Holy Speculation in an Unholy World

REVIEW: The Sea Rover's Practice

2011-11-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 16301730 by Benerson Little

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Sea Rover's Practice by Benerson Little, is a great read for those who want to delve into the tactics and techniques used from 1630 to 1730 by pirates and privateers in the Caribbean. Author Little is a former Navy SEAL who also teaches fencing. His love of history, military experience, and his skill with swordplay is very apparent in this highly readable book.

For those of use who want to delve deeper into the subject of piracy, his appendices are invaluable. I also very much appreciate that Little has taken the trouble to keep an updated PDF file of errata and commentary for this book on his author's web site, www.benersonlittle.com.

I very much enjoyed the way Little draws numerous parallels between the 17th and 18th century sea raiders and modern special operations units like the U.S. Navy SEALs. Little calls attention to the intelligence gathering activities used by sea rovers to select their targets and corroborate information. Little reveals the sea rovers as sophisticated operatives who used their knowledge of the sea to carry out successful shore raids and take valuable cargo at sea.

Little has written a number of books on pirates. I also have How History's Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away With It: The Stories, Techniques, and Tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500-1800 and I will review this book shortly. Little's book, Pirate Hunting:
The Fight Against Pirates, Privateers, and Sea Raiders From Antiquity to the Present is high on my to-read list.

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Review: The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them DownThe Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down

2010-12-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love a book title that accurately describes itself. In this case, The Republic of Pirates: Being the True Story of the Caribbean Pirates and The Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard while being a bit long-winded accurately summarizes the tale.

Woodard's journalistic background and natural story-telling style lends well to understanding how a group of seagoing cutthroats got started in the pirate trade and how eventually they wound up founding and losing a pirate republic.

Woodard reintroduces us to many of the pirates we know from sources like Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates. This rogues gallery includes names like Edward Thatch aka Edward Teach aka Blackbeard, Sam Bellamy, Charles Vane, Henry Jennings, Benjamin Hornigold, and Paulsgrave Williams.

He places their deeds in the context of Jacobite sentiment and the events leading up the the Rising of 1715, which was a major rebellion against King George I of Britain and his German house of Hanover in favor of reestablishing the reign of James II of the Scottish house of Stuart.

Along the way, Woodward introduces us to Jamaican governor Lord Archibald Hamilton, the career Royal Navy man and Jacobite conspirator who selected and equipped many of the Golden Age of Piracy's most notorious pirates.

Woodard plots a detailed chronological course for the major pirates, showing how they wound up taking over the weakly-governed islands of the Bahamas. He also introduces us to the flawed but heroic Woodes Rogers, who would eventually drive the pirates out of the Bahamas.

A Bristol merchant, Rogers was one of the few men to have circumnavigated the world in his day, returning with his original ships and most of his crew. On his world-girdling voyage, Rogers rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, who would become the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.

Involved both as a privateer and a slave-trader, Rogers seems at first blush one who would be voted most likely to be a pirate. Woodard establishes Rogers' motives and tells both the good and the bad about the man who eventually would twice be appointed as royal governor of the Bahamas.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to get a larger vision for the problem of 18th century piracy in the Caribbean or who simply loves history told well. It is also an excellent source for fiction writers, especially the extensive endnotes.

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Guest Interview: C.L. Dyck with Marc Schooley on König's Fire

2010-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

It is my very great pleasure to introduce writer-editor C.L. Dyck's interview of Christian speculative fiction writer Marc Schooley as they discuss Schooley's latest book König's Fire.

Schooley's König's Fire has gained notice for Christian speculative fiction with a favorable mention in Publisher's Weekly. You can learn more about Marc Schooley at www.marcschooley.com

Writer-editor C.L. Dyck is friend to many Christian speculative fiction writers. A gifted writer in her own right, Dyck's thought-provoking essays can be found at her web site scitascienda.com.

Now before you eyes wander any farther, please click on the interview and enjoy.

On writing - Guard your heart

2010-11-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

One of the toughest things I've ever learned, and am still learning, is how to guard my heart against the comments of others. Rejection in its many forms can wound deeply, especially if what you are expressing comes from deep within you. If you find yourself crying as you write, you've tapped into something that you deeply feel and intensely want to share with others. Rest assured that there will be people who read your work who just won't get it. They can wound you deeply if you let them.

Thanks to the wonders of the Information Age, reviewers are no longer limited to the local newspaper's Sunday book column. Instead, average people using their home computers can now determine the sales of your work and your future as a writer by posting their opinions at blogs and online booksellers.

If you have a thin skin, that is if you are easily offended, then you might not find this form of feedback to be the acclaim you've desired. My major mental defense against written criticism has been a line about life in the big city from that profoundly deep movie, "Muppets take Manhattan," to wit: "Peoples is peoples." I use that phrase to remind myself that you are going to experience both good and ill from critics because "Peoples is peoples." Count on it. It's a fun maxim that stirs a chuckle instead of a sigh.

Criticism, even ill-meant criticism, can contain nuggets of truth that will strengthen you and improve your work, if you are prepared to receive them. Proverbs 17:10 says, "A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool." Therefore, stay humble and teachable without becoming a doormat for everyone who has an opinion.

As for an emotional defense against rejection, I've learned to guard my heart, first by choosing with whom I will share certain things, and secondly by first examining my motivations for sharing deeply felt observations with anyone. Those closest to you may be unprepared to appreciate your work. Even Jesus experienced this in Mark3:21, "When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. "He's out of his mind," they said."

Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:6, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." There will be people who won't value what you have to offer them. Simply put, they may not be ready to see the value in your words and may even violently oppose you. Those closest to us though their rejection can hurt us the most. You cannot prove anything to someone who is unprepared to receive it. Give them grace, forgive them, and move on.

Take a deep look at your motivations for wanting to share your work with others. If writing "burns in your bones," then you don't have much of a choice. It can be a bittersweet calling with moments of great loneliness and moments of great joy, especially if your writing reveals the Lord's beauty. However, if you are writing to win the acclaim of others, you can be deeply hurt through the sting of rejection and indifference.

Jeff Gerke in his book, The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction, takes this issue head on in his first section, "The Spiritual Heart of Writing Christian Fiction," Jeff talks about entering a place of fullness in your relationship with God so that you no longer desire the acclaim of others and you are not greedy for success. If you really want to write Christian speculative fiction, it's a necessary place to be.

Should you find the codependent need to earn the love of others, seek counseling to help you find emotional healing. You will be able to help others better and better weather the buffets of a hostile planet. I learned this the hard way and lost years of writing time in the face of even the most feeble criticism. I found I could not articulate my deepest feelings in writing because I was afraid of rejection and hog-tied by it. I found my identity not framed by the opinions of others, but established in my personal relationship with God.

Finally, in experiencing spiritual rejection, take comfort that you will experience rejection because our loving Lord Jesus is daily rejected on many levels. Like Him, we will experience rejection from those opposed to his message of God's love and healing. Like Him, we must also realize that we will be attacked by those under the sway of evil, because as Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

Our work is not only read by humans, but by those beings who have spiritual connections to their unsuspecting mortal hosts. Therefore what we write is transmitted to infernal places where the truth of the Gospel is deeply feared. As James 2:19 says, "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror."

Our writing as a testimony of our faith will earn on-going spiritual attacks. Revelation 12:11 says, "And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die."

Count on big-time opposition, stand firm, and spend time before God daily in prayer, in His word, in meditation, and in worship. In doing so, you don the whole armor of God found in Ephesians 6:10-20 and like Paul serve as an ambassador of life to a dying planet.

To live and die a writer - Robert Louis Stevenson

2010-11-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

American painter John Singer Sargent's portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson

Today marks the 160th birthday of one of the most widely translated and beloved writers, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). His creative genius gave us Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and the dark speculative novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Though many know him as a novelist, he was also a poet, essayist, and travel writer.

The son of a devout Scottish Presbyterians, Stevenson by turns moved away from Christianity as he saw it practiced. Yet later in life while battling chronic respiratory illness and depression, he showed great courage in standing up for the rights and dignity of native peoples, particularly the Samoans, who he came to know and love through his residence in the South Pacific.

While in Hawaii and following the death of Father Damien DeVeuster, he went with great anticipation to investigate the rumors that the Catholic priest had contracted leprosy though intimate relations with female lepers while ministering at the leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

Instead, the first-hand accounts of Father Damien's 16-year ministry of selflessness and resourcefulness profoundly affected Stevenson. A former Presbyterian missionary to Molokai, Charle M. Hyde, asserted that the rumors of of the priest's misconduct were true. In a letter to a fellow pastor, Hyde characterized Father Damien as "a coarse, dirty man" whose leprosy should be attributed to his 'carelessness'."

Stevenson hastily wrote a stinging rebuttal that left the author fearing he would be sued for libel. In the open letter, Stevenson condemned Hyde for an anti-Catholic bias that blinded him to the worth of Father Damien's work. He also warned Hyde that his own mission work might well become eclipsed by this condemnation of a true Christian saint. This last warning proved prophetic when the Catholic Church canonized Father Damien on October 11, 2009.

While Stevenson had great respect for Christian missionaries in the South Pacific and counted many as friends, there is some doubt that Stevenson was a Christian. His own pronouncements and family history seem to show that Stevenson who flirted with a good many beliefs and did not have a personal relationship with God.

In the Grace Evangelical Society article, "Robert Louis Stevenson: So Near, Yet So Far," author James Townsend portrays Stevenson's life-long tortured struggle to know God. In the end, the only way we may know for certain if Stevenson knew Jesus is to see him standing among the elect in Heaven. For my part, I hope I get to see him there, shake his hand, and thank him for many wonderful hours of reading his books.

If you have not had the opportunity to read his work, do so. If you haven't had the opportunity to read Treasure Island aloud to a child with all the right pirate voices, visit your local library and offer your services. In doing so, you will be firing the imagination of young minds and encouraging them them to read the work of truly great authors. Discriminating Christian parents can appreciate the Stevenson's unquestioned talent and still discuss with their children any ambiguities that may surface while reading his work.

Stevenson's struggles with Christianity show that Christian speculative writers must have a strong relationship with God so that evil does not eclipse the Gospel message. If you are a writer of Christian speculative fiction, listen to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit as you write and confirm it in the Scriptures so there will be no doubt as to your witness.

As Marcher Lord Press publisher Jeff Gerke says in his book The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction, "But in the end, you must let God be in charge of taking your fish and loves and multiplying them out to the people He knows needs them." That can only happen if you know Him.

On the gruesome art of keelhauling

2010-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

16th century victim suffers keelhauling, an ancient punishment.

For my friends who were wondering what the term keelhauling actually means, here is my take on this terrible punishment. Keelhauling was a form of severe punishment first credited to the Dutch Navy in the 1500s. During the Age of Sail, the victim was suspended by a rope from one fore yardarm which was attached to his back. A weight was attached to the victim's legs to ensure that the victim was properly oriented to the hull. Another rope was fastened to him, which lead under the ship's bottom, and through a block at its opposite yard-arm. To keep the victim from drowning outright, the Dutch in later years would put an oil-soaked sponge in the victim's mouth that might contain a breath of air.

At the sound of a cannon shot, the punishment detail let go of the rope and the victim fell into the sea. The punishment detail or perhaps the entire ship's company then hauled briskly on the rope on the opposite side of the ship, drawing the victim along the hull on one side, then over the ship's keel. From there the rope dragged the victim over the opposite side of the hull until the victim was hoisted up on the other yardarm, where he might hang for a quarter of an hour. There are accounts of keelhauling being repeated several times as 17th century author Christophorus Frikius claimed to have witnessed in his 1680 book Christophorus Frikius's Voyages to and through the East Indies.

On large ships, victims were keelhauled from port to starboard while on smaller vessels they had to endure being keelhauled from bow to stern. If a ship had not been recently careened, then the victim had to pass over razor-sharp barnacles and marine grown, causing numerous cuts and perhaps even a decapitation. If not drowned outright, then the victim could die from painful wounds caused by keelhauling.

The Dutch and later other European Navies appeared to start using keelhauling in the 16th century. There is some doubt if the practice was officially condoned in the British Royal Navy, although I've run across a reference to it happening before 1797. The practice continued in the French Navy until finally abolished in the mid-1800s. There is an account of a keelhauling of two Egyptian sailors by the Egyptian Navy in 1882 at Alexandria, as mentioned in the The House of Commons Papers, Volume 33, 7 February -- 2 December 1882.

However, keelhauling may have not been an modern invention. Ancient Greek vases appear to show ancient pirates or sailors be punished in this way.

The reputation of this brutal punishment caused slang English to use the the word keelhauling for rough treatment.

For writers of pot-boilers during the 1800s, walking the plank and keelhauling were standard plot staples. I've even spotted a typo from that time, where the author actually meant close-hauling, which is a point where the sailing ship is almost but not quite sailing, rather than the word keelhauling. It is alas, a word that sticks in your mind, even if you don't know what it means.

Book Review - Hero, Second Class

2010-10-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In which the reviewer expounds upon the notion that this is a Whacking Good Story, featuring heroic derring-do and perfidious villainy amid slaughter on a monumental scale, a Touching Love Story, and a good many puns.

Cyrus Solburg is the squire of the noble-hearted though dense hero Sir Reginald Ogleby, known as the Crimson Slash. Endowed with superhuman powers and desire to express them, heroes like the Crimson Slash fight villains with similar inclinations in a medieval world populated with a number of sentient races and various magical creatures. The two groups are regulated by the International Guild of Heroes and it's sinister counterpart, the Brotherhood of the Black Hand.

The two guilds manage an on-going stalemate, hoping to avert a second worldwide war. The first world war was fought by heroes and villains, using the full onslaught of their powers. Known as the Twenty Minute War, this conflict lasting 20 minutes nearly ended all life on the planet.

Enter the arch-villain Voshtyr Demonkin, who is determined not to repeat the mistakes his side made in that disastrous conflict. With the unfolding of Voshtyr's dastardly plot, things do not look good for our heroes.

Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds takes more than a few gentle swipes at the fantasy genre. OK, general head-bashing is more like it. Therein lies the strength and weakness of this very likable tale, which refuses to take itself seriously, yet is part of an underlying heroic epic Mitchel calls The Hero Complex.

I would favorably compare Hero, Second Class to other classic humorous fantasy stories that include L. Sprague De Camp's The Compleat Enchanter, one of my all time favorites.

Christian concepts are integral to the story, yet do not bash the reader with an overt evangelistic pitch. To paraphrase fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, this story is about looking at life in an entirely new way.

Hero, Second Class is a story that I could re-read, especially should the next installment of the Hero Complex be released. I would recommend it to fantasy lovers who love gentle puns, marvelous heroic feats, and do not mind Capital Letters in the least.

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Book Review - Lord's Prayer by R. T. Kendall

2010-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I will recommend books for a Christian writer's devotional bookshelf. A close relationship with God can only help us offer life and hope to a dying world.

Lord's Prayer, The: Insight and Inspiration to Draw You Closer to Him by R.T. Kendall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found Lord's Prayer by R. T. Kendall to be not only thought-provoking, but a very good read. Books of this nature often tread the line between scholarly and popular works with very stilted prose. Kendall's writing has a clarity, flow, and freshness that brought new illumination to Jesus' model prayer about which millions of words have been written over the centuries.

I particularly liked Kendall's passages on the role of the Holy Spirit in "Thy kingdom come." He describes what that will mean to the church as God begins to move powerfully when our focus shifts from our own wills to His will.

I am not one to normally read the recommendations at a book's beginning, preferring for the book to stand on its own merits. I was struck by the diverse viewpoints of Christian leaders who could recommend this book, ranging from members of the Southern Baptist Convention to the current president of Oral Roberts University. I believes this speaks very powerfully about its contents.

I discovered Lord's Prayer by R. T. Kendall to be a life-giving book and not a recycled sermon you might find on a book table at a Christian conference. I believe as you read this book you'll have "aha moments" as I did. For some, it will shift prayer away from just personal petitions to unselfish prayer that yearns for God's will to be accomplished.

As a disclaimer, publisher Baker Publishing Company furnished a review copy of Lord's Prayer. The receipt a book in no way affected my review.

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Choosing a villain

2010-10-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Blackbeard's last moments.

In choosing a character for a historical novel, I do what I do best and research the time and its people. Pirate history is very colorful and there are no end of books. A careful look at their bibliographies shows there really are a handful of sources, notably Captain Charles Johnson (who is generally conceded to really be Daniel Defoe) and the earlier Alexander Oliver Exquemelin. Of the two sources, Exquemelin actually served as a surgeon aboard a pirate vessel. There is a vocal faction who believe that Captain Johnson was a real pirate, but that has never been proven. And too, the content of the Defoe/Johnson book is now regarded as part fiction.

Twentieth century researchers like Jan Rogozinski Dictionary of Pirates (1997) helped to organize what we do know about the major and many minor pirates. Still, there are gaping holes in our knowledge of piracy in the early 1700s. English, French, and Dutch pirates are generally known, but other nationalities are glossed over, perhaps because there is not much to tell other than a line or two that would resemble today's police blotters.

