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KEVIN J. GLYNN's Author Blog
Monday, 20 February 2023
Author Interview on The Writing Desk

Please see my blog inteview on the Writing Desk

 https://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2023/02/special-guest-interview-with-kevin-j.html


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 5:42 PM EST
Friday, 7 October 2022
PIECES OF EIGHT
Topic: SPANISH COB COINS

 

 

 

     

    


 

 

   

     The Spanish empire in the 16th century was fueled by silver bullion which financed King Philip II’s war machine but attracted hordes of pirates, corsairs, and privateers eager for plunder. The treasure initially taken from the Aztec and Incan empires by Spain earlier in the century was quickly spent, so a money-starved Spain anxiously sought the source of this wealth. By 1545 they located the fabled “mountain of silver” – Cerro Rico de Potosi – atop a 13,000-foot plateau amidst the Andes mountains in present day Bolivia. Potosi was the site of the largest natural deposit if silver in the world. It would soon account for 60% of the world’s mined silver. Spain started mining the mountain in 1545 using indigenous slave labor and established a mint there in 1574. The mint struck “cob coins” of purified silver that was shipped back to Spain for economic circulation.

 

 

     The trek homewards from the mines was long and arduous.  Llama and mule trains carried satchels of coins down steep valleys to the Pacific Ocean where they were shipped by sea to Panama. More mule trains carried the silver across a narrow isthmus to Nombre de Dios on the Caribbean side. Twice a year, treasure ships transported the silver from Panama across the Atlantic to Spain. Along the way, pirates and privateers occasionally picked off a treasure ship, while hurricanes sunk some of the others.  Sometimes pirates robbed mule trains crossing the Panama isthmus (Francis Drake in 1573, for instance). Spain began using a convoy system to ensure the treasure made it home so that her creditors would be paid.  An overextended Spanish Empire was on the verge of insolvency every year despite the vast treasure she exacted from the mines of Potosi, so every shipment was vital. A lesser-known and lesser-utilized pathway for transporting silver was down Rio de la Plata (“river of silver) via Buenos Aires and the south Atlantic.

    Cob coins were crudely rounded pieces of silver shaped like a shield (concave on one side and convex on the other). They were assayed (inspected for purity and weight standards) in Potosi before being transported to Spain. The coins were stamped with a cross on one side and heraldic symbols representing the King of Spain on the other side, along with the Latin spelling for Philip. The letter “P” for the Potosi mint and another letter for the coin series (based on the assayer overseeing the crop) were also present. When the assayer changed, a new assayer letter was used.  In 1586 the assayer letter changed from B to A, for example. 

     A cob coin containing 25 grams of silver was called the Spanish Dollar. It was worth eight Spanish reales. Cutting the coin into eight pieces (pesos) would yield one reale per piece; hence the Spanish dollar was nicknamed “piece of eight.” Pieces of eight were made famous in pirate folklore from the 16th to the 18th centuries. In the 16th century, one piece of eight was worth about 5 shillings (a generous weekly wage for a skilled laborer). An English coin known as a “crown” was the equivalent of a Spanish dollar.

      A horde of Spanish cob coins minted in 1586 are featured in my nautical fiction novels “Voyage of Reprisal” and its sequel “The English Corsair.”    

 


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 2:56 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 7 October 2022 3:29 PM EDT
Thursday, 29 September 2022
My Reading List
Topic: My Reading List

 My reading list was published by Shepherd's Books!

 Here is the link:

 https://shepherd.com/best-books/epic-sea-voyages-filled-with-drama-and-conflict

 

 


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 4:18 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 29 September 2022 4:24 PM EDT
Thursday, 15 September 2022
All Piracy is Local

      During the reign of Elizabeth I, England was transformed from an insular nation that traded with immediate neighbors across the Strait of Dover, into a global player seeking new outlets for commercial expansion across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They key to this change was England’s seafaring heritage, naval innovations, and venture capitalism. England’s major export was woolen-cloth, but the old overseas markets were insufficient for this growing domestic industry. England eyed the far-flung settlements of the New World as an outlet, but imperial Spain refused to allow English ships to trade with her colonies. Nevertheless, joint-stock companies sprung up and armed trading ventures were sent to the Americas to force the locals at gunpoint to trade with them.

 

      Conflicts with Spanish authorities were inevitable, and several armed clashes occurred. During the 1568 Battle of San Juan de Ulua , six English merchant ships under John Hawkins (accompanied by a young Francis Drake) were set upon by two royal Spanish galleons and 11 other ships. Only one English vessel escaped from what was viewed as a treacherous attack.

