Stop Press! 10 Top Tips for Writing Press Releases

Posted on April 20, 2018 by

Got news? If you want to announce something to the world – for example, a new product or an event – then you need to get your story out there. But how?

Even in the age of social media, it pays to write a press release. There is a skill to doing this. So here are some tips to get you started.

Every news story should cover the five essential ‘W’s: Who, What, Where, Why and When (not necessarily in that order). There is also the ‘H’ element that is often key to a news narrative: How. The degree and order in which you cover these depends on the story.

Visualise the press release as an inverted triangle. All key information goes in the first paragraph. You then expand this in subsequent paragraphs with the least relevant information in the last one. This allows editors to cut your text without having to spend too much time on it – a real plus for busy journalists.

In total, your press release should fit onto one side of A4 and not exceed 450 words.

Here are 10 tips for writing a press release and sending it out:

1. First Paragraph: This usually consists of ‘What’. However, if it is a celebrity scandal, it will focus more on Who. The first sentence, or lead, should be no more than 25 words, preferably less. It encapsulates the story. For instance, a local news story may start something like this:

A giant marrow weighing 80 lbs has won first prize in a national competition. (14 words)

You can follow this up with an interesting teaser:

The super-sized veg piled on the pounds by guzzling 20 gallons of beer a day.

N.B.: Never start the first paragraph with a quote.

2. Second Paragraph: Focus on the five “W”s. In general news stories, this is usually Who and Where. However, in major news stories, ‘When’ may be of much greater importance and appear in the first or second paragraphs for instance when reporting a crime or major accident.

To continue our local news story:

Pensioner Fred Bloggs grew the monstrous marrow on his allotment. Mr Bloggs, 76, of Froggett-on-the-Mould said: “I’m thrilled. I’ve been growing vegetables for 20 years but I’ve never had anything like this”.

N.B.: For this kind of story, the second or third paragraph is a good place to include a quote.

3. Third Paragraph: Expand on the details of the story.

Mr Bloggs, who won £100 in the National Squash Growers Competition, fed his marrow on a secret formula whose main ingredient was beer. In the last days before the competition, he slept alongside his marrow on the allotment to protect it from jealous rivals.

4. Fourth Paragraph: More detail (we’re getting into the ‘cuttable’ zone here). You can include another quote or additional, less important details.

“You can’t trust anyone,” said Mr Bloggs. “That’s why I don’t tell anyone the exact ingredients of my liquid marrow feed. Marrow-growing is a highly competitive hobby.”

N.B. If your eyelids start to flicker and you begin to yawn, that’s a good indication of where the editor’s red pen will strike!

5. Fifth Paragraph: Definitely ‘cuttable’ details.

Mr Bloggs will receive his prize at the National Squash Growers’ annual dinner at Binhampton Town Hall on 25 September.

6. Contact Details: Always include the following information at the end of your press release: *website address, email, telephone and name of a contact.

7. Photos: Include some relevant, high resolution photographs. Journalists are hard-pressed for time and the inclusion of a photo not only makes their job easier but makes it more likely that your story will be accepted.

8. Where to send your press release: Do your homework first. Focus on media that will be interested in your story. For instance, The Times may not be interested in a Golden Wedding, but a local paper probably will be. Try local/regional magazines (many of which also have an online edition). Don’t limit your efforts to paid-for press, there are lots of excellent local free papers and magazines and community publications (including parish magazines). Don’t limit yourself to print. Send your press release to local radio and TV stations (including digital stations).

9. How to send your press release: Details of where to send press releases are usually included under the ‘Contact Us’ link on the relevant publication’s website. Send your press release and photos as an attachment to an email. However, it is a good idea also to copy the press release text into the body of your covering email in case the attachment cannot be opened.

10. *Website: Haven’t got one? Then get one now. If you have got one but have not visited it recently, do so again. Journalists can glean a lot of information from websites – it saves them a lot of work. Post relevant information about yourself and your subject on your website, keep it up-to-date and make sure that it is easy to find.

