It was when I bought the book “Costume close-up” by Baumgarten it all started for me. In that book I found this wonderful picture of a flowery jacket worn with a quilted petticoat. The whole silhouette was so beautiful and I fell in love with the little peplum and the wounderful simplicity of the outfit.

I immediately went to the fabric store and picked out some printed cotton. The little pink and violet flowers seemed to be made for some 18th century garnment. I also bought some ivory cotton for the linning, and some violet ribbon for the front lacing.

I enlarged the pattern from the book with the help of my computer and printer. I adjusted the pattern pieces after my measurments and started to cut out the fabric.

I sewed it all up by machine, and put the gromets in the front for lacing. It wasn’t until I finished the jacket I realised I had made it two inches too small. I’ve been too eager to get started to bother to make a mock-up and never stopped to test it while sewing. Even though it didn’t fit me I absolutely loved the jacket and decided to give it to my smaller little sister.

I’ve never gotten around to give it away and now, a year later, the jacket fits me like a glove.

By now I’ve also found a couple of things to change on it, like the gromets (I’m planning to cover them in thread) and I would have liked it to be completely hand-sewn. But anyhow I’m still really proud of it.

And here are som pictures of the jacket in action – paired with a green petticoat I will tell you about next time.

This entry in the diary of Captain Cook chronicles the crew’s reaction to running aground on the Great Barrier Reef in the summer of 1770. In The Compass, the short story prequel to The Phoenix Reich, the motley crew of Jack Staples, Charles Kensington, and James Russell embark on a hunt to recover Captain Cook’s lost compass.

In this Friday’s editions of the Facts of Fiction, let’s find out the truth about Captain Cook’s compass.

Click here to get THE COMPASS for only $1.99 on AMAZON today!

First off, let’s check out an excerpt from the first few pages of The Compass…

‘We had no chance to lighten her,’ the famed navigator James Cook said of the HMS Endeavour. When the poor Brit’s ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770 on a transpacific voyage, he and his crew were forced to have various supplies and cargo ‘thrown overboard with the utmost expedition.’

The Endeavour set sail from England in ’68 with two azimuth compasses. It returned with one. Kensington had seen the instrument himself at the State Library of New South Wales on his first holiday to Australia. The existence of the compass stood undisputed, but there whereabouts? Fortunately Captain Cook kept good records. Accurate records. Of everywhere he sailed.

Did you catch that? Two compasses. Below is a pic of one of them. But what ever become of the other?

Visitors to the Library of New South Wales can check this bad boy out!

As a novelist, I had to postulate when I first learned of this discrepancy. The possibility that the second compass was accidentally chucked into the sea when the Endeavour hit the reef is not lost on this guy. And the fact that Captain Cook recorded the exact location of the incident proved a perfect inspiration for a story. What if a plucky team of adventurers searched this part of the reef? Or maybe one of you has already. Hmm…questions…

So, there you have it, folks! The Facts of Fiction. What are your thoughts? Is Captain Cook’s lost compass still hangin’ out on the reef after all these years? If you can organize an expedition to go check, let me know. I’ll be the first one in the water, mate.

To read Joshua Lisec’s The Compass for only $1.99 on your Kindle in just a few minutes, head on over to Amazon.com today! Here’s the full scoop on what you’ll get…

An American, an Englishman, and an Australian walk into a massage parlour…

Cairns, Australia, 1991. Archeologist wunderkind Jack Staples is the talk of the telly once again. Discoverers of the lost compass of Captain James Cook, Staples and his best friend and protégé Charles Kensington are on holiday in the Land Down Under, sitting on their find as offers from museums and auction houses pour in.

But when the compass is stolen by an antiquities trafficker known as the Waltzing Matilda, Staples and Kensington are joined by the pride of Sydney’s police force, Detective Sergeant James Russell. The Aussie’s incognito scheme gets the trio inside the crime lord’s center of operations, a sleazy massage parlour. But a brief conversation with the Matilda will send the trio on an adventure of prehistoric proportions.

Only $3.95 on Amazon.com, folks! Cheaper than a cup o’ java these days.

The Phoenix Reich is also on sale on Amazon.com today for only $3.95! Find the killer, restore your father’s legacy, save the world…all before finals week.

Readers have been calling The Phoenix Reich “a destined bestseller,” “super suspense,” ” a Hardy-Boys-Meets-Indiana-Jones novel that will likely have a long run as a YA favorite,” and “a great deal of fun to read.”

