KYDD

Comparisons to Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin saga are inevitable, but Stockwin’s debut, the first in a planned naval series covering approximately the same era, focuses on the common seamen rather than on the officers. No musical duets in the captain’s chambers here.

Stockwin, a retired lieutenant commander in the British Royal Navy, introduces as his unlikely hero Thomas Kydd, a 20-year-old wig-maker pressed into service in 1793 just as Britain is drawn into war against postrevolutionary France. Overwhelmed by life on the 98-gun battleship Duke William, landlubber Kydd is befriended, first by an older sailor on his watch who dies in a tragic if typical accident in the sails and then by the mysterious Nicholas Renzi, a man of wealth in self-exile as a common seaman who will undoubtedly reappear in later installments. As Kydd gradually gains his sea legs, the reader learns with him the intricate workings of the boat and gets to know through his eyes the men above and below deck: the inexperienced captain who improves with time, an able but cruel officer, potential mutineers inspired by radical political leanings, hardened seamen hoping to land a bounty that will make them rich. Kydd’s first storm at sea is rendered with great drama that is enhanced when the Duke William crew attempts to aid a ship in distress—with unexpected results. Kydd participates in a landing party on the French coast, ending up behind enemy lines, and in a sea battle. Warfare is depicted with gruesome, at times breath-stopping detail but little glory. As Kydd says, “It was the uncertainty, the knowledge that out there was an enemy who was doing his best to kill him . . . To his shame his knees began to tremble again.” Kydd almost makes some disastrous choices, but in the end his seamanship, his patriotic loyalty, and a bit of luck save the day.

An engaging sea yarn with more verisimilitude, if less romance, than O’Brian readers expect.