Issue X

ContentsPART ONEDouglas Reeman

PART TWONaval Customs

PART THREESuccess to the Brave

PART FOURTo Grips with the Enemy

PART FIVEA new seafaring family sagafrom Douglas Reeman

The Bolitho Newsletter is published andcopyrighted by Highseas Authors Ltd.

This issue was originally released in 1971.

Douglas Reeman / Alexander Kentwith Cutty Sark in the background.

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Part OneAlexander Kent

A s a boy at prep schoolAlexander Kent tookevery opportunity to attend thenaval reviews of the thirties,but usually managed to findhis attention returning againand again to the earlier days ofsail, and was often foundexploring Nelson's oldflagship Victory atPortsmouth. At the outbreak of the war,and in spite of belonging to anarmy family, he joined thenavy without any hesitation,and served in the Battle of theAtlantic as well as in thecampaigns in the Mediterranean and Normandy. After the war, while establishing himself as afull-time writer and self-taught naval historian, hebecame more determined to write authentic storiesof the period which remained closest to his heart –of the ships and men who by choice orenforcement lived, served and died in them. He takes every opportunity to visit the scenes ofthis naval heritage and to collect and examinerelics of a time which for him is still very muchalive. He is a governor of the frigate Foudroyant,which, laying at anchor at Portsmouth, is the oldest

British warship afloat.

Part TwoNaval CustomsIn the days of sail it was customary for officers andseamen to uncover their heads and face aft whenthey stepped aboard. The ensign is flown from aft,and it is widely accepted even today as a sign ofauthority. It is generally believed that the custom is much

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‘Success to the Brave’ by English marine artistChris Mayger

older than this and comes from the days when ashrine or crucifix was carried aft on the poop.

Piping on Board

For a senior officer or important visitor to arrive onboard a tall-sided ship-of-the-line, it was oftennecessary to hoist him up bodily in a boatswain’schair. The instructions to the seamen at the tackleswere given on a boatswain's silver ‘call’, just asother routine orders were piped between decksmuch as they are today. It became a mark ofrespect to a flag officer or captain, a form of salute.

Firing Salutes

This very old custom was originally carried outwith shotted guns, the salute being returned gun forgun by the shore battery or fortress of the foreignport to prove that the visiting ship was unarmedand her mission was a peaceful one. Salutes are now fired on Royal birthdays andother State occasions as instructed. People of rank are always entitled to gun salutes,the maximum being that of twenty-one guns. Itwas even laid down in 1935 that His Holiness thePope is entitled to twenty-one guns if he is in aport or city being visited by a British warship.

Drinking Toasts

The monarch’s health is always drunk sittingdown. It is said that William IV while serving at

sea often bumped his head on the deckhead beamswhen responding to the Royal Toast and changedthe custom accordingly. Another version is thatGeorge IV, when he was Regent, dined aboard aman-of-war and said, ‘Gentlemen, pray be seated,your loyalty is beyond suspicion.’ A less charitable explanation originated on thelower deck where it was said that the officers weretoo unsteady to stand when the Toast was called!

Part ThreeTo Grips with the Enemy

I t was Horatio Nelson who proclaimed that ‘inmy view no captain can do very wrong if heplaces his ship alongside that of an enemy.’ As a strategist and naval tactician Nelson wasunsurpassed, his particular yardstick being that theFighting Instructions should never be a substitutefor a captain’s own initiative. But this is hindsight. It is when we picture theactual moment when two or more vessels meetingat sea that we can grasp the true difficulties of anycaptain. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, asBritain and France fought for mastery of theoceans, both navies were plagued by poorcommunications. Quite apart from the skill anddaring needed for the captain of a man-of-war toengage an enemy with the maximum advantage onhis side, he had the additional problem of notknowing how his adversary would react. Many

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ships were out of contact with the land andsuperior authority for months on end. When acaptain had last heard something definite he mighthave been at war. And yet in the meantime peacecould have been declared so that he would beattacking a ship no longer a foe. It was useless to declare himself ignorant of thefacts. A court-martial rarely took the side of anofficer who miscalculated the situation as he sawit. As the first report of a sail on the horizon waspassed to him the captain had to consider all theseproblems before he tried to engage. Friend orenemy? Neutral or in complete ignorance of thestate of affairs between nations? The admiral in command of a fleet or squadronhad few such uncertainties. He would be kept incontact with higher authority by speedy frigatesand courier brigs. Once he decided to attack, it waslargely a matter of his individual captains joiningthe fight as soon as possible. The solitary ship, however, had to gauge thewind and use it with the same skill and experienceas any of her cannon. With luck the captain wouldhold the wind-gage to give himself time to rundown on the enemy or slip away if he was provedwrong in his estimation of the other shipsintentions. By staying up to windward he couldtake his time, for there was a lot to do before hecommitted himself and his company to a bloodybattle at close quarters. The ship would be cleared for action, thejerking clatter of the young marine drummer boys

beating the hands to quarters making many a heartmiss a stroke while all the time the strange sailgrew larger and more menacing. Chain-slings would be rigged to the yards sothat the gun crews could be protected againstfalling spars and severed rigging. With deckssanded to prevent the men from slipping in sprayor blood, all eyes would be turned aft to the lonelyfigure of the captain. It might be his first encoun-ter, and the older hands would be looking to him togauge their own chances of prize money or suddendeath. If he had miscalculated, the captain might loseface with his men. At the next occasion he mightfail to rouse the backing of his company when itwas most needed. He would likely send an experienced lieutenantor warrant officer aloft where, from his dizzyingperch high above the deck, he might see or recog-nize something about the newcomer which wouldwarn of real danger or allay their fears until thenext time. And all the time he would try to hold his shipupwind from the other vessel, constantly trimmingthe yards and sails so as to hold the advantagewithout giving the other captain too many clues asto his final intentions. If a captain did not stay to windward or washopelessly outmanoeuvred from the first sighting,he would attempt to hold a converging tack in thehopes that he might dismast his adversary, or cuther rigging so severely that that he could grappleher without too much loss and damage to himself.

