A little while ago someone asked me what kind of ship a frigate was. When you’re as immersed in naval culture and terminology as you become when writing a novel on the subject, it’s easy to lose track of terms that many people might not be familiar with. These aren’t necessarily things you need to…
Category: naval history
Shipping forecast stories
The short series of stories about the shipping forecast were originally written for the monthly competition on the Word Cloud writing community. There are three so far, but another is on its way. The first, ‘German Bight’ is based around the Battle of Heligoland Bight, one of a series of clashes between German and British…
FitzRoy – a story of the weather
The black clouds had returned. They swirled around Robert Fitzroy, battering him. He struggled to breathe, assailed by rage and confusion. Somewhere, crystals were forming, delicate, feathery, in the storm glass that bore his name. The reports which would enable his office to produce the forecast would be ready by now, sitting on his desk….
German Bight – a story of WW1 at sea
“Dogger – Cyclonic four or five. Moderate. Fog banks. Poor or very poor. German Bight…” “It’s not the German Bight! Because we kicked them out of it!” The only time I saw my Grandfather angry was in 1956 when someone accidentally left the wireless on long enough for him to hear the shipping forecast. I…
Air and Sea Stories 