Pirates & Privateers: Julian Stockwin's Books

After a long day at work in his family’s wig shop, Thomas Kydd sits in a pub, minding his own business. A press gang waltzes in. forever altering his path in life. He’s whisked aboard the Duke William, an old ship-of-the-line bound for Spithead where the Royal Navy fleet gathers before setting sail to wage war against France in 1793. Rated a landman, Thomas finds his life is no longer his own. It belongs to King George, and no one in this new domain cares whether he lives or dies. He is alone. He has no friends. He is totally out of his element. It is up to him alone to fit in, to find his way in an alien world, until one man, Joe Bowyer, takes him under his wing with a warning: stay a landman and remain mired in the anger and despondency overwhelming him, or pull himself out of the dregs to become a seaman.

Kydd takes Joe’s advice to heart and discovers he has a knack for sailing . . . if he survives. There are rumors that the captain is a Jonah. The ship leaks. Each day brings new trials: suicide, murder, piracy, treachery, battles on land fighting alongside French Royalists or at sea against Revolutionists, imprisonment, betrayal, desertion, menacing French privateers, and fire.

With the mastery of a virtuoso, Stockwin delivers a seamless tale that ensnares the reader in whatever Kydd sees, hears, feels, and experiences, be it a ferocious flogging, the depths of despair, men fomenting mutiny, or the brutality of war. Readers quickly find themselves transported back to the late eighteenth century. No punches are pulled. No incidents betray the readers’ sense of believability. Kydd is a deftly woven and riveting sea story that refuses to let go once the grappling hooks are thrown. When the last page is turned, readers yearn for the next book in the Kydd Sea Adventures.

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Artemis
by Julian Stockwin
McBooks Press, 2022, ISBN 978-1-4930-6881-4, US $19.95

Six months have passed since Thomas Kydd was pressed into the Royal Navy. He has risen through skill and courage to become an able seaman. His mess mates have helped him through thick and thin: Renzi (his educated and logical friend), Stirk (a tough gun captain), Doud (an easygoing topman), Doggo (a wild but ugly able seaman), Pinto (a well-groomed yet deadly Iberian), and Wong (an enigmatic circus strongman). Together, they embark on Artemis, a frigate captained by Black Jack Powlett, in this second in the Thomas Kydd Sea Adventures.

After a harrowing sea battle – replete with broadsides and hand-to-hand combat – with the French Citoyenne, Artemis returns victorious, but wounded, to England where Kydd meets the king and reunites with his sister. Cecila’s news of home is not good; their father’s eyesight is failing and Kydd must take over the wig shop to support the family. He thought he had finally found his path in life; now, he must give up his love for the sea. It seems a harsh sentence, one that will be akin to life in prison, but Renzi is certain they will find a solution. The question is whether they will do so before Artemis sails after repairs are made.

Between Renzi and Cecila, a remedy is found in the nick of time. When their frigate weighs anchor in August 1793, Kydd and his mates find themselves bound for India. Speed is essential, but only the captain knows why. During the voyage, they endure storms at sea, lightning strikes, a crossing-the-line ceremony, monsoons, and encounter Army deserters, a pirate execution, and a woman who drives a wedge between Kydd and Renzi.

India turns out to be only their first destination. From there they sail to China and the Philippines. Their stop in the latter is fraught with peril, since no one knows whether Spain has joined the war as a French ally yet. Kydd and Renzi are both promoted to petty officers, which means new quarters and different mess mates. A stranded scientist with Admiralty orders sends the Artemis on an expedition 2,000 miles away farther into the Pacific and they must reach the island by a specific date. Treachery and turbulence earmark this stopover where they encounter cannibals and an American marooned on the island for four years.

From a journey to the far side of the world to navigating the Roaring 40s, the Furious 50s, and the Screaming 60s, Stockwin once again delivers a masterful and galvanizing adventure that provides us with numerous you-are-there experiences alongside Kydd. Some scenes are nightmarish. Others allow us to feel as bereft as he does. We readily identify with how changes impact existing ways of life and some professions become antiquated. The final episode in this circumnavigation of the world is riveting and disquieting, compelling us to read the next installment of Kydd’s exploits in the Royal Navy.

