Firehearth links to Captain Bligh

When the replica of Captain Cook’s bark ENDEAVOUR was built, the fireplace in the Great Cabin was based on one recovered from the wreck of the PANDORA – a ship built in the C18.

Following the court martial of Captain William Bligh for loss of his ship BOUNTY, Captain Edward Edwards sailed on the PANDORA in an attempt to find the mutineers made famous by the Mutiny on the BOUNTY (in which Captain Bligh was set adrift in a small boat). Remarkably Bligh managed to navigate the boat 4000 miles to safety.

After surviving both the mutiny and the court martial, Bligh was determined to find the BOUNTY and its remaining survivors. But neither he, nor any other ship ever reached Pitcairn Island.

Today the wreck of the PANDORA (discovered in the 1980s) is regarded as the most significant wreck in the South Pacific, and extensive archaeological and recovery work is being done on the site, including recovering the bones of some sailors who went down with the ship.

Pic: Great Cabin on the ENDEAVOUR replica with the open fireplace based on one from the Pandora centre left.

Treenail links past and present ENDEAVOURS

In May 1992, on its inaugural mission, space shuttle ENDEAVOUR carried a trunnel (a long wooden pin used for fastening timbers) into space. On return to earth, the Captain of the space shuttle ENDEAVOUR presented this to the Captain of the replica bark ENDEAVOUR. This trunnel was the last hammered into the ship – linking the C18th sailing ship to the C20th space ship.

The position of Endeavour’s last trunnel is marked with a small brass ring. It appears in the centre of the picture just above the table (Cook’s great cabin). I have had the pleasure of a short voyage on HMB Endeavour and served on board for 3 days as a tour guide when she was in Hobart in March 2012 as part of her circumnavigation of Australia

FLOATING GOLD now on Amazon

A long last, I am pleased to see FLOATING GOLD up on Amazon as an e-book for Kindle readers.
The cost is only $3.99.

Currently I am busy writing the sequel and hope to have it finished in a couple of months.
I hope you will enjoy reading this age-of-sail adventure as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The classic nautical fiction authors, Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester inspired me to write in this genre.

Ten other e-book formats are available from Belgrave House

A review - Discovering the Diamond - advice to new writers

‘Discovering the Diamond’ by Helen Hollick and Jo Field published by SilverWood Books, 2011 (read on Kindle).

‘Discovering the Diamond’ is an excellent, easy to read, well-structured guide, which allows for the novice writer to hone the base material of their manuscript into a polished gem which will knock the publishers’ eyes out (hopefully).

In this short book, multi-published author, Helen Hollick pulls no punches in stating that becoming a published author, either at the hands of a reputable publishing house, or through assisted publication outlets, or by pure self-publishing, is not an easy task. Even the perfect manuscript is not guaranteed a place on the bookshelf. But what this informative guide does is to lay down the ground rules which, if followed, will place the novice writers’ work in a competitive place, towards the head of the queue for assessment.

Like you and I, literary agents and publishing house editors are human beings, and the amount of time they can allocate to each manuscript submission is limited. Unlike the budding author (and published authors too), they cannot dwell for hours over a couple of pages, tweaking a word or phrase here or there, trying to polish the work to perfection. If you are lucky, they will read the first paragraph or perhaps a page of a submission, before either accepting it for further reading, casting it to the slush pile, or most likely, dropping it into the reject basket.

‘Discovering the Diamond’ lifts the lid on the transgressions of all authors – both published and novice. For example, too much tedium will bore a reader to death, and obvious errors in spelling, tense and syntax, along with obvious anachronisms, provide an instant no-go.

Hollick strongly advises writers to treat their work to the services of a professional editor and not to rely on a family member who will say he/she loves it despite all its errors.

Hollick also advises honesty in the way new writers look at both their own and other people’s work. And to illustrate each new section, she provides examples using scenes from her own books. My only comment here is that I found some of the passages a little over-long, and would have preferred more succinct examples.

Then there is discussion on layout and cover design, the use of contractions, and more, plus a timely warning about the pitfalls confronting new writers including the sharks, shysters and frauds who bubble with enthusiasm to publish your first book - at a cost!

