Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman

Acknowledgments

My great thanks to –

Lesley Abdela, my partner, for her ever-warm encouragement and interest in these adventures. As I wrote in my first novel in 2012, she has taken on work assignments at great risk to her life in distant, war-torn places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and now turbulent places like Egypt and Ukraine, to bring in an income while I tap away on a laptop in the beautiful woods around Burwash, in the Sussex High Weald, not too far from where Holmes bought his bee-farm, or in successive Septembers on the island of Gavdos in the Aegean for the final run-through of the text.

Steve Emecz, Managing Director, MX Publishing. A hero to over 100 Sherlock Holmes authors, including me. MX is the largest publisher of Sherlock Holmes stories in the world, many of them now being translated into other languages including Russian. MX is a tremendous asset to the United Kingdom and to everyone who likes to escape from the everyday real world for a while, accompanying Holmes and Watson on their great adventures.

Ailsa Crofts in far-away Scotland for her sterling work editing ‘The Sword’, cutting down on excesses and diversions which creep into the text as I build it into a full-length novel. And to Rosie Grupp whose professional skill has made the layout so aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eye.

Dr. Judith Rowbotham. Yet again this exceptional historian of Victorian crime has performed her wonders for The Sword of Osman whenever I have needed information and background. Her expertise ranges far beyond crime alone. She put together the Foreign Secretary’s outfit in one of the important scenes where he attempts to hide his identity at the Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens, and provided insights into the risks taken by Holmes and Watson masquerading as naval officers while on a diplomatic mission for the British Government at the time the 1907 Hague Convention on the laws of war was being finalised.

Heather Johnson, The National Museum Library, Royal Navy, Portsmouth. Heather’s and her colleagues’ unstinting assistance in technical matters concerning the Royal Navy in 1906 added immensely to the sheer fun in writing a novel set in the past. For example: ‘There is about 15 fathoms depth of water in the Golden Horn, which is essentially non-tidal and is sufficient for depth purposes. The B Class submarines were new in 1906 and capable of being deployed to the Mediterranean, indeed some were in action later in Turkish waters including the Dardanelles but the battery life and submersion time was limited. As for a mock battle, this would only really be viable with any accompanying ships in the squadron. If Dreadnought is accompanied by escorts then something might be arranged, this could be made most impressive by rapid firing of the 12lb anti-torpedo craft guns and a limited number of shots from the big guns. Equally viable would be a practice shoot against some form of agreed upon target, bearing in mind that the blast of the main turret guns could cause damage and/or discomfort to observers such that the Sultan and entourage would need to be on the bridge.’

Eric Shelmerdine M.A.B.I. W.A.D. General Secretary of the Association of British Investigators. With his permission I have used his name and turned him into the dragoman who tried his best to bamboozle Holmes. Eric, whenever you’re in Turkey don’t stand for too long on the Galata Bridge.

Professor Benjamin Fortna, Historian of the Modern Middle East at SOAS, University of London. A world expert on the final years of the Ottoman Empire. His special research focus on the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic was both gripping and valuable as background to my plot.

Robert Ribeiro. Again my thanks for his eagle (and lawyerly) eye in reading through the typescript and offering valuable suggestions on terminology and matters of historical fact. And to his wife Professor Aileen Ribeiro, author of many books and articles on the history of dress, the most recent being Fashion and Fiction. Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England (Yale: 2005). Their house in Sussex was built and lived in by the illustrator Walter Paget, brother of Sidney Paget whose portrayals in The Strand formed the world’s physical impression of the Great Detective - complete with deerstalker.

Jeff Sobel for his extraordinary knowledge of armaments, not least the weaponry Watson has recourse to. Jeff’s father, Dean Eli Sobel, was the ever-helpful Head of Department when I was an undergrad and grad student at UCLA.

Sara Wise for her superb review in The Lancet of the Museum of London’s Sherlock Holmes Exhibition 2014/2015 Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die, at www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2962325-4/fulltext#

Elisabeth Thurlow, Archivist, Guardian News & Media, for the historical information from the Manchester Guardian on the attempt on the Sultan’s life in July 1905.

Cdr Peter White RN Ret., Britannia Association. This master of the Royal Navy’s complex etiquette gave me the idea for the important scene where Holmes and Watson are revealed as counterfeit naval officers. As Commander White explained, on short journeys a naval sword is always carried and never hooked up. To get on or off a pinnace, the ‘Senior Officer’s Carry’ would be employed. Holmes and Watson didn’t know this arcane bit of naval etiquette... with unexpected results.

