FLOATING GOLD set to blow you out of the water
If you enjoy reading CS Forester's, Horatio Hornblower or the adventures of Jack Aubrey by Patrick O'Brian then you will enjoy this dramatic age-of-sail maritime adventure.
Set in 1802, during the fragile Peace of Amiens, Captain Oliver Quintrell receives a long awaited commission. With secret orders to be opened at the 15th parallel he sails south unaware of his destination or the dangers which lie ahead.
FLOATING GOLD is due for publication by Robert Hale Limited of London in May 2010.
You can read the opening paragraphs below.
FLOATING GOLD - Chapter 1 begins:
Bembridge, Isle of Wight - 1802
The human flotsam, lolling in the shallow water near the mouth of the Bembridge River, smelled of fish. Waves washing around the corpse teased it, turning the head this way and that, confusing the sightless eyes; whilst beneath the body the sea hissed, sucking its salt through sand and broken shell.The next incoming wave lifted the corpse and carried it further up the beach, but as the water receded, the man's right arm, as if reluctant to part from its mode of transport, appeared to reach out for it. But the two-faced tide of the English Channel had its own agenda. It had done its duty and, having had no quarrel with the man, had returned him to the land. Now it was time to gather its morning petticoats and withdraw.
Oliver Quintrell stepped closer to the body and removed his hat. It was an automatic gesture performed out of respect for a life departed, yet the sight of the corpse did not stir the slightest quiver of emotion in him. There was no doubt in his mind where the man had come from. The yellowed breeches, stained with the provocative stamp of a black arrow, provided him with that information.
The only question the body's presence posed: had the man fallen, jumped, or been thrown from one of the prison hulks anchored in Portsmouth Harbour?
That question would remain unresolved, and in the circumstances any answer would be quite inconsequential. But how the body had drifted from the harbour and floated unnoticed across the busy anchorages of Spithead and St Helens Road, intrigued him. No doubt the tide had carried it from the confines of the harbour and spewed it out through the narrow entrance where it had to contend with the fickle currents of The Solent.
Whatever factors had transported it, be it wind, current or tide, it was obvious that the corpse had only recently arrived on the beach at Bembridge where it was to provide a feast for the island's gulls, crows and scavenging foxes.
Pic: Though I have visited Bembridge, I have no photo. I took this at Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania looking towards Hell's Gates.
FLOATING GOLD - jacket flap blurb
1802 - The fragile peace with France has brought massive debt and unemployment to England and frustration to its naval officers.After an enforced absence, Captain Oliver Quintrell is eager to return to the sea, but the commission he is granted leaves him cynical and disappointed. In command of a mere frigate, he heads south unaware of the unimaginable dangers which lie ahead.
The seething Southern Ocean, enemy ships, a discontented crew and the secrets held by a living breathing volcanic island pose more of a threat than a full broadside from a man-of-war.
About the author
From the jacket cover
Author, Margaret Muir, has sailed tall ships on the Indian Ocean, Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea, and has crossed the Atlantic in a barquentine.During her travels, she has cruised round the coast of South America, crossed Drake Passage and visited the frozen islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. It is these experiences which inspired her to write Floating Gold.
Born in England, Margaret now lives in Tasmania where she is a member of the Tasmanian Sail Training Association. Whenever possible she sails out of Hobart on the replica wooden vessel, Lady Nelson (see pic). The original colonial brig was launched at Deptford in 1798.
Floating Gold is the author's fifth novel for Hale Books but her first nautical fiction adventure.
Copper plates shine like burnished gold
Copper plating on the hulls of sailing ships helped to protect the vessels from infestation with shipworm. Shipworms can reduce the solid timber of a ship's hull into a sieve of tiny burrowed holes which will eventually send the vessel to the bottom.
When a coppered ship is out of the water the hull shines as though it has been gilded in gold. But this is not the reason for the name FLOATING GOLD.
Pic: I think this is a model of the Esmeralda, a 19 century sloop of war. Although she sank 130 years ago, the remains of her hull still rest at a depth of 137 feet off Chile's coast. Esmeralda is a national sunken treasure and there are plans to build a replica ship and possibly to recover the wreck.