  

     

      The ill will caused by such clashes was exacerbated by Elizabeth’s financial and military support to rebellious Dutch forces fighting the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands. Efforts by King Phillip II to assassinate the Queen and replace her with a more compliant Catholic monarch also heightened tensions. As geopolitical crises unfolded, Elizabeth began to dispatch heavily armed private vessels to plunder Spanish ships and settlements in the New World and bring her back a share of the profits. These “reprisal ventures” were made possible by the many port towns throughout the realm that collectively  supported a robust shipping infrastructure while providing a pool of experienced mariners.

 

      English Channel town’s such as Plymouth and Portsmouth are well-known sources of English privateers during this period, but many smaller towns along the Strait of Dover and up the river Thames contributed as well. When open war broke out and England awaited an onslaught by the Spanish Armada, the new royal dockyard at Chatham (along the river Medway below the mouth of the Thames) hosted the eastern squadron of the English fleet which, after merging with the western squadron at Plymouth, brought 21 royal galleons and 180 private vessels to bear against the 130 ships of the Spanish Armada.

      Other small towns along the Foreland, such as Margate, Ramsgate, Dover, and Broadstairs, were nests of smugglers and pirates during the 16th century. For a time, they  hosted seaborne Dutch rebels (known as “Sea Beggars”) who were granted safe passage by Queen Elizabeth while harassing Spanish shipping. The Sea Beggars were joined by many English merchant ships and crews from the adjacent coast, who in turn undertook piratical actions against Spanish shipping in the English Channel, Strait of Dover, and North Sea.

     Small north Kent towns such as Faversham, with its tidal creek snaking through meandering marshlands, exploited proximities to shipping lanes to mount piratical raids and to smuggle ill-gotten gains back home through waterways that were hard for customs officials to police. Official records reflect that a local sea-captain was charged with piracy in Faversham in the mid-1500s. The most famous Faversham pirate was Jack Ward who worked in local fisheries until he became a privateer in 1588. He participated in multiple attacks on Spanish shipping, even after incoming King James I revoked all “letters of Reprisal” and outlawed attacks on Spain. By 1604 Ward had gone “on the account” (become a pirate), attacking ships of any nation, including England. He eventually operated out of Tunis with the Barbary corsairs where he was known as “Yusuf Reis” or "Yusuf Asfur."  

      Adjacent to London was an area of river towns with thriving maritime industries along a stretch of the Thames known as “London Pool.” St. Katherine’s, Limehouse, Wapping, and Rotherhithe were considered official ports of London. Despite the proximity of royal customs officials, smuggling and maritime theft were rampant along the crowded quays. Local maritime industries along the “pool” provisioned and manned many privateering vessels and many unsanctioned pirate vessels.

      Oftentimes the distinction between privateers and pirates was blurry. Those pirates who were caught and convicted by the Admiralty Court at Marshalsea were hanged to death upon the docks of Wapping.  Their bodies were displayed in metal cages along the river’s edge and were inundated for three successive tides. Despite the risks, England’s small port towns provided many “sea dogs” to the Elizabethan naval war machine and to many pirate ventures.

      My sea-adventure, nautical fiction novels, “Voyage of Reprisal” and “The English Corsair” highlight some of these towns. The two main protagonists hail from Faversham which is also the setting and focus of a chapter. Rotherhithe is also featured, along with “The Ship” tavern on the site of the present-day Mayflower Pub. Broadstairs is a base of operations for a privateer/smuggler character. These books are part of my “Elizabethan Sea Dogs” series. Please find the links to relevant web pages on the upper left-hand side of this blog page. 


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 7:40 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 16 September 2022 6:53 PM EDT
Monday, 12 September 2022
English sea-dogs and "reprisal ventures"
Topic: Reprisal Ventures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

"galeona" from http://www.piratskelode.wz.cz - wikimedia commons

 

During the reign of Elizabeth I, England struggled to bring goods to markets controlled by Spain in the New World. Heavily-armed English galleons and support ships dared those forbidden waters and forced the locals at gunpoint to trade with them. Later, as relations deteriorated between England and Spain, Elizabeth commissioned privateers to attack Spanish ships and settlements and bring her a share of the plunder to replenish her coffers. 

      Those sailing as privateers for the English Crown were granted a "letter of reprisal" so they would not be prosecuted for piracy by the High Court of Admiralty upon their return, so long as they only attacked the nations identified in the letter. The individuals granted these letters were typically sea-captains sailing under joint stock companies financed by private investors.