Personally, as a published author both in mainstream and self-published outlets, I could relate to all that is contained in ‘Discovering the Diamond’. And though the information was not new to me, reading it was a timely reminder of the grammatical traps I can, and have fallen into, through complacency, when writing my novels.
I would recommend ‘Discovering the Diamond’ to any budding author seeking publication. Some real gems are contained within its pages.

Sailing on Europa - a bucket list wish

It's been on my Bucket-list for a long time.

But now at last, Europa is sailing from its home waters around Antarctica and coming to Australia in 2013 for the Tall ships Race.

As legs of the voyages are now available, I have placed a provisional booking to sail on Europa from Perth (Western Australia) to Melbourne, and then Melbourne to Hobart. What an event to look forward to.
I hope I get a berth.

Review for FLOATING GOLD by Michael Mendey

The following review appeared on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk recently.
February 28, 2012
FLOATING GOLD by Margaret Muir

This review is by Malcolm H. Mendey

A nautical treasure that is, and a hunt that kept my attention from the first page to the last.

For writers of nautical fiction set in the Napoleonic period, the hiatus brought about by the `Peace of Amiens' offers a challenge. Ships were laid up or de-commissioned, officers and men found themselves unemployed. Not very much was happening at sea to keep the Royal Navy busy. Or was it?

So it was gratifying to stumble across Floating Gold, by Margaret Muir, I suspect an accomplished sailor as she has an excellent grasp of seamanship and, it must be said, an accomplished writer to boot. Born of a personal experience and a footnote from a news item, Muir has created a well-crafted and plausible tale of adventure on board one of HM's frigates, Elusive. An aptly named vessel, for an elusive treasure.

Oliver Quintrell, a young Post Captain on half-pay, is given command of a 38-gun frigate and secret orders. He learns his ultimate destination only when the ship is far from England. He does not learn the nature of the treasure until he reaches the destination noted in his secret orders and even then, it is less than obvious.

The ship and the crew deal with a succession of challenges, from the weather, to pirates, to murderers, all plotted superbly. Once returned to England, Quintrell's trials do not cease, as the author keeps the interest running as high as the seas to very nearly the final page.

Floating Gold is excellent story-telling. The principal characters are visual, immediately empathetic and human. This is an intelligent, well-structured and thoroughly enjoyable story, which for enthusiasts of nautical fiction is highly recommended.

MHM

FLOATING GOLD in 10 e-formats

FLOATING GOLD has just been released in the following e-formats:
PDF – (LIT) MSReader – (PRC) Mobipocket - ePub – (PDB) Palm - HTML - Word - RTF – (RB Rocket and e-bookwise – (KLM) Hiebook
through www.belgravehouse.com

A release for KINDLE readers on AMAZON will follow in about a week.

I love the cover.

The Lady Nelson greets Cook's Endeavour

March 2012 and HM Bark Endeavour (replica) sailed into the Derwent for a short stay in Hobart.
As she sailed along the River, she was passed by HM Colonial Brig (replica) The Lady Nelson.
The Lady Nelson's home port is Hobart.
Built on the Thames at Deptford in 1798, the original vessel was 16m long with a 5m beam and had centreboards in place of a keel.
Having sailed to NSW, in 1800 she was the first vessel to sail west to east on Bass Strait and in 1801, the first to enter Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne).



In 1803 she sailed up the River Derwent and helped establish the site for Hobart.
She was lost in Timor (possible pirated and crew murdered) in 1825.
The replica vessel which sails out of Hobart almost daily was built on the Derwent River.
Having sailed on the Lady Nelson, here is a little of my experiences.
http://www.squidoo.com/tallsshipsailing

HM Bark ENDEAVOUR - an ignominious end

After her voyages under Captain Cook, ENDEAVOUR was used as a Navy store ship, and in 1775, she was sold and her name changed to LORD SANDWICH. When the British occupied the city in the American Revolution, she became a transport vessel carrying German troops to Newport in 1776. In 1777 and 1778 the LORD SANDWICH was used as a prison ship to secure American patriots.

In July 1778 when the French fleet arrived at Narragansett Bay to support the American army, in order to avoid capture and protect Newport, Rhode Island, from the French fleet, the British burned and/or sank 10 Royal Navy vessels plus 13 transports (including the LORD SANDWICH ex ENDEAVOUR).