I became intrigued by a "real-life" pirate Nick Catania, whose fleet according to the Kingston, Jamaica entry in Wikipedia, was responsible for the 1703 fire that gutted Port Royal, Jamaica. But try as I might, I could not find a single mention of Catania, even by the governor of Jamaica in his official report to the Crown, days after the fire. There is another explanation for the Port Royal fire that does not include a pirate fleet or any kind of fleet, which I hope to include in an upcoming posting.

I've come to suspect that the 'historical' pirate Nick Catania is either a very minor pirate not worthy of much mention, an online hoax, or the Jamaican equivalent of Mrs. O'Leary's cow of the Chicago fire fame. The only source for the pirate Catania appears to be Wikipedia. Other web sites are merely quoting what they've found there. Looking for other sources, I tried to contact regional experts. Inquiries to Jamaican historians and even the Daily Gleaner have never been answered.

I loved the sound of the name 'Nick Catania' and there were pirates from the Mediterranean operating in the Atlantic during the 1700-1703 time frame, which are key years for my pirate stories. Additionally the Sicilian province of Catania has a pirate or two associated with it, notably the late 15th century Paolo de Campo, who along with his arch-rival Black Hassan preyed on Venetian merchantmen. For the dark aspects of these stories, the province of Catania also has a history of witchcraft and heresy, not to mention the active volcano Mount Etna, that fit in well with my character's charming yet evil and volatile personality.

For Nick Catania's physical description and emotional makeup, I drew from descriptions of Edward Thatch (Teach) AKA Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts, of which we do know a good deal.

I am pleased with the resulting character of my fictional Nick Catania. I hope when you get the opportunity to read Black Flag, Black Ship that you agree.

Feedback for future postings

2010-10-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

It looks as if some of the book reviews and historical pieces are the most often read here at Holy Speculation in an Unholy World.

If you are a regular reader of Holy Speculation, would you take a moment to give me some feedback about this blog. I would like to ask which specific blog postings were your favorites and which you thought were stinkers. What type of posting would you like to see (flash fiction, historical background, reviews, essays, etc.) and which I should heave over the side.

Finally, could truthfully say you'd recommend this blog to a friend? If the answer is yes, would you take a moment to do so?

Interview with a pirate

2010-09-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

Nicolò Catania threw his sword belt that held his sheathed cutlass and a brace of pistols on the great black table that dominated the sea cabin of his flagship the Fury. He slammed the door to the cabin shut and strode across the cabin to fetch a jewel encrusted tankard and fill it with rum.

Once he had filled it to the brim with New England's finest rum that his men could steal, he thought of the stack of papers impaled on his table with a dead Sikh's kirpan. Like any monarch of a far-flung empire there were the reports of cronies to read and evaluate. There were the intriguing diagrams of new infernal devices being made at Captive Island and finally the estimates of what his men could expect as booty from the current enterprise.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. His work was never done.

Catania tuned and found the great table missing. In its place he found a much smaller writing desk, one that reminded him of his dead father's desk in his native Sicily. Seated at the desk, a bespectacled older man with graying hair and beard labored over what Catania took to be an enormous account book. At first glance, Catania l thought him to be a purser balancing his accounts.

The man looked up but did not smile and then returned his attention to the great volume before him. Catania tried to make out what held the man's attention, but the contents of the pages eluded him, blurring as he tried to read the entries.

For a moment, Catania thought he knew this purser. The man looked up from his paperwork , laid his quill pen down on a small piece of blotting paper and rose. The bearded man rose to study Catania's face eye to eye, keeping both hands spread out on the desk. From what Catania could tell, the man was unarmed.
That was some comfort, but who knew what might be hidden in the purser's clothing. Catania felt a moment of alarm but with great effort suppressed a desire to make for any number of weapons hidden in his cabin.

"Well, a good evening to you," Catania said with a great mock bow, "And for what reason do I have the pleasure of this meeting?"

"Your life," the man said, adjusting his spectacles. Sitting down and picking up the pen, the man said, "I've come to try and understand your life. What would make a man..."

"...make a man such as I turn to piracy and other pursuits?" Catania asked. Catania glanced at a spot on the starboard paneling and quickly looked back at the man, who was already poised to begin writing.

"Precisely," the man said. "Start whenever you wish. I'll only take a few moments of your time."

Catania began to pace, plotting a course which would soon take him near that spot in the paneling. First, he had to find out about the purser.

"I don't turn down many opportunities to talk about me," Catania said. "Who am I addressing?"

The man looked up from his pages and said, "I am a poor but earnest scribbler, you may call me..."

"I shall call you Mr. Scribbler," Catania said, "You see I don't really care who you are, a misguided seeker of truth, no doubt. I just needed a name and now that I have it, I am content. Well Mr. Scribbler, we encounter all types of seekers. They practically throw themselves on our swords."

The man nodded and made a notation in his book.

Without looking up from his work, the man said, "This is about God, is it not?"

"What?" Catania asked . The question startled him so much that he stopped his pacing.

"Your life," the man said, "it's about your opposition to God and dedicating your life to the service of evil. Why do you hate him so?

"Why shouldn't I hate him?" Catania shouted. "Scribbler, I didn't ask to be born. I didn't ask the God of the universe to create me. And for what? He doesn't need anyone or lack for anything. I think he created us to writhe in pain until he deigns to notice us and then pull us out of our misery. Christians call that grace. He created us to be an object of his grace to prove to the angels his greatness and nobility, not because he loves us. For that I'm supposed to be grateful?"

"No, I don't think so. That's not the reason," the man said, not breaking the speed of his writing . "That's what you tell the seekers before you kill them. You want the ones who come trying to save your soul from an eternity of suffering to themselves suffer one last attack against their hope in a loving God."

The man produced the dead Sikh's kirpan from beside the great book. "That's what you said to the worthy Sikh when he tried to reason with you,"

Catania snorted in contempt. "Fool, he thought to add me as a spiritual trophy, a monument to his own piety. I'm like the scorpion in the story. Scribbler, I do what I do because I am a child of darkness. I do what I want and when I want."

"And what is it that you want?"

"Why everything, all of it." Catania said., "to guzzle down and spew out as I please, to soil God's handiwork until the Son of Lawlessness arises. Then we will pull down Heaven, and sacrifice all of it to our father, the prince of darkness."

"It will not happen that way, and at some level you know it," the man said as he closed his great book. From beside the book he held up a smaller volume.

"This book tells a different story," the man said.

Catania at last reached the spot he had plotted for his pacing. He pressed in on the wood paneling. A small hidden door sprang open. Catania reached into the recess and pulled out a primed pistol.

He cocked it turned to say, "And my pistol has a different report!" but the man and the desk were gone. Once more the great black table was in its appointed place. The Sikh's dagger pinning his papers to the table was gone. In its place rested the small volume.

With his pistol's muzzle, Catania flipped open the little book. It was a 15th century pocket Bible, its verses rendered in beautiful handwritten Latin. A small scrap of parchment lay inside. On it were the words, "The King of Kings will return soon, Catania. Choose the excellent way. W. H. Hayes"

From the open pages, the odor of cinnamon and temple incense rose, filling the cabin with a smell that even some of Catania's crew would have found wonderfully refreshing. Catania gagged, covered his mouth and nose and made for the quarterdeck. He did not return until his cabin boy had thrown the volume overboard and aired out his cabin.

Catania could not sleep that night. He sat in a chair, clutching a brace of pistols, waiting for a divine messenger to appear.

None came.

Book Review - The Word Unleashed

2010-09-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Word Unleashed by Steve Rzasa

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Steve Rzasa's The Word Unleashed lets fly the finale to an action-packed story started in The Word Reclaimed. Even though it is the second half of a larger story, The Word Unleashed can be read on its own.

Baden Haczyk, the son of a freighter captain discovered a rare book on board a mysteriously destroyed freighter that embroiled everyone he loves in a far-flung conflict for control of an interstellar empire.

Now Baden is caught in the middle of a far-ranging coup as he tries to decide what to do with the mysterious book. A single-minded secret police inspector is determined to confiscate the book over the bodies of every who stands between it and him. Baden's friends, family and new allies are polarized by the book's presence, which seems to demand a decision from everyone who encounters it.

Rzasa's grand story is told from multiple viewpoints. He manages to keep all the action moving well without the reader becoming dizzy from a large cast of characters and locations.

Rzasa also manages to reveal more about the motivations of his characters, and the bad guys are less one-dimensional in this installment. There are more space battles and ground actions, with enough plot twists that surprised me and kept me from skipping ahead in the book.

As I mentioned in my review of The Word Reclaimed, Rzasa handles religious issues well, since they are integral to the story. His even-handed and thought-provoking approach ensures that you are not left with a sappy, cookie-cutter ending.

I recommend this book for lovers SF military stories and space opera. If you have a love of history you will spot a number of interesting parallels.

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When Heaven intervenes

2010-09-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cable TV series, Against All Odds, details instances where God manifested his power in defense of Israel, not in the times of the Patriarchs, but in very recent history. The video excerpt from that series illustrates this very powerfully. Watching that series stirred my blood, there can be no other way to describe it.

I have long been dissatisfied with the way God's involvement has been portrayed in movies and particularly in books. For years we've been subjected to a steady barrage of stories where Christian characters are either portrayed as incredible idiots for believing that an uncaring God would act on their behalf, or just as dependent on as everyone else in fighting evil though a liberal application of gunpowder and little more.

The only real difference I could see in this latter class of story was that the Christian heroes didn't cuss or smoke or run with those who did. Otherwise, they used the same methods with the same expected outcome. There was no evidence of God's power as a witness to an unbelieving world that He loves us and does act on our behalf.

As a charismatic Christian, I have seen the miraculous and it is mind-blowing. I began to think about the Old Testament miracles and those in the New Testament involving direct clashes with evil. In every case, the bad guys lost big time.

So, in writing Black Flag, Black Ship, I wanted to evoke the same feeling of awe and wonder as I've felt in real life, but in a fantasy setting. I have taken great pains to be faithful to scripture in portraying both the angelic and the demonic. I also wanted to ensure that when describing evil people and their actions that the forces of hell are not exalted.

I did not want the reader left with a sense of fear, open to the notion that humanity is without hope in the face of evil, that somehow evil will win in the end. It will not, because the forces of darkness have already lost.

The scripture Colossians 2:15 is my compass needle which I use to navigate my way from start to finish in my stories: "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Gospel accounts of Jesus and his encounters with the demonic all show his power over the devil and his minions. These scriptures also portray the absolute terror that demons felt when encountering the Jesus, and that was before Jesus' death on the cross.

Some writers just haven't gotten it that Jesus is Hell's worst nightmare. I have. I want to take every opportunity to state that Jesus is lord of all.

Book Review - The Word Reclaimed

2010-08-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Word Reclaimed by Steve Rzasa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Word Reclaimed is an Excellent Christian military SF novel told from multiple viewpoints. In the distant future, Mankind has spread out across the stars and the majority of humanity is ruled by an imperial family who control a number of star systems in what is called the Realm of Five.

To maintain stability, the royal family has banned religions that claim to have an exclusive grasp of religious truths. A highly efficient secret police enforces the ban ruthlessly, pursuing violators across human-controlled space.

Baden Haczyk, the son of a freighter captain finds a rare book on board a mysteriously destroyed freighter that soon embroils everyone he loves in a far-flung conflict for control of the empire.

Steve Rzasa has written a tightly woven, fast-paced tale of empire, intrigue, belief, and battle that fits in well with classics like Jerry Pournelle's Mercenary, Poul Anderson's Star Fox, and Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Space and ground battles and the associated military technologies are well-conceived and exciting without drowning the reader in a mass of detail.

The characters a believable and compelling. Character development is on par for a multiple viewpoint story. I would have liked have seen more character development for some of the story's heavies. Nonetheless, I was thoroughly engaged and rooting for the good guys.

Rzasa handles religious issues well, since they are integral to the story. His even-handed and thought-provoking approach is commendable.

As part of a two-part story arc, the book does lead tightly into the sequel, The Word Unleashed, which I very much look forward to reading. The Word Reclaimed can be read on its own, but if you're like me, you will want to find out what happens to your favorite characters.

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Salvage divers in the age of sail

2010-08-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Giovanni Borelli's 17th century drawing shows his ideas for diving gear.

In the age of sail, salvaging shipwrecked cargo was big business. This was a natural offshoot of the transportation of wealth on a worldwide scale by the Portuguese and Spanish in their treasure fleets and the English, and Dutch in their East Indiamen.

The vast distances these ships traveled meant that an unhealthy percentage of them would not make it to home port, either victims of navigational error, storms, or piracy.

Battle and storm damage as well as the ravages of marine growth prematurely aged even the most stoutly made hulls. As a practical matter, Spanish galleons were required to carry a diver who was used to find leaks when an inspection inside the hull couldn't locate them.

Spanish colonial ports had salvage divers and the necessary equipment to rescue a ship's cargo from shallow depths up to 50 feet. These men were paid two and half times the going rate for an ordinary seaman, reflecting to an extent the hazards of their profession. Additionally they received bonus payments for retrieving treasure and cannon.

The fanciful 1680 illustration of Giovanni Borelli's proposed underwater breathing apparatus to the best of our knowledge was never built. Instead as done centuries before, free divers used stones to quickly descend to the bottom.

These divers spent about three minutes under water before having to take a breath. In the Caribbean, black pearl divers were sought out for their excellent underwater vision. There were reports of Caribbean Native American divers who could dive for up to 15 minutes, but historians have discounted these as embellishments.

The taxing nature of the work meant that a single diver could only make one deep dive a day. Consequently salvagers had to have many divers available. Even then the profession was very deadly with men drowning or suffering from pressure related ailments, some of which were fatal.

Caribbean Native American divers were heavily sought for Spanish salvage operations. To augment these divers, black slaves were pressed into service, with reports of freedom being granted to some for being the first to retrieve treasure from a wreck.

Surface crews assisted the divers, using derricks to raise heavy objects like brass cannons. The surface crews also used grappling hooks and long-handled tongs of the same sort as used by oystermen to retrieve small objects. The divers attached ropes to large objects, such as cannons, and gained entry into the wreck to retrieve cargo there.

For wrecks in deeper waters and where the wrecks were in calm sites, salvagers used metal diving bells, some of which were even equipped with small glass windows to allow for more efficiency. The divers could either use the diving bell's air to extend bottom time or they could work sitting inside the bell. Even so, the air quickly fouled.

I have read of barrels being use to transport air to a diving bell, but I don't know how practical that proved. Also working at a reef on in shallow coastal waters diving bells did not prove to be very practical as they could easily tilt and lose their precious air. As effective as early diving bells could be for salvage work, they worked best only under ideal conditions.

Frequently ships broke up on reefs and the contents of these vessels could be scattered for some distance. This kind of wreck called for divers and surface salvage work. Depending on wave action and currents, debris from a wreck could be covered and uncovered by shifting sand from season to seadon. Salvage operations could go on for years, even decades, depending on the cargo's value and ease of access to the wreck site.

Rather than mounting their own salvage operations, pirates waited for the treasure to be retrieved and then attacked the salvage vessels. Consequently, Spanish salvage operations used a number of heavily armed frigates to ward off poachers and attackers.

In Black Flag, Black Ship, a certain pirate crew employs divers for a very mysterious purpose. Read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out!

Pirate Hunters - Lieutenant Stephen Decatur Part II

2010-08-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Captain Stephen Decatur storms an enemy gunboat.

On Friday, August 3, 1804, the American squadron again approached Tripoli, where Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, now Captain Decatur, months earlier had blown up the captured USS Philadelphia right under the very noses of the Barbary pirates.

American squadron commodore Captain Edward Preble again approached Tripoli to show American resolve in protecting U. S. vessels and sailors from pirate attacks. With limited resources, he could not invade Tripoli or completely destroy the fortifications and vessels guarding Tripoli. He could hurt the Barbary pirates enough to make them come to terms with releasing the captured captain and crew of the USS Philadelphia and to help them think twice about attacking other American vessels.

Preble planned a daring assault. At 2:30 PM, he boldly advanced the squadron to point blank range and commenced the attack.

Earlier, he had dispatched six gun boats, three each under the command of Captains Decatur and Sommers. Prebble ordered them to cause as much damage as possible, board enemy vessels, seize them and their crews and then leave the harbor with their prizes.

He had also directed two bomb ketches, two-masted vessels armed with heavy mortars, to bombard the fortified positions and the town.

The heavy frigate USS Constitution under Preble's command and her attending ketches and brigs were to provide covering fire for the attacking gunboats and fire upon the Pasha's Castle, Fort English, and other fortified positions.

Against their six gunboats, the Barbary pirates had 19 gunboats with full compliments of 30 to 50 crewmen. Each opposing gunboat had a heavy gun in the bow, with two lighter guns in the stern. The shore artillery in the fortified positions held an estimated 120 guns.