About the author: I am an author of historical fiction. My first book The Devil Dancers is set against the turbulent backdrop of 1950s Ceylon. My second book Barley Bread and Cheese is a collection of short stories inspired by Rochester Cathedral. I am currently working on my third book, a novel which explores an unusual angle of World War II.

To find out more, click here to visit my homepage.

Posted in Barley Bread and Cheese, The Devil Dancers, women writers, writing, Writing Advice, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Slobs vs Workaholics: 10 Resolutions for the New Year

Posted on January 1, 2018 by

Time for new resolutions

It doesn’t matter which category you fall into. Somewhere out there is a resolution that you can keep.

The problem for most of us is that many resolutions are of long duration and require a good deal of effort.

For that reason, I suggest starting off with one of the Slobs’ resolutions. Why?

It’s simple. A Slobs’ Resolution can be fulfilled without stirring from the couch. Bliss.

5 RESOLUTIONS FOR SLOBS

The festive season puts us in a perfect position to feel positive – mainly because it only comes once a year, it consists of unusual excess and many of us are glad when it’s finished.

Eat less: Not a difficult one to keep after Christmas. Any reduction after that mighty binge has got to be an improvement.

Exercise more: Likewise. Even a quick canter to the fridge and back equates to a marathon at this stage. Just wiggling your toes is exercise (well, according to me it is).

Keep a tighter control of finances: With all those bills looming, this is a necessity not a choice for most of us.

Learn something new: Unless you’re living in a cave, you can’t avoid it. Everyone watches the news, don’t they?

Stop procrastinating. Ouch! This is getting painful. Never mind. You can read my 10 Tips for dealing with it in a sitting or lying position.

5 RESOLUTIONS FOR WORKAHOLICS

The next 5 resolutions are the tricky ones because they require real effort.

Acquire a new skill: From crosswords to languages, painting to pottery, there is something out there for you.

The trick is to find something that will fire your imagination and hold your interest. (*See suggestions below).

Finish that book/story: Many people begin to write, but few stay the course.

Going the whole distance requires total focus. It is lonely. But if the thought of becoming an anti-social ogre does not fill you with horror, this is the goal for you.

(‘Tis the season for ghost stories so why not read my blog on What Makes a Great Ghost Story and write one yourself? My blog 10 Creepy Choices for a Rattling Good Read also has some suggestions that may inspire you).

Discover a weakness (one of yours!) and tackle it: This is subjective and needs some serious introspection.

Note: This requires peace and quiet, not another spell on the couch in front of the telly!

Banish the cat, dog, bird: Alternatively, banish yourself.

Having moved my PC to a nice light room downstairs, I have also moved into the cat’s range of vision.

My concentration is frequently interrupted by frantic meows for: food, affection, shelter, any damn thing that takes his fancy. I am already planning a removal upstairs.

Make new friends: It’s a sad truth but the passage of a year usually marks the disappearance of one or more friends.

The result? An emotional backlash of grief, anger and loss that can be debilitating. Time to top up the friend-bank.

Get out there and meet new people and, while you’re doing it, enjoy yourself.

The best resolution is to have fun!

*Whet your appetite for learning with a MOOC (a Massive Open Online Course).

These are generally free and offer tasters of subjects including archaeology, history, IT, languages and medicine.

Some of the best-known providers of MOOCs are: edx and Futurelearn.

In addition, the Open Culture site offers links to all kinds of free online courses and resources including MOOCs, language courses, textbooks, movies and a range of other culture-related subjects.

Posted in 2018, Archaeology, Christmas, Courses, Crosswords, Culture, exercise, Festivals, Fiction, finances, Food, ghost stories, History, IT, Languages, Learning, MOOC, Movies, New Year, Painting, Pottery, Resolutions, Short stories, writing, Writing Advice, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plum Pudding, riots and lechery: Christmas in the 17th century

Posted on December 22, 2017 by

Christmas pudding cartoon in the 1884 Christmas edition of The Figaro

In 1644, the Puritans gained control of Parliament. With Grinch-like fervour they set about cancelling Christmas. At a stroke, the traditional 12-day festival – a prolonged period of merriment and revelry characterised by rich food, dancing and excess – was banned.