The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) is engaged in a multi-year process to locate and identify the 13 British transports scuttled in1778. One of its aims is to positively identify the LORD SANDWICH.

http://www.rimap.org/

PS: I'm looking forward to spending 3 days as a tour guide on HMB ENDEAVOUR replica in Hobart, and hope to learn a little more of the ship's eventual demise.

Where Wild Winds Blow - a review

Where Wild Winds Blow by Jack Binder is a remarkable true-life adventure of two modern-day explorers. It tells of a sea voyage in a home-built yacht, Banyandah, which takes Jack and Jude half way around Australia and through some of the roughest seas known to man.

Where Wild Winds Blow is written in Jack’s inimitable style – sometimes brash, often touching but always heart-warmingly honest. The author has a masterly way of seeing and appreciating Nature in all its awesome beauty, and an engaging way of describing the couple's connection with it.
The book’s pages exude the child-like enthusiasm Jack and Jude experience when investigating new places – windswept islands where few people have walked before them – and of the trials they encounter along their journey.

But Where Wild Winds Blow reveals more than the intoxication of a sea voyage in the company of dolphins, whales and sea eagles, it also relates to the pain of a perfect storm, of an encounter with modern-day pirates, of broken equipment, near beachings, the intense chill of Antarctic winds, and of course, the constant challenge and changing moods of the sea.

Where Wild Winds Blow is a great complement to Two’s a Crew and a recommended read for anyone who loves the sea.

Isaac Asimov on Writing - I can't agree

Isaac Asimov on Writing.
Thoughts from the maestro of science fiction

“There is a romantic notion that there is such a thing as inspiration – that a heavenly muse comes down and plunks her harp over your head, and presto, the job is done. Like all romantic notions, however, it is just a romantic notion.”

“If your grammar and spelling are rotten, you won’t be writing a great and gorgeous story. Someone who can’t use a saw and hammer doesn’t turn out stately furniture.”

“Writing is the most wonderful and satisfying task in the world, but it does have a few insignificant flaws. Among those flaws is the fact that a writer can almost never make a living at it.”
Posted in:
World of the Written Word
Reflections by Joan Druett, award-winning maritime historian, speaker, reviewer, and author

What do I think?
I would certainly agree with Azimov’s statements that ‘Writing is the most wonderful and satisfying task in the world’ and that ‘a writer can almost never make a living at it.’

But I disagree when he says ‘there is no such thing as inspiration’. Inspiration sparks story ideas, and inspiration ignites the words on paper. I believe I ‘suffer’ from visitations by the 'heavenly muse'. I certainly know when the muse is taking a week off.

Marlon Brando great performance as Fletcher Christian in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

Just watched MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) Marlon Brando/Travor Howard version (Amazon $9.16 – 2 x DVDs).

For me this was a great movie, and Marlon Brando’s performance as Fletcher Christian far out-shone that of Mel Gibson playing the same role.

Apart from the acting, the 2nd disc has the story of the replica ship which was built in the traditional manner for MGM. It was certainly not a cardboard cut-out but a slightly larger version of the actual BOUNTY constructed from original plans bought from the Admiralty.

The ship’s own story from the keel up, to its voyage across the Pacific, to the making of the film and to its later trials and tribulations leading to it’s eventual restoration, are documented.
Recommended.

HM Brig ENDEAVOUR in Hobart March 2012

Having been accepted as a volunteer guide, I’m looking forward to joining HMB ENDEAVOUR for 3 days when she is berthed in Hobart at the end of this month.

It's about 10 years since I stepped on the deck of Captain Cook’s replica Whitby Cat. That was for a half day trip as a paying passenger. I'm really looking forward to the experience.

Will have my camera with me and take lots of pics.

Mary Patten - Captain of Clipper ship in 1856

Coincidentally, (International Women’s Day), I have just read, THE CAPTAIN’S WIFE the true, but fictionalized narrative, of Mary Patten who captained a great clipper ship around the Horn in 1856.
Sailing out of Boston, 19 year old Mary, accompanies her husband, Joshua aboard NETUNE’S CAR on a voyage to San Francisco which is expected to take about 100 days.