Pasha Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli treated the upcoming attack with contempt, making a number of disparaging insults about the Americans. After all, he held the captain and crew of the USS Philadelphia in his dungeons.

The Barbary pirates in the gunboats at anchor beneath Tripoli's heavy guns reflected their leaders' disdain for the Americans. They did not even bother to make ready to sail in case the attack came close to their positions. Some citizens of Tripoli sat on their rooftops to watch their anticipated victory.

As the attack commenced, contrary winds drove Captain Sommers and one of his gunboats away from the enemy gunboats. Sommers was able to work his way to the rear of the enemies gunboats, causing considerable havok there but was unable to seize a gunboat.

Captain Decatur's division of three boats succeeded in reaching the pirate gunboats, aided by Lieutenant James Decatur's gunboat. Lieutenant Decatur was Captain Stephen Decatur's brother and had been assigned to Captain Sommer's boat division.

When the American gunboats approached the enemy, the USS Constitution and the rest of the American squadron alternately fired shot at the fortifications and grapeshot at the enemy boats, literally sweeping those vessels of all crew on deck. The enemy positions returned fire, succeeding in striking the attacking ships. During the battle, the enemy gunboats attempted several times to surround the squadron as they had successfully done with the USS Philadelphia. Captain Preble and his men beat off those attacks. Through skillful maneuvering, Preble kept the Constitution where she was needed most to carry the attack to completion.

Captain Decatur in Boat No. 4 boarded one gunboat with his crew of fifteen men and after hand-to-hand fighting took it as a prize. Lieutenant Tripp in Boat No. 6 also succeeded in taking one enemy gunboat as a prize. Lieutenant Bainbridge in Boat No. 5 had the lanteen yard holding the boat's mainsail shot way, preventing him from taking a gunboat. He was able to support the attack with steady musket fire from his boat.

Lieutenant James Decatur in Boat No. 2 attempted to board an enemy gunboat, which promptly raised a white flag. As Lieutenant Decatur stepped aboard the enemy gunboat, he discovered the surrender was really a ruse. The enemy commander shot James Decatur in the head. As the enemy vessel escaped, James Decatur's second in command Midshipman Brown retrieved him and took him to the USS Constitution where James Decatur died within minutes of boarding the Constitution.

Captain Decatur divided his crew between the captured boat and his own boat. As he was returning to the squadron he learned that his brother had been killed. An officer who was highly regarded in the squadron, Lieutenant Decatur's loss was keenly felt. Captain Stephen Decatur immediately set out to find the Barbary pirate captain who had killed his brother. Decatur's reaction was not only the anger of a brother, but also the anger of an officer who had a comrade killed in such a base way.

Accompanied by Midshipman MacDonough and nine sailors, Captain Stephen Decatur succeeded in finding the enemy captain's vessel and boarded it. They faced a full compliment aboard the gunboat. Decatur made his way to the enemy captain, who managed to wound Decatur in the arm and chest with a spear. A stronger man than Decatur, the Barbary pirate captain pressed Decatur to the deck, where he intended to kill him with a dagger.

A Barbary pirate came up with a sword to aid his captain and kill Decatur. One of Decatur's men who had been wounded in both arms threw himself between the pirate's sword and Decatur, suffering a fractured skull in the process. No one is quite sure if this sailor was Reuben James or Daniel Frazer, both of whom at various times fought under Decatur.

Nonetheless, this unselfish act allowed Decatur to pull a pistol out of his pocket and shoot the enemy captain. Decatur and his men captured the gunboat and returned to the squadron with a second prize. Only four of Decatur's men were unwounded.

Enemy causalities on board the two prizes taken by Decatur and his men consisted of 33 Barbary pirate officers and crewmen killed. Another 27 Barbary pirates had been captured with 19 seriously wounded.

The action ended at about 5 PM. Lieutenant Decatur was the only person killed. Two officers and eleven sailors were wounded.

As Lieutenant Decatur's brother, it fell to Stephen Decatur to clean his brother's corpse and to prepare him for burial the following day. He sat through the night keeping vigil over his brother's body.

Sometime during the night, Decatur supposedly said to Midshipman Charles Morris as he gazed down at his brother's corpse, "I would rather see him thus, than living with any cloud on his conduct."

Afterward, Captain Decatur's showed great compassion to the wounded pirates captured in the raid, reportedly even asking Captain Preble if the seriously wounded pirates could be returned to Tripoli where they could get better treatment.

In Tripoli, reaction to the American attack was one of panic. Ordinary citizens fled Tripoli. The Pasha was said to be in hiding in a bombproof room.

A leader of Tripoli asked on of the USS Philadelphia's imprisoned officers if the attackers were truly Americans or devils in human form. He complained that the English, French and Spanish consuls had told the leaders of Tripoli that America was young nation that got its independence because of French strength. They led the Barbary pirates to believe that the Americans could not protect their own merchants so the pirates could expect a brisk business taking American ships and crews for ransom.

The Barbary pirates realized that they had greatly underestimated the resolve and fighting ability of the U. S. Navy. One of the wounded Barbary pirates returned by Captain Preble was supposed to have said, "The Americans in battle are fiercer than lions and after victory, kinder than Muslims."

As shaken as the Pasha was after the August 3rd attack, he was not yet ready to give up the Philadelphia's crew.

The bunko mates

2010-07-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

The clipper ship Challenge -- a marked ship

Ship discipline has always been a problem for sailors and their officers. In history you can find splendid examples of officers who were firm and enforced their articles of discipline without brutality. They led their men through personal example, positive discipline, and a genuine concern for sailor welfare.

Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson is a splendid example as is his American contemporary Captain Stephen Decatur. Incidentally, I will soon write two more installments about Decatur's brushes with pirates and his later years.

In fiction, Patrick O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower are officers who detest the lash and uses it sparingly.

As a young U. S. Army officer, I often heard the maxim, "Lead by example." Over the years, I've discovered that the path to greatness or infamy stems from how one leads by example.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, condition at sea were brutal. Men aboard both warships and merchantmen fought the elements and endured tainted foodstuffs, with death a daily possibility. At times seamen at the end of their physical and mental limits were hard pressed to endure much more.

Good leaders coaxed and encouraged their men without coddling. Bad leaders found that for the short term the liberal application of bullying and brutality achieved results.

Since captains were absolute monarchs when their ships were at sea, it was very easy to slip into the dark ways of leading a crew. These ships were often called ships of blood.

Even if men were killed and maimed during discipline, it was very difficult to determine who did what to whom once the ship reached port. Often sailors simply jumped ship and no one in authority was the wiser.

Captains rarely disciplined men directly, relying on the junior officers to keep order. On ships where blood ran freely, the first and second mates were called "bucko mates." They carried belaying pins or tarred rope and used them with enthusiasm. These officers defended their actions, stating that Johnny Tars were anything but gentlemen and life aboard ship called for bigger and meaner men to keep them in line.

In U. S. Maritime history, the voyage of the Challenge in 1851 is a notorious example of the violence wielded by "bucko mates." Captain Robert "Bully" Waterman was in a bad way. He had the clipper ship Challenge to take around the Horn to San Francisco with $60,000 of freight, a few experienced men and the rest of the crew the scrapings of the docks. He could earn a $10,000 bonus if he made it to San Francisco in 90 days.

When James "Black" Douglass offered to come aboard as first mate, Waterman gladly accepted him. Former sailors under Douglass were waiting for him to step ashore. The Challenge was his ticket out of New York in a hurry. Waterman no doubt believed he could win his bonus if Douglas could get his crew in shape. Douglass' reputation for sadistic brutality was well-known.

Before the voyage ended one man would be knifed to death, and the rest save one man were beaten. On October 29, 1851, the Challenge arrived in San Francisco after 102 days at sea. Sailors on the docks, who saw men being carried off the Challenge on stretchers, became so angry that they chased both Waterman and Douglass for the better part of a day. The mob was determined to lynch both men from the yardarms of the Challenge. Both men turned themselves into the authorities for protection and they were eventually brought to trial.

Prosecuted in the the Federal Court of Judge Odgen Hoffman under a U. S. law written in 1835, the law called for punishment of ship's officers when it could be clearly established that sailors were mistreated. The law was so vague that successful prosecutions were rare.

With the California Gold Rush in full height, entire ship crews deserted and took off for the gold fields once they anchored in San Francisco Bay. Only a few witnesses could be rounded up and they provided contradictory testimony. Perhaps most damaging was the testimony of crewman Charles Pearson, a Navy veteran who served under Steven Decatur. He said he had been beaten, but admitted that the crew was a miserable lot.

In the end, the crewmen were exonerated. Waterman was fined $400.00. Douglass was fined $250, and the second mate Andrew Coghill was sentenced to 30 days in jail. There is a small measure of justice in that Waterman's obsession with crew discipline no doubt contributed to his slow voyage and loss of the $10,000 bonus.

The Challenge became a marked ship. The owners had such a difficult time finding crew for her that the new captain had to offer $200 head money. As for the two men who gave her the tainted reputation, they never served on another ship, as far as anyone knows.

Waterman never left California. Instead, he started raising poultry and cattle. Later he became San Francisco's port warden and inspector of hulls. As for the bunko mate Black Douglass, beyond never signing on another ship, it's as if he stepped off history's page.

In Black Flag, Black Ship, we meet Liam Gallagher, a vicious bunko mate aboard the slave ship Vanity. Will Gallagher get a free hand to fulfill his sadistic urgings? Read the book to find out what happens to him.

Review: The Dark Man

2010-07-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

The Dark Man by Marc Schooley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Set in the not-too-distant future, this book is a quirky, surreal adventure story that is an emotional roller coaster up to the book's climactic end. Charles Graves is a master of disguise, a government agent dedicated to uncovering underground churches and "reclaiming" its members for a terrifying state religion and its censorship of every form of expression. Outwardly at the top of his game, inwardly Charles is unraveling at a terrifying rate. I hesitate to say much about the excellently woven plot and vivid characterizations as it might reveal too much this book's great story. I can say that this book is definitely an adventure book that oddly enough reminds me a bit of Roger Zelazny's Doorways in the Sand with its quirky mental puzzles and The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. It is definitely a story of personal redemption and the price one has to pay to do the right thing. This is a book I will recommend to my friends and I will re-read it.

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Pirate Hunters - Lieutenant Stephen Decatur Part I

2010-06-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur and his men escape after a daring raid against Barbary pirates.

In 1804, U.S. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur received orders that would make him a hero in the eyes of his countrymen and ultimately the youngest captain in the U. S. Navy's history.

The newly formed United States dispatched a U.S. Navy squadron to the Barbary Coast of North Africa to prevent U. S. merchant sailors from being taken captive by the Barbary pirates.

As I've recounted before, the pirates of North African for centuries raided European shores and captured ships, taking thousands of Christians captives for the North African slave market. The European powers, including the Muslim Ottoman Empire, tolerated the raids and often supported the Barbary pirates as a surrogate navy against rival nations.

Ships of the U. S. squadron pursued the Barbary galleys wherever they found them. Unfortunately, in one of those chases, the USS Philadelphia ran aground on on uncharted Kaliusa reef about five miles east of Tripoli. Quickly surrounded by gunboats from Tripoli and under bombardment from the gunboats and shore batteries, Captain William Bainbridge after several hours of trying to free the Philadelphia in the face of a falling tide surrendered his ship and men to the pirates. The pirates later re-floated the Philadelphia and took the ship to Tripoli. Bainbridge and his men were enslaved.

Fearing that the frigate Philadelphia would be a dangerous addition the pirate ships, both as a warship and model for Barbary frigates, Commodore Edward Preble ordered Lieutenant Stephen Decatur to enter Tripoli's harbor and destroy the Philadelphia.

The ship they used was a French ketch built for Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. It was later sold to Tripoli and renamed the Mastico.

The American squadron captured the vessel and seized it after learning from an eyewitness that the Mastico was one of vessels that had captured the Philadelphia. Commodore Preble ordered the ship now renamed the Intrepid to make the attack since it was a vessel familiar to the Barbary pirates.

Disguised as Maltese traders, Decatur and his detachment of nine Marines and 65 sailors aboard Intrepid on February 16, 1804, were able to enter the harbor without exciting suspicion. Using a ruse that their ship had lost its anchors during a storm, they asked permission to tie up to the Philadelphia.

The plan almost went bad when someone aboard the Philadelphia noticed that the Intrepid still had its anchors. Decatur and his men then boarded the Philadelphia, captured or killed all but two of its enemy crew without firing a shot, and then set it afire.

Decatur stayed aboard until he was sure that the fire could not be extinguished. By now shore batteries were firing on the Intrepid as Decatur and his men tried to escape. The Philadelphia's guns began to cook off and the frigate's gunfire into the town may have helped suppress the shore batteries. When the flames reached the powder magazine, the Philadelphia blew up. Lieutenant Decatur and his men were able to get safely way without a single American raider killed.

British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who that time was blockading the French military port of Toulon, called the action, "the most daring of the age." It earned Decatur the acclaim of a nation and set jealousy festering in the hearts of service rivals with horrible results.

A sailorman's tattoo

2010-06-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Joe Plaice’s tattooed hands in the film, Master and

Commander The Far Side of the World

The practice of tattooing can be traced back as far as 2,000 BC in Egypt where tattoos were found on female mummies from that era. The famed Iceman of the Alps, who may have died about 5,000 years ago, sported 57 tattooed dot marks that may have been scars left after early acupuncture. If so, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine someone else with similar marks connecting the dots of the scars in a fanciful pattern.

No one knows when the first sailor got a tattoo, but the consensus is that the practice among seamen is very ancient. Being both practical and supersitious persons, sailors have long favored tattoos as an aid to identification and as talismans.

As a form of identification, tattoos set sailors apart from landsmen and in the case of slave ship crews, it set them apart from slaves and their brands. Sailors apparently believed that certain tattoos acted a talismans and averted disaster. Here are a few examples of these superstitions from the 18th and 19th centuries published in 1989 by researcher Ira Dye, no pun intended - honest!

Tattoos of a pig on one instep and a rooster on the other will save a sailor from drowning. There are a number of explanations for these tattoos. One theory stated that pigs and chickens often survived shipwrecks, so having them on a sailor's feet would ensure he would safely reach land.

The tattoos H-O-L-D F-A-S-T with one letter on the back of each finger next to the hand knuckle will save a sailor whose life depends on holding on to a rope. This tattoo design was popularized in the movie Master and Commander The Far Side of the World.

A crucifix tattooed on the back will either save a sailor from being flogged, as no boatswain's mate would flog the cross, or if he did the cross would alleviate the victim's pain.

A seaman who could stand the pain of getting a full-rigged ship tattooed on his chest would automatically become a good topman, that is a sailor who climbs the masts to tend the sails and rigging.

And finally, a sailor with a crucifix tatooed on each arm and leg "could fall overboard among 775,000 white sharks, all dinnerless, and not one of them would so much as dare to smell his little finger."

In Black Flag, Black Ship, a pair of tattoos on a sailor alerts young Nathan Cohagan to an ominous plot aboard the slave ship Vanity. To find out what these tattoos signify and what happens, you'll have to read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out.

Review: Eternity Falls

2010-06-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Eternity Falls by Kirk Outerbridge

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An edgy hard-boiled future detective story, Eternity Falls sucks you into a dystopian world reminiscent of Blade Runner and Neuromancer. In the late 21st Century private investigator and former government religious counter-terrorism agent Rick Macey is called in to investigate an impossible crime, the death by natural causes of a highly visible spokesperson for a long-established immortality treatment.

What starts out as a predictable Micky Spillane style detective story takes some unexpected twists, which frankly I did not see coming. The story moves briskly with plenty of action in a futuristic society where bioelectronics circuitry allows everyone to be physically plugged into the network.

Author Kirk Outerbridge understands the ramifications of today's obsession with the Internet and takes it to a very unsettling and dehumanizing post-Christian future. The religious themes he introduces are natural extensions of the story and do not present a jarring presence.

Because of its edgy content, I would recommend the book for adult readers. I do think Eternity Falls is very well written. I would read a sequel if Outerbridge develops this book into a series.

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Mini-review: Eternity Falls

2010-06-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

Eternity Falls by Kirk Outerbridge

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An edgy hard-boiled future detective story, Eternity Falls sucks you into a world reminiscent of Blade Runner. Full review Sunday night, June 13.

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The Royal African Company

2010-06-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Most fans of Pirates of the Caribbean know of the quasi-governmental entity known as the East India Company, which by the way in history did not in the slightest resemble the monstrous organization depicted in the movie. What most folks don't know is that during the 16th through the early 19th centuries maritime trade was an incredibly risky undertaking.

The large, lumbering sailing ships known as the East Indiaman took two years to complete their journey to India and Indonesia where they traded European goods for cloth from India, jewels, and spices, notably cloves from Indonesia. These vessels frequently became victims of storms, pirates, and even hostile governments and trading companies. Although private subscribers invested in these companies, the expenses were staggering.

