As some of you may know, I have contributed a piece to the New Reader’s
Guide on ‘Kipling and the Royal Navy’.
Only recently have I become aware that he made a third short voyage
(after his two in Pelorus in 1897 and
`98) on board HMS Nile in the summer of 1901, at a time when
Carrie was suffering from one of her bouts of depression. Both Birkenhead and Lycett make mention
of his trip, which seems to have lasted rather less than a week, and to have
involved little more than a trip up the
Did Kipling write anything about his trip which has survived, in his correspondence or elsewhere? I have five volumes of the Pinney “Letters”, but not the relevant Vol. 3 – which is, as far as I can see, virtually unobtainable – there’s no copy offered for sale on either Abebooks, nor Alibris. Would some member who has a copy be kind enough to have a look inside and let me know if he did mention the trip, please? The relevant date would be either side of 20-26 July 1901.