The Prussian hero of Kolberg, Gneisenau, has a grand statue still venerated in the now Polish city of Kolobrzeg. The brooding but talented Gerhard von Scharnhorst, whom we see as chief of general staff to Blucher, afterwards joined with him and a brilliant pupil, Carl von Clausewitz, to transform Prussian military culture into the most feared in Europe, going on to defeat France and enter Paris as a prelude to taking all of Germany under one flag.
Ironically, in the Second World War these men and their epics of resistance were commemorated by the German Navy in their famous battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and were held out by Hitler as an example to follow in the most expensive Nazi film ever made, in the calamitous final year of the Third Reich-the Royal Navy, of course, held to a humble walk-on part.
The Vistula Spit, the Polish Mierzeja Wislana, as it is now known, is a noted vacation spot, but Pillau and Konigsberg have had a different fate. The port is now within the Kaliningrad Oblast, a peculiar piece of cut-off Russian territory carved out of southern Lithuania for the sole purpose of securing Pillau-now Baltiysk-as an ice-free port for Russia’s Baltic Fleet. Most of the town and its red star-shaped fort are therefore now forbidden to foreigners. Konigsberg, with its rich heritage, now Kaliningrad, saw grievous tragedy in the Second World War but many relics of this past remain, despite strenuous efforts at Russification.
All in all I stand amazed at the range and breadth of what happened after Trafalgar in eastern Europe, with Napoleon at the height of his powers and astride these antique untouched lands, like a colossus. I can promise even more in the next tale, as Kydd and the navy are called upon to stand alone before the conqueror …
To all those who assisted me in the research for this book I am deeply grateful. My appreciation also goes to my editors at Hodder amp; Stoughton, Oliver Johnson and Anne Perry, and their creative art/design team; and copy editor Hazel Orme, who has brought her meticulous blue pencil to bear on the Kydd series right from the debut title. And, as always, heartfelt thanks to my wife and literary partner, Kathy-and my literary agent Carole Blake.
GLOSSARY
a cable distant
a tenth of a sea mile, conventionally one hundred fathoms
adze
two-handed horizontally bladed axe used for shaping flat and curving timberwork
athwart
crosswise, such as intersecting a ship’s course, across one’s bows
auger
long-shanked boring tool
barky
pet term for one’s ship
bashaw
grandee, from Turkish pasa
blow out his gaff
have a riotous time ashore, sparing nothing
bulwarks
vertical planking above the deck forming the side of the ship
butcher’s bill
euphemism for list of casualties after an action
Channel Groper
rueful term for the Channel station after the number of fogs to be expected
chouse
tease
clerk of the cheque
dockyard representative of commissioners of the Admiralty with authority to disburse funds, e.g. payment to seamen
compree
seize or grasp meaning, French comprendre
corvette
French equivalent to ship-sloop, larger and with more guns
cuirassier
mounted soldier with armoured torso
dirndl
colourful full-skirted dress with close-fitted bodice
dragoman
professional interpreter and cultural adviser
driver sail
fore and aft sail at the after end of a ship equivalent to merchant-service spanker
druxy
timber in advanced decay, soft and spongy with white spots and veins
eleve
one put forward by interested sponsor, French eleve, pupil
euphroe
piece of wood with holes to take lacing of awning or similar
Feldwebel
Sergeant
flank
the side of a military deployment contrasted with the front
fluyt
Dutch cargo vessel, full-bodied with shallow draught
garboard
range of strakes that abuts the keel
great repair
requires the ship to be taken out of commission
guardo
shabby trick, after reprehensible guardship practices on new-pressed men
gun-room
mess-room of warrant officers and midshipmen in larger ships; the wardroom of a frigate
Hamoaze
straight stretch of water at the estuary of the Tamar before it enters Plymouth Sound
hance
break in the line of deck at the quarterdeck, often decorated
hauptfach
army major
Hohenzollern
ruling house of Prussia since 1701
hugger-mugger
in confidence one with the other
kellner
officer’s mess waiter
klafter
fathom (German)
landwehr
locally raised army, militia (German)
larb’d
larboard, left side of ship looking forward
liberty-ticket
issued to seamen going ashore as protection against press-gangs
liebfahne
banner of highest expression of love of country
lighters
open craft with flat bottom for carrying goods to or from ships at anchor
middling repair
requires docking
mort
a significantly large amount; from mortal
naught
nothing
Navy Board warrant
writ of authority from commissioners of the Admiralty necessary to officers under the rank of lieutenant; boatswain, carpenter, etc.
nosel
quart of liquid (German)
pettifogging
quibbler; from petty and voger (German “arranger”)
pfund
pound (German)
points (of sailing)
all the angles the ship can take with respect to the wind
popinjay
person of vain and pretentious character; like a green woodpecker