Meet the author

Seaflower
by Julian Stockwin
McBooks Press, 2022, ISBN 978-1-4930-6881-4, US $19.95

With the demise of the Artemis, Thomas Kydd finds himself the key witness in the upcoming court martial of her only surviving officer. His last visit to England involved a hero’s welcome and grand celebrations. Now, he and his surviving mates are virtual prisoners, instead of being given leave to visit family. Then, on an April night in 1794, they are whisked aboard a lumbering, decaying warship bound for the Caribbean. There will be no trial, no testimony, no one to blame for the shipwreck. The underhandedness leaves a bitter taste in the survivors’ mouths, but what recourse do they have against the Admiralty?

Their destination is Guadeloupe, currently under the occupation of British troops working with French royalists. Kydd and his friend, Nicholas Renzi, quarter in the town with a family still loyal to the monarchy, but fear of retribution permeates their lives. Rebels and insurgents inhabit other parts of the island and, when fighting resumes, the British and royalists are unable to stop the enemy’s advance. A mass evacuation ensues with much chaos, during which Kydd and Renzi become separated. Renzi accompanies the exiles on a different ship for Jamaica; Kydd helps his countrymen evade their pursuers, knowing that death awaits him if they are caught.

Kydd and his comrades are rescued just in time, but not without casualties. No sooner is he safe aboard Trajan once again than a hurricane strikes. Afterward, he is tasked with sailing the damaged vessel to the dockyard in Antigua for repairs; instead, the shipwright condemns the warship and Kydd finds himself ashore with a new assignment, Master of the King’s Negroes. Although he enjoys learning the construction side of shipping, he feels out of his depth in managing slaves who accomplish tasks he has little knowledge of. He longs to return to the sea, where his true talents will be most useful. The master shipwright is a religious man with strict rules. When Kydd violates one of them, he commits an unforgivable sin and is once again adrift.

A chance encounter with an admiral leads to Renzi working as a writer in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Most days he duplicates orders and tends to mundane matters. On rare occasions he translates French newspapers and papers that might contain nuggets of intelligence for the admiral. Renzi dislikes his assignment, but it suits his despondency over the loss of Kydd whom he believes died as the insurgents overran Guadaloupe.

Reunion is a constant theme throughout this story, not just with shipmates, but also with family. Fire at sea, ship engagements, a cutting out episode, and good leaders versus bad ones are some of Kydd’s many adventures this time around. His education continues in ways that provide readers with an understanding of life in the navy. He also has the opportunity to see impressment from the flip side; instead of being a victim, he is charged with acquiring a crew from amongst very reluctant men.

The mark of a great storyteller is one who consistently captures the mood of the story in ways that allow readers to experience firsthand the highs and lows the characters face whether these involve the pain of flogging, the misery of yellow fever, the bleakness of being landbound, the drudgery of paperwork, or nerve-wracking reconnaissance. Julian Stockwin is such an author. At the same time, he spins his tale with succinct writing and tantalizing action. Seaflower catches the reader in its web from the first page and doesn’t let go until the last. Even then the reader is left wanting more, which in this case is possible because this is but the third title in the Kydd Sea Adventures series.

Meet the author

Mutiny
by Julian Stockwin
McBooks Press, 2022, ISBN 978-1-4930-6883-8, US $19.95
Also available in e-book format

Thomas Kydd, now a master’s mate, returns in this fourth book that takes place in 1797. His promotion means he and his friend have separated. While Nicholas Renzi is aboard a 74-gun ship-of-the-line, Thomas serves on Achilles (64) where he makes a new friend, who doesn’t always approve of what Thomas does. He finds his mood turning morose from being separated from Nicholas. This changes somewhat after two encounters. One involves a married woman, and the other a drunken, but veteran, sailor with a low opinion of the Royal Navy.

The fortuitous arrival of Nicholas’s vessel reunites the two friends and, when the opportunity presents itself to forego the mindless routine of being anchored at Gibraltar, they volunteer for a special mission to Venice. Being circumspect is a necessary part of their assignment, which proves both a blessing and a hindrance. It is carnivale, a time when everyone wears masks, which makes it difficult to tell friend from foe. Renzi is acquainted with the city and speaks Italian, but the visit stirs up memories that drive a wedge between him and Thomas, as well as the others accompanying them. An additional complication is a clandestine pact between Austria and France that impacts Venice and endangers their lives and their freedom.

When Kydd finally returns to Achilles, he finds an unhappy ship. Some crew replacements are men given little choice in joining the navy. With orders to return to England, the ship sails for home. Thomas senses the brewing tempest, and news of the fleet’s mutiny at Spithead merely adds to his growing unease. The captain’s attempt to forestall the men from joining that ill-fated revolt backfires when the ships anchored at Nore also rise up against the Admiralty. Conflicted, Thomas wavers between being an officer now and a seaman before, until a new love interest, a dishonest gentleman, and a charismatic mutineer push him closer and closer to a fateful decision.

