Quarterdeck MARITIME LITERATURE & ART REVIEW
SUMMER 2020
Compliments of McBooks Press THE DESTINATION FOR NAUTICAL FICTION
www.mcbooks.com / www.rowman.com Quarterdeck MARITIME LITERATURE & ART 8 REVIEW
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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] SUMMER 2020 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Amelia A. Yeoman
INTERVIEW COLUMNS Quarterdeck is distributed by McBooks Press, an imprint of 8 J. D. DAVIES Globe Pequot 5 By George 246 Goose Lane, Suite 200 Britannia’s Victorian Royal Navy Richard Bolitho’s Clerk Guilford, CT 06437 comes alive in the Dawlish EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Chronicles George D. Jepson 14 AUTHOR’S NOTES Phone: 269-372-4673 Kydd’s Devon and Cornwall [email protected] www.mcbooks.com FEATURE by Kathy Stockwin
Visit Quarterdeck and McBooks Press 18 THE ROYAL GEORGE on Facebook Roy and Lesley Adkins chronicle the sinking of the Royal Navy’s 18 greatest warship. DEPARTMENTS
4 SCUTTLEBUTT
23 BOOK REVIEWS
ON THE COVER: 26 MARITIME FICTION
Detail from “In a Portsmouth Fog” depicting the 74-Gun 30 MARITIME HISTORY ship Hercules in 1759, an oil-on-canvas painting by American marine artist Paul Garnett. © Paul Garnett 31 MARINE ART
Tony Fernandes © Tall Ships Communications
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JULIAN STOCKWIN NEW BOOK ulian Stockwin’s new Thomas Kydd naval adven- RELEASES ture, Balkan Glory, will be launched in the Unit- J ed Kingdom in October and in 2020 the United States in November. US (United States) In 1811, the Adriatic, the “French Lake,” is now UK (United Kingdom) the most valuable territory Napoleon Bonaparte pos- TPB (Trade Paperback) sesses. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd finds his glorious PB (Paperback) return to England cut short when the Admiralty sum- HB (Hardback)
mons him to lead a squad- Photo by George D. Jepson. EB (Ebook) ron of frigates into these Julian Stockwin NF (Nonfiction) waters to cause havoc and distress to the enemy. JULY Kydd is dubbed “The Sea Devil” by Bonaparte who personally appoints one of his favorites, Dubourdieu, The Hooligans (USHB) along with a fleet that greatly outweighs the British, to rid by P. T. Deutermann him of this menace. AUGUST At the same time, Nicholas Renzi is sent to Austria on a secret mission to sound out the devious arch-statesman, A Furious Sky (USHB) Count Metternich. His meetings reveal a deadly plan by Eric Jay Dolin Bonaparte that threatens the whole balance of power in Europe. The only thing that can stop it is a decisive action at sea. He must some- SEPTEMBER how send a message to Kydd telling him to engage the French Adriatic fleet and “Destroy Dubourdieu.” Devil of a Fix (USTPB) Kydd faces his enemy with impossible odds stacked against him. Can he shatter by Marcus Palliser Bonaparte's dreams of breaking out of Europe and marching to the gates of India To the Eastern Seas (UKTPB) and Asia? by Julian Stockwin
DAVID DONACHIE OCTOBER avid Donachie has launched the four short Balkan Glory (UKHB) stories featuring Midshipman Charles De by Julian Stockwin D Vere Wormwood in His Majesty’s Royal Navy, scion of a rich, noble, and corrupt father, a A King’s Cutter (USTPB) sailor by parental coercion rather than inclination, by Richard Woodman who could sink Nelson’s Navy on his own. “The Wormwood stories were written for amuse- A Brig of War (USTPB) ment and to be humorous, based on the certainty not by Richard Woodman all naval officers could have been brave and upright, Word of Honor (USHB) David Donachie some being completely unsuited to the role,” says by Robert N. Macomber Photo by George D. Jepson. Donachie. “Charles Wormwood is such a per- son.” NOVEMBER All four stories – All at Sea, The Hero’s Curse, A Fleet to Command, and The Corsican Sisters are By Force of Arms (USTPB) available in individual ebook editions. by James L. Nelson The entire collection is also available in a trade paperback edition entitled The Maddest Idea (USTPB) Midshipman Wormwood Goes to by James L. Nelson War (see page 27).
4 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 By George! ICHARD OLITHO’S R Clerk B
n 1966, English novelist Kent. His books were published in Douglas Reeman took up a 19 countries and sold more than year-long residence in Portloe, 33 million copies. a small fishing village and an- Once, he told me that he con- Icient smugglers’ lair on the Roseland sidered himself to be Richard Bo- Peninsula along Cornwall’s rugged litho’s secretary – or clerk – Channel coast. reporting what happened in his Over several months, he steeped character’s life. himself in the Cornish culture, lan- To Glory We Steer, and Richard guage, and history, preparing to write Bolitho came along at a time of a new naval adventure introducing transition in naval fiction. C. S. Captain Richard Bolitho of His Maj- Forester’s death in March 1966 esty’s Royal Navy during the Age of left a significant gap in the genre. Fighting Sail. The Hornblower novels stood vir- To Glory We Steer was published tually alone in the genre, begin- in 1968 under Reeman’s pen name, ning in 1937 with the publication Alexander Kent, to acclaim on both of The Happy Return. sides of the Atlantic, and was “the PhotoReeman. Kimberley by By the mid-1960’s, Reeman beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Douglas Reeman on the cliffs above Portloe was an established novelist with his to quote Humphrey Bogart’s final Second World War naval adven- line to Claude Rains in the film Casablanca. tures, harboring a desire to write about the “It is a splendid yarn, and the hero is a wor- Royal Navy under sail. thy successor to Hornblower,” said The Daily “I’d thought about it for years, not as a series Telegraph in London. The New York Times but as a single book,” he told me in 2008, the Book Review opined, “Had George III a few year in which he celebrated half a century as a more like Capt. Richard Bolitho, commander published author. “It was very difficult in those of the frigate Phalarope, the American Revolu- days because everybody thought of it as C. S. tion might have worked out as well as the Bay Forester’s territory. It had appealed to me since of Pigs.” I was eleven years old and was taken on board Over the next half-century and beyond, HMS Victory by my grandfather. new releases in the Bolitho canon were pe- “I was encouraged by my American pub- rennial top-ten best-sellers around lisher Walter Minton to start the series, the world, often reaching number because he said, ‘You’re always talking one. Not infrequently, Reeman about Nelson and that period. had two titles competing on the Why don’t you write about it?’ same lists, one by Alexander Kent Val Biro and then he said, ‘What are we and another under his name. going to call this guy?’ I said, During his career, Reeman authored 37 nov- ‘Richard Bolitho,’ immediately because that els as himself and another 28 as Alexander was the name of the army captain I’d met †
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ABOVE Portloe, the small some years before in Gorey, Jer- fishing village that once sey, when I was looking for a harbored smuggling opera- tions along Cornwall’s berth for my boat. He was the south coast on the English brother of the then Lord Lieu- Channel. RIGHT The “big tenant of Cornwall, and he did grey house” on which the live to know he’d given his Bolitho family home was based, and in the novels name to our hero. I think he sits just below Pendennis was quite chuffed about it.” Castle at Falmouth, over- Once settled in Portloe, Ree- looking Carrick Roads. man set about developing the background in Richard Bolitho’s life. “I knew he would be a Cornishman,”
he revealed during an in- Photo courtesy of Kimberley Reeman. terview for Quarterdeck in 2005. “I’ve always loved Cornwall and felt stones between Falmouth, Fowey, and St close to it, used to go there when I was Mawes. a child, liked the mystique of the place, “The big grey house is not in Falmouth, of the beauty, the language, and the fact course, as a lot of people have discovered that so many great seamen came from who’ve gone looking for it. It’s inland, in a Cornwall. It was inevitable. small village. I saw it when I was planning the “It seemed Falmouth was the place first book, and I knew that was it, so I moved [for Bolitho’s home], situated on the the house in my mind to Falmouth.” River Fal. I fell in love with it. Most of Reeman loosely based Richard Bolitho on the names of Richard Bolitho’s first Admiral Augustus Keppel (1725 – 1786), a ship’s company come from grave- Royal Navy officer and politician, according †
6 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 PD - Art Image courtesy of Kimberley Reeman.