The Puritans regarded Christmas celebrations as sinful, ‘giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights’. Even worse, the traditional decorations of holly, ivy, rosemary and bays were pagan.

To bring the country to its senses – or its knees – Christmas Day was initially turned into a day of fasting and repentance until, in June 1647, it was abolished altogether.

This extremist Puritan attitude was typified by one ‘Praise-God Barebone’, a leather-seller in London’s Fetter Lane who is described by historian Walter Thornbury as “one of those gloomy religionists who looked on surplices, plum-porridge, theatres, dances, Christmas pudding, and homicide as equally detestable, and did his best to shut out all sunshine from that long, rainy, stormy day that is called life”.

So extreme was the Puritan intolerance of Christmas that special constables were appointed to search ovens on Christmas Day and confiscate any food being prepared for the festival!

This went down badly with the people of Kent who – like many of their compatriots – were addicted to the festive season. The matter came to a head in Canterbury resulting in what became known as the ‘Plum Pudding Riots’.

At this time, the city had a particularly severe – and humourless – Puritan as mayor who encouraged a mob to “insult and molest” church-goers on Christmas Day. This led to an unseemly brawl which – although quietened by the intercession of three leading citizens – resulted in armed forces being sent in to attack the city. The city gates were torn down and burned, parts of the wall were destroyed and many people – including the peace-makers – were sent to prison.

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Christmas celebrations were reinstated and church-going once more became a part of the festive calendar. However, notes from the diary of Samuel Pepys reveal that his attendance at church served a purpose other than that of salvation.

On 3rd December 1665, Pepys noted with evident pleasure that, in church, he sat “very near my fat brown beauty of our Parish, the rich merchant’s lady”.

His entry for Christmas Day reveals an even deeper streak of cynicism. A wedding was held during the Christmas service and, having noted the young couple’s apparent happiness, Pepys remarks: “strange to see what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition, every man and woman gazing and smiling at them”.

Perhaps the Puritans had a point!

 

Posted in 12 days of Christmas, 17th century, Canterbury, Christmas, Christmas pudding, Festivals, Food, Grinch, History, Pepys, Plum Pudding, Puritans, Riots | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bulls, Bears, Tippling and Lewder Places: The Thames Frost Fair of 1684

Posted on December 8, 2017 by

The Frost Fair 1683 – 4 by Thomas Wyke

Over a period of 250 years, the River Thames froze so hard that its icy expanse provided the venue for a special festival: the Frost Fair. The reason for the big freeze was a combination of exceptionally hard winters and the unique, medieval construction of London Bridge which slowed the flow of the water.

Between 1564 to 1814, at least nine Frost Fairs were held featuring sports, food tents, pubs, coffee-houses, all manner of trades (including a seller of insurance) and even a lottery.

Of all of the Frost Fairs, that of 1684 is one of the best-documented thanks to John Evelyn. A courtier, man of affairs and founder of the Royal Society, Evelyn took a keen interest in the world around him, recording his observations in a diary which opens a fascinating window onto 17th century Britain.

On 1st January, Evelyn notes: The weather continuing intolerably severe, so as streets of booths were set upon the Thames.”

Just over a week later, he records that: “I went across the Thames upon the ice (which was now become so incredibly thick, as to bear not only whole streets of booths in which they roasted meat and had divers shops of wares, quite cross as in a town, but coaches and carts and horses passed over)”.

Within days, the Fair had turned into an extension of the City with booths arranged in formal streets with ‘all sorts of trades and shops furnished and full of commodities, even to a printing press where the people and ladies took a fancy to having their names printed and the day and the year set down when printed on the Thames.”

