Trade ventures there in Kydd’s day were mainly locally subscribed from England’s north. One of these was merchant broker John Bellingham, whom Kydd meets in a Russian gaol. He’d gone to sea as a midshipman in an East Indiaman and been caught up in a mutiny that sent the ship ashore. On return home he set up as a factor and businessman and was signally unsuccessful, ending up in Archangel, where he got on the wrong side of the Dutch, who probably framed him. Languishing for years in prison, he conceived a violent hatred of the British government, which he believed had failed him, and in 1812 sought revenge by killing Spencer Perceval in the lobby of the House of Commons, the only prime minister in British history to be assassinated. His friends’ attempts to have him declared insane failed and Bellingham was publicly hanged.
In this stage of Kydd’s career the greatest military drama was undoubtedly Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign to the east of the continent, caused by Trafalgar and its consequences, which prevented his breaking out of Europe. A truly astonishing canvas of millions of men clashing under arms, spread over nearly a dozen countries, it was vastly bigger than the Peninsular War that was to follow and only ended with Bonaparte’s disastrous retreat from Moscow. The part Kydd plays in the fevered times before Friedland is based on contemporary events, the little-known heroism of the Royal Navy in the defence of Danzig and that of Kolberg at the time. England does not remember them but their part is certainly revered in Germany—Danzig eventually fell but the navy’s desperate help, including the night spent navigating under fire of a powder barge to the besieged, is cherished, while with their help Kolberg held out to the end.
The Prussian hero of Kolberg, Gneisenau, has a grand statue still venerated in the now Polish city of Kołobrzeg. The brooding but talented Gerhard von Scharnhorst, whom we see as chief of general staff to Blücher, afterwards joined with him and a brilliant pupil, Carl von Clausewitz, to transform Prussian military culture into the most feared in Europe, going on to defeat France and enter Paris as a prelude to taking all of Germany under one flag.
Ironically, in the Second World War these men and their epics of resistance were commemorated by the German Navy in their famous battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and were held out by Hitler as an example to follow in the most expensive Nazi film ever made, in the calamitous final year of the Third Reich—the Royal Navy, of course, held to a humble walk-on part.
The Vistula Spit, the Polish Mierzeja Wiślana, as it is now known, is a noted vacation spot, but Pillau and Königsberg have had a different fate. The port is now within the Kaliningrad Oblast, a peculiar piece of cut-off Russian territory carved out of southern Lithuania for the sole purpose of securing Pillau—now Baltiysk—as an ice-free port for Russia’s Baltic Fleet. Most of the town and its red star-shaped fort are therefore now forbidden to foreigners. Königsberg, with its rich heritage, now Kaliningrad, saw grievous tragedy in the Second World War but many relics of this past remain, despite strenuous efforts at Russification.
All in all I stand amazed at the range and breadth of what happened after Trafalgar in eastern Europe, with Napoleon at the height of his powers and astride these antique untouched lands, like a colossus. I can promise even more in the next tale, as Kydd and the navy are called upon to stand alone before the conqueror …
To all those who assisted me in the research for this book I am deeply grateful. My appreciation also goes to my editors at Hodder & Stoughton, Oliver Johnson and Anne Perry, and their creative art/design team; and copy editor Hazel Orme, who has brought her meticulous blue pencil to bear on the Kydd series right from the debut title. And, as always, heartfelt thanks to my wife and literary partner, Kathy—and my literary agent Carole Blake.
GLOSSARY
a cable distant
a tenth of a sea mile, conventionally one hundred fathoms
adze
two-handed horizontally bladed axe used for shaping flat and curving timberwork
athwart
crosswise, such as intersecting a ship’s course, across one’s bows
auger
long-shanked boring tool
barky
pet term for one’s ship
bashaw
grandee, from Turkish paşa
blow out his gaff
have a riotous time ashore, sparing nothing
bulwarks
vertical planking above the deck forming the side of the ship
butcher’s bill
euphemism for list of casualties after an action
Channel Groper
rueful term for the Channel station after the number of fogs to be expected
chouse
tease
clerk of the cheque
dockyard representative of commissioners of the Admiralty with authority to disburse funds, e.g. payment to seamen
compree
seize or grasp meaning, French comprendre
corvette
French equivalent to ship-sloop, larger and with more guns
cuirassier
mounted soldier with armoured torso
dirndl
colourful full-skirted dress with close-fitted bodice
dragoman
professional interpreter and cultural adviser
driver sail
fore and aft sail at the after end of a ship equivalent to merchant-service spanker
druxy
timber in advanced decay, soft and spongy with white spots and veins
élève
one put forward by interested sponsor, French élève, pupil
euphroe
piece of wood with holes to take lacing of awning or similar
Feldwebel
Sergeant
flank
the side of a military deployment contrasted with the front
fluyt
Dutch cargo vessel, full-bodied with shallow draught
garboard
range of strakes that abuts the keel
great repair
requires the ship to be taken out of commission
guardo
shabby trick, after reprehensible guardship practices on new-pressed men
gun-room
mess-room of warrant officers and midshipmen in larger ships; the wardroom of a frigate
Hamoaze
straight stretch of water at the estuary of the Tamar before it enters Plymouth Sound
hance
break in the line of deck at the quarterdeck, often decorated
hauptfach
army major
Hohenzollern
ruling house of Prussia since 1701
hugger-mugger
in confidence one with the other
kellner
officer’s mess waiter
klafter
fathom (German)
landwehr
locally raised army, militia (German)
larb’d
larboard, left side of ship looking forward
liberty-ticket
issued to seamen going ashore as protection against press-gangs
liebfahne
banner of highest expression of love of country
lighters
open craft with flat bottom for carrying goods to or from ships at anchor
middling repair
requires docking
mort
a significantly large amount; from mortal
naught
nothing
Navy Board warrant
writ of authority from commissioners of the Admiralty necessary to officers under the rank of lieutenant; boatswain, carpenter, etc.
