a comprehensive wrights, he came to London in his ing their futures, but the artists’ depic- survey of the subject, held at the Yale twenties, where he spent the remainder tions of them had to pass the scrutiny Center for British Art in New Haven, of his very long career. His first paint- of very knowledgeable and discerning Connecticut, in the fall of 2016, was ing to be exhibited at the Royal Acade- patrons. Furthermore, only through timely. The exhibit’s accompanying my in 1787 was “A View on the these same images of the war at sea, three-hundred-page catalog is a schol- Thames.” The river’s life remained his and their wider diffusion as engravings,
arly, richly illustrated, and essential favorite subject. could the public at large gain any un- PD - Art addition to any maritime library. Although he exhibited until 1834, derstanding of events. It is also a vivid reminder that when his style belongs to the eighteenth cen- The value to modern historians of American philanthropist Paul Mellon tury. His views of shipping are close to period marine paintings is heightened was buying up these eighteenth-centu- those of Brooking and Dominic Serres. by the degree of observation that many ry marine paintings and watercolors in A son, Guy, died of wounds at the Bat- of the artists brought to their work. A London in the 1960s and ’70s, there tle of Copenhagen in 1807. Anderson’s few of them were personally involved was an abundant supply from which to watercolors routinely sell for between in the naval actions they depicted. choose. Today it is still possible to own $4,000 and $7,000. Some of the work was immediate, and fine originals by these very same artists Although I have mentioned oil much of it completed at a later date. featured in the “Spreading Canvas” paintings above, I will, for this article, Still, invariably in the paintings and catalog. Although scarce, these trea- concern myself principally with water- watercolors, particularly those from sures are no more costly in real terms colors on paper. before 1815, there is a compelling au- than in Mellon’s time. Through a selection from the many thenticity that comes from painstaking The first painting I bought at auc- hundreds of examples sold by our firm accuracy based on the first-hand expe- tion in the late 1980s was “Deptford over sixty years, I seek to persuade rience, with a balance of artistic flair. Creek, River Thames,” a watercolor readers that owning a beautiful English In these respects, English marine drawing by William Anderson (above), marine watercolor one connects with painting followed the example of †
18 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 the renowned Dutch artists, Willem van de Velde the El- der (1611-1693) and his son, Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), who was, in this writer’s opinion, the greatest marine painter of all. Even the most basic of comparisons between eigh- teenth-century English paint- ers and the Van de Veldes would show the Dutchmen’s far-reaching influence. And they have been de- scribed as “at once the glory and the bane of English ma- rine art. Their very excellence set a standard which none of “The Review of the Fleet, June 1773: His Majesty (George III) their successors have rivalled saluted by the Fleet at his arrival on board Barfleur at Spithead” by Dominic Serres, R. A. (1719-1793) but which many have at- pen and ink, and watercolor, 16” x 30” tempted to repeat.” They continued to influence marine artists into the middle of the nine- “The Review of the Fleet, June Serres) of Liber Nauticus, an instruc- teenth century, most notably J M W 1773: His Majesty (George III) tion book of 1805 for budding marine Turner, who copied the younger Wil- saluted by the Fleet at his arrival on artists, from which a page illustrated lem’s pictures and attributed his career board Barfleur at Spithead” (above) a the frontispiece of Patrick O’Brian’s to him. watercolor by the elder Serres, was Aubrey and Maturin novels. “That made me a painter,” he is re- painted as a souvenir of the review for Having had the good fortune to be puted to have said after seeing Van de John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent (1735- promoted by Charles Brooking before Velde’s famous “Bridgewater Sea- 1823), a future First Lord of the Admi- the latter’s untimely death, Dominic Piece” now in the museum at Toledo, ralty. Serres became the leading marine Ohio. At the center of two columns of men painter of his time. A founder member Van de Velde the Elder was himself o’ war in line astern, the 90-gun Bar- of London’s Royal Academy, Serres present at numerous sea battles, furi- fleur has just received the king on enjoyed a long and productive career, ously sketching away. Once established board. The Royal Standard has just and the patronage of many leading sea in England, their clients’ list began broken at the mainmast, and all the officers. with the king, his brother, and other ships are about to fire a twenty-one- grandees. At the same time, their thou- gun salute in response; numerous cap- THE RE-DISCOVERY OF sands of meticulous drawings of ships, tain’s barges and spectator boats add to CHARLES BROOKING in part and whole, have left an unprec- the liveliness of the scene. Sold by John edented record of the Restoration Na- Mitchell Fine Paintings in 2010, this Whether eighteenth-century marine vy, and its opponents. watercolor is exceptional for the artist, artists could rival the Van de Veldes In so many ways, therefore, the Van who is better known for his oil paint- may be disputed. Indeed, none came de Veldes inadvertently established the ings. closer than Charles Brooking (1723- rich tradition of marine painting in Good examples of Dominic Serres’ 1759), who broke away from their ste- England. A century after their time, work on paper can still be found for reotype, at once reappraising the sub- both Dominic Serres and then his son, under $10,000. He is perhaps most ject and introducing freshness, origi- John, enjoyed the title “Marine Painter familiar to readers of Quarterdeck as nality of composition, and a greater to His Majesty the King.” one of the artists (with his son J. T. emphasis on atmospheric conditions. †
19 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 becalmed in the Solent” (below left). His paintings re-surfaced in the 1960s after over two centuries in obscurity. At Christie’s in November 1963, a fine Brooking realized a record, far above any previous figure, of 5,200 guineas (equivalent to more than £90,000/$117,000 today). As very of- ten happens, news of a record price “flushes out” other examples from sur- prised owners, and within four months, three more Brookings sold at Sotheby’s, each for more than twice the previous sum. “The yacht Mary at anchor, with a royal barge and Two years later, Mellon bought an other small vessels in attendance” excellent pair of paintings by the artist by Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707) pen and ink, and wash, 6 ½ ” x 9 ¾”, signed with initials W.V.V. from our firm. From a collecting per- spective, it is interesting to consider that today the example here costs less than a recently completed yachting scene by the well-known yachting art- ist, J. Steven Dews (born 1949), so great has been the shift in tastes. Lest you now feel discouraged by this talk of heady sums of money, let us return to the article’s focus, the artists whose watercolors can still be bought today for more modest sums.