Apparently, these commemorative cards became such a craze that printers could make up to five pounds a day ‘for printing a line only at six-pence a name’. Printers also sold ballads, some specially composed in honour of the occasions such as ‘Freezland-Fair or the icey Bear-Garden’.

Map of the Frost Fair 1683

For travellers, the River provided a convenient highway. After dining with the Archbishop one night, Evelyn made his way home by “walking over the ice from Lambeth stairs to Horse Ferry”.

During the Frost Fair, various modes of transport were seen on the Thames. Coaches provided transport from Westminster to the Temple while sleds glided along on skates.

The River also provided an arena for a variety of sports such as: ‘bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks and tippling, and lewder places; so as it seemed to be a bacchanalia.’

By the end of January, the Fair had grown to such a size that it ‘was become a camp, ten thousands of people, coaches, carts and all manner of sports continuing and increasing’.

However, while the Fair resembled a ‘carnival on the water’, Evelyn notes that it was ‘a severe judgement on the land’ with trees ‘splitting as if lightening-struck, men and cattle perishing in divers places and the very seas so locked up with ice that no vessels could stir out or come in’.

Fuel became so expensive that the poor had to rely on charitable donations to stay alive and the fumes from sea-coal became so dense ‘that hardly could one see cross the street, and this filling the lungs with its gross particles exceedingly obstructed the breast, so as one could scarce breathe’. In addition to these difficulties, Evelyn also notes that there was a severe outbreak of small-pox.

A keen gardener and horticultural author, Evelyn was dismayed at the toll taken by the severe weather on wildlife and vegetation, noting that birds, fish and exotic plants died and deer parks were destroyed.

On a personal level, the greatest loss to Evelyn was the destruction of many items in his garden at Sayes Court.

He records that: ‘I found many of the greens and rare plants utterly destroyed; the oranges and myrtles very sick, the rosemary and laurel dead to all appearance’. The one spark of hope was that his cypress tree was ‘likely to endure it out’.

The first sign of a thaw came on 4th February when, despite a new freeze, all the booths on the Thames were taken down. More welcome news came a few days later when the sea-ports were once more accessible to ships, Evelyn noting gleefully that: ‘After 8 weeks missing the foreign posts, there came abundance of intelligence from abroad’.

After six weeks of extreme weather, the great freeze was over. However, many souvenirs of the Frost Fair remained including ballads, printed cards, pictures and a map cut in copper ‘representing all the manner of the camp and the several actions, sports and pastimes thereon in memory of this signal frost’.

Sadly, Frost Fairs are a thing of the past due to warmer winters and the construction of a new bridge in 1831. However, they are not forgotten and visitors to London can see a depiction of the Frost Fair in the pedestrian tunnel under Southwark Bridge on the south side of the Thames. This consists of five large slate slabs engraved by sculptor Richard Kindersley. This impressive artwork includes a rhyme inspired by handbills printed during the Frost Fairs.

 

Posted in 17th century, Diarists, Frost Fair, History, John Evelyn, London, London Bridge, Pepys, River Thames, Royal Society, Sayes Court, Southwark | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

10 Creepy Choices for a Rattling Good Read (+ 4 great films)

Posted on October 30, 2017 by

While not all the books on my top 10 Creepy Choices are ghost stories,  I think you’ll agree that they all deliver a certain frisson. For good measure, I’ve also added four films that never cease to get my heart racing, even though I know what will happen next (or, perhaps because I know!)

Having read quite a few of these stories while researching a recent workshop on writing the supernatural and sinister, I was surprised to spot several key themes common to both ancient and modern works such as Beowulf (7th century) and stories by Susan Hill and Henry James.

For instance:

  • An isolated house in the marshes haunted by a child and its mother
  • A stranger who arrives to confront them
  • A number of terrible deaths

In fact, there are even links with the film Alien if you think about it.

What also occurred to me on a  re-reading is how cleverly Henry James plays with our perception of the truth in the Turn of the Screw. Interestingly, a friend confirmed what I thought about this story. On a first reading, you accept it  at face value. However, on a second, more critical reading, you begin to pick up on the many contradictions that James has deliberately planted in the text. No wonder that this work is still a subject of heated debate.