Consequently, governments frequently underwrote part of the working capital for the enterprises. The English, Dutch and French all had large trading companies for various parts of the world which had transportable raw materials, the spice trade being one of the most lucrative. English, Dutch, and French merchants created East India companies to exploit this trade, which at the time was weakly held by the Portuguese.

Competition among European nations grew so intense that the English decided to start a war with the Dutch in order to win trade concessions. Some authorities claim that as part of the plot to get the Dutch to declare war on the English, King Charles II and his brother, James the Duke of York, formed the Royal African Company. Under this commercial front, they sent Admiral Robert Holmes to seize Dutch West African trade posts from the Cape Verde south to Nigeria with the orders "kill, take, sink or destroy such as shall oppose you."

The Dutch did act as King Charles and James had hoped, allowing the English to declare war on the Dutch after they announced on February 22, 1665 that they would attack English shipping. The Dutch did retake some of their West African holdings, but the English held on to a strategic fort. Known as the Castle, this fort allowed the Royal African Company to control trade along the West African coast.

The Royal African Company traded in gold, ivory and slaves from the late 1660s through 1698. Slaves purchased by the Royal African Company were branded with the initials "DY," which stood for "Duke of York."

In 1698, it lost its exclusive charter right to traffic in slaves, which amounted to about 5,000 African captives a year. Merchants from Bristol, some of whom were secretly "poaching" on Royal African Company rights, quickly boosted the number of slaves taken to 20,000 a year. In 1723, the Royal African Company dropped its trade in African slaves in favor of maintaining its gold dust and ivory trade.

The Royal African Company's charter allowed in to maintain its own forts and trade centers along with its own soldiers and merchants known as factors. It also had a few coastal and river vessels for trade and enforcement of its concession along the West African Coast. Company employees signed on for a seven year tour. Thanks to tropical diseases and the danger surrounding West African trade, few lived that long.

By the late 1690s, the French Senegal Company (Compagnie de Sénégal) was the principal competitor. French forces did periodically take over British West African trading posts and forts. In fact, the River Gambia fort known as Fort James was the site of many such battles in the early decades of the 1700s.

The rivalry between the English and French at Fort James plays a key part in Black Flag, Black Ship.

The Henrietta Marie - slave ship of the triangular route

2010-05-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

In the warm Gulf of Mexico waters 35 miles west of Key West a submerged concrete and bronze marker facing Africa bears these words: "In memory and recognition of the courage, pain and suffering of enslaved African people. Speak her name and gently touch the souls of our ancestors."

With those words, the marker placed in 1993 by the National Association of Black SCUBA Divers commemorates the wreck of the Henrietta Marie, one of the earliest confirmed slave ship wrecks by name ever found in the New World. During the summer of 1700, just after delivering 190 slaves to Jamaica, the homeward bound Henrietta Marie sank at latitude 24° 40.387’ N, longitude 82º22.395’ W on New Ground Reef. No one knows for certain, but it is believed that the the ship and crew were the victims of foul weather in mid-July 1700.

The Henrietta Marie was accidentally discovered by salvors working for renowned treasure hunter Mel Fischer as they searched for the wreck of a Spanish treasure ship. In the Henrietta Marie's debris field lie the twisted remnants of its keel timbers and artifacts such as over eighty sets of shackles for adults and children known as "the bilboes," two anchors, cast-iron cannon, Venetian glass trade beads, iron trade bars, ivory tusks, and a large collection of English made pewter tankards, basins, spoons and bottles. Cargo manifests recorded in Jamaica show the ship also carried 48 tons of sugar, log-wood, ginger, and leftover trade goods. Most important, salvors found the ship's bell positively identifying the wreck as the "Henrietta Marie 1699."

Considered a fast and sturdy vessel, the Henrietta Marie at 170 tons and eight cannon was a typical European merchantman with a square stern, three masts, and multiple cargo decks. Ships of her type ran the "triangular route" taking British trade goods to Africa to barter for slaves, slaves from Africa to British colonies in the West Indies and North America, and tons of raw materials like sugar and indigo from the colonies to England.

Captured from the French by the Royal Navy, the ship was sold to merchants and christened the Henrietta Marie. Before her voyage in 1699-1700, the Henrietta Marie had made an earlier trip during 1697-1698. Arriving back in England she was refurbished and given a new ship's bell inscribed with the date 1699.

Her master on the last voyage had a crew of 18 to 20 men. While a ship of this size could have been crewed by a dozen sailors if it was a merchantman, the extra hands were needed aboard a slaver to watch the captives. Men recruited for slavers came from the dregs of society. Sadly, they were often violent and alcoholic.

The Henrietta Marie left England, taking some three months to reach the stretch of West Africa coast between Gambia and Benin that was the trading territory of the British Royal Africa Company. There the ship and crew spent months collecting slaves by offering trade goods to local kings who had turned slavery, which originally has been a cruel by-product of African warfare, into a primary business.

Scholarly estimates place the number of African slaves sent to the New World between 9 to 15 million persons with as many as three to five million souls perishing during the transit from Africa to the West Indies, which is called the "Middle Passage." While some estimates place the fatalities to be as little as 1.4 million, these are still staggering numbers that almost numb the mind.

The number of slaves aboard the Henrietta Marie may have been about 250 persons when the ship left Africa, possibly Nigeria. From slaves sales records in Jamaica it is know that 190 persons survived the 14 week voyage of the Henrietta Marie from Africa to Jamaica. Their ultimate fate is not known, but it's believed that they lived and died working in Jamaican sugar plantations within five to ten years after their arrival in the New World.

Among the Europeans, only the Quakers and the Moravians seemed to be genuinely concerned about the plight of African slaves. It would been nearly a hundred years after the sinking of the Henrietta Marie before slavery would be abolished, largely due to efforts of English Quaker and evangelical Christians like William Wilberforce, John Newton, Hannah More, Charles Middleton, Thomas Clarkson, and Granville Sharp. The first-hand accounts of Newton, Rev. James Ramsay, and former slaves Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano challenged public perceptions of slavery and helped fuel abolitionist sentiments.

In Black Flag, Black Ship, I based the slave ship the Vanity on the real life Henrietta Marie.

Ships of Black Flag, Black Ship - Part II: The Frigate

2010-05-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

The HMS Surprise from Daniel Fritsche on Vimeo.

During the Age of Sail, one ship evolved from a Mediterranean coastal galley to a far-ranging, fast vessel that served both as the eyes of the fleet and potent enough to take on ships larger than itself. The frigate served many missions, both as a scout, a convoy escort, and a commerce raider. In the British Royal Navy the frigate was the first ship that captains, or post-captains as they were called, could command.

Frigates began in the 15th century as fast, maneuverable galleys equipped with sails and oars. During the 80 years' War (1568–1648), when Spain tried to retrieve the rebellious Netherlands, privateers in the service of the Spanish crown known as Dunkirk Privateers, or Dunkirkers, developed a sail-only short-range raider that they called a frigate.

Based on their experience fighting the Dunkirker frigates the Dutch Navy developed the first ocean-going frigate. This 300-ton, 40-gun ship proved to be a potent development. Under the brilliant leadership of Dutch Admiral Maartin Troomp, their stunning success during the 1639 Battle of the Downs against the Spanish fleet led many European sea-going powers to develop frigates of their own.

The term "frigate-built" appeared in the 17th century to describe a fast, maneuverable ship. Eventually the French used the word frigate as a verb and adjective to mean "built long and low." Vessels in that day were considered ships if they carried three masts with square-rigged sails and had at least 28 guns on one or two decks. In the British rating system that sorted ships from most powerful (first-rate) to least powerful (sixth rate), frigates weighed in as fifth or sixth rate ships. Vessels that carried fewer than 20 cannon, such as gun sloops and cutters, were considered unrated vessels.

Don't let the notion of size fool you. The frigates could perform many tasks while the larger vessels, called ships or the line, were designed as huge gun platforms intended only to form into battle lines to attack other enemy fleets. While cost-saving measures during peacetime mothballed ships of the line, navies kept the frigates working hard. Some captains became so enamored of their frigates that they actually refused promotion in order to continue commanding frigates.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the 36-gun HMS Phoenix which along with the 74-gun HMS Dragon may have saved England from a French invasion when the two ships spooked French Admiral Villeneuve. Thinking the two ships were advance scouts of a much larger British fleet, Villeneuve abandoned his mission of sailing to Brest to escort the French invasion fleet across the English Channel.

Instead, he took the combined French and Spanish fleets to Cadiz, Spain, where the fleets were blockaded for a time by the British frigates until Villeneuve attempted to leave the harbor with his ships. Villeneuve's flight was observed by the British frigates which took the word to the main fleet under Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson. The ensuing Battle of Trafalgar decisively ended French and Spanish naval threats.

The formidable nature of frigates have led many authors to make them their ship of choice. These include C. S. Forrester and Patrick O'Brian. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey novels featured the frigate HMS Surprise under the command of Post-Captain Jack Aubrey. The video animation at the top of this post depicts the HMS Surprise as she would have been during Aubrey's command.

In my own novel, Black Flag, Black Ship, a British vessel and a black frigate galley with a fearsome reputation encounter one another off the coast of Africa. What happens may astound you. Read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out!

Review: Starfire (The Mending)

2010-05-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Starfire by Stuart Vaughn Stockton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow! Sentient dinosaurs, ancient prophecies, mysterious messengers, a demonic cabal, bone crunching military action, all with boldly visualized technologies and rich backstory reminiscent of Niven and Pournelle at their best in Mote in God’s Eye. Wow!

In Starfire (The Mending) the young warrior Rathe becomes the focus of a planetary battle on both the physical and spiritual planes. Before you think this is a lightsaber remix, author Stuart Vaughn Stockton presents a unique alien world in which the dominant sentient beings are not human nor even mammalian, but saurian.

What at first seems as if a straightforward story of a young warrior maturing under fire takes a number of unexpected twists. Nothing is as it seems and assumptions upon which entire societies are based may be totally wrong. There were several points in the story where I literally did not know what would happen next or who the enemy actually was. The book proved to be quite a roller coaster ride.

Stockton's visualization of an immensely old saurian civilization proved to be intriguing and well conceived. His use of spiritual elements like prophecies and dreams are not contrived and are integral to the story. Stockton's use of alien languages for proper names and for common names of everyday items proved both intriguing and frustrating at at the same time.

The author has thoughtfully provided references and drawings to help readers understand the world in which Rathe lives. Be prepared to do some page flipping when encountering an unfamiliar term or species. I did find the need to check references diminished over time and the overall breakneck pace kept the story moving so quickly in places I abandoned page flipping and just pressed ahead.

I recommend this book to fans of Christian speculative fiction and to those who simply would like to read a good SF yarn. This is a book when once completed you will want to read again.

View all my reviews >>

Meeting at the Blue Coracle

2010-05-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Samuel Cohagan opened the battered door of the Blue Coracle and quickly entered the coffee house. The cool, dark interior contrasted with the bright sun and rank stickiness of Port Royal's tropical atmosphere. Six years after the great earthquake of 1694, Port Royal had returned to its boom days though on a much smaller scale, since the quake had swallowed up three quarters of its former size and isolated it from the mainland.

Inside, Samuel took off his tri-corner hat and mopped his brow with handkerchief taken from he left coat sleeve. Only 10 o'clock and already it had become so hot.

He congratulated himself for choosing not to wear the powdered wig. Instead he had pulled back his own auburn hair back into a short pony tail tied off with a simple black ribbon from one of his daughters.

As his eyes adjusted to muted light, he could hear the murmurs of the sea captains, shipping agents, and merchants who used the coffee house as neutral ground for their sometimes heated negotiations.

"Good day, Samuel!" proprietor Amos Johnston said as he moved from behind the bar. Clasping his friend's hand, Amos said, "Have you any news about your son?"

"I thank you Amos for your concern," Samuel Cohagan said, sighing heavily. "No news since he was taken almost three months ago. I came to see if there might be word of any new arrivals from Bristol."

"Aye!" Amos said. "There are a couple of new captains here. I'll point them out. See! There at the third table."

As Samuel started to edge forward past the first table in the narrow coffee house Jonah called out, "Samuel! I almost forgot! The gentleman sitting by himself at the rear says he has business with you."

Samuel looked at the last table and saw a bespectacled older man with graying hair and beard laboring over what he took to be an account book. At first glance, Samuel thought him to be a purser balancing his accounts. The man looked up and smiled. For a moment, Samuel thought he knew him. He stopped briefly at the third table to inquire if any of the new arrivals had come from Bristol. He tried not to show his disappointment when he learned that they had come from Boston.

Then Samuel made his way back to the rear table. The man looked up from his bookkeeping, laid his quill pen down on a small piece of blotting paper and rose. The bearded man smiled broadly and extended his right hand.

"Master Cohagan," the man said shaking Samuel's hand vigorously. "At long last we meet. Your papers in the Royal Academy Proceedings on metallurgy as it relates to firearms have been a inspiration to me. I feel as if we are old friends."

"It's strange you should mention that," Samuel said as he sat down. "I had the oddest feeling that I should know you. It's almost as if we could have been childhood friends. Now sir, you have business with me?"

"Indeed I do sir," the man said. "But first I must inquire about your son. I heard something of your conversation with our host. My old ears ring from cannon fire, but I can still hear quite well."

"He was taken sir," Samuel said. "A star fell over the bay and it shattered in mid-air with many scattered pieces falling near Spanish Town. There are stories of smiths hammering the metal from falling stars into great swords. With that in mind, Nathan and I set out to find them."

"Yes," the man said nodding, "I've heard of such tales."

"We found where the stones fell to earth and began collecting them. We separated to cover more ground and some time later I heard my son Nathan call out, 'Huzzah!' But I grew worried he did not answer any of my replies. When we found his shovel, it was spotted with blood -- his blood. I knew then that he had been taken."

Samuel's voice rose as he said, "I ran to the beach and saw a small boat making for the anchoring ground of Port Royal. As my apprentices ran to find a boat, I could make out the ship that the men in the boat boarded. I could not get to the ship in time before she sailed. I learned later the name and the captain: the slaver Vanity mastered by one Captain Billy Blue."

"Oh my!" the man said. "A slaver is a horrible berth. The things he might see and be forced to do. It's hell on earth for the slaves. So that's why you came today, as you do every time you see a new ship arrive at Port Royal."

"Excuse me," said a short and stocky sea captain, who had entered the Blue Coracle a few moments earlier. "I couldn't help overhearing your tale and the name Billy Blue. Now there's an evil, lying, cheating, malicious drunkard of a master for you. He's turned many a good sailor away from the sea by his abusive treatment of his men. I shudder to learn that your son is among his crew."

At those words Samuel's shoulder's slumped. He felt a strong hand thump him on the back.

"Courage!" the man with the graying hair and beard said. "Is there a scripture you've used to encourage yourself?"

"Why yes, friend, there is!" Samuel said. "It's from Psalm 27. 'I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.' I thank you friend, you've reminded me to be strong in my faith, even if my eyes and ears tell you otherwise!"

Seeking to undo his ill-chosen remarks, the stocky captain said, "Mark you, even on that slaver there are a few good men among them. They'll watch out for him. Stand up sir so I can get a good look at you."

Samuel stood, turning so the man could get a better glimpse of his features.

"I thank you sir," the stocky captain said, "I did see the Vanity in Bristol as we sailed out. Her crew was careening her. I saw a younger version of yourself, alive and doing the work of three men. My eye was drawn to him, in fact. I take it to be an act of Providence. He was dressed in rags, but he was hale and unbowed."

"I thank the LORD for this good news!" Samuel shouted My son is alive and well!"

Just then, a melodious tune chimed.

"Oh dear!" said the man with the graying hair and beard as he looked at a large pocket watch that continued to chime. "Recall! My ship, the Rodger Young, is leaving. I must go. Here! Take this pouch and letter. The contents of the pouch will pay for the commission outlined in the letter."

As the man scooped up his possessions and scurried toward the door, Samuel hefted the pouch and knew there was a generous amount of gold in it.

"Wait!" Samuel called. "I didn't learn you name."

The man reached the door then turned back to Samuel and smiled broadly.

"It's in the letter!" he said as he opened the door and disappeared into the bright sunshine.

"That is very odd," said the stocky captain. "There's no ship in the harbor by that name. In fact, I've never heard of ship by that name. Rodger Young, was it?"

Samuel pocketed the pouch and read the letter:

Master Cohagan,

Spare no expense in making two braces of the finest, most accurate pistols you and your apprentices have ever made. The men for which they are intended will have great need of them. Make out the presentation plate for each brace, one for Samuel Cohagan and one for Nathan Cohagan with the sentiment, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5."

The LORD will see you and your family through.

Yours in prayer and danger,

W. H. Hayes

Book mini-review

2010-05-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

That nick of time

2010-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;
       they waylay only themselves!
¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
       it takes away the lives of those who get it.

