Quarterdeck - McBooks Press

Quarterdeck
Celebrating Nautical & Historical Fiction
Inside
Bernard Cornwell
Steven Maffeo
The Real Jack Tar
January 2013
Contents
Quarterdeck
JANUARY 2012
FEATURES
05
BERNARD CORNWELL
The creator of the Richard Sharpe series
looks back on three decades as a novelist.
08
TALL SHIPS
COMMUNICATIONS
STEVEN MAFFEO
Quarterdeck is published monthly by
Tall Ships Communications
6952 Cypress Bay Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
American naval historian and novelist
Steven Maffeo discusses his career and
transition to writing fiction.
12
EDITOR
George D. Jepson
Tel 269-372-4673
[email protected]
THE REAL JACK TAR
Julian Stockwin profiles the men of the
the fo’c’sle.
REGULARS
03
McBOOKS
SCUTTLEBUTT
News from the nautical and historical book trade and
related history
04
REVIEW
The Perfect Wreck by Steven Maffeo
15
Quarterdeck is distributed by
McBooks Press, Inc.
ID Booth Building
520 North Meadow Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
PUBLISHER
Alexander Skutt
Tel 607-272-2114
[email protected]
www.mcbooks.com
BY GEORGE!
In Bolitho’s Footsteps
11
press
ART DIRECTOR
Panda Musgrove
[email protected]
BOOKSHELF
Catch up on US and UK titles in nautical and
historical fiction and related history
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR EMERITUS
Jackie Swift
[email protected]
© Tall Ships Communications
ON THE COVER – Detail
from English marine artist
Geoffrey Huband’s oil
painting of Second to None
from the book of the same
title by Alexander Kent.
© Geoffrey Huband
Geoffrey Huband
2
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
Scuttlebutt
WILLIAM C. HAMMOND
The United State
Naval Institute
Press will
publish How
Dark the Night,
the fifth title in
the Cutler
Family Chronicles by William
C. Hammond, in
2013. The book
William C. Hammon
will cover the
Cutler family in the years leading
up to the War of 1812, and will
provide the backdrop for volume
six. It will follow A Call to Arms.
V. E. ULETT
California-based novelist V. E.
Ulett, author of Captain Blackwell’s
Prize (see page 15), which is
published by Fireship Press, will
launch book two in the Blackwell
trilogy, in 2013.
Online
Book Sources
McBooks Press
www.mcbooks.com
Independent Publisher’s Group (IPG)
www.ipgbook.com
Tel 800-888-4741
Fireship Press
www.fireshippress.com
Amazon
www.amazon.com or
www.amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble
www.barnesandnoble.com
The Book Depository
www.bookdepository.com
ABE Books
www.abebooks.com
New Book
Launch Dates
2013
HMS Victory’s Figurehead
US (United States)
UK (United Kingdom)
TPB (Trade Paperback)
PB (Paperback)
HC (Hardcover)
(Photo by George D. Jepson)
HMS VICTORY
HMS Victory is currently undergoing a 10-year restoration in
Portsmouth, England. Visitors to
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard have
the unique opportunity to witness
the process taking place on the
oldest commissioned warship in
the world; they will also have the
chance to see how the great sailing
warship of the 18th century was
built and maintained at battle
readiness in a brand new exhibition
at the National Museum of the
Royal Navy (NMRN). The
exhibition, Bones of Oak & Iron –
Beneath Victory’s Skin, explores
how Victory was originally built in
1759 at Chatham Dockyard, how
she was preserved and cared for in
war and peace..
ROY AND LESLEY ADKINS
Jane Austen’s
England by Roy
and Lesley
Adkins will be
published in the
US in August
2013 by Viking
Penguin in the
United States.
The Adkins
consider the
book a companion to their earlier
work, Jack Tar. For more details,
visit the Adkins online at:
adkinshistory.com.
3
JANUARY
1356 (USHC)
by Bernard Cornwell
FEBRUARY
Hostile Shores (USHC)
by Dewey Lambdin
MARCH
Ripples in the Sand (USTPB)
by Helen Hollick
The Blast that Tears the Skies (USHC)
by J. D. Davies
MAY
Take, Burn or Destroy (USHC)
by S. Thomas Russell
Note: This was titled A Ship of War
in the United Kingdom edition
AUGUST
Jane Austen’s England (USHC)
by Roy and Lesley Adkins
COMING IN FEBRUARY
Interviews with
Dewey Lambdin and his
Thomas Dunne editor
Peter Joseph
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
By George!
In Bolitho’s Footsteps
O
N BITTER WINTER
evenings, with a
crackling fire in the
grate, and a glass of port at
hand, opening an Alexander
Kent novel is like greeting an
old and valued friend. It was
the author, after all, that
many years ago introduced
me to England’s “wooden
walls” and Captain Richard
Bolitho.
At least once a year,
generally on a dark night
with wind whipping about
the eaves, I crack open my
copy of To Glory We Steer, Detail from To Glory We Steer by English marine artist Geoffrey Huband,
which serves as cover art for the McBooks Press editions of the Bolitho
the first novel published in
novels.
© Geoffrey Huband
the Bolitho saga, which was
our first visits to England, we met Douglas
launched in 1968.
and Kim Reeman and learned firsthand the
The opening lines never fail to quicken
story behind Richard Bolitho and his
my pulse: “The New Year of 1782 was only
Cornish roots. During an ensuing busman’s
three days old but already the weather had
holiday, we traveled by rail to Marazion,
made a decided change for the worse.
