Quarterdeck › uploads › ...Award for the best fictional novel based on Florida history. Macomber’s “literary acclaim, prolific writing, and communication skills make him the

QuarterdeckMARITIME LITERATURE & ART REVIEW

Spring 2020

Compliments of McBooks Press

www.mcbooks.com / www.rowman.com

THE DESTINATION FOR NAUTICAL FICTION

ContentsSPRING 2020

3 | QUARTERDECK | SPRING 2020

INTERVIEWS

8 ANTOINE VANNER Britannia’s Victorian Royal Navy comes alive in the Dawlish Chronicles

12 MARCUS PALLISERQuarterdeck introduces the late

American-born novelist to a new generation of readers

FEATURE

18 THE SMASHERPhilip K. Allan traces the

development of the carronade

COLUMNS

5 By George! England’s Historic Footprints

15 AUTHOR’S NOTES Where Life Meets Art by Kathy Stockwin

Quarterdeck is published quarterly byTall Ships Communications

6952 Cypress Bay DriveKalamazoo, MI 49009

269-372-4673

EDITOR & PUBLISHERGeorge D. Jepson

[email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITORAmelia A. Yeoman

Quarterdeck is distributedby McBooks Press, an imprint of

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Guilford, CT 06437

MCBOOKS PRESS EDITORIAL DIRECTORGeorge D. Jepson

Phone: [email protected]

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Visit Quarterdeck and McBooks Presson Facebook

ON THE COVER:Detail from “HMS Captain, ” an oil-on-canvas

painting by American marine artistPaul Garnett.

© Paul Garnett

© Tall Ships Communications

DEPARTMENTS

4 SCUTTLEBUTT

21 BOOK REVIEWS

24 MARITIME FICTION

28 MARITIME HISTORY

29 MARINE ARTPaul Garnett

QuarterdeckMARITIME LITERATURE & ART

REVIEW12

T SC

5

NEW BOOKRELEASES

2020 - 2021

US (United States)UK (United Kingdom)

TPB (Trade Paperback)PB (Paperback)HB (Hardback)

EB (Ebook)NF (Nonfiction)

MAY

Rocks and Shoals (USTPB)by Chris Durbin

An Eye of the Fleet (USTPB)by Richard Woodman

The Darkening Sea (USTPB)by Richard Woodman

JUNE

Matthew’s Prize (USTPB)by Marcus Palliser

The Hooligans (USHB)by P. T. Deutermann

AUGUST

Deep Strike (USHB)by Rick Campbell

SEPTEMBER

Devil of a Fix (USTPB)by Marcus Palliser

OCTOBER

Balkan Glory (UKHB)by Julian Stockwin

Word of Honor (USHB)by Robert N. Macomber


MCBOOKS PRESS has acquired therights to the award-winning CutlerFamily Chronicles by American nov-

elist William C. Hammond. The historical fic-tion saga features American naval officer RichardCutler in the years from the country’s War forIndependence to the War of 1812. “I am pleased and honored to be associatedwith McBooks Press, an esteemed publisher ofnautical and historical fiction that is giving newlife to my Cutler Family Chronicles series,” saidHammond. “I look forward to a long, strong,and meaningful relationship.”

No Sacrifice Too Great, the sixth title in theseries, will be published in hardback in the fall of

2021. He is currently working on the seventh entry in the chronicles. The first fivetitles – A Matter of Honor, For Love of Country, The Power and the Glory, A Call toArms, and How Dark the Night – will be published in new trade paperback editionsbeginning in spring 2021. Hammond, a lifelong student of history and a sailing enthusiast, lives and writesin New Zealand.

SCUTTLEBUTT

William C. Hammond

ROBERT N. MACOMBER

R OBERT N. MACOMBER, theauthor of the Honor Series fea-turing United States Navy Cap-

tain Peter Wake, recently received twoliterary honors. The Florida Writers Associationnamed Macomber Florida Writer of theYear for 2020. His latest book Honoringthe Enemy won the Patrick D. SmithAward for the best fictional novel basedon Florida history. Macomber’s “literary acclaim, prolificwriting, and communication skills makehim the perfect honoree,” said ChrissyJackson, FWA’s Director Emerita andConference Director. “FWA looks for anauthor based in Florida each year who

exemplifies our motto of “Writers Helping Writers” while providing us with rivet-ing reads. Macomber is just that person.” The author’s next Peter Wake novel, Word of Honor, will be published in Octo-ber by the Naval Institute Press.

Robert N. Macomber

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England’s HISTORIC FOOTPRINTS

74-gun ship-of-the-line launched at Harwich in 1801,captured French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve atthe Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Chatting over a pub lunch near the waterfront,Richard revealed that he had arranged for us to visitthe local Guildhall. We’re always interested in learn-ing about local history, but knew little about the sur-prises that lay ahead. The red -brick, three-story building stands onChurch Street, a narrow lane in the center of the his-toric old seaport. It was initially the site of an inncalled “The Bear,” before the Council purchased it in1673. The present structure, which dates from 1769,is the administrative home and meeting place for theHarwich Town Council. The current mayor, Charles Powell, and one of thecouncilor members, Gary Calver, who is blind, greet-ed us at the entry. After our introductions, these gen-tlemen led us up the stairs to a room where we viewedthe town’s original Royal Charter granted by KingJames I in 1604. �

V ISITING ENGLAND over twenty-threeyears, we’ve trod on the historic groundwith nearly every step we’ve taken. Onoccasion, following the footprints of

those that came before us, we’ve stumbled upon hid-den treasures or real-life scenes from the pages of mar-itime literature. On a brilliant autumn morning in 2018, Amy andI boarded a train at London’s Euston Station boundfor Harwich, the ancient seaport on the EnglishChannel in Essex, to spend the afternoon with Cap-tain Richard Woodman, author of the NathanielDrinkwater novels, and his wife, Christine. Richard has lived in Harwich for many years,based there during his time working for TrinityHouse, the official authority for lighthouses in Eng-land, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Re-tiring in 1997, he turned to writing maritime fictionand history full-time. Disembarking at Colchester, we met Richard in thecar park and drove to Harwich. The small town,which dates back to the twelfth century and possibleto Roman times, is located near the North sea. Its richmaritime tradition stretches over one thousand years.The town’s name means “military settlement,” fromthe Old English here-wic. Captain Christopher Jones, part owner andmaster of the Mayflower, lived a stone’ s throwfrom the waterfront. In 1652, the Kingdomof England established a Royal Dock-yard there eight years before official-ly creating the Royal Navy. Thedockyard converted to private owner-ship in 1713 but maintained a na-val presence until 1829. During Britain’s wars with theFrench and Dutch up until 1815,the shipyard built and repairedmany warships. HMS Conqueror, a

By George!

74-Gun Ship-of-the-Line

Paul Garnett


The large two-page document was beautifully written inmagnificent, closely-spaced calligraphy and decorated withelaborate designs around the edges. The instrument is in aremarkable condition after more than four centuries. On the main floor, our hosts opened the door into what isnow called the Carvings Room. At first glance, it appeared tobe only another office, but we soon realized that it harbors aonce-hidden treasure dating back to the late eighteenth cen-

tury when Britannia ruled the seas. During this period, theroom was a holding cell for prisoners awaiting trial or sen-tencing. Among those detained were sailors captured by theRoyal Navy, including Americans taken during the War forIndependence. Detailed carvings by prisoners adorn the walls, includingships, gallows, and symbols warding off evil spirits. One im-age depicts a vessel flying the Stars and Stripes, most likelythe work of a Yankee seaman. At some time in the past, thewalls were plastered. A few years ago, during remodeling, theplaster was stripped away, revealing the wooden boards cov-ered in prisoner-etched images. Standing before the walls, I wondered what these JackTars thought as they scratched away. Each etching details �

By George!

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ABOVE LEFT The Harwich Guildhall which dates in Its present design from1769 and remains the meeting place and administrative home for the Har-wich Town Council. ABOVE Two examples of ship carvings created by pris-oners of war held in the Guildhall in the late eighteenth century. LEFT TheHarwich Royal Charter granted by King James I in 1604.

Infamous DartmoorS pending time in the Harwich Guildhall Carving

Room rekindled memories of a visit to southernDevon some years ago when we traversed the

moorland in Dartmoor National Park, scene of Sir ArthurConan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Hound of

the Baskervilles. Approaching the village ofPrinceton high on the moor, wecame upon Her Majesty’s PrisonDartmoor, the infamous penal in-stitution that opened in 1809, ac-cepting French prisoners duringthe Napoleonic Wars. During the War of 1812, cap-tured Americans, primarily seamen,were also incarcerated. The prisonpopulation reached nearly 6,000during this period. At the war’send in 1815, approximately 270Yankee prisoners had died.