WILLEM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER (1633-1707)
“The Yacht Mary at Anchor” (top left) was recently sold by us to a US collec- tor for $17,500. This drawing is one of the more costly ones featured in this article. Van de Velde’s finest oil paintings can sell for millions of dollars. Draw- ings by him and his father are therefore in demand. “A Frigate and a Yacht becalmed in the Solent” Today, good Van de Velde drawings by Charles Brooking (1723-1759) start at around $7,500. This one shows oil on canvas, 25” x 29” William of Orange setting off back to Holland following his marriage to Brooking’s watercolors are very space needs to be devoted to him, Princess Mary in London in November rare today, and as his oil paintings other than illustrating a superb exam- 1677. The artist’s father accompanied are what he is renowned for, little ple of his work, “A Frigate and a Yacht them. The latter recorded the voyage †
20 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 in a separate sequence of drawings of his own. Just over a decade later, the Dutch prince returned to Eng- land to depose his father-in-law (and uncle), James II, and become King William III in what is now known as the Glorious Revolu- tion. This drawing would have helped Van de Velde paint his oil of the same subject now in Lon- don’s National Maritime Muse- um.
PETER MONAMY (1681-1749) “A Calm, with men working on a boat, and larger vessels beyond” by Peter Monamy (1681 - 1749) Peter Monamy was probably largely oil on canvas,13” x 20¾” self-taught, closely following Willem Van de Velde the Younger’s style and copying his paintings. He was not an innovative artist but emerged with Samuel Scott as one of the two leading figures in the first generation of British marine painters. “A Calm, with men working on a boat, and larger vessels beyond” (top right) is typical of his style, with figures in a dark foreground and shipping becalmed in the back- ground. We sold it at an art show in New York City in 2012 for $8,500.
NICHOLAS POCOCK (1740-1821)
A Bristol-born artist, Pocock belongs to the group of marine artists who spent extensive periods at sea. This “Shipping in Southampton Water, with Calshot Castle and company included both Dominic and the Isle of Wight beyond” John Serres, the Cleveley family, Sam- by Nicholas Pocock (1740 - 1821) uel Atkins, and numerous others. Po- pen and ink, and watercolor, 11” x 16”, signed and dated 1788 cock headed this group of seafaring painters, in terms of time at sea if not in terms of art. He did not give up his battle – the First of June 1794 – a dis- Wight beyond” (above). Our firm sold career as a mariner until the age of for- tinction he shared with Van de Velde this watercolor in 1972 and is ty. Throughout his voyages, he created the Elder. now back with us for sale. detailed sketches. Pocock’s watercolors are character- Encouraged by Sir Joshua Reynolds, ized by his color scheme of blues, SAMUEL ATKINS Pocock became a leading figure among greens, and pale yellows, as shown in (ACTIVE 1787-1808) the naval artists of his time. He was “Shipping in Southampton Water, one of the very few present at a naval with Calshot Castle and the Isle of Samuel Atkins began exhibiting at †
21 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 Sold by us in 2011,“An East Indiaman, with men on the yards taking in sail” (above top) is one of the finest watercolors we have ever seen, and com- pares with his best work which resides in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
PHILIPPE-JACQUES DE LOUTHERBOURG (1740-1812)
Philippe-Jacques De Louther- bourg arrived in England from France (although Swiss-born), “An East Indiaman, with men on the yards taking in sail” and he painted battle-pieces, by Samuel Atkins (active 1787 - 1808) landscapes, and coastal views. Pen and ink, and watercolor, 14” x 21”, signed “His drawings are spirited in line and pleasant in color, frequently with numerous figures well grouped,” to quote English art historian Martin Hardie. Among them is “Cowes Castle, Isle of Wight” (see on the next page). Many of his marine drawings relate to his major battle paintings, which became famous through engravings, for example, his “Battle of Camperdown.” The original oil painting is at Tate Britain Gallery, London.