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The leeward ship would lie over and have that oneadvantage of her broadside’s elevation and greaterrange. The other ship is identified. An enemy. Ourcaptain has to close his mind to the possibility ofan armistice he knows nothing about. No furtherroom for speculation. Likewise the ship's company, from hardenedgunner's mate to lowly midshipman, all know thereis no turning back. Either the enemy’s flag willtriumph or there will be prize money to sharebefore the day is out. The guns are loaded, double-shotted for that firstall-important broadside. When action is joined thetraining and discipline will keep the gun crews attheir trade, but few broadsides are ever as well-aimed and telling as the first. The large sails, the courses, are furled into theiryards. It gives the officers on deck a clearer viewof an enemy, and also lessens the chance of one ofthem being set alight by a blazing wad from theenemy's gunfire. With so much tophamper oftarred rigging, spars and canvas, any vessel can betransformed into a blazing pyre in minutes. The captain peers aloft at the masthead pendant.To gain the best advantage it is better to have thewind slightly on the quarter. Enough to run downon the enemy, not too much to claw upwind if thefirst encounter goes against us. The order is piped to run out the guns, and withthe ship heeling slightly to leeward it is made easyfor the crews. The muzzles poke through the openports like black snouts. Each gun captain is peering

along his barrel, looking for the enemy, trying toestimate the fall of shot. As the order to fire is shouted from aft, the airsplits open to the deafening crash of cannon fire,the smoke billows downwind to blot out the othership in a dense barrier. But the captain is not watching the gun crews asthey sponge out their weapons and try to reloadbefore their enemy's iron comes scything throughthe rigging or hammers into the hull; his eyes areon the other ship's yards above the smoke. Is sheturning towards us? Is she trying to haul away andrun with the wind rather than face a closeencounter? The smoke writhes and lifts in the crash of theenemy's reply. Canvas and rigging fall, unheededby the sweating gun crews. Here and there a manfalls, to be dragged below for the surgeon'sattention. Our sails are casting shadows over the enemy’sgangway, he is paying off down wind, perhaps hisrudder shot away, or the afterguard cut down inthat first murderous broadside. Our sails havetaken the wind out of his, our ship is a barrieragainst any power which could hold him on thesame tack. In the flash of gunfire we see the glassof his stern windows as the hull continues to dropdownwind. It is almost over. One full broadsidethrough the enemy's unprotected stern will finishthe battle. His colours are already dipping in submission,our men stare at one another with glee anddisbelief.

By the quarterdeck rail the captain gives nothingaway. He knows better than anyone it could have beenhis own ship, and that the next time the wind maynot be so kind to him.

Part FourSuccess to the Brave

A cclaimed as ‘one of our foremost writers ofnaval fiction’ (Sunday Times), AlexanderKent has gone from strength to strength since hisfirst Richard Bolitho novel appeared fifteen yearsago. Fine storytelling, careful attention to historicalbackground and sweeping scenes of naval actionaccount for the world-wide success of his books.Success to the Brave is the fifteenth RichardBolitho story and chronologically it follows theevents covered by A Tradition of Victory. In the spring of 1802 Richard Bolitho issummoned to the Admiralty in London and givenhis orders for a difficult and, to him, distastefultask. Even an advanced promotion to vice-admiralto make him one of the youngest ever appointeddoes not compensate for his sudden and thanklessmission. Bolitho and his wife are expecting theirfirst child, and for once he is loath to quit the landfor the demands of duty. The Peace of Amiens, signed a few weeksearlier, is already showing signs of strain as the oldenemies wrangle over the return of colonialpossessions won and lost during the war. In the

little sixty-four-gun Achates Bolitho sails west forBoston, and thence to the Caribbean where he musthand over the island of San Felipe to the French. Bolitho discovers that to be a man of diplomacyis not enough, and as threat and counter-threatweave a web of intrigue around his lonelycommand he balances success against the dangerto his men who must follow him even to thecannon’s mouth.

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Part FiveA new seafaring family sagafrom Douglas Reeman

F ollowers of Richard Bolitho will know thatAlexander Kent has written many bestsellingmodern sea stories under his own name, DouglasReeman, and he has now embarked on a dramaticnew saga following successive generations of theseafaring Blackwood family through 150 years’service in the Royal Marines. The first novel in theseries, Badge of Glory, was published in 1982 andthe second, The First to Land, will appear in 1984. Badge of Glory opens in 1850 in that period ofchange that marked the coming of the steam age. Itis peacetime, and the world’s mightiest navy hassettled into a routine of tradition and ceremony,broken only by the occasional campaign overseas.Returning to his ship HMS Audacious at Spitheadafter a brief period of leave at the family home inHampshire, Philip Blackwood is ready for actionand excitement. When the squadron's new admiralreceives orders to sail to West Africa and stampout the remaining strongholds of slavery,Blackwood realizes he is about to get all the actionhe needs. In the scorching African sun, while defending aforgotten fort with a handful of men againsthundreds of savage tribesmen, or rescuing the

woman he loves from a terrifying ordeal at thehands of brutal slavers, and in the chill anddesolation of the Crimea, where his part in seizinga Russian redoubt leaves him severely wounded,Blackwood brings distinction to the ‘badge ofglory’ he wears.