In 1931, New England’s preeminent novelist KennethRoberts portrayed Dartmoor in his novel The Lively Ladywhen Yankee Captain Richard Nason and the crew of hisprivateer are seized by the British. In Nason’s words:

“The shape of that miserable place . . . was vaguely theshape of a monstrous millstone or cartwheel. The outer rim ofthe wheel was a stone wall a mile in length and twelve feet in

height; and thirty feet from it was the inner rim of the wheel:a similar wall twelve feet in height as well. Around the top ofeach wall was stretched a wire to which bells were hung, andif any part of the wire were touched, no matter how lightly,the bells set up a clangor; and every guard in hearing camerunning with his loaded musket.”

Two centuries on, the Harwich Guildhall gaol andDartmoor Prison, which still operates today, each remaina small remnant of American history. n – GDJ

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Dartmoor Prison, circa 19th century

By Georgea distinctive vessel. It is unknown what tools were employedto create the rough art. Knives, which most sailors carried,would have been confiscated. After our visit to the Guildhall, we strolled through thehistoric district in the footsteps of luminaries like Christo-pher Jones, Sir Francis Drake, Horatio Nelson and EmmaHamilton, and American President John Adams and his wife,Abigail. All lived or spent time in Harwich. Jones was born in the town. The Three Cups Inn, whichopened in the sixteenth century and is now a private home,hosted England’s two great seafarers, Drake and Nelson, aswell as the Adams. “Better is not to be had,” John Adamswrote on August 5, 1786. Our tour ended at the Harwich Redoubt, part of the

string of circular Martello towers and other forts built alongthe southeast coast in the years 1807 to 1809 as a defenseagainst a possible French landing. Richard added a footnote to the town’s history: “In thebad old days,” he said, “it was regarded as a Rotten Borough,sending two MPs to Parliament. These in the late 1600s werethe great shipbuilder Sir Anthony Deane and Samuel Pepys,the diarist, Naval Administrator, and Chief Secretary to theAdmiralty.” Steeped in Harwich’s rich past, we spent a lovely late after-noon with Richard and Chris, who is an artist, in their gar-den, which has a clear view of the sea. n

– George Jepson



them those written by English novelist DouglasReeman, inspired the next chapter in Vanner’s lifewhen he left the business world and embarked on anew course as an author. The dearth of naval fictionset during the “Dawn of Fighting Steam” in thesecond half of the nineteenth century drew him tothe British Victorian Royal Navy. Creating Nicholas Dawlish, Vanner launched anengaging new saga, with eight volumes published todate by Old Salt Press. The latest title in the DawlishChronicles, Britannia's Innocence, is a prequel to �

A NTOINE VANNER’s real-life adventuresrival those of his fictional VictorianBritish naval hero, Nicholas Dawlish. Thenovelist has settled in England with, he

says, “a wife, a dog, six horses, and my laptop” in thewake of a distinguished international business careerspanning eight countries and all continents, exceptAntarctica. Along the way, he endured militarycoups, treacherous seas, an armed insurgency, andcut-throat corporate boardrooms. A passion for naval history and sea stories, among

FEATURE

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Britannia’s Victorian Royal NavyComes Alive in the Dawlish Chronicles

Antoine Vanner aboard HMS Warrior atPortsmouth Historic Dockyard.

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Antoine Vanner


FEATURE

the series, as the young midshipmanreturns to England from service in theWest Indies. The author recently shared his storywith Quarterdeck.

– George Jepson

What drove you to write about thisperiod?

The passage of time and the changes towhich we must adapt in our livesfascinate me. The 1860 - 1914 periodwas notably challenging in terms ofpolitics, science, technology, industry,and medical advances. It was decisivein making the sort of world in whichwe now live. When I combined thiswith my interest in naval history, Idiscovered a man creating himself inmy imagination. Dawlish emerged as aRoyal Navy officer born in 1845 andkilled in 1918. Like others of his generation, mostnotably Admirals “Jacky” Fisher andCharles Beresford, he would havejoined in his teens a navy stillcommanded by veterans of theNelsonic Age, but who would createthe Grand Fleet that would faceGermany in 1914. In the interveningyears, such officers had to cope withthe end of sail and the introduction ofarmor, big guns, turbines, torpedoes,

to take on challenges that others won'tif it will gain him advancement. He isfrequently faced with moral ambiguityand ethical dilemmas. He’s “earnest,” aquality the Victorians prized – and heis a Victorian, with many hang-ups,particularly social ones, but also somefreedoms which we don’t have today.He develops as a man who will notshirk responsibility, whether moral ormaterial, but he remains self-critical.

His wife, Florence, seems almost as im-portant in the series as Dawlish himself.How did that come about?

Largely because she demanded it her-self! She’s an equally real person to mesince Dawlish first encountered her inBritannia’s Wolf, in which she played akey role. She’s a presence in all the laternovels and a very pro-active one in Bri-tannia’s Shark. She pleaded with me fora volume in which she’s the main pro-tagonist – Britannia’s Amazon – andshe got it. It plays out in Britain con-temporaneously with her husbandNicholas’s service in Korea in Britan-nia’s Spartan. Loyal, compassionate,clever and courageous, she’s the moder-ating influence on the harder aspects ofDawlish’s character while still helpingto advance his career.

You’ve linked your books very firmly to �

electricity, submarines, radio, andaircraft.

How would you characterize TheDawlish Chronicles?

It’s a series in which men and womenface not only military and politicalchallenges, and conflict ashore andafloat, but self-doubt and ghastlyethical dilemmas. Some of thesecharacters are successful, some fail,some compromise, and some remaintrue to what they stand for. They’resimilar to people of our own time andthe to those who have inspired me. I’vemet them all over the world in thecourse of my own somewhat adventur-ous life; they’re the ones who grit theirteeth, face the storm, and are neverconquered even if sometimes beaten.

Your protagonist, Nicholas Dawlish,seems to be a real person to you. Is this so?

He became real very early on. I’veknown his birth and death dates andmany of the main events of his career.That essential biography expands witheach new volume, or short story, ex-posing some unique aspect of his life.He first sees action at fourteen in Chi-na in 1859. Called back from retire-ment, he’ll die at Zeebrugge in 1918.He's fiercely ambitious, and he’s ready


FEATURE

events and personalities of the period.Why?

Dawlish’s life happens against a back-ground of the growth of the Britishand German Empires, the blunderingprogress of Russia, the decline of Aus-tro-Hungary, French defeat followedby colonial expansion, and the emer-gence of Japan as a major industrial,military and naval power. And theUnited States was developing, almostunnoticed elsewhere, into an industrialand economic titan, though not yet amilitary one. There was little directconfrontation between these powers,but their rivalries were often played outby proxies, just as the Communist andWestern blocks did during the ColdWar. That’s why we see volumes relat-ed to events in countries as diverse asDenmark (Britannia’s Innocent), Tur-key (Britannia’s Wolf), Paraguay (Bri-tannia’s Reach), Cuba (Britannia’sShark), Korea (Britannia’s Spartan),East Africa (Britannia’s Mission) andthe Sudan (Britannia’s Gamble). Insome cases, the action is dovetailed ona day-by-day basis to more significanthistorical events. Real-life personalitiesinfluence the plots strongly. These in-clude Hobart Pasha, the British head ofthe Turkish Navy; Sultan AbdulHamid II; John Philip Holland, inven-tor of the submarine; Queen Min of

Korea and the quintessential Victorianhero, General Charles Gordon.

A large part of the action in several of thenovels takes place ashore. Does this reflectthe realities of the period?

