Maritime Trivia

“Grease the skids”

Some of you, perhaps many, may know the nautical origin of this phrase. These days, it means any effort to make some task easier. For example, someone who wants to convince another somebody to buy a product might want to "grease the skids" before hand by tailoring the product to the customer.

The origin is similar, but it's for a specific task, that is, launching a ship.

Ships were built on land until the invention of drydocks, and most still are. Drydocks are most useful for repairs that require the ship to be out of the water. To build a ship on land required that the keel be laid on a set of blocks. These blocks were on the "ways"—thick wooden planks that ran all the way into the water.

Then the structure of the ship, i.e. the ribs/frames, stem, and stern, were attached to the keel. When they were added, they were held up by stocks, essentially timbers that held them in place while the rest of the framing was built. As the hull planks were added, these stocks then held the hull upright until launching. Some were mounted on large wooden blocks that were, you guessed it, sitting on ways, as well.

Get to the saying, Tom!

When the ship was completed and ready to launch, they would smear the ways with tallow—liquid beef fat— that would, when the launch took place, allow the blocks to slide down the ways, taking the ship into the water. Thus, the ways, or skids, were greased. Thus, when we want to make some future event easier to undertake, we still "grease the skids."

Holiday Season

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Channukah, another religious holiday during this season, or don't celebrate at all, I wish you a happy holiday period, spent with family and other loved ones! And I wish all of us a Happy New Year!

What are your plans? Going home? Staying home? Going on a fabulous vacation? I have friends who are doing a Christmas Market Viking cruise through Europe right now. I'm jealous! My family and I are going to the Bay Area for Christmas and New Year, and then back to San Diego for a couple of weeks, to see friends.

I would ask that everyone also keep in mind those who are unable to be home or with family for the holidays. There are plenty of folks who have to work on the holidays, from cashiers to first responders. But especially our military folks. Elisa and I spent many Christmases apart over our Navy careers. So please, keep everyone who can't be with their loved ones in your heart over the holidays. And if you see someone on the streets who needs a helping hand, give of yourself. Buy them a meal, give them a gift card for McDonald's or some other food place. Or give them a few bucks, so they can get something to eat.

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

The Adventures of Jonas Hawke

I’ve completed the manuscript for Perilous Shores, the new title for The Sea Hawkes, book two of the series that follows Jonas through the American Revolution. My fabulous editor, Laura Taylor, has it. I expect we'll have a couple of passes back and forth, as she guides me in polishing it for publication. We have a cover already, which I'll be revealing over the holidays. Then it goes into the publishing pipeline at Acorn, and, hopefully, comes out a book in early April. Hopefully, we can release before 26 April 2026, in Danbury, Connecticut. Why there? Because it’ll be the 249th anniversary of the British Raid on Danbury, which features in the first chapters of PS.

You’re all invited!

I've also started writing Treadnought, the next installment. I can't wait to find out what Jonas and his son William do next! Just kidding. I have a fairly good idea what happens, but in the writing, the characters often take over, and their reactions to events drive the story. I'm discussing the publishing contract with Acorn now, and hope we can release before the end of 2026.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays!!