Nautical Tales

In a world have our cell phones with us 24/7, it’s difficult to imagine a time when ships traversed the world’s oceans with only a basic understanding of where they were. Today “simple” triangulation via global positioning system (GPS) satellites gives even the most timid soul reliable information of their whereabouts to within a few feet. On a ship, in the eighteenth century, there was no such things as reliably knowing your location until you sighted land. The latitude of y

Decatur Boarding the Tripolitan Gunboat by Denis Malone Carter I've thought about the people that I write about, how their personality affects the style of their leadership. The protagonist in my novel, the fictional Robert Marshal, is a young man, a ship's captain and skilled mariner, but introverted in nature. In writing his story, I thought about those leaders that I've served under in the military, while sailing, or in my civilian life. Most have been good, a few have bee

One of the so-called minor characters in my novel, War on the Inland Sea , John Bradstreet is a man I find fascinating and whose life I wish I could have explored more thoroughly. He would become the indispensable man for the survival of the garrison at Fort Oswego through the winter of 1755-56. His story starts in 1714, when he’s born to an Acadian mother and a British father in Nova Scotia. His given name was Jean-Baptiste Bradstreet, but he soon changed his name in order t

During the research for writing my novel, War on the Inland Sea , I read every scrap of first hand information related to the British effort at Oswego (1755-56). One of those that helped the most was the transcribed letters of Housman Broadley to his commanding officer. Initially this seems to have been Commodore Keppel, then subsequently Admiral Boscawen. Broadley was appointed by Keppel as Master and Commander of the HMS Oswego and commanding officer of the squadron to be