Before they reach the Horn, however, the first mate’s behaviour is such that he is locked in the hold and Joshua suffers a debilitating illness (possibly meningitis) and is only semi-conscious for much of the voyage. With a 22 year old second mate doing all he can on deck, Mary, being the only one who can use the sextant, must navigate and take control of the ship. The struggle to get around the Horn takes weeks but the ship eventually makes it to San Francisco after 138 days.

The author, Douglas Kelley, recounts an accurate picture of square rigged sailing under torrid conditions.
A good read.

Female sailor aboard the wreck of the Sydney Cove

In Max Jeffreys' narrative recounting of ‘The Wreck of the Sydney Cove’, in 1797 a handful of survivors sailed and hiked hundreds of miles over rugged terrain to get help for their mates who they had left on a desolate island in Bass Strait. During an arduous struggle along a cliff top, one of the young lascar sailors fell to the rocks below, and it was soon evident that the body was that of a young woman.

It was the First Mate, Hugh Thompson, who had picked up a group of lascar beggars from the streets of Calcutta and, favouring one in particular, had made ‘Pochari’ his cabin boy. Only after 6 months did he discover she was not a boy. But he told no one and no one suspected the truth.

The wreck of the Calcutta-built Sydney Cove, carrying a cargo of rum, is a remarkable true story of hardship and survival. I enjoyed Jeffreys’ re-telling, apart from the broad Scottish dialect of Captain Hamilton which, as the printed word, slowed my reading.

The Pirate of the skies

In the age-of sail, a sea captain had to anticipate changes in weather patterns. He must read the wind and waves, cloud formations and currents, but also the behaviour of the birds which provided clues to the approaching weather fronts.

The MAN ’O WAR or FRIGATE bird is one such indicator. Great flocks of frigates, flying towards land, herald an approaching storm at sea. In some places they are called ‘weather birds’.

The FRIGATE BIRDS’s name relates to both its speed and its piratical habits of attacking and robbing other seabirds. It swoops, catches and shakes its prey, stealing the food the captive birds disgorge.

Recognised by its broad 7ft wingspan and long forked tail, the male displays the distinctive scarlet pouch that is inflated during the breeding season.

World of the Written Word: FLOATING GOLD

World of the Written Word: FLOATING GOLD:
A REVIEW by JOAN DRUETT - Maritime Hisotorian and Author.

A Secret Mission for the British Admiralty, 1802
The War with the French is over ... temporarily ... but the British government is gearing up for another confrontation, this time with Napoleon.
The catch: The British government is desperately in need of money to finance this new war.
Enter Captain Oliver Quintrell, living comfortably on prize money, but eager for another command. His wishes are granted when he is given the frigate Elusive.
The catch: His secret mission is to sail into icy waters far south of Cape Horn, in search of a rumored treasure. If he succeeds, the British treasury will be saved. The price of failure is awful beyond reckoning . . .

It has recently become a popular ploy for authors who have obtained reversion of rights (and, hopefully, the pdf, as well) to re-publish their books with one of the many presses that have sprung up to meet the demand.

Margaret Muir's historical maritime adventure, Floating Gold, originally published by Robert Hale, has been given a fresh breath of life in this way -- and, in this case, most worthily so. Re-designed and re-issued in paperback (with the author's name cropped to the genderless "M C Muir"), this Hornblower-style novel is replete with maritime detail: it is obvious that Muir knows her ropes, and is comfortable with shiphandling, even under brooding skies. Ports are given good treatment, too. Her descriptions of Deception Island, the strange and ominous island in the sub-Antarctic where the Elusive finds a most unusual anchorage, are evocative and intriguing. And the story fairly romps along.

Her characters are convincing, too. Though just 32 years old, Captain Oliver Quintrell talks and acts like a man in his fifties -- which is exactly right for his era, when men aged much earlier. The "idlers" -- the tradesmen of the ship, like "Chips" the carpenter and "Bungs" the cooper -- stand out particularly well, being drawn with humanity and humor. And then there is the young apprentice shipwright, Will Ethridge, plucked from the sea like a piece of flotsam, destined to play an important role in the drama to come.