Other than shore bombardments in theCrimean War, 1854-56, and at Alexan-dria in 1882, the Royal Navy’s mainbattle fleets fought no actions with hos-tile forces between the fall of Napoleonand the outbreak of World War One.The Navy was, however, almost con-tinuously employed as what today wecall “a rapid reaction force.” Troubleoften flared up in remote locations, towhich it would be too slow and diffi-cult to send Army units. The Navy wasin a position to land ad-hoc forcesmade up of marines and “bluejackets”(sailors fighting as infantry). Mostships carried light field-guns, typicallyseven-, nine-, or twelve-pounders, de-signed to be broken down into theircomponents (barrel, wheels, etc.) fortransport and to be easily reassembledfor action. The Navy was ahead of theBritish Army in use onshore of earlysemi-automatic machine guns:Gatlings, Nordenvelts and Gardnersand, later, the fully automatic Maxim.The traditional “handiness” of Britishseamen made them valuable for bridg-ing, construction of armored trains,

and transporting heavy guns over diffi-cult terrain. Such naval brigades weredeployed in locations as varied as Chi-na, Zululand, the Gold Coast, Nigeria,Egypt, and New Zealand, and some-times as deep inland as Delhi, in Cen-tral India. Much of the action inBritannia’s Gamble relates to the actualrole played by Royal Navy units in thedeserts of the Sudan in 1884-85.

What’s the most significant challenge inwriting about Nicholas Dawlish’s career?

Dawlish was a man of his time – 1845to 1918 – and as such, his views andattitudes are very different not just tomy own, but to anybody’s nowadays inthe Western World. He’s not a twenty-first-century man in fancy dress. Hegrew up in a Britain that had endlessoptimism and endless energy, whichover the previous century and a halfhad moved from being a second-rateEuropean power to being the domi-nant global one. He would have beenconfident that Britain had a civilizingmission in the world, even though howto execute that mission wasn't alwaysclear. But by his middle years, doubtswere creeping in about what had previ-ously been certainties: Darwin andHerbert Spenser and Matthew Ar-nold being only a few of those chal-lenging accepted wisdom. So Daw- �


FEATURE

lish would have been aware of the mor-al ambiguities involved in implement-ing British policy and would be facedwith some tough choices. You get asense of that in all books of the series,reflecting the fact that Victorians tookethics and religious belief – and disbe-lief – very seriously indeed. But regardless of challenges, Dawlishwould have two things, in addition tohis splendid wife, to fall back on. Thefirst would be the Royal Navy, with itspride in professionalism, the comfortof being part of a larger team, and reli-ance on the loyalty of all ranks to thedeath. And the second thing would befast-evolving technology and the de-light that it always provides to creativeminds and the opportunities it offersfor solving problems in ways neverhitherto considered. Dawlish, andmany like him, operated on a globalscale, made possible by the steamshipsand telegraph cables that shrunk dis-tance so rapidly in the second half ofthe 19th century.

Do Nicholas Dawlish and Antoine Van-ner help each other in creating theChronicles?

Well, Antoine Vanner was born a cen-tury later when the certainties Dawlishhad taken for granted were gone, andthe world had become smaller still.Britain was in decline after World WarII, a drop of the spirit as well as a loss

of Empire and economic power, notrecovering pride or assurance until the1980s. Although never a naval officer, An-toine Vanner shares with NicholasDawlish a love of technology and achallenge in “marginal areas”: parts ofthe world where the comfortable cer-tainties of daily life in Europe, NorthAmerica, and Australasia don't apply.These include the rule of law, respectfor human rights, government account-ability, provision of medical services,corruption, and social justice. My ca-reer in international business involvedamazing contrasts between working insuch marginal areas and functioning inmore sophisticated environments: con-struction in a mangrove swamp or off-shore on one extreme and negotiatingat a ministerial level on the other. And the bridge between Dawlishand Vanner was my interest in nine-teenth-century history and technology,resulting in myself asking “What if…?”about certain times in history. So aVictorian Naval Officer, a job I'd haveliked to have had myself had I beenborn a century earlier, gave me a pegon which to hang the “What if…?” sto-ries. And these are the Dawlish Chroni-cles.

What’s the best volume with which tostart?

I suggest commencing with the latest,

Britannia’s Innocent, when Dawlish isnineteen years old, and continuing toBritannia's Wolf when we meet him inhis thirties. Reach, Shark, Spartan, Am-azon, Mission, and Gamble follow. Intwo of these books, there are flashbacksto formative experiences in his earlyyouth.

You mentioned short stories too, but theydon’t seem to be available for sale.

The short stories are sent free to any-body who joins my mailing list.They’re formatted for reading on Kin-dles or tablets, and downloading is easyThey cover significant events which donot, however, provide enough materialfor a whole book, and they range intime from the 1860s to 1914. Sign-updetails are available on my website.

Have you a message for new readers?

As it says on my website: “Welcome tothe Adventure!” Dawlish’s career stillhas a long way to go before he has hisfinal appointment on the ZeebruggeMole in April 1918. n

The Dawlish Chronicles Short Stories

Visit Antoine Vanner online atwww.dawlishchronicles.com

and on Facebook.

ON AN EARLY AUTUMN DAY IN

1999, I received an emailfrom Douglas Reeman’s edi-tor at Random House in Lon-

don, singing the praises of a new author inmaritime fiction. Within the week, a copy of Matthew’sPrize by Marcus Palliser arrived in the post.Over several evenings by the fireside, I wascaptivated by the story of young MatthewStalbone, a ship’s apprentice sailing aboarda collier from Whitby on England’s north-east coast. The 18th century is about to dawn, withBritain on the cusp of Empire. The Dutch


Marcus PalliserAmerican-born author fulfills a passion for the sea

INTERVIEW

trade wars are at an end, and England’s na-val conflicts with France are on the horizon.Matthew longs for a life at sea, when hishopes and dreams are dashed on the Essexshoals. A fresh voice in nautical fiction, Palliser’sdebut novel was a welcome addition to thegenre. Two more titles soon followed: Devilof a Fix in 2000, and To the Bitter End in2001. In February 2000, I interviewed Palliser,who was living and writing in Truro, Corn-wall, for Quarterdeck’s predecessor, Bow-sprit. Although born in Massachusetts, heand his brother, best-selling novelist �Marcus Palliser

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“Becalmed - Off Whitby” by George Weatherill(1810 - 1890), one of Yorkshire’s finest water-colorists. Whitby, a seaport on England’s north-east coast, plays a significant role in Matthew’sPrize by Marcus Palliser.

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INTERVIEW

Charles Palliser, moved to Englandwith their mother early in life. Marcus left southwest England toattend university and pursue a career incorporate communications, living invarious locations around the world, butin the early 1990s he returned to Corn-wall. Unattached, he indulged his pas-sion for sailing and the sea, whicheventually led to Matthew’s Prize.

Late in 2002, while anticipating thefourth story in the series, news arrivedthat Marcus had died unexpectedly inTruro at age 53. Nearly two decades later, the Palliserstories remain as engaging and fresh asa sea breeze. In June, McBooks presswill publish Matthew’s Prize in a newtrade paperback edition. Devil of a Fixpublishes in September 2020, and Tothe Bitter End in June 2021. To introduce the author to a newgeneration of readers, we’re publishingexcerpts from my original interviewwith Marcus.

– George Jepson

At what stage in your life did the sea andsailing become important?

Late in life, I regret to say. It was 1986before a mountain walking friend gotme out on a yacht, which till then Ithought were the preserve of the richand snooty. How wrong, I was! Afterthat one weekend I was hooked andsigned on for a course of sailing les-sons. I began reading about sailing,learning that people actually lived onboats and traveled the world havingmarvelous adventures, often for lessthan the cost of living ashore. Withineighteen months I had learnt the rudi-ments of sailing, mortgaged the house,bought a 34-four footer, arranged anunpaid sabbatical from work and setoff on what became a year-long, six-thousand-mile sojourn across the Bayof Biscay to Spain and Portugal, into

the Mediterranean and then on to theCanaries and back again to Falmouth.Many people said it was “easy” for asingle person to arrange to do this, yetmost of the long-term sailors I metwere couples, and many had childrenaboard. One or two even had auntsand grannies. Jobs, mortgages, school. . . they overcame all these “impossi-ble” obstacles and went off to enjoy theseaborne life.

Did you grow up reading sea stories?

Yes, but not just sea stories. Luckily,

my family members were great readers,so I was also on Dickens, et al., fromabout eleven years old onwards. I hadread most of Hornblower by fifteen,and remember loving Robert LouisStevenson (Treasure Island, etc.) and R.M. Ballantyne (Coral Island, etc.) morethan anything.

Have other authors influenced you?

Very much, both in making me wantto write in the first place, as well asmaking me think harder about how Iwrite. In general fiction, it’s the great �

Matthew’s PrizeBY MARCUS PALLISER

I n the final decade of the 17th centuryin England, the Dutch trade wars arecoming to a close, and the struggles

with the French for naval supremacy arejust starting. Meanwhile, young MatthewLoftus has no intention of spending hislife underground in the coal mines ofWhitby. Living in a seaside town, he studies nav-igation and yearns to go to sea, followingin his late father’s footsteps. Mattheweventually leaves the port of Whitby, ex-pecting a short voyage, but after he riskshis life to save a man who fell overboard,he is rescued by a passing Dutch traderthat turns out to be a pirate ship.