Cornwall, to visit marine artist Geoffrey
Steady drizzle, pushed by a freshening
Huband, who has created cover art for all of
southerly wind, explored the narrow streets
the McBooks editions of the Bolitho stories,
of Portsmouth Point …” As Captain Bolitho
and his wife, Jacqui.
pushes open the door of the George Inn, I
Walking the streets in Penzance, and in
am beside him, allowing “the drowsy heat to
particular
the Georgian section of the town,
enfold” us.
was a trip back in time to Richard Bolitho’s
The wonderfully descriptive passages
world. And when Geoffrey suggested a visit
written by our friend Douglas Reeman, who
to Falmouth, home seat for the Bolitho
authors the Bolitho novels under the pen
family, I leaped at the chance.
name Alexander Kent, paint vivid images in
So on a bright autumn afternoon, under
words for the reader. Whether aboard a ship
an azure sky, Geoffrey’s vintage Jaguar
at sea or strolling the streets of Portsmouth
raced across the Cornish countryside, bound
or Falmouth, there is a sense of being there.
for Falmouth. Behind the wheel, Geoffrey
After Amy and I assumed the helm of
chatted about his work, while answering
Tall Ships Books in 1997, we frequently
traveled to the United Kingdom. On one of
Continued on page 15
4
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
BY GEORGE JEPSON | INTERVIEW
“If the course of true love was to run smooth I needed
an income, so I told Judy (airily) that I’d write a book …”
B
ernard Cornwell is one of the most
prosperous contemporary novelists in any
genre, with more than twenty million
books in print. The English-born author,
who now resides in America, launches his latest
novel, 1356 (see page 8), in the United States this
month.
Cornwell plunged into fiction in 1981 with the
publication of Sharpe’s Eagle, the first title in a 24book series, which captured the imagination of
readers around the world, setting in motion a
flourishing profession that continues today.
Over the past thirty-plus years, the affable author
has written novels about the American Civil War
(four), Arthur’s Britain (three), the Hundred Years’
War (three), Saxon Britain (six), contemporary
thrillers (five), as well as seven standalone titles,
including his latest, 1356.
Cornwell and his wife, Judy, and Whiskey, a Ruby
King Charles Spaniel, split their time between homes
on Cape Cod and Charleston, South Carolina, where
they winter. I recently interviewed the author about
his career and approach to writing.
What led you to writing in the first place?
Bernard Cornwell
Love, or more specifically falling in love with an
American who, for family reasons, couldn’t move to
Britain (where I had a perfectly respectable job as a
television producer). So I decided (airily) to move to
the US upon which the US Government refused me a
work permit. If the course of true love was to run
smooth I needed an income, so I told Judy (airily)
that I’d write a book … an activity that didn’t need
the government’s permission. And that was it. I did, I
still am, and we’re still married thirty-four years later.
fiction? What was the genesis for Sharpe?
He was my first foray, yes, and his genesis lies solely
with C.S. Forester’s Hornblower series, which I read
and loved as a teenager. There are only eleven
Hornblower adventures so I ran out of reading
material fairly quickly and moved onto the nonfiction histories of the Napoleonic Wars and so
discovered the huge seam of land-based stories. I
wanted someone to write a Hornblower-on-Land
series, and no one did, so that was an obvious genre
Was the Sharpe series your first foray into writing
5
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
to know how England was formed, research, lifestyle and events. The
and that is a very dramatic story, so latter is fairly easy, the former is
it seemed an obvious one to write! impossibly hard and does take a
The Sharpe series is a well-known
lifetime. You can plan on
success story. Was it immediately
Your new novel, 1356, follows
researching events and find the
embraced by publishers?
the further exploits of Thomas of
right sources very quickly, but
Hookton, is this part of the Grail
research into lifestyle can be very
It was, yes. I had an immediate
Quest series or, possibly, a one-off capricious, but all you can do is
offer from a UK publisher, but it
read and read more and then read
would never have kept me alive to title?
more still!
write the second, but luckily I met
I suspect it’s a one-off. I’d always
an agent who, within two weeks,
meant to write about the battle of
Please describe your approach to
had negotiated a seven-book
Poitiers and Thomas as
creating your novels. Once started,
contract from HarperCollins. That
conveniently to hand … it could
do you review a previous day’s
was way back in 1980 and I still
have the same agent and publisher. easily have been another character, work and re-write? Do you write a
I suppose, but I rather like him. It
certain number of words per day? Is
means it’s now a four book trilogy. there generally more than one
At what point in your early career
complete draft?
did you realize that writing novels
Your novels are wonderfully
would be your vocation?
descriptive, capturing the
I start at page one and keep going. I
surroundings in which you place
don’t have a set number of words
Well it was a hope, I suppose, and
your characters. What inspirations per day, some days are terrific,
one that I never thought I would
while others are
realize. I suspect
like swimming
I thought my
through treacle. I
vocation was to
never know
be a television
where the story is
producer and that
going (though I
the thought of
might have a
writing novels
destination in
would remain a
do you use to create these splendid mind). I knew Thomas would end
dream. Is it a vocation? I don’t
moments?
up at the battle of Poitiers, but I had
know. I love doing it, and I’m
no idea how he would get there and
unbelievably lucky to be allowed to
I always used to answer “the
the joy of writing (for me) is
do it. Once I started I found it
mortgage” to that question, but
discovering the story as you go
rather strange to put “writer” on
that’s probably no longer true. I
along. It always seems to me that
forms that asked my occupation.
have no idea! You sit down every
writing a novel is a bit like climbing
I’ve got used to that now.
day and let the imagination work on an unconquered mountain – you
the story and characters. It’s nice of know you’re aiming for the peak,
Over the past decade, your work
you to ask the question, but I’m not but aren’t sure how to get there. I
has focused on early English
sure I know the answer.
usually get a third of the way up,
history with the Grail Quest and
look back and see a better route, so
Saxon novels. What inspired you to
Do you have a particular approach that’s when you start again and
concentrate on these earlier
to researching your novels? Do you hope the better route gives you the
periods?
maintain a research library?
impetus to get halfway up,
whereupon you look back and see a
A love of the period! You have to
I have a vast library! And research better route, and so on and so on.
write about periods you like, I
That means the earlier chapters get
could never set a novel in, say, the is a lifelong activity, by which I
Crimean War, because it bores me mean that I’ve been reading history rewritten a lot more than the later
since I was a child and it’s still my ones, and the advent of wordto death. I’ve been fascinated by
favorite reading. Very broadly
processing really has got rid of the
Saxon England for ever and it
speaking there are two areas of
ideas of a “draft.” I’d guess, and it
occurred to me that no-one seems
to attempt.