A most enjoyable read. I look forward to more from Muir's pen.

A Wind Clock

The ADMIRATLY BOARD ROOM c.1808.

The WIND CLOCK or wind indicator, on the far wall, is connected to a weathervane on the roof.

On this old photograph, taken at a later date, it appears that the wind clock has been moved.


The word ‘vane’comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘fane’ which means ‘flag’. (Wiki)

DIGGING UP THE DEAD by Druin Burch

Vintage Books - Review by Margaret Muir

In today’s western society, more bodies are donated to medical science than are required, but in the latter part of the eighteenth century, procurement of human cadavers was the lucrative occupation of the grave robbers. Dissection of human specimens, alive or dead, was a professional necessity for the young man who wished to become a surgeon.

Digging up the Dead is the biography of Astley Cooper (1768 – 1841), a man whose initial aspirations were to graduate from apothecary to surgeon and thence the role of physician. A man who rose to be the richest surgeon in Georgian England.

Digging up the Dead also provides an absorbing insight into the age when surgical procedures and anatomical knowledge were severely limited; where surgery was often experimental and where the unfortunate patients faced both excruciating pain and the high risk of mortality.

Soon after commencing his seven year’s medical apprenticeship in London, Cooper became intrigued with the science of surgical procedures – more specifically the art of human dissection. He believed that only through dissection, vivisection and surgery could the mechanisms of life be unravelled.

Though he preferred to hone his skill on the partially decomposed flesh of human cadavers, he also welcomed the opportunity to dissect and examine either live or dead animals. His specimens ranged from dogs and cats to exotics such as an elephant, kangaroo and whale.

Astley Cooper was a man of startling contrasts spending an hour a day with his hairdresser and insisting on wearing the finest silk stockings to complement the shape of his calf muscles. Yet he was a man who could rush from cadaver to patient without washing the bloodstains from his hands; a man of physical charm and charisma who demonstrated unceasing enthusiasm and energy for surgery. Yet he had the uncanny ability to ignore the cries from the pain he inflicted on his patients. Without the availability of anaesthetics, it is said that many of the surgical procedures of the day were tantamount to gross acts of cruelty.

Digging up the Dead takes the reader into the often despicable, horrific yet challenging world of dissection and vivisection. The author puts into place the roles of apothecary, surgeon and physician and shows how political allegiances of the time could affect a man’s career.

Burch takes the reader on a journey back in time. He reveals a vibrant London around 1800 depicting the squalor of the backstreets, the desecrated graveyards, the fine drawing rooms of the titled classes and the mortuaries of the major teaching hospitals of the day. Included is a stark reminder of the financial and physical costs of surgery. It was a time when life and death balanced on the surgeon’s knife edge, where infection was carried on blood-stained instruments directly from cadaver to live patient.

Burch also transports his reader into the dark world of grave robbers – men known as resurrectionists, exhumers, lifters or sac ’em up men – night-workers who were prepared to chance the gallows in return for rich pickings made from the trade in fresh corpses. It was a time when life was cheap and death often came early. Where the bodies of infants and fresh foetuses were charged by the inch and ‘larges’ or adult cadavers could return ten guineas apiece. A time where hospital wards stank of the putrid stench of rot or with the scent of wine and spirits which were used as preservatives. It was a time when the poor had little access to free surgical treatment and usually died without surgical intervention. A time when had access to expensive surgical procedures but where ironically many suffered excruciating deaths at the hands of the inexperienced surgeons.

Dressing up the Dead is an intriguing and well researched biographical work written by a latter day physician. Burch interlaces his chapters with some personal experiences, and supplements this biography with a useful index and extensive bibliography. His descriptive passages pulsate with the flow of a fiction novel.

An informative and thoroughly enjoyable read.
Margaret Muir (Originally posted to Amazon.co.uk May 2008)

Five Star review of Floating Gold - Paperback

Five out of five stars in Historical Novel Society Online Review, 5 Feb 2012 by Helen Hollick "H." (UK)

This review is from: Floating Gold (Paperback)by Margaret Muir. Anyone who knows me will know I devour anything with a Tall Ship theme--so I was excited to receive Floating Gold.