       The word reprisal was appropriated by England's Admiralty Court to describe government-sanctioned pirate raids sailing out of English ports. The use of the word "reprisal" was for progaganda purposes as it implied the aggressive actions were retaliations for previous acts of violence perpetrated by the targeted nation. A vessel sailing under the protection of a letter of reprisal was known as a "ship of reprisal," and the associated private venture was known as a "reprisal venture." In later centuries, the terms "privateer" or "privateering" were used to describe these ships and their activities, because private parties were involved. The term "letter of marque" eventually replaced letter of reprisal. 

      In addition to furthering her foreign policy aims through privateering, the Queen often gained monetarily because she was due a one-third share of any profits. The Queen at times even lent her own funds and a royal ship or two for reprisal ventures. The privateering voyages generally entailed commerce raiding, but often resulted in the burning, plundering and ransoming of enemy coastal settlements. These were clearly acts of war, prompting the Queen to grant legal cover to her volunteer privateers. Those privateers unfortunate enough to be caught by the enemy were treated as pirates and often executed or enslaved, although some wealthy or famous individuals might be ransomed. This was a high-stakes game, not for the timid or the risk averse.  

      Other nations used a similar system. The French called their privateers "corsairs" (derived from a latin word for a sea route or "course").  French privateers were issued a "lettre de Course" which was the same as a letter of reprisal. Most of the famous French "pirates" of the early 16th century who plundered Spanish ships and towns in her far-flung empire were technically corsairs, not pirates, since they were acting under the authority of their kings in furtherence of France's perennial wars with Spain. 

      Queen Elizabeth started commissioning privateers early in her reign, though she always denied it when confronted. On occasion she temporarily curtailed the practice during periods of delicate diplomacy. At times she gained spectacular profits. The English seafarers who engaged in privateering were colloquially known as "sea dogs." Many of these men and their ships participated in the Battle of the Spanish Armada in 1588, supplementing a core force of 22 royal galleons with an additional 180 armed (auxiliary) merchant ships. Without the sea dogs, the English never could have mounted an adequate challenge to the Armada.

      For more reading on this topic, I recommend an excellent article appearing in Worldhistory.org https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1576/the-sea-dogs---queen-elizabeths-privateers/  .

   


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 3:15 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 15 September 2022 9:43 PM EDT
Monday, 5 September 2022
Men who go down to the sea in ships

 

    I was always amazed how men would take to the seas in ships lacking electricity, dependable navigation aids, adequate medical care, or reliable propulsion systems, yet they did. During the Age of Exploration, European sailors dared all the world's oceans without accurate charts or the ability to calculate longitude. They did so in the time-honored tradition of profit seeking or war making. In doing so, these intrepid mariners faced hostile natural elements, disease, malnourishment, mutiny, and enemy guns. The inherent drama of such voyages has inspired many a good sea tale.


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 12:05 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 5 September 2022 12:08 PM EDT
Monday, 22 August 2022
WHAT ARE GALLEONS?


      

English galleon model: Tvbanfield at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons


      A type of 16th century ship known as a “galleon” is featured in my nautical fiction book Voyage of Reprisal. A galleon was a middling-to-large sized, four-masted sailing vessel without oar propulsion. She had square sails on two forward masts and triangular-shaped lateen sails on two aft masts. This arrangement helped galleons sail well before the wind but also up to 70 degrees against the direction of the wind. Although galleons retained fore and stern castles, these superstructures were smaller and more streamlined than that found on other ship types.

     Galleons had a narrower width to length ratio (keel length three times breadth) than the round hulled, square-rigged “great ships,” carracks or naos that were designed primarily as cargo carriers. This allowed the galleon to be swifter (up to eight knots speed) and have more nimble sailing properties while still being able to carry a large cargo when used as a merchant vessel. For these reasons, the English favored use of the galleon for armed trading ventures in prohibited waters claimed by Spain in the New World and in the corsair-infested waters of the Mediterranean. 

      Galleons had a dedicated gun deck running from bow to stern which allowed her to be heavily armed with laterally firing artillery, unlike most cargo ships and all galleys. When called to fight, galleons were the preeminent warship preferred by the Elizabethan navy. The English favored the galleon’s stand-off artillery capability and eschewed the old fashion boarding tactics still favored by arch enemy Spain which benefitted from high castles.

