Life at sea has captured people’s imaginations since the beginning of time judging by the number of novels written about seafarers. Shipwrecks, battles, pirates, and journeys to exotic locales make for good stories, both when it’s history and when it comes in the form of a novel or a movie. I read stories like Treasure Island and Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. It was a world I was not really familiar with, coming from a land-locked state, but with the danger, discovery, and adventure, it was great reading. In my teenage years, I saw the movie White Squall, which was a bit of a coming-of-age story, but the adventure of the sea and hard-knock learning made for a great story. I also enjoyed the movie Master and Commander, which I saw in my early 20s. I didn’t know that last movie was based on a set of rather well-known novels.
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (ISBN: 0-393-30705-0) is the first in what turned out to be a twenty-book series. The novel starts off with the main protagonist, Jack Aubrey, being promoted and taking the helm of his own ship. He finds a guy named Stephen Maturin to be the ship’s surgeon, and off the two main characters in the series go, sailing for the Royal Navy. Their first duty is convoy escort, but having successfully completed that, they are given permission to cruise, looking for prizes (enemy ships, as the setting for the books is the Napoleonic Wars). Aubrey leads his crew to a few successes, some minor, some much more significant. Throughout, life aboard a ship and life in port are presented in life-like detail, right down to the ropes and pulleys aboard the ship. While Aubrey and Maturin headline the action, the story includes the other officers and men aboard, giving a complete picture. The story is loosely based on some actual events in the Royal Navy’s history. When the crew is in port, one is also introduced into Captain Harte, Aubrey’s superior, and Harte’s wife, with whom Aubrey is having an affair. That comes back to bite Aubrey toward the end of the novel, when he is prevented from getting any of his prize money, which is Harte’s way of getting back at him.
The book was an interesting novel. I’d have to watch the movie again to compare it to the book (although the movie is based on the first three books in the series). It was a bit technical at times, but it really fit into the story since the sailors had to explain things to Maturin, who was a landman. The explanations helped non-sailors like myself, but I often found myself lost in discussions of ropes and sails. The action scenes were good, though. I liked the realistic nature of the story, too, which applied to life on land, at sea, and in all the various professions encountered. It seemed that O’Brian knew his stuff. Overall, I liked it enough that I’m interested in finding the second book. I was surprised in a couple instances by language sailors are famous for since I didn’t think those words were usually printed in stuff mass marketed in the 1970s.
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (ISBN: 0-393-30705-0) is the first in what turned out to be a twenty-book series. The novel starts off with the main protagonist, Jack Aubrey, being promoted and taking the helm of his own ship. He finds a guy named Stephen Maturin to be the ship’s surgeon, and off the two main characters in the series go, sailing for the Royal Navy. Their first duty is convoy escort, but having successfully completed that, they are given permission to cruise, looking for prizes (enemy ships, as the setting for the books is the Napoleonic Wars). Aubrey leads his crew to a few successes, some minor, some much more significant. Throughout, life aboard a ship and life in port are presented in life-like detail, right down to the ropes and pulleys aboard the ship. While Aubrey and Maturin headline the action, the story includes the other officers and men aboard, giving a complete picture. The story is loosely based on some actual events in the Royal Navy’s history. When the crew is in port, one is also introduced into Captain Harte, Aubrey’s superior, and Harte’s wife, with whom Aubrey is having an affair. That comes back to bite Aubrey toward the end of the novel, when he is prevented from getting any of his prize money, which is Harte’s way of getting back at him.The book was an interesting novel. I’d have to watch the movie again to compare it to the book (although the movie is based on the first three books in the series). It was a bit technical at times, but it really fit into the story since the sailors had to explain things to Maturin, who was a landman. The explanations helped non-sailors like myself, but I often found myself lost in discussions of ropes and sails. The action scenes were good, though. I liked the realistic nature of the story, too, which applied to life on land, at sea, and in all the various professions encountered. It seemed that O’Brian knew his stuff. Overall, I liked it enough that I’m interested in finding the second book. I was surprised in a couple instances by language sailors are famous for since I didn’t think those words were usually printed in stuff mass marketed in the 1970s.
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