Proverbs 1:18-19

In writing about the miraculous in fictional battles, I often uncover events that are more amazing than I conceived for my stories. For instance, this year marks the 355th anniversary of a miraculous sea battle, one which involved worship, pirates, and one of England's greatest admirals.

In February 1655, General-at-sea Robert Blake led his task force of warships against the a fortified Barbary pirate city of Porto Farina (or Porto Ferino), then known as "the arsenal of Tunis." Arrayed against his ships were some 120 heavy guns in fortified positions and two forts with two or more thousand infantry and cavalry waiting on the shore for the expected English invasion.

In the harbor floated nine Barbary galleys, each highly maneuverable and deadly. Acting on intelligence about a concentration of Barbary pirate ships, a few days previously, Blake arrived on February 22 to try and reach an agreement with the pirates that they would no longer attack ships flying the British flag. He also demanded the return of English ships recently captured by the Barbary pirates and all English prisoners.

For centuries, the Barbary pirates raided Christian villages throughout the Mediterranean. Long sections of coastline in Spain and Italy remained unpopulated until the mid-19th century when the last of the Barbary pirate strongholds had been eliminated. Gaining naval technology from a Dutch turncoat, Barbary pirate ships were able to raid as far west as Ireland and Iceland. In the worst of the raids, thousands of villagers were enslaved while the older villagers were killed. In Iceland, the pirates herded the old people into a church, locked them inside, and burned the church down.

European powers made matters worse by using the pirates as proxies to weaken their rivals. While some successes had been won against the Barbary pirates, there had been no concerted action against the pirate strongholds on the coast of North Africa.

Blake's fleet arrived as part of Oliver Cromwell's grand stratagem against the Spanish. Cromwell dispatched two fleets, one to attack Spanish holdings in the West Indies, and the other to blockade Spanish ports once the English attacks were underway. In the meantime, they were to make friendly ports of call as shows of English force and to drive French and Barbary raiders back to their home ports.

In spite of Blake's serious wounds gained earlier during the first Dutch War, Cromwell ordered Blake to lead the blockade fleet A brilliant sailor and a pious man, Blake obeyed. Placing his faith in God, and believing that he would die before returning home, Blake arrived off the coast of Spain on October 30, 1654 with some 27 ships, 4,000 men, and 900 cannon. Battered by winter seas, Blake led his fleet on patrols through the Mediterranean. No fair weather admiral, Blake turned his crews into accomplished all-weather sailors and expert gunners.

The Barbary pirates refused to comply with Blake's demands. The admiral decided that before attacking the city, he needed to reprovision the fleet. Leaving a covering force of five frigates under Captain Stayner, Blake left to gather much needed food and water from a variety of ports.

On March 8, 1655 Blake again returned to Porto Farina. He again repeated his demands.   The Dey of Porto Farina looked at the storm-battered ships and rebuffed Blake, denying the fleet water and insulting the English.

Then the British again sailed off, seemingly for good. On April 3, the British fleet returned, riding on a favorable offshore breeze.Much to the surprise of the pirates, Blake's fleet came into the harbor and dropped anchor in front of the pirate guns, just within musket range.
Before dawn at a signal from the St. George, the crews assembled on deck to worship God. Once the worship services concluded, Blake gave the order to attack. The pirates opened fire from their fortified positions, confident of their fields of fire and stable gun positions would score more hits than the rocking ships would against them.

To their surprise, the smoke from their own guns and the smoke of the replying shots from the anchored fleet blew back into the pirate's positions and obscured their vision. The British gunners had no problems picking out targets and every shot found its mark.

While the fleet bombarded Porto Farina, Blake sent Captain John Stoaks of the St. George with boarding parties to set fire to the pirate galleys. Under heavy musket fire from the shore, Stoaks and his men accomplished their mission and returned. The fleet kept peppering the the pirate ships to ensure no one would board the ships and try to put out the fires. By the time the bombardment of Porto Farina ceased, the pirate ships were completely fire-gutted, no longer useful as warships.

Blake lost 25 sailors with 40 more wounded. Ashore nothing moved. The English could not assess the enemy's causalities, but they knew the shore fortifications seemed to be abandoned.

In his after action report, Blake wrote, "We entered with the fleet into the harbor, and anchored before their castles, the Lord being pleased to favor us with a light gale off the sea, which cast all the smoke upon them, and made our work more easy, for after some hours' dispute we set on fire all their ships, which were in number nine, and the same favourable gale still continuing, we retreated out again into the road."

Blake also knew that his fleet had no fought alone. He wrote, "It is also remarkable by us that shortly after our going forth, the wind and weather changed and continued very stormy for many days, so that we could not have effected the business, had not the Lord appointed that nick of time in which is was to be done."

Why I write this blog

2010-05-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have a passion for Jesus. I am captivated by his love and must tell others about it. I firmly believe that Jesus Christ appeared on the earth in order to destroy the works of evil fallen angels bent on destroying humanity. Through his suffering, death, and resurrection, he not only disarmed this horrible enemy, he also became the way through which humanity's relationship with the Creator God is restored one person at a time in a tangible life-giving manner.

I also firmly believe that Christian speculative fiction is a way to engage readers with an entertaining story founded on writing excellence that suspends disbelief and introduces readers to new way at looking at the world. The world is infinitely more complex and troubling with dangerous hidden spiritual dimensions than we can perceive with our ordinary senses . So Christian speculative fiction can not only tell the Gospel story, it can raise questions about the world that the readers are compelled to answer for themselves by seeking the living God.

I write this blog to serve as a subtle witness to the power of a loving God, revealed in his three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As a writer of Christian speculative fiction, I want to share how God has shaped my writing, making my story telling subordinate to his desire to touch human lives with his love. I try to share incidents in my spiritual journey that have drawn me closer to the lover of my soul.

I love the fantasy and science fiction genres and I write in the sailpunk and steampunk sub-genres. While these are fairly dark realms, the central message that I must tell is that no matter how dark and perilous the adventure, there is One who rescues and restores.

I am not aware of any other Christian writer who is writing sailpunk and steampunk stories, though I can't believe I'm the only one. So by way of encouragement, in this blog I am sharing the fruits of my research to draw others into writing similar stories.

I expend a good deal of time researching my novels' background material, particularly the setting's history and geography, and technology, clothing, and manners of by the story's characters. Not only do I research the historical issues, I also try to keep the fantastical elements: angels, demons, miracles, and divine appearances grounded in incidents recounted in the Bible and through reliable witnesses. Ultimately I hope sharing this preparatory work might be useful to other Christian writers who want to tell Christian sailpunk or steampunk stories.

Finally, I had a great time writing my current novel, Black Flag, Black Ship. Much of the information I'm sharing is featured in some way in this novel, though I am trying really hard not to introduce any spoilers.

So, please enjoy the blog and let me know if you have strong feelings about a particular entry.

Reviews of Christian speculative novels

2010-05-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

I will start reviewing Christian speculative fiction novels here, starting this month. I plan to do one per month. First up will offerings from Marcher Lord Press. More on that later as I haven't yet received my review copy.

The heart of the matter

2010-04-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

My writing friend Diane M Graham though her many courageous blog entries has inspired me to share this time from my heart.

One of my goals, call it an editorial policy, is to consistently proclaim God's active involvement in human affairs. Through my writing, I want to tell the forces of darkness that their time on Earth is about up and that they have already been disarmed by Jesus' finished work on the cross.

I want to stress God's sovereign power over all. I also want to state without a doubt that miracles are still happening. God is still defending and nurturing those who love him and call out to him.

Whenever I write about the unfailing love of God, someone brings forward a litany of woes that God has apparently not addressed. They name natural disasters, wars, and inevitably the big "C," cancer.

I know the big "C" quite well. Cancer has killed many family members. It claimed the life of my second wife after a hard, five-year struggle against ovarian cancer. I know it and hate what it does.

On the evening of Memorial Day weekend 2008 while she lay in her hospital bed, I closed the blinds of her windows in preparation for a fast-moving thunderstorm. We had been together in the hospital for almost eight weeks doing everything possible, both medically and spiritually.

My heart and body ached. I didn't know how long I could keep going. Three days earlier, our doctors told us that nothing else could be done.

In her lucid moments under heavy morphine she said she wanted to go home. She had made her choice, yet it was a reluctant one. She was still looking to guidance from the Holy Spirit, as was I. It was simply time to take her home and wait on God.

I knew that if God did not intervene, she would die within days from a deeply-rooted untreatable infection, a side-effect of the last cancer operation.

The storm arrived, with its cold, driving rain pelting the windows. I was numb, unable to pray, unable to do anything but mark the slow passing of time until we could leave on Tuesday morning. I felt abandoned by God. In closing the blinds I wanted to shut out the world, shut out the pain, and simply shrink within myself.

The rain stopped and through the blinds I saw an intense, golden light. I opened the blinds and there on the front lawn stood the magnificent arc of a double rainbow, flying over the hospital. I could hear the startled exclamation of the nuring staff as they scurried from room to room.

I remembered the first time we came to the hospital, five years previously. It was a Friday evening and after two hard weeks, I was walking down the hall from my wife's hospital room toward the elevator to get a bite to eat. I heard astonished murmurs from the rooms I passed, but I was too tired to care. A nurse came up from behind, grabbed my arm and took me back to my wife's room. She pointed out the window. There on the front lawn stood a magnificent double rainbow, arcing over the hospital.

At that time, I thought that 2003 double rainbow was a sign from God that all was well and things would work out according to His plan. Five years later, I was again staring at a double rainbow. I remembered that my wife was unconscious the first time as she was the second time the double rainbow appeared. Then I realized the rainbows were not signs to her of God's unfailing love, they were signs meant for me. He broke into the mundane world to tell me that He would never abandon me or forsake me.

"No matter what happens," I said to the LORD. "I will always love you and I will always serve you."

I wept, looking out the windows as long as the double rainbow lasted. A nurse came into the room and I told her about the first double rainbow. I asked her how many times double rainbows occurred at the hosptial. She told me she had only ever seen one and that was in Colorado. She claimed none of the nursing staff had ever seen a double rainbow at the hospital.

"It's a miracle," she whispered.

"Yes," I said. "It is."

I have come to understand what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego meant when they told King Nebuchadnezzar they knew that God would deliver them from a fiery death. Then in Daniel 3:18 they said as thumbs in the eyes of the dark powers listening through their human hosts, ""But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

I will always love Him and always serve Him, no matter what. In the two years since, God sent me a beautiful, loving woman to be my bride. With her zest for life, she has loved me back to life and encouraged my writing. I am very blessed, but blessed most of all to be loved by our passionate, loving Father. He has never failed me.

Riding out the storm

2010-04-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

For centuries ships at sea have survived storms not by fighting against heavy weather, but by using the forces of the storms to ride through them. In most cases, the absolute worst thing a sailor can do is nothing.

Capsizing is greatest danger to a vessel during a storm. If a ship comes broadside. or a-beam, to the storm waves, it can capsize when it heels (rocks) excessively and can no longer right itself.

Waves approaching from either the stern or bow can eventually rotate a vessel until is is broadside to the storm waves. When a vessel is broadside to the storm waves, it is said to be "broaching" them.

A number of different tactics recommended by sailing experts can be used to keep a vessel oriented away from or toward storm waves. I never put in any helm time in during heavy seas, so I defer to the experts on this subject.

There are three active methods used to maintain headway. The first is to reduce sails or run with bare poles. In this method the sail area is reduced by taking in, or reefing, the sails. This keeps the sails from shredding or perhaps damaging the masts and rigging. In very heavy wind conditions, the presence of the rigging and masts offers enough sail area to keep the ship underway so the sails can be completely furled..

The second method is to run with the wind and surf the waves. When running with the wind, the captain sets a course away from the storm. Clipper ship captains used this method to exploit storm system energy and get high speeds of 20 knots or better. There is a danger with running with the wind. You can begin to overtake waves and in very heavy seas slide down the wave and into the trough. A vessel is then in danger of slamming into the back side of the next wave. The trick is to surf the wave at a an angle to lessen the force of the entry into the next wave, but too much of an angle might set the ship up for a broach.

The third active method is to run warps and use a drogue. A warp is a heavy towing cable that can be played out of the stern and hopefully create enough drag to keep the vessel from broaching. A drogue is a small conical device or fabric parachute-like device that when towed in the water acts as a brake to keep the stern from sliding and creating a broach condition. Running warps alone is being disputed these days, but has been conventional wisdom for some time. Using a drogue is a very good tactic.

If the storm is just too big, there are passive ways to weather out the storm. With these methods, you are trying to ride out he storm rather than make headway.

The first passive method is to "heave to." We've all heard this phrase with pirate gibberish, but it's really a cool thing. You can actually use the wind energy against sails to cancel itself out when balanced against the tilt of the rudder. Heaving to can be used to stop a vessel that's underway, or keep the vessel nearly stationary with very little forward momentum.

The second passive method is to use a sea anchor off the bow. A sea anchor is a drogue that's large enough to actually stop the forward movement of the vessel. This again keeps the vessel perpendicular to the waves, avoiding a breach condition.

The third passive method calls for hositing a small sail at the stern of the vessel. The wind action against the stern sail will cause the vessel to align itself into the waves. This can be used at anchor to keep the vessel facing the wind.

The final passive method is to simply hunker down. This is called lying a-hull. In this method, the sails are furled and the vessel is simply allowed to drift with the rudder turned leeward. No sea anchor is used. The main danger to the vessel is being caught in a breach condition. Lying a-hull is a last effort and very controversial storm tactic.

The crew of tall ships have to protect the yards in heavy seas and men aloft would frequently have to disassemble the yards and pass them down to the deck below. Additionally, taking down the topmast was not an uncommon storm tactic and is recounted in the sailing classic, Two Years before the Mast.

Happy 110th Birthday!

2010-04-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Today marks the official adoption of John Philip Holland's gasoline-powered submarine, Holland (SS-1) and the beginning of the U.S.Navy's Submarine Service. It was not the the first U. S. submarine, nor even Holland's first.

Most U. S. school children have heard of the Revolutionary War American submarine, the Turtle. Built in Connecticut by Yale student David Bushnell with trials on the Connecticut River, the Turtle represented 18th century high technology at its best with even Benjamin Franklin on the engineering team.

On the night of September 7, 1776, Army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee piloted the Turtle, attacking British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship the frigate HMS Eagle near Manhattan. At this time, the submarine was considered a infernal machine, outlawed by conventional warfare. If caught, Sgt. Lee would have been been immediately hung.

While submerged, Sgt. Lee attempted to attach a time bomb to the ship's hull. Some have blamed the copper plates on the ship's hull, intended to defeat the Teredo worm, from keeping the Turtle's detachable drill bit from boring into the hull. The current thinking is that the complex currents south of Manhattan Island and Lee's inexperience with the Turtle kept him from placing the submarine against the Eagle's hull.

Exhausted and oxygen deprived, Sgt. Lee released the bomb and piloted the little sub to the surface. He opened the hatch, only to discover he had been spotted by picket boats. The British cut short their pursuit after Lee jettisoned his bomb, which later exploded spectacularly. Aside from reports of sea mines, there are no official British records of the event, causing some historians to doubt the veracity of the story.

The British eventually sank the Turtle with its tender when Bushnell attempted other raids with his submersible. Bushnell successfully recovered the Turtle, but it was not used in further attacks. It may have been used as the basis for two additional submarines, which reportedly attacked the British during the War of 1812. However there is also evidence that these two submarines or submersibles were independently developed.

Washington promoted Bushnell as Captain-Lieutenant of the newly created corps of sappers and miners. He proceeded to perfect his underwater mine, which did successfully damage a support vessel of the 28-gun frigate HMS Cerebus.

In the face of public score of the Turtle, Bushnell considered his war work a failure. He left his home state of Connecticut. He may have been in France during Robert Fulton's development of the Nautilus, though proof of any contribution is pretty sketchy. He eventually wound up in Georgia practicing medicine under the name David Bush, where he lived to the ripe old age of 90.

Nonetheless, George Washington did get to pin a medal on Bushnell. Washington described Bushnell as, "a man of great mechanical powers, fertile in inventions and master of execution."

Gunnery 201 - Powder and shot

2010-04-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've already outlined the naval gunnery strategy used during the age of sail, namely to concentrate the most firepower on a vessel without sinking it and then close on the enemy as close as possible with as many guns as possible. Ships would queue up in a line called a battle line in order to close with an enemy fleet and engage it.

For warships, this resulted in decks packed with guns. For instance British warships were rated according to the number of guns from first-rate to fourth-rate for ships of the line and from fifth-rate to sixth-rate for frigates. By the Napoleonic Wars, a first-rate ship of the line of some 2,500 tons with a crew of 850 men could have as many as 100 to 120 guns on three decks. The smaller vessels, a gun-brig or cutter of less than 220 tons with a crew of five to 20 men could have six to 14 guns.

Since merchantmen devoted much of its interior hull space to cargo, they had fewer cannon that were all situated on the outer deck. In the case of the larger East India men, while they did have cannon ports on more than one deck, the guns were often stowed away or completely assembled as in the cargo space.