The Dutch vessel sweeps Mathew to the Spanish Main where he, surpris-ingly, plunges into a bloody life of pillage and prize money. Struggling to ad-here to his code of honor yet seduced by life at sea, he carries in his heart thehope of reclaiming his rightful legacy. Furthermore, he longs to be worthy ofthe woman he loves and left behind in Whitby, who was on the brink of mar-riage to another man. Fierce sea battles, lawless privateers, naval skirmishes,and ruthless slave traders combine in this dramatic adventure.

McBooks Press, $18.95US Trade Paperback

JUNE

storytellers I like best. In specificallynautical writing, I love nonfictionadventures – true seafaring and moun-taineering stories. Henry Dana’s TwoYears Before the Mast is profoundlywonderful, and writers like Slocum,Tilman, Villiers, and the rest are semi-nal. Today my favorite by a sea-mile isJonathan Raban. Looking at moun-taineering writers, I particularly admireJoe Simpson and Stephen Venables.

What else do you read for pleasure?

All of the above, as well as literary fic-tion from Daniel Defoe to CormacMcCarthy. My preference is for strongnarrative. One great present-day novel-ist is William A. Boyd (A Good Man inAfrica, An Ice-Cream War, BrazzavilleBeach, etc.) Then there’s WilliamGolding’s wonderful sea trilogy, Ritesof Passage. For work, as it were, natu-rally I read loads of history.

How did you select Cornwall as yourhome base?

I’ve lived in the US, Switzerland,Spain, and the West Indies, but for meBritain’s got it all – such varied land-scapes, civilized traditions, a half-intel-ligent media, It’s more amenable inevery way, simple as that. I was born in Massachusetts, but mymother came to live in Cornwall whenI was ten, so I grew up here until uni-versity. About six years ago, when I wasforty-four and between boats, houses,jobs, and everything else, my rootsdrew me back and I bought a smallhouse here. Still footloose, I promptlyrented it out and spent another threeyears sailing my current boat, a thirty-two-foot long-keeler. I achieved an ambition by crossingthe Atlantic alone, taking twenty-fivedays from Gran Canaria to Barbados,an average speed of about five miles anhour, even slower than an early eigh-


teenth-century warship. Three yearsago, I settled back in Cornwall, thoughmy boat remains in the Caribbean,which is idiotic. She should be here,but since beginning my writing career Isimply haven’t found the time to sailher back. Cornwall is a long, narrow peninsulajutting into the ocean, with a ruggednorthern coast battered by Atlanticgales, and a softer southern shore in-dented with fishing villages, coves, andbeaches. All two-hundred and fiftymiles of coast have a public footpath,and in a short ramble you are likely towalk over three-hundred million yearsof geology and ten-thousand years ofhuman history. Cornwall lived for centuries onfarming, mining of tin and copper, andvast seasonal harvests of pilchards andherring. Even today, the fishing indus-try is important, though stocks are dis-appearing. Two Looe (a small coastaltown on the English Channel) luggerswere once named after my grandmoth-er Eileen and her sister Kathleen, andat least one still exists.

What was the genesis of Matthew’sPrize?

I settled on a seafaring tale, because ofmy sailing, my love of sea stories, andalso, frankly, because there is a marketfor it. No one but a blockhead writesexcept for money, said Dr. Johnson.What’s the point of your novel lyingunread in a bottom drawer? The nextdecision was historical period. The Na-poleonic / Nelsonian era is so welltrodden I set my story about a centuryearlier, when piracy was rift, colonial-ism in its infancy, the Dutch rule of theseas only recently ended and England’snaval supremacy very much a thing ofthe future. It was also when France andEngland embarked on their century-long rivalry for sea power. Because most series writers’ heroes

are in the military, whether army ornavy, I chose an outsider. In the mili-tary, your hero fights for his nation,right or wrong, but I thought it wouldbe more interesting for Matthew tomake up his own mind about wars,colonialism and slavery. The reader can either go along withhim or disagree. Matthew falls amongstpirates, as it were, so readers get a dif-ferent viewpoint from that of an officerhigh on a warship’s quarterdeck. I alsogave him an interest in the science ofnavigation, which brings him to theprivateer captain’s attention in Mat-thew’s Prize. The theme continues in the secondbook, a Devil of a Fix, when variouselements want to get their hands on asecret almanac Matthews possesses,containing observations for the LunarDistance Method. In the third book, To the Bitter End,there’s an important role for chart workand surveying, at which Matthew ex-cels. This was a time when traditionalnavigation (chiefly dead reckoning andlatitude sailing) held sway with manysailors, and it was widely believed thatthe longitude problem could never besolved.

Did you begin writing Matthew’s Prizewith the idea that it would be the firstbook in a series?

Well, I sincerely hoped it would be-come a series! Even so, each bookstands entirely on its own.

Can you imagine a way of life that wouldbetter suit you than writing, sailing, andliving near the sea in beautiful Cornwall?

Not really, except that where manypeople dream of winning a lottery andhaving one house here and anotherthere and a third somewhere else, withme it’s boats. One boat is simply notenough. n

INTERVIEW


IN KYDD, the youngwigmaker from Guild-ford Thomas Kydd, iscruelly press-ganged

and finds himself lost in thealien environment of a RoyalNavy man-o’-war, sailing offto fight the French. Yet therecomes a moment when he discovers his truevocation:

Still befuddled with sleep, he emerged up themain companionway to the open deck. As soonas his head topped the coaming he was into thefull force of the gale, a turbulent streamingwind hammering and lashing at him, wild andfearful. In the darkness he could see by the lightof the binnacle that now there were four men onthe wheel, leaning into it hard, grappling,straining. Spray whipped past in spiteful blastsas he staggered in the hammering wind to thebinnacle, where an unknown figure shouted in

his ear, jabbing with a finger. He was expected on themain deck, down in the waist.He turned to go back down theladder, but something madehim pause. The length of deckforward was barely visible, butthere was a furious grandeurabout it, seeing and feeling theentire length of deck rise andfall, an eager and responsivecoupling of the ship with thewildness of the sea. Amounting exhilarationreplaced Kydd's fear, andinstead of returning down thecompanionway he staggeredforward along the side of thedeck, holding on tightly as hewent. It was impossible to seeout to the sea itself, but waves

smashed on the ship's bluff sides and he tastedthe salt spray on his lips. Looking up he saw that only some of thesails were still in place, each pale and taut as aboard. A strident chorus of thrums andmusical harping in the rigging gave adramatic urgency to the scene. He hung on atthe mainchains, reluctant to leave. Something in him reached out and wasanswered. A fierce joy touched his soul. Itdidn’t matter if the situation was perilous orthe ship doomed. From that moment on Kyddknew in his heart that he would be a sea-man. He clung to this revelation, taking �

Where LifeMEETS ART

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Kathy and Julian Stockwinwork closely together as a cre-ative team producing themuch-loved Thomas Kyddnaval adventure titles. A for-mer magazine editor-inchief, Kathy reflects on theautobiographical elements ofthe books in this sixth install-ment in a series of specialfeatures for Quarterdeck.

BY KATHY STOCKWIN


the bursts of spray in his teeth andgrinning madly. The bows would rise,then smash down, flinging the seas apart,shuddering and racking, then gloriouslyrise again.

Readers often wonder how much of anauthor is in his or her writing. Ofcourse, this depends on the genre andpersonal circumstances. Julian calls ona great deal of his some three-score-and-ten life experiences to create theauthentic and vivid eighteenth-centuryworld, which appeals to so manyreaders.

Formative YearsJulian wanted to go to sea ever since he

AUTHOR’S NOTES

way a boy. His mother used to recountthat as a toddler, he went up to sailorson the street, and on one occasiondragged home a dead sea bird, becauseit smelled of the sea. His uncle TomClay, a seaman in square-rigged ships,who sailed around Cape Horn in CuttySark, took him over his ship and was agreat influence on him. But no one elsein his family had any connection withthe sea; his father served in the armyduring the Second World War. As ayoung boy, Julian read everythingabout the sea, and remembers beingespecially terrified by a description of agreat storm, but longed to experience areal one! Attending a decent grammar schoolwas wasted on him; on the school bus,he’d gaze out across the Channel at the

low, grey shapes slipping away over thehorizon, taking his imagination withthem. In the hope of having thenonsense knocked out of him, hisfather sent him at the tender age offourteen to Indefatigable, a tough sea-training school. This only strengthenedhis resolve for a life at sea, and hejoined the Royal Navy at fifteen. Hisfamily emigrated Down Under, and hetransferred to the Royal AustralianNavy.

