#Aye. Ken it wis like this...with Agricola's Classis Britannica

series image- Dunkeld Cathedral

#Aye. Ken it wis like this...

that not everything in the past, or even in the present, went/goes according to plan. There was a little hitch with my guest author this week being unable to post, so I'm slipping in a post of my own.

The setting is northern Britannia  A.D. 84. (that of my Celtic Fervour Series Book 4 - Agricola's Bane  - which is currently undergoing further thorough edits) and my topic is General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola's Classis Britannica. 

Was Agricola’s Roman Navy crucial to success? 

I'm often found at various events around my local area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, giving talks and presentations and doing signing and selling events at local Craft Fairs. I'm no longer surprised that when I speak of the Ancient Roman Legions having visited the area, I'm met with blank stares and comments like " I didn't know they got up this far."

Even fewer local people have ever heard that the Roman Navy – Classis Britannica – played a significant role in the northern campaigns of General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola. 

During my discussions (which, by the way, I thoroughly enjoy), the typical mental image of the Roman invasions of Scotland is of marching legions of well-armoured Roman infantry. 

Some people can conjure up a mounted soldier, also in armour, though marginally different from the average foot soldier. 

However, it’s extremely rare for me to talk to anyone who has knowledge of the Ancient Roman fleet, and those who do tend to have images of Roman warships of the Republican era, plying the Mediterranean seas rather than the North Sea during the centuries of the Roman Empire.

model of a Roman warship navis actuaria 
Mainz Museum - Wikimedia Commons

When Gnaeus Iulius Agricola became Governor of Britannia in either A.D 77 or 78 the main function of the Classis Britannica was as a supply and transport chain. Soldiers, horses, and goods were regularly transported back and forth from ports in Eastern Britannia to ports in Western Europe – modern Spain, France and Belgium. The Classis Britannica was also plying the eastern Britannia coast since goods generally travelled much faster over water than over land.

The navis actuaria vessels were used for transport in fluvial and coastal situations and it's likely that Agricola had a good number of these at his disposal. With 30 oars, 15 to each side, they were ideal with a shallow draught and flat keel. 

The Roman Empire needed immense amounts of grain to feed the legions spread throughout the Empire and a flow of cereal crops from the fertile fields of southern Britannia played a substantial role in the huge Roman Army supply chain. Grain was also needed to feed the city of Rome since, at around 1 million inhabitants in late first century A.D, it could not support itself. Many other items were regularly ferried across from Britannia during the second half of first century A.D. – leather and slaves being prime commodities. Coming over to Britannia were supplies of wine, beans and other legumes, herbs and spices like cumin.

Model of Roman warship created for the film Ben Hur
- Wikimedia commons

Agricola seems to have been the first to make changes to the function of the Classis Britannica. When his northern campaigns began in earnest around A.D. 79/80, he definitely still needed his ships to ply the eastern coast of Britannia moving vital food and other supplies north, but he appears to have been the first commander to employ his mariners in a more active shore role. 

Cornelius Tacitus mentions in his ‘De Vita et Moribus Iulii Agericolae’ that the mariners were sent on shore to terrify the natives into compliance, in advance of the main legionary forces who were tramping northwards. From the tone of the writing, Tacitus wishes the reader to believe that the Classis Britannica were indeed successful in terrifying the natives of northern Britannia.

I have to say that if I was a local tribesperson living in a coastal hamlet of 3 or 4 roundhouses of around 50 people, young to old, I’d have been horrified to be confronted by even a small unit of armed Roman soldiers who had disgorged from a beached vessel. If more than one ship arrived simultaneously, then the threat is almost unimaginable as it’s likely that the Agricolan Classis Britannic fleet numbered many small vessels. 

Check out this site HERE for an image of a liburnian type and useful information on the Roman Navy in general.

The liburnicae (liburnians) type also seem probable in Agricola's fleet as they were fast, smallish and able to be beached easily. With two banks of oars, 25 each side, they were nifty vessels. Even if it's assumed that not every man on board was likely to have been a marine ready for combat, some remaining to guard the ship, there would still have been a sizeable complement of ready-for-action soldiers on each vessel.

Roman tombstone - Mainz 

The supporting role played by the smaller ships at Agricola’s disposal would have been considerable. As well as being thoroughly alarmed, I think coastal native resistance would have been limited. This would certainly have made it easier for the mariners of the fleet to transport the necessary grain and other food stocks to the main body of the armies who marched northwards at some miles distance from the coast, according to the evidence of the line of temporary marching camps.

Archaeological evidence in Aberdeenshire of indigenous Late Iron Age tribes (Celts) indicates there were small settlements of a few roundhouses dotted around the whole north east of Scotland. To date, there’s no archaeological evidence found across Aberdeenshire to support any larger communities – towns or cities – where the Romans could have pilfered, or ‘requisitioned’, stored stocks for Roman use. This would have meant transferring huge amounts of food to keep the soldiers even modestly fed since it’s been estimated that two sacks of grain (wheat was preferable) were needed each day to feed one century of men, at normal ration amounts.   

Therefore it seems, to me, that the support given from the fleet was considerable during the Agricolan campaign.

