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Tag Archives: Patrick O’Brian
Remembering Dr. James Guthrie, the Real Dr. Stephen Maturin ?
On Facebook this morning, Maritime Great Britain linked to a post on THE DEAR SURPRISE blog, discussing a post by Marion Elizabeth Diamond on the Historians are Past Caring blog, which raised the question, “Was this the real Stephen Maturin?” Ms. Diamond answers … Continue reading
Russell Crowe calls for Master and Commander sequel
Master and Commander – Far Side of the World, loosely based on one or another novel by Patrick O’Brian, was a movie that I needed to see twice to enjoy. The first time I saw it, I was so annoyed by the … Continue reading
HMS Surprise Dramatization on BBC for the Next Week
BBC is featuring a dramatization of Patrick O’Brian’s novel HMS Surprise. Very well done. Each episode is 45 minutes long and will remain on line for a week. HMS Surprise – Episode 1 HMS Surprise – Episode 2 HMS Surprise … Continue reading
The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O’Brian, by Brian Lavery
In his Aubrey/Maturin series, Patrick O’Brian wrote of HMS Surprise, a small British frigate, originally captured from the French. Over several books, the Surprise became almost as beloved a character, in her own way, as Jack Aubrey and Doctor Maturin … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Aubrey/Maturin, Brian Lavery, British frigate, Doctor Maturin, Geoff Hunt, HMS SURPRISE, Jack Aubrey, Patrick O'Brian
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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
