The Pirates and the Nightmaker (24 page)
Read The Pirates and the Nightmaker Online
Authors: James Norcliffe
The Pirates and the Nightmaker
is of course a work of the imagination, but I have mentioned in passing and even featured one or two genuine historical events and persons.
The book was prompted by a couple of reviewers who had wondered whether there was any connexion between the original term ‘loblolly boy’ and the invisible flying boy of
The Loblolly Boy
and
The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer.
One reviewer, indeed, suggested I should write a book to explain how the term arose and this is that book.
An original loblolly boy had one of the worst jobs in the world. He was an assistant to a ship’s surgeon on a naval vessel in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. His job would have been very much as Dr Hatch describes it in the early part of the book. There are various suggestions as to why he was called a loblolly boy. I am most persuaded by the link with loblolly, a form of thin porridge or gruel fed to patients during convalescence. I imagine the boy would have been responsible for making and serving this gruel.
The bizarrely named
War of Jenkins Ear
did take place mainly between 1739 and 1742, although skirmishes continued until 1748. Jenkins was the captain of an English
merchant ship which had been boarded by Spanish coastguards off Cadiz and accused of piracy. In the course of a heated exchange, his ear was sliced off and he was told to take it to the king who would receive the same treatment should he threaten Spain. Some years later Jenkins allegedly displayed his ear before a committee of Parliament and the ensuing outrage provoked the war which largely took place in the Caribbean.
Leading the British naval forces was Admiral Vernon who is referred to in the book. Early on he did attack and capture the Spanish outpost at Portobelo or Porto Bello which was on the coast of present-day Panama.
This victory is commemorated in the Portobello Road in London and in Portobello in Edinburgh among other places, and indirectly in Portobello on the Otago Peninsula.
Vernon then attacked the larger and much better protected town, harbour and forts of Cartagena in New Granada or present-day Colombia on the South American mainland. So confident was Vernon of victory, he struck a medal to celebrate it before the attack was complete and the town taken. Unfortunately he was roundly defeated, lost many ships and the land attack under General Wentworth was stalled in mosquito-ridden swamps, and large numbers of the attackers, both army and navy, succumbed to yellow fever.
The figure I describe in the book of Blas de Lezo was the Spanish admiral who defeated Vernon. In actual fact he did have only one leg, one arm and one eye, the others in each case having been lost in various battles. He was known as Half-man or Peg-leg. As he died of the plague in Cartagena
not long after defeating Vernon the encounter in the book could not have taken place, but he was too colourful a character not to use, so I have taken some liberties.
There were many examples of female pirates during this time and before. Such women either disguised themselves as men or were the partners of pirate captains. The most famous of these included Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the latter the partner of Captain ‘Calico’ Jack Rackham.
I have also included the young James Cook, later to become so famous as an explorer and navigator. He was probably about sixteen when he set off for Staithes from Great Ayton, a little older than I would have preferred so I have implied he was younger. However, he was in fact to be given employment in the shop of Mr Sanderson and stayed there for some time before leaving to become an apprentice seaman on the ships carrying coal from the north to London. HMS
Endeavour
, famous in our history, did begin life as a coal transporter.
All other characters are, of course, entirely fictitious or fanciful in various ways.
astrolabe:
obsolete instrument used in navigation for finding latitude at sea
barque:
three-masted sailing ship
barquentine:
ship of three or more masts with only the foremast rigged square
bastion:
jutting-out section of a fortification
belaying pin:
solid wooden or iron device used on traditionally rigged sailing vessels to secure lines of running rigging
bosun (boatswain):
ship’s officer in charge of sails and rigging etc.