Pirates rarely had the luxury of capturing a warship, so they modified whatever they captured for the optimum number of guns without greatly sacrificing speed and maneuverability. Pirate ship's carpenters and gunners would frequently gut ships to add additional decks or even cut out the forecastle and great cabin in order to gain more deck space for guns. These cannons came from captured vessels, salvaged shipwrecks, and shore fortifications.

In the early 18th century, the caliber of cannons were measured in the weight of their projectiles and not the cannon's bore. Merchantmen of around 200 tons might have four to six three-pounder guns. In theory you could get another four on board with two in stern and two in the bow. In practice, the superstructure of these vessels were not up to the weight..

During this time, English warships packed eight-pounders to twelve-pounders on their decks. Blackbeard's flagship the 300-ton Queen Anne's Revenge with a crew of approximately 160 men had thirty guns: four 12-pounders, 12-six pounders, six bronze eight-pounders, and eight four-pounders.

The variety of guns added a level of complexity for the gunner of the Queen Anne's Revenge. He and his mate had to prepackage powder charges for each of the different calibers. The charges were stored in the powder magazine and then passed out to young boys called "powder monkeys," who took the charges to the gun crews. Crew members passed the cannon shot from its storage area, which was called a "shot locker."

Cannon projectiles came a in a variety of types. Bar and chain projectiles had iron balls on either ends of chain or solid iron bars. These were used to attack rigging and sails, which offered a considerably large target. Solid show was used to punch holes in the vessel's hull, and thus had the potential to be used to sink the target vessel.

Cannister, grape, and langrage shot were used as short range anti-personnel ordinance. The cannister shot consisted of smaller projectiles inside a container. The grape shot consisted of grape-sized projectiles inside a canvas bag that disintegrated after the cannon fired. Langrage shot was simple anything at hand that could be crammed down the cannon's muzzle.

Gunpowder is a very, very touchy explosive. More than one fireworks factory has been leveled when a small static spark set off the powder dust. Since warships carried large quantities, special precautions had to be taken. The crew stored powder deep inside the ship in and area called the magazine. The magazine was separated from the rest of the ship and entry was allowed only through an airlock arrangement called a light room. Because gunpowder is very touchy stuff, crew could not handle gunpowder around open flames. Hence, the light room also provided illumination for the magazine through its glass paned walls.

Ships of Black Flag, Black Ship - Part I : The Sloop

2010-03-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

I will be writing some short descriptions of the types of ships mentioned in Black Flag, Black ship. Where possible I will try to treat you to not only text and drawings but also video links so the ships will become more readily appreciated. I will also be giving you a crash course in sails and rigging in this and upcoming blogs. Since this is a pretty arcane subject and I am by now means a master of it, I do hope to provide enough information that you'll have a better appreciation for the maritime tradesmen who sailed and maintained these ships.

There were a bewildering number of sailing ship types during the age of sail. I plan to discuss the ships used in each of my novels and the actual ships that inspired my imagination. But first a little terminology to help you understand two basic types of sail configurations.

I think everyone is comfortable with the idea that on sailing vessels sails are affixed to masts so the force of the wind fills the sails and propels a ship in the direction her master desires. Masts are the large upright poles that support the sails. The masts are held in place by very ingenious arrangements of ropes and wooden apparatus called rigging.

In this era, masts were made from evergreen trees. For Instance, the first masts of the USS Constitution were made from eastern white pine trunks.The tremendous stresses places on the masts by the wind-filled sails meant that masts that could flex would better survive the buffeting of storm winds. Because of these stresses, the rigging had to be continually adjusted and repaired.

The crewman in charge of the sails and rigging was known as the boatswain, bos'un, or bosun. He was also responsible for the anchor and its employment. He supervised work parties and trained apprentice seamen in marlinespike seamanship, which in part is the art of knot-making, making and repairing rope, lashing down objects, and maintaining a ship's rigging. Because he worked closely with the crew, the bosun and his bosun's mates were responsible for carrying out ship discipline.

Each type of sailing ship has a specific sail plan, based on what the ship's function. Sail plans are based on the square-rigged sail, or the fore-and-aft sail. These two configurations are called rigs. Depending on the vessel you can have both types of rigs present on a ship. A square-rigged sail hangs on spars called yards, which are perpendicular to the masts and ran from left to right, that is, from larboard (port) to starboard. A fore-and-aft rigged sail is suspended from the mast from front to rear, that is bow to stern, or forward to aft. The fore-and-aft rig sail can be either triangular or trapezoidal in shape.

The sloop was one the major workhorse of the Caribbean Sea. It was a shallow draft vessel, well suited for working close to coral reefs that often blocked entrances to bays and harbors. Just exactly what a sloop was at this time was not well defined and what the British Royal Navy termed a sloop was even less so.

Generally, the merchant sloop was a singled masted vessel with fore-and-aft sails. The keel of these vessels ranged between 50 to 75 feet in length and with a bowsprit, a long spar for supporting sails at the bow of the ship, they could seem be almost 100 feet in length. The sails could be triangular or gaff-rigged, meaning trapezoidal sails instead of triangular sails. These sails were suspended on a fore-and-aft spar called a gaff. This type of sail gives a greater sail area for the height of the mast, translating into more speed.

Merchants preferred the sloop because of its exceptional speed and shallow draft. It was just the thing to break away from larger pursuers. It was also well-suited as a naval patrol craft and a pirate vessel. The Bermuda sloop and the Jamaican sloop were well-suited for the Caribbean. Made from cedar, the Jamaican and Bermuda sloops were lighter, and the Jamaican sloop could do about 12 knots.They better resisted shipworms than European-built vessels, extending the life of the vessel from ten years to 30.

As a smaller vessel, the sloop's speed and agility allowed audacious attackers to close in on large ships and board them. Privateer sloops generally carried large boarding parties supported by a number of swivel guns, which are small short-range cannons used to sweep the deck of an opposing ship. If you read the "ships taken" columns in the British Gentleman's Magazine for this era, you'll see that a number of privateer vessels were smaller ships. Take note of the number of cannon and the number of "swivels."

The British Royal Navy purchased a number of Bermuda sloops, including three-masted sloops, which the Royal Navy called "sloops-of-war." The Royal Navy defined a sloop as a vessel with a single gun deck, though its actual sail plan may have varied from the traditional sloop.

A sloop does have a role to play in Black Flag, Black Ship and you'll have to read it to find out what happened.

Pirates and the spirit of lawlessness

2010-03-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

"And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names."
Revelation 13:1

Pirates to this day are creatures of opportunity. They thrive in war-torn areas whose sea lanes are inadequately patrolled and sail from ports that either have weak governments beset by lawlessness or ones sympathetic to their goals.

The anarchist philosopher Hakim Bey, better know as Peter Lamborn Wilson, coined the term Temporary Autonomus Zone (TAZ) for an area where governmental control is weak. In his book, T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism, Wilson talks about the anarchist leanings of pirates and their desire to live in pirate utopias, free of governmental control.

He quotes North American pirate Captain Charles Bellamy's speech to one Captain Beers. Here is the quote published in 1824 by Thomas Carey in The General History of the Pirates.

The quote reads, "I cannot pass by in silence, Captain Bellamy's speech to Capt. Beer. / am sorry they won't let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do any one a mischief, when it is not for my advantage ; the sloop, we must sink her, and she might be of use to you. Though you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security; for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery ; but ye altogether : them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you,who serve them, for a pared of hen-hearted numskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and me plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment ?

"Capt. Beer told him, that his conscience would not allow him to break through the laws of God and man.

"You are a devilish conscience rascal, replied Bellamy ; I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to •make war on the whole world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of 100,000 men ;.in the field ; and this my conscience tells me : but there is no arguing with such snivelling puppies, who allow superiors to kick them about deck at leisure."

The notion of a "free prince," someone who is an unfettered law unto himself, is at the heart of lawlessness. This attitude agrees with the powers of darkness and helps them establish a stronghold of lawlessness over a region and perpetuates strife that weakens governmental authority. The famous passage in Ephesians 6:12 reminds us of this demonic opposition: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. "

These powers were known long before the Christian era. In Hesiod's Theogony, the second generation of gods includes Strife (Eris) who is the mother to 15 awful progeny including Lawlessness (Dysnomia),

If there is a spirit of piracy that serves the house of Eris and her demon brood, who could oppose them and their human allies?

We can look to 2 Thessalonians 2:7, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way."

I think the best explanation is the restraint comes from active opposition of the Holy Spirit through believers and by heavenly means chosen by God until the day the Antichrist is revealed.

What could such opposition look like? Read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out!

Sailing through the genre minefield

2010-03-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

When I wrote Black Flag, Black Ship, I wrote passionately and as realistically as possible. My goal was to write a Christian historical fantasy novel set in the 1700s during the age of sail, just before Queen Anne's War.

More than anything I wanted a exotic location where miraculous happenings of Cecil B. DeMille proportions could unfold combating the scourges of lawlessness and slavery. I wanted to pit sinister technologies wielded by mercilessness pirates against resourceful men and women of faith, who by the way do keep their powder dry and their cutlasses sharpened.

By the time I finished Black Flag, Black Ship, I knew I had a great story, but I still had to explain it in ten words or less to prospective agents and publishers. That meant I had to come up with some kind of genre classification. So how do you classify a story filled with angels and devils, infernal devices, piracy, espionage, sea battles, underwater happenings, and people encountering the indomitable agape love of God?

I would unabashedly call it a whacking good story, but alas, that is not an officially recognized genre. I came up with numerous genres and ad-hock genres: Christian suspense, Christian supernatural sea stories, Christian SF/ fantasy and even a hopeful Christian historical fantasy. I finally settled on Christian speculative fiction, which embraces the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, provided the stories are told from a Christian world view.

While Black Flag, Black Ship certainly does fit the Christian speculative fiction genre, it's still a mouthful to say. So, I put the thought on a mental back burner to simmer and today I had an aha moment.

If steampunk novels are novels filled with all sorts of amazing technologies like airships, babbage engines and submarines, then could a novel set in the age of sail filled with all sorts of amazing pre-steam technologies and supernatural happenings be called sailpunk?

The problem is no one is really sure that there is such a thing as sailpunk. Some say that it could be a story with advanced technology set between the Renaissance and the steam era. Others say it is a story with advanced nautical technology set in the distant future when there are no more hydrocarbons or on a distant water planet.

The "punk" genres such as steampunk and cyberpunk usually feature darker stories with broken societies called dystopias where the little guys get crushed by the powerful. The purpose of a dystopian novel is to force folks to look at the negative trends in their own societies by projecting undesirable transformations of societies. Still, it is not very conducive to thinking happy thoughts.

What I propose to do in writing Christian sailpunk and Christian steampunk novels is to say that life is dark and hopeless without Jesus and that with Him all things are possible, including the greatest miracle of all, personal transformation.

Gunnery 101

2010-03-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

A Psalm of David.
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle;
Psalm 144:1

In the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, when crew of the HMS Surprise encounters the French privateer Acheron, the sailing master Mr. Allen asks Captain Jack Aubrey for an attack course. Jack replies, "Lay me alongside a pistol shot."

In the 1700s and 1800s, a pistol shot's distance was an optimistic 50 yards. You can find gunnery tables that report respectable distances for cannon fire, yet captains preferred to close within a pistol shot. This was for two reasons, accuracy and paradoxically self-defense.

Let's look at the matter of accuracy. Naval warfare expert Sam Willis in his book, Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Sailing Warfare, says that actually hitting a ship took a lot of effort all all but close range. There are stories about gunners firing scores of cannonballs without a single hit and the opposing crew hearing the rounds roar overhead.

If you've ever been in a small boat on a large lake or in the ocean, you know that the sea is continually in motion. Even on days when the sea seems as smooth as glass, there are still gentle undulations. Now imagine a battle in moderate seas where the deck is really pitching. Firing a cannon from the deck of a continually tilting vessel adds a level of complexity that land-bound artillerymen do not experience.

With the cannon's muzzle continually rising and dipping, gunners had to learn when to fire. If they were aiming to punch a hole at or below the water line, then they fired while the muzzle was dipping. When they aimed for the rigging and the sails, which by the way is a much much larger target than the hull, then they would fire while the muzzle was either on the rise or depending on the elevation, just when the muzzle begins to dip at the top of its rise.

In the 1700s, to avoid being crushed by the recoiling cannons, gunners stood off to the side of the piece and fired in using a yard-long wooden handle tipped with burning slow match fuse. This was called the linstock. Sighting the cannon and then firing from the side was not a big issue for land-bound cannon.

However, once a ship's gunner moved away from a naval cannon, the sight picture changed. Therefore experienced gunners had to tell at a glance when to fire once the cannon's elevation was set. After the linstock ignited the powder in the touch hole, the cannon's main powder charge didn't ignite immediately, so good naval gunners also had to account for the delay in firing as the muzzle rose and dipped. More on the process of sighting or laying a cannon in a later post.

Now as to the matter of closing with an enemy for defensive purposes, remember that ships of this time were build out of wood. A cannonball's high velocity at close ranges allows it to punch a hole through a wooden hull much in the same was as a paper punch does to paper. However, from further distances, the cannonball's lower velocity not only penetrated the wood, it also created a spray of large flying splinters that could and did impale people.

Finally, in order to deliver massive firepower, captains maneuvered their vessels so the maximum number of guns could fire and thus increase the chance at hitting something. Fleets practiced maneuvers allowing ships to queue up so they could pass their enemies in a line, presenting a continuous broadside of hundreds of guns. The goal was to fire as many cannon as possible as often as possible.

To conserve gunpowder, crews were continually drilled in the process of loading, aiming, and firing their cannons without actually shooting them. Captains who were eager to improve their fighting chances, would purchase powder with their own pay. This was a wise investment as skilled gun crews handiwork could help take a vessel as a prize and the captains could recoup their loss. They knew that crews who could actually fire their cannons in practice gained confidence in their skill and speed as they trained their hands for war.

Careening - 18th century ship care

2010-03-12T19:05:00.001-08:00

Ships up until the last 125 years or so were made largely out of wood. Beginning in the late 1800s, ship builders transitioned from wooden frames with wood planking, to iron frames with wooden planking, to iron construction, and then steel, and finally fiberglass, and even more exotic materials.

The ocean is host for many living creatures, ranging from microscopic plankton to the giant whales and squid. Very young animals, especially invertebrates (animals that don't have an internal skeleton), make up much of the plankton broth. Invertebrates like barnacles and mollusks need places to call home. They affix themselves to a hospitable object and grow into adults.

Likewise, seaweed starts out as part of the plankton and needs a suitable object to attach itself and grow to maturity.

Ships make the perfect place to call home. Barnacles glue themselves to the hull of a vessel and open their armored shell in order to strain seawater for food. The shipworm, or the Teredo worm, is a mollusk that burrows its way into wood and progressively weakens the wood as it grows and has to increase its burrow. In tropical climates, shipworms grow very quickly.

The growth of the marine life also had a detrimental effect on speed. Ship hulls that were floating ecosystems simply had too much marine life dragging through the water. A slowdown of three to five knots an hour could mean that a ship would cover between 72 to 120 miles less a day on an ocean voyage.

That could mean that food and water could give out over long voyages. A slower ship could also make for easier prey for faster vessels. For merchants, fast ships also meant more profits as quicker round trips could mean more cargo sold.

Consequently, wooden ships have to be regularly hauled out of the water to have their hulls scraped, sanded and sealed. This process is called careening. To careen a vessel, the crew would have to find a suitable beach where the tide could allow the vessel to gently setting on one of its sides. Heavy objects were taken from the vessel and sometimes parts of the masts were removed. The crew would then scrape off all the living organisms, sand the wood, and then seal it with tar. The the crew would float the vessel and allow it to gently rest on its other side so it too could be careened. It was messy slimy work that had to be done often.

In locations where gently sloping beaches weren't available, careening wharves were built to provide a suitable place to clean ship hulls. In Port Royal, Jamaica, ships used a beach on the inside of the Palisadoes tombolo. At English Harbor, Antigua, careening wharves for the English Royal Navy were in operation by the early 1730s.

Even with an attentive crew, a wooden ship normally lasted a few decades. Ships that used resistant woods were built where available. The USS Constitution because of its white oak hull is a notable example. "Country built ships" laid down in Indian shipyards and Jamaican sloops fared well because they used woods that resisted marine life. However, most navies and merchants needed continual replacement ships each decade. Ship building was so important to national defense, that countries like England set aside entire forests to serve as raw material for shipyards.

Pirates who couldn't openly use careening wharves or careening beaches near unfriendly ports would often choose secluded coves with shallow approaches so deeper draft vessels could not attack them. This made numerous uninhabited islands in the Caribbean and Indian Oceans ideal careening stops.

