Kevin's Watch

2007 has been a strange year for reading for me. I can't remember one single re-read - I blame KW for introducing me to all sorts of new literature!

But my reading New Year resolution is to start this series again. 21 novels based on the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. I've only re-read the series about six times. And not once in the last two years.

For those who haven't, the books are based on a 'dashing', very English, ship's captain who proceeds from a 12-gun sloop to an admiral, called Aubrey (based on a real life captain called Cochrane I believe) and his relationship with his ship's surgeon and natural historian extraordinaire Maturin (a half Irish/half Catalan revolutionary-type).

The two completely different characters allow POB to integrate the working of a sailing ship (and ship's crew) and nature's wonders, a history of medicine and the society of the early 1800's perfectly.

That's the dry description! The books are un-put-down-able and funny as anything I've ever read, and the characters truly love-able.

There was a film made the other year ('Master and Commander', the name of the first book) and though not bad, it mangled the plots of about four of the novels.

If anyone else has read and enjoyed, please share.....

Only just found this thread, I'm a massive fan of the Aubriad! Planning a third re-read of the whole thing in the near future.
I thought the film was actually quite well done, very good on the details, Killick was perfect!

At last someone else!

Preserved Killick was indeed well-played in the film. And just right too, as he's one of the funniest characters in the books. I love the bit when he gets drunk on the dregs of the dinner and breaks the unicorn's horn...

"Killick was drunk. Drunk even by navy standards".

I've read a couple of POB's books, they're good but my favourites are the Nathaniel Drinkwater books by Richard Woodman. They're available in omnibus form, ideal for taking away on holiday, and they cover the career of Nat from a young midshipman during the Revolutionary War all the way to Rear Admiral towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Woodman is a massively experienced sailor, so if you're not at least passingly familiar with nautical terminology certain passages may pass you by (even I have to dip into the sailing glossary quite frequently, as the rigging and some of the terminology is of the period). Where I think Woodman really excels is in his ability to write Drinkwater and his crews into real life history. He's scoured historical references around the times of major incidents in the timeline, found many little footnotes and incorporated Drinkwater and his crews into them.

A report by locals in Normandy of a British ship sending boats ashore in the dead of night becomes the daring rescue of a British spy and a pair of French aristocrats during the Revolution. A French base in Greenland that was wiped out by disease becomes central to a later book where Drinkwater is protecting a whaling fleet in the Greenland Sea. We also see him commanding a bomb vessel at the battle of Copenhagen and a very original take on Trafalgar, where Drinkwater ends up observing the battle as a prisoner of Admiral de Villeneuve.

It's all great stuff, Drinkwater is more of an everyman character than Jack Aubrey, but if you liked one you're bound to enjoy the other.

ooh another one to read! It'll have to be DAMN good, though, to compare to POB!

ps Why 'dog'-watch?

As (if I remember correctly) Maturin tells it, as it's the shortest watch, it's cur-tailed!

ten out of ten, Brasidas!

Just read Desolation Island and Fortune of War again, on my travels over the last 3 days. I was getting strange looks on the Austrian trains as I burst out laughing at certain bits. There are two classic bits regarding Killick (shooting a stern chaser) and Bonden (chatting to American sailors) I'll try and find and quote.

ps Two weevils, same species, tapped out of a ship biscuit. Which do you choose?

Two weevils out of the same biscuit? It won't matter which one you choose will it...

Brasidas wrote:Two weevils out of the same biscuit? It won't matter which one you choose will it...

Of course it matters! I choose the smaller one.

But why...

You should ALWAYS choose the lesser of two weevils...!

Stonemaybe wrote:You should ALWAYS choose the lesser of two weevils...!

Har! Har! We should be on the stage!

ok before I reduce my fave series of books to a stream of corny jokes, perhaps I should explain that one of the two main characters, Jack Aubrey, Royal Navy commander/captain/commodore etc, while a complete genius in command of his majesty's vessels and a completely gullible buffoon by land, spends alot of his time wining and dining his ship's officers/other ship's captains. Alot of what I love about POB's (seemingly) accurate historical writing comes from these culinary get-togethers. Jack Aubrey, at sea since about 6yo and self-consciencely lacking in education, delights in bringing forth 'witty' puns and plays on words, as a way of covering his lack of a formal education.

His lame wit and mixed metaphors are one of his most endearing traits to his friends (and those who love the books).

And he kept a fine table. I believe soused pig's cheeks was Aubrey's favourite dish!

And the Navy had the rule that you couldn't discuss women, religion or politics at table. Maybe that would work in the Tank?

Part of what I love about this series is finding out about how lots of our every day phrases come from naval terminology.

From 'The Thirteen Gun Salute'. You're on a sailing ship. Rope is quite important! You have a place on the ship where the rope is kept. Coiled, so that if you need it you can grab an end, pull it out and attach it to somewhere, like an anchor or another ship, or a boat for towing. the end that comes out gets wet and frayed and used and gradually diminishes in strength. The other end, at the centre of the coil is fresh and strong. So if you have a really important task that involves rope, life or death perhaps, and you want to make sure that the rope doesn't part under the stress, you can rouse out(!) the end that isn't normally used, and you might have more chance of success. The place where the rope is kept is called the 'bitts', so the end that is new and strong and most likely to save you, is called the 'bitter end'!

More naval phrase derivation for anyone who's interested, from 'Clarissa Oakes'.

'Batten down the hatches'. You're on a sailing ship, the seas are rough and water coming on board, it's also teaming rain. Your ship's timbers 'work' anyway (move against one another), letting in water, so you have men manning the pumps, draining the ship of water that's come in through the timbers. There are open hatchways on deck, allowing access to below, and all the water coming on board is draining down through the hatchways meaning the men on the pumps aren't making much headway. So you put tarpaulins (hatches) over the hatchways. But in rough weather these may blow free, so you add 'battens', which are strips of wood of a certain size, which go on top of the tarpaulin, fitting snugly inside the raised lips of the hatchways, to secure the tarps. Thus 'battening down the hatches'.