Should any of my readers know any more about Agricola's fleet in northern Britannia, please point me in the right direction, and if there are copyright legitimate images for using to illustrate this topic - again, please let me know. 

Slainthe!  

Sept #11th 2001 I remember

September 11th 2001.

Do you remember what you were doing that day? I certainly do.

It's exceedingly rare that I can say I remember any particular day with clarity, save my wedding day and a few other memorable ones like the birth of my daughters...but I do remember Sept 11th, 2001.

I was teaching one of the two Primary 7 classes at Kintore Primary School at the time, though we were not actually in class, or even in school, that day. Both Primary 7 classes were having a very special  'day out'.

Gordon Barracks - Wikimedia Commons

At that time my local authority, Aberdeenshire Council, held special events for Primary 7 classes every year and one of those 'special events' was a trip to the Gordon Barracks, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.

Coach loads of P 7 kids from different schools descended on the facility (used by various organisations including the Territorial Army). We were not there to admire anything directly related to an army regiment - the intention of the trip out of class was to improve each pupil's awareness of  what to do in the event of an emergency.

A number of personnel from different Emergency Services volunteered their own time (when not on their duty roster) to organise the training at these events. Around the barrack blocks, they had set up 'situations' with associated scenarios for the kids to react to, and learn from- with expert guidance along the way.  Examples might include: the Ambulance Service doing basic First Aid training; the Fire Service instructing on how to evacuate a building safely when smoke -filled; the Police /Telephone '999' Response Team instructing on the correct way to make an emergency call, ensuring that the situation had the best responders for the problem; Road Safety / 'stop times' for vehicles...as in a 30 mph collision with a P7 pupil could kill or seriously maim. All scenarios were interactive and highly interesting for the kids.

During these sessions, there were times when the teacher and other accompanying adults would be superfluous for a while, and we were expected to wait in the common room till needed again. At these times, there would be plenty of 'expert staff' supervising the pupils and it was a way to allow the pupils to respond accordingly without any influence from their teacher. The 'debriefing session' at the end of the course was an instructional but amusing time for the pupils, and tended to happen between 1.30 pm and 2 pm, and was the 'official certification'. The pupils were all together in the main hall for this last part of the event.

Sept 11th 2001 was not my first experience of such an organised 'Emergency Services' day, so I knew the drill of waiting in the staff common room during 'debriefing'. The attending teachers and helpers had time to have a coffee and a chat. It so happens that particular year, one of the additional adult members accompanying my class was my husband who was not  at work ( a late swap since a  classroom assistant had to do other duties that day).

Above the central seating area were small TV screens which had been displaying the lunchtime news, but with the sound turned down. I think it was somewhere around 1.50 p.m. when someone noticed something dramatic being broadcast - an aeroplane crashing into a very tall tower block. At almost the same time, one of the volunteer officers approached us and told us that two planes had crashed into skyscrapers in New York.

After a small awkward pause, most of the adults sitting around me were somewhat stunned but I remember being mildly amused and thinking something like 'What in the heck are we supposed to do to help with that?' I was thinking that we 'adults' had just been given some kind of test that we had to react to and find a way of handling the situation, albeit that it was a very odd and remote scenario and not something that had happened on my previous 'days' at the Gordon Barracks. It was only when the officer went on to inform us that the whole of the UK was on 'High Alert' due to the threat of terrorism, that it sank in that the events were REAL.

Due to the 'High Alert' status, the attending 'emergency' personnel were in a situation where they were all effectively back on 'standby' duty themselves and had no idea how long that situation might last for them. Their 'day off' spent volunteering was not ending as they predicted either. 

The event was always so highly organised that it was no different from normal to ferry each school back to their own coach, and out of the barracks at the expected leaving time. During the coach ride back to school, the pupils were blissfully unaware of what was happening across the whole world. Naturally, the adults had to remain tight-lipped because we had no idea what to expect when we returned to school just before the end of the school day.

On our arrival, most adults at school still had no idea of what had happened, since they were finishing off normal classes. We eventually went home some time later not quite knowing if the 'high alert' status might mean something different for us the following day.

I wonder if any of those pupils actually remember that they were on that training day?

Some memories are harder to erase.

Slainthe! 

#Monday Matters #bloggingtips from Debbie at My Random Musings

#Monday Matters - How did that happen? 

...and the art of successful blogging

When I was encouraged to begin this blog about 7 years ago, it was suggested that I use it to promote my current novels. Focus on blog posts about the writing of my contemporary mysteries, was the advice at the time - but I knew that wasn't going to work for me. My first two published novels were contemporary mysteries, but less than a month after the second of those was launched I had a third novel being published by a different publisher, which was a historical romantic adventure. 

Though new to writing fiction, I enjoyed the variety of the different approaches needed for writing in different genres. I barely had the energy (and time) to write one blog, so having two different 'genre' blogs was not to be contemplated. My blog was going to end up being a bit of a mishmash, but I decided going with the flow was definitely for me, regardless of what worked for some other authors. I love the mixture that is this blog and don't really see that changing anytime soon. 