“You sit down every day and let
the imagination work on the story
and characters.”
6
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
is just a guess, that I do the
equivalent of five or six drafts?
What have been the greatest
influences in your writing career?
Meeting Judy and the desperate
need to make a living in a country
that didn’t want to make that easy
for me!
What comes next in your writing?
Immediately? Another of the Saxon
books which I’ve just started, so
have no idea where it’s going, and
next year? I want to write the first
book in a series that I’ve wanted to
write forever, but won’t tell you
what that is! Someone might nick
the idea and I’d be pissed about
that.
1356
by Bernard Cornwell
(HarperCollins, $28.99, US Hardcover /
$16.99 Kindle and NOOK) September 1356
… All over France, towns are closing their
gates. Crops are burning, and throughout
the countryside people are on the alert for
danger. The English army – led by the heir
to the throne, the Black Prince – is set to
invade, while the French, along with their
Scottish allies, are ready to hunt them down.
But what if there was a weapon that could
decide the outcome of the imminent war?
Thomas of Hookton (the Grail Quest
Series), known as le Batard, has orders to
uncover the lost sword of Saint Peter, a
blade with mystical powers said to grant
certain victory to whoever possesses her.
The French seek the weapon, too, and so
Thomas’s quest will be thwarted at every
turn by battle and betrayal, by promises made and oaths broken. As the
outnumbered English army becomes trapped near Poitiers, Thomas, his
troop of archers and men-at-arms, his enemies, and the fate of the sword
converge in a maelstrom of violence, action, and heroism.
Please describe where you write.
In two places. When I’m in Cape
Cod I have a “barn” that is my
library and has a vast desk and
where no one disturbs me or bitches
about the smell of cigar smoke. I
winter in Charleston, SC, and there
I work in a spare bedroom, which
has very few bookshelves, a much
smaller desk, and a complicated
exhaust system so that no-one can
bitch at me about the smell of
cigars. Both places work well.
talent. It’s a superb book. My other
avocation is acting. I used to write
two books a year, but gave up the
second because I fell among actors
and spend most of my summer
making an idiot of myself at the
Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod. I
was in four productions this
summer, which was three months
of rehearsing and performing, and
I’m hoping to be doing as much
next year.
When you’re not researching, what
do you like to read for pleasure?
What are your other avocations?
Do you ever read your own work
after it is published? Do you have a
favorite book or series?
I read what I can’t write! I love
history and read a lot. I love “police
procedurals” and read those a lot. I
read other novels, but find it
incredibly hard to read historical
novels, because I’ve spent thirtyplus years writing them. Right now
I’ve just finished Ben Fountain’s
novel Bill Lynn’s Long Half Time
Walk, and am totally jealous of his
I don’t. Sometimes I have to (if it’s
a series), but I don’t particularly
enjoy doing it – you always think
what could have been done better!
I guess my favorite series is the
Arthurian trilogy, mainly because
they were so much joy to write.
One day I’ll re-read them.
What do you think about e-books
7
and electronic readers like Kindle
or Nook?
I love them! We travel a lot and you
can carry a library with you. Judy
reads on a Kindle and I use an iPad.
The only problem is that people
never see the cover of the book
they’re reading! I had an angry
message on Facebook from
someone who said he’d loved all
my books, but my new one was
disgusting, and it turned out he only
thought he was reading one of my
books, it was actually written by
someone else.
Is there anything else you would
like to share with our readers?
I guess the hope that they’ll all be
as lucky as I have been! Truly, it’s
been a career of good luck!
Visit Bernard Cornwell online at
www.bernardcornwell.net.
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
BY GEORGE JEPSON | INTERVIEW
A Naval Historian Turns Novelist, Bringing to Life
the Battle Between USS Constitution and HMS Java
S
MAFFEO crosses the line from
historian to novelist in his latest book, The
Perfect Wreck: “Old Ironsides” and HMS
Java – A Story of 1812 (see review on page
14), an engaging narrative of events leading up to the
momentous battle between two proud ships.
Maffeo is the author of two acclaimed naval
histories – Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence
in the Age of Nelson (2000) and Seize, Burn, or Sink:
The Thoughts and Words of Admiral Lord Horatio
Nelson (2006).
The author lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
with his wife Rhonda and son Micah, where he is the
Associate Library Director at the United States Air
Force Academy. He responded to my questions
about his career and writing fiction in this recent
interview:
TEVEN
Where did your interest in the sea originate?
It’s a very challenging question for a guy born and
raised in Denver – about 1,000 miles from anything
resembling an ocean. I guess you could ask the same
question of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (from
Fredericksburg, Texas) or Admiral Arleigh Burke
(from Boulder, Colorado). I certainly can’t speak for
those distinguished officers, and I hardly even know
the answer for myself. I think it might be that those of
us not used to the sea when young sometimes develop
a fascination for it for just that reason. I know that I
had it early, say by five years of age. I also sometimes jokingly say that it’s all because my parents
took me to see the Marlon Brando/Trevor Howard
version of Mutiny on the Bounty when I was eight,
and from then on I was hooked – not only interested
in the sea, but in the great Age of Sail in particular.
Captain Steven Maffeo, USN (Ret.)
Were books an important part of your world growing
up? Were there particular authors and genres that
were your favorites?
Yes indeed. Both my parents were public school
teachers, and in those days my mother taught in
elementary school, so the house was full of books,
8
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
and reading was a central activity.
Of course, in the early and mid1960s there were no computers,
video games, at-home movies, etc.
– and the television only had four
channels – so there were limited
distractions and thus books were
pretty important to both education
and entertainment. I read pretty
widely, but I have to tell you that
my mother bought me a very nice
hardbound copy of Captain Horatio
Hornblower when I was in the
fourth grade, and that pretty much
cemented my interest in the age of
sail (that book had the marvelous
N.C. Wyeth dust jacket; a poster of
that jacket looks down on me from
my office wall right now). So, early
on, I read all the Hornblower
books, then of course those of
Alexander Kent and Dudley Pope.