JOHN THOMAS SERRES (1759-1825)
In 1798 John Thomas Serres succeeded his father Dominic as Marine Painter to George III. He was also appointed Marine Draughtsman to the Admiral- ty, spending many months at sea in 1801, charting Brittany’s coast to help “A Launching at Deptford” by Samuel Atkins (active 1787 - 1808) Britain’s naval blockade of Brest and pen and ink, and watercolor, 11” x 15½”, signed the other major French ports. Serres drew with a vigorous, strong line in a rapid calligraphic manner, the Royal Academy of Arts in 1787, Between 1796 and 1804, he voyaged which, once you have seen, you would the same year as William Anderson, to the East Indies. Another watercolor not mistake a second time. Many of his and the following year he was advertis- by Atkins similar to “A Launching at watercolors, both large and small, were ing his services as a teacher of marine Deptford” (above) sold in Oxford in painted in a long, panoramic format. drawing near the Strand in London. October 2018 for $5,600. His colors and highlights tend to be †
22 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 more pronounced than those of artists like Anderson and Cleveley. A water- color like the younger Serres’ “HMS Phoebe off Toulon” (middle right) would be valued at around $9000. “King George III cruising in a cap- tured French Frigate” (bottom right), a delightful drawing of a scene which Serres witnessed: soon after the Battle of the Nile in 1798, a captured French ship (re-named San Fiorenzo) arrived at Weymouth on the Dorset coast. On summer holiday with his family, King “Cowes Castle, Isle of Wight” George III boarded the prize for a sail. by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg (1740-1812) pen and ink, and watercolor, 9” x 15”, signed The Royal Standard flies from the mainmast, with Portland Bill visible at the extreme left. Serres carefully in- scribed the drawing with the title at the bottom. “The River Thames, London, with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance” (see page 26), a charming scene was priced at $3,250.
JOHN CLEVELEY THE YOUNGER (1747-1786)
One of twins born to a shipwright and marine painter, John Cleveley the El- der, at Deptford near London, Cleve- “HMS Phoebe off Toulon” by John Thomas Serres (1759- 1825) ley followed his father into the royal watercolor on paper, 8” x 14”, signed and dated 1794 dockyard and took drawing lessons at the Woolwich academy. He was a skil- ful draughtsman and could handle na- val vessels and small fishing craft with equal proficiency. “A British frigate and other shipping off Tenerife” (see page 26) a breezy little watercolor, costs $4,500.
ROBERT CLEVELEY (1747-1809)
Robert Cleveley’s watercolors are often confused by the “uninitiated” with those of his twin brother, John, but the “King George III cruising in a captured French Frigate” differences can be detected. Recent re- by John Thomas Serres (1759 - 1825) search suggests that Robert spent † pen and ink, and watercolor, signed
23 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 extended periods serving in the navy, which would ac- cord with the expert knowl- edge shown in an “Admirals’ Conference off the Isle of Wight, 1800” (see page 25) an exceptional watercolor showing British ships-of- the-line at anchor, with a spectacular array of flags and pennants flying. The exqui- “The River Thames, London, with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance” site detail achieved, merely with the tip by J. T. Serres (1759-1817) pen and ink, and watercolor, 4½” x 9”, signed and dated 1800 of a fine brush, is quite breathtaking.
