Dear Mr Cornwell, I am an avid reader of all your books and have just finished reading The Fort which I thoroughly enjoyed. Your books are usually extremely well researched but I believe that you have made an error: you mention Royal Marines in the text but the Corps was not designated Royal until 1802 some 23 years after the events described! Regards, Anthony Hawley

Dear Mr Cornwell I have just finished your book “The Fort” which I enjoyed very much. I joined the Royal Marines in 1955 & served for 7 years so I was very interested in their actions. 1 thing puzzled me however. As young recruits we had to memorise the ” Memorable Dates” from 16th October 1664, the date that the Corps was formed onwards. We remembered these dates by little jingles & 1 that I still recall went “In 1802 the Colours changed to blue & t6he Corps became “Royal”. Your story takes place 1779-1780 so they couldn’t have been “Royal Marines”. Not that it matters, it was a rattling good yarn anyway. Cheers Paul

Dear Mr Cornwell, many thanks for your brilliant books which I have enjoyed enormously, from your thrillers to the historical.I do miss the Starbuck stories. A small note about the excellent story, ‘The Fort’ Marines were not called Royal until 1802, by decree of King George. Sorry to be picky on such a small item but as a former Royal myself and having Corps history drilled into me the term just stood out to me. Thank you once again for the pleasant hours I have spent enthralled readind your books. Kind regards Ed Eccleson

re the royal marines in the Fort in 1779 the marines did not the name ROYAL untill 1802 alan ex R.m.

I’ve just finished reading “The Fort” and was absolutely captivated by it. However, I note that you refer to the British Marines as “Royal Marines”. I believe that the “Royal” title was not granted until 1802, some 23 years after the Penobscot Expedition.

Eddie