       The galleon was an outgrowth of the “galleass” which was invented by the Mediterranean Catholic powers to help fight the time-honored galleys of the Ottoman Turks. Unlike a galley (which depended on ramming and bow-mounted artillery to attack an enemy head on), the galleass had both oars and a full rigging of square and lateen sails while employing a laterally firing gun deck to engage a foe attacking from the sides. A galleass could maneuver on oars like a galley but also sail further afield on the open ocean. Six large galleasses performed brilliantly at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto which pitted the navies of Venice and Spain again the Ottoman Empire, giving the Catholic powers a decisive victory. The galleon, though, performed better in the blue waters of the Atlantic because they were more seaworthy than the galleass which became obsolete by the end of the 16th century.

       During the Battle  of the Spanish Armada, the Queen deployed 25 galleons, dozens of supporting craft, and a host of armed merchant vessels (up to 200 total vessels) against a tightly grouped Spanish fleet of 21 older style galleons, 15 large armed merchant ships, a few galleys and galleasses, and a host of supply and transport ships (130 total vessels).  By this time, most of the English galleons were rendered even more maneuverable by scaling down their superstructures based on the innovations of master shipwright Matthew Baker.

     Although English forces initially failed to break up the Spanish formation before it could anchor off the French coast and await the Duke of Parma’s army that was expected to appear on barges to be escorted across the English Channel to England, subsequent naval action dislodged the Spanish from their anchorage and forced them to flee northwards. The invasion of England was thus averted. During this battle, no English ship was sunk and only a few had light damage as opposed to several Spanish ships sunk and considerable damage inflicted on the others due to close-in English gunfire in the latter stages of the fighting. 

       Other famous exploits involving English galleons included the invasion of the Spanish Pacific coast of South America and circumnavigation of the globe by Sir Francis Drake in the Golden Hind, Drake’s raid on Cadiz harbor in 1587, various depredations by English privateers (the Hawkins brothers, Drake,  Frobisher, Fenton and others) against Spanish shipping and coastal towns in the New World, and the 12 hour sea battle waged by Richard Grenville in the Revenge against 53 Spanish warships during which time Grenville heavily damaged 15 enemy ships before his own ship was captured and he was killed.

       The galleon proved itself a formidable asset in the English arsenal during twenty years of open warfare with Spain and was a direct forbear of the famed ships-of-the-line during the classic period of the Age of Sail. For further reading, I suggest The Galleon: The Great Ships of the Armada Era, by Peter Kirsch.

 


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 2:00 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 22 August 2022 4:21 PM EDT
Sunday, 7 August 2022
"VOYAGE OF REPRISAL," by Kevin J. Glynn
Topic: Historical backdrop
 The setting of this nautical fiction novel is 16th century England, the North Atlantic and islands therein, the Caribbean and Windward Islands, the South Atlantic, and the South American littoral. Although most of the story takes place outside of Europe, the characters bring their culture with them and are animated by political, religious, and economic factors long in forming and influenced by events in Western Europe. An understanding of the historical backdrop of Western Europe up to 1585 will help the reader better appreciate the story’s setting.
 
  

 
 The Battle of Gravelines: public domain

 
     England is ruled by the last of the Tudor line, the unmarried Queen Elizabeth I. Like her father, Henry VIII, Elizabeth strives to maintain England as an independent Protestant state, although a sizable Catholic minority remains. Ever since Luther, Calvin and Zwingli shaped the Protestant movement earlier in the century, Europe has been divided into two opposing ideological camps with little room for compromise. The imperial Roman Catholic Church, once all-powerful, has lost political and religious control over most of Northern Europe. Pope Sixtus V continues the efforts of his predecessors to mount a counter-reformation aimed at regaining temporal control over these renegade States and stamping out the ‘heresy’ of the Protestant movement. For this purpose, clandestine Jesuits are employed to infiltrate enemy territory and rally the faithful remaining behind. A ‘Holy League’ of powerful Catholic monarchs, lead by King Philip II of Spain, tries to coordinate and focus their efforts (monetary, clandestine and military) against the problem.
 
     Compounding the religious dimensions, Northern European states (which happen to be Protestant) also face the imperial designs of an almost overwhelmingly strong Spain. Philip II inherited from his father, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the thrones of Spain, France-Comte, the Lowlands (modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) and Portugal (annexed in 1580). The Spanish army is considered the finest in the world. The Spanish Square, or tercio, consists of dense ranks of superbly drilled pikemen backed up by arquebus (early firearm) wielding men on the flanks and armored cavalry. The tercio is considered practically unstoppable.  Backed up by an enormous wealth in gold and silver bullion from her American possessions, Spain stands ready to crush the freedoms of the Protestant Dutch and stamp out that last bastion of Protestant power in Western Europe - England.
 
