| FOR THOSEWHO STILL LIKE A GOOD BOOK
Sharpe Returns! |
| Sharpe is still going strong. He has fought from Talavera
to Waterloo and even beyond, and now I'm describing his battles in India before the
beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe's Tiger is the first of those books, and that
will be published in the States this October (it's been out in Britain since early
summer), and I am just finishing Sharpe's Triumph that ends at the dreadful battle of
Assay. That battle is crucially important in Sharpe's career, for it was at Assaye, on
September 23rd 1803, that he saves Wellesley's life, and Wellesley, of course, goes on to
become the Duke of Wellington and Sharpe's reluctant patron. I say reluctant because
Wellesley did not approve of officers who did madly heroic things, he much preferred good
steady regimental fellows, and he certainly disapproved of men being promoted from the
ranks ("they always take to drink"). Nevertheless he is lumbered with Sharpe,
and Sharpe with him, and much good they do each other. Whether, in truth, anyone saved
Wellesley's life at Assaye we do not know, all we know is that the General was unhorsed
and had to fight with his own sword for a few desperate moments. He never talked about it,
which leaves a gap for the historical novelist to fill. I keep thinking that the current Sharpe book is the last, but he keeps coming back to my life, and I know there will be one more after Sharpe's Triumph. Maybe more. Whether there will be any more TV films I don't know. I hope so, for I hugely enjoyed Sean Bean's portrayal, and I know that the producers are very keen to film Sharpe's Tiger, but these things cost a vast amount of money so all I can do is pray for them and keep on hoping. In the meantime I shall keep Richard Sharpe marching, and keep him fighting, and keep hoping that you will go on enjoying the books.
Bernard Cornwell |
Napoleonic Shipwreck Reveals Battle Royale |
|
rchaeologists diving in the Mediterranean east of Alexandria, Egypt, have found artifacts from L'Orient, the flagship of Napoleon's fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Cannon, navigational instruments, swords and personal items such as belt buckles, pipes, shoes and tobacco tins have been found in and around the shell of the vessel, which exploded 200 years ago after being set on fire by Lord Horatio Nelson's fleet in a crucial battle, according to today's London Times. Nelson was an admiral best known for his defeat of Napoleon's navy at the Battle of Trafalgar. But his rise to prominence within the Royal Navy was set in motion by his victory at the Battle of The Nile in 1798. Catching the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, he destroyed it. "The explosion must have been enormous," says Franck Goddio, leader of the diving team, from his Paris home. Contemporary reports describe how the blast was seen 25 miles away in Alexandria. "We are finding objects from the ship dispersed over an area of half to three-quarters of a mile. And one gun weighing six tons had been blown half a mile," he says. The diving team is also finding hundreds of gold, silver and copper coins from the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI as well as the period of the French Revolution. "It is remarkable to think of fighting men after the Revolution carrying coins bearing the likenesses of the hated kings they had helped to overthrow," Goddio says. The remains are easily accessible in about 35 feet of water. "Although the ship now forms two mounds about 13 feet high, they are covered by 6 feet of sand and sediment. It is exciting exploration. Everywhere we look we find something from the battle," Goddio tells the Times. Goddio is in no doubt about having found L'Orient, for a bronze rudder support bears her original name from the 1760s -- Le dauphin royal. Another intriguing find has been a series of individual characters from a printing set. "We are finding dozens of letters, scattered everywhere. We know Napoleon carried a printing press with him, for making announcements to his generals and the conquered Egyptians, but it is amazing to find the evidence all over the seabed," Goddio says. |