The "Monstar" in the alehouse

2010-03-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

In his last years, he was an object of crass curiosity. Deprived of wealthy patrons, he worked as a brewer in a London alehouse downstream of the the London Bridge. For the price of a pint, patrons could gawk at the man who made so many marvelous inventions in the court of James I. Viewed as something of a freak or "Monstar," he was a technological chimera: part showman, part scientist, and part engineer.

A man of broad vision, Dutch-born Cornelius Drebbel , also known as Cornelius Van Drebbel, did not sink into defeat. Rather as he labored in the alehouse, he began to actively plan an ambitious civil engineering project to drain the great marshes, known as the Fens, which surrounded Cambridge. He died in 1633 before this plans could be employed.

Drebbel's contributions to science were enormous, especially in the areas of mechanical engineering, chemistry, and optics. Born in about 1572 in Alkmaar, Holland, by 1590 Drebbel studied at the Alkmaar Latin school under great Dutch scholars and artisans, acquiring the skills he needed later in life.

Late seventeenth century scientist Robert Boyle credited him as one of the fathers of modern chemistry. His work in chemistry included generating oxygen, of which little was known at the time. He worked with explosive compounds such as fulminates of mercury, gold, and silver. His chemical work even helped provide for his heirs by developing a brilliant red dye which was fashionable for many years.

Drebbel either independently developed the microscope or improved upon existing models. He is known to have developed barometers, a working thermometer, and even a thermostat for a chicken incubator. He also demonstrated a heating and air condition system. A skilled artisan, he was an accomplished engraver and glass blower. He even learned to brew beer in his early years in Holland.

In the early 17th century, scientists were regared as part wizards and part artisans. They were not supported by governments or universities. Instead they had to earn their bread and perhaps perform their researches as a hobby rather than a occupation. The very lucky would land royal patrons who generally had practical demands like turning lead into gold or blowing up their enemies.

Cornelius Drebble hit upon the idea of using scientific demonstrations as door openers for funding his work. He developed special fireworks for the elaborate masques favored by royalty. In addition, he developed a "perpetual motion" device for King James I of England that may have operated as an open air barometer. Descriptions of this device are not complete and there is serious interest in building a working model.

But he is best known as the developer of the first practical submarines that were so reliable that King James I in 1620 took a turn aboard a Drebbel submarine as it cruised down the Thames river. The submarine could be navigated underwater by compass an apparently used a mercury depth indicator. Demonstrated before hundreds if not thousands of Londoners, the submarine with a crew of sixteen remained submerged for three hours and cruised at depths of 12 to 15 feet.

Powered by six oars and twelve oarsmen, the crew's air supply should have been rapidly diminished. For instance, crew of the ill-fated 19th century Confederate submarine the CSS H. L. Hunley could only stay completely submerged for between 20 to 25 minutes. Over two hundred years earlier, Drebbel solved that problem with an oxygen generator that burned a nitrate, possibly saltpeter, in order to produce oxygen.

Whether just hype or fact, there were reports that Drebbel developed a larger sea-going submarine with a crew of 24 that could stay submerged for 24 hours at depths up to 300 feet. The compartmentalized sub also featured a moon pool that would have enabled divers to enter and leave the vessel underwater.

Drebbel boasted that he could develop a series of nautical weaponry, which included submarines with rams or even spar torpedoes. It is known he developed underwater petards that could be fired by cannon that would explode on contact below the target vessel's waterline. No doubt the warheads depended upon a fulminating compound in order to detonate. Drebbel received a contract to develop these weapons for the Royal Navy along with mines and fire ships. They were supposed to be employed during the British relief attempt of La Rochelle, where French Huguenots were holding out against Royal French forces.

At this time military men despised weapons which did not fit the conventions of war. They believed their employment to be unethical and cowardly. They called them infernal machines and treated their operators as pirates rather than military prisoners.

Add the reluctance of the Royal Navy to employ them, coupled with the two previous failures by the British to relieve La Rochelle, and you have a recipe for scapegoating. The third failed attempt was blamed in part upon Drebbel's weapons systems, which did not perform as expected, and understandable English reluctance to fight in the light of heavy casualties in the previous attempts. With the death of the Duke of Buckingham, Drebbel's powerful patron, work for the Royal Navy ceased and the Drebbel family's financial plight worsened.

The development of the submarine stopped as Drebbel took up brewing in order to survive. None of his submersibles survived to be adequately documented, but engineers in 2002 developed a working model for the British TV show, Building the Impossible.

Though Drebbel did publish scientific works and pamphlets, very few of his working notes survived. His family undoubtedly possessed some of these papers, however a greater part seems to be missing. There has even been a theory put forth that like Leonardo da Vinci, Drebbel had coded notebooks. One of these notebooks on microscopy and alchemy may be the Voynich manuscript.

What if armed with these coded notebooks someone claiming to be a member of the Drebbel family did continue the work of his illustrious ancestor? You will have to read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out what happened!

The grisly example

2010-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Few ships actually started out being designed as a privateer or pirate ship. Pirates being opportunistic sort of folks usually mutinied and stole a ship from its owners. Readers of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island are well-acquainted with the mutiny orchestrated by the affable cook, one Long John Silver. They may not be familiar with Robert Culliford or Jack Rackham who took their vessels from their own pirate captains.

Some pirates stole their ships from a harbor such as the fictional Jack Sparrow, or the real life pirate Jack Rackham did in Nassau, New Providence. Others like Bartholomew Roberts and Samuel Bellamy commonly captured them at sea.

One captain accused of piracy had his ship handed to him by investors anxious for prize money.

In the late 1690s, English investors sick of the pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean against British East India vessels commissioned the Adventure Galley. Crewed by 150 men, it weighed in at 284 tons and had 34 cannons. In addition to sails, as a galley she was equipped with long oars called sweeps. A vessel the size of the Adventure Galley would have a deck dedicated for rowing and there could have been about 21 sweeps to a side. Crew not needed for handling the vessel or manning its forward guns were used to row the ship toward its target.

Galleys, or 'gallys' as they were sometimes spelled, being shallow-draft vessels were designed to operate chiefly in coastal waters, though some could be used for crossing oceans. The earliest known large-scale attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by galleys occurred in the 14th Century by the Mali emperor Bata Manding Bory's ill-fated fleet that set out to discover the New World. More about that in a later post.

As warships, galleys could lurk unseen behind an island, a headland, or in a bay, waiting for the moment to intercept an unwary vessel. Long before steam power, they were the weapon of choice to attack a sailing ship that had been becalmed.

There were trade-offs with this design, the gun decks also had to be well above the waterline and there had to be some way of waterproofing the oar locks. When underway, sailing ships tilt, or heel, away from the wind, submerging part of the hull. During storms, all parts of the ship are battered and drenched by waves, wind-driven rain and salt spray. If unsealed gun ports or oar locks are under water long enough, a ship could fill with water and sink.

The galley has long been a fighting vessel, especially in the Mediterranean where the Greeks and Persians and later the Romans and Carthaginians fought decisive battles at sea.   The Middle Ages saw the rise of Christian and Muslim fleets; galley battles figured in the Crusades and their aftermath. In the Atlantic, the Norsemen used their galleys for long-range pillaging and slave raids.

In the Mediterranean, independent Muslim city states in North Africa using their xebec-like galleys raided both shipping and the seacoasts of Christian nations first in the Mediterranean and then much later as far away as Iceland. The North Africans captured entire villages and sold the captives into slavery. Ironically, some of the captives were put back aboard the raiders as galley slaves.

The captain of the Adventure Galley was an experienced privateer and sometimes pirate with wealthy aristocratic connections. In fact it was rumored that King William III was a discrete investor. This is not so far-fetched an assertion, as the French King Louis XIV helped finance the successful 1697 raid on the Spanish New World port of Cartagena de Indias by Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis and Jean Baptiste du Casse with a flotilla of buccaneers and French soldiers.

The captain who started out with such glowing references either became an unlucky victim of diplomatic misfortune or really was the notorious pirate that so many claimed.   The British authorities alleged that far from hunting down pirates, the captain and crew of the Adventure Galley went rogue in the Indian Ocean.

There the Adventure Galley unsuccessfully attacked a Mughal convoy under protection of a British East India Company ship and eventually captured a rich Armenian merchantman, whose English captain was sailing under French passes from the French East India Company. The principal investor of this merchantman was a close friend of the Grand Mughal, Mohiuddin Mohammed Aurangzeb Alamgir.

Off the coast of Madagascar, the Adventure Galley and the prize Armenian merchantman met up with Robert Culliford and his ship Mocha Frigate. Culliford and the captain of the Adventure Galley had unresolved business, because it was Culliford who had mutinied against him and taken his ship the Blessed William while he was ashore in Antigua.

In spite of his provocation, the captain of the Adventure Galley did not believe he had enough men to take Culliford's ship, so he stalled for time waiting for more of his vessels to arrive. The crew of the Adventure Galley, disgusted by their bad luck and their captain's apparent cowardice, joined Cullingford.

Ships of this time were not protected by from the ravages of the Teredo worm, also known as the shipworm. Not worms but really mollusks, these invertebrates grow rapidly in warmer seas, thereby accelerating a wooden ship's aging. The captain decided to burn the Adventure Galley, which by this time was thoroughly worm-eaten. He salvaged everything of worth and took the remainder of his loyal crew with his prize ship and struck out to make a deal with his former investors.

To placate the powerful and wealthy Mughal Empire, the British denounced the Adventure Galley's captain and crew as pirates. Some of their number were eventually captured and were persuaded to testify against the captain of the Adventure Galley. The investors who once flocked to him now either distanced themselves, or joined forces with the prosecution in order to protect their larger investments in the East India Company, which would be greatly damaged if it came under embargo by the Mughal Empire.

Protesting his innocence and unable to prove his assertions because evidence had been "mislaid," the captain of the Adventure Galley was found guilty and hanged at Execution Dock in London in the late spring of 1701. His body was then tarred, gibbeted, or placed in an iron cage, and hung at the mouth of the Thames River as a reminder to all seamen that piracy does not go unpunished. That grisly relic, which in life had once been Captain William Kidd, remained there performing this cautionary purpose for nearly 20 years.

The Brethren of the Coast

2010-03-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

But they lie in wait for their own blood;
They ambush their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence;
It takes away the life of its possessors.
Proverbs 1:18-19

The historical Brethren of the Coast were comprised of Protestant French Huguenot, English and Dutch privateers who during the 1600s operated in the Caribbean against the holdings of the Catholic countries of France and Spain. Over time, this loose coalition of privateer captains and crews would begin to fracture along national lines, until all that remained of the Brethren were those who discarded the legal fiction of the letters of marque and preyed on anyone who had the wealth.

At the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, Caribbean pirate crews established a "Privateer's Republic" in 1706 that lasted until 26 July 1718 on what is now the island Nassau, the Bahamas. This was the last of the Caribbean pirate capitols that in a way formed a governmental devil's triangle, the three capitols having been Port Royal, Jamaica, the Island of Tortuga off Hispaniola, and Nassau.

The War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) gave privateers the golden opportunity to hone their lethal skills and grow in number. However, the examples of the mercenary excesses of the various wars of religion that plagued Europe during the 1600s did not go unnoticed. Governments took note of those skills and hunted down the pirates as enemies of all mankind whenever they grew strong enough to pose a real threat.

The pirates who called Nassau their home port included the likes of Charles Vane, Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard, his teacher Benjamin Hornigold, Calico Jack Rackham and others, Rackham's major claims to fame were having the female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. among his crew and to have a cay posthumously named after him off Port Royal, Jamaica where the authorities hung his body as a warning to other pirates.

For a brief time, the pirates held control of Nassau with Blackbeard as the first and last Chief Magistrate of the Privateer's Republic. Queen Anne appointed Woodes Rogers, a famous sea captain and former privateer, as the first Royal Governor the Bahamas, the only stipulation being that he would have to first take back the Bahamas. He proved to be both fearless and incorruptible.

On 26 July 1718, Rogers led a military expedition to take back Nassau. Driven out by Rogers, Blackbeard began his self-destructive wanderings that ended in his death in North Carolina waters. Rackham welshed on a pardon from Rogers and was pursued until his eventual capture off the coast of Jamaica.

Of the pirates who received a pardon, Benjamin Hornigold turned his back on his old ways and instead became a pirate hunter under Rogers. He died at sea in 1719 during a hurricane, chasing the last of Nassau's pirates.

The Brethren of the Coast did not fade out completely. They last came to prominence in the early 1800s when Jean Lafitte established pirate settlements on the Louisiana island of Barataria and later at Galveston, Texas. Pursued by the US Navy, Lafitte abandoned his operations in the United States. Turning to the newly formed Republic of Colombia, he is supposed to have died in 1823 fighting the Spanish as a privateer. Like Bartholomew Roberts, his body was never recovered.

As a writer, I asked myself, what if the leaders of the Brethren of the Coast had seen the end coming and began to hide their organization so thoroughly that only its mercenary tip was ever visible to the pirate hunters? What if they had a purpose that went beyond their own time? Those are some of the secrets that you will have to read Black Flag, Black Ship to find out.

The Dreaded Pirate Roberts

2010-02-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

The novel Princess Bride by William Goldman features a secret pirate franchise called the Dread Pirate Roberts. Goldman based the Dread Pirate Roberts on the greatest European pirate captain of the 18th Century, Bartholomew Roberts of Wales.

Accounts vary on exactly when John Roberts went to sea, probably between the ages of 10 to 13. He spent most of his life as a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy and merchant vessels, the last being a junior officer aboard the slave ship Princess of London.

After being captured by pirates, he was coerced into joining their crew when they realized that he was a skilled navigator. The captain, Howell Davis, who was also Welsh, undoubtedly wanted someone he could trust who spoke his own language. It's thought that after joining the pirates Roberts changed his name to Bartholomew Roberts as a "nom de guerre."

Six weeks later, the Portugese killed Davis. The crew elected Roberts as replacement. Roberts is supposed to have said that now that he had muddied his hands by becoming a pirate, it would be better to be a commander of pirates than a common man.

Roberts proved to be one of the most feared pirates of the era. In a reign of sea terror lasting some two and a half years from 1719 to 1722, Roberts is believed to have captured 472 ships. He was so able an opponent that ship's captains surrendered immediately upon seeing his flags rather that fight.

Just months before his 40th birthday, he was reportedly killed off the coast of Africa in a battle with the HMS Swallow.under then Captain Chaloner Ogle. So feared was Roberts, that his defeat earned Ogle his spurs as a knight and put him on the fast track to becoming an admiral. Historians have marked Robert's death as the high water mark of the "Golden Age of Piracy."

Tall and dark, Roberts certainly served darkness, but defied the caricature of a blood-crazed lunatic. He preferred to be humane to his captives and sometimes gave them presents, not out of innate kindness, but because it served his purposes. A strict disciplinarian, he forbade women and boys on ship, preferred tea over hard liquor, did not smoke, and encouraged his men to abstain from alcohol and tobacco. Roberts also possessed both organizational ability and coolness under fire that earned him the respect of his enemies.

Roberts also had a great love for classical music and employed musicians to play aboard his ship whenever the crew wished, save for Sunday when he gave the musicians the day off.

He welcomed all nationalities into his crews except the Irish, who he simply could not trust. This aversion to the Irish was so well known that captured sailors would fake an Irish brogue in order to avoid being pressed into service aboard his vessels.

He was known to be a flashy dresser and dressed up not down for battle. On his last battle, he wore his trademark crimson clothes with a hat and red feather. Around his neck hung a gold chain and crucifix taken from a Portuguese treasure ship and intended for the King of Portugal. During the battle with the Swallow, his men said he was fatally wounded in the neck. He then told his men to throw him overboard rather than be captured. They supposedly weighted his body in chain, wrapped it in a sail then tossed overboard. The body was never recovered.

Above all, Roberts was a purposeful, talented, and rational leader who chose to serve evil, accepting the short life of a pirate because it offered him food and comfort over the grinding misery of a sailor's life. In that I find him understandable and at the same time unquestionably evil because he knowingly stepped over the line and accepted the consequences.

Pirates as "the enemy of all mankind"

2010-02-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

In Black Flag, Black Ship, I wanted my heroes to face world class-antagonists. I didn't want to use garden variety puddle pirates, thank you. I really wanted them to be truly awful and very lethal folk.

While reading Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of Pyrates, from Their first Rise and Settlement in the Island of Providence, to the present Time, I came across an abstract of English anti-piracy law. In it pirates were declared the enemy of all mankind, hostis humani generis for those with a legal turn of mind. Sound like anyone you've heard of before?

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies".

John 8:44

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

The scourge of piracy with its demonic influence has plagued civilization for thousands of years. Rome after its wars with Carthage rose to become the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean Sea and piracy was held at bay.

Julius Caesar as a young boy was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. When told they were ransoming him for 20 talents of silver, Julius was highly insulted and told them he was worth 50 talents of silver. Throughout his captivity young Julius told his captors that he intended to come back and crucify the lot of them. After his family paid the 50 talents, he did return with his own fleet and so he did execute them in that particularly gruesome Roman manner.