to Kim, who was her husband’s literary partner ABOVE LEFT Augustus meditative look at it. for over 30 years. “Douglas admired his integri- Keppel as a young offi- “I said, knowing his critical eye: ‘Is it good?’ ty, courage, empathy, and officer-like quali- cer in 1749, portrayed Meaning, ‘technically accurate,’ and he said qui- by English artist Joshua ties,” she explained. “He said Keppel ‘was made etly, ‘Yes. It’s good. It’s very, very good.’ He Reynolds. The painting of steel, with the quiet qualities of a hero.’” was completed on the liked the quality of the light, and the two vessels Those same traits describe Richard Bolitho. island of Minorca. Kep- ‘speaking’ at dawn, and I knew he was very The Cornwall thread carries through the pel’s pose closely re- drawn to it. “I said, ‘Would you like it?’ And he novels and in the lives of the Reemans. Fal- sembles English artist said, ‘Yes, I mouth and “the big grey house” appear for the Val Biro’s concept would.’ So I first time in the second chapter of To Glory We drawing of Richard Bo- bought it for litho. Keppel served his Steer. The frigate Phalarope anchors off the him.” country for 51 years as town, landing a press-gang charged with filling an officer in the Royal The marine out the ship’s company, while Bolitho returns Navy and in the House artist was Geof- to his family home with Lieutenant Thomas of Commons from 1755 frey Huband, Herrick. to 1782. ABOVE RIGHT and soon after, In 1985, two decades after his Portloe stay, The watercolor by Eng- he began a long Douglas and Kim holidayed in Cornwall. “We lish marine artist Geof- association with frey Huband that the Bolitho and explored the Cornish countryside, and he eventually led to him showed me the ‘real’ Bolitho house,” she re- creating cover paintings Reeman novels, called. for the entire Richard creating cover On one occasion, they were strolling Bolitho series, as well as art. through Mousehole, a village and fishing port the Reeman novels. It’s three near Penzance on the English Channel when years since they happened upon a small art gallery with a Douglas Reeman watercolor displayed in the window. “Crossed the Bar.” His naval adventures remain “We were walking past on the steep street, in print, still as fresh as the day they were ini- and Douglas saw it, and we stopped, and he tially published – a lasting legacy to the man gazed at it through the window,” Kim said. Kim lovingly calls “The Admiral.” n “Then we went inside, and he had a long, long, – George Jepson
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Detail from a painting by Richard Schlecht portraying the sinking in 1545 of the carrack-type warship Mary Rose in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. © Alamy J. D. Davies The Navy Royal Trilogy stretches from Henry VIII’s Mary Rose to the Spanish Armada
elsh novelist and mari- Destiny’s Tide, the first title in the trilo- time historian J. D. Da- gy, introduces young shipmaster Jack Stan- vies sets sail in the Tudor nard during a perilous period in England. era with his Navy Royal Fear, doubt, and distrust result from reli- Wtrilogy, featuring the seafaring Stannard gious changes executed by the old mon- family from Dunwich on England’s Suffolk arch, while Jack battles enemies at sea and Coast. deals with personal demons. The Stannard saga stretches from King In Battle’s Flood, the Stannard story Henry VIII’s wars with Scotland and moves forward two decades. Intrigue in France in the mid-1540’s – including ac- Queen Elizabeth I’s court entangles Jack tion aboard the Mary Rose – to the clash in and his son Tom in an infamous slave voy- 1588 between the English fleet and the age to the West African coast and the Ca- Spanish Armada. J. D. Davies ribbean with John Hawkins and Francis †
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NAVY ROYAL TRILOGY
Drake. With Armada’s Wake scheduled for nautical fiction has been set at that Armada’s Wake (see page 13) com- publication in August, we thought it time. I was very comfortable with the pletes the trilogy as the Spanish fleet was time to catch up with Davies. period, having studied and taught it for approaches England. Tom Stannard many years, and quickly realized how I commands a warship, while his son – George Jepson could take a very different approach to Jack serves aboard Drake’s Revenge. it, following one seafaring family Davies, an eminent authority on Since we last discussed your work, you through three generations who live seventeenth-century British naval his- have turned to the sixteenth century and through switchback religious changes tory, authored Pepys’s Navy: Ships, Men the Tudor era with your Stannard of the and are present at some of the most and Warfare, 1649 – 1689, which won Navy Royal novels. What drew you to famous naval events of the time, such the Samuel Pepys Award in 2009. His this period? as the sinking of the Mary Rose and the most recent history, Kings of the Sea: battles against the Spanish Armada. Charles II, James II and the Royal Navy, My publisher made me an offer I Jack represents the first of those gener- won the Anderson Prize in 2017. couldn’t refuse. Seriously, it’s quite a ations, so we also get to meet his chil- Gentleman Captain launched Da- long story, but in a nutshell, I was of- dren and grandchildren. The family vies’s fictional Journals of Matthew fered the chance to write a trilogy dynamic set against the backdrop of Quinton in 2009. Quinton’s naval ca- about a different era. After quite a bit turbulent times is a key element of the reer begins in 1662 at the behest of of discussion, we settled on the Tudor storylines. King Charles II, who seeks loyal offi- period, which is one of the most en- cers by offering commands to young duringly popular periods in historical Tell us about your protagonists, the Stan- cavaliers. The canon currently numbers fiction thanks to the likes of Henry nards? Are they based on historical fig- seven titles, a series prequel, and a pre- VIII’s six wives and Mary Queen of ures? † quel novella. Scots. Strangely, though, very little
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could address the big theme of reli- The remains of the Mary Rose, gious change and conflict, and spent whose demise plays out in Da- some time trying to think of a place vies’ Destiny’s Tide, are on dis- where I could best explore that. The play at the Mary Rose moment I thought of Dunwich, which Museum in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England. I already knew pretty well, I knew it provided exactly what I wanted. Al- though it’s now just a tiny village, it was once a large city that rivaled Lon- don as a port, but it was destroyed over the centuries by coastal erosion – in- deed, it’s sometimes described as “Eng- land’s Atlantis.” Setting scenes there ticked the box for the religious theme which allowed me to develop another storyline. The constant battle between Dunwich and the sea was slowly – and sometimes rapidly – destroying the town. That particular theme has a lot of contemporary resonance, too. Photo courtesy of J. D. Davies. Where has your research for the three Stannard novels taken you?
“The moment I thought of Dunwich . . . I Well, you won’t be surprised to hear that I spent quite a lot of time in Dun- knew it provided exactly what I wanted.” wich and the area around there. Al- though very little remains of the old town, it’s still possible to get a sense of He isn’t based directly on a particular farers. Later, his son Tom and his the layout, and substantial ruins of one individual, but on a very real and fasci- grandsons appear. It must have been an of its monasteries still exist. It also has nating group of men. Up until about astonishingly exciting time. I try to re- a terrific little museum with a wonder- the 1550’s, England had been very flect that in the first two books in the ful model of the town as it was before much an inward-looking country trad- trilogy, Destiny’s Tide, set in 1544-5 being swept away, and an excellent pub ing primarily with its near neighbors. during King Henry VIII’s last war, and with very comfortable rooms. Apart Suddenly, within literally a few years, Battle’s Flood, set in 1568 against the from that, though, I went back to the country starts to look outward, backdrop of the Drake/ Hawkins voy- Plymouth, which features in the sec- sending ships into the Mediterranean, age to the Caribbean, which is often ond and third books, carried out a lot to Russia, to Africa, and to America. seen as one of the seminal events in the of research in the libraries in London, The names most closely associated with birth of the Atlantic slave trade. and also went to Portsmouth to spend this “turn to the sea,” are the likes of a fair bit of time in the Mary Rose mu- John Hawkins and Francis Drake, who Dunwich, the ancient coastal village in seum. The raised wreck is now entirely appear as essential characters in the tril- Suffolk, has a compelling history. How on display, along with many of the ogy, but there were many others. I did you come to select it as the setting for finds brought up from it over the years, wanted to develop the idea of Jack the Stannards’ home? and there’s no better place to immerse Stannard, whose outlook and ambi- oneself in the Tudor navy! In a way, tions are initially pretty limited, but It was a real “eureka moment!” I want- though, I wish my research had taken who starts to see a bigger world with ed a reasonably substantial amount of me a lot further. Much of the action enormous opportunities for bold sea- action to take place on land so that I of the second book, Battle’s Flood, is †
10 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 FEATURE Photo courtesy of J. D. Davies.
