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Monthly Archives: September 2008
Happy 250th Anniversary of the birth of Nelson
Happy 250th Anniversary of the birth of Horatio Nelson. Nelson bust unveiled on birthday “A bust of naval hero Lord Nelson is being unveiled in Portsmouth to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. The life-size bronze model was commissioned … Continue reading
Pirate Stand-off in the Indian Ocean
The real life pirate saga, which began Thursday night when Somali pirates seized the Faina, a Ukrainian ship loaded with a cargo of ammunition, grenade launchers and 33 refurbished Russian T-72 battle tanks, has turned into a stand-off between the pirates holding the crew hostage … Continue reading
From Lord Cochrane to the Wellington Hurricanes – the Evolution the Nautical Hero Part 1. The Founder of our Feast – Thomas Cochrane
Joseph Campbell wrote in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces that all stories follow the ancient patterns of myth and legend. Whether the heroes of nautical fiction quite fit Campbell’s monomyths is open to question but there is no … Continue reading
Jackass Frigate by Alaric Bond
Jackass Frigate is Napoleonic naval fiction set during the Revolutionary wars. The Jackass Frigate differs from the normal Hornblower/Aubrey sagas in that there is no “hero who becomes an admiral”, rather characters from all divisions of the ship are featured, … Continue reading
Peter Wicked: A New Matty Graves Novel by Broos Campbell
Ok, I am about a month behind. The new Matty Graves novel has been out since early September. Then again as this blog has only been up for a few days perhaps I can be forgiven. A review from Publisher’s Weekly: Nautical … Continue reading
C. Northcote Parkinson gets it right
Of the some sixty books written by C. Northcote Parkinson, his Richard Delancey series of nautical adventures is still a favorite among many aficionados of Georgian nautical fiction. Of course, Parkinson is best known for his “Parkinson’s Law” – that “work expands … Continue reading
My Quest for Catharpins
“Ignorance of the crosscatharpins is not necessarily fatal. Explanation almost certainly would be.”
Patrick O’Brian.
The cliché goes that there are two types of people – those who believe that there are two types of people and those who don’t. There are no doubt many more than two types of types of readers of nautical fiction. Nevertheless my guess is that as it applies to jargon, there may indeed be only two types.
The first type, and probably the smarter of the two, are those who read the jargon and let the words wash over them like a breaking wave, catching what they can in context but not caring too very much if they understand the finer points of rigging an eighteenth century ship, or, as is often the case in Patrick O’Brian’s books, the lost art of English suet puddings with exotic names like “drowned baby” and “spotted dick”. Their approach is like that of reading the more technical sub-genres of science fiction, where one need not necessarily understand quantum physics to enjoy the story. (Indeed, I suspect too much understanding of the science might get in the way.) Continue reading
Raise a Glass to Doctor Dogbody
“ON A DREARY AUTUMN EVENING when the clouds hung low in the heavens and the masts and yards of the tall men-of-war in the harbour were obscured by a chill drizzle of rain, there was no more inviting spot in … Continue reading
Tall Ship Elissa – 1877 survives Hurricane Ike with little damage
ELISSA is a three-masted, iron-hulled sailing barque built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by Alexander Hall & Company. Under various names, rigs and owners she had a 90 year carreer carrying cargo. She was purchased by the Galveston Historical Foundation 1975. She … Continue reading
HMS PICKLE is For Sale!
HMS PICKLE is For Sale! OK, not the original HMS Pickle but a replica built in 1995. For only £350,000.00 (US$626,640) you too could own a replica of the historic schooner. For those not familiar with the Pickle, she was … Continue reading
HMS BOUNTY GALLERY
Photos from a cruise on HMS Bounty a number of years ago.
Thank You for Not Talking Like A Pirate
If by good fortune you missed the “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”, just as well. If you managed to pass the day without a single “Aargh” or “Shiver Me Timbers” congratulations. I have a rather good sense of humor … Continue reading