MORE LOOKING AND LEARNING
In a brief introduction to the subject such as this, it is, of course, not possi- ble to encompass as many artists as one would like. Of necessity, I have con- centrated on a selection of pictures of which I have personal experience. The school of marine painting in Britain continued to evolve in the early nine- teenth century. In addition to J M W Turner, there were many other painters of ships and the sea whose work lies outside the scope of this article but merits just as much consideration as those I have fea- tured. Artists such as John Christian Schet- ky (1778-1874), François Francia (1772-1839), John Sell Cotman (1782-1842), Sir Augustus Wall Cal- “A British frigate and other shipping off Tenerife” cott (1779-1844), Clarkson Stanfield by John Cleveley the Younger (1747-1786) (1793-1867) and George Chambers pen and ink, and watercolor, 7½” x 10”, signed and inscribed Tenerife (1803-1840) all continued a rich tradi- tion well into Victorian times. Each left some memorable images of English marine watercolors, it is sur- It is worth making an appointment maritime life in the period. I encourage prisingly hard to study the real thing in the Print Room at the Yale Center readers to find out more about them up close. for British Art to look at the magnifi- and the earlier artists upon whom I Many museums in the United King- cent examples in their print cabinets. have dwelled. Most of one’s research dom and United States have sizeable Sadly, nowadays it isn't easy to do so at and learning will have to be done on- holdings, but they are seldom on dis- the National Maritime Museum in line and in libraries. Unless one is for- play because of a neurosis in the muse- London, where they have the most ex- tunate enough to have a neighbor or um world about the damage caused to cellent collection of its kind in the friend who owns a collection of them by daylight. world. †
24 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 The Victoria and Al- bert Museum, by con- trast, has a welcoming study room in which to admire their many su- perlative drawings. As one learns more about the history of marine painting, whether in Britain in the eigh- teenth or early nine- teenth centuries, or indeed in France, one might become familiar with an artist whose work one might like to “An Admirals’ Conference off the Isle of Wight, 1800” collect. by Robert Cleveley (1747 - 1809) Alternatively (and this watercolor on paper, 11” x 18”, one of a pair would be my recom- mendation), one may wish to try and land since there are still a handful of n own a few choice examples represent- dealers in London, such as myself, who enthusiasts in its thrall. ing the school as a whole. How to do specialize in English marine watercol- so could – and should – be the subject ors and oils, not least because this is BIBLIOGRAPHY of a book in itself, and, for space con- where they continue to come on to the siderations, I can only give the briefest open market. Expert advice on the res- E. H. H. Archibald, Dictionary of Sea outline of advice here. toration of watercolors is available. Painters, Antique Collectors's Club, Whether you are a picture dealer, A drawing that appears faded, spot- 1980 like myself, or a private buyer of pic- ted, or sun-damaged after two hundred tures, a “collector,” the knowledge re- and fifty years can be improved mod- David Cordingly et al., The Art of the quired is the same. Considerations of estly, and certainly much more success- Van de Veldes, National Maritime Mu- authenticity, quality, physical condi- fully than was possible even thirty years seum, 1982 tion, and price all come into play in ago. Similarly, the right advice on the buying pictures, whether it be an im- mounting and glazing of old watercol- Roger Quarm and Scott Wilcox, Mas- portant oil from the Renaissance selling ors is essential to their long-term well- ters of the Sea: British Marine Water- for hundreds of thousands of dollars or being, and again, these services are all colours, Phaidon 1987 an English watercolor from the eigh- at a specialist dealer's disposal. teenth century for a few thousand. I Any collector will tell you that the Nicholas Tracy, Britannia's Palette – recommend the advice of a profession- best way to come to an understanding The Arts of Naval Victory, McGill al. of paintings is through daily contact, Queen's University Press 2007 One must accept, too, that despite which possession brings. This is never the impression of abundant choice more true than enjoying a little group E. Hughes (editor), Spreading Canvas – which I may have given earlier, signifi- of watercolors painted during the great Eighteenth-Century British Marine cant examples of the work of some of Age of Fighting Sail in the comfort of Painting, Yale University Press, 2016 the artists mentioned are no longer ob- one's own home, as I am fortunate tainable today. One should always fa- enough to do. These are not financial vor a superior painting by a less speculations, after all, and should be Visit John Mitchell Fine Paintings well-known artist over a weak effort by appreciated solely for what they are: online at a famous name. windows into an extraordinary period www.johnmitchell.net. One may well require a trip to Eng- of history which continues to hold us
25 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 BOOK REVIEWS