ABOVE Ruins of Greyfriars, the Franciscan friary built at Dunwich in the early 13th century. RIGHT Dunwich by English artist J. M. W. Turner circa 1827, with the friary visible above the cliff.
set on the coasts of West Africa and the Caribbean, but I couldn’t justify the expense of research trips that far afield. Thankfully, there are plenty of † sources that provide excellent descrip- tions of the places I wanted to write about. Thank goodness for Google Earth, too.
As you research and write, do you find PD - Art yourself “living” in the period?
Absolutely. I’m pretty sure this is how I got into history as a child. I’ve always under the sea, what the monastery ty-first century after being deeply im- had quite a vivid imagination and have would have looked like and sounded mersed in the period I'm writing always found it relatively easy to visual- like when it was in use, Tudor sailing about, even during coffee and lunch ize how people and places must have ships come into port, the sights and breaks. looked in the past. When I was staying smells of the market square, and so on. in the pub in Dunwich, I’d sometimes The atmosphere and sense of lost glory Armada’s Wake, which will launch in go for a walk in the mornings on the in Dunwich are palpable. Once I get August, is the third and final title in the cliff by the monastery ruins. Looking writing, I’m a bit of a nightmare to live Stannard trilogy. Is there more to explore around, I could imagine all the lost with (or so I’m told!). It takes me a in fiction about Britain’s naval history houses and churches which are now little while to switch back to the twen- during the time of the Tudors? †
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Definitely. Although the three Jack possible source of stories. At the mo- and seventeenth centuries. Stannard books were conceived as a ment it’s a case of my agent and I try- trilogy and present a complete story ing to convince my publisher. Still, Your most recent history, Kings of the with a clear ending, there’s undoubt- even if he doesn’t bite, I’m determined Sea: Charles II, James II, and the Royal edly all sorts of potential for setting to continue and properly complete the Navy, explores developments that turned other books in the period. For exam- series one day fairly soon, even if it the Royal Navy into a permanent profes- ple, the books are set twenty years apart means self-publishing. sional fighting force. Do you have a new from each other, so it would be quite history project percolating? easy to fit additional stories into the Your sea novels also encompass life on sequence. Moreover, people sometimes land, a realistic telling of the lives of Not a new project as such, but I’m us- assume that the Spanish Armada is the mariners like the Stannards and Quin- ing the Covid lockdown to finally be-all and end-all of Queen Elizabeth’s ton. What sources do you draw from to complete a book which I’ve been work- war with Spain, and must have been describe life experiences ashore? ing on intermittently for over twenty the climax of it. Far from it. The war years. It’s the history of the aristocratic lasted another sixteen years after the A vast body of source material, really, family who dominated my home town Armada, or rather the first Armada, some of it consciously absorbed and in west Wales for a few centuries, and because there were two more, which some of it subconsciously, too. I’ve were incredibly well connected but also were scattered by bad weather. I looked been working on naval history academ- out-and-out eccentrics over successive at events at the tail end of that war in ically for getting on for forty years generations. They were friends of peo- The Rage of Fortune, the prequel to my now, and during that time, I’ve tried to ple ranging from Prime Minister Glad- Matthew Quinton series. However, ensure that I’ve always looked at the stone to Karl Marx to Dylan Thomas, there’s still a lot of ground that could bigger picture too: what people’s lives and had encounters with the likes of be covered. Possible events are the ashore were like, what towns and cities Napoleon, King Frederick the Great, “Counter-Armada” of 1589, an Eng- were like, and so forth. After all, gener- and the Prince Regent. One of them lish attack on Spain and Portugal ally speaking, sailors aren’t born afloat devised the modern laws of boxing and which turned into a fiasco, or the last and don’t grow up afloat, they’re origi- athletics, too. There’s not much naval voyage of Drake and Hawkins in 1595- nally from a place, a family and a com- material, but I’ve managed to squeeze 96. Who knows? There might even be munity, and they’ll often continue to some in all the same. Once I’ve got this potential for a Stannard/Quinton keep up these ties no matter how long book done, though, I’ll probably start crossover story. they’re away. In one sense, it’s quite casting around for a new non-fiction easy to do this in Britain because there project. I already have a couple of The Matthew Quinton Journals set are plenty of towns and villages rela- ideas. against the background of the next centu- tively little changed from Tudor and ry now number eight titles. Is there a new Stuart times, so it’s actually quite easy You seem to be never without a writing adventure on the horizon? to get a sense of what things must have project. Do you find the need to refresh been like for people in the past. For yourself between projects? What sorts of I’d love for there to be more Quin- example, the small village where I live things do you enjoy doing away from ton books. To say that I’ve got a lot of has several cottages that would have writing? ideas and material would be a consider- been around in Jack Stannard’s time able understatement. For example, and a pub which is much as it would I must admit that I’m quite enjoying it we’re coming up to the 350th anniver- have been in Matthew Quinton’s era, at the moment, which is the first time saries of the third Anglo-Dutch War, not to mention a fourteenth-century in over ten years that I haven’t had at which saw some of the most significant church and a maypole. Records prove least one project on the go and dead- and controversial sea battles in the en- that people were dancing around the lines to meet at any given moment. I’ve tire age of sail. At the same time there’s maypole’s predecessor in Elizabeth I’s had a couple of pretty manic years also the potential to go to the “Glori- reign. Apart from having a sense of where I got my timings wrong and ef- ous Revolution” of 1688. And the place, which I always try to project in fectively had deadlines for both a novel great French war of the 1690’s has the my books, I’ve read far too many books and a non-fiction book quite close to- additional element of Jacobitism as a about how people lived in the sixteenth gether, so I’ve vowed never to get †
12 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 INTERVIEW into that position again. So yes, I do need to refresh myself between books. That usually takes the form of travel. I’m not a “lie by a pool in the sun- Armada’s Wake shine” sort of person, but like to visit BY J. D. DAVIES interesting places and take long walks. That sort of trip isn’t feasible at the he beacons are lit – the Armada moment, but I’m lucky that there are is sighted off the English coast. great walks in the countryside directly The thrilling final installment of from our front door. Otherwise, I like T the Navy Royal trilogy. 1588: The great- reading historical and crime fiction, est naval force of its age bears down watching sports (especially rugby), lis- upon England. tening to music, and giving talks to As a devastating battle looms, a na- local and national history groups. I wish I could do more sailing, but we tion holds its breath. Jack Stannard, live about as far from the sea as possi- grandson of the original Jack, is sta- ble in England. tioned on Drake’s warship Revenge. His father, Tom, commands his own vessel Seven years ago, I asked you whether and even his grandfather is close by. younger generations did not appreciate Each must be ready for the greatest Britain’s rich naval and maritime histo- battle of their lives. Everything is at stake: the fleet, the Queen, ry. At the time, you seemed discouraged. England, and behind it all something even more binding. Family. Has your view changed in the interim? On every front they must triumph. Davies presents a intricate portrait of one of the world's most I’m a little more optimistic than I was important sea battles and its aftermath. Armada’s Wake is a bril- then. Although the situation in schools liant historical adventure, perfect for fans of Julian Stockwin, Pat- is still pretty dire, there’s been a consid- rick O’Brian, C. S. Forester, and Bernard Cornwell. erable upsurge in alternative ways of accessing history: YouTube, podcasts, Canelo Adventure, $5.99 and so forth. Maritime museums in the Kindle UK have gotten a lot more inventive AUGUST about putting out things like virtual tours, too. As a result, it’s never been easier for young people to access mate- rial about maritime history, which is undoubtedly starting to bear fruit. The I was honored and humbled recently to body, even if it is at a challenging time, numbers studying the subject at uni- be elected as chair of the Society for and I hope to be able to use the posi- versity are quite strong, and the really Nautical Research. It is widely regarded tion to raise awareness of maritime his- encouraging aspect of this is that a lot as the major international organization tory and heritage among the young. of young women, including a 21-year in the field and publishes the peer-re- But the responsibility certainly won’t old relative of mine, are now studying viewed journal The Mariner’s Mirror. stop me from writing naval historical it, rather than it being seen as very The society was founded in 1910, and fiction. n much a male preserve. It is all very en- in its early years it was principally re- couraging, but there’s still a long way sponsible both for saving HMS Victory to go. and for founding the National Mari- time Museum at Greenwich. Our pa- Visit J. D. Davies online at Is there anything else you would like to tron is HRH Prince Philip, Duke of www.jddavies.com share with our readers? Edinburgh. So it’s a great privilege to be taking the helm of such an august