Every college student has a hero within. Join Max Meyers as he finds his…with the fate of the world at stake.

This article is actually a short biography of William Blake and a quick study of his poem “London”.

Who is William Blake?

William Blake was a British poet and illustrator who lived in the 18th century (before Dickens). His tormented drawings reflected his complex personality. He mainly used dark colors. In 1794 (in the midst of political and economical revolutions), he published his most famous books: “Songs of innocence” and “Songs of experience”. Through those books, the author wanted to show two contrasts in man-kind: on one side the “innocence” -which is the positive part- and on the other the “experience” -which is the (very) pessimistic part-.

In “Songs of experiences”, the main topics are urbanization, poverty, prostitution, social inequalities, the power of the state and church and child labor. Here’s a short study about Blake’s poem : “London” (which is part of the “Songs of experience”).

London:

Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

—————————————–

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

—————————————–

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls

—————————————–

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

Main topics: poverty, prostitution, power of the church and state, child labor.

1) Who does the speaker talk about?

In this poem, men, children, chimney sweepers, soldiers and prostitutes are mentioned. All of them are in deep grief and seem helpless. Sorrow embraces their soul.

2) Which monuments are mentioned here? Who  do they represent? Why?

The author talks about the church : ” blackning Church appalls” representing the monks, priests and pope and the Buckingham Palace: ” Palace walls ” representing the royal family. Those two monuments symbolize the two dominant powers of the 18th century: the power of the church and the power of the state. They are evoked through allegories to  avoid censorship. Indeed, censorship was a very serious matter back then and there was a huge lack of liberty.

3) What image of London is given to us?

A very negative image of London is here displayed. As part of the “Songs of experience”, this poem expresses a lot of sadness, sorrow and despair. The atmosphere is very gloomy. London appears as a dark and dreadful city. We can really feel that the people are suffering. If London was “alive”, it would probably weep …

Some analysis elements:

• “every” is repeated seven times. It concerns everyone except the royals, the religious cast and the aristocrats.
• “charter’d” means “chart” (rules you must respect)
• anaphora of “marks” : poor people are marked by sadness and compared to cattles
• “cry” : shows the sadness of the people
• “manacles” : lack of freedom, jail, censorship
• Stanza 3 : Blake wanted people to start a revolution
• “Marriage hearse” : A woman who was married was “imprisoned” for  life and then headed to the cimetery

That’s it for this short analysis…It’s not very joyful but we can really see the reality of life in the 18th century in London.

(picture credit: NatMonney deviantart – no copyright infringement intended; for educational purposes)

The Duke by Goya. Image: NGL

The Hon. Arthur Wesley was born the second son of an Irish peer in the County of Meath, Southern Ireland. As a child he did not much impress either his peers or his parents, and the only great skill he showed was with a violin, which he played with exceptional skill. He studied for a short while at Eton, but it was at Angers in the military academy there, that he really found his calling. He returned to England in 1787 and immediately impressed everyone with his dramatic change of countenance and confidence, Arthur had found his calling, and it was to be the military. That year he was gazetted as an Ensign to the 73rd (Highland Regiment). By 1791 he was a Captain, but as is known, this was less to do with his military prowess and more to do with the buying of commissions; mostly with money lent to him by his older brother, Richard.

In the year 1793 Arthur turned his back on the artistic lifestyle in which his father (who was Professor of Music at Trinity College Dublin) and his mother had brought him up. In order to show he was serious about his new career, he burnt his violin; and never played again. In the same year he commissioned as a Major into the famous 33rd Regiment of Foot. In September of the same year he became a Lieutenant-Colonel. Although it was with his regiment that he would win some of his most famous and glorious battles, he saw very little impressive action until 1796, when he sailed to India. In these years he represented the Constituency of Trim in Ireland, as had many of his family before him. Very few paintings of him exist before his victorious return from India, but a half-length by John Hoppner, still in the family collection, is perhaps the most precious record of what the young Arthur looked like, fresh-faced and confident, with the powdered hair that he would so soon cast off in the murderous heat of India.