"The Esmeralda sank on May 21, 1879 after the Peruvian monitor Huascar rammed the corvette three times and fired two cannonballs into its hull at pointblank range. Since its sinking, which left 143 dead, the vessel has become a symbol of national heritage. Six Chilean Navy ships have been named Esmeralda in its honor, and Chile's Navy has a modern version of the frigate that sails the world's oceans as a training and goodwill vessel for Chile's Navy and the government.
Each May, Chile pays its respects to those who fought in the Battle of Iquique with a ceremony above the ship's wreckage."
SOURCES: LA TERCERA By Samuel Crihfield ( editor@santiagotimes)
I took this picture in the Maritime Museum in Valpariso, Chile.
Captain Quintrell rekindles the past:
Closing his eyes for a moment, it was easy for the captain to re-enter the world most familiar to him.He pictured a white beach the morning after a battle. The bay littered with bloated bodies, some washed ashore, others turning in the shallow water like pigs roasting on spits. Carcases rolling over and over, unable to made landfall. Dead men stripped naked of both clothes and skin. Faceless faces devoid of their human masks. Arms, wrenched from shoulders, scattered haphazardly. Hands poking up through sand. Fingers outstretched in supplication. Severed heads without ears. Human hair blowing in the breeze. The scream of frenzied gulls.
Such an inglorious end stripped a man not only of his raiments but all evidence of nationality, allegiance and rank. For those departed souls there was neither honour nor glory nor recognition - not even a Christian burial. Their mortal remains would be stripped clean by armies of invading crabs. And there were many fat crabs on the beaches that season.
But such florid pictures were spoken little of in the London coffee shops and written of, even less, in the Naval Chronicle. They were the unwritten lines which the astute reader was expected to embellish for himself.
This was the distasteful side of war at sea, but how often over the past nine months had he prayed he could be part of it again. To return to the sea. To sail into the Mediterranean. To navigate the alligator-infested banks of the Indus River. To double the Horn. To experience the thunder of a hundred guns fired in a rippling broadside. To breathe the acrid smoke. To drink a toast to victory. To serve once again in his Majesty's service.
But above all, to have a command.
Pic: deadly weapons of seawar - Maritime museum, Valparaiso, Chile
Gold dust scattered on the sea's surface
It looks like floating gold dust, but its just the dying sun catching the spray from the waves.And no that is not the reason for the book's title.
A golden sun floats on the ocean
But this is not the clue the book's title.See below for definition of 'floating gold'.
Canvas takes on a golden tinge
Grey sails turn golden as the sun sets The stairway to a burning sun
It's usally the 'stairway to the moon' one sees on the water - namely the reflection of a full or rising moon.But here is the reflection of the setting sun through a smoke cloud caused by bushfires.
A golden stairway perhaps - Derwent Water, Tasmania
So what is FLOATING GOLD?
It's also been called called Whale's teeth and Dragon's spittle but 'floating gold' is the old sailors' name for ambergris. there is a chapter about it in Herman Melville's MOBY DICK.Ambergris is a whale product excreted from a sick mammal. When in the sea, this excrement floats on the surface and is rolled into rounded lumps by the action of the waves .
Over a period of time the excrement changes in consistency, becomes waxy inside with a hardened exterior. It can float around the oceans for years but eventually gets washed up on a beach. Scratching the furface of a lump of floating gold will reveal its musky perfume. It is this perfume which ambergris is saught for as it is used in the manufacture of the finest French perfumes.
Lumps of whale vomit can weigh anything from a a few ounces to 100 pounds. One lump of ambergris was washed up on a South Australian Beach a few years ago. It weight about 14 kilos and was estimated to be worth $1 million.
Hence it's name - FLOATING GOLD.
Pic: Scrimshaw created from whale's teeth and bones - Maritime Museum, Hobart
Nautical fiction novel not first sea-story for this author
It is however the first age-of-sail novel by this author written for a male readership.