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Julian Stockwin in Polperro, the ancient smugglers’ lair in Cornwall. Photo by George D. Jepson. Kydd’s Devon & Cornwall BY KATHY STOCKWIN
Kathy and Julian Stockwin work closely tures in a number of the books in the series. together as a creative team producing the An abiding relationship with Neptune’s Realm Thomas Kydd naval adventure titles. A is particularly strong in these two counties. former magazine editor-in-chief, Kathy brings an impressive range of skills to the table and in this seventh of a series of fea- Devon tures for “Quarterdeck” she shines a light In Kydd’s day the Royal Dockyard at Plym- on two maritime counties in southwest outh was a wonder of the age. A young Thom- England and their special place in the as Kydd proudly showed his sister Cecilia Kydd series. around the great complex in The Admiral’s ulian and I have the great Daughter. It covered 71 acres and employed fortune to live in Ivybridge, 3,000 artificers and thousands of workmen. In not far from Plymouth in the dry docks, majestic ships-of-the-line were the English county of built and repaired. In other areas of the dock- J Devon. As well as being a de- yard, huge hammer forges crafted tons-in lightful part of the UK in which to weight anchors in scenes that could have been have made our home, it, along taken straight from the Inferno. A rope walk with its neighboring county, Cornwall, fea- manufactured the miles of rope needed by †
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“In Kydd’s day the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth was a wonder of the age.” the fleet. Thousands of sails were sewn in the ABOVE English marine art- sail loft. And a hundred and one other activi- ist Nicholas Pocock creat- ed this panoramic view of ties were undertaken to keep the Royal Navy the Plymouth Dockyard on at Sea. the eastern shore of the To the Eastern Seas, the latest Kydd title, River Tamar in 1798. Cen- ter front is Dummer's opens with a crowd of onlookers peering out 1690’s stone basin and to sea on Plymouth Hoe, a large cliff-top, dock. On its left are one south-facing grassy open space. double and two single dry docks. On its right is the 1761 double quadrangle There was nothing to be seen but a dismal mias- storehouse. Behind the ma of grey fret, a drifting curtain of mizzle over docks are workshops and the listless water. It hid everything to seaward, the 1691 officers' terrace. but the crowd on the high vantage point were not On the right of the picture are building slips on the deterred from their vigil. They were not going to foreshore, with the smith- miss the occasion – rumour had it that in these ery, timber stores, mast, dispiriting times there’d been a great clash of and boat houses beyond. fleets somewhere far out there. Why else would The long 1760’s rope walks and Mount Wise are the flagship, now expected hourly, be said by the visible in the distance dockyard to be standing in for this great naval murk firmed the unmistakable outline of a overlooking Plymouth port? man-o’-war. Sound. Another wash of cold light rain settled on the ‘Clear a path, you villains!’ an elderly gentle- sodden spectators who doggedly continued their man with the distinct air of a mariner splut- watch. It eased off and visibility slowly extended tered, wiping the lens of a large old-fashioned out. Suddenly there was a cry: out of the grey sea telescope and bringing it up to train on †
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“There was nothing to be seen but a dismal miasma of grey fret, a drifting curtain of mizzle over the listless water.” © Alamy
the vision. ABOVE Plymouth Sound, Respectfully, the press of onlookers pulled back with Drake Island on the right. The view is similar to to give him a clear view. that which the crowd ‘What is it, L’tenant Danby?’ waiting for the Royal Navy ‘As I needs time t’ sight their colours!’ he replied flagship to appear in the gruffly. beginning chapter of To the Eastern Seas. ‘Well?’ RIGHT Julian and Kathy ‘A frigate, is all.’ Stockwin during a break at ‘Which one?’ the Royal William Victual- ‘How do I know?’ Danby said irritably, find- ling Yard in Stonehouse, a suburb of Plymouth, Eng- ing it difficult to hold the big glass steady. Then land. The yard, which is he lowered it and paused before declaring, ‘An’ if adjacent to the former I’m not wrong, you’re clapping peepers on none Royal Dockyard (now Her Majesty’s Naval Base De- other than the flying Tyger 32, Cap’n Kydd!’ vonport) was the major There was a ripple of comment. victualling depot of the ‘Not a flagship, then?’ Royal Navy and an impor- ‘No, you loon – she’s an escortin’ frigate. Your tant adjunct of Devonport Dockyard. Photo by Amy A. Jepson flagship’s still out there on her way in.’ All eyes were on the warship as she worked into the Sound in the fitful light airs. while waiting for the tide to change before sailing out to engage with the Spanish Armada. Plymouth’s maritime history stretches far Perhaps the most celebrated expedition to back in time. There is evidence that in 700 BC leave Plymouth was that of the Pilgrim Fathers it was already an important port. In the 14th who set sail for the New World on board May- century, Plymouth was used as a base for oper- flower in 1620. Plymouth was the departure ations against France. But it was Sir Francis point of many other famous sea ventures, in- Drake and his Elizabethan contemporaries, cluding the first voyage of James Cook in 1768 John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh, who aboard HMS Endeavour, and the second voyage put Plymouth on the map. Drake played his of HMS Beagle in 1831, carrying Charles Dar- famous game of bowls on the Hoe in 1588 win. †
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Cornwall Readers have told Julian how much they’ve enjoyed Kydd’s adventures in the smugglers’ lair of Polperro but it’s Cornwall’s sea presence – its iron-bound coast and majestic, often deadly, waters – that is particularly comment- ed on. In The Admiral’s Daughter, Kydd passes the Lizard, one of the sailing navy’s most iconic © Acceleratorhams ©| Acceleratorhams Dreamstime.com. seamarks:
Dawn arrived overcast; the ship had stood off and approach. They stood away to the south until the ABOVE The Lizard Peninsu- on in the lee of the Lizard throughout the night last eastern headland was reached; beyond, the la along the Cornish coast is the most southerly point and was now closing with the coast once more, the Atlantic swell crowding past the Lizard was re- in England. The Lizard's massive iron-grey granite of Black Head loomed. sulting in ugly, tumbling seas that put Teazer into coast was hazardous to There was nothing around but fishing craft violent motion, the wind now with real strength shipping long before Kydd’s in it, producing long white streaks downwind days. The seas around the and, in the distance, a shabby coastal ketch. Kydd peninsula were historically decided to send the men to breakfast, then put from the crests. known as the “Graveyard about to press on westward. This would mean a The land receded as the offing was made, then of Ships.” closer acquaintance of that most evocative of all approached again after they went about on the the seamarks of the south-west: the Lizard, the other tack, the seas almost directly abeam causing exact southerly tip of Great Britain and for most the brig to roll deeply. ‘Call down th’ lookouts,’ deep-ocean voyages, the last of England the men Kydd snapped. Even at forty feet, with the motion saw on their way to war or adventure, fortune or magnified by height the situation for the men in death. It was, as well, the longed-for landfall for the foretop would be dangerous and near unen- every returning ship running down the latitude of durable. 49º 20' finally to raise the fabled headland and Dowse pointed inshore where the sea met the the waters of home. land in a continuous band of explosions of white. Kydd had seen the Lizard several times, and ‘Man-o’-war reef, the Quadrant yonder,’ he indi- each experience had been different – watching it cated a cluster of dark rocks standing out to sea emerge leaden and stolid from curtains of rain, or and in furious altercation with the waves. ‘An’ seeing it dappled dark and grey in the sunshine Lizard Point.’ and sighted twenty miles away – but always with There it was: the southernmost point of Eng- feeling and significance. land and the place Kydd had always sighted be- ‘Do ye lay us in with th’ coast, Mr Dowse,’ fore from the sanctity and safety of the Kydd ordered. Curiosity was driving him to take quarterdeck of a ship-of-the-line. He clung to a a close-in sight of this famed place. ‘Oh – younk- weather shroud and took it all in, the abrupt er,’ he called to a rapt midshipman, ‘my compli- thump of waves against the bow and a second ments t’ Mr Renzi an’ I’d be happy t’ see him on later the stinging whip of spray leaving a salt taste deck.’ He would never be forgiven if it were on his tongue. missed. They eased round to the north-west and into The master pursed his lips. ‘Aye, sir. A board to the sweeping curve of Mount’s Bay, the last before the suth’ard will give us an offing of somethin’ the end of England itself. The scene was as dra- less’n a mile.’ matic as any Kydd had met with at sea: complete- ‘Thank ye,’ Kydd said gravely. With the south- ly open to the hardening south-westerly and long Visit the Stockwins westerly strengthening it was a dead lee shore Atlantic swell piling in, the rugged coastline was a online at www.julianstockwin.com around the point and asking a lot of the master to smother of white. n
17 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 FEATURE Detail from “The Battle of Trafalgar” by English artist Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (PD - Art). PD - Art Royal George The Sinking of the Royal Navy’s Greatest Warship
BY ROY AND LESLEY ADKINS
