I hoped to get a new post up this week, but have been stymied by a combination of domestic issues and by the fact that I’m preparing a couple of new posts for imminent publication on other sites, namely one for my Welsh naval history blog, britanniasdragon.com, and one for the Llanelli Community Heritage website. So here’s a reblog of a very well received post from a couple of years ago, looking at how Christmas was celebrated in Charles II’s navy. This blog will return on Monday 5 January 2015, a year which marks the 350th anniversary of the beginning of the second Anglo-Dutch war, the backdrop to the most recent ‘Quinton Journals’. So expect plenty of attention to be given to that on this site, to provide at least some balance for the ongoing commemoration of World War I and the imminent politically incorrect junketing for the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo! In the meantime, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers of my books and/or this blog, and thanks for your continuing support!