Naval ServiceOver the years, Julian has personallywitnessed both the majesty andgrandeur of the ocean and the darkerside of Neptune’s Realm. He served inthe Vietnam War and was present at �

Julian Stockwin, who is never far from thesea, overlooks Plymouth Sound in Devon,with Drake’s Island in the background.


the tragic collision between HMASVoyager and HMAS Melbourne, inwhich 82 souls lost their lives.Uniquely for a maritime novelist, hehas been both a seaman before themast and an officer on the quarterdeck.

A “Chippy”On visits to maritime museums aroundthe world, we often linger at exhibits ofshipwrights’ tools where Julian, whoqualified as a naval shipwright, inspectsvarious implements of the chippys’trade. I can now readily identify anadze, an augur, or a caulking maul.And if we could undertake time travel,no doubt Julian would opt to betransported back to an eighteenth-century wooden warship and be quiteat home both on the quarterdeck andin the carpenter’s store.

AcademiaAfter leaving the navy, Julian enrolledfor a university degree, and twosubjects, in particular – psychology andhistory – would later be deployed in hisbooks in his portrayal of life aboardand ashore. Although he writes aboutthe Georgian period, in many waysdifferent to modern times, the psycho-logical underpinnings of humanmotivations and relationships havemany constants.

Other InfluencesAs a writer, Julian draws inspirationfrom external things, too: his collectionof eighteenth-century sea artifacts,contemporary music, diaries andrecollections from those serving at thetime, and ships’ logs. And he acknow-ledges his debt to artists such as Domi-nic Serres, Nicholas Pocock, and J. M.W. Turner, who eloquently visuallycapture the many moods of the sea and

the majesty of a shipunder sail.

Kydd and RenziNicholas Renzi andThomas Kydd, his twocentral characters, form avery close bond. Kydd isthe wigmaker whoeventually achievescommand of his ownship (and will go on tobecome an admiral).Renzi is the aristocratic,highly intelligentindividual whosentenced himself to aperiod at sea on thelower deck to makeamends for what he sawas a family sin. I have always seenaspects of both Kyddand Renzi in Julian’scharacter. Kydd is a manof action who leads fromthe front, who is “true north.” Renzi isa thinker with a deep appreciation ofculture and the legacy of history, with acapacity for involvement in danger andthe dark arts for a cause in which hestrongly believes. Re-reading reviews of Julian’s booksahead of writing this piece I cameacross these comments in the Americannewspaper, The Toledo Blade:

You won’t fall asleep reading a Kydd title.Action and adventure is one thing, butall Stockwin’s books have a genuinelyauthentic feel to them, and there’s areason for that. Julian Stockwin is a manof the modern era – but he really did gooff to sea as a boy. Not impressed into service, as was thefictional Kydd. Instead, he joined HerMajesty’s Navy. Stockwin seems to havebeen born with saltwater on his veins. He

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Visit the Stockwins online atwww.julianstockwin.com

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went off to sea-training school at 14 andjoined the Royal Navy at 15. Later, he transferred to the RoyalAustralian Navy and became a pettyofficer. But he was a great deal morecomplex than your average swabbie; helater dove into university studies and didpost-graduate work in psychology; becamea software and computer manufacturerdesigner, joined the Royal Naval Reserve,became a lieutenant commander, andwas awarded the prestigious MBE –Member of the Order of the BritishEmpire. Having accomplished all that, whatelse was left but to become a novelist? n

Julian and Kathy Stockwin pause outside Buckingham Pal-ace in 1988, after he received the prestigious MBE (Mem-ber of the Order of the British Empire) from QueenElizabeth II.


DURING THE AGE OF SAIL, the design of na-val cannon hardly changed for the best partof three centuries. Improvements over timeincluded more reliable metal casting

and better gun tackles, but the basic arrangementbarely altered from the sixteenth to the end of theeighteenth century. Warships carried long, muzzle-loading guns mounted on movable carriages. If gunners from Henry VIII’s flagship MaryRose, which sank in 1545, were transported twoand a half centuries through time to the lower deckof HMS Victory at Trafalgar in 1805, theywould have had little difficulty recognizingthe weapons around them. But they mighthave been puzzled by the carronades mount-ed on the first rate’s upper deck.

The carronade – a short, smooth-bore, cast iron cannon –was the invention of the British General Robert Melville. Hewas an artillery officer with a keen interest in scientific im-

provement. In the 1750s, he investigated how merchantships might protect themselves from attack by priva-teers or pirates trying to board them. The standard ship’s cannon was a large piece ofordnance weighing several tons. It required a sub-stantial crew to operate, plenty of room for its pow-erful recoil, and strong timbers to absorb the stresswhen it fired. Unfortunately, none of this fitted the

majority of civilian ships. Melville decided tocompletely redesign the naval cannon so thatit could operate within these constraints. His first step was to reduce the weight ofthe gun by giving it a much shorter barrel, �

The “Smasher”BY PHILIP K. ALLAN

FEATURE

Philip K. Allan

HMS Victory (center right) bat-tered the French 80-gun ship ofthe line Bucentaure with carron-ades at the Battle of Trafalgar on21 October 1805.

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drastically decreasing its range. Sincehe saw its primary use as helping amerchant vessel battle an attacker try-ing to come alongside, this was a minordisadvantage. He soonrealized that giving his weapon a shortbarrel produced other benefits. It onlyneeded to throw its ball a limited dis-tance, requiring a third of the usualpowder charge of a conventional can-non for the same size ball. Using asmaller charge meant that the barrelneeded much thinner walls to containthe blast, saving yet more weight. Mounting carronades on a slide, in-stead of a traditional gun carriage, tookup much less space in action. A guncrew ran out a cannon after loading byheaving it on its wheeled carriage acrossthe deck. A carronade’s lighter barrelon a slide could be run out by fewersailors. Melville had the first of his newweapons cast at the Carron Companyironworks in Falkirk, Scotland. Thefirm was managed by Charles Gascoi-gne, who has also been credited withdevelopment of the carronade. Melville liked to refer to his inven-tion as a “smasher,” but it becameknown as a “carronade,” named for thefoundry that built them. Their firstdemonstrations were successful, andmerchantmen operating in waters witha high likelihood of a pirate attack,such as in the Indian Ocean, purchasedthem. The weapon’s popularity increasedand drew notice from the Admiraltyduring the American War of Indepen-dence when an over-stretched RoyalNavy struggled to protect Britain’s ex-tensive commerce from American andFrench privateers. At the heart of the Navy’s interest inthe carronade was a paradox betweenhow traditional naval cannons weredesigned and deployed in practice. Aship’s gun, with a long barrel, could

throw a ball with reasonable accuracyfor up to a mile. But captains rarelyemployed this capability. The Royal Navy’s preferred tactic inbattle was to engage an opponent atclose range, firing quickly into theirhull and knocking the fight out ofthem. In these circumstances, how rapidlya ship could fire its guns and the weightof its projectiles was more critical thanthe need to fire accurately at longrange. Carronades scored well in bothregards. Not only could they be firedmore quickly, but a carronade of thesame overall weight as a cannon couldfire a much bigger ball. After initial trials, the Royal Navy

AUTHOR’S NOTES

began to deploy carronades on the up-per decks of their warships to replacethe small cannons that were tradition-ally mounted there. Aboard the 38-gun frigate Diana nine-pounder gunson her quarterdeck and forecastle werereplaced by 32-pounder carronades. Early encounters with the enemyquickly showed the benefit of such ar-mament, and by 1800, apart from spe-cialist long-range chase guns, mostupper deck cannons had been similarlychanged. One of the French Navy’s earliestexposures to the new weapons came inSeptember 1782 against HMS Rain-bow, a frigate equipped entirely withcarronades as an experiment under �

A 12-pounder carronade aboard a brig-o’-war

“After initial trials, the Royal Navy began todeploy carronades on the upper decks

of their warships . . .”

