“I can’t believe
it’s been 45 years ...”
Douglas Reeman
(Photo by Kim Reeman)
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On 9 June 2003, Douglas Reeman marked the forty-fifth anniversary of the day in 1958 that British publisher Hutchinson released A Prayer for the Ship, his debut novel.
It was the beginning of a brilliant career as a novelist that has seen thirty-five titles published under his own name, and another twenty-six Bolitho adventures as Alexander Kent, including his latest, Man of War. Today there are more than 30 million copies of Kent and Reeman in print.
With his wife and literary partner, Kim (also an author), at his side, he continues to write at Blue Posts, their home in Surrey, alternating between Reeman and Kent titles.
The author recently spoke about his latest milestone, and books yet to come:
How did you react when you received a contract for A Prayer for the Ship?
Well, I was absolutely stunned, because it was three months before I heard anything from the publisher after I had sent up the manuscript. And when he asked to see me, I went to his office, and he was there with his chief editor. They talked about everything, everything you could think of, about me and my job, but not about the book at all. And then the publisher said, “Well, tell me Douglas, what are you writing now, at this moment?” So I said, “Well, nothing, this is the book, the work.” And he had a little chuckle, I suppose he’d heard it all before. And then he turned to me and said, “Well, look Douglas, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll give you a contract for this book - that was A Prayer for the Ship - and two more.”
I walked out then. I remember it very well, because publishers used to be in Great Portland Street then, another dingy street in London, and there was a bus queue outside. I remember walking past. I spread my arms, in fact I probably did a little jump, and said, “I’m a writer!”
How much time elapsed between that day and the day of publication?
I should think it was probably about nine months altogether, something like that.
And in the interim you were writing?
Yes, I started almost right away when he said I would have a contract for two more books. I didn’t know what I was going to write about, which is why the second book I wrote, High Water, was completely out of line with all the others. I was living aboard my boat at the time, so I met a lot of the people that I was writing about, would-be smugglers and people like that. It was quite fun, really.
As you were writing High Water, were you beginning to formulate in your mind where your writing would go in the future?
Yes, I was, because I had a bit to do with the old flat-bottomed river gunboats. I didn’t serve in one, or anything like that, but I’d always liked reading about them when I was a boy in Boy’s Own Paper and things like that. They’re very adventurous, you know. And I thought, well, I’ll put one of those in a story. So that’s what it was. I wrote the third book, which was called Send a Gunboat. Just by pure coincidence, somebody saw it somewhere and it was serialised in the Toronto Star Weekly. That’s how my American publisher at that time saw it. He came straight over to England and said, “Look, write a book for us, will you?”
Tell us about the day A Prayer for the Ship was published.
I was terribly excited. It was a working day for me. I had a day job. I was a children’s welfare officer for the old London County Council, looking after backward children and physically handicapped children and things like that. So I went to work as usual. It used to be quite a business, going to work, because I had to lower my dinghy and row across the river, and go off on the train. I didn’t even have a car in those days.
I went to the biggest book shop I could find in that part of London, and I said, “Have you got the new book A Prayer for the Ship?”
“No,” they said.
“Have you heard about this wonderful new author they’re talking about?”
“No,” they said.
And in fact the very first time I saw that book was in a library, Battersea Library, which was the part of London in which I was working at the time.
So there was no official launch.
No, there was only my local book shop in a place where I lived, a place called Esher, where my parents lived. They say - very cruelly, because the coaches used to run from there to Portsmouth - that a coachman was riding on the coach one day, and he had a terribly bad cold. Somebody stuck his head out of the coach and said, “What’s the name of this place, coachman?” And he said, “Escheww!!” Oh, Esher, is it?” the man replied, and that’s how it got its name. I don’t know whether it’s true or not.
The local book shop knew me very well, and they had a nice little spread and the local newspaper interviewed me, and one magazine, the Navy, of all things. They had a nice spread, too.
Ten years later, along came Richard Bolitho, and things had changed a bit for you.
Douglas Reeman ... 1968 when the Richard Bolitho novels were launched with To Glory We Steer.
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Yes, I’m afraid I had gotten rid of my beautiful boat - that was a sad parting, but there you are. The name ‘Richard Bolitho’ came quite by accident, because I took my boat over to the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands to a harbour called Gorey, which dries right out in low water. I left a bit late and I was worried I was going to go aground before I could get in. So I raced in alongside the jetty and got behind a beautiful boat called the Onward. I was so afraid I was going to hit it up the backside, that I was going too fast. Anyway, the owner appeared at that moment and he took my lines, and was very nice to me. He said, “Come and have a drink, tell me what’s happening in England. By the way, my name’s Bolitho, Captain Richard Bolitho.” So years later, when I actually started doing the first book, my American publisher said, “What are you going to call this guy.” And I said, “Richard Bolitho.” I wrote to the old chap afterwards. He was quite pleased. It’s a pretty common name in parts of Cornwall, of course. The Bolitho family were pretty powerful in that part of the world, mostly wine merchants, farmers, they even imported a special sort of flint for building churches.
