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SAMUEL'S STORY - AN
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK
COMMENT, QUOTES & REVIEWS
SODOMY - A HANGING and "THE GOLDEN RIVET."
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"BOWEL CANCER - MY EXPERIENCE"
What about that title? Why did I chose it?
The answer is that I chose it because it seemed eye-catching. Those in the know say that, to sell a book, you only have five seconds before a prospective purchaser decides either to put the book back on the shelf or to consider buying it.You therefore need both a catchy title AND a good, full colour, cover. A full colour cover would have cost a small fortune, so the catchy title was all the more important.
I am the first to admit that, had I been a serious historian and not a mere amateur, I would never have chosen that somewhat naff title - I was a do-it-yourself publisher, doing it on a shoe-string, and HAD to have a super-catchy title if the book was to sell.
It is a matter of very great regret to me that the title seems to have caused upset in high places (very high places indeed) on two main grounds, and I was warned of this shortly before the book was published:-
It was also subsequently suggested by one reader that it might have been better if the book title had been in quotes, giving the clue that the title was itself a quotation and not an indication of what the book was about. What do you think? Please do let me know.
There is, it seems, a book with a somewhat similar title, but about homosexualty amongst pirates, which one unfortunate Nelson buff purchased, in error, from Amazon, thinking he was buying my book. There's also a CD by a group called The Pogues with the same title. I don't know them myself, but I'm told they are good - but whether 'Rum, Sodomy &the Lash' is worth buying I cannot say.
What proof is there that these words, so often attributed to Sir Winston
Churchill, are actually his?
In his highly readable book 'In Search of Churchill' the celebrated historian,
Sir Martin Gilbert, debunks some of the best-known myths about Churchill. On the
alleged signal to all ships 'Winston is back' when he returned to the Admiralty
in 1939, Gilbert says at page 232;
"Despite repeated trawling in the archives, I have never managed to find this signal. If apocryphal, it must rank with Churchill's alleged reply to an Admiral who had protested that the provision of better conditions for ordinary seamen was 'against the traditions' of the Royal Navy: ' Traditions! What traditions? Rum, sodomy and the lash!' "
Gilbert could find no authority for attributing these words to Churchill. He goes on to say;
"I once gave a graphic rendering of this reply (though it does not appear in any of my volumes) during an evening reception in Chicago, only to be unexpectedly and forcefully rebuked by my host, a retired ambassador, who insisted that the story was apocryphal. I felt ashamed to have been caught telling it, being always so scornful myself of unauthenticated stories."
Sir Martin Gilbert worked under Churchill's son Randolph on the official Churchill biography and, when Randolph died, took over the job himself. It is said to be the longest biography ever written (I don't think it's finished yet!) and he is probably, therefore, the foremost authority on Churchill.
Churchill's assistant, Anthony Montague-Browne said that although Churchill had not himself uttered these famous words, he wished he had.
The problem is that the latest research shows that these words, wrongly attributed to Churchill, gave a wrong view on life in the navy in Nelson's day; in some ships, yes, but life was not like that everywhere.
Even though this was made clear in both the Foreword by Victor Sharman, and the note on the back cover by Peter Goodwin, one or two people in high places were not convinced that the title correctly reflected life in the Royal Navy at that time.
Nobody who has read the book has told me that the title is misleading in any way, or gives a wrong impression of life int the Royal Navy in those days.
For an interesting article on the alleged Churchill quotation and why it was somewhat misleading, see Channel 4
I mention above that I was warned shortly before the book's publication date that
the title had upset people in high places who said that I should have to prove
every singe word of the three-word title, as otherwise the title was misleading.
My answer was to the effect
that alcohol was a necessary part of a man's daily calorie intake, and was
used in place of tained water. Discipline had to be enforced, for everyone's safety,
although sodomy is, it is true, only touched on in 'RUM, SODOMY AND THE LASH'.
I added that the discussion seemed to verge on political correctness, up with which, to mis-quote Churchill again, I was not prepared to put.
I met the gentleman concerned (a well respected authority on all matters to do with Nelson and the naval history of the period) at the book signing at The Nelson Society's October 2002 AGM. I said I was sorry that he felt as he did about the book's title. He repeated his views, which I countered one by one, and sugested that he might care to read the book. He merely replied that I was over-reacting.
Since the book was published, I was sent a copy of an extact from the Naval Chronicle about an unfortunate young man who was hanged for sodomy, which I have reproduced here - see SODOMY - A HANGING - which, for the sake of completeness, I have now included in the latest print-run of the book
My attention has also been drawn to a recent article in The Times about homosexuality in the modern navy.
I am not personally interested in what sailors get up to, their sexual orientation or their private lives. However, because of the upset I have caused over the book's title, and the allegation that the title is misleading, I also reproduce the Times article here - see HOMOSEXUAL PRCTICES in the MODERN NAVY - but would not otherwise have done so.
I hope that these two extracts will help to dispel any doubts some people may, rightly or wrongly, have about the book's title
The Seige of Toulon, December 1793.