tentions in Europe from Austrian dip- lomat Count Klemens von Metternich. Perhaps the most intriguing aspects of this 23rd title in the Kydd canon are notable appearances by Persephone, or Lady Kydd, and Cecilia, or Lady Farn- don. Persephone, the strong-willed admi- ral’s daughter, sails aboard Tyger to Sic- ily, where she becomes embroiled in domestic issues. Captain Kydd’s squad- ron penetrates the Adriatic, establishes a secret base, and plays hobs with hos- tile shipping. Cecilia accompanies Renzi to Aus- tria, where she enjoys the delights of society, poses as a neglected consort, crosses the Alps, and shows her mettle aboard Tyger during the historic Battle Balkan Glory of Lissa. Sea of Wolves BY JULIAN STOCKWIN Stockwin’s portrayal of the decisive BY PHILLIP K. ALLAN naval action is the work of a master Hodder & Stoughton, UK Hardback wordsmith, with discerning descrip- Independent, US Trade Paperback $26.99 tions of ship maneuvers, frightful ex- $19.50 OCTOBER UK / JANUARY US AVAILABLE NOW changes of cannon fire, unspeakable apoleon Bonaparte’s agents carnage above and below decks, and arly in the Second World War, smoke that Captain Sir the sheer, blind courage displayed by German U-boats and the Royal N Thomas Kydd and his “infa- mortals on both sides. E Navy play a deadly chess match mous frigate Tyger” have sailed with a Never one to rest on his oars, Stock- in the North Atlantic, with Allied mer- small frigate squadron on a secret mis- win introduces new stimulating charac- chant ships in convoys standing as the sion to the Adriatic Sea. ters like Lucius Cavendish Henry pawns. The French Emperor, determined to Craddock, an English merchant bank- At Bletchley Park, an English coun- rid the waves of the notorious Captain er, and a young boy called “Tomkin try house and estate in Milton Keynes Kydd, whom he dubs the “Sea Devil,” Toughknot” by the Tygers. And, for north of London, a code-breaking team dispatches “a fleet double the weight of good measure, there’s a shocking inci- labors around the clock to penetrate metal” commanded by Admiral Ber- dent that affects Kydd’s future. the German Enigma cipher and thwart nard Dubourdieu, victor of Toulon, to The inclusion of historical characters the enemy’s moves at sea. the “French Lake.” like Ludwig von Beethoven, Klemens British novelist Philip Allan inter- With Kydd in command, the British von Metternich, British Admiral Sir twines three gripping stories, laying frigates have orders to raise “havoc in Sidney Smith, and French Admiral bare the hellacious life-and-death the Adriatic where Boney believes him- Dubourdieu, among others, engenders choices ordinary humans must make in self secure because he holds both sides an authentic, page-turning narrative. the throes of war. of the sea.” Balkan Glory is an epic chapter in At La Rochelle, France, on the Bay At the same time, Nicholas Renzi, or the splendid Kydd canon, weaving of Biscay, Kriegsmarine Lieutenant Lord Farndon, after a back-stairs meet- knotty political gambits with stirring Klaus Werner, transferring from de- ing at the Foreign Office with a high- naval actions, expressively re-creating stroyers, reports for duty with the ranking British secret service official, the often harsh reality Jack Tars wit- Third U-boat Flotilla reconnects with travels to Vienna on a covert mission nessed within their wooden walls dur- Lieutenant Hans Brunner. The two and discovers Bonaparte’s sinister in- ing the Napoleonic Wars. n officers are assigned to U70, com- †
26 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 BOOK REVIEWS manded by “a proper Nazi” called Otto ties, with the “constant crack and rum- Stuckman. ble of gunfire and tank engines At Liverpool, Lieutenant Leonard outside” to keep them company. Cole, who survived the sinking of His Despite limited experience, the Majesty’s battleship Royal Oak at Scapa young doc, often sleep-deprived and Flow in 1939, reports aboard the Flow- fortified between shifts with alcohol- er-class corvette HMS Protea. The laced grapefruit juice – a “screamer” – ship’s mission is to defend Allied con- gains a reputation for dealing with voys against German wolfpacks. complex wounds, creating resentment Arriving at Bletchley Park, Vera with senior medical officers. Baldwin, a young English woman with As a motor torpedo (PT) boat carry- an affinity for solving puzzles, assumes ing “Linc” to treat casualties from an her duties as a cryptanalyst, while her air attack approaches Tulagi, “a six “brother George is doing his bit in the pack of Jap ‘Betty’ bombers” emerge RAF.” from the midday sun and begin “blow- Allan sets the board nicely, launch- ing up everything in and around the ing a fast-moving narrative, with U70 harbor,” including his ride. leaving her pen on the French coast Crawling ashore amidst burning bound for the Allied shipping lanes, buildings, shattered palm trees, and an while Protea plunges into the North The Hooligans “LST aflame from stem to stern,” the Atlantic, with “three straggling lines of BY P. T. DEUTERMANN air alive with the “wail of sirens, crack- merchant ships . . . the dark sea around ling fires, and the sounds of aircraft them whipped up into mountains of St. Martin’s Press, US Hardback buzzing around,” he faces the madness $27.99 slate grey.” AVAILABLE NOW of war. The pieces begin to move, and the With doctors scarce, the Navy as- match intensifies, as U70’s torpedoes n the wake of Japan’s attack on signs Linc to the MTB squadron on set ships and the sea ablaze. Protea Pearl Harbor, third-year Duke Tulagi, where he organizes and sets up checks the lethal threat, driving the I medical-school resident Lincoln a field hospital between enemy air at- U-boat deep with a merciless depth Andersen enlisted in the Navy and tacks and treating in-coming casualties charge attack. lands on Guadalcanal in the Solomon from nighttime actions fought against In her wooden hut at Bletchley, Ve- Islands in August 1942. the Imperial Japanese Navy. ra analyzes German radio intercepts Allied forces, primarily American Riding along on his first patrol, he and begins to connect data, which Marines, had come ashore on “Cac- has his initial taste of combat at sea eventually directs Protea’s next moves. tus,” the code name for the island, and when “ear-cracking explosions . . . raise Among Allan’s characters are a com- Tulagi and Florida, across Sealark surprisingly large fountains of yellow- pelling lot, from the “zealot” Stuckman Channel, killing or driving Japanese tinged water . . .” Ducking down, he to Protea’s commander, Paul Garner, forces into the fetid jungle. realizes this is “a wooden-hulled boat” who has a personal score to settle, to The six-month-long bloody Battle of and longs for his bunker onshore. Vera Baldwin, who realizes that her Guadalcanal, codenamed “Operation Beyond Andersen, the characters, judgments can have unintended conse- Watchtower,” is underway. The fanati- from the “Hooligans” manning the quences. cal enemy defenders are outnumbered MTBs to the Marines to the docs and By the end, one is left with the sense but prove fierce and lethal fighters, at- nurses, ring true to America’s “Greatest that humanity surfaces at improbable tacking in suicidal waves at night. Generation.” times in the madness of war, no matter Doc Andersen and his surgical team P. T. Deutermann’s evocative and on which side one sits. labor to exhaustion in the “Big Top,” a brisk narrative oozes raw authenticity, Sea of Wolves, a World War II thrill- portable service hospital under a green reflecting his experience commanding a er in the tradition of Douglas Reeman, canvas tent forty feet on a side. Sanita- patrol gunboat in Vietnam during a once again evinces Philip Allan’s con- tion isn’t even a rumor as they strive to distinguished 26-year career in the siderable prowess as a storyteller. n save the lives of young combat casual- United States Navy. n