nösel
quart of liquid (German)
pettifogging
quibbler; from petty and voger (German “arranger”)
pfund
pound (German)
points (of sailing)
all the angles the ship can take with respect to the wind
popinjay
person of vain and pretentious character; like a gr
een woodpecker
private signal
ship’s identifying code known only to members of a given squadron or fleet, requiring secret reply
prize
vessel captured from an enemy state either by a man-o’-war or licensed privateer
puncheon
cask of 72-gallon capacity; can be filled with liquid or bulk
quarters
after a warship has cleared for action it closes up at quarters: men go to the guns
quoin
inclined wedge placed under breech of a gun to effect elevation
ran-tan
all out joyous run ashore; French ran-tan, knocking, banging
reefer
midshipman
row-guard
manning a boat and circling a ship slowly to discourage deserting
royster
general merriment at a tavern
rum do
strange happening
running rigging
the operating ropes of a ship as compared to standing rigging, which supports masts
rutter
old term for written sailing directions
sabretache
flat bag or pouch suspended below the sabre of mounted horseman
Sami
peoples indigenous to Lapland, Finland, the Kola peninsula
sennit
woven yarn or straw worked by sailors
ship-rigged
fully rigged; three masts with square sail on all
skiddy cock
smaller friend
strut-noddy
swaggering promenader who doesn’t know he looks foolish
tertian
type of barrel traditionally used in the southwest of England
the ton
those adhering to high fashion, stylish; Latin tonus, tone
trots, the
piles sunk out in a river or waterway to allow a vessel to moor alongside without taking the ground at low water
yeoman of the powder room
an experienced hand in charge of powder stowage; keeps accounts on behalf of the gunner
TIMELINE
1773
Thomas Paine Kydd is born 20 June, in Guildford, Surrey, son of Walter and Fanny Kydd
1789
The Storming of the Bastille, 14 July
1793
Louis XVI executed, 21 January
France declares war on England; Kydd, a wig-maker by trade, is press-ganged into the 98-gun ship of the line Duke William
Kydd
The Reign of Terror begins, 5 September
Artemis
1794
Transferred aboard the crack frigate Artemis, Kydd is now a true Jack Tar who comes to love the sea-going life
1795
The Netherlands is invaded by France, 19 January, and becomes the Batavian Republic
Seaflower
1797
Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February
Mutiny at the Nore, 17 April
Kydd is promoted to acting lieutenant at Battle of Camperdown, 11 October
Mutiny
1798
Kydd passes exam for lieutenancy; now he must become a gentleman
Quarterdeck
From the Halifax station, Kydd and his ship are summoned to join Nelson on an urgent mission
The Battle of the Nile, 1 August
Tenacious
Britain takes Minorca as a naval base from Spain, 16 November
1799
Siege of Acre, March-May
1801
Prime Minister Pitt resigns, 16 February
Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April
Kydd is made commander of brig-sloop Teazer but his jubilation is cut short when peace is declared and he finds himself unemployed
1802
Temporary peace at Treaty of Amiens, 25 March
Command
1803
War resumes 18 May, with Britain declaring war on the French
Unexpectedly, Kydd finds himself back in command of his beloved Teazer
The Admiral’s Daughter
Kydd is dismissed his ship in the Channel Islands station
1804
Napoleon’s invasion plans are to the fore
May, Pitt becomes Prime Minister again
1804
Napoleon is crowned Emperor, 2 December
Invasion
1805
Kydd is made post-captain of L’Aurore
The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October
Victory
1806
The race to empire begins in South Africa. British forces take Cape Town, 12 January
A bold attack on Buenos Aires is successful, 2 July
Conquest
Effective end of The Fourth Coalition, 14 October
Betrayal
In the Caribbean, the French threat takes a new and menacing form
Caribbee
1807
Napoleon tightens his Continental Blockade and moves on the Levant to break out of Europe
Pasha
Balked of empire by Trafalgar, Bonaparte strikes east and crushes proud Prussia
Tyger