Quarterdeck (42 page)

“A pox on y’r damned logic!” Kydd said angrily. “As a philosopher you’re nothin’ but a double-barrelled, copper- bottomed fool! Do ye think I don’t still want you as a friend, share the
318

Julian Stockwin

laughs ’n’ pains o’ life, enjoy while we can? Raise up y’r glass, Nicholas, an’ let’s drink to friendship.”

Renzi lifted his head. A reluctant half-smile spread and he replied, “I will—but this time it’s a friendship of equals.”

Glasses clinked. When they had regained composure Kydd fumbled in his coat. “Er, Nicholas, I’d value y’r opinion. Which o’ these invitations do ye think we should accept?”

Author’s Note

A question I am often asked is how long does the research for each book take? That is a diffi cult thing to quantify because in some ways I suppose I have been unconsciously doing it all my life—during my time at sea absorbing the universals all mariners hold dear, and ingesting material from countless maritime books, both fi ction and non- fi ction, that I’ve been drawn to since a very early age.

The proportion of my time now devoted to research must come close to fi fty per cent. But I have to say, it’s an aspect of being a writer that I
particularly
enjoy.

Research for the Kydd series has provided an opportunity to go down many fascinating paths in search of some arcane fact or other—and this book has proved no exception. I found myself corresponding with Dr David Green at the USDA Forest Service about the specifi c gravity of swamp oaks; this enabled me to send Kydd on his night-time sabotage mission against the French frigate. A chance discovery of an old pilot book of Kydd’s time in a Falmouth museum had me enquiring of the august Royal Institute of Navigation. One of their members, Dr Mark Breach, confi rmed the antique rule-of-thumb about the moon’s meridian that saved Kydd and his boat crew in the fog.

And while on the subject of chance, what were the odds of
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Julian Stockwin

my coming across a signal book actually belonging to a lieutenant on the North American station at exactly the time when Kydd learns his craft as a signal lieutenant? Retired Paymaster Commander William Evershed generously extended a loan of the precious family relic for me to study.

Research has enriched my life in another way, too. It has made me many new friends who also are irresistibly drawn to the sea.

Two, in particular, have a special connection with
Quarterdeck.

I fi rst met ship modeller Robert Squarebriggs when I visited Canada’s Maritime Provinces in 2002. He shared his love of the boreal wilderness, and I hope in this book that I have done justice to his infectious enthusiasm for his native land. Tyrone Martin is an erudite scholar of the dawn of US Navy history, and a former captain of
Old Ironsides.
His many insights into this fascinating period will again be invaluable when Kydd returns to North America, which he assuredly will.

I feel some degree of guilt in not being able to acknowledge everyone I consulted in the process of writing this book, but they all have my deep thanks. However I could not omit mentioning the three wonderfully professional women in my life—my wife (and creative partner) Kathy, my literary agent Carole Blake, and my editor Jackie Swift. Between them, they contrive to keep the hassles of the modern world at bay, allowing me to give full rein to my creative juices, ready for the next adventure . . .

Praise for Julian Stockwin’s

Q

$24.00

Kydd series

ua

In the course of four short years, Thomas

“Stockwin’s richly detailed . . . portrait of life Kydd, former wig maker from Guildford, on ship and shore in Britain’s oceanic empire is A

has gone from pressed man to master’s engrossing. He writes evocatively of shipboard Ky

r

mate—but can he make the near-impossible routine, the panic and confusion of combat, d

step to lieutenant on the quarterdeck?

d

t

and the terrifying approach of a storm at sea, S

e

e

and he knows how to stage enthralling action

Qua

uart

r erde

d ck

In this fi fth adventure in Julian Stockwin’s a Ad

r

scenes.”