Here is an example of how authors who, for one reason or another, no longer have their books in print with a mainstream publisher, decide to self-publish. Margaret Muir used to be published by Robert Hale, but with a backlist out of print, she decided to publish her books herself to keep them alive and in circulation. Good for her!

Floating Gold is a Georgian treasure hunt adventure. It is 1802 and there is a tentative peace between France and England. Captain Oliver Quintrell, as with many a sailor during times of peace, is ashore with no command and nothing to do. When he is offered HMS Elusive and a secret mission, he jumps at the chance to accept. He is bound for the Southern Ocean with secret orders, and his crew encounter storms, murder, and various adventures on the long voyage south. When they reach their destination--and the treasure hunt proper begins.

The author knows her ropes when it comes to ships and shipping: the ship-board scenes are accurate and give a real feel of being at sea; her characters are believable--and the action, vigorous.

My only comment is that the edition I received had been incorrectly typeset with double spacing between paragraphs. While this in no way detracted from the story, it did spoil the look of an otherwise superb book--I believe it has now been re-typeset though, so all new editions reach full mainstream quality.

Had Floating Gold not been a republished, previously mainstream novel, I would have made this my editor's choice. HNS rules state books must be newly published, however. So very highly recommended must suffice.

Helen Hollick UK Editor for Indie Published Historical Fiction
HNS Reviewer

‘NELSON’S FIRST FAREWELL’ - Joy

This painting, GW Joy imagines the 13-year-old Nelson - whose mother died when he was nine - dressed in his new midshipman's uniform and saying farewell to his grandmother on his first departure for sea in 1771.
It was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1883.

A couple of years ago, I saw a framed print of this picture in an antique shop window, but it was over $100 so I walked on. Now I kick myself for not buying it!

"The Shyppe Swallower" - aka The Goodwin Sands

"Straight out seawards of the old town of Deal lie the Goodwin Sands, basking in the sun like some marine monster…only now and then it emerges out of the sea to seize with hungry jaws its prey of men and ships, with huge feelers and claws reaching from its broad waist towards Deal, while the tail of this grisly terror coils itself away to the southward, full many a mile of sea."

The Cry from the Sea – Treanor c.1900)

The Goodwin Sands is a giant watery grave that over 800 years has claimed thousands of ships and many more thousands of lives.
This body of sand - only visible at low tide - is not only treacherous but is insideous as it shifts it's location without warning.

It is the nemesis of seamen and in the seafaring novel, FLOATING GOLD has a special significance for Lieutenant Parry.

Children aged 6 - forced to work down the mine

CHILDREN WORKED 18hrs a day for 5 pence a day – AT SIX YEARS OF AGE.
In the 1800s boys of not more than 6 years worked as trappers opening traps/doors in various parts of a coal mine.

They remained in the pit for 18 hours every day, and received 5 pence a day each as wages. Unless a cart passed, the child was in solitude and total darkness the whole time. He went to work at 2 am and for most of the year did not see daylight apart from him one day off.

Girls also worked down the mines and in the 1838 Huskar Pit Disaster (Yorkshire) 26 children drowned. Of the 11 girls, 3 were aged only 8 years and of the 15 boys, 8 were under 10 years old. In the records of one north of England pit disaster, one of the boys was aged only six.

I found this information when I was researcing my latest novel, The Tainted Prize - the sequel to FLOATING GOLD.
So what does a child working down a mine have to do with a sailing ship heading for CAPE HORN? Time will tell.

Want to read the OPENING PAGES?

To read the first few pages of FLOATING GOLD, click on the book's cover and "LOOK INSIDE".

Link to:- Margaret Muir's guest spot on Helen Hollick's Blog

Please Welcome.... My Guest....: Floating Gold (well you know me and anything nauti...: Please welcome my guest, author Margaret Muir : Dear Helen, Like you, I share a love of adventure on the high seas. Thank you for invitin...