ABOVE English marine art- Roy and Lesley Adkins are co-authors of Jack Tar, The the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, in the Age ist John Cleveley the Elder War for All the Oceans, Nelson’s Trafalgar, Gibral- of Sail. One day in particular, 29 August 1782, (c. 1712 – 21 May 1777) tar and Jane Austen’s England. They describe here became memorable for the sinking of what was created a painting depict- ing a fictitious combina- how the mighty Royal George suddenly disappeared in then the Royal Navy’s greatest warship, the tion of two events set in sight of everyone, with the loss of 1,000 souls. 100-gun three-decker Royal George, about one Deptford Dockyard in and three-quarter miles south-west of Southsea southeast London: the any historic “hotspots” launch of the HMS Cam- Castle. bridge (left) on 21 October have experienced more In our last book, Gibraltar: The Greatest 1755, and HMS Royal than their fair share of Siege in British History, we featured this shock- George (right), a 100-gun history, and the top ing disaster in the prologue, adding further de- first-rate ship of the line, which was actually Mone hundred surely includes the area around tails in a later chapter, in order to show that launched at Woolwich Portsmouth, Gosport, the Isle of Wight, and the 1779 to 1783 Great Siege of Gibraltar (part Spithead in southern England. of the American Revolution) was played out as Just imagine the incredible scenes of shipping much at sea as on land. In the summer of at Spithead, the protected anchorage between 1782, the Royal George was anchored at †
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Spithead with numerous other warships, store- ships and merchant vessels, all preparing to re- lieve Gibraltar, which was in desperate need of supplies. The British fortress was under siege by Spanish and French forces, and the situation was critical, because France and Spain were about to launch a massive attack. The Royal George had accompanied two pre- vious relief convoys, the first one led by Admi- ral Sir George Brydges Rodney in early 1780 and the second one by Vice-Admiral George Darby in April 1781. On both occasions, the Royal George’s flag-captain was John Bourmas- ter, serving under the popular Rear-Admiral Sir John Lockhart Ross. When Admiral Lord Rich- ard Howe was put in charge of the third relief convoy, the Royal George became the flagship of the 64-year-old Rear-Admiral Richard Kem- penfelt, one of the Royal Navy’s most highly PD - Art regarded officers, responsible for radically changing the system of naval signaling. Martin Waghorn was appointed as his flag-captain. On that fatal August day, the weather was ABOVE A depiction of the sinking of the HMS Royal calm and sunny, ideal for last-minute repairs George on 29 August 1782 and the final loading of supplies. A great deal of at Spithead. The illustrated hurried activity was seen throughout the fleet, appeared in the Illustrated which was expected to sail any day, and Ports- Naval History of Great Brit- ain, from the Earliest Peri- mouth dockyard plumbers were waiting to od to the Present Time; a tackle a faulty water pipe on the starboard side Reliable Record of the of the Royal George. In order to tilt the vessel Maritime Rise and Prog- slightly and expose the pipe that was below the ress of England by Edwin John Brett (1827–1895), PD - Art waterline, the guns on the port (larboard) side which was published in PD - Art were run out so as to shift their weight. 1871. RIGHT The Royal While the plumbers began their starboard George starts her final fateful roll in this Victori- work, the Lark lighter with a final consignment an-era drawing. of rum was lashed to the port side, and the sea- were hunted in the water by the men, and man James Ingram began to help haul the there had been a rare game going on”. heavy barrels in slings to the upper deck. The The number of barrels on the upper deck Royal George had already been supplied with six increased, and so too did the amount of water months of provisions, and Ingram thought that pouring in, and the carpenter twice warned the the pipe should have been repaired before the lieutenant of the watch, but was rebuffed. A iron shot was loaded. This extra weight of bar- sudden slight squall then sent seawater gushing rels while the ship was tilted now caused the in. Spotting the danger, officers cried out to lower gunports to become almost level with the right the ship, but it was too late. Captain water, and the sea began lapping in with every Waghorn tried to warn Admiral Kempenfelt, wave. At first nobody was concerned, but used who was in his cabin, but the door stuck fast. the opportunity for some sport, “there being The speed of the disaster was incredible. Henry mice in the lower part of the ship, which were Thomas Colebrooke was waiting on the beach disturbed by the water which dashed in, they for a boat to take him to a storeship, at the †
19 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 FEATURE PD - Art
“Admiral Kempenfelt’s body was probably trapped inside the cabin and was never found.” start of a journey to India, when he heard a ABOVE A contemporary shout: “Where is the Royal George?” He turned, illustration of Royal George resting at the bot- and the ship had disappeared. The Royal tom of the Solent with her George literally fell over sideways, on top of the masts sticking up from the Lark, then sank rapidly to the sea bottom, be- surface. The watercolor was originally described as fore settling in a more upright position, leaving “Spithead, with the exact the masts visible. situation and appearance Today, for anyone sailing by ferry from of the ‘Royal George’, Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight, wrecked – with above 600 people on board – 29 Au- there is no indication that the route passes gust 1782.” RIGHT Vice- close to what was once the shipwreck site. At Admiral Richard Kempen- least 900 people drowned in just a few min- felt (1718 – 29 August utes, possibly more than a thousand, including 1782) gained a reputation as a naval innovator. He many crew members, marines, some dockyard was shown in a flag offi- workers, numerous merchants and traders, cer's undress uniform. wives saying their farewells, often with young Kempenfelt is best known for his victory against the PD - Art children, and hundreds of prostitutes, some- French at the Second Bat- thing that was in the past only coyly refer- tle of Ushant in 1781 and enced. for his death when his flag- The surrounding ships sent boats to try to ship, the Royal George, ac- ly of the packet boat Grenville witnessed what cidentally sank at Ports- rescue survivors, but for many the wreck be- mouth the following year. happened while moored nearby: came their last resting place. Admiral Kempen- The painting is by an un- felt’s body was probably trapped inside the known artist. “. . . the dead bodies belonging to the Royal cabin and was never found. Hundreds of bod- George floated and passed our ship both with ebb ies were swept away by the strong tides, and and flood tide; many we perceived on the shore at numerous corpses were washed up at Ryde and low water, and some I saw fastened by ropes to the Portsmouth. Little effort was made to recover buoy of a ship at Spithead. No reward being of- bodies from the sea in order to bury them, as it fered for burying the dead for several days, few was simply not customary unless a financial people troubled themselves about them . . . Our incentive was offered. The seaman Samuel Kel- ship lay off Ryde, exactly in the stream of ebb †
20 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 FEATURE PD - Art PD - Art
“Salvage work from the submerged upper deck of the Royal George began straightaway . . .” that came from the wreck, we had therefore an church, but the more ornate one has disap- ABOVE LEFT The sub- opportunity of seeing the dead in vast numbers peared. merged wreck of the Royal George, with salvage oper- floating by us.” Salvage work from the submerged upper ations underway. One of deck of the Royal George began straightaway, the first people on the At that time, Ryde was little more than a fish- using a vessel with one large and two small div- scene with a diving back- ing village, which the antiquary Sir Harry En- ground was Thomas Spald- ing bells, which Kelly spent time watching: ing, a surgeon on an East glefield visited in 1816. He asked an old Indiaman. He approached fisherman about a marshy meadow which ap- “The principal bell, in which was a surgeon of an the Admiralty and pro- peared to have rows of graves: “The man in a East Indiaman, with a Lascar (native of Bengal), posed that he and his brother Charles be allowed low tone, and with a sad look, said, ‘They are was very large, made like a porter vat, the largest to salvage valuable stores graves; the bodies cast ashore after the loss of the end downward. Round this a quantity of pig lead and ordnance from the Royal George were buried here. We did not was fastened on, to sink it; there were small round wreck using his brother’s much like drawing a net hereabout for some glass windows to admit light near the top, and a diving bell. ABOVE RIGHT Charles weeks afterwards; we were always bringing up a large hole in the bottom for the men to enter, un- Spalding’s diving bell. The corpse’.” The graves have long gone, but in der which a board was hung with chains, on two smaller bells were 1965 a monument was unveiled by Earl Mount- which the men stood. On sinking the bell, the likely used to bring fresh batten of Burma, who was Admiral of the Fleet. water rose within, as far as the air pent up would air supplies to the main bell via the tube running to In 2006 the original plaque was moved to a new let it, which might be about breast high on the it from the small bell on memorial garden further along the Esplanade. men.” the left. The corpses that washed up at Portsmouth were taken by cart to St Mary’s church at Ports- Kelly said that the two smaller bells were ea, to be buried in a mass grave, and two monu- raised and lowered as a means of supplying the ments were erected. Decades after the disaster, large bell with fresh air and getting rid of foul thousands of people were still visiting the air. Once in the water, the seaman swam churchyard, but in 1935 it was converted into a around the upper deck and secured ropes to public garden. One memorial is now inside the anything useful: “The Lascar went out of the †
21 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 FEATURE Photos on this page courtesy of Roy and Lesley Adkins.