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Captain Trollope. The aging ship car-ried massive 68-pounder carronades onher main deck, replacing 18-pounderlong guns, creating a four-fold-heavierbroadside than might be expected of aship that size. Trollope was operating off the coastof Brittany when he came across asmall French convoy under the protec-tion of the frigate Hébé. The two frig-ates spent over an hour maneuvering,as Rainbow attempted to close therange before opening fire. When shefinally succeeded, a single broadsidebrought down the Hébé’s foremast andwounded her captain. He surrendered,fearing the next barrage would sink hisship. After several such encounters withcarronade-armed Royal Navy ships,other navies began to develop their ver-sions of the new weapon, which tooktime. During the French Revolutionaryand Napoleonic Wars, these guns weremore prevalent in the Royal Navy.Carronades gave the British a distinctadvantage over their opponents inclose-range encounters. When HMSVictory passed astern of Bucentaure atTrafalgar, she fired 68-pounder carron-ades on her forecastle, unleashing can-ister rounds containing over fivehundred musket balls along the ene-my's gun deck. Smashers, indeed! Although carronades could be highly

effective, their short range meant thatships overly reliant on the weaponcould be defeated by cannon-armedopponents who kept their distance.Such was the fate suffered by the USNavy frigate Essex during the war of1812. She was almost exclusively armedwith 32-pounder carronades and sentinto the Pacific to attack British whalersoperating there. In 1813, she foughtthe Royal Navy frigate Phoebe. Bothships were of almost identical size, andboth had a smaller sloop to supportthem. The decisive difference was that

the Phoebe had a main arma-ment of 18-pounder cannons

and skillfully kepther distance, battering Essex untilshe surrendered. Despite their effectiveness, theage of the carronade was short-

lived. The quickening pace ofnaval gunnery development ren-dered the weapon and thesmooth-bore cannon redun-dant. In the 1820s, the French

AUTHOR’S NOTES

artillery General Henri-Joseph Paix-hans developed an exploding shell forwarships, replacing the solid cannon-ball. The shell’s fuse lit when a gunfired, and the projectile exploded soonafter it penetrated its target. The French Navy asked the generalto demonstrate his invention in 1824.A redundant two-decked warship, thePacificateur, served as a target. After abrief bombardment, the ship broke upand sank, shocking the watching navalofficers. Subsequently, Paixhans workedwith American Colonel George Bom-ford to design a gun to fire his projec-tile. The French, US, British, andRussian navies quickly adopted thenew weapons for decades to come. n

Philip K. Allan is the author of the Alex-ander Clay naval adventure novels.

A 68-pounder carronade aboard HMS Victory at the Portsmouth Historic Dock-yard in Hampshire, England.

Visit Philip K. Allan online at:www.philipkallan.com.

Geoffrey Huband

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BOOK REVIEWS

AresBY MICHAEL AYE

Boson Books, US Trade Paperback$20.99

AVAILABLE NOW

A n ill wind sweeps across the Ca-ribbean in Ares, the eighth chapter

in Michael Aye’s Fighting Anthonynaval adventure series, with Britain fac-ing increasingly daunting odds in theWar for Independence with her Ameri-can cousins. As 1781 dawns, French, Spanish,and Dutch naval forces, who have sid-ed with the Colonies, are at large in theislands, along with privateers, threatenHis Majesty’s Royal Navy. Aye’s breezy, character-driven yarnsplices intrigue ashore with action atsea, from the dramatic end to a hang-ing to romantic interludes to thunder-ing ship-to-ship battles. Captain Gabriel Anthony, based atEnglish Harbour, Antigua, commandsHMS Ares, a 44-gun frigate, in hisbrother Vice-Admiral Lord Gilbert An-thony’s squadron. Although Gabe harbors doubtsabout Britain’s prospects in the war, a

thought that privately gladdens hisAmerican-born wife, Faith, his duty toKing and Country, and the officers andJack Tars aboard Ares, remains stead-fast. When HMS Storm, a 38-gun frigate,drops anchor at English Harbour, Cap-tain Joseph Galicky delivers details ofAdmiral George Rodney’s “bloodlessvictory” over the Dutch-held island ofSt Eustatius. Rodney’s incursion draws piercingcriticism within the Admiralty andhalls of Parliament when he sends aconvoy to England with plunder fromthe island, rather than sailing to theColonies with his fleet to support theBritish cause. This latest entry in the Anthonyssaga stretches from English Harbour toSpithead off Portsmouth in England toGibraltar and back again across the At-lantic. Gabe Anthony lives up to his fami-ly’s moniker, sailing into harm’s wayagainst a two-deck Spanish man-of-warin the Caribbean, defending the Britishsloop Pickle being chased by a Dutchbrig and French corvette, and protect-ing a merchant convoy en route to Gi-braltar. Carrying two Foreign Office agentsto England, Ares anchors off Ports-mouth, allowing Gabe and Faith a fewdays respite from the turmoil in theCaribbean – or so they believe. On a visit to Deal, a band of brig-ands falls upon Gabe along a narrowlane, with one waving a blade and de-claring, “Once ’e’s down, it’s ’is ’eartI’m after . . .” In an instant, a youngboy leaps into the fray to thwart theattack and is gravely wounded, leadingto an astonishing discovery.

Ares, like preceding titles in theFighting Anthonys saga, is a scintillat-ing sea story infused with the scent ofpowder smoke and tarred rigging, andchock full of memorable characters.

Perilous ShoreBY CHRIS DURBIN

Old Salt Press, US Trade Paperback$14.28

AVAILABLE NOW

C ommander George Holbrookefaces several weeks ashore in early

spring 1758, as His Britannic Majesty’ssloop-of-war Kestrel undergoes repairsand refitting in the Royal Dockyard atPortsmouth. While his ship rests in drydock,Holbrooke’s thoughts turn to the love-ly Ann Featherstone, a winsome younglady in Wickham, a small village inHampshire near Portsmouth. Durbin’s splendid Seven Years’ Warnarratives – which now number sixwith Perilous Shore – dramatize a peri-od in world history, specifically thehostilities at sea, little written about inmaritime fiction. The conflict – known as the Frenchand Indian War in North America – ismoving into its third year. At the Ad-miralty in London, First Lord GeorgeAnson grapples with William Pitt theElder’s plan to carry out descents – orassaults – on French ports. �


BOOK REVIEWS

In Northern SeasBY PHILIP K. ALLAN

Penmore Press, US Trade Paperback$19.50

AVAILABLE NOW

I n the wake of a court-martial ac-quittal after the loss of His Majesty’s

ship Titan, Captain Alexander Clayreceives a new command, the 38-gunfrigate Griffin, during a meeting withEarl Spencer, First Lord of the Admi-ralty. By early 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte,frustrated by France’s inability to “de-feat these damned English” after nearlyeight years of war, seeks to “ingratiatehimself with the Russians,” to severBritish trade with the Baltic and Scan-dinavian states. Thwarted by England’s naval block-ade, the French are unable to acquirenecessary naval stores – timber, tar,hemp, and canvas – for its ships. TsarPaul, once a British ally, formed thesecond Northern League of ArmedNeutrality with Denmark, Sweden,and Prussia. The compact threatened the supplyof timber and naval stores necessary for

the Royal Navy to maintain its block-ade off France. “No Baltic trade meansno ships in the Channel to keep theFrogs on their side of it,” says Spencer.“If it means war, then so be it.”

Griffin, under Admiralty orders, car-ries British diplomat Nicholas Vansit-tart north to Copenhagen where hehopes to meet with the Danish CrownPrince to negotiate a peaceful agree-ment over the League, averting hostili-ties in the region. A Royal Navy fleet commanded bySir Hyde Parker and Horatio Nelsonsets sail for Denmark from Yarmouthto enforce the British position shoulddiplomacy not succeed. Arriving in the neutral port bristlingwith armed warships and evidence ofpreparations for war, Griffin, much toClay’s surprise, is assigned a mooringnext to the French 44-gun frigate Lib-erté unsettling Clay and the ship’s com-pany. The Griffins at once become entan-gled in a deadly game of espionage andintrigue that reaches from the Danishcapital’s cobblestone streets across theBaltic to the Russian court in St. Pe-tersburg. When negotiations with the Danesflounder, Vansittart insists that the so-lution to the “sorry mess” in the Balticis to convince Tsar Paul to leave theLeague of Armed Neutrality, with theexpectation that the other memberswill follow his lead. Clay drives Griffin through icy seasto the Russian shore, stalked by Liber-té, which is intent on foiling the Britishmission. Arriving in the Russian capi-tal, Vansittart and Clay find themselvescaught up in a murderous plot in thecorridors of the Palace of Mikhailov-sky.