In addition, I
developed a
profound liking
for history and
historical fiction
in general.
possible relevance to the Rhyme of
the Ancient Mariner. I also published a few professional articles in
various library science journals in
my early career, and later a few
journal and encyclopedia articles on
naval history. One of those was
“Trafalgar,” published in The
Fighting Top: A Journal of
Nautical Literature and Art.
After completing two successful
works of naval history, what drew
you to write The Perfect Wreck as
fiction?
After I finished those books, I
vowed that I would stop writing
until I either retired from the Naval
Reserve, or retired from my fulltime job – or both. Writing was
very difficult to do with the other
and the personality and character of
those people as I’ve come to know
them.
How did you research The Perfect
Wreck?
The logbooks of the Constitution
and the Hornet (microfilmed during
the Great Depression) were the
beginnings. I made copies (along
with other key documents) at the
Naval History and Heritage
Command in Washington. I found a
treasure of information at the USS
Constitution Museum in
Charlestown, Massachusetts. Those
folks kindly put me in touch with a
descendent of Henry Chads, who
was the first lieutenant of HMS
Java. David Chads, a retired British
gentleman, shared documents that
had been passed
down through the
family. He also
ventured into the
British national
archives for me
and copied the
Java’s logbook.
Using approximate dates I sent him,
he found copies of several
Admiralty orders to the Java’s
captain. The published journal of
the Constitution’s surgeon was a
rich find. I also made some use of
Captain Cook’s, Captain Bligh’s,
and Lieutenant Charles Wilkes’
documents, as well as the iconic
works of British historians Clowes
and James.
“... I came upon an article describing a true
event involving “Old Ironsides” visiting
Singapore in 1845 …”
When did you
begin writing?
In high school I was in accelerated
(now called “honors”) and then
advanced-placement English
classes, and I majored in English in
college, so I think it’s fair to say
that I had a lot of small-scale
practice throughout those years.
Most of those papers were serious
essays on various topics, but some
were exercises in creative fiction.
In the tenth grade I wrote a tenpage piece of dramatic fiction on an
eighteenth century sea battle, which
ends much like Ambrose Bierce’s
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
My first huge term paper, in the
eleventh grade – involving trips to a
large research library and all the
rest of the formal trappings – was
on the mutiny on the Bounty and its
draws on my time and energy. But
then I came upon an article
describing a true event involving
Old Ironsides visiting Singapore in
1845 – with a huge connection to
the War of 1812. It was an epiphany, and I was off to the races.
At first I considered writing the
book as strictly history, but after a
while it seemed to me that I might
try to do two things at once (which
military people know is dicey; one
should never try to split the
mission!) I thought that I would
attempt to tell this not-very-wellknown story, an incredible sea
adventure. It is fiction, but all the
players, facts, and events are
accurate. Even much of the
dialogue is taken from actual
correspondence. I’ve tried to ensure
that those words closely fit the facts
9
Do you write the sort of story you
would like to read, or do you write
strictly for readers?
I write things that I would like to
read. But at the same time I make
the enormous (and perhaps
unwarranted) assumption that there
will be a goodly number of other
people who will also want to read
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
it. As you know, there are a fairly
large group of readers who are
card-carrying Age of Sail
aficionados, myself included, so
what draws me I’m hoping will
draw them as well.
Washington, DC. At that point I
stopped writing and feverishly went
about collecting documents,
searching out secondary sources,
and reading everything relevant that
I could get my hands on. I spent a
considerable amount of time
How do you name your characters? “translating” and transcribing the
relevant five months of
To date, my only attempt at fiction Constitution’s log-book entries. I
has been The Perfect Wreck, and as faced the same challenge with
discussed earlier I have tried to be
documents from England and,
scrupulously faithful to the
finally, the Java’s logbook. Then I
historical record, the slight
began writing in earnest, using the
fictionalization notwithstanding.
logbooks as the centerpieces. The
So, every single person (save one)
wonderful thing about writing with
really existed and has a name that
a computer is that nothing need be
can be confirmed in primary source lost nor totally redone; so, once
documents. The only one I made up there, things can be modified,
was the wicked old Gosport winemoved, and otherwise polished and
seller, named after an old friend
rearranged. I’m old enough to tell
(Captain Robin Clements, USN).
you that I did my first big high
Did you plot out
the novel before
beginning to
write?
delightfully quiet, with not another
soul on board. The watch-standers
and security guards were on the
pier. The ship made little noises as
the current gently moved around
her. I left the cabin a few times,
once to reenact Commodore
Bainbridge falling and rolling
around the quarterdeck when he
was wounded during the Java
battle. I’m pretty sure the watch
-standers couldn’t see me. I bet I
looked pretty strange – a captain in
uniform acting as if possessed.
Now that I’ve completed three
books using various ad hoc places
to write, I’ve recently established
an office in our house, which forces
me to attempt a fourth book to see
whether I can write in a normal
setting.
“I don’t compose on the computer; I
generally write things out in longhand,with
revisions made on the computer.”
What’s next for
you?
Back to history,
I’m afraid, as
well as a shift in
Fortunately, this
time. Another
project afforded
great interest of
me an embarrassingly easy
school and college papers on my
mine is World War II in the Pacific
transition from my non-fiction,
father’s 1923 L.C. Smith manual
and particularly the lead-up and
because of my intent to keep
typewriter (which I still have). It’s beginning of the war. I’ve already
closely bound to the historical
so easy and efficient now. How
started a new book, a study of the
record. History plotted out my
anyone wrote lengthy books in the linguists, cultural experts, codestory, sparing me the incredible
good old days is beyond me!
breakers, and intelligence analysts,
stress and strain that weighs upon
who were critical to our operations
most novelists. I began to write not Please describe where you write?
before and during the early part of
having to worry about where I was
the war. A spectacular biography
going.
Anywhere I can! I’ve used quite a
came out last year on Captain Joe
variety of places. I don’t compose
Rochefort, who personifies the kind
At what point in the process did
on the computer; I generally write
of people I’m looking at.
you begin writing?
things out in longhand, with
Rochefort, who helped unravel the
revisions made on the computer.