Image: Government Art Collection

In India, Arthur acted as his elder brother’s unofficial adviser, Richard having been made Governor-General of India. In 1799 Arthur would make his name in the famous battle of Seringapatam, in which he defeated the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan, who had aligned himself with the French. After the battle, Arthur was made Governor of Seringapatam, and under his guidance helped restore the town there into order again. He continued to secure the area, namely with the defeat of Dhoondiah in the following year. In 1803 he was promoted to Major-General, and the following exceptional battles took place in 1803: Assaye, Arguam and Gawilghur. In 1804 he was awarded the Order of the Bath, a great honour. The news took months to reach India, first being published in Madras in March 1805. When the medal finally reached Arthur in the hands of his friend Sir John Craddock, the hero was sound asleep, so Craddock pinned it to his chest; and let him sleep on. Although offered the command of the Bombay Army, Arthur was ready to come home. He believed ‘I have served as long in India as any man ought who can serve anywhere else’; he was ready to leave behind the country forever. Perhaps he knew that his skills as a leader could be put to better use on the European stage. He requested his return to England as a reward for being awarded the Order of the Bath, and arrived home on 10th September 1805.

On his return he (rather surprisingly) renewed his pursuit of Kitty Packenham, the pretty daughter of another minor Irish peer. Having had his suit turned down before his departure for India, on the account of his poor credit and what was still considered them to be poor career prospects, this time round his warmly welcomed into the Packenham family. This was due of course to the fantastic sum of money he had made during his adventures in India, his fame in the English papers, and the fact that he was now a Colonel. Arthur and Kitty were married, despite the fact that neither had seen the other since before Arthur’s departure, and no correspondence had passed between the would-be lovers during their separation. Sadly, Kitty had lost the lustre of her youth and English-rose beauty which had so attracted Arthur to her. The marriage was not a success, although it did bear two sons, who would become the 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Wellington respectively.

In the wider political sphere, Napoleon’s return had returned from Egypt and was turning his attention on the European stage. Arthur now had the change to prove himself on a stage nearer home. As the Peninsular War commenced in 1808, Arthur was made a Lieutenant-General and in July he sailed to Portugal to command some 10,000 men against the French. As a contemporary wrote around this time: ‘I was much struck by his countenance and his quick glancing eye, prominent nose and pressed lip, and saw, very distinctly marked, the steady presence of mind and imperturbable decision of character, so essential in a leader’ (Lieutenant Moyle Sherer).

Several famous battles followed, including the Battle of Rolica and Vimeiro, after which he was forced to return to England for a short time during the scandal caused by the signing of the Convention of Cintra, which have the surrendering French rights beyond which the English people felt they deserved. After the death of Sir John Moore in 1809 Arthur returned to Portugal, where he forced the passage of the River Douro. He then crossed the border into France and beat the enemy at Talavera on the 27-28th June. For this success he was risen to the peerage and took the title of Baron Douro of Wellesley. He was later made a Viscount, Viscount Wellington, the name chosen for him by his brother William. Wellington liked the name immensely.

After French reinforcements arrived, Wellington retreated back and took the brave measure of waiting for the enemy to advance on him. It appeared to all that he was trapped, and that he was making a grave error. Wellington, however, had great confidence, and so he created the defence system known as the Lines of Torres Vedras. His plan worked, and Wellington was able to force back the French troops, led by Massena, all the way back to Salamanca. At the siege of Badajoz he was not successful, losing thousands of men. However, he finally managed to capture the city fortress, with great cost of lives, on 6th April 1812. For this achievement, Wellington was made an Earl, and later Duke of Cuidad Rodrigo. After the Battle of Salamanca on 22nd July Wellington marched into Madrid victorious. This took place on 12th August. In the same month he was elevated to a Marquess, the Marquess of Douro, and granted £100,000 from Parliament. He was also appointed Generalissimo of the Spanish Armies.

This short victory was tempered by the failure to capture Burgos, even after a months siege. Wellington fell back to the Portuguese frontier where all the allied forces gathered together. The year was now 1813, and Wellington’s name was famous all across Europe. All the hopes of the English peoples, who feared a French invasion, where lain on his shoulders. Advancing into Spain, Wellington fought at the Battle of Vittoria, in which the French lost around 5000 men, as well as most of their guns and stores. After the battle, the carriage of Joseph Bonaparte, who was attempting the flee the battle, was captured. Inside was discovered hundreds of priceless Old Master paintings. As a gift of thanks from the restored Spanish Monarch after the Peninsular War, Wellington was allowed to keep them, and they formed the basis of the collection at Apsley House. After this successful battle Wellington was promoted to Field-Marshal, and was gifted an estate in Spain. After Wellington had successfully forced the French army back into the own country, it was announced that Napoleon had abdicated.