In Northern Seas is another brisk na-val thriller from the pen of Philip Al-lan, blending vivid historical episodeswith a provocative narrative. �

During an earlier attempt to landBritish soldiers at Rochefort, ship’sboats built primarily for their seawor-thiness proved inadequate for ferryingan army ashore, and the operationfailed much to Pitt’s dismay. Summoned aboard the 64-gun Essexanchored in the Solent, CommanderHolbrooke meets youthful Commo-dore Richard Howe, who explains thePrime Minister’s strategy: “Put the ar-my ashore, take a port, hold it or sackit and re-embark.”

In the wake of the debacle at Roche-fort, the Admiralty orders the NavyBoard to commission a fleet of customflat-bottom boats to accommodate halfa company each of soldiers during am-phibious landings. Howe directs Holbrooke to overseetests of the new landing craft and thenorders the young officer to sail forSaint-Malo and Cancale Bay along theFrench coast to locate fortifications anda suitable landing site. With Ann Featherstone on hismind, Holbrooke believes that he mustreach post-captain if he is to win herhand. The current amphibious opera-tions offer an opportunity to provehimself in the eyes of his superiors. His relationship with David Chalm-ers, chaplain aboard Kestrel, is especial-ly stirring. Although commanding awarship, the young officer is naïve inmatters of the heart and looks to hisfriend for guidance. When a landing on a French beachgoes wrong, Holbrooke is surroundedby “white-clad figures thrusting theirglinting bayonets toward him.” Andsuddenly his future is in doubt. Durbin enriches his rousing sea sto-ries with exacting attention to histori-cal details while drawing on his careeras an officer in the Royal Navy. TheCarlisle & Holbrooke naval adventurescontinue to cast a light upon a mo-mentous era in British naval history.


BOOK REVIEWS

Britannia’s InnocentBY ANTOINE VANNER

Old Salt Press, US Trade Paperback$12.49

AVAILABLE NOW

N icholas Dawlish, a midshipmanin Her Britannic Majesty’s Royal

Navy and barely turned eighteen, re-turns home to Shrewsbury from servicein the West Indies, anticipating confir-mation of his promotion to sub-lieu-tenant. It’s 1864. Across the Atlantic, Amer-ica is alight with the war between theNorth and South, while in NorthernEurope hostilities rage between Den-mark and military powers Austria andPrussia during the Second SchleswigWar fought for control of the duchiesof Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. After a letter arrives from AlbemarleFitzBaldwin, a fellow midshipman buthardly a close friend, Dawlish acceptsan invitation to visit the FitzBaldwinestate for a fortnight near Taunton. Over several days, FitzBaldwin’s fa-ther, a captain in the Royal Navy onhalf-pay, receives several strangefriends, including a British army colo-

nel, a man involved with the court, anda close-mouthed American with ties tohis country’s navy. At breakfast one morning, CaptainFitzBaldwin begs a word with Dawlishin his study and persuades him to joina band of British volunteers to fight forDenmark aboard a new steam-drivenironclad ship with a brig sailing rig. The Galveston, ultimately bound forthe Confederate Navy in America tobreak the Union blockade, is on loanto the Danish Navy for three monthsbetween February and May. Com-manded by an ex-officer of the UnitedStates Navy, she is “crewed by Britishseamen lured by high pay.” Appointed gunnery officer, Dawlishrealizes that this is “a sudden momentof self-realisation . . . the transitionfrom youth to manhood, that wouldset the course of his life, and maybedeath.” Sailing as the Odin – a false namewhile in Danish service – the ironcladsteams into the North Sea, the mission,according to Captain FitzBaldwin, is toseek and destroy merchant trading ves-sels “to put the fear of God in them”and “Keep the rascals in port . . .”

Britannia’s Innocent is a masterfulchronicle of the Victorian period toldby Antoine Vanner in vivid, soberingterms. Dawlish realizes his naivetéwhen confronted with war’s raw reali-ty. With Odin briefly crippled, he isamong volunteers going ashore to fightin the redoubts with a company ofBritish ex-regulars. All the while, the Union steam frig-ate USS Conewago lies outside Den-mark’s territorial waters, waiting tointercept CSS Galveston before theironclad raider can cross the Atlanticand enter the American Civil War. This is a brilliant prequel to Van-ner’s Dawlish Chronicles, which bringBritannia’s Victorian Navy to life. n

– George Jepson

Online BookSources

McBooks Presswww.mcbooks.com

Rowman & Littlefieldwww.rowman.com

Lyons Presswww.lyonspress.com

Sheridan Housewww.sheridanhouse.org

Amazonwww.amazon.com orwww.amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noblewww.barnesandnoble.com

The Book Depositorywww.bookdepository.com

Abe Bookswww.abebooks.com

Alibriswww.alibris.com

Geoffrey Huband


An Eye of the FleetBY RICHARD WOODMAN

Nathaniel Drinkwater’s life at sea be-gins with HMS Cyclops’ capture of theSanta Teresa during Admiral Rodney’sdramatic Moonlight Battle of 1780.Subsequently, Drinkwater’s courageand initiative are put to the test as Cy-clops pursues American privateersthreatening British trade and is laterdispatched to the swamps of SouthCarolina, where many lives are lostboth at sea and ashore. Gradually,Drinkwater matures into a capable andself-assured sailor. As he contends withenemy forces, the tyranny of the Cy-clops’ midshipman and the stark con-trast between the comfort of home lifeand the brutality of naval service, hefinds strength and sustenance in thelove of his beloved Elizabeth.

McBooks Press, $16.95US Trade PaperbackMAY

The Darkening SeaBY RICHARD WOODMAN

This modern seafaring epic follows theMartin family through nearly 70 yearsof British maritime history, from theclash of mighty battleships at Jutlandin 1916 to the cold splendor of thepresent-day Arctic. James and JohnMartin see varied action from serviceon battle-cruisers in the North Seaduring the Great War to cargo-passen-ger ships on the exploited coast of1930s China; from the war of corvettevs. U-boats in the North Atlantic tothe long slog of Pacific Fleet protectionin a World War II destroyer. Along theway, they find love, disillusion, andfulfillment. The women in their lives –sisters, wives, and lovers – also havetheir ambitions in an ever-changingworld.

McBooks Press, $18.95US Trade PaperbackMAY

MARITIME FICTION

The HooligansBY P. T. DEUTERMANN

Loosely-organized swift PT (patrol tor-pedo) boat squadrons were dubbed“devil boats” for their daring raidsagainst Japanese ships during WorldWar II in the Pacific. After the PearlHarbor attack, young surgical residentLincoln Anderson enlists in the Navymedical corps. His first deploymentcomes in August 1942 at Guadalcanal,triaging hundreds of casualties underrelentless Japanese air and land attacks.But with the navy short of doctors, An-derson is transferred to a PT boatsquadron. From Guadalcanal to theclimactic, tide-turning battle of LeyteGulf, Anderson and his boat’s crewconfront submarines and surface ships,are attacked by the dreaded Kawanishiflying boats, and hunted by destroyers.

St. Martin’s Press, $27.99US HardbackJUNE


The Last LieutenantBY JOHN J. GOBBELL

In the spring of 1942, Bataan falls tothe Japanese. The Philippines seemsure to follow. When an American gen-eral surrenders the country’s last out-post in the West Pacific, US NavyLieutenant Todd Ingram refuses togive up the fight. Taking to sea undercover of darkness, he leads his ten-mancrew to accomplish the impossible: slipthrough Japanese naval blockades, trav-el 1900 miles to Australia, and single-handedly stop a ruthless Nazi spy.There are no reinforcements. Therewill be no rescue. And if Ingram fails,he won’t just lose his crew; he’ll losethe woman he loves. This is a heart-pounding thriller brimming with rawcourage, non-stop action, and an un-forgettable villain.

Severn River Publishing, $19.99US Trade PaperbackAVAILABLE NOW

Nelson’s WakeBY M. C. MUIR

On 21 October 1805, the British fleetunder the command of Admiral LordNelson defeats the French and Spanishfleets at the Battle of Trafalgar. But atan enormous cost – Nelson’s death.After witnessing HMS Victory limpback to Portsmouth, Oliver Quintrelljoins other officers and men mourningthe loss of Britain’s greatest seaman.The funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral is anawful spectacle. But the ramificationsof the battle are far reaching and manypost captains find themselves without acommission. Surprised by his goodfortune, Captain Quintrell is granted acommand, a 50-gun ship anchored inCork Harbour. Within days he departsIreland and heads south but withoutthe support of his regular crew.

