Tyger (40 page)
Authors: Julian Stockwin
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.
LOSSARY
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 green 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 |
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 | those adhering to high fashion, stylish; Latin |
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 |
IMELINE
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 | Kydd | |
The Reign of Terror begins, 5 September | Artemis | |
1794 | Transferred aboard the crack frigate | |
1795 | The Netherlands is invaded by France, | Seaflower |
In the Caribbean, Kydd continues to grow as a prime seaman | | |
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 | | |
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 | 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 | |
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 |