But when Rome fell, piracy returned. Throughout world history and in every part of the world, whenever civilization's grip weakened, piracy manifested itself.

In the year 1700, pirates were active throughout the world, plaguing every people group. Various forms of insurance were formed in response to that very real threat of loss by pirates. The Dutch and the English were among the first Europeans to insure cargoes and vessels against loss.

Like sharks following schools of tuna, pirates learned to pick critical choke points where long distance European traders had to pass. Pirates of this time were especially active in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, off the coasts of North America and West Africa, and in the Indian Ocean.

At this time, European navies were fairly small with a limited patrol range. Standing armies and navies were not the norm. To augment their smaller forces, countries would lease privately-owned vessels for a short time and staff with their own sailors, or preferably give the the owners the opportunity to crew their own vessels and attack enemy shipping under a legal contract called a letter of marque.

This warrant allowed private citizens to cross their borders and attack those parties specified in the letter of marque. It was not uncommon for enterprising privateers to get letters of marque from several countries. Those who engaged in this form of warfare were called privateers because they operated a private warship on behalf of a a contracting country. Privateers brought captured ships and cargo back to a friendly port where prize courts assessed the value of the booty and awarded to the privateers a portion of the assessed value as prize money .

Occasionally, when pickings were particularly slim, privateers would go rouge and become pirates, as the English accused pirate-hunter Captain Kidd of doing. This usually happened during peacetime, when navies returned to their regular size and privateers and former navy sailors had to find new ways to support themselves.

During these periods, sailors would sign on for the duration of a pirate voyage and then move on to the next opportunity. Pirate crews came from many countries and it was not uncommon to have a crew with no common language. The picture that emerges is not that of a disorganized group of ruffians, but that of highly-skilled, sea-going mercenaries who knew their jobs so well they could work alongside those who didn't speak their own language.

With the danger inherent in piracy, pirates simply were in it for short-term gain without any real thought for the future. Sailors and pirates alike often blew their wages in spectacular ways while in port and had to return to the sea to stay alive. As such, pirates only flourished when naval power diminished and governments tolerated their existence.

But what if a particular group of pirates had a long term goal and the means to achieve that aim?

Does God defend His people?

2010-02-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

Joshua 5:13-14

Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:17

As I began to plot Black Flag, Black Ship, it became very apparent that contemplating God's sovereignty got my creative juices flowing. Far from being a dispassionate Creator who stepped back from His masterpiece the universe after He created it, I think that scripture and history show that God is completely, actively, and passionately involved in the lives of his children.

As one who has witnessed horrible death and senseless personal tragedies, it would be easy for me to fall into the trap of asking, "If the LORD is so loving, then why did He let this happen?" I had to learn not to ask God, "Are you for me or against me?" Instead I learned to ask in the midst of my crisis as Joshua did, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"

Yet I have seen the sovereign hand of God, in moments of great beauty acting on behalf of friends, my family, those in my prayers, and entire nations. I have witnessed the angelic opposing the demonic, miraculous healings, and what charismatics call "signs and wonders."

One thing I have learned is that the world is not a safe place and it's very, very wise to stick close to God, no matter the outcome. In the midst of our own personal battles, it's often very easy to forget that the LORD God of armies does have a battle plan that will not fail. As it says in Proverbs 21:30, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD."

In this story I ask the question, what would it look like if God did go to war on behalf of His people? Could a helpless band of unfortunates in the middle of nowhere, who call out to God for help, defeat a numerically superior and highly-motivated enemy? The answer: you betcha!

For scriptural confirmation, the Bible is full of examples of God's active warfare on behalf of those whom He loves in both the Old and New Testament. The stories of the Exodus and miraculous acts of Gideon, Sampson, and prophets like Elijah and Elisha are found in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the Gospels, the book of Acts, and very fact that God send Jesus to earth to destroy the works of the enemy and welcome undeserving humanity into His family through the atoning act of Jesus should turn hand-wringing, helpless Christians into confident, boisterous "let me at 'em" participants in advancing the Kingdom of God.

For a recent historical example of the LORD God of armies, I can point to the TV series Against All Odds: In Search of a Miracle that shows time and time again the sovereign and active hand of God in some very incredible war stories from the Middle East. I think I've seen the complete series at least three times. The personal testimonies and re-enactments still make my hair stand on end.

The book, Table in the Presence by LT. Carey Cash, is a must read for any veteran or family member of a veteran. Cash's own personal testimony on how he became a US Navy Chaplain is incredible in itself, much less what happened to the marines he served. He is a firm believer that angels were actively engaged in the fight alongside 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

So, satisfied that I could defend the premise of my story, I began writing Black Flag, Black Ship.

When the backstory became the story

2010-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

When I first realized that I wanted to write fiction again, I decided to draw upon my family's Tidewater Virginia heritage. There were a number of tantalizing clues to my Hunt ancestors I had uncovered during a fit of genealogical sleuthing to find long-lost (presumably because they wanted to stay lost) ancestors. I quickly realized that I had to invent a good deal of information about my characters because there just wasn't enough historical fodder in the family's archives.

I initially intended to write stories based on the tumultuous times as the end of Victorian era and the beginning of the 20th Century. The more I plunged into plotting the story, the more entranced I became with the backstory.

British film director and CalArts professor Alexander Mackendrick defined the backstory as "events previous to the start of the plot which are essential to an appreciation of present circumstances and understanding of character behaviour."

It must be a common thing for authors to start with one objective and end up with a vastly different outcome. J.R.R. Tolkien as a linguistics master invented the languages Quenya and Sindarin and then dreamed up hero stories to be told in these the languages. He called these stories his legendarium. Out of this work, for which many of you are very grateful, came notably The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.

Since I don't know much about the Hunt family history, I decided to chuck the family history and invent things mostly from scratch. Along the way I considered two families that had a single divinely-ordained mission lasting for over 200 years to equip and train a single person seen only in a recurring generational dream. I felt after prayer that this was a direction that the LORD wanted me to go.

I toyed with the idea of writing a story arc lasting almost 300 years, from 1650 to 1942, encompassing stories from both families. Then I decided to have the Hunts as the eventual American cousins of the British Cooper family.

While I do not have a legendarium, I do have a rich love for history and legend from which to draw, as well as nudges/bops on the head from the Holy Spirit. It has made for an exciting mix.

Aha! moments and the Holy Spirit

2010-02-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

According to WebMD, Aha moments, those sudden insights that leave you thunderstruck and wondering why you didn't think of them earlier, are marked by sudden intense electrical activity in the brain known as the right temporal lobe. Researchers of Aha moments even suggest that closing one's eyes helps offload sensory processing and may help Aha moments to manifest. However, that is dangerous territory for me as that might well stimulate the portion of the brain associated with sleeping.

Scientists aren't really sure yet exactly what causes the high-frequency burst of brain waves just before the the Aha moment manifests, but I wouldn't discount the Holy Spirit. As cockeyed as that may sound at first, may I point out that the brain is a neural wonderland with amazing proofs of intelligent design? For instance, the frontal lobes also exhibit a marked decrease of activity during "praying in tongues," leading to what speakers report as a sense of well-being and spiritual refreshment.

Now since talking about glossolalia in some quarters is akin to turning loose a mouse in a ladies prayer meeting, I need to state I am not than trying stir up religious controversy. I merely want to point to these two phenomena as examples that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

As writers, especially Christian writers, we do want to remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit whether that be through periods of speaking in tongues, through quiet reflection on a favorite Bible verse, or simply dwelling upon the love of God.

I do believe I have experienced moments of heavenly inspiration and I frequently credit the Holy Spirit in helping me do even mundane things, like show me where the car keys went. Likewise, I credit the Holy Spirit for those moments when writing when the story takes a sudden turn in to a rich, undiscovered territory. Those Aha moments should be as satisfying to us as they are humbling, because they say to us that the LORD has taken interest in our writing and wants to steer our work in a direction that will further His Kingdom.

The power of speculative fiction

2010-02-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth--
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Song of Songs 1:2

Tomorrow being Valentine's Day, I am posting a day early so I can give my bride my undivided attention. Thinking about Valentine's Day brings the Song of Solomon to mind.

The leader of the International House of Prayer, Mike Bickle, became a reluctant teacher of the Song of Songs. Bickle, author of Passion for Jesus, often tells how God led him to begin teaching what he initially felt was a feminine book. The son of a prize fighter and every bit a man's man, he felt ill at ease in teaching about the Church's affection as the Bride of Christ for her groom, Jesus.Yet God soon changed his mind.

I found the concept a little daunting myself. I could only conceive of such a kiss from an intellectual aspect. It was something that as a heterosexual man I instinctively rebelled against.

A few years ago while doing some late night grocery shopping, I came across a display of the just published book, Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. I thought it a little odd for the books to be sitting in a grocery store.

As I looked at the books, I felt an urge to pick one up and leaf through it. My eyes fell on a passage where Jesus simultaneously gave each believer his infinite, undivided attention in a private conversation. It was a staggering moment to be able to visualize what I intellectually knew that he loves us each individually with a holy passion and all at the same time can give each Christian his infinite, undivided attention.

I put the book down and finished my shopping, thinking all the while about what I had just read. I took my groceries to my car and sat in the car, chilled by the winter night. I hesitated to turn on the ignition.

I thought again of that divine meeting told in the book and I wondered, "Would Jesus see me out of the crowd of millions of believers? Would he know me? Would he approve of me?"

I looked back over my years as a Christian and felt so ashamed. I had accomplished so little and failed so often.

Then a wave of pure love swept over me. It was Jesus. It was as if the LORD said, "Yes, I see you. I know you and I love you with a pure and undying love."

I sat in the dark weeping, not from shame, but out of a heartfelt gratitude that my Savior knew me in all my imperfection and still loved me.

I had been kissed by the kisses of his mouth.

Had it not been for the faithfulness of LeHaye and Jenkins, I might never have experienced it.

“It All Began with a Picture”

2010-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

In his essay, “It All Began with a Picture,” C. S. Lewis tells about the image of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels through a snowy woodland that came to him as a teenager. Dogged by the image, he finally decided at the age of 40 to write a story inspired by that image. And so, from that image we now have the wonderful Christian speculative fiction, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I do believe that God plants in us signposts that point the way to our destiny and express in some way who we are in Him. Perhaps they are not as dramatic as Lewis' faun, they but are subtle urgings to move us forward and discover that we really aren't who we have been told by myopic self-interested humans, but beings more magnificent, imaginative, and marvelous, intended to be the family of the eternal God.

For me, my signposts are those notebooks, now lost, with their drawings of those wonderful submersibles and underwater battles that I began to draw in 1963 in my elementary school in rural North Carolina. I was so single-minded about drawing them that I wrote the US Navy, begging for information and bless their hearts, they sent a number of pamphlets about research submersibles. Greg, one of my high school buddies who later became a commercial diver, watched me draw during math class when Mr. Brown wasn't looking and dubbed me "Commander," perhaps because he could see me piloting a submarine someday.

So behind my writing desk over my right shoulder is a poster entitled, Submarines and U-Boats, depicting many of the early submarines that I drew and researched. Missing are the submarines designed by Simon Lake, but that is the subject for another blog post. It still excites me to see these marvelous machines, and it also reminds me of the visionaries who built them, plowing through scorn and opposition to open the way to the world beneath the sea.

Perhaps like these submariners, we who now write Christian speculative fiction can open up new worlds, new visions of God and the great love He has for us, so great that he sent His Son to plow through mankind's scorn and hell's opposition to become the Way to an eternal adventure in Him.

Yonder is the sea

2010-02-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
Wherein are things creeping innumerable,
Both small and great beasts.
Psalm 104:25

I come from a family with nautical ties in Tidewater Virginia. If family stories are to be believed, not only did three generations labor at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, but the family also had at least one tugboat captain and a boat builder. Although our family records are pretty spotty, it's a pretty safe bet that one part of the family, the Hunts, watched the battle of the ironclads at Hampton Roads, and they were not rooting for Ericsson's cheesebox on a raft to win.

I unknowingly followed our family's nautical bent when I attended a coastal technical school with a maritime training program where I learned to chip paint, grind rust off deck plates, and paint the diesel-fouled shaft alleys of the school's oceanographic research vessels. These tasks are not very glamorous but they are a necessary part of maintaining ships.

Finally running out of money for school, I stepped off the school's research vessel the Advance II for the last time in December 1972 and joined the military to eventually pay for college. My career ambitions changed and I never finished my goal of gaining a doctorate in physical oceanography.

I left school with an appreciation for the Cummins and Detriot Diesel marine power plants, Bowditch, Mixter, and Chapman. I knew enough marlinespike seamanship to splice and frap after a fashion. I knew port (larboard) from starboard, the rules of the road, how to plot a course, how to crew a whaleboat, and how to mend fishing nets. I turned my back on a good many things, but kept a deep, abiding love for the sea, particularly things under the sea.

As a kid, I loved Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt and the TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with Richard Basehart and David Hedison. I briefly met Hedison in a bookstore where I worked in the 1980s and my throat was so dry I couldn't utter a word.

Throughout my childhood I read Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea in various editions, skipping over the big words and devouring everything about the amazing underwater craft. My school notebooks were covered in designs for submersibles and underwater battles.

When Jacques-Yves Cousteau hit television, I believed it was a sign from God that I should go under the sea. I don't know how much the LORD was in my passion, but I don't regret for a minute the time I spent at that school.

So it should come as no surprise that now almost 38 years later, I write Christian speculative stories with a nautical setting.

Finding your voice

2010-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

        “My beloved responded and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along.
       ‘For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
      ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
Song of Solomon: 2:10-12

My struggle to articulate the deep love for Jesus in my writing stemmed from a number of personal difficulties. I could easily write from passion, but I could not advance to the next level because I could not frame my feelings in ways that the market could understand. I could easily write from the pain that I felt in my daily life, so my work had an air of confusion and anguish. I could easily empathize with tortured characters, but I could not help them find their way out of their painful circumstances. I found plotting to beyond the short story to be very difficult, ultimately because I could not find my way in my own life.

In the 1990s I pitched an alternate worlds comic book to several independent publishers. I got nibbles from two of the three publishers and felt that I was at the edge of great beginnings as a successful fiction writer. One editor wrote me a wonderful letter of encouragement, taking the time to explain why they were not interested. In his letter told me that although the concept was great, he couldn't see where I was going with the story. With a start, I realized that neither did I.

There have been a number of wonderful creative works born out of personal difficulty. Four come immediately to mind: George Frederic Handel with his magnificent Messiah, St. John of the Cross and his wonderful Dark Night of the Soul, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and powerful The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, John Bunyan with his masterful The Pilgrim's Progress and his insightful work on prayer, Praying with the Spirit and with Understanding too.

These men had one thing that I lacked -- a clear sense of identity. Looking back, I see that although I had the technical skills to be a fiction writer, spiritually I simply did not know who I was. So, ten years ago, during a time of deep personal stress, I called to the LORD and he began to show me His identity as the Lover of my soul. Since returning to fiction writing this past year, I have experienced a greater freedom in my work now that my identity has been firmly established in Him.

Diving deep

2010-02-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

There is a marvelous story about a lecture offered by Catalan surrealist painter and accused shameless self-promoter Salvador Dali. The guests gathered in a hot loft to hear Dali expound on the surrealist movement. The guests waited long past the appointed time, growing more irritable and sweaty. Finally they could hear the clump of heavy boots. To their amazement they saw two men leading a man in an old-fashioned diving suit, complete with diving helmet. He entered the room carrying a billiard cue and leading a pair of Russian wolfhounds. If stories are correct, the heavy helmet was topped off with a radiator cap.

Though they could not see his bright animated eyes and his outrageous mustache, the audience knew this had to be Dali. The host confirmed their assumption by making the introductions. Dali sat at microphone on the stage and he discovered his words could not be heard through the helmet. His words ricocheted inside his helmet and were only perceived by his audience as incomprehensible sounds. Finally, he motioned for help and his assistants unscrewed the helmet to give the gasping artist much needed air.

By way of explanation for appearing in a diving suit he claimed, "I just wanted to show that I was 'plunging deeply' into the human mind."

During my years of intermittently writing Christian speculative fiction, which I style as a blend of fantasy and science fiction with a Christian worldview, I've often wondered if like Dali, I was somehow trapped in an artistic diving suit in which I plunged deeply into the Spirit of God. Try as I might to explain these experiences in my fictional work, it was not received by secular publishers. Like Dali's external audience, they had no way of understanding what I was trying to communicate from within my experiences. I wrote out of heavy-handed passion and not to the market, which is no way to sell a manuscript.

I knew that what I wrote moved me at times to tears from a deeply-felt love for Jesus, but it simply was incomprehensible to anyone who had not experienced that love. And so, I came to realize that ultimately I was writing for an audience of One, who understood my heart stirrings and loved me unconditionally, not because of the excellence of my craft, but because I had loved and surrendered my entire being to His son Jesus.