Japanese code leading to America’s
Immediately, once I had
I’ve written at the dining room
victory at Midway, has finally
experienced the overwhelming pull table at home, at work after hours,
received recognition, but there are
of the 1845 scene in Singapore. I
in airliners, on board our time-share others who have not, and I intend to
took the article on that incident, and houseboat, and in hotel rooms.
remedy that.
some other data, and fleshed it out. Perhaps the most wonderful place
Then, I jumped to the opening of
was three nights in the captain’s
Is there anything else you would
the battle scene, framing it during a cabin of Old Ironsides herself. The like to share with our readers?
flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to
lighting was good and it was
10
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
I salute those fellow spirits who are
interested in history and historical
fiction! My teenager sometimes
calls me Captain Obvious, for he
thinks I too often point out the
obvious. To me a real obvious truth
is that whatever we are today is in
large measure connected to what
has happened in the past. Reading
about history and reading about
history as vividly brought alive by
good historical fiction is a wonderful thing. Anyone else who thinks
that – in particular about naval and
nautical subjects – is a right, true
shipmate of mine.
Another salute: to the Royal
Navy! One of The Perfect
Wreck’s major characters
recollects visiting a friend in
the Naval Hospital Haslar,
which for some 300 years stood
just west of Gosport in the
greater Portsmouth area. In
February 1918, my maternal
grandfather, Arthur Miller, was a
soldier in the Wisconsin Army
National Guard, and survived
being sunk by a German U-boat
while on board the British
steamship Tuscania. Most of the
troops were saved (260 were lost
out of 2,179), and they came
ashore along the north Irish coast.
Many, including my grandfather,
were shortly moved to Haslar. He
spent considerable time there, and
my mother told me that for the rest
of his life he often spoke about the
wonderful care he received. Thus, it
goes without saying that if it
weren’t for the Royal Navy I
wouldn’t be here. They pulled my
grandfather out of the freezing
North Atlantic and ensured his
recovery at Haslar. So, here’s to
you, mates!
Visit Steven Maffeo online at
www.stevenmaffeo.com.
Review
The Perfect Wreck
by Steven Maffeo
Fireship Press, $19.95, US Trade Paperback
N
aval historian Steven Maffeo brings his talent for research to
his first novel, The Perfect Wreck, the story of the battle between HMS Java and USS Constitution.
Commodore Henry Chads, HMS Cambrian, Singapore station,
boards a shabby old American ship to offer medical assistance to her
ailing crew. The ship’s captain, John Percival, ill and on crutches,
accepts his offer. Chads recalls the last time he was aboard the USS
Constitution thirty-three years earlier, as
first lieutenant of HMS Java, surrendering
to another American on crutches, Commodore William Bainbridge, after a horrific
three-hour action.
Offered from both the British and American perspectives, Maffeo masterfully leads
the reader through an involved and intricate account of how and why the battle
ended as it did. A month after Constitution’s devastating defeat of HMS Guerrière, the ship and her crack crew are
handed over to Commodore William
Bainbridge, an unlucky and disliked officer. His mission is to cruise with the Essex and the Hornet, and capture British
shipping. At Portsmouth, the Java, formerly the French ship Renommée, is being fitted out by Captain Henry Lambert, an esteemed officer already distinguished in
several single ship actions. Lambert, however, has been forced to
ship a number of inexperienced and potentially mutinous men,
which puts him at a distinct disadvantage. His mission is to convey
several East Indiamen and four ranking army officers to India.
The Perfect Wreck doesn’t just describe the Java at the end of her
encounter with the Constitution; rather, it is the perfect description
of all that led up to that fateful battle. Although the outcome is
known from the start, it doesn’t detract from the story. Indeed, Maffeo’s impeccably balanced account leaves the reader wondering if
the best captain did actually win. The details are superlative, and the
characterization admirable. Much appreciated also are the historian’s
touch of character list, glossary, epilogue, and appendices. Whether
taken as history or a tale well-told, The Perfect Wreck makes for a
highly satisfying read.
B. N. PEACOCK
11
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
BY JULIAN STOCKWIN | NAVAL HISTORY
The Real Jack Tar
T
he zenith of the Age of Sail (17931815) coincides with the
monumental struggle for empire
between Britain and Napoleonic
France. From as early as the Battle of the
Nile in 1798, Napoleon was confined to the
continent of Europe until he was forced to
surrender by the Royal Navy’s domination
at sea, where they won all the major battles
and most of the minor. The legendary
heroes of the quarterdeck – Nelson, Howe
and Pellew – are deservedly famous, but
what of the men of the fo’c’sle? Why is it
that 99 percent of every ship’s company has
been overlooked to such a degree that today
it is exceptional to be able to bring to mind
the name of any of that band of heroes
hailing from before the mast? And why is
the common sailor such a universally one
dimensional walk-on stereotype in modern
cinema and other treatments?
Jolly Jack Tar has been a stock figure in
theatre since before Johnson’s day, known
for his over-the-top salty wit and direct
speaking, loved by all and instantly
recognizable with his pigtail and sea rig,
including those exotic “trousers.” The
general populace, grateful for their
deliverance from the French and others,
sentimentalized him, transforming him into
a quaint caricature – not that this stopped
them at the end of the wars turning him by
the thousands onto the streets to starve.
Only single figure numbers of autobiographical works have survived, but these
must be taken with caution; many were
edited by polemics for reform, and fed the
early Victorian appetite for moralizing and
scandal. To put it kindly, most were losers,
who did not take to the life and remained
lowly and bitter – but all have been
accepted unquestioningly as an authentic
picture of mainstream life at sea. This view
raises awkward questions. How can a crew
12
Heaving the lead – a Jack Tar aboard a British
Royal Navy ship during Nelson’s time.
of brutalized jailbirds have operated a shipof-the-line, the most complex machine on
the planet at the time? Why would “mere
cyphers” fight like tigers for such a way of
life? With such brutal conditions, who then
would volunteer for a life on the ocean
wave, as the majority did?
The renewed attention this period of
maritime history is receiving is throwing
fresh light on these conundrums and
illuminating a fascinating sea world.