27 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 BOOK REVIEWS
go to London . . . to call on the Admi- ralty and see if I might find a com- mand.” As fate has it, the 38-gun frigate Te- nacious, anchored at Falmouth and bound for Halifax with a merchant convoy, requires a captain in the wake of her former commander’s death un- der bizarre circumstances. Accepting the new commission, Geoffrey Huband King inherits a ship’s company “close to revolt,” and a first officer used to Online Book accomplishing things in his own man- Sources ner, having been given the freedom to act as he saw fit by the late Captain McBooks Press Wheatstone. The former captain’s decision to www.mcbooks.com bring aboard two scheming women as passengers assures that King’s return to Rowman & Littlefield Lone Escort service is anything but routine – even www.rowman.com BY ALARIC BOND before weighing anchor. The addition of James Croft to the Old Salt Press, Trade Paperback ship’s wardroom, albeit as the second Lyons Press $14.95 AVAILABLE NOW lieutenant, and a smattering of Jack www.lyonspress.com Tars who previously served with King bserving a sea chase from buoy his spirits. Sheridan House Beachy Head on the South Bond’s latest entry in his Fighting O Downs, Captain Thomas Sail Series brings Thomas King’s steady www.sheridanhouse.org King, retired to secure country life, is leadership to the fore, as Tenacious sets transfixed by a British postal packet sail down the Channel and into the Amazon “clawing for the chalk cliffs,” pursued Atlantic with enemy men-of-war on www.amazon.com or by a French privateer schooner. the loose. Alone on the summit, save for his When the merchant Lady Camden, www.amazon.co.uk black dog Beth, the former Royal Navy carrying valuable cargo and British ar- officer’s “old instincts quietly” awaken my officers, is seriously damaged in a Barnes & Noble as the drama unfolds before him, with North Atlantic blow, Tenacious and the www.barnesandnoble.com puffs of smoke from the Frenchman’s former Indiaman set a course for Ire- bow signaling the opening salvo in land for repairs, exposing themselves to what results in a losing encounter. enemy raiders, which inevitably appear. The Book Depository As the packet “headed for what King Cracking the cover to Lone Escort is www.bookdepository.com assumed was the protection of a nearby tantamount to being greeted by old shore battery,” he returns home to his friends in the snug confines of a con- Abe Books estate from his constitutional to find vivial public house, with logs snapping his common-law wife Aimée entertain- and hissing in the fireplace on a wet www.abebooks.com ing James Croft, his past lieutenant. and blustery autumn evening. The afternoon action at sea and a Alaric Bond stands as one of Brit- Alibris companionable visit with Croft leave ain’s finest contemporary chroniclers of www.alibris.com him sleepless until the early morning the British Royal Navy under sail. n hours, when he tells Aimée, “I want to – George Jepson
28 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 MARITIME FICTION
A King’s Cutter A Brig of War Word of Honor BY RICHARD WOODMAN BY RICHARD WOODMAN BY ROBERT N. MACOMBER
It is 1792 and Nathaniel Drinkwater is In 1798, Nathaniel Drinkwater is pro- Word of Honor is the third book in the back in the Royal Navy, this time ap- moted lieutenant of the brig Hellebore. Spanish-American War Trilogy. A veter- pointed to the twelve-gun cutter Kestrel, Routine convoy escort duties end an of espionage operations for the Office commanded by the inscrutable Madoc abruptly when Admiral Nelson, pursuing of Naval Intelligence, with considerable Griffiths. With the gathering menace of the French fleet to Egypt, sends Helle- sea and combat experience, Peter Wake the French Revolution, he is involved in bore to the Red Sea with an urgent warn- is called in three years after the war to secret and dangerous operations off the ing to the British squadron there. How- explain his decisions and actions in the French Coast including the rescue of ever, Nelson’s apprehensions over French Caribbean during the wartime summer émigrés and the landing of agents. As ambitions in the East are more than jus- of 1898. As he briefs his interrogators, he Europe plunges deeper into war, Kestrel tified. Edouard Santhonax, Drinkwater’s recalls surviving two major land battles takes part in the struggle for supremacy old enemy, is already preparing for a and a climatic sea battle near Cuba, then in the Channel and Drinkwater encoun- French descent on India. The hunt for taking command of auxiliary cruiser Dix- ters Edouard Santhonax, a man who is this elusive Frenchman and his frigate is on, manned with regular and reservist stirring up interest with British govern- combined with British naval operations officers and men. Wake soon tackles ene- ment agents. Through Drinkwater’s ini- on the flank of Napoleon’s Egyptian my blockade-runners, participates in the tiative, the network of intrigue is dis- campaign. During the attack on Kosseir, invasion of Puerto Rico, encounters fu- covered, but the Royal Navy is paralyzed Drinkwater is left for dead. His escape ture president and war hero Theodore by mutiny. and the subsequent desperate attack on Roosevelt, and pursues an elusive Span- Santhonax leads to a still more danger- ish ocean raider on the loose somewhere ous situation. in the Caribbean.
