The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / Hms Surprise Volume 1 Ebook

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FREETHE AUBREY-MATURIN CHRONICLES: MASTER AND COMMANDER / POST CAPTAIN / HMS SURPRISE VOLUME 1 EBOOK

Like any stout-hearted Royal Navy midshipman or lieutenant, Jack Aubrey hungered for glory and for command of a ship. Indeed, the two were vitally connected, for the first was a path to the second and the latter -- with luck -- could bring the former. In the very first chapter of the first volume in Patrick O'Brian's magnificent series of novels about Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin, Aubrey obtained his first real command on April 19, And glory followed. This web page explores all of Jack Aubrey's vessels from the small sloop-of-war HMS Sophie of which he takes command at the beginning of Master and Commander through more than a dozen other sloops, frigates and ships-of-the-line until we leave him in The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey on the ship-of-the-line Suffolk, having raised his flag as rear admiral. And for any who might protest at the imprecision in the title of this page, the Sophie being only a brig and thus not truly a ship by the definition of the sea, I must fall back upon the sage words of that eminent nautical authority, Stephen Maturin: "Let us not be pedantical, for all love! For more than a decade I have been an avid fan of the nautical novels of Patrick O'Brian, an enthusiasm growing out of my long-standing interest in naval warships of the "Age of Fighting Sail" perhaps first sparked by childhood visits to "Old Ironsides". Oftentimes while reading these marvelous books, I have reached for the reference volumes on my shelves to better understand exactly what kind of vessel Jack Aubrey was commanding in the book in hand. And often I thought how convenient it would be to have a single source available to quickly find the basic information about the vessels, to look at their plans, and to compare one ship with another. These web pages are my effort to provide such a source of information. In many cases, Patrick O'Brian put Jack Aubrey aboard real Royal Navy vessels of the era of the Napoleonic Wars, although frequently the author altered the actual histories of those ships to fit the world of his fictional hero. At other times, ships commanded by Aubrey had clearly identifiable historical prototypes, but with names and circumstances changed for the novels. For these historical vessels, whether commanded by Aubrey under their actual name or one fictional, a description of that ship is given below, accompanied by basic technical data and an image of the actual ship plans. Occasionally O'Brian invented a warship without obvious specific precedent. In those cases, a genuine vessel of appropriate design has been selected for presentation, again with data and plans. I wish to thank Don Seltzer, a fellow listswain of the Patrick O'Brian Gunroom and of John Berg's Sea-Room, for his help by reviewing the material for presentation on these web pages and for providing me with some nuggets of information that otherwise would have escaped my eye. Although the hull dimensions generally remained essentially unchanged throughout a ship's career except in cases of major rebuilds of a type not applicable to any of Aubrey's commandscrew size and armament sometimes did substantially alter over years and decades of service. Gun types and quantities especially shifted around the beginning of the 19th Century when short-ranged but powerful carronades replaced many of the smaller-caliber long guns carried on quarterdecks and forecastles. Thus, the weaponry information presented here is not necessarily correct in all details for the period of Jack's Aubrey's command of the ship in question, although usually the main battery of guns is the same a notable exception is HMS Surprise which under Aubrey's command typically carried pound long guns, not the 9-pounders of the original armament scheme nor their pound carronade replacements. Nominal crew sizes were adjusted from time to time and, of course, ships frequently served with crews under authorized strength. These are: Length - The length of the Lower Deck the "lower deck" on a ship-of-the-line was that deck upon which the heaviest guns were placed; for frigates it was the deck immediately below the deck holding the main battery of cannons. This is the rough equivalent of "length between perpendiculars" for modern ships. Keel - Not the length of the actual keel, but an artificial number used for calculations of tonnage. Breadth - The "moulded" breadth at the widest part of the hull, "moulded" meaning the measurement was made to the outside of the hull frame, but inside the external planking. Hold - The "depth in hold" was another artificial number sometimes used in calculating tonnage. The dimensions cited for ships built for the Royal Navy are "as built" figures, if available; otherwise they are from the design plans; those for foreign prizes are "as built" figures taken during a survey after capture. By the late 18th Century the standard formula for calculating tonnage was known as the Builders Old Measurement in which the Length minus three-fifths of the Breadth was multiplied by the Breadth times one-half the Breadth and then divided by the number 94, yielding the calculated tonnage of burthen and explaining why the tonnage of vessels of this era usually include an odd fraction with "94" as the divisor. An equivalent technique The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 to multiply the Keel times Breadth times one-half Breadth and then divide by The significance of such tonnage The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 is that they permit a standard for a comparison of the relative overall size of different ships. The ship plans come from several sources designated hereafter with page citations as:. Click here to access the plans. You may return via the "Ships of Jack Aubrey" button. There's not a moment to lose! HMS Sophie. Towards the end of the novel, the first book in the series, Sophie is captured on the Spanish coast by a French squadron led by Admiral Linois. Although the activities of the Sophie and her dimensions and armament were modeled closely on those of real-life HMS Speedycommanded by Thomas, Lord Cochrane, the quarterdeck - unusual for a small sloop - was taken from HMS Vincejocaptured from the Spanish navy in Indeed, In the novel the Sophie is pointed out by one naval officer as being the former " Vencejo " The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 an alternative spelling - although in fact the Vincejo kept its original name while serving in the Royal Navy until captured by the French at Quiberon Bay in The Speedylike the fictional Sophiewas captured in by Linois. HMS Polychrest. After several months of service in the English Channel, the Polychrest is severely damaged in a raid on a French port and sinks soon thereafter. The physical form of the Polychrest except for the secret weapon The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 taken from the Dart class of sloops. The sliding keels, originally designed by Captain Schank, were The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 upon a number of small Royal Navy vessels around this period, although problems with leaking centerboard cases perhaps discouraged wider experimentation. Unlike the Polychrest with its extraordinary leeway and a propensity for missing stays, the real HMS Dart and her sister ship Arrow performed satisfactorily during their The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 Navy service. The Dart was broken up in The poor sailing qualities of Polychrest and perhaps the notion of a new secret weapon were likely taken from HMS Projecta much smaller vessel than the Dart and Polychrest with a very shallow draft to carry a new design of howitzer into coastal waters. The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 Project was broken up in after only five years of service. HMS Lively. With the Lively Jack takes part in the interception of a Spanish treasure squadron in the Atlantic. After participating in blockade operations in the western Mediterranean in H. SurpriseJack Aubrey relinquishes command of the frigate to her regular captain and returns home to England. The Lively was a genuine Royal Navy ship. However, Patrick O'Brian did alter the ship's history for purposes of his fiction. In Post Captain the frigate is described as having served for a considerable period in the East Indies when in fact the Lively was launched and commissioned inthe same year when Jack Aubrey takes command. The Lively was lost in a wreck near Valletta while escorting a convoy to Malta in HMS Surprise. SurpriseJack Aubrey is given the small frigate HMS Surprise of 28 guns, aboard which he had served years before as a midshipman. His assignment is to carry a diplomat to the East Indies, where he uses his ship to support the China Fleet of East India Company merchantmen to successfully fight off Admiral Linois's squadron. Afterwards, Jack and the Surprise return across the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic and head northwards towards home. The historical Surprise was originally the French l'Unitecaptured in Although this accords well with Jack's comment that she had been taken from the French "early in the last war" evidently meaning the French Revolutionary War, beginning inJack's other descriptions of her past do not so well match history. His mention of having served aboard her as a midshipman would require her service in the Royal Navy during the 's, and his frequent references to her great age are not appropriate for a ship launched in