While Donna Tartt’s The Secret History may not seem an obvious choice, it’s the only one that caused me to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because I dreamed that I was one of the participants in the events described by the narrator. That’s really getting under the skin of a reader!

I’ve listed my top 10 spine-tinglers below (in no particular order) along with four films that always have the power to scare me, even though I know what’s coming.

What would you add to the list?

Books:

  1. The Woman in Black                            Susan Hill
  2. The Mist in The Mirror                        Susan Hill
  3. The Turn of the Screw                          Henry James
  4. The Bloody Chamber                           Angela Carter
  5. Frankenstein                                         Mary Shelley 
  6.                                     
  7. Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook                M.R. James
  8. The Signalman                                     Charles Dickens
  9. Beowulf                                                 Seamus Heaney
  10. The Day of the Triffids                       John Wyndham
  11. Hawksmoor                                         Peter Ackroyd
  12. The Secret History                             Donna Tartt

Films:

  1. Alien
  2. The Blair Witch Project
  3. The Birds
  4. Psycho
Posted in Angela Carter, Books, Charles Dickens, Donna Tartt, Fiction, ghost stories, Halloween, Henry James, John Wyndham, M. R. James, M.R. James, Mary Shelley, Myth, Peter Ackroyd, Seamus Heaney, Short stories, Susan Hill, Vampires | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Vampires, Witches, Myths and Magical Realism

Posted on October 30, 2017 by

For readers and writers of supernatural stories who are weary of the well-trodden themes of the genre, research can provide new material and a fresh approach.

It will help you to understand how some of the common elements of supernatural stories have developed and give you an insight into the psychology of fear.

Supernatural stories usually consist of two opposing forces: superstition and rationality, innocence and guilt, gullibility and cunning.

Considering the origins of many of these supernatural elements will not dissolve the mystery, but deepen it by leading you into some dark corners of the human psyche.

Vampires

Historically, there is a connection between the plague, vampires and the beginning of forensic science.

In times of plague, there were mass burials. Cemeteries were constantly being dug up to accommodate more bodies. In the process, gravediggers got a hitherto unrecorded view of bodies in various states of decay. In Venice, this consisted of shrouds disintegrating around the mouth – due to the action of various bodily chemicals – which was interpreted as the undead chewing through their shrouds to get out and wreak terror on the living population.

So, in order to prevent this, bricks were forced into the jaws of the corpses to prevent their unnatural activity. In fact, one of the most terrifying images to emerge from plague-ridden Venice was not that of a vampire but of the plague-doctor with his beaked mask. [See my blog: Shroud-Eaters, Vampires and Plague Doctors.]

Plague was a scourge and rightly feared. Due to the incredibly high mortality rate, society was completely dislocated. To get an idea of what this was like, read Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague year. While there is some discussion as to whether he was the author of this piece or was simply editing someone else’s manuscript, it gives you an insight into what happens when an organised society breaks down. It is hostile, unfriendly and lawless. People are terrified and turn on each other. The world is out of kilter, no longer a familiar place, no longer predictable.

Hostile entities as the personification of fear

I have a theory that stories of supernatural happenings tend to surface at times when societies are under grave threat. It is somehow a way of giving shape to a faceless fear. For instance, a news correspondent reported an extraordinary superstition that took hold following the earthquake in Haiti. The survivors were living in tents and reported that their children started screaming because they saw werewolves sitting on the roofs of the tents.

The Grease Devil

In Sri Lanka, where the civil war resulted in terrible massacres and disappearances, newspapers recently reported the recurrence of an old belief. The Grease Devil. These were supposed to be bandits or murderers who covered themselves in grease when going out to commit their crimes so that, if cornered, they could not be captured because they would literally slip through the hands of their pursuers. Following the disruption and dislocation at the end of the civil war, newspapers documented several cases of ‘Grease Devils’.