McBooks Press, $14.95 McBooks Press, $14.95 Naval Institute Press, $29.95 US Trade Paperback UK Trade Paperback US Hardback FEBRUARY FEBRUARY AVAILABLE NOW
29 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 MARITIME FICTION
By Force of Arms The Maddest Idea Napoleon’s Run BY JAMES L. NELSON BY JAMES L. NELSON BY JONATHAN SPENCER
As the War of Independence begins in In the late summer of 1775, General London, 1798. Late one night, a junior earnest, American merchant seamen pre- George Washington discovers that his naval officer at the Admiralty intercepts a pare to strike the first blows. None cache of gunpowder has dwindled to a coded despatch, marked with blood: strikes more deftly than Isaac Biddle- mere nine shots per man. A desperate Napoleon Bonaparte is about to launch comb, captain of the Judea, whose smug- plan is hatched to send a ship under the largest invasion fleet in history. gling activities are making a mockery of command of Captain Isaac Biddlecomb Target: unknown. England is vulnerable, His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Pursued by to Bermuda to capture the British pow- bereft of allies, and the Sea Lords fear a HMS Rose, he sacrifices the ship he loved der known to be there. But the plan is a direct assault on Britain. Admiralty to the depths, together with the fortune trap, set by a traitor among the patriots, Intelligence sounds the alarm and he stood to gain, rather than surrender. and one from which even Biddlecomb prepares to unleash Nelson and the On the run from the enraged forces of cannot escape. Washington dispatches Mediterranean squadron. But before they King George, Isaac disguises himself as a his aide-de-camp, Major Edward Fitzger- can, they need vital information. They merchant seaman. He is reunited with ald, to hunt the traitor down, while Bid- need a special officer to infiltrate by land Ezra Rumstick, a comrade and fierce reb- dlecomb must rely on cunning and or by sea to uncover the destination of el, as the revolution gathers momentum. seamanship to free his men and the ship, Napoleon’s armada – a man who never On a brig bound for Jamaica, and now and to capture the gunpowder that is the stops. Marine Lieutenant William John serving as a lowly mate, fate tests Isaac’s lifeblood of the fight for liberty. Divided Hazzard. But will he agree to help them? mettle as he is captured by the enemy by an ocean but bound by cause, as well Betrayed by the Admiralty at the African and faces a life of servitude under the as their own fears, Biddlecomb and Cape three years earlier, Hazzard has deranged captain and sadistic crew of Fitzgerald must take on a common ene- vowed never to trust them again. But the HMS Icarus. my – the greatest military power on Admiralty knows just how to get him earth. back.
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30 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 MARITIME FICTION
NATHAN PEAKE NOVELS The Time of Terror The Tide of War The Price of Glory BY SETH HUNTER BY SETH HUNTER BY SETH HUNTER
In the Time of Terror, friends turn Newly-promoted Captain Nathan Peake Captain Nathan Peake’s adventures con- against friends, patriots are betrayed, and is despatched to the Caribbean to take tinue as he charts a perilous course into lovers must pay the ultimate price. 1793: command of the British navy’s latest the dangerous waters of post-Revolution- British Royal Navy Commander Nathan frigate, the 32-gun Unicorn, a ship with a ary Paris. There, he encounters two of Peake patrols the English coast, looking tragic history of mutiny and murder. In- the most beautiful and scandalous cour- for smugglers. Desperate for some real deed, her previous captain was found tesans in history and their playmate, action, Peake gets his chance when washed up on the shore in New Orleans laughingly dubbed Captain Cannon, France declares war on England and de- with his throat cut, and the men who did who is about to win enduring fame as scends into the bloody madness of the it are still at large. But Peake has greater Napoleon Bonaparte. Back at the helm Terror. Peake is entrusted with a mission problems to deal with: he must find the of the Unicorn, Peake joins Captain Hor- to wreck the French economy by smug- French war ship Virginie – sent to the atio Nelson, another young glory-seeker, gling fake banknotes into Paris. His ac- region to spread war, rebellion, and may- in a bid to wreck Bonaparte’s plans for tivities take him down Paris streets hem – and stop her at any cost. Along the invasion of Italy. Amidst the chaos of patrolled by violent mobs and into the the way, he confronts the seductive war, Peake has his own private agenda to sinister catacombs beneath the French charms of La Princesa Negra, who leads find his lost love; but as the fighting capital. As opposition to the Terror the Army of Lucumi in Cuba, and falls spreads from the mountains to the sea, mounts, Peake fights to carry out his victim to the dangerous intrigues of the he discovers that glory comes at a higher mission – and to save the life of the American agent Gilbert Imlay. price than he originally thought. woman he loves.