ABOVE LEFT A copy of the bell to inspect the situation of the things on seventh edition (circa deck, and received air from the bell by means 1844) of the miniature book about the Royal of a leather hood covering his head with a hose George, which was bound to the air in the machine.” with covers made from Attempts to raise the actual wreck were ob- wood salvaged from the ship. structed for fear of disproving the court-mar- ABOVE RIGHT The memo- tial, which wrongly claimed that the timbers rial unveiled by Earl were rotten, when the real cause was negligence Mountbatten in 1965 at – heeling a fully laden ship with the additional proved so popular that it went through several Ryde on the Isle of Wight. RIGHT English historians weight of several hundred visitors. In 1783 editions. Roy and Lesley Adkins. William Tracey, a diver and ship broker from The tragedy was also remembered in poetry. Portsea, managed to raise the Lark, but every William Holloway is best known for his poem obstacle was put in his way when dealing with about the 1786 wreck of the East Indiaman the Royal George, and he went bankrupt. After a Halsewell, but in November 1840 he wrote few decades, such resistance petered out, and “Lines on Receiving a Piece of the Wreck of the further salvage work was done by the Deane Royal George,” which was printed at the end of brothers from 1834 to 1836. The wreck had the book and begins: been for too long a hazard to shipping, and so from 1839 to 1843 Colonel Charles William “Poor fragment of a mighty structure – won Pasley of the Royal Engineers cleared the site. From thy dark charnel-house beneath the wave; His methods were brutal, as he blew the wreck There thou with human bones hast made thy bed apart with explosives and collected whatever Fifty-eight summers, in thy watery grave.” floated to the surface, with divers salvaging ev- erything possible. The Royal George was the most famous ship- Much of the timber was publicly sold by the wreck in the world until it was eclipsed by the Dockyard and turned into keepsakes. One ad- Titanic, and at the time it caused a great deal of vertisement in 1841 was for “A few sets of Ta- shock, not just in Britain but further afield. As ble Knives, &c., manufactured from the iron John Byng (who later became Viscount Tor- and wood recovered from the wreck of the rington) said on hearing the news, “we sat long, Royal George, sunk at Spithead, 1782.” The prosing over the American War . . . as also on previous year, in 1840, a miniature book (4¼ the fatal loss of the Royal George man of war, a Visit the Adkins online at inches in height) was published at Portsea, with calamity that affects every bosom, and shocks n www.adkinshistory.com. wooden covers made from salvaged timbers. It the most obdurate heart.”
22 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 BOOK REVIEWS
mains in French hands, it will be a constant affront to the dignity of our king.” While Clay is in London, a small detail from Griffin travels up the Ply- mouth Road to Tavistock, seeking vol- unteer recruits. Among the newcomers is a prosperous-looking seaman called Larcum Mudge, who may not be all that he seems. Allan’s portrayal of the late eigh- teenth and early nineteenth centuries reveals a sweeping intimacy with Nel- son’s Navy – officers and Jack Tars alike – and the Georgian period. Under sail and bound for the Lee- ward Islands, Griffin captures a French privateer carrying a lucrative cargo and, surprisingly, Royal Navy deserters among her crew. Arriving at English Larcum Mudge Barbarians on an BY PHILIP K. ALLAN Harbour, Clay soon realizes that his commission faces perilous obstacles. Ancient Sea Independent, US Trade Paperback Guadeloupe, where Peregrine, possi- BY WILLIAM WESTBROOK $19.50 bly changed in appearance, may be AVAILABLE NOW found, is an armed enemy sanctuary. McBooks Press, US Trade Paperback $18.95 nce again, English novelist Pointe-à-Pitre, the harbor on the island AVAILABLE NOW Philip K. Allan sails into with facilities to accommodate the O treacherous waters in Larcum ship, “lies at the bottom of a difficult aught in a savage storm, a ship Mudge, the eighth installment chroni- bay that is full of reefs and islands,” bound from Boston to Algiers cling Captain Alexander Clay’s career cautions Rear-Admiral Sir George founders on a barrier reef on in His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Montague. “There is only one practical the north coast of Bermuda. A chest A warm, lush night in the Mona entrance for shipping, and that is pro- filled with gold coins plunges “down to Passage off Hispaniola turns murder- tected by some notable fortifications.” a blackness even darker than the sky.” ous aboard the Royal Navy sloop-of- Montague offers “little assistance” Weathering the same tempest two- war Peregrine. A few months later, beyond a sloop captained by a peculiar, hundred miles to the southwest, Nich- Clay’s frigate Griffin is out of the dock- slightly cantankerous bibliophile with a olas Fallon’s privateer schooner Rascal yard at Plymouth when he receives a foul temper, deceitful interests, and a rescues the crew of the American sloop summons from the Admiralty in Lon- propensity for duels if that’s not formi- Liberty struggling to stay afloat. don. dable enough. Captained by New England fisher- Proof surfaces that mutineers seized Against these odds, Clay and the man Caleb Visser, the lost ship was the Peregrine and killed her officers in Griffins carry out their mission against bound for Algeria in company with the cold blood before selling the ship to the French and Peregrine. Rousing sea schooner Jocelyn, commanded by his the French at Guadeloupe some battles, smuggling, corruption, and an brother, Alwin, when separated by the months earlier. An angry Earl St Vin- ominous threat from Clay’s past com- gale. The sloop carried $12,000 in gold cent, the First Sea Lord, dispatches bine in a page-turning narrative that coins to ransom their father, enslaved Clay and Griffin to recapture or de- characterizes Allan’s novels. by Dey Mustapha Pasha in Algiers. stroy the ship. And throughout, there’s the unset- Fallon, sailing for Ezra Somers’ Salt “Go and wipe that stain on our hon- tling question, “Who is Larcum Company, protects its merchant ships our clean,” he demands. “While it re- Mudge?” n while also carrying a letter of marque †
23 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 BOOK REVIEWS from the British Admiralty, allowing Halifax.” Rear-Admiral Phillip Durell him to attack Great Britain’s adversar- misinterprets the British squadron’s ies – the French and Spanish – on the original orders to patrol the Gulf of St. high seas “and not be hung as a pirate.” Lawrence, delaying implementation by Anchoring in St. George’s harbor on two months. Bermuda’s northern coast, Fallon is Meanwhile, a French convoy with soon entangled in the Visser affair. critical supplies for Quebec breaks Across the Atlantic, seventy-year-old through late seasonal ice into the St. Wilhelm Visser struggles on the quays Lawrence without a challenge from under a searing Mediterranean sun, British warships. unloading ships carrying pirated goods. When Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Physically and emotionally broken by Saunders, Commander-in-Chief North captivity, he harbors little hope of es- America, arrives in Halifax and repeats cape. his directive to Durell, Carlisle and The elder Visser was en route to the Medina are soon at sea, bound for the lucrative Mediterranean market with a St. Lawrence. cargo of cod when he and his ship fell Moving a fleet up the river toward to Barbary pirates and were turned over Quebec, with a battalion of soldiers to Pasha. The corsairs’ leader, Achille under Major-General James Wolfe, Zabana, knows only evil and cruelty. Rocks and Shoals and no up-to-date charts to safely navi- A Frenchman by a Turkish mother BY CHRIS DURBIN gate requires a survey of the waterway. and unknown father, Zabana leads a As the lead ship, Medina