     England at this time controls only half of Great Britain.  Scotland is independent and unfriendly. Ireland is nominally controlled but ever ready to rebel from Tudor rule.  The loss of her former French possessions has left England, and her small population of about 3 million, almost marginalized as a nation.  Her assets are her seamen, her fighting ships, and her trade items of broadcloth and tin. She needs markets for these commodities and must fight for the right to trade in an increasingly hostile world.
 
     Philip II had England in his grasp earlier in the century when he married Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary (Bloody Mary) Tudor, who was Catholic. She was Queen of England for a few short years, during which time she tried to bring England back into the Catholic fold.  She allied herself with Spain against Spain’s traditional enemy, France. Mary’s policies back-fired: France conquered England’s last remaining port towns on the French coast and, despite her persecutions, English Protestantism endured. After her death and a short interim under an adolescent King who died young, Elizabeth assumed the throne in 1558.
 
     Philip II proposes marriage to Elizabeth, as do many other European ruling families, to draw the young queen into his political fold.  Elizabeth plays them off each other to bide time, while building up a secret intelligence agency and a powerful navy. Ever short on cash, Elizabeth begins discreetly financing "armed trading ventures" and out-right piratical forays against Spain’s rich and poorly defended possessions in the Americas. When it finally becomes clear that Elizabeth is a dyed-in-the-wool Protestant providing aid and comfort to the rebellious Netherlanders, Pope Sixtus excommunicates her and Philip plots ways to have her assassinated and replaced with a Catholic claimant to the English throne - Mary Queen of Scots.

     A cloak and dagger war ensues; Jesuit agents, renegade English Catholics and Spanish spies collude in plots to kill Elizabeth.  English counter-spies uncover and foil the plots one by one. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, is captured in England and imprisoned.  English ships begin engaging in a pseudo-war at sea with the Spanish in the Americas. Elizabeth dispatches small armies to the Netherlands while foiling Spanish efforts to do the same in Ireland. Events reach a head in 1585 when Spain formally declares war on England. Philip prepares an Armada to escort the ingenious and ruthless Prince of Parma from the Netherlands to the Thames to crush England once and for all. Elizabeth’s only defense is her renown English galleons and her “sea dog” ship captains.
 
     Elizabeth’s sea dogs mount expeditions against Spanish coastal towns and shipping. Some of them are mere piratical expeditions; others spoiling attacks. England fearfully awaits the inevitable assault by a mighty Spanish Armada ferrying the Duke of Parma’s invincible army across the Strait of Dover. The fate of Protestantism and England’s independent future hangs in the balance.

HOW TO ORDER - visit the Kevin J. Glynn Author Page at http://www.amazon.com//author/kevin_j_glynn2021

Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 4:11 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 22 August 2022 4:23 PM EDT
Tuesday, 26 July 2022
Welcome to KEVIN J. GLYNN's Author Blog!
Topic: WELCOME!

     Welcome to my Blog! By way of introduction, I am Kevin J. Glynn, author of the nautical fiction "Elizabethan Sea Dogs" series that is set in the age of sail during the 16th Century, Renaissance,  era. They are epic sea tales, filled with intrigue, action and adventure, personal conflicts, and war at sea.

     I am a great fan of history and particularly the age of sail. I want my readers to fully immerse themselves in my historical settings and be thoroughly entertained, so I carefully research my topics and fill my books with accurate details, fascinating characters, and page-turning plots.

     As background, I hail from Connecticut and was awarded a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island.  I am a former U.S. Navy reserve officer who later traveled the world as a civilian  special agent with the Navy Department. I am currently retired and reside with my wife, Frances, in South Carolina.

     My first novel, "Voyage of Reprisal," took me 11 years to write and edit while I was employed with the Navy and helping to raise two children. Once I fully retired, I was able to write, edit and publish a sequel, "The English Corsair," in one year. I am planning a third installment, tentatively titled: "Armada: A Novel." 

      My sea tales are perfect for readers who appreciate Patrick O'Brien (the Aubrey/Maturin series), Herman Melville (Moby Dick), and Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island). Readers of more contemporary works, such as Michael Crichton's “Pirate Latitudes,” or Andrew Wareham’s “The Call of the Sea” series, will also enjoy my novels. For more information, please follow the links on the left of this page and be sure to leave an honest online review after reading my books.

      I have loads of research material on hand with which to write a series of articles about the age of sail and the age of exploration. I intend to share my articles on this Blog in the days, months or years ahead.  I hope you enjoy them.

     Kevin J. Glynn 

 

 

 


Posted by Kevin J. Glynn at 3:35 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 29 July 2022 3:06 PM EDT

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