FLOATING GOLD is a nautical fiction adventure set at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, though the story begins in 1802 during the Peace of Amiens.
Captain Oliver Quintrell is a post Captain, injured in battle 12 months earlier.
His vessel, 'Elusive' - much to his disappointment - is a frigate.
His first Lieutenant is Mr Simon Parry.
Pic: Gold sword awarded during the Napoleonic wars to select Royal Navy Captains. This remarkable item hangs in the Maritime Museum in Hobart, Tasmania.
It was awarded to Lieutenant Hanchett RN (pictured), HMS Antelope in 1804 - see plaque below.
Gold Sword of Honour awarded to Lieutentant Hanchett
Beneath the fine painting of Lieutenant Hanchett is the golden dress sword.Details on of the sword's maker are engraved in small print on the scabard:
R Teed
Dress Sword Makers to the PATRIOTIC FUND
Lancaster Court, Strand,
London
Deception Island - Antarctic Peninsula
Deception Island is well named.From the frozen ocean it looks like a solid island.
But from the inside it is a simmering volcano rising from the bed of the Southern Ocean.
Once huge - what remains is the blown-out caldera.
But from the lake in the centre and from its ashen beaches, steam rises from fumeroles and eruptions are possible at any time.
The most recent eruption was in the 1960s.
Could be a unique setting for a novel??
Pic: Ariel picture from Deception Island's' Website
A frozen inhospitable world deep in the Southern Ocean
The Antarctic Peninsula sticks up like a finger from the frozen continent pointing towards Tierra del Fuego - the tip of South America
It's cold zone and uninhabited zone for most of the year apart from a few Antarctic scientific stations.
From around 1820 whaling began in this area and thrived for many years until the stocks of whales and seals were much depleted.
When the frigate in FLOATING GOLD sails south, the captain is quick to advise:
'Then you may tell the men that our latitude is close to 62 degrees south. That we have not crossed the Antarctic Circle. Tell them that James Cook's 'Resolution' ventured to 71 degrees south in his search for of the Great South Land and that the ship which carried Nelson to the Arctic, as a midshipman, crossed latitude 81degrees north.'
Pic: 2004 (Antarctic Peninsula)
Author experiences Antarctic waters
"To write with conviction about any subject, authors should experience things first hand."But that is not easy when you are talking about stepping back to 1802.
However, I have walked the deck of HMS Victory at Portsmouth, sailed across the Atlantic in a tall ship, and sailed along Bass Strait in a replica colonial brig (1798).
I have heard growlers scratching the hull of a ship and felt the icy blast of Antarctic air.
My TALL SHIP adventures
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SAIL ON A TALL SHIP - live the adventure
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It was a voyage to remember. I joined the replica LADY NELSON as she headed out into the notorious Bass Strait then sailed south to meet four meter swells on Storm Bay. In 1800 the original wooden colonial brig, was the first vessel to sail Bass Stra...
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TALL SHIPS - 'Mary Rose' & 'Victory' to the modern day
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When I visited the Royal Naval Dockyards in Portsmouth I was blown to pieces by the tall (historic) ships I visited. Imagine walking the decks on Nelson's 'Victory' and standing at the very spot on the deck where he fell!! Imagine step...
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Sailing the Atlantic on a Tall Ship
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What a voyage! - Join me as I sail across the North Atlantic following in the wake of the great adventurer's. Pass the Pillars of Hercules. See the house Columbus lived in. Meet King Neptune. Face gale force winds. Take the helm....
My Website and Blog
- Margaret Muir - author - my website
- Fairly static but has a contact page
- Margaret Muir - author - blogspot
- Variety is the spice of life - tall ships, cruising, history, writing, travelling and more
Unusual railways - funiculars, Abt, cable tramway and a chain ferry
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Funicular, Abt, chain ferry, cable cars and other unusual railways
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Funicular railways date back to 1515 but were most popular in late 1800s. The Abt rack and pinion railway system was built to combat very steep inclines. The underwater Chain ferry pulled a vehicular ferry across a river. Around the world...