Amazon.com Services, $4.99KindleAVAILABLE NOW

MARITIME FICTION

Larcum MudgeBY PHILIP K. ALLAN

On a hot night in the Caribbean, alone Royal Navy ship commanded by asadistic captain, succumbs to bloodymutiny. With the Peace of Amiens im-minent, Captain Alexander Clay andthe crew of HMS Griffin are sent totrack down and recapture the rebelship. But when they arrive in the Lee-ward Islands, they find that muchmore is at stake. Smuggling and cor-ruption seem to be rife in those sunlitwaters, while ghosts from the past stirin the shadows. The discovery of a hid-den French ship of the line, threaten-ing to cut loose and devastate Britishcommerce, will test Clay and his crewto the limit. And who is LarcumMudge, the mysterious new recruitwho has joined the crew of the Griffin?

Independent, $26.99US Trade PaperbackAVAILABLE NOW


The Hero’s CurseBY DAVID DONACHIE

1793 . . . Fresh from the first engage-ment of a new war with RevolutionaryFrance, Lord Charles Wormwood,though he has no real idea why, ishailed as a hero. Fame brings the mid-shipman into the sphere of Admiral SirAndrew Braeburn. It also makes himdeeply attractive to the man’s daughterKate, a rampant nymphomaniac with aruthless addiction to getting her way.She has set her heart on marryingWormwood, with the support of heradoring father, but first he must passthe examination for lieutenant, one setup by his Uncle Harry Hamilton, withthe questions and answers provided inadvance. How can a man as ignorant ofthe sea, and sailing a warship, pass sucha test? Divine intervention?

Two Fingers Books, $3.93KindleAVAILABLE NOW

Fast AttackBY WILLIAM WALLACE & DON KEITH

A belligerent Russian president seeks toreunite the Soviet Union – beginningwith Lithuania. But before the US cansend military support, Russia’s navyforces a dangerous face-off in theAtlantic. As a Russian fleet maneuversinto a blocking position, a pair of spiesattempts to sabotage the Americannavy. With a hurricane bearing downon the Atlantic and the US fleetordered to port, two Americansubmarines and a small team of NavySEALs are all that remain. Together,Commander Joe Glass and his fastattack submarines must defeat theRussian forces, or risk losing the globalbalance of power for good.

Severn River Publishing, $24.99US HardbackAVAILABLE NOW

MARITIME FICTION

Sea WitchBY HELEN HOLLICK

The Time: The Golden Age of Piracy,1716. The Place: The Pirate Round,from the South African Coast to theCaribbean. Escaping the bullying of hiselder half-brother, from the age of fif-teen, Jesamiah Acorne has been a piratewith only two loves - his ship and hisfreedom. But his life is to change whenhe and his crewmates unsuccessfullyattack a merchant ship off the coast ofSouth Africa. He meets Tiola Old-stagh, an insignificant girl, or so he as-sumes, until she rescues him from avicious attack, and almost certaindeath, by pirate hunters. And then hediscovers what she is: a healer, a mid-wife, and a white witch.

Penmore Press, $19.50US Trade PaperbackMAY


MARITIME FICTION

A chronicle of the fascinating earlyyears of Horatio Nelson and EmmaLyon. Both determined to rise fromobscurity, they set about making theirways through the world with corre-sponding recklessness and precociousambition. Nelson enters the Royal Na-vy at the age of twelve and is madepost captain at the age of twenty. Em-ma, luscious but penniless, cannilyconfronts her limited prospects to risethrough the social ranks from teenagedbawd to noblemen's courtesan to cele-brated artist's model. Rich in historicaldetail, this novel offers authentic seaaction and a rare peek into London’sdemimonde, where the lives of a beau-tiful courtesan and Britain's greatestnaval hero collide.

McBooks Press, $23.95US Trade PaperbackAVAILABLE NOW

It’s 1784 and Nelson is sent to the Ca-ribbean to enforce the hated Naviga-tion Acts. While there, he marriesFanny Nisbet. Ordered next to theMediterranean, he engages in a stringof spectacular naval battles: Cape StVincent, Tenerife, and the Nile. Theravages of war take their physical tollon Nelson, even as he gains the fameand honor he desperately craves. At the same time, Emma, mistress pfCharles Grenville, sits as an artist’smodel, her pictures selling briskly.When Charles’s uncle, Sir WilliamHamilton, joins them in Naples, Em-ma finds herself the object of Hamil-ton’s desire, and when the mercurialNelson pays them a visit, she is drawnto the brash sea captain.


In 1799, having evacuated the Kingand Queen of Naples ahead of Napo-leon’s advancing army, Nelson mustnow await developments in Sicily. Inthe meantime, he and Emma savortheir passionate affair, and when Nel-son travels back to Britain with theHamiltons, he finds he is the toast ofEurope. To the British elite, however,Nelson is a dangerous upstart, and hislove for Emma is his weakness. Withrising resentment, Nelson and Emmamust keep up appearances, unable toacknowledge their love. As the warwith Napoleon drags on, Nelson en-gages the Danish fleet at Copenhagenwith stunning results. Finally, he is giv-en the chance he’s been waiting for: offa Spanish cape, called Trafalgar.


BY DAVID DONACHIE

On a Making Tide Tested by Fate Breaking the Line

Nelson and Emma Trilogy


Catastropheat SpitheadBY HILARY L. RUBENSTEIN

In one of the most sensational and per-plexing incidents in naval history, RearAdmiral Richard Kempenfelt, a much-voyaged veteran and outstanding offi-cer, drowned along with more than800 crew and many civilian visitors ona calm summer’s morning and in a fa-miliar anchorage. This new work ex-amines that tragedy, the suddencapsizing at Spithead on 29 August1782 of the mighty British flagshipRoyal George. This is the first compre-hensive account of the calamity and isbased on a wide variety of contempo-rary sources, including reports by survi-vors and eyewitnesses.

Naval Institute Press, $38.95US HardbackAVAILABLE NOW

Sovereign of the SeasBY JOHN McKAY

Sovereign of the Seas was the mostspectacular, extravagant, andcontroversial warship of the earlyseventeenth century. Her armamentwas increased by the King’s decree tothe unheard-of figure of one hundredguns. The ship finally cost theequivalent of ten conventionalwarships. In this book, John McKayanalyzes the data and reconstructs thedesign and appearance of the ship in adegree of detail never previouslyattempted. The results are presented asa folio of superbly drafted plans,isometric drawings and coloredrenderings.

Naval Institute Press, $68.95US HardbackAVAILABLE NOW

MARITIME HISTORY

Chasing the BountyEDITED BY DONALD A. MAXTON

Popular films about the Bounty mutinyonly scratch the surface of its history.The rebellion on a British vessel in1789 spawned a sequence of engross-ing, sometimes tragic, events duringthe voyages of HMS Pandora, dis-patched to track down the mutineersand return them to England for court-martial, and Matavy, a schooner builtby the mutineers in Tahiti. This is thefirst book to include eyewitness ac-counts from five men who enduredthese voyages. The captain of Pandora’sofficial reports have been correctedfrom an older, inaccurate version, andhis complete, unedited statement onthe loss of Pandora appears for the firsttime in book form.

McFarland Publishing, $39.95US HardbackAVAILABLE NOW


MARINE ART

“Witch of the Wave” – Boston Harbor, 185115” by 21” oil on canvas

This extreme clipper, considered the masterpiece of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ship-builder George Raynes, was commissioned by Salem ship owners Glidden & Wil-liams. Launched in the spring of 1851, her elegant lines and rigging were described by

many at the time to be amongst the most beautiful ever seen in a clipper. On her maiden voy-age, she carried 1,900 tons of cargo. After rounding Cape Horn, Witch of the Wave arrived inSan Francisco 120 days after leaving Boston. She is seen here at dawn off Boston Light in thesummer of 1851, her bow pointing toward the Atlantic.

– Paul Garnett, ASMA

PAUL GARNETT

www.mcbooks.com / www.rowman.com

THE DESTINATION FORNAUTICAL FICTION

NATHAN PEAKE NOVELSBY SETH HUNTER

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Quarterdeck › uploads › ...Award for the best fictional novel based on Florida history. Macomber’s “literary acclaim, prolific writing, and communication skills make him the