This volume in the Thomas Kydd novels focuses more on the mental and behavioral aspects of sea life, particularly as they affect Thomas and Nicholas. Each portrayal differs based on each man’s character traits and past experiences, with striking differences and similarities that strain their friendship almost to the breaking point. Rather than concentrate on the better-known mutiny at Spithead, Stockwin portrays the subsequent insurrection at Nore. The seamen’s discontent is justified, but the Admiralty’s response differs between the two anchorages. This is convincingly shown via scene shifts between London and Nore, as well as the almost palpable tug-of-war waging within Kydd. Equally well-rendered are the confusion and precariousness of carnivale, and the tragic death that leads to Thomas’s first true encounter with love. Commodore Horatio Nelson and Kydd’s first fleet action are artfully entwined with the major story threads. Mutiny provides readers with the feel of being swept into a maelstrom where the only way to endure is to hold on tight and hope to survive.

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Quarterdeck
by Julian Stockwin
McBooks Press, 2022, ISBN 978-1-4930-6884-5, US $19.95
Also available in e-book format

Following the Battle of Camperdown (October 1797), Thomas Kydd is promoted to lieutenant and assigned to HMS Tenacious, a 64-gun ship-of-the-line. He and his friend, Nicholas Renzi (who now holds the same rank), head to Kydd’s home while the ship undergoes repairs. During this leave, Thomas realizes that if he’s to succeed as a king’s officer, he needs to acquire the traits of a gentleman. An assignment that falls to Nicholas, who believes the request reasonable but nigh unto impossible. Still, with dogged determination, Thomas perseveres and benefits when his sister helps add further polish to his social graces.

When Kydd finally meets his new commander, all his hard work and practice cannot erase the fact that he is a tarpaulin officer (one who begins his career as a seaman who lives on the lower deck). Captain Houghton wants only gentleman officers, men he can rely on to represent the ship and the country appropriately. Therefore, Thomas is being reassigned . . . until urgent orders arrive that prevent that. Consequently, he becomes Tenacious’s fifth lieutenant, the most junior and the one responsible for the signal flags.

Assigned to the North American station, Tenacious leads a convoy of merchant ships west to Halifax. Not even out of sight of England, French privateers cut out slower vessels and it is Kydd who alerts the captain to this intrusion. As the voyage progresses, Thomas feels more and more like an outsider, someone who doesn’t belong among the other officers in the wardroom. It doesn’t help that Nicholas easily fits in and has found someone new with whom to have philosophical discussions. Before long, Thomas feels as if he’s caught between a world in which he doesn’t belong and one to which he can never return.

A misstep in reading the signal flags doesn’t help the situation; it merely serves to intensify the isolation and loneliness that he feels. Yet, what he doesn’t understand is that while he may lack all the social graces that the other officers have, he has knowledge and experience they lack because he has “come aft by the hawse.” This expertise comes in handy when he commands a ship’s boat amidst an ice field blanketed by fog from which the French emerge and fierce hand-to-hand combat ensues.

Thomas’s attitude begins to change during a dinner conversation on the admiral’s ship. Instead of worrying about his social station, he concentrates on becoming as informed as possible about global affairs and how events in one place affect events elsewhere in the world. Then someone from his past emerges who threatens his ability to lead men. Only his knowledge of life on the lower deck allows Thomas to effectively deal with the situation. An encounter with a French frigate with unexpected armament requires his knowledge of navigation and working in a shipyard to protect Achilles and those who serve on her.

Quarterdeck is an excellent account of what it is like to be a fish out of water in a world totally foreign to all that you know. It also shows the intricacies of what is required to be a lieutenant. Along the way, Kydd encounters three people who will influence his life in unexpected ways. One is a relative he has never met. The second is an American who wants the new United States Navy to be as successful as the Royal Navy. The third is a woman whose presence at a royal ball is “either inspired deviltry or the purest ignorance!” (312)

While readers may be unaware of the fact that one aspect of writing is to show how a character matures and changes between the beginning and end of a story, Stockwin does a superb job demonstrating this character arc in Quarterdeck. This allows us to experience the full gamut of emotions that Kydd does, while at the same time, we readily identify with each because in one way or another we've felt the same way.

Meet the author