Watercolour, 1814. By Juan Bauzil. Very little is known about this artist. Image: NPG

Once peace was declared, Wellington became Ambassador in Paris, and enjoyed the hospitality of the city which was suddenly filled with people from all over Europe. Wellington entertained them all, in a lavish house (now the French Embassy), as the newly appointed 1st Duke of Wellington. He was bestowed with all the orders that Europe could fling at him, and many gifts made their way into his hands. However, peace was not to last and Wellington was called upon to once again show the military skill which enabled to manipulate the field of battle so expertly during the Peninsular War. Napoleon returned from his place of exile on the Isle of Elba, and the field of battle was chosen to be in Brussels, near a place no one had ever heard of, called Waterloo.

This was surely to become the most famous battle in British History. Without Wellington’s victory, Napoleon’s troops could have successfully re-invaded Spain and Portugal, easily crossing the sea and invading England too. The battle took place on 15th June, 1815. But it was not a sure victory, in fact Wellington was sure that it was the closest rung battle of his life. At first it seemed that Napoleon and his French guns would succeed, but they failed to overcome the British on their first attempt, and were forced back. Fierce battles took place all day, and it seemed that either side could win if they held out for the other to collapse. Luckily for Wellington Blucher and the Prussian Army arrived at the ninth hour, and was able to provide the backup needed to crush the French armies and achieve a victory for Wellington and the allied forces.

Detail: brush, scrubber, files, scrapers, bottle, knife, brazier, sponge, sword hilt, bench, tub, workmen, workshop, vice, hearth, bellows, chair, basin

In an era before refrigeration, and Heinz’s 57 varieties, wooden sailing ships were often laden with a huge variety of livestock, including cats, dogs, chickens, geese, and even cattle. The lives these critters led were sometimes as epic and noteworthy as those of the globe-trotting Jack Tars who berthed alongside them.

Lieutenant James Cook (1728-1779) was dedicated to the health of his crews, and felt sure they would reap the benefits of having fresh milk during his first great voyage of 1768 – 1771. With this in mind, he took a milch goat aboard HMS Endeavour, for his celebrated expedition to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus, a voyage that entailed the circumnavigation of the globe. This goat was already a seafaring veteran. After serving on land in the West Indies for three years, Captain Samuel Wallis (1728-1795) had her put aboard HMS Dolphin for his own circumnavigation in 1766.

On her return to England with Cook, she was pensioned off by the Admiralty, and enjoyed ‘good English pasture’ for the rest of her days. Not once did her milk run dry, and Dr. Samuel Johnson (who met Cook, and knew his shipmate, the botanist and man-about-town Sir Joseph Banks) penned a Latin couplet about her, which was emblazoned on a collar and put around her neck. It read,

PERPETUA AMBITA BIS TERRA PRAEMIA LACTIS,
HAEC HABET ALTRICI CAPRA SECUNDA JOVIS.

Johnson’s sycophantic hanger-on, James Boswell, later translated and expanded this as follows…

In fame scarce second to the nurse of Jove,
This goat, who twice the world had traversed round,
Deserving both her master’s care and love,
Ease and perpetual pasture now has found.

In one of those inconvenient twists which too often besmirch true stories, she died not long after her retirement.

A rather more long-lived sailing companion of Cook, this time on his third and final great voyage, was a radiated tortoise from Madagascar called Tu’i Malila. It is thought that Cook (by now a Captain in charge of HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery) gave the tortoise as a gift to the people of Tonga in 1777, and he soon became a valued member of the island’s royal household. In fact, his name means ‘king of the royal residence’. He had a habit of straying from home, however, and seems to have been highly accident-prone. He was singed in a grass fire, kicked by a horse, and a carriage’s wheel once ran over him. When he was a boy, the Tongan king used to ride around on his back.

He was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Tonga in 1953 (left). In spite of his hard life, he was clearly as tough as old boots because he didn’t die until 1965, when his age was at least 188 years. Mortal remains purporting to be those of Tu’i are now on display in the Museum of the Tongan National Centre. I believe he is the second-longest-lived tortoise on record, after Adwaita, a 255-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise, who was given as a gift to General Robert Clive of India by British sailors who had captured him at the Seychelles.

Own your own copy of The Gin Lane Gazette today!