Today, I'm joined by Debbie from @myrandommusings blog who is a versatile blogger, as well as being a successful author. She's here to share her ideas of what running a successful blog might entail. 

Debbie (Deborah A Stansil )

Welcome, Debbie! It's lovely to have you pop in. Your suggestions for what makes blogging enjoyable and successful are very enticing.... 

Why You Don’t Have to Have a Niche Blog to Have a Successful Blog

Have you ever read anywhere that every blogger should have a niche that they write within and don’t deviate much from? That this niche is the key to being successful as a blogger? I’m sure you have – it seems to be the advice every experienced blogger gives.

But is it true? I’m going to go against the trend here and say no, absolutely not.

Now don’t get me wrong. Having a tight niche will put you on a faster track to getting good page views, engaged readers and ultimately making income from your blog as an affiliate, through sponsored posts or from selling your products and services.

You will attract readers who care about the subject you’re talking about and want to learn more about it, that’s for sure. You might be able to establish your blog pretty quickly, especially if you really drill down into your niche and focus on one area of it.

And that’s great if that’s what you want to do. In fact, if someone told me they wanted to make a living from blogging, that’s exactly what I’d tell them to do.

But here’s the thing that always makes me question this advice. You’re not one dimensional – and neither are your readers. Personally, I’d get bored writing about the same thing every day, even if it’s something I’m passionate about. And if I get bored of writing it, surely my readers will get bored of reading it. And when that happens, they’ll look elsewhere for something different. If you provided something different, chances are they’d stick with you – they already know they like your writing style and trust your opinions or they wouldn’t be readers of you at all.

Let’s take an example. Imagine you are a blogger who wants to write about blogging. You can write guides to a whole host of things, social media tips, the works. But take a minute to think about a blogger as a person. They are so much more than just a blogger. Maybe they’re parents, maybe they have full time jobs, maybe they love reading, cake baking, cooking, photography, pets; the list is endless.

So why wouldn’t they be interested in reading a recipe or a book review? Here’s the thing – they would.

How can I be sure? Well my blog is over three years old. I say my niche is motivation and inspiration for women who want to follow their dreams and live the life they love. And it is – but it’s much more than that. I also talk about books and TV shows I love. I post cocktail recipes and share my opinion on topical things. I talk about writing, blogging and I post interviews with other bloggers and authors.

And you know what? My posts get views. All of them. No matter whether they are niche posts or not. I mean the very name of my blog, My Random Musings, tells people to expect a range of subjects – and still, they come.

So how did I discover this instead of falling straight into a niche and never considering all of the other things I wanted to talk about? I’ll be honest. It was a total accident.

When I first started blogging, I knew nothing at all about it. I don’t think I’d even read a blog. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but it had been years since I’d written anything, so I decided to start a blog. I figured writing something, even if it wasn’t fiction, would help me find my voice again and get back into the habit of writing. I knew a journal wouldn’t cut it – if there was no chance of someone reading it, then it didn’t matter whether I did it or not.

I began writing my thoughts about various things and posting them. I planned to do it for a week or two until I felt like I was back into writing and then close it down. But something happened. I found I was loving blogging, and I decided to keep doing it. I joined Twitter and actually started to get a decent amount of people coming to my blog.

After about four or five months of serious blogging, I first came across the idea that I “needed” a niche. I began pondering the idea, trying to think of anything I could choose that could hold my attention every single day over the long term. Of course I couldn’t think of anything. I worried I was doing the blogging thing all wrong, but I still kept posting and trying to think up a niche.

And that’s when it hit me. I didn’t need to find a niche to make my blog grow because it was already growing. I didn’t need to find a niche to make money from blogging because I was already doing that. And I didn’t need to find a niche to sell products because I was already doing that too.

In short, I didn’t need a niche, because I was the niche. And that’s the secret. The moment you start writing a blog, you’ve found your niche. Your niche is you. Your thoughts, your opinions and your words.

If I’d heard about needing a niche to be successful before I started, I’d either have a blog that bores me, or I wouldn’t have a blog at all. If you’re just starting out, by all means soak up all the advice you can get from people who’ve been where you are, but keep in mind that no matter how successful someone is, their opinion is just that – an opinion. And just because they couldn’t make something work doesn’t mean you can’t.

Blogging should be fun. It should showcase the real you. And that’s all that really matters. Readers want to make a genuine connection with a real person, not a niche. If you’re in this for the long haul and you don’t want to restrict yourself, then don’t. You might take a bit longer to grow, but you can still grow a blog without a niche. Take it from someone who has done it.

About Debbie: 

Born in 1982 in North East England, I knew from an early age I wanted to be a writer. Life got in the way, and the dream was put on the back burner, although never forgotten. I am now a full time author and freelance writer and I write my own blog, My Random Musings.

I have published four novels, three short story collections, three non-fiction books and a collection of funny poems.

Find Debbie at the following places: 

Blog  

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon Author Page

Thank you for sharing your excellent suggestions with us today, Debbie. Best wishes with all of your writing projects, current and future! 

Slainthe!  

(ps I'm looking forward to being on Debbie's blog in the coming weeks- I'll keep you posted for that date! )