bow:
front part of the boat from where it curves inward
bowsprit:
pole (or spar) on a sailing ship or vessel extending forward from the vessel’s prow
brig:
lock-up or gaol on board a ship
brigantine:
two-masted square-rigged ship
briny:
slang term for the sea
bulkhead:
inner wall on a ship
bulwarks:
sides of the ship
cannikin:
a small can used as a drinking vessel
cashiered:
dismissed with dishonour
cat-of-nine-tails:
whip with nine thongs made of rope used to flog prisoners on board ship
chandler:
a ship’s chandler was a merchant specialising in nautical equipment
coal cat:
shallow-draughted ship (more properly barque) used as a collier (coal-carrying vessel) from ports in the north of England to ports in the south; Captain Cook’s famous ship
Endeavour
was originally a coal cat sailing out of Whitby and originally named
The Earl of Pembroke
cockade:
feather or ribbon on a (military) hat
companionway:
set of steps or stairs on a ship between decks
complement:
crew
course sail:
large square sail set below the topsails
crow’s nest:
viewing platform high up on a ship’s mast
Davy Jones
or
Davy Jones’ locker:
sailors’ slang for the bottom of the sea
doldrums:
region affected by calm seas near the equator with not enough wind to allow for sailing
duck:
heavy white linen material used for sails and trousers
figurehead:
carved figure on the bow of sailing ships
flotilla:
small fleet of ships
fore
and
aft:
front and rear of a ship
forecastle:
the part of the vessel at the bow — often where the crew was quartered (pronounced
fo’c’sle
)
gavotte:
old-fashioned style of dance
gorgon:
mythical creature with snakes for hair whose stare could transform its victim into stone
grog:
mixture of rum and water; sailors on eighteenth-century
ships had an allowance of this each week
gunwale:
upper edge of a ship’s or boat’s side (pronounced
gunnel
)
harbinger:
messenger; someone who announces the approach of someone or something
jolly-boat:
small ship’s boat, here used by the sailors as a lifeboat
keelhaul:
a terrible punishment where a person is dragged by a rope underwater from one side of the ship to the other and under the keel
loblolly boy:
boy who was a ship’s surgeon’s assistant on a naval vessel in the eighteenth century
main mast:
the tallest mast, usually placed near the centre of the ship
man-of-war:
warship
mizzen-mast:
the third mast on a three-masted vessel; the mast at the rear of the ship
pantaloons:
baggy trousers usually fastened at the calf
pennants:
long narrow flags, usually triangular and sometimes with a divided end, used for identification on ships
periwig:
wig worn by gentlemen and officers in the eighteenth century
poop deck:
the stern (rear) deck, usually raised higher than the other decks
port side:
left-hand side of a boat when facing the front
privateer:
privately owned armed ship given a licence by the government to attack and seize enemy ships
prow:
very front part of a boat or ship
quarterdeck:
raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship; traditionally it was where the captain commanded his ship, which led to it being used as the main ceremonial and reception area on board
sextant:
an instrument used in navigation
ship of the line:
seventeenth-or eighteenth-century warship, so called because it made up part of a line of ships when engaging in a sea battle
skiff:
small rowing or sailboat
starboard side:
right-hand side of a boat when facing the front
stern:
rear part of a boat or ship
topgallant sail:
sail immediately above the topsail
topsail:
square sail set above the course sail and below the topgallant sails
tricorn hat:
three-cornered hat worn by men in the eighteenth century
victuals:
food or provisions (pronounced
vittles
)
wardroom:
officers’ dining room on a ship
wherry
or
wherry boat:
rowing boat used for ferrying cargo and passengers, mainly on rivers and canals
windlass:
apparatus for lifting weights
yard
and
yardarm:
a yard is the horizontal spar on a mast that supports the sails; the yardarm is the outermost tip of each yard
I would very much like to acknowledge my gratitude for the award of the 2012 University of Otago College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence, which provided me with six months’ writing time, accommodation at the charming Robert Lord Cottage and a comfortable office at the College of Education.
This fellowship enabled me to write
The Pirates and the Nightmaker
and it was made all the more special by the warmth of my welcome (and subsequent stay in Dunedin) by Trish Brooking and my colleagues at the college, and by my Longacre editor at Random House, Barbara Larson, and by many friends new and old of the writing community of Dunedin.
I would also like to thank Diane Hebley and Geoffrey Miles, both of whom, in their reviews of
The Loblolly Boy
and
The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer
respectively in
New Zealand Books,
suggested that a book explaining how the Loblolly Boy derived from the eighteenth-century term for a ship’s surgeon would be a Good Idea. This is that book.
James Norcliffe has published a collection of short stories, eight collections of poetry and several award-winning novels for young readers, including the bestselling
The Loblolly Boy
and its successor,
The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer.
His most recent book for young people is
Felix and the Red Rats.
James has edited anthologies of poetry and writing by young people, notably the long-running
ReDraft
annual anthologies, which he co-edits with Tessa Duder.
James has been awarded writing fellowships both in New Zealand and overseas, including the Burns Fellowship, the IWP/Iowa Residency, and residencies in Hobart and at Massey University and Otago University College of Education.
His poetry is widely published internationally and he regularly reads at festivals and occasions throughout New Zealand and overseas.