A Kydd Sea Adventure

popular series, Kydd must pass a tough

—Publishers Weekly

examination to confi rm the lieutenancy ve

d

awarded him at the bloody battle of Camper-nt
e

“Likable Tom and his shipmates make a snug down. But aboard the 64-gun
Tenacious
he ur
c

fit in that page-turning Forester and O’Brian faces a more daunting challenge—matching tradition—thanks to retired Royal Navy author e
k

up to the high-born offi cers, who have spent Stockwin.”

Julian Stockwin was sent at the age of four-

a lifetime learning to be gentlemen. With

—Kirkus Reviews

teen to TS
Indefatigable,
a tough sea-training the help of his enigmatic friend Renzi, Kydd school. He joined the British Navy at fi fteen, transferred to the Australian Navy when his
J

struggles to conform to his new world but

“The vantage point of the common sailor gives
ulian St

soon discovers it’s easier to swing a cutlass the nautical novel a fresh twist. In Stockwin’s family emigrated there, and saw active service in close quarters than negotiate the brutal hands . . . the sea story will continue to in Vietnam. He became a teacher and an edu-minefi elds of upper-class society. Relief entrance readers across the world.”

cational psychologist. Later he was commis-comes his way when
Tenacious
reaches the

—The Guardian

sioned into the Royal Naval Reserve and was colonies and he is unwittingly caught up in awarded the MBE. Retired from the RNR with the danger and intrigue surrounding the

“I was soon turning over the pages almost the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he now birth of the American Navy. There, in un-indecently fast . . . Roll on, the promised lives in Devon, England. Visit him on the web charted waters, Kydd fi nds that quick wits adventures of Kydd and Renzi.”

at www.julianstockwin.com.

o

and superior seamanship once again make

—Independent

c

the difference between life and death.

“The appeal of the story is in the telling, which
kw

With a sure hand, Stockwin brings his usual is atmospheric, authentic and disclosed from meticulous research and historical accuracy the unusual perspective of the ordinary sailor
in

to this latest Kydd adventure. Kydd, Renzi working his way up the ranks . . . the author and the men of
Tenacious
struggle to do had a long career in the Royal Nav y, which their duty as King’s men, but as Kydd fi nds McBooks Press, Inc.

adds to his prose that extra dash of salty ISBN-13: 978-1-59013-115-2

out, life in the colonies brings a freedom few Ithaca, New York

52400

realism.”

Mc

Pr

Julian St

ulian Stockw

kwin

in

in English society have ever known.

—Publishing News

B

ess o

www.mcbooks.com

ok

s

9 781590 131152

Praise for Julian Stockwin’s

Q

$24.00

Kydd series

ua

In the course of four short years, Thomas

“Stockwin’s richly detailed . . . portrait of life Kydd, former wig maker from Guildford, on ship and shore in Britain’s oceanic empire is A

has gone from pressed man to master’s engrossing. He writes evocatively of shipboard Ky

r

mate—but can he make the near-impossible routine, the panic and confusion of combat, d

step to lieutenant on the quarterdeck?

d

t

and the terrifying approach of a storm at sea, S

e

e

and he knows how to stage enthralling action

Qua

uart

r erde

d ck

In this fi fth adventure in Julian Stockwin’s a Ad

r

scenes.”

A Kydd Sea Adventure

popular series, Kydd must pass a tough

—Publishers Weekly

examination to confi rm the lieutenancy ve

d

awarded him at the bloody battle of Camper-nt
e

“Likable Tom and his shipmates make a snug down. But aboard the 64-gun
Tenacious
he ur
c

fit in that page-turning Forester and O’Brian faces a more daunting challenge—matching tradition—thanks to retired Royal Navy author e
k

up to the high-born offi cers, who have spent Stockwin.”

Julian Stockwin was sent at the age of four-

a lifetime learning to be gentlemen. With

—Kirkus Reviews

teen to TS
Indefatigable,
a tough sea-training the help of his enigmatic friend Renzi, Kydd school. He joined the British Navy at fi fteen, transferred to the Australian Navy when his
J

struggles to conform to his new world but