To appreciate the real Jack Tar you have
to understand who he was not. He was not
the landlubber, the quota-man, the jailbird –
they came mainly from ill-conceived
political measures to meet the chronic
shortage of men, and were shipped aboard
with no training whatsoever to be heartily
despised by all true seamen. Their presence
was primarily to provide brute labor for the
decks of guns that gave a man-o’-war her
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
purpose. Few did well; they had
little to offer and there was little
incentive to rise above themselves
to break into the larger community.
In store for them, therefore, would
be a life of unremitting and
uncomprehending misery.
A pressed man was a different
matter. Legally the only ones who
could be pressed off the street were
those “who used the sea.” This
reflected the notion that merchant
ships were a kind of floating
reserve for the Navy, for a skilled
seaman could easily pass between
them and often did, but even so the
press-gang was loathed. There were
often spirited fights ashore before
sympathetic bystanders, and
magistrates could convict the
lieutenant of a press-gang if injuries
resulted. However, before we
condemn, it is worth considering
how unfair is this really, compared
to more recent times when wholesale conscription and the lottery of
the draft were tolerated.
It is true that many Navy men
deserted, but this was probably not
so much as a result of brutal
conditions as a desire to see if the
grass was greener, and the simple
fact that the odds against recapture
were so low. Moreover, savage
penalties were usually set aside in a
captain’s eagerness to retain the
seaman’s services. The merchant
service paid wages up to four times
those on offer in the Navy and
without the prospect of a battle, but
there was a down-side; ship-owners
were tight-fisted and with small
crews sailors had to work harder,
and if ever they came up against a
predator they were virtually
defenseless.
It is important as well to take
account of the historical context in
which Jar Tar lived. Conditions
aboard were hard, but for the times
by no means extreme. On the land
there was no real security for the
A cutting-out party from HMS Surprise retakes HMS Hermione, after it had been taken by
mutineers in 1797 and turned over to the Spanish.
working man; a full belly at the end
of a hard day was never certain, and
food was generally of poor quality.
At sea, the meanest hand could rely
on three square meals a day
regularly and grog twice – and free
of charge, something a ploughman
in the field or redcoat on the march
could only dream about.
Accommodation at sea was far
cleaner than the crowded bothies
and stews of the city and with half
the men on watch it has been
remarked that the 28 inches of
hammock space per man compares
favorably with that of a modern
double bed. While in absolute terms
it is not a life we could tolerate
today, for the eighteenth century in
general it was not horrific – and as
modern ocean yachtsmen and
mountaineers have found, a lot of
hardships can be borne if you
believe you are achieving
something.
Brutality in discipline is often
cited to imply a cowed crew; but in
reality the captain was like a
country justice-of-the-peace at sea,
and had broadly similar powers –
never life and death. Ashore there
were the stocks and the local bride13
well, but at sea there was no
provision for the idleness of
incarceration – the punishment
must deter, but also be summary in
effect; the man must be quickly
returned to duty. At a time when a
woman could be “whipped at the
cart’s tail” up the town’s High Street
for a misdemeanor, flogging was
the sea alternative. Captains varied
in its use; statistical examination
shows both extremes, but if repeat
offenders and hard-case quota men
are excluded it is clear that the
larger majority of seamen never did
receive a “red checked shirt at the
gangway.”
One thing is emerging; the men
of the fo’c’sle were not faceless
nonentities going through rote
drills, as on a parade ground. A 74
gun ship-of-the-line at sea had only
a single commissioned officer on
watch; the whole subsequent
complexity of operations with
hundreds of men could only be
possible if the men had the
initiative and intelligence to work
individually out there on the yard or
any one of the huge number of
everyday technical tasks. Under the
tiny officer corps, a well-tried
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2012
hierarchy of merit existed – the
petty officers and warrant officers –
who were “the backbone of the
Navy.” It was highly successful,
and it remains effective to this day.
It ensured work-place excellence at
all levels, and could only be
achieved with sea skills won in a
culture of pride and work satisfaction.
In general, officers were no fools
– they knew that in management
terms it was better to lead a wellconditioned and motivated team
than drive a sullen and unreliable
rabble. A recently discovered Royal
Navy ship’s order-book dating from
the desperate situation of the later
1790s shows well over half the
entries concerned measures for the
welfare of ship’s companies. This
was appreciated by the seamen,
who, as any serviceman will testify,
can put up with much if officers are
seen to be trying their best. It is
worth pointing out that the grievances of the great fleet mutiny of
1797 at Spithead were not about the
system, but abuses.
The world of the lower deck was
a unique, colorful and deeply
traditional way of life, carrying
customs and attitudes hallowed
over the centuries. A young sailor
learned many things along with his
sea skills: handicrafts ranging from
scrimshaw to ships-in-a-bottle,
well-honed yarns whose ancestry is
lost in mists of superstition, and
most valuable, the social aptitudes
to get on with his fellow man under
sustained hard conditions.
Individualism – a trait shared by
all nations in a universal sea ethos –
made for strong characters and
sturdy views and makes a nonsense
of portrayals that have them
otherwise. There could be no
doubts about the man next to you
on the yard or standing by your side
to repel boarders, they were your
shipmates, and a tight and
supportive sense of community
arose which only deepened on a
long com-mission, far waters and
shared danger. Then, as now, the
sea was a place to find resources
of courage and endurance from
within yourself, to discover the
limits, both in you and in others.
Prize money was an obvious
incentive to Jack Tar, and with
reason – all seamen would have
before them the example of the
capture of the Spanish Hermione,
which left the humblest seaman
with forty years’ pay for just a
few hours work. In 1779 Lieutenant Trollope was in command
of the cutter Kite when he took
two enemy prizes laden with
seasoned ship timber. He was
awarded 3/8ths – £30,000 – so in
one hour he had earned the equivalent of 300 years’ worth of pay.