Do you recall the day your first Bolitho novel, To Glory We Steer, was published in the UK?
I remember it very well, because I was so excited about it. I decided I was going to give a party, and I booked the Nelson Room in the Trafalgar Tavern at Greenwich. After I’d done it I was a bit worried about it, because it’s a long way for people to go to Greenwich out of central London. Everybody turned up, it was a great success. I had a lot of old friends there. I was a member of the Savage Club at the time in London, and a lot of actors came along. It was quite fun. It went off very well.
A Prayer for the Ship was published forty-five years ago this month. Could you possibly have envisioned writing thirty-five novels under your own name and another twenty-seven as Alexander Kent?
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vehicle tracking devices . Buy research papers from us Right Now. No, I can only say that when the first book was accepted I couldn’t think of doing anything else. I gave up my job and I was already thinking about the next one. Alexander Kent came along ten years later, and it was a different ballgame. I had always wanted to write about that period, I felt at home with it, and even when you’re in the navy it’s drummed into you from the start. They don’t talk about Jutland or the first Falklands War; it was always the age of sail. Tradition, loyalty, self-reliance, so writing about it seemed to be second nature to me once the first one was done.
If that first book had been turned down, that would have been the end of it. I would have thought I wasn’t really cut out for it. But when I wrote and asked for my manuscript of A Prayer for the Ship back (I had submitted it to three publishers simultaneously), as it had been accepted by Hutchinson, both of the other publishers said they would have taken it. I did only plan three Bolitho novels at the beginning, so the first ones weren’t written in sequence, and that kept me on my toes throughout.
Have the challenges in the research, preparation, writing, and editing your novels changed since A Prayer for the Ship?
When I started writing A Prayer for the Ship I had only my immediate experience in the navy and the war to guide me. Now, I must say that all the navies I’ve contacted, the Germans, the Americans, the Commonwealth navies, have all been very helpful, and the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian navies have invited me to visit ... the ‘Old Pals Act’. You can’t beat it.
The challenge remains the same after all these years: to be accurate, and, unlike some writers, never to talk down to your readers, as if they knew nothing. Also, to write a good story. That’s all, and that never changes. I still use a typewriter, my wife Kim edits all the books for me and puts them on the laptop, and is always ready to help and advise me.
The characters still take over; I don’t control them. Monsarrat told me once that he had to get rid of Bennett, the awful Australian in The Cruel Sea, because he was taking over the story. It happens. I’ve heard of one writer who, when asked by another, insisted he was always in control of his characters - how boring. I never felt I created Richard Bolitho, for instance. I always felt he chose me to tell his story. I regard myself as his secretary, but not really his creator.
Your stories are full of interesting details about naval strategy, seamanship, sailors’ skills, language, and a broad cast of characters. After all these years, how do you keep track of this volume of information?
I keep a log of every book I write, phase by phase, chapter by chapter. Characters are listed and the pages on which they appear noted; the notebooks take up a lot of room! I also have the master book on the Bolitho novels, a huge black file with every piece of information in it. It means that if you’re writing a book out of sequence you can look up everything in the book that either precedes or follows.
Man of War, your new Adam Bolitho novel, will be launched this month. Without giving away too much, what can you tell us about the story?
Man of War immediately follows Relentless Pursuit. Adam is deprived of his frigate and serves as flag captain to a vice-admiral who made his debut under Richard Bolitho as a midshipman, and has had a long connection with them both. We follow Adam to the Caribbean and continue his work with the anti-slavery patrols, as a consequence of which there is a very bloody conclusion, and personal tragedy as well. It will shock some people, but again, it was not something I planned or could control, and now looking back on it, it seems inevitable that it should have happened.
Have you determined Adam’s immediate future following Man of War?
Yes, but I have another Reeman book to write first.
You have contracted with your publishers to write a third ‘midshipman’ book about Richard Bolitho. Is this next on your Alexander Kent writing docket?
Yes. And it may even answer the long standing question, “Whatever happened to Martyn Dancer?” It’s a question I’ve been asked more often than any other. Even I don’t know the answer yet. I suppose if I knew the title of the book, it would give me some idea. All will be revealed!
What can you tell us about your next Douglas Reeman novel?
I’ve just started it. I don’t want to talk about it much, other than to say that it’s another in the Blackwood Royal Marines series, with a Far East setting. I can’t even pin it down to a date yet, really.
Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
After all this time, I can just say that I’m grateful for the help and support and participation of so many people, who like the books and make it seem so personal. I’m still looking for Mr or Mrs or Miss Average Reader, and there isn’t one. But every one of you has made my career a success. research is essential, but also meeting the people who read the books. It’s very important to me.
And no, I can’t believe it’s been forty-five years. I have been very, very fortunate to be able to do work I love, and get paid for it, and I know that people do enjoy my books, and, of course, my life has been changed and enriched beyond description as a consequence. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
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