David Gibbins: Pharaoh

Today at Khartoum there is little left that was visible in 1885, with the palace being a more recent structure and the course of the Nile having altered the appearance of the foreshore and Tutti island. However, the palace was built on the site of the original, and it is possible to look out on it from the far shore of the Blue Nile as my character Mayne does, from the site where an abandoned fort is marked on contemporary maps. The disposition of the Mahdi’s forces and the appearance of Khartoum in its final days are documented by eyewitness accounts, including that of Colonel Wilson, who came within sight of the palace in the steamer Bordein the day after Gordon died.

Outside the city at Omdurman, the tomb of the Mahdi has been restored; Omdurman is also the site of one of the few surviving relics in Sudan of the 1884–5 campaign: the hull of the Bordein , saved from scrapping in 2010 and now on display. The site where the Abbas was wrecked, the basis for the dive in this novel, has never been investigated underwater, though the account of guns and equipment being thrown overboard suggests that artefacts must still exist on the bed of the Nile; the site was visited by Colonel William Francis Butler several months after the wrecking, when he saw much material strewn about. My inspiration for its appearance comes from a wreck of similar size, date and depth that I have dived on frequently in Canada, in a fresh-water environment that would have preserved timber and metal in a similar way to the Nile. You can see a film of me diving at night on that wreck, and another of me shooting a Martini-Henry rifle, as well as images of medals, contemporary illustrations of the Nile campaign and portraits of the main historical characters involved, on my website www.davidgibbins.com.

The quotes at the front of the book, and the quote on the Leviathan in Chapter 6, are derived from an 1885 edition of the King James version of the Bible; at the front of the book and in Chapters 14 and 21 (the letter from the Mahdi) from The Journals of Major-General C. G. Gordon at Kartoum, printed from the original mss (cited above); in the Prologue (the hymn to Sobek) from Papyrus Ramesseum 6 (EA10759.1), translated in the British Museum online Research Catalogue; in Chapter 3 (the Semna dispatch) from Semna Despatches 80–1 (BM10752), also in the British Museum online catalogue; in Chapter 4 (War Office report on Semna) from Lieutenant Colonel H. E. Colvile, History of the Sudan Campaign, compiled in the Intelligence Division of the War Office (1889); in Chapter 9 (on crocodiles) from Plutarch, Moralia 75; and in the Author’s Note from William Francis Butler, The Campaign of the Cataracts (cited above), and Rudyard Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads (1892).

David Gibbins has worked in underwater archaeology all his professional life. After taking a PhD from Cambridge University he taught archaeology in Britain and abroad, and is a world authority on ancient shipwrecks and sunken cities. He has led numerous expeditions to investigate underwater sites in the Mediterranean and around the world. He currently divides his time between fieldwork, England and Canada.

Atlantis

Crusader Gold

The Last Gospel

The Tiger Warrior

The Mask of Troy

The Gods of Atlantis

Pharaoh

Copyright © 2013 David Gibbins

The right of David Gibbins to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published as an Ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2013

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

All characters in this publication – apart from the obvious historical figures – are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The factual backdrop is discussed in the author’s note at the end.

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978 0 7553 7433 5

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