On-line Review of FLOATING GOLD

The following review appeared today in the on-line reviews from the Historical Novel Society:
FLOATING GOLD
Margaret Muir, Grindelwald, 2011, £11.60, pb, 236pp, 9781447670209

Anyone who knows me will know I devour anything with a Tall Ship theme—so I was excited to receive Floating Gold. Here is an example of how authors who, for one reason or another, no longer have their books in print with a mainstream publisher, decide to self-publish. Margaret Muir used to be published by Robert Hale, but with a backlist out of print, she decided to publish her books herself to keep them alive and in circulation. Good for her!

Floating Gold is a Georgian treasure hunt adventure. It is 1802 and there is a tentative peace between France and England. Captain Oliver Quintrell, as with many a sailor during times of peace, is ashore with no command and nothing to do. When he is offered HMS Elusive and a secret mission, he jumps at the chance to accept. He is bound for the Southern Ocean with secret orders, and his crew encounter storms, murder, and various adventures on the long voyage south. They reach their destination—and the treasure hunt proper begins.

The author knows her ropes when it comes to ships and shipping: the ship-board scenes are accurate and give a real feel of being at sea; her characters are believable—and the action, vigorous.

My only comment is that the edition I received had been incorrectly typeset with double spacing between paragraphs. While this in no way detracted from the story, it did spoil the look of an otherwise superb book—I believe it has now been re-typeset though, so all new editions reach full mainstream quality.

Had Floating Gold not been a republished, previously mainstream novel, I would have made this my editor’s choice. HNS rules state books must be newly published, however. So very highly recommended must suffice.

--Helen Hollick

Sequel to FLOATING GOLD

For those who enjoyed the maritime adventure, FLOATING GOLD, I am delighted to say I am now writing the sequel.
It's been a two year drought in fiction writing while I did another course at University, but I have learned a lot of History, heritage and appreciation for many things I wasn't aware of.

In the sequel to FLOATING GOLD, many of the same characters will be sailing with Captain Quintrell such as: Mr Parry - his first Lieutenant; Mr Mundy - Sailing Master; several middies who have now passed for lieutenant; and some of the foremast jacks. A sprinkling of new characters will be introduced and the destination and purpose of the mission will, of course, be different.

The year is 1803. The Peace of Amiens has been broken and Britain is again at war with France. Captain Quintrell waits impatiently to receive a commission.

I am enjoying the challenge of this new 'voyage', but struggling to find a title. My working title is "The Tainted Prize".

And while working on this sequel, a third story keeps trying to make itself know to me. I’m not short on ideas at the present!

World's first Maritime Museum

Sir Francis Drake’s ship, the GOLDEN HINDE, was designated as the WORLD’S FIRST MARITIME MUSEUM in 1581, by Queen Elizabeth 1.






Drake travelled over 140,000 miles in this tiny 16th century galleon. A full-size replica of the GOLDEN HINDE is on permanent display on the Thames near London Bridge.
Be advised: it is down a side alley and if you are sailing down the Thames and blink you can easily miss it.

FIRST FLEET by M Howard Morgan

Jack Vizzard is a promising young lawyer who becomes involved with a village girl, Mary, who is below his social standing. While she is accused of a petty offence and subsequently sentenced to transportation, Jack commits a far more heinous crime for which he escapes apprehension. To ensure his safely he joins the Marine Corps.

The time is 1786 and a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip sails from Spithead conveying a consignment of convicts to New Holland – the land ‘discovered’ by James Cook and considered ideal for colonial settlement.
By co-incidence Jack Vizzard and Mary, unbeknown to each other, undertake this voyage.
While the initial relationship between Jack and Mary is intense, once the ships arrive in New South Wales, this relationship mellows and the focus of attention switches to the animosity between Jack and his superior officer, Major Ross.

The fact, the book’s title suggests it is a naval story, is misleading, as the majority of the story is land-based in England and Sydney. However, the historical records of the specific ships and personnel involved in this event are carefully adhered to.

FIRST FLEET is M. Howard Morgan’s first novel. It is a well written and easy to read (I read the Kindle edition), though it contains some minor errors which would be worth editing in the next edition.

FIRST FLEET provides an interesting insight into the role of the Marines who played an integral role in the establishment of the new colony which was to become Australia.

SALT IN OUR VEINS - according to JFK

‘It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.’
JF Kennedy, Rhode Island, 1962.

Pic: unknown wreck – Straits of Magellan