Patreon Newsletter #3 (Patreon)

Dear Patrons,

It's already our third newsletter... how time flies! Here's your latest roundup of production updates and cool historical things...

Production updates

Nelson's Battles

In the golden age of Hollywood, a group of screenwriters had a bet to see who could come up with the single most expensive opening line to a screenplay. The winner was... 'The two fleets meet.' 

Today CGI helps to make such things achievable, but arranging and animating 30+ ships-of-the-line remains a complex and challenging process! We're currently tinkering with smoke and sail damage, to get everything just right, and we're working on two episodes simultaneously (Cape St Vincent & The Nile). You will see them here first...

Battle of Wabash

Animation work begins next week on our two-part history of the Battle of Wabash. Did you know - not only was the battle the United States' heaviest defeat at the hands of Native American tribes, but that it was costlier than any battle of the Revolutionary War? We'll be explaining the context for America's 'Northwest Indian War', as well as the progress of St.Clair's expedition, in what I hope will be a fascinating and eye-opening account of the campaign. 

Napoleon Seizes Power: The Brumaire Coup

Early days on this one, but scriptwriting has begun for our video on the next chapter of Napoleon's rise to power - the Brumaire Coup of 1799. We'll be covering the political manoeuvring, the twists and turns and the coup that very nearly collapsed into farce. More updates on this soon. 

Epic History Rebrand

As many of you will have noticed, we rolled out a new logo and look for the channel last week. There was a surprising amount of love expressed for the old EHTV star, and we regard it with great affection too! But after 8 years, we felt it was time for a new look.. something a bit more polished and consistent. I hope you agree that the new branding looks smart, but whatever your thoughts, rest assured that the channel content will not be changing!

One Cool History Thing

This time I'm sharing my current reading, 'Two Years Before the Mast' by Richard Henry Dana. As a well-educated 19-year old from Boston, Dana made the unusual decision to sign up as an ordinary hand aboard the merchant ship Pilgrim in 1834. This is an account of his time at sea, with descriptions of rounding Cape Horn and the trade along the coast of California, when there were just a handful of tiny settlements with Spanish names, such as San Francisco and Santa Barbara... They're mostly taking in cow hides to be shipped east for making leather. The Sandwich Islanders come out of it particularly well - fine sailors with high morals, and not afraid to jump into the sea to wrestle a shark if needed! It's packed with fascinating historic detail of a lost world, and highly recommended for anyone with an interest in maritime history.

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As always, feel free to recommend anything you're reading or watching in the comments section...it's always interesting to see!

Thanks as ever for supporting the channel - we'll be back with more updates and videos soon!

Toby