Paul Smith, Thomas Cook’s Archivist, for mapping out Holmes’s and Watson’s journey from London to Gibraltar in 1906, according to the May 1906 edition of Cook’s Continental Timetable. A final journey by steamer would have brought the pair to Gibraltar. The minimum time required for this journey was 104 hours.

Michael Pritchard FRPS, Director General of the Royal Photographic Society, coming up trumps on photography of the period. It was he who brought to my attention the Sultan’s Adams quarter-plate De Luxe hand camera with red-leather covered body and 18 carat gold fittings, the most expensively produced camera in the world.

Michael Palmer, Archivist & Deputy Librarian, Zoological Society of London for great help concerning the lay-out of the Regent’s Park Zoo in 1906. The Birdhouse at London Zoo: although the building that is now the Bird House did exist in 1906, it was built and used as the Reptile House until 1927, when it was converted to the use of birds.

Dr Robert Elgood. SOAS Department of the History of Art and Archaeology. World expert and Research Fellow on Eastern European, Islamic and Asian Arms and Armour. Was at the Wallace Collection 2006-2012.

Menelaos Danellis. Researcher and collector of Ottoman period bladed weapons and firearms volunteering at the Middle East Department of the British Museum. His advice on The Sword of Osman enabled Holmes to recognise the forgery and identify the ringleader of the plot.

Robert Pooley of Pooley Sword Ltd. ‘Yes, we make special presentation Swords, particularly for Arabia. If anyone has the money (considerable), we could certainly reproduce almost exactly the Sword of Osman. What you have to bear in mind with a forgery is not only has the Swordsmith got to copy the blade exactly but so has the engraver. When it comes to the crosspiece and the grip and pommel, this is very much the work of a Silversmith or Goldsmith of some distinction. To copy something is probably harder than making an original.’

Katherine Owen, Woodland Trust Ancient Woodland Restoration Engagement Manager, and Owen Johnson who compiled the Collins tree guide for Europe, for advice on trees in Turkey.

Mrs Jane VS Wickenden, MA (Oxon), DipLib. Historic Collections Librarian, Institute of Naval Medicine, for example for the description of Dr. Watson’s uniform aboard HMS Dreadnought: ‘The most distinctive part of a Surgeon RN’s uniform would be (as it still is) the red distinction cloth between the gold stripes - there would have been no “curl” at that date, and no rank division such as Surgeon Commander.’

Sophie Wilcox, librarian at the Alexander Library of Ornithology, Edward Grey Institute. http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/alexanderlibrary who recommended such valuable reference books as Bird Wonders of the Zoo, by Lilian Gask. 1911, and The Avifauna of British India and its Dependencies, by James A. Murray. 1888/1890.

Lorna Cahill, Library, Art and Archives, Stuart Cable, Herbarium, and Christopher Mills, all at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for wonderful help in tracing plants which may have found their way to the Sultan’s herbarium and gardens at Yildiz.

Professor Alan Dronsfield, Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group, for his valuable knowledge of the luminous paint of yesteryear incorporated in the ghost scene.

Dr Anne B Hodgson, Department of Chemistry, University of York, suggesting the ghost’s outfit (the ghillie suit) should be rubberised for the safety of the human inside it. (Scottish gamekeepers, don’t try Saliha Naciye’s ruse at home)

Dave Johnson, Wildlife Officer/Bird Keeper, Royal Parks for his help on bird-life in Regent’s Park in the Edwardian period.

Elizabeth Loder and Kristina Fister of the British Medical Journal for valuable help in researching the Victorian approach to ‘puerperal mania’.

Prof Liz Bentley of the Royal Meteorological Society for providing weather details for May 1906 when Dr. Watson went to Regent’s Park. ‘There were some rather warm days early that May, and the temperature on the 8th almost reached 23°C. However, thundery rain followed overnight with nearly 20mm recorded. It then became much cooler, and on the 10th, the maximum temperature was only 9.8°C.’

Wesley Horton of Claremore, Oklahoma, who supplied really interesting information on his collection of code books, many acquired from the Central Code Bureau.

Howard White of Hastings who continues to drop by to chew over my latest plot and scouts out the settings I’ve used around the Sussex Weald and South Downs.

Last (but far from least), my unending thanks to Wikipedia, Google and the Encyclopaedia Britannica for putting most of the world at the touch of a keyboard, even in the very depths of the woodland in England’s High Weald where I retreat on sunny days with my laptop and canvas folding-chair. By contrast when a novelist uncle of mine, Elleston Trevor (Flight of the Phoenix and the Quiller series etc.), started writing in the 1950s, it took him up to a month just to order a book from the library in St. Peter Port for his research - assuming he knew which book he wanted.