As no other ship was present and he
was not a member of any particular
Admiral’s Fleet he was able to
secure the full amount. Such riches
were rare, but by no means
unknown – yet this does not
explain why the blockading squadrons, storm-tossed and lonely with
never a chance of a prize, still
performed their sea duties to a level
that has rarely been seen, leagues
out to sea and out of sight, executing complex maneuvers without
ever an admiring audience. A more
universal reason is perhaps the fact
that there was a simple and sturdy
patriotism at work; in the years
since Drake, the seamen had
evolved a contempt for those
foreigners who dared a challenge at
sea, and in the years of success that
followed, it became a given that the
Royal Navy would prevail, whatever the odds. In the century up to
Nelson this became a ‘habit of
victory’ that gave an unshakeable
confidence in battle, every man
aware that he was a member of an
elite with a splendid past that it
14
Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson
would be unthinkable to betray, a
spirit that in truth has endured to
this day. This habit of victory
produced some incredible results.
I’ll mention just one extraordinary
fact. In the whole 22 years of war
the Navy lost 166 ships to the
enemy. In the same period no less
than 1204 of the enemy hauled
down their colors in return – seven
times their number!
The men on the lower deck who
helped achieve these odds were
exceptional seamen, tough and
loyal characters who have contributed to a sea culture that has
flowered and endured over the
centuries. But there is still much we
do not know about Jack Tar. It is
time for the real men to step out
from the shadows and take their
place among the heroes of the age.
Nelson was adamant, and I have his
words as the dedication to my first
book, speaking of the officers aft on
the quarterdeck and the men
forward in the fo’c’sle; “Aft the
more honour, forward the better
man!”
Visit Juliam Stockwin online at
www.julianstcokwin.com.
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
Booksh elf
Lewrie and the Hogsheads
The Tainted Prize
by Dewey Lambdin
by M. C. Muir
($1.99 Kindle and NOOK) Dewey
Lambdin presents a new short
story starring the most colorful
captain of the Royal Navy, Alan
Lewrie of the HMS Reliant, who
has been stuck in Nassau
Harbor, biding his time after
ferreting out pirates on the coast
of Spanish Florida. Until, that is,
one of his brig sloops comes into
harbor with an unexpected cargo
of survivors from an American
brig. Their ship, the Santee out of
Charleston, South Carolina, has
been taken by a Spanish
privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island
passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie
has a chance to get out of Dodge, have some fun, and
maybe even capture a prize. But he’s about to learn that
there’s another, much boozier side to the Americans’ story.
(Lulu.com, $14.60, Trade
Paperback / $2.99 Kindle) The
year is 1803 and Captain Oliver
Quintrell is summoned to London
by the First Lord of the Admiralty,
John Jervis, where he receives a
new commission in command of
the frigate HMS Perpetual, which
awaits him in Gibraltar. Bound
for the Southern Ocean,
Quintrell’s orders are to find a
missing Royal Navy ship, even if
it means sailing all the way to
Peru. But in order to complete
his mission, he must face the
challenges of the Horn, an unnerving discovery, French
privateers, political intrigue and even deception and unrest
amongst his own crew. The Tainted Prize is a classic ageof-sail nautical fiction adventure and the second in the
series following Floating Gold.
Coming in February …
Also Available …
Hostile Shores
Floating Gold
Thomas Dunne, $25.99, Hardcover / $12.99 Kindle
Lulu.com, $16.00, Trade Paperback / $2.99 Kindle
The Beckoning Ice
Captain Blackwell’s Prize
by Joan Druett
by V. E. Ulett
(Amazon, $6.99 Kindle) In
February 1839 ships of the
United States Exploring
Expedition are thrashing about
dreaded Cape Horn, on their way
to a rendezvous at Orange
Harbor, Tierra del Fuego, on a
crazy mission to be the first to
find Antarctica. A sealing
schooner hails the brig Swallow
with a strange tale of sighting a
murdered corpse on an iceberg –
surely a case for Wiki Coffin, who
represents American law and
order with the fleet. But circumstances are against him. As he has been banished from the
Swallow to the Peacock, where he is forced to battle
racism, and vengeful sealers, the puzzle is surely too much
even for this experienced sleuth. Then Wiki is tested even
further when he uncovers a brutal murder on board. To
solve this double mystery, he is forced to make a dangerous voyage to the utmost fringes of the beckoning ice.
(Fireship Press, $19.95, US
Trade Paperback) A romantic
adventure from the days of
wooden ships and iron men.
Captain Blackwell’s Prize is a
story of honor,duty, social class
and the bond of sexual love. A
small audacious British frigate
does battle against a large but
ungainly Spanish ship. British
Captain James Blackwell
intercepts the Spanish La
Trinidad and outmaneuvers and
outguns the treasure ship then
boards her. Fighting alongside
the Spanish captain sword in hand is a beautiful woman
The battle is quickly over. The Spanish captain is killed in
the fray and his ship damaged beyond repair. Its survivors
and treasure are taken aboard the British ship, Inconstant.
Captain Blackwell’s Prize features exciting sword fights and
sea battles alongside the manners, ideas and prejudices of
men and women from the time of Nelson and Napoleon.
15
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
By George!
place, remains today just up
from Falmouth Harbour.
Striding along the
incessant questions from me about
waterfront, smelling the sea
Falmouth and the landmarks
air, passing small shops, I
prominent in the Bolitho series.
had the sense Geoffrey and
Falmouth, which lies on the
I were tracing Richard
estuary of the beautiful River Fal,
Bolitho’s footsteps much
was initially the site of Pendennis
like he and Martyn Dancer
Castle, built in 1545 by Henry VIII,
“… strode through the mud
and one of several castles running
and slush, past the old
along the south west coast of
church and ancient trees…”
England. The town was founded
about 1613 by John Killigrew.
This is the house on Cornwall after which the Bolitho in Midshipman Bolitho and
home is patterned. The photo was taken by Douglas
the Avenger.
Arriving in the small Cornish
Reeman while living in Cornwall in preparation for
The old church still
city, my eyes were focused on the
writing the first Alexander Kent novel.
stands, along with
waterfront and the ancient
Pendennis Castle and Falmouth’s
selected by Douglas for the house
structures, which could well have
narrow winding streets. I recall this
was located on the Roseland
been in existence during Richard
small bit of Bolitho’s world each
Peninsula across Carrick Roads.
