I'm the author of Gentleman Captain, the first in a new series of naval and historical fiction - 'The Journals of Matthew Quinton' - set in the seventeenth century. This is a little known but hugely important period in naval history: it saw some of the largest battles of the sailing age, the beginnings of a professional navy, the evolution of the 'line of battle' and a number of dramatic historical events, such as the Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London and the Dutch attack on the Medway in 1667, debatably the greatest defeat in British history. It was the age of Charles II, of Samuel Pepys, of Isaac Newton - and of my fictional hero, Matthew Quinton, a young man suddenly given command of a warship despite knowing nothing whatsoever about the sea. His story is founded on the very real experiences of those who found themselves in exactly that position - the 'gentlemen captains' of the Restoration age.

This is a new departure for me, as my previous work has mainly been academic research and writing set within the same period of history. My large survey of the late seventeenth century navy, Pepys's Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649-89, was published in 2008. I'm also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and am currently Chairman of the Naval Dockyards Society and a Vice-President of the Navy Records Society.