is assigned “a band of European renegades. The brig- Old Salt Press, US Trade Paperback tall man in the plain blue coat of a sail- $13.23 ands prey on shipping in the Mediter- AVAILABLE NOW ing master” named James Cook. The ranean, capturing wealthy and influen- young man acquired the key to New tial passengers, who Pasha enslaves for n early 1759, the Seven Years’ France with a “single gold coin.” profit. War is into its fourth year. Cap- Chris Durbin places the reader Once a slave himself, Zabana, is a tain Edward Carlisle, fresh from aboard Medina, along with Carlisle and depraved madman sailing a well-armed the fall of Louisbourg and his son’s Cook, providing a “you-are-there” ex- xebec aptly called Serpent. A lethal kill- birth at Williamsburg, is ordered north perience. The challenges – natural and ing machine lashed to the deck merci- to take part in the blockade of the St. made-made – are significant, as the lessly terrorizes random victims and Lawrence River. ship navigates toward Quebec. Sand- those he perceives as enemies. Fate has not been kind to George bars, shoals, and currents hinder the A chance encounter between Rascal Holbrooke. Returning to England advance, while withering musket and and Serpent thrusts Fallon and Zabana from France after a prisoner exchange, artillery fire threaten British vessels and into a singular conflict that carries he learns that his sloop-of-war Kestrel lives from French positions along the across the seas to the squalid slave pens has a new commander. With no ship shore. and narrow, dusty streets of Algiers. available for him, he is dispatched to Drawing closer to Quebec and en- Westbrook’s scintillating sea story is North America to command boats for gagement with enemy troops com- chock-a-block with vivid ship-to-ship the British advance on Fort Niagara. manded by Lieutenant-General actions, captured prizes, search for A chance encounter at sea off Savan- Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on the sunken gold, a running battle with a nah brings friends Carlisle and Hol- Plains of Abraham, intrigue entangles Barbary xebec in the Mediterranean, brooke together for the first time in a Carlisle when a French colonial soldier and an impossible mission in North year, allowing them to share Christmas appears aboard the British flagship, Africa. in Williamsburg before embarking on Sutherland. Barbarians on an Ancient Sea raises their separate missions. Durbin’s latest chronicle of the Sev- the Nicholas Fallon adventures to new By April in the new year, Carlisle’s en Years’ War at sea is a brilliant telling heights, an engaging thriller from the mood is “foul” as he had spent “three of Britannia’s ascent to rule the waves outset. n months swinging around his anchor at for over a century. n
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The Great Hurricane of 1938, nick- named “The Long Island Express” by journalists, was one of the deadliest and most destructive to batter the re- gion. Actress Katherine Hepburn was among those surprised by the rapidly advancing storm. After a leisurely morning swim at the family’s waterfront home in Say- Geoffrey Huband brook, Connecticut, and a round of golf, she was swimming again at the beach when the wind and surf in- Online Book creased dramatically. Before long, the Sources lovely Victorian house, torn asunder, “just sailed away.” McBooks Press Dolin’s crisp chronicle breezes along like the frontal winds in a tropical dis- www.mcbooks.com turbance – the first stage of a develop- ing hurricane – starting over five Rowman & Littlefield A Furious Sky hundred years ago with the early voy- www.rowman.com BY ERIC J. DOLIN ages and expeditions to the Americas. Europeans seeking to explore and settle Liveright Publishing, US Hardback the New World risked sailing into cata- Lyons Press $29.95 AVAILABLE NOW clysmic storms at sea, often at a signifi- www.lyonspress.com cant loss of life, ships, and treasure taggering through massive seas without the benefit of forecasts to Sheridan House off Florida’s northeast coast in guide them. S the early morning hours of Sep- Meteorology, or the science of www.sheridanhouse.org tember 21, 1938, the British luxury weather, evolved through history, while liner RMS Corinthia “radioed in an hurricanes continued to wreak “death, Amazon extremely low barometric pressure destruction, and despair” across the www.amazon.com or reading” to the US Weather Bureau in seas and landmasses. Dolin relates these Washington, DC. dreadful storms’ impact on the nation www.amazon.co.uk At the bureau, the report confirmed and the lives of individuals through Charles H. Pierce’s concern that the engaging contemporary accounts. Barnes & Noble storm – a hurricane – was “extremely By the mid-1800’s, through the sci- www.barnesandnoble.com powerful and would remain so for ence of meteorology, man’s under- quite a while.” Indeed, the storm standing of nature’s powerful force was veered and swept north, coming ashore beginning to push forward. But essen- The Book Depository on Long Island and roaring into south- tial advances came in the decades ahead www.bookdepository.com ern New England, “packing winds of with the development of “communica- up to 120 mph.” tion, aviation, computer, and satellite Abe Books A Furious Sky, Eric Jay Dolin’s epic technology.” history, brims with compelling human Eric Jay Dolin’s moving narrative www.abebooks.com stories and vivid descriptions of the breathes life into a piece of the Ameri- destruction wrought by hurricanes dat- can experience that continues to influ- Alibris ing back five centuries to European ence our existence from one hurricane www.alibris.com voyages to explore and settle the New season to the next. n World. – George Jepson
25 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME FICTION
A Devil of a Fix To the Eastern Seas The Midgard Serpent BY MARCUS PALLISER BY JULIAN STOCKWIN BY JAMES L. NELSON
It is 1702, and in the lawless Caribbean With Bonaparte held to a stalemate in Thorgrim Night Wolf, now somewhere Sea, young Matthew Loftus captains his Europe, the race to empire is now re- on the south coast of Engla-land, may be ship, the Cornelius, and vows to engage sumed. Britain’s ambitions turn to the closer to his goal of returning home than in honest trade rather than piracy and Spice Islands, the Dutch East Indies, he has been since reaching Ireland years plunder. But his crew lusts after the where Admiral Pellew has been sent to before, but he is still very, very far away. spoils that their fast, well-armed vessel confront the enemy’s vastly rich holdings His son Harald, however, has ambitions could win, and discontent begins to in these tropical islands. Captain Sir beyond just getting home. Given com- rumble. Meanwhile, Loftus is pursued by Thomas Kydd joins reinforcements to mand of one of the ships in the fleet, the English Navy on a false charge of snatch these for the British Crown. Harald sees a chance to put his courage mutiny. Matthew must evade the King’s The two colonial masters of India and on display, unleashing consequences that ships and escape the attention of ruthless the East Indies face each other in mortal will lead Thorgrim into a fight against privateers. His only chance of pardon striving for the region – there can be on- the powerful armies of Wessex, a fight he rests with a secret almanac that promises ly one victor to hold all the spoils. The does not want. As Thorgrim struggles to that elusive prize – to solve the Longi- colonial genius, Stamford Raffles, be- keep his men alive, his eldest son Odd tude Problem. But is the almanac what it lieves Britain should strike at the very leads the resistance to King Halfdan’s seems? Through wild gales and fierce sea center of Dutch spice production, the ruthless attempts to expand his rule over battles, uprisings and reversals of fortune, Moluccas. Kydd, allying himself to this Norway. Matthew sails towards victory. cause, conspires to lead a tiny force to a triumphant conclusion.