Join me as I travel around the world
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Italy, Greek Islands, French Riviera - Cruising the Med
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VISIT MY TASMANIA - the island of inspiration
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Two years ago I visited Tasmania for a holiday and fell in love with the place. Two months later I came back to stay. Not only is it a beautiful island, with huge wilderness areas, spectacular scenery and the cleanest air in the world (true), but it...
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A city of seduction. The tango - danced originally by men. The steaks - dinasaur size. The places to visit - unforgettable. The people - past and present. And plenty of pics. THE CONDOR'S FEATHER - an equestrian adventure set in Southern Patagonia in 1885....
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On 23rd April, 2008, I sailed through the Panama Canal from the Pacific Ocean to the Atalntic. It was on a voyage from Santaigo in, Chile, South America to Boston, USA on the cruise ship, Norwegian Dream. As I had written a book set on the Leeds/Live...
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Antarctica - Tierra del Fuego to the Antarctic Peninsula
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It's a blue and white world at the bottom of the globe. And its cold! I was fortunate enough to cruise around a little of it recently, my voyage starting in Valpariso, Chile - sailing down the Chilean Fjords to Tierra del Fuego, across Drake Pass...
Tamanian bushranger - rivals Ned Kelly
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Matthew Brady - Tasmania's 'gentleman' bushranger
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Matthew Brady was just 20 when he was transported to Van Diemen's Land. Six years later he was hung from the gallows in Hobart Town. But what was it about Brady which endeared women to him so much that his trial had to be interrupted because of th...
About writing - Writers' camp in the Tassie Wilderness
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Writers' Camp - in the far south wilderness
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Tasmania is called the 'Island of Inspiration' and what better place to hold a writers' camp than in the south west wilderness forest on the banks of the Esperance River where the only ripples are created by the salmon jumping. It wa...
Pets - GOATS and NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS
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Goats - angoras, Boers, cashmeres, dairys and even ferals
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I ran goats of one variety or another for 17 years during which time I wrote numerous magazine articles about them, including many which appeared in the New Zealand 'Goat Farmer' magazine. ANGORAS, BOERS, CASHMERES, DAIRYS and even FE...
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NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS - 'beauty without vanity...'
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He is not trained to be noble and loyal - it is just part of his nature. And few dog breeds can equal the Newfoundland for courage. From the sinking of the Titanic to rescuing Napoleon, to heroism and death in the face of modern warfare; to the classic...
Historical novels by Margaret Muir
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The Twisting Vine - historical novel and hints on writing a book
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THE TWISTING VINE is a saga set in Yorkshire in 1898 where times of peace and war, grief and joy are linked by the unobtrusive presence of a French Bru doll. If you have an interest in Antique French Fashion dolls or just enjoy a fast moving sto...
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'Sea Dust' - dramatic story set on a tall ship
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In order to escape the clutches of a drunken husband, Emma stows away on a sailing ship bound for Australia. Despite the help of a French sailor, nothing can protect her from the diabolical evil which lurks on board. Set in 1856 in Whitby, Cape Town...
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The Black Thread by Margaret Muir - canal story set 1895
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British canals are steeped in history. Having been superceded by the railways in the late 1800s they fell into disrepair. But today they are modern and attractive and offer a popular and relaxing form of travel. The Black Thread, is my third no...
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The Condor's Feather - the pampas of Patagonia on horseback
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Mobs of wild horses, pampas winds, Tehuelche Indians, and mountain lions are just a few of the problems awaiting this unsuspecting group of English riders. Add to that four escaped convicts whose diabolical deeds defy comprehension..... It's said...
THE CONDOR'S FEATHER - by Margaret Muir
An equestrian adventure set in the wild of Patagonia in 1885.Inspired by my first visit to South America (and the Antactic Peninsula).
THE CONDOR'S FEATHER is due July 2009.
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by throughglasseyes
Hi, my name's Margaret Muir. I'm an author and I live in Tasmania (Au). I enjoy writing and have had four novels published. I also love tall ships and...
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