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NATHAN PEAKE NOVELS The Winds of Folly The Flag of Freedom The Spoils of Conquest BY SETH HUNTER BY SETH HUNTER BY SETH HUNTER
1796 – Nathan Peake, captain of the 1797 – Britain stands alone against the 1798 – Admiral Nelson has sent Captain frigate Unicorn is sent into the Adriatic forces of Revolutionary France. A victo- Nathan Peake across the Middle East to to scourage the sea of privateers and turn rious French Army, led by the youthful convey grim news. Napoleon Bonaparte’s Venice against Revolutionary France. Napoleon Bonaparte, is poised to invade army is poised to deliver a fatal blow to But Nathan is drawn into an even more Britain. And in his country's darkest Britain’s wealth and power. Arriving in sinister web involving two of the most hour, Captain Nathan Peake finds him- Bombay, Nathan takes command of the feared women of the age: Emma Hamil- self imprisoned by his own side on the East India Company’s naval wing, the ton, the courtesan turned courtier, and Rock of Gibraltar charged with treason. Bombay Marine. With only meager re- the nun Caterina Caresini, uncrowned To prove his innocence Nathan must sources he must stop the flow of French queen of Venice. And most feared of all, uncover the great deception that masks supplies to their Indian ally and protect the mysterious agent of the Three In- the French war aims. Is the great armada the Company’s trade from enemy ships quisitors, known as Il Diavolo, the Devil. being assembled in Toulon bound for in the Bay of Bengal. But when Nathan As Nathan confronts the politics of “in- the shores of Great Britain or Egypt? His discovers the truth behind the East India trigue, poison and the stiletto,” he plays a secret mission to discover the truth about Company’s honorable facade he must deadly game with the young General Na- Napoleon's invasion plans will hurl him confront tough personal decisions – and poleon Bonaparte. In a bid to save the into two of the greatest battles of the 18th a crisis of conscience even more threaten- British fleet, Nathan joins forces with century. ing than the enemy. Horatio Nelson for a dramatic breakout from the Mediterranean and a perilous battle off Cape St Vincent.
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32 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 MARITIME HISTORY
Bound for the East Indies From Across the Sea Log of the Centurion BY ANDREW NORMAN BY SEAN M. HEUVEL AND BY LEO HEAPS JOHN A. RODGAARD The loss of the British East Indiaman In 1740, George Anson and his fleet set Halsewell on the coast of Dorset in This volume explores the varied contri- off to harass Spanish commerce in the southern England in January 1786 butions of North Americans to the Royal Pacific and attack towns on the coasts of touched the very heart of the nation. Navy during Great Britain’s wars against Chile and Peru. Four years later, over Halsewell was just one of many hundreds Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. It half the men had died and of the seven of vessels which had been in the service is the first book that explores this topic ships which left Portsmouth only the of the Honourable East India Company in depth. As an edited compilation, top Centurion had completed its objective of since its foundation in the year 1600. In specialists in the field have contributed attacking Spanish possessions around the the normal course of events, Halsewell thematic essays (on topics ranging from globe. Although this journey came at the would have been expected to serve out impressment to the Anglo-American cost of numerous lives and ships, the her working life, before passing unno- maritime relationship) as well as bio- Centurion had succeeded in capturing the ticed into the history books. However, graphical essays on a range of North biggest prize of all time, the Acapulco this was not to be. Her loss was an event Americans from both the officer ranks galleon. Captain Philip Saumarez kept a of such pathos as to inspire the greatest and the lower deck. For the biographical daily record of the voyage around the writer of the age Charles Dickens, to put portraits, special attention has been paid world in his four log books, which along pen to paper; the greatest painter of the to individuals who have not already been with a wealth of letters and documents age J. M. W. Turner, to apply brush to the subject of extensive research and give brilliant insight into life aboard canvas, and the King and Queen to pay writing. Accompanying these essays are these ships. Leo Heaps has compiled and homage at the very place where the catas- several never-before-published illustra- edited these manuscripts to provide a trophe occurred. Artifacts from the tions depicting some of the key North complete chronicle of the expedition. wreck continue to be recovered to this Americans as well as the ships and naval very day. battles in which they were a part.
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33 | QUARTERDECK | AUTUMN 2020 DOUGLAS REEMAN NOVELS
THE DESTINATION FOR NAUTICAL FICTION
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