McBooks Press, $18.95 Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99 / $15.99 St. Martin’s Press, $27.99 US Trade Paperback UK Trade Paperback US Trade Paperback SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER UK / OCTOBER US AVAILABLE NOW
26 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME FICTION
Wormwood When Duty At the Edge of Honor Goes to War Whispers Low BY ROBERT N. MACOMBER BY DAVID DONACHIE BY JOHN J. GOBBELL The year is 1863. The Civil War is leav- ing its bloody trail across the nation as 1793: Lord Charles Wormwood’s father The US Navy has won Guadalcanal. Peter Wake, born and bred in the snowy informs him, with war looming, he is to But a brilliant Japanese admiral will stop North, joins the U.S. Navy as a volun- be a soldier. Thwarted, the Earl decides at nothing to get it back. He already teer officer and arrives in steamy Florida to send him to sea, in a ship under the masterminded the Pearl Harbor attacks. for duty with the East Gulf Blockading command of his Uncle, Captain Harry And to seize Guadalcanal, he has a far Squadron. The idealistic Peter Wake has Hamilton. He outlines how he will en- more devastating plan, one that will call handled boats before, but he’s new to the sure his nephew’s progress, regardless of upon every Japanese military asset in the politics and illicit liaisons that war creates his ignorance of life at sea. He will take a Pacific. The Allies have top secret among men. Assigned to the Rosalie, a short cruise aboard the sloop HMS technology that has never been used. Its tiny, armed sloop, Captain Wake com- Childers, followed by a rigged examina- effectiveness is uncertain. But for Lieu- mands a group of seasoned seamen on a tion, which will see him promoted to tenant Commander Todd Ingram, it series of voyages to seek and arrest Con- lieutenant. A peaceful cruise turns nasty. may be his only hope. In a desperate federate blockade-runners and sympa- The French open fire, exposing Worm- battle against an onslaught of Japanese thizers, from Florida’s coastal waters wood to danger – not that he knows it. air raids, Todd must fight with through to near the remote out-islands of He is helped by Kissock, who’ll become everything he has. If he fails, the U.S. the Bahamas. his servant and ignorance provides his Navy won’t just lose Guadalcanal, it will salvation. With no idea why, Worm- be crippled forever. wood’s is hailed as a hero.
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27 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME FICTION
The Privateersman Mysteries BY DAVID DONACHIE
1 - The Devil’s Own Luck 2 - The Dying Trade 3 - A Hanging Matter Harry Ludlow, forced out of the Royal Arriving in the squalid, seething port of Returning to England, Harry and Navy, becomes a privateer in partner- Genoa, Harry Ludlow and his partner James become embroiled in a vicious ship with his younger brother James. and younger brother, James, find it a struggle between rival smugglers played But for the Ludlows, murder and in- tinderbox of tension, fed by the discov- out in the English Channel. Witnesses trigue take more of their time than ery of a hanged British sea captain and to a bloody confrontation, they flee to hunting fat trading vessels. Harry and packs of English and French sailors at Deal only to find that, behind its pic- James find themselves aboard the Na- each other's throats. turesque facade, the town is a haven for vy's 74-gun Magnanime. In command traders in contraband, seething with is a captain with whom Harry has corruption and violence. crossed swords in the past. When James is found standing over the body of a dead officer, Harry’s feud shifts into the background.
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28 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME HISTORY
The Privateersman Mysteries BY DAVID DONACHIE
4 - An Element of Chance 5 - The Scent of Betrayal 6 - A Game of Bones As war spreads across the globe, Harry The discovery of an abandoned Span- The long-awaited return of the Bu- Ludlow joins the struggle for the rich- ish merchant ship off the coast of cephalas to the safety of the Cinque est trade in the world. When half his America plunges the Ludlows into a Ports is interrupted by a disastrous en- crew is illegally pressed into the Royal far-reaching conspiracy fueled by jeal- gagement in the English Channel. The Navy by the vicious Captain Toner, ousy, ambition and nationalistic fervor. looming shape of a merchantman be- Harry sets off in pursuit. Toner’s ship The Bucephalas lies trapped under the calmed in fog presents an almost irre- reaches the West Indies with Harry gaping muzzles of the 32-pounder sistible allure. But for Harry Ludlow close behind, and they sail into a mael- Spanish guns of New Orleans’ harbor and his battle-weary crew, the pursuit strom of piracy, corruption, and mur- fort. It quickly becomes clear that the of one last easy prize leads to a desper- der stirred up by a French privateer. corridors of the governor's residence ate fight. are just as busy with treachery, dou- bled-dealing, and murder as the back alleys of the sweltering city outside.
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29 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME HISTORY
Hornblower’s Sons of the Waves Enemy of All Historical Shipmates BY STEPHEN TAYLOR Mankind BY HEATHER NOEL-SMITH British maritime history in the age of sail BY STEVEN JOHNSON is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson This book sets out the lives of seventeen but has given little voice to plain, Henry Every was the seventeenth centu- “young gentlemen” who were midship- “illiterate” seamen. Stephen Taylor draws ry’s most notorious pirate. The press men under Captain Sir Edward Pellew. memoirs, letters, and naval records to published wildly popular – and wildly Aboard HMS Indefatigable they fought a present these men in their own words. In inaccurate – reports of his nefarious ad- celebrated action in 1797 against the this account, ordinary seamen are far ventures. The British government offered French ship of the line Les Droits de from the hapless sufferers of the press enormous bounties for his capture, alive l'Homme. C. S. Forester placed his fa- gangs. Proud and spirited, learned in or dead. But Steven Johnson argues that mous hero, Horatio Hornblower, aboard their own fashion, with robust opinions Every’s most lasting legacy was his inad- Pellew’s ship as a midshipman. This and the courage to challenge over- vertent triggering of a major shift in the book tells the actual stories of Horn- weening authority, they stand out from global economy. He focuses on the at- blower’s real-life shipmates. From diverse their less adventurous compatriots. tack on an Indian treasure ship by Every backgrounds, aristocratic and humble, Taylor demonstrates how the sailor was and his crew and its surprising repercus- they bonded closely with Pellew, learned the engine of British prosperity and sions across time and space. It’s the grip- their naval leadership skills from him, expansion. These “sons of the waves” ping tale one of the most lucrative crimes and benefited from his patronage and his held the nation’s destiny in their in history, the first international man- friendship in their varied careers. calloused hands. hunt, and the trial of the seventeenth century.
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30 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 MARITIME ART
Tony Fernandes Continental Frigate HANCOCK - 1776 48” by 36” Oil on Canvas
he painting depicts the Hancock of original ship survives or a replica was built, I’ll 1776, a frigate in the Continental grab a sail or just sit there dockside, agog at the Navy. If I had to pick the most in- beauty of man’s creation. teresting era for me in terms of na- I start with a pen-and-ink drawing for a pre- Tval history, it would be the War of Indepen- paratory sketch, and then I “go at it,” marking dence, the “mouse that roared,” thanks to the and stabbing the canvas with an odd collection stupidity, ignorance, and arrogance in equal of tools until some sign of life appears. It usual- measures of George III’s reign on this side of ly takes me up to a year to complete the fin- the pond. For a ramshackle bond of like-mind- ished painting, with layer upon layer of detail ed brothers to join forces and fight, “Goliath” for the rigging and deck details, which is often still amazes me. covered over by a forlorn sail. I am driven to depict in oil on canvas at 48”x – Tony Fernandes 36” many of the vessels on opposite sides of the Tony Fernandes conflict. Before I commence work, I study con- View Tony Fernandes’s maritime art online: temporary manuscripts and plans, and if the www.tonyfernandes.co.uk.
31 | QUARTERDECK | SUMMER 2020 PHILIP HAZARD NOVELS BY V. A. STUART
THE DESTINATION FOR NAUTICAL FICTION
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