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Title The Sailor and The Carpenter
El Marinero y el Carpintero
(A story of 18th Century New Spain)

Genre historical fiction

Word count

promotional-style "quick teaser"
A young English farmer is taken from his home to serve aboard a merchant ship bound for the far northwestern shores of the New World. Washed ashore on a barren land, he is found by an Indian and taken to the priests of the Roman church.

back cover hype
Timothy Beadle sails from Plymouth, England as a cabin boy aboard a merchant brig. After a voyage to the far northwestern shores of The New World, a treacherous blade loosens him from safety lines and he’s washed ashore on a barren land - found by a youth with reddish skin. Priests of the Roman church give him sanctuary from a Spanish prison and, with his new-found Indian friend and two Indian damsels, he sets off behind a diminutive, limping Franciscan friar to expand Spain’s toehold on The Californias.

A brief excerpt from the work

Waves lapped the shore of the Bay of Loreto. The sun ruled the cloudless sky and a few small fishing boats pulled in nets filled with squirming silver and rainbow colors. Timothy saw a few small huts on the large island to the east.

“There are large deposits of salt on the island,” one of the muleteers told him.

Loreto came into sight as they topped a gentle rise with a small cape to their right. Brownish scrub and a few cacti struggled to live in the arid land. Arroyos displayed green in trees and bushes fed by underground water deposited by rare rains.

Father Serra pointed to the white of mission buildings showing against the hills to the west. “That is la Misión de San Francisco Javier, my children. The Jesuits were good of heart when they built it but poor of judgment. They had to close it not long after opening it.”

Timothy tried hard not to suck in breath from the pace of travel of the friar who trudged along, obviously in pain. Jaime, Butterfly and Carlo did not even breathe hard as they had walked long distances all their lives.
Mountains towered to the west, the Sierra Gigante. Timothy saw green vegetation growing upon their upper slopes.

The peal of bells announced noon prayers as they waded the stream that provided the blood of life to the mission and the town.

Oh my Good Lord! Timothy thought, sucking in a breath.

In preparing to cross the stream, Father Serra hiked his habit up to keep from getting it wet and revealed his calf. A large, black lesion surrounded by angry red skin clearly caused his limp - and pain.

Timothy had lived on a farm with many milch cows and had seen his father treat similar skin problems on the animals. There must be a way to ease Father Serra’s pain. How can he be so driven in his beliefs as to not wish to seek relief?

Nen said:

Obviously not as detailed as Marlys' suggestions,
but if the story is from Timothy's pov, he might not know the names for the Bay or towns. I saw plenty of arroyos when I lived in NorCal for a year, but I didn't know that's what they were called at first. Maybe a bit more sensory stuff to help with that feeling of discovery- hearing the different sounds that the waves would make on different types of beaches, the sun feeling more intense than back home, and smelling the sage plants on the dry slopes for the first time come to mind, for me...
a bit of compare contrast with what he was used to back in his part of Engrrrrland?

Click to expand...

It was probably a bad idea to use a scene from so late in the book. He knew he was going to Loreto ahead of time. He had already seen such things.

Thanks for the comment as it shows I need to find a different scene to use.

Tom from UK said:

How did he sail from England to California? Round the Cape?

That's a long voyage.

Click to expand...

Yep. That's exactly what they did with stops at St Helena's, the Faulklands and the Galapagos.

Tom from UK said:

Was that a journey that people regularly did? I ask out of genuine curiosity. I mean Darwin and others did at least most of that and people regularly travelled from Spain to South America and from (for example) Chile to California but it is a very long voyage to make as one journey (even with stops). How long did it take? Did the ship return or was it a one way trip? I'm not doubting you - I'd just like to know.

Click to expand...

No, it is a rare journey. Most English ships either traveled to the New England or Canadian shores of North America or, in the case of the East India Company, to India and ports of southeast Asia.

Of course, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe with stops on the California Coast p many believe his treasure still lies somewhere around Point Reyes - and it's dealt with in my story.

As someone pointed out, most ships avoided Cape Horn. The Manila Galleons left the islands to sail north to cross near the Aleutians, then down the western coast of North America to ports such as San Blas or further south to be transported by land to the Gulf of Mexico.

As for other travel, some ships sailed from San Blas to Loreto, Baja but never further north. Extensive silver mines in Sonora provided loads for galleons sailing south through the Sea of Cortez to San Blas and others.

One of the reason there was little seafaring along the western coast further north is contrary winds and currents. 18th Century ships were difficult to handle and it took about 3 months to sail from La Paz, south around Cape St Lucas, then north to San Diego.

In fact, the crews of two ships were almost wiped out by scurvy and dysentery in the sea portions of the expedition to found San Diego.

Anyhow, all of this is covered in the trilogy at great length. So, when I finally get a publisher for them - BUY 'EM and see for yourself!!!!!

Thanks to all for your comments/remarks/suggestions.
Based on this, I’ve made another try. Tell me how this works.

Title The Sailor and The Carpenter
El Marinero y el Carpintero
(A story of 18th Century New Spain)

Genre historical fiction

Word count 110,000

A 40-word, promotional-style "quick teaser" blurb

From farm to Fo’csle to a far away land; the changes in Timothy Beadle’s fortunes have just begun. The young Englishman joins Spaniards exploring hostile deserts and mountains, confronting naked savages to bring the Californias under their control.

A back cover hype of the work (100-200 words)

Timothy Beadle’s father indentures him to a ship’s captain and he soon is in Mid-Atlantic on his way to the far northwestern shores of The New World. Padding the deck and climbing the rigging is exhilarating to the young English farm boy. The captain is a fair, God-fearing man who ensures Timothy also learns reading, writing and arithmetic. Strange islands and naked savages fill Timothy with curiosity and wonder.

Fate has more changes in store for Timothy. Holds filled with rich furs, the ship sails for home. But, a vicious cyclone hits and Timothy ends up on the shore of Spanish California with a young Indian bending over him. After the village medicine woman treats him, Timothy’s taken before grey robed priests who welcome him. They even step in and offer sanctuary when a local official tries to imprison him as a pirate.

Jaime, the Indian boy, dreamed of Timothy’s arrival months before. Both sense the blood bond that ties them together and unite in an effort by Father Junipero Serra to expand the Catholic faith and Spain’s control of the Californias.

A brief excerpt from the work (no more than 300 words)

Jaime dreamed that night. Visions held great meaning to his people. Jaime had not dreamed since death had taken away his world. As he slept, he walked along the shore of a great body of water. Curling waves came ashore, sudsy foam swirling around his bare feet. Many peculiar things lay upon the fine grains of stone, some of them made of brittle substances in whites and blacks. They looked like the shell of a tortoise but somehow different.

Many birds swirled in the air, raucous screams filling his ears. The big black and white ones the Spaniards called gaviotas were familiar as he had seen them in his home mountains. In the distance, the rolling water washed a pile of boulders swarming with creatures. They had strange flat things where their legs should have been. Whiskers spiked from their muzzles and they barked. But not like any dogs he had ever seen.

Voices told him how strange it was that a great storm had come at that time of the year. They normally came in the time before things got cooler. Los ciclónes often dropped great amounts of rain, causing floods in the arid mountains.

He saw something strange and hurried towards it. An ocelot lay on the ground, but one unlike any he had ever seen - it was white with light brown spots. He could see it lived but seriously hurt. Then, the creature turned its head and stared at him - with pale blue eyes!

Jaime awakened.

I was just trying them out for feedback/.

See the 1st five pages in SYW.

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