Leith 1698; Quotes from the book......

Leith, 1698.
The wet narrow cobbled streets were deserted, the pessimists lingered inside, expecting more rain. The sandstone walls on either side seemed to lean inwards, their irregular tan and grey shapes sometimes peeping out from behind cracked plaster. A door opened to his left, and an old woman peered out, holding her shawl tight across her chest.

"Brr." Jamie shivered, always on the lookout for more sympathy. "Mornin; Mrs Dewar!"

"Ah 'mind it warm in July." she groused, and walked back inside.

"Chilly." Jamie answered to the closing door. "Downright bloody chilly."

(Except from Opportunities; Jamie Leith in Darien, by Ian Hall, published this month by IFWG Publishing.)


I found this old picture, and couldn't help it; it's EXACTLY as I envisaged Leith in 1698. It was like I was looking through Jamie's eyes. I got huge goosebumps!

Brest; The shelter for the First Jacobite Rebellion, 1708.

Brest, France, around the year 1708, prepares for the first Jacobite Rebellion.

Thirty ships with 6000+ French, Irish and some Scottish soldiers gather under the protective cover of the ramparts of Chateaux de Brest.

The ships were mostly privateers, but they were led by the french Admiral Gace in his flagship, the 78 gun, Mars.

King James VIII was on board the flagship, and on March 6th, 1708, the fleet sailed to land an invasion fleet at Burntisland, Fife.

The plan had been prepared by many spies for years, and it only took one young man (King James VIII) to set one foot on Scottish soil, and the Brittish crown was his.

The next Robert Louis Stevenson... never, but hold on a sec.....

I was described by one of my peers as "The next Robert Louis Stevenson", and I dismissed the whole idea as "bunkum"! R.L.S. was one of a kind, and even to be compared to him was an honour.

BUT.... as I am writing Jamie 2, I am getting strange coincidences happening....... (Let me set the scene...)

I like to delve into history for the smallest of details... E.G.; When Jamie, (back in 1707), spends the night at an inn, I like it to have actually BEEN there in 1707; just my wee quirk.

But the inn I decided apon was the "Seven Stars" in Bristol (actually there in 1707) and the owner at the time was a JOHN HAWKINS! ..... (Jack Hawkins was the main character in RLS's Treasure Island)

So I write on, and one of the REAL jacobites in 1707/8 is a "Squire Trewlawney", from Redruth, in Cornwall..... (Damn, Squire Trewlawney is a RLS character, and so is seaman "Redruth".)

I continue; one of the real jacobites in 1707/8 is an Irishman called "Colonel Hooke"..... (Too close to J.M. Barrie's "Captain Hook" for comfort.)

And if (In an effort to be historically correct) I kept all this actually "IN" my Jamie 2, I'd be slagged off for stealing from RLS etc.

Maybe I should just be like some historical novellists; make everything up, and not give a crap about actual history!

(And we all know those movies, don't we.......)

(Pic, BTW, is Robert Newton, Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island in 1950)

The Glorious Revolution of 1688

The Glorious Revolution has always bored me, until I eventually found out what it actually entailed.

Here it is in spectacular simplicity....
King James VII was crowned King of Great Britain in 1685, taking over from his childless brother, Charles II.

He was a catholic, and therefore went against the majority of the actual populace, who were 80% protestant.

He made few friends in his 3 years in power, but rode roughshod over the government, parliament and army/navy, by appointing catholics over protestants in all high posts.

In 1688, he committed the ultimate blunder; by having a son (catholic, of course) in dubious circumstances. The protestants got so pissed off about the whole thing, they "invited" an invasion force from Holland, which contained James', sister's husband; William of Orange.

Having already pissed off the armies and navy, they were allowed to pass "un-bloodied".

Hence; "Glorious Revolution".

James was Britain's last Catholic monarch, and spent his days in exile in the court of King Louis of France, dreaming of ways to get back on the throne.

(Not a bad job, but someone had to do it)

Reasearch; Edinburgh Castle, and why I love both.

Many people ask me about the kind of research I do for my books, then sigh, and insert words like; tedious, back-breaking, and such. Now, I love research... here's how one such outing into wikipedia changed Jamie2.

I was looking for a Jacobite family in Fife around 1708, to base an overnight stay for Jamie. (Even for small details like this, I try to stay true to history) I tried a few of the bigger families, but none really fit the story, then I found that Tarvit House had been re-designed by Sir William Bruce. I liked the name and dug deeper.

Turns out Sir William had been openly Jacobite, and a Stuart man all his life, and his eldest son was in London, actually sitting in his father's seat in the English (sorry, British) parliament. (So a family in deep schism there... I liked this.) One more bit of digging put Sir William in a cell in Edinburgh Castle in 1708.

Since Jamie was in Scotland to deliver letters, it only took a wee bit of backstory to put Jamie into a treacherous invasion of the castle. The research had changed the book. And for the better.

NOW... the story doesn't stop there. A look at the history of Edinburgh Castle shows that a new part was under construction in 1708; the Queen Anne Building. That gave Jamie a chance to sneak in as part of the work team. I mean, the story was writing itself!

Research. Love it.

The Novel is finished.

"Whew", I say in a large voice, wheezing and shaking the sweat from my brow.
Editing done, line-by-line done three times. Maps finished.
All I have to do now is wait......
And wait.
After all this time (three years of writing and tweaking) you'd think I had the patience of a saint, but that ain't the case.
I'm like a wee kid again, quivering with excitement, waiting on the first actual paperback to fall into my battered mail box.
Something physical to show for my hard work, and the support of those who told me 'never to give up'.
Thanks to you all.
It's taken a while to get here.
Nook and Kindle versions will be first, of course.... that's the way of the world these days.
All the best.
Ian.

HMS Leith. Grimsby class Sloop.

HMS Leith. As far as I can find, two ships have been named HMS Leith. The first, in service in 1782, was a 20 gun sloop. (unconfirmed).

The second HMS Leith, (seen, left), launched in 1933, was a Grimsby class sloop, and after peaceful service in the New Zealand station, served extensively in many theatres of the second world war.
She was afterwards sold to Denmark in 1949, where she was re-named the Galathea, and eventually scrapped in 1955.

Pre-war, she served with the New Zealand station, in Australia, and China and once took the Queen of Tonga on tour. The outbreak of war in 1939 brought HMS Leith back from Singapore to home shores. She protected local convoys between Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Liverpool, England, and Gibraltar, off Southern Spain.

During the war, HMS Leith served in the North Sea, and on convoy duty to North America, where she survived one convoy where 15 ships out of 34 were sunk.
Hundreds of merchant sailors were rescued from the cold, cold sea by HMS Leith during her convoy years.
She served in the Mediterranean, and on convoy duty to South Africa, and was repeatedly attacked by U-boat and Junkers bombers.
After one such bomber attack, where the bombers missed their target, and one Heinkel 111 was shot down by HMS Leith, the local newspapers said; "Captain Mueller missed, HMS Leith didn't!"
She served in the 1943 American/Allied/French landings in North Africa; "Operation Torch", and finished her war service in minesweeping duties with the Dutch Navy in the busy English Channel.

(HMS Edinburgh, a heavy cruiser, was sunk in 1942 after a vicious war career. She was involved with the Bismark, Sharnhorst, Geneisenau, and capturing the enigma machine.)

After her purchase by the Danish Navy in 1949, she was re-named Galathea, and was involved in deepwater surveys, and circumnavigated the world in 1952/3. She was involved in geographic expeditions with the Danish Navy until her eventual scrapping in 1955.