Kydd: A Naval Adventure

If you enjoyed Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, you will enjoy "Kydd" even more. The entire series (now 22 books) from Julian Stockwin is a bit different than most sea novels set between 1795-1805 when Britain was facing the era when most of Europe was to be dominated by the French--with the rise of Napoleon. Unlike other books, this follows the tale of a young teenage apprentice wigmaker who lived on the coast of Britain. One night as he is walking home he is struck unconscious by the navy "Press gang" and awakens aboard a British Naval vessel. During this time if you lived in a coastal area you could suddenly find yourself in the navy whether you liked it or not. However, Thomas Kydd soon finds he does enjoy the sea. He also finds a friend, Nicholas Renzi, a well educated man from a wealthy aristocratic family. Renzi despises his father's treatment of tenant farmers on their large estate. The Renzi character is present in all the Kydd books. I think readers will grow to love the authors unique style of making the 18th century live again. I had the privilege of corresponding with author Julian Stockwin who travels the world as an avid researcher for each new book he writes. I am currently reading Stockwin's 11th Kydd book and I've grown to truly love all the adventures of Mr. Kydd as a panorama of one who rises from below decks to a respected Captain and officer in the British Royal Navy. Throughout each of the Kydd novels, historical truth is never altered and the Julian has truly gone to great lengths researching historical facts. My life has truly been enriched through this series.

Thomas Paine Kydd is a young wig-maker from Guildford who goes out for a drink in the local tavern one night and finds himself caught up by a Press Gang. He's thrown into the alien world of a ship-of-the-line in the year 1793, when Britain is at war against the French. He can not escape this fate and what lies ahead of him is life as the lowliest of the low aboard the ship... or he can try to better the lot he's been thrust into. Bowyer, an experienced seaman sees something in Kydd and helps him literally learn the ropes. Seeing the harsh, unique world of a navy ship during time of war from the viewpoint of a pressed man who has never been near the sea was fascinating. The narrator, however, is thoroughly steeped in nautical terminology and the words and phrases flow thick and fast, giving the less-experienced reader a hint of the confusion of Kydd's first days. The author's sense of the period and life aboard ship seems thorough and assured. Kydd is a fine everyman to relate to, having had a decent but unremarkable life during his twenty years. There doesn't seem to be much to mark him as someone who may actually succeed in this new environment, but perhaps it's nothing more than a willingness to learn and adapt and make the best of situations that cannot be changed. As fascinating as Kydd's adjustment to life at sea is, there are also battles against the French both on land and sea, all well described and full of action. The secondary characters were also interesting, varied and unusual. I enjoyed this first installment in what looks to be a great series. Kydd, unlike many other heroes of seafaring adventure tales, has a long way to go and a lot to prove, against great odds. I'm curious to see how he overcomes his obstacles to not only survive, but to thrive in a career he was forced into.

As a fan of CS Forester and Patrick O'Brian, I find the Julian Stockwin "Kydd" books to be very good reads. I just finished the latest, "Mutiny" last night and I can say these first 5 books are must haves.

A wig-maker pressed into service against his will (yes, the press was around then) and an aristocrat on self-imposed exile, form an unlikely friendship as one struggles to master the mysteries of rigging and the other wrestles with his conscience.This is a detailed account of shipboard life in the late 18thC from the landsman's viewpoint & the foremast Jack's perspective:- cramped conditions, disgusting food, undeserved punishment and unremitting toil make this a far cry from Hornblower and Aubrey, but the telling of the tale is on a par with, or even surpassing, Patrick O'Brien.I can't believe that this is a first book, it has the polish and aplomb of a mature author with the weight of experience behind him. Great visual imagery and excellent verbnacular vocalisations take you inside the ship and alongside the men with all their different characters. As a first effort, this holds more promise than "The Golden Ocean" did from O'Brien, and I foresee the Kydd/Renzi partnership being spoken of in the same revered tones as Aubrey/Maturin.Based on actual events, this dramatisation had me gripped - I finished the book in one day and immediately regretted it, this is a book to be savoured - I can't wait for "Artemis"...

"'Ooray," a retired British skipper has begun another great new "Age of Fighting Sail" series (2 more vols. in work)! Beginning as a pressed man torn from home upon the outbreak of (22 years of) war with revolutionary France in 1793, young Kydd starts all confused, and he/we first learn our position (the lubberly bottom) and shipboard duties (brute labor) at the end of screamed gibberish or slashing "starter" rope (no shore classes in those days). This is the only Napoleonic maritime series I know whose hero actually begins "before the mast," rather than as a petty officer (Lambden, Woodman) or a captain already (Forester [with only episodic flashbacks], O'Brian). [I also don't know of any series that gives a contrasting French take to all these Limey views of "the Frogs," and Americy.] It's also nice to have a view from inside a first-rate (100 gun) ship, for so many series have never reached that exhalted point from their initial sloops and frigates (O'Brian). Kydd gradually "learns the ropes" as his old, leaky, and fœtid ship sails to meet a French squadron in vividly described battle. Then his promising (yet so far unheroic) rise in the Navy takes a fateful lurch in the last chapters that promises to change all our expectations for the series. But here I think the story ends more hastily, conventionally, and less terrifyingly than it might have done (so, 4.5 star review actually).The series will celebrate the rare type of hard man who managed to grab onto and then climb to the top of the Naval ladder of command without "interest" and by his prodigious talent and luck alone. Kydd's personality falls between the randy worldliness of Lambden's Lewrie, the patriotic idealism of Forester's Hornblower, and the ruminations of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin pair. The supporting characters are highly individual, interesting, and engage in wonderfully dialectic dialogue. For the realism and suspenseful interest of this series, it's good to know that leading chaacters are subject to random death like any other Jack Tar. No sure thing on a sailing ship of war. Stockwin writes well, crisply, and spiritedly, with what I thought was exactly the right level of sharply observed sea-faring detail (the smells are almost palpable, too). There's enough of sail handling to confuse a lubber, but not to obscure the story. Readers new to sailing stories would be helped by the addition of rigging and wind-rose diagrams to future editions (or consult Dean King's A SEA OF WORDS). The HB dj painting by Goeff Hunt captures remarkably the settings for much of Kydd's activities on the three-decker. This is a gripping start for the Kydd series, may it prosper. I'll ship out for the voyage.