To mark the publication of Torpedoes, Tea and Medals this month, we asked author, Captain Chris O’Flaherty, about the writing process and his research into the fascinating life of Derek ‘Jake’ Wright DSC** RNVR – a previously little-known wartime naval hero who went from being a 16 year-old tea-trade trainee to one of only 44 officers in the Second World War to receive a DSC with two Bars.
Having stumbled across this ‘textbook’ wartime naval hero whilst researching Motor Torpedo Boats (read more on this in Chris’s first blog post), where did he begin the journey of finding out about the man behind the medals?
Research rabbit holes
The start of my research journey for Torpedoes, Tea, and Medals centred on building the family tree of Commander ‘Jake’ Wright. Utilising the genealogical skills taught to me by my mum, who has spent the last 15 years constructing our familial heritage, I was able to determine why my literary subject was in the tea trade (through his grandfather), and also his various important marital and family links.
My research was being sponsored by the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust, so their small grant allowed me to purchase some vital records from the Probate office and also marriage and baptismal certificates.
Now armed with a clear picture of Jake Wright’s ancestry, I shifted focus to his military record. Identifying which small ships he had served in was relatively easy, but the vagaries of Coastal Forces service saw me then investigate in great detail a myriad number of vicious naval actions against the Germans.
In consequence, I started to identify the many rabbit holes down which historians can find themselves drawn. Two particularly glorious actions involving Motor Torpedo Boats commanded by Jake Wright were proving to be troves of literary gems for inclusion in his biography, right up to the point where a contemporary diary pointed out that Jake Wright was not onboard at the time of the fighting; as a trusting leader, he had delegated ‘conduct’ (as the Royal Navy terms the delegation of seagoing Command) to his subordinates whilst he was absent on official business.
Credit: Ministry of Defence/Naval Historical Branch.
Other, often more valiant, warfighting actions thus had to become my literary focus as I morphed my research to concentrate on those other events in which the focus of my biography had accomplished himself with incredible valour and distinction. These actions in which Jake personally fought against our national foe now formed the core of his swashbuckling biography.
Service at sea is often full of unpredictabilities, and reconstructing the life of a brilliant sailor who was subjected to these vagaries has taught me much.
Throughout my research journey I have had to learn to embrace, and love, many cognitive diversions. They say that every day is a learning day, and it’s true that on every research day I have learnt something new and brilliant about coastal forces’ bravery, tactics and gallantry.
The Long Draft (or draught) …
Compiling a publishable book is a thrilling mission. As the culmination of hundreds of hours of trawling the depths of many treasured archives of families, historical repositories and commercial companies, it is a truly onerous yet liberating task.
Throughout my periods of research for Torpedoes, Tea, and Medals I had crafted many eloquent sentences that highlighted or epitomised the valour, leadership or gallantry of my subject. Conjoining these into a flowing, interesting (indeed intriguing) narrative then required thousands of additional literary explanations, amplifications and contextual descriptions.
Reviewing the first draft, I found myself harking back to my English classes when I was about 12 years old – what would Mr Gibb (English teacher to Form 2X) have said if I had handed in such a script as my twice-weekly homework. (I won’t answer that rhetorical question, as this is a polite blog!)
Hundreds of further hours were then spent refining each and every sentence, including reading them aloud (to the dismay of my wife) until they both read and sounded like the fascinatingly readable life story of one of our great war heroes I desired.
Interspersed with such linguistic reviews were artistic diversions. I needed to paint a picture (literally) of the key characteristics of Motor Torpedo Boats – ensuring the easy comprehension of Jake Wright’s story by those not necessarily familiar with these amazing small warships. Coupled with drawing detailed battle diagrams of Jake’s key warfighting actions, my creative skills were being tested to the full.
After many months and countless hours, I had finally crafted a script of which I was proud. To use a maritime metaphor, my publishing journey was still only just sailing from the harbour of my computer screen. Peer review highlighted yet more areas in which the fact or flow of Jake’s life story could be made even better. Revision 2!
The script was then accepted by the wonderful, and expert, team at Casemate UK*. They provided many more pages of helpful editing comments requiring further refinement, before the process of copy-editing drew out yet more, and increasingly niche, required tweaks to the text.
The next process of transforming the script from a long ‘word’ file to a publishable, paginated, book required even more adjustments, before the most wonderful culmination of nearly two years work – and the ‘signing off’ of the final product for printing. This, as I am sure any author will attest, is a truly fantastic feeling … your work is about to become real.
Torpedoes, Tea, and Medals: The Gallant Life of Derek ‘Jake’ Wright DSC** RNVR publishes February 2022 by Casemate (9781636241401 Hardback £16.99). Join Captain Chris O’Flaherty for a third and final instalment of his writing journey where he shines a light on the ‘tea’ in the book’s title – coming soon.
About the author
Captain Chris O’Flaherty is a serving Royal Navy warfare officer. Having qualified in 1992 as a diver and underwater bomb disposal officer, he has served on or near all seven continents. He has Commanded the Fleet Diving Squadron and the Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare Centre, where he developed and published the modern Royal Navy’s battle-winning tactics. He holds the Joint Commander’s Commendation for his service in the Iraq theatre of operations, and the President of the United States awarded him US Legion of Merit for his delivery of a sequence of mission successes during the Houthi rebels’ naval mining campaign off Yemen.
In 2017, he was elected by St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, as their Hudson Research Fellow, and he is presently conducting International Relations research at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. He has previously published two books: Naval Minewarfare: Politics to Practicalities, and Crash Start (the biography of another coastal forces hero). All the royalties from all of his books are paid direct to charity.
* Note from the Casemate UK crew: thank you, Chris. You have been a pleasure to work with too!
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