Bolitho’s lifetime. I practice
time I return to Alexander Kent’s
Perhaps another time, I thought.
“selective viewing” when visiting
The Church of King Charles the eloquent words.
historic places like London or
Martyr, where so many important
Portsmouth, filtering out the
For more on Bolitho’s world, visit Douglas
events in the lives of Bolithos take Reeman online at douglasreeman.com.
modern environment. Luckily, we
found parking along a road leading
to the headland on which sits
Pendennis Castle.
by Jack Ludlow
The castle, with its iconic round
($29.95, Hardcover / 10.63 Kindle / $10.63
tower, overlooks Falmouth Bay and
NOOK) 1096. The Pope has called for a crusade
Carrick Roads. The dark blue
to free Jerusalem, and half the warriors of Europe
waters teemed with sailboats as we
have responded. Among them is the Norman,
strolled across the green beneath
Count Bohemund, one-time enemy of Byzantium,
whose help is required if progress is to be
the castle. As I cast my eyes cast
possible. In company with his warrior nephew,
seaward, I imagined Captain
Tancred of Lecce, Bohemund must once more
Bolitho’s frigate, HMS Phalarope,
cross the Adriatic to the lands of the Byzantine
anchored “well out in Falmouth
Empire. His first task, pushing back the infidel
Bay, her sleek shape black and
Turks, calls for an uneasy alliance with old enemy
Emperor Alexius. But can the Crusaders trust the
stark against the sea and watery
wily Emperor, and is he really on their side? With
sunlight,” in To Glory We Steer.
old tensions and grudges arising, and the violent
I had fervently hoped to see the
battles of the People’s Crusade bringing
Bolitho home described in
destruction upon middle Europe, the strength of
Midshipman Bolitho and the
this reluctant truce, and the de Hauteville dynasty
itself, is truly put to the test. Bohemund is faced
Avenger: “… the big grey house,
once
again
with
the
opportunity
to gain power, land and riches for himself, but
square and uncompromising,
do the risks of doing so outweigh the rewards? The Crusaders must contend
almost the same colour as the low, with sieges, open battles, hunger and want on their journey to mighty Antioch,
scudding clouds and the headland
where they face the stiffest test of their mettle. As defeat threatens, only Norman
discipline can save the day.
beyond.” But sadly the structure
Continued from page 4
Soldier of Crusade
16
QUARTERDECK | JANUARY 2013
THE RICHARD DELANCEY NOVELS
by C. Northcote Parkinson
1 - The Guernseyman
(McBooks Press, $18.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) Richard Delancey,
inadvertently embroiled in Liverpool
labor riots, sidesteps punishment by
“volunteering” for the Navy. Ranked as
a midshipman, he is no sooner aboard
than his ship sails for the port of New
York, where he meets Charlotte, his
attractive cousin. But when the events
of the American Revolution and the
ongoing hostilities between England
and France send him back across the
sea, Delancey finds himself instrumental in defending the Isle of Jersey
and, later, the Rock of Gibraltar.
2 - Devil to Pay
(McBooks Press, $19.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) 1794 . . . A lieutenant’s rank
belying his undistinguished naval
career, Richard Delancey finds that his
fluency in French lands him a secret
mission, but to his chagrin, it goes
awry. Casting about for fresh
opportunity, Delancey becomes
involved in customs collection on the
Isle of Wight and in thwarting the highstakes activities of smugglers. His
success lands him in command of a
private man-of-war, the 22-gun
Nemesis, to embark on further
adventures.
3 - The Fireship
(McBooks Press, $17.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) Having obtained a position on
the Glatton, Richard Delancey is soon
to see action in the Battle of
Camperdown. But the Nore and
Spithead mutinies intervene to upset
the course of his career. As witness to
a mutiny and participant in the
subsequent court martial, Delancy
devises an original legal defense to
help free a fellow officer accused of
murder. He acquits himself well, but
falls afoul of the naval establishment.
To his chagrin, he misses the general
promotion of all in his rank after the
victory at Camperdown. Mollified by
appointment to command a curiously
antiquated vessel – the fireship Spitfire
– Delancey uses this unlikely
opportunity to best effect.
4 - Touch and Go
(McBooks Press, $19.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) 1794 . . . With his Royal Navy
commission in hand, Richard Delancey
is posted to Gibraltar to command the
sloop Merlin for convoy protection in
the Mediterranean. Overcoming
problems with his crew, Delancey
quickly proves his mettle during the
siege of Valletta and the battle of
Cadiz. While there, Delancey hears of
a rich prize ripe for the taking, but it’s
touch and go whether he will make the
capture in time.
5 - So Near So Far
(McBooks Press, $19.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) 1794 . . . Temporary peace
has been negotiated. During this
17
precarious cease-fire, Richard
Delancey seems hell-bent on
jeopardizing his career by falling in
love with a spirited Drury Lane actress
and engaging in a yacht race with
members of the opposition party. But
this brilliant tactician is soon called into
action once more, as Britain prepares
for the threat of a new French assault.
Disturbing rumors are circulating about
Napoleon’s new weapons of war:
vessels driven by steam-engines, new
explosive devices, and, most troubling
of all, a French secret weapon named
Nautilus, which can travel underwater
and attach explosive devices below the
waterline. Using wildly unorthodox
tactics,Delancey will have to defeat
these new weapons of war, as well as
thwart a plan to kidnap the British
Prime Minister from Walmer Castle.
6 - Dead Reckoning
(McBooks Press, $19.95, US Trade
Paperback / $7.99 Kindle / $8.99
NOOK) 1794 . . . In this gripping final
book of Parkinson’s series, Captain
Richard Delancey heads for the East
Indies on the 32-gun frigate Laura to
take part in the capture of the Cape of
Good Hope. His ingenious tactics gain
the attention of his superiors, who
recruit him for a high-stakes mission:
to seek out and destroy the French
privateer Subtile. In the meantime, on
the island of Mauritius, Delancey
pursues a more personal vendetta: to
hunt down the infamous "Fabius," a
sadistic enemy agent who has eluded
Delancey for years.