Spring-heeled Jack

Sometimes, myth precedes reality preparing the ground for future horrors. From around the 1830s – 1880s, Britain became prey to stories of Spring-Heeled Jack. Jack’s appearance went through a number of changes, starting as a white bull and developing into a demonic figure that could leap over houses and was reported to rip at his victims’ clothes.

Ultimately, Spring-Heeled Jack was replaced by a real man, Jack the Ripper, whose attacks on women in the East End of London threw Victorian England into a state of near hysteria.

Witches and magic

Through the ages, witchcraft has touched on science, alchemy, medicine, religion, mediums and fraud.

Accusations of witchcraft have served a variety of purposes from straightforward religious persecution to the discrediting of rivals. It was an effective means of discrediting the powerful – particularly women – and a basis for blatant land-grabs.

King Henry V accused his stepmother, Joan of Navarre, of witchcraft in order to reclaim lands which his father had bestowed on her. Joan was eventually restored to favour (without her lands) and is buried next to her husband, Henry IV, in Canterbury Cathedral.

Henry V’s sister-in-law, Eleanor of Cobham was not so fortunate. Eleanor was a commoner married to Henry’s popular brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. A powerful and charismatic couple their wealth and influence was resented in many quarters.

Eleanor’s visits to astrologers were conveniently interpreted by her enemies as witchcraft. She was forced to do public penance, walking through the streets of London barefoot, wearing only her shift and carrying a lighted taper. She was forced to divorce Humphrey and incarcerated in a number of remote locations until her death.

For further information, see my blog: The Devil’s Advocate? Witches vs The Law.

Mythology and Fairy Tales

Old legends and tales can be a fertile source of inspiration. The writer Angela Carter said that she liked to put old wine into new bottles. Her re-working of traditional fairy-tales creates a dark and sinister environment.

Her book The Bloody Chamber puts a Gothic spin on stories with which we are well-acquainted. The introduction of the unfamiliar and unexpected into what we regard as safe and familiar creates an unsettling frisson. Suddenly, we are no longer sure of our surroundings. The literary landscape that the reader thought they knew suddenly becomes unfamiliar, menacing and distorted.

A blog by the British Library considers some of the influences on Angela Carter’s writing. These include Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade.

Magical Realism

I used magical realism as a sub-theme in my novel The Devil Dancers to explain some complex historical and religious subjects. By referring to a people’s beliefs and mythology, magical realism can provide an insight into their psychology.

In The Devil Dancers magical realism reflects the legends through which a particular ethnic group explained its own origins and justified its claim to power. Those beliefs led to civil war.

However, magical realism needs to be used with caution. In my view, it is appropriate for cultures which have a strong belief in the supernatural. However, it may not be appropriate for societies of a more secular, sceptical nature.

For further reading on this subject, see my blog: What Makes a Great Ghost Story? 10 Tips for a Rattling Good Read

To come: 10 Creepy Choices for a Rattling Good Read (+ 4 great films)

Posted in Angela Carter, Daniel Defoe, Eleanor of Cobham, Fiction, ghost stories, Grease Devils, Halloween, Henry IV, Henry V, History, Italy, Jack the Ripper, Law, Leeds Castle, Magic, Magical Realism, Myth, Plague, Plantagenets, Spring-Heeled Jack, Sri Lanka, The Devil Dancers, Travel, Vampires, Venice, Witches | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Raid on the Medway: an eyewitness account

Posted on June 9, 2017 by

Dutch Attack on the Medway by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, painted c. 1667.

While most of us are familiar with stories of the Plague (1665) and the Great Fire of London (1666), few are acquainted with the third catastrophe that hit England in 1667.

On 9 June, the Dutch fleet led by the renowned Admirable De Ruyter, launched audacious attacks on the Medway and the Thames that threatened to wipe out the royal fleet and bring London to its knees.

Having begun in 1665 with a number of English victories, the second Anglo-Dutch war between England and its trading rival Holland ended in a humiliating episode which the diarist John Evelyn described as “a dishonour never to be wiped off”.

Being both a courtier and a minor official, Evelyn was well-placed to observe the impact of the Dutch attack that summer. It is clear from his account, that the English were unprepared for the raids.

While Parliament had granted the Crown £2.5 million to prosecute the war in 1665, both the plague and the fire of London had had a devastating effect on resources. With much of the City’s financial sector destroyed by fire, it became impossible for the Crown to raise sufficient money to continue an effective campaign.

Due to this lack of funds, the fleet was laid up at Chatham providing a sitting target for the Dutch who fell upon it “by a most audacious enterprise … doing us not only disgrace but incredible mischief in burning several of our best Men of War, lying at anchor and moored there”.

Evelyn makes it clear that the British response was too little, too late. Despite the despatch of land forces, the fortification of Upnor castle, and the laying of chains and bombs across the Medway, the Dutch managed to break through “and set fire on our ships”.

He tells how he saw the smoking carcasses of the warships Royal Oake, James and London just outside Chatham and how “now when the mischief was done, we were making trifling forts on the brink of the river”.

But the raid on the Medway was only part of the Dutch attack. Evelyn describes how “triumphantly their [the Dutch] whole fleet, lay within the very mouth of the Thames, all from North-Foreland, Margate, even to the Buoy of the Noore”.

Evelyn describes it as: “A dreadful spectacle as ever an English men saw.” His intensity of emotion was probably sharpened by fear for his own possessions. Evelyn’s home, Sayes Court, was located near Deptford and a further incursion up the Thames could have proved disastrous. For this reason, Evelyn “sent away my best goods, plate etc from my house to another place”.

Both the county and the city were stricken with “a panic fear and consternation such as I hope I shall never see more: for everybody were flying, none [knew] why or whither”.

The Dutch blockade of the Thames also caused other problems. With this vital artery blocked, the city and surrounding area had begun to run out of fuel. The price of coal rose from 15s to 140s a ton. Evelyn, along with a number of other officials, was tasked by King Charles II to search for alternative sources of peat or turf.

As part of this project, Evelyn – a founder member of the Royal Society – was invited to explain his recipe for a new type of fuel made from charcoal dust and loam. Although Evelyn claimed that the fuel burned “without smoke or ill smell”, it does not appear to have been put to use on this occasion.

While the raid on the Medway was effectively over by 14 June, the blockade of London continued into July. Finally, at the end of the month, the war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Breda.

According to Evelyn: “Now did his Majesty again dine in the Presence, in ancient State, with music and all the court ceremonies, which had been interrupted since the late war.”

Evelyn was ordered to free the prisoners of war in his charge who had been held at Leeds castle. With obvious relief, he records “peace being now proclaimed according to usual form by the Heralds at Arms”.

However, the humiliation suffered by the English did not end there.

As if the burning of the ships in the Medway was not enough, the warship Royal Charles had been captured and taken back to Holland where it was exhibited in Amsterdam as a trophy of war. For the price of a few guilders, members of the public were able to climb aboard and explore. It was an insult that added to the injury already inflicted on the British fleet.

Stern section of The Royal Charles in the Rijksmuseum

Featuring the royal coat-of-arms supported by a lion and a unicorn, the stern section of the Royal Charles can still be seen in the Rijksmuseum.

Of the hat-trick of historical disasters that afflicted England in the mid-17th century, the Dutch raid on the Medway is – not surprisingly – the least well-known. While the first two were Acts of God, the last was man-made and largely self-inflicted.

According to Evelyn’s succinct summary: “All this through the unaccountable negligence of our delay in setting out our fleet in due time.”

Further reading:

The Diary of John Evelyn published by Everyman’s Library

A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603 – 1714 by Mark Kishlansky

Click here for The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Events:

Click here for 10 days of events celebrating the 350th anniversary of the raid

Posted in Charles II, History, John Evelyn, Kent, Medway, Raid on the Medway, Thames, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment