The Pirate's Revenge (13 page)

Quarterdeck:
A raised platform or top deck at the stern of a larger ship. This is where the captain stands.

Rapier:
A fine-bladed thrusting sword, often highly decorated, used by nobility or officers.

Ratlines:
Rope ladders made by tying short ropes across the shrouds, so you can climb up a mast.

Reef sails:
To tie up a sail, so that it isn't showing as much canvas. You reef sails or reduce canvas in a big wind, to make sure you can still control the ship.

Reis:
A captain in the Barbary and Ottoman fleets. ‘Hussein Reis' means ‘Captain Hussein'. Sometimes spelled
rais
, or in Turkish
raïs
.

Rig:
The design of the sail system (such as a square-rig or brigantine rig).

Rigging:
The ropes and cables that make up the rig. The standing rigging (such as shrouds or stays) holds up the masts and is painted with tar to protect it. Running rigging (including halyards and sheets) is used to lower and raise the sails and yards, and is not tarred.

Rowlocks:
Semicircles of brass that hold the oars in place in a rowboat. Pronounced ‘rollicks'.

Rudder:
A long plank or fin, turned in the water by the tiller or wheel, which steers the ship.

Schooner:
A fast, narrow ship with two masts. Usually gaff-rigged with a large sail on the mainmast and a headsail and jib attached to the bowsprit. Rafe Swann's lost ship, the
Black Swan
, was a schooner.

Scimitar:
A North African sword with a long curved
blade. Lily and Hussein Reis both bear scimitars.

Scow:
Flat-bottomed ship or boat used for carrying cargo, especially in coastal areas and on rivers. The
Corfu
is a scow.

Scurvy:
The disease that killed thousands of sailors on long voyages, because they didn't eat fresh fruit or vegetables. Scurvy is caused by a lack of Vitamin C.

Sheets:
Ropes attached to the bottom corners of sails, which you pull to adjust their tightness and direction.

Ship of the line:
A warship powerful enough to take its place in the line of battle. The Royal Navy classified its ships by rating them according to how many cannon they carried. There were six levels of rating, and any ship rated three or over (meaning it had more than 64 guns) was a ship of the line. The biggest and best were the first-rates. A ship of the line carried hundreds of crew and had two or three gun decks. They often sailed in fleets with smaller, faster frigates, and in battle sailed in towards the enemy in a line, firing sideways.

Shrouds:
Tarred ropes that support the mast.

Skiff:
Light, narrow rowboat.

Sku
ani
:
Excuse me (Maltese).

Sloop:
A small speedy ship with one mast, sometimes gaff-rigged, with a huge mainsail, and an equally vast triangular foresail fixed to a long bowsprit. The
Mermaid
is a sloop, and so are many modern yachts.

Slow match:
Slow-burning fuses used to set off gunpowder and fire cannon.

Spar:
Long timber pole (such as a yard).

Spritsails:
Sails at the very front of a ship — above the bowsprit.

Square-rig:
Ship rigged with square or rectangular sails that are arranged across the width of the deck. Admiral Nelson's flagship, HMS
Victory
, was a first-rate square-rigged ship with 102 cannons on three gun-decks. See
Ship of the line
.

Starboard:
The right-hand side of a ship or boat, as you look forward.

Stays:
Part of the standing rigging, stays are ropes that run forward from a mast, to help support it.

Staysails:
Triangular fore-and-aft sails attached to the stays.

Stern:
Rear or back of a ship.

Swab:
A mop or cloth used to wash the decks. ‘Swabber' is a slang word for a sailor.

Tack:
To change the ship's direction, by turning the bow through the wind.

Tar:
A thick, black liquid painted onto standing rigging to protect it. It is also used to make pitch, painted on canvas for waterproofing. Sailors who had served in the Navy were called ‘tars' because they spent so much time tarring the ropes.

Taridha
:
Fast, narrow Arab ship, with one mast and a lateen sail. Up to sixteen oars on each side meant the ship didn't have to wait for the wind. Known to English sailors as a Tartan.

Thwart:
A seat, made from planks set across the boat.

Tiller:
The wooden lever or bar used to direct the steering gear. Larger ships are controlled by a wheel.

Tops:
The platform at the masthead, used for a lookout. In warships, a large platform holds several sharpshooters — these are called ‘fighting tops'.

Topsail:
A sail above the gaff, or on a topmast.

Trim the sails:
Making sure the sails are placed to get the most speed out of any wind.

Watch:
The crew were rostered on duty in groups, or watches — one watch worked while the other slept and ate. To be on watch is also to be on the lookout for danger or other ships.

Weigh anchor:
To lift the anchor clear of the water.

Winds:
A wind is named according to the point of the compass from which it blows. For example, a wind blowing from the north is a north wind. Some seasonal winds in the Mediterranean Sea have traditional names based on the compass points, like the springtime south-easterly, which blows across from North Africa, called the
xlokk
in Malta, but more famous in Italian as the
sirocco
.

Windward:
The direction the wind is coming from (‘leeward' is the direction the wind is going). Also means the side of the ship facing the wind.

Yard:
A timber pole or spar set across a mast to carry a sail.

Yardarm:
The ends of a yard.

I thought you might like to know what is true in these books, and what I made up.

First, Lily's island of Santa Lucia is entirely fictional: there's no island at all at that latitude, and there wasn't one with a British garrison for many leagues. The same goes for Isola di Bravo and the Golden Grotto. I have had to make up one or two other locations in Malta, such as Moonlight Bay, because the watchtowers of the Knights were so efficient I couldn't find a real bay where the pirates might have landed unseen.

All of the people in the Swashbuckler books are fictional, although some real people are mentioned, such as the great French general (later to be Emperor) Napoleon Bonaparte. The Knights of Malta, the renegades, and the Barbary corsairs all existed. There was another, real, pirate called Captain Swan who had a ship called the
Cygnet
. He lived about a hundred years before the time when this story is set, and sailed in the Caribbean, around South America, and across the Pacific. William Dampier was the navigator on the
Cygnet
— he became the first Englishman to set foot on the continent of Australia.

Some of the events in which our characters get involved really did happen: Napoleon really did take over Malta, the British Admiral Nelson chased him all over the sea and finally defeated the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile, and the Maltese people fought bravely against the invasion of their islands. A courageous boy rang the church bells to call the people to the uprising — I could never discover his name, but I hope his descendants don't mind that I have borrowed his story for Carlo's moment of glory. I hope also that my story does some justice to the history of the people of Malta, where you can still see the Knights' watchtowers, the fortified cities, and the Grand Harbour.

There were many real-life women sailors and pirates, including a few girls who disguised themselves as boys and joined the Navy. Some of the most famous women pirates were Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen of Ireland, and Cheng I Sao, who was admiral of a huge fleet of ships in the China Sea. Anne Bonney and Mary Read were pirates of the Caribbean.

You can read more about the real history behind the Swashbuckler stories on my website:

 

www.swashbuckler.co.nz

 

Kelly Gardiner

Waiheke Island

Lily Swann's adventures began with
Ocean Without End
.
The Pirate's Revenge
will be followed by the final title in the Swashbuckler Trilogy,
The Silver Swan
.

The Silver Swan

When we last saw Lily Swann, she had been reunited with her family — and her missing father. But after her swashbuckling adventures as a pirate, Lily finds life ashore hard to take. And her father isn't helping; he seems determined to forget his daughter ever went to sea. When Napoleon's siege threatens Malta, Captain Swann receives new orders. He prepares to leave his family again — and Lily seizes her chance.

Determined not to be left behind, Lily, her mother and her younger brother find themselves in the thick of a daring scheme to save Malta. But things don't go to plan and once again she has to face her nemesis — Captain Diablo!

 

Ocean Without End

During a raid on her island home of Santa Lucia, 12-year-old Lily Swann is taken at gunpoint by the tyrannical El Capitán de Diablo and forced to work as a slave on his ship,
Gisella
. That night she learns that her father, who she thought was dead, had been taken by pirates years before.

Ocean Without End
, the first title in the Swashbuckler Trilogy, tells of Lily's adventures as she makes her mark on the pirate world and embarks on a perilous journey in search of her father. With swashbuckling action on the high seas, it is also a story of unexpected friendship, longing and belonging as Lily struggles to survive in a strange and sometimes violent world.