Top products from r/AubreyMaturinSeries

The Ramage series by Dudley Pope is pretty good. On the one hand, it's a lot lighter and less complex than O'Brian, and not particularly well-written, and often quite unrealistic (he's a typical Hornblower-esque hero); but it is fairly entertaining stuff. The first few books are the best ones, starting with Ramage.

My first time through the series I just read the books without any special guide to the terminology - just full immersion except maybe for some Google searches here and there. It's a bit like learning a new language by immersion and over time you will figure a lot of it out via context. That said there is a book I picked up which helps a lot as a reference: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Words-Third-Companion-Seafaring/dp/0805066152 . I think I got this near the end of my first read through or the beginning of the second. It's a great reference book.

As for audiobooks, that's not my thing so others could chime in on that. I hope you enjoy the series!

I am assuming that you are asking about the book "Lobscouse and Spotted Dog"? If so, yes, it is an outstanding book written by a mother and daughter team. Many food and drink recipes from the books and lots of great narration. Works as a great coffee table book too. And yes.. they even do Miller's in Onion Sauce.

I'll just go ahead and leave this right here http://www.amazon.com/The-Royal-Navy-Napoleonic-Era/lm/31C0AQAP2Z11 I highly recommend books 2-5, and you can download the first book from Gutenberg (I think).

http://www.amazon.com/Patrick-OBrians-Navy-Illustrated-Companion/dp/0762415401 Pictures... purty

SPOILERS for A-M and (minor) Hornblower
I don't think there's any fiction that is more accurate than O'Brian (on any subject anywhere for that matter), but Forrester's Hornblower series is worth reading for more "naval life". Hornblower and Aubrey were even on station together for the capture of the Spanish treasure frigates! Hornblower does a Hornblowery thing though and laughs when Aubrey gets screwed out of the treasure a mere political point.

Lastly for some quick mindless fun plus tall ship video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8Y1gokHyA

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9hsQpB3zA (all four parts are in the related videos, and all worth it)

A while back I made a great big Aubrey & Maturin playlist on Spotify which includes the film soundtrack, the wonderful Musical Evenings with the Captain albums, a ton of period classical music, and some of the English sea shanties thrown in for good measure.

As I'm reading, whenever a composer or a piece of music is mentioned, I'll add that to the playlist. It's great for the immersion.

This is very cool. I have an atlas type thing, but I this interactive map project is totally useful and very well done. I'm currently rereading the series and I'm just at Post Captain, I'll keep checking in as I get further down the line!

I found similar enjoyment in The Republic of Pirates. It is non-fiction, and took place a bit earlier, and has Blackbeard as protagonist, but still seafaring adventures and an interesting insight into the why of piracy.

You want the W. W. Norton Company edition from 1990 onwards the cover looks like this got all mine from Barnes & Noble. Easy to find

Stephen Biesty's Cross Section Man Of War is marketed as a childrens book but its actually a valuable guide to every aspect of the inside of a ship of the line from Jack's era. It takes as its subject the H.M.S. Victory and each page is a slice of the ship, drawn in exacting and accurate detail with copious notes describing everything and everyone in each illustration. A really valuable addition to your understanding, this book conveys more knowledge of shipboard life and ship construction than many other books I know on the subject. http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Cross-Sections-Man-War/dp/product-description/156458321X

I quite enjoy it. There's a second one too, cleverly named Musical Evenings with the Captain Vol II

Pasting my comment from a recent thread:

>Dean King's Sea of Words and Harbors and High Seas are pretty essential, I find.
>
>I also like Patrick O'Brian's Navy: An Illustrated Guide to Jack Aubrey's World, though it's more 'additional reading' than a must-have, for me.
>
>And of course, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is the essential culinary companion, if you've a mind to spend some time in the galley and want to shout "Which it'll be ready when it's ready!" as authentically as possible.
>
>I've heard good things about the Patrick O'Brian Muster Book, but I haven't used it so I can't speak to it personally.

> How is this possible?

I thought this book described the action in a way that helped me (no seaman) understand what happened.

> Cacafuego is a much less attractive name than the Gamo

Very true, although there was a major Spanish ship by that unappealing name.

I went into my local bookstore and asked the same question. Here is what they recomended.

https://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Austria-Intending-Prohaska-Official/dp/159013107X

Very different setting, and the rest of the series isn't as good as the first... but I enjoyed it quite a bit after my let down of finishing A/M.

I think you of all people might need a copy of this - or borrow it given it's current price:
The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian https://www.amazon.com/dp/039307062X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Zsd4CbJ42EEJP

More images:
https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/book-review-the-frigate-surprise-by-brian-lavery-geoff-hunt.1961/

Sorry if this has not already been suggested. By the way, check the quote at the top of the dust jacket: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671519247/?ref=idea_lv_dp_vv_d

Here's a pretty good one that compares the two navies as far as frigates are concerned: https://www.amazon.com/British-Frigate-French-1793-1814-Duel/dp/1780961324

The French navy was mostly terrible once Napoleon executed the nobility. Also, the British navy kept crews with ships, and primarily moved officers and masters around. The French would build crews for each mission and ship. That was the main reason why they lost all the time.

If it does, there's small industry of books published to explain it all. Patrick O'Brian's Navy for example.

I might have read that in Dean King's Patrick O'Brian - A Life Revealed

Los gehts mein herr.

Here is the mobile version of your link

I believe (not backed up by evidence) that PO’B became fed up with Diana because of personal feelings that came from his own personal life. We have always known that Stephen is more or less a stand-in for him and the clearest and most direct expression of his voice. And his depiction of Stephen’s hopeless addiction to her is so fully realized and high fidelity.

I read a quote at some point where someone asked him why he killed her off at all, and he responded that he thought it was about time for her to stop planting horns on Stephen. That sounds like it could be personal, doesn’t it?

With Bonden I’m 100% convinced that he was realistically portraying a relationship between men of different classes in a very classist period and society. Yes, Jack highly valued and even loved Bonden; but it was always a proprietary, classist kind of love. Witness his wrath that someone had whipped Bonden during one of those times that he was in a different ship; he said “someone whipped MY COXWAIN?” Jack is a fully-participating and native member of the British landed gentry, unlike Stephen. He knows how he’s supposed to act and he does so. It would be unseemly to him and also to his peers if he started heaping ashes and wearing sackcloth over Bonden’s death. This is before we get to the expectations of masculinity and emotional suppression expected of fighting men, a class that Jack is a consummate member of.

With the various mids that died under his care, something else is going on—1. They are children 2. They are of his social class 3. Most critically they are under his care and he feels a strong sense of responsibility towards them and their parents. And I guess bonus 4. He’s a parent and can sort of understand what it’s like to lose a kid, as can most people present at the skylarking death. You’ll also note that this is a change for Jack. When Forshaw was killed in the Java engagement, there was much less waterworks. This also may be partly because the lad who fell died meaninglessly whereas Forshaw died a hero, leading men in an engagement.

EDIT: Found that PO'B quote about Diana!

From the article "A Master and the World He Commands", The Wall Street Journal, by Max Hastings, Nov. 7, 2003:

> Maturin, conscious of his lack of physical charms, is a tortured soul. His chief misery is caused by his love and eventual marriage to the tempestuous Diana Villiers, who is incapable of fidelity. I once asked O'Brian why, in the 19th book, he kills off Diana in a coaching accident with a casual brutality. He replied: "Well, I don't think poor Maturin could have been asked to wear horns for any longer, do you?"

EDIT 2: From Patrick O'Brian: A Life Revealed by Dean King, a different take than mine above. King theorizes that it's personal, but not in the way that I thought above:

> While neither Aubrey nor Maturin is wholly autobiographical, the effort of examining their characteristics and circumstances through the prism of O'Brian's life is certainly illuminating ... When in The Hundred Days, the nineteenth book of the series, O'Brian revealed (in a few cavalier words from a Greek chorus of passed-over lieutenants on the Rock of Gibraltar) the momentous death of Diana Villiers, the searing love of Maturin's life, O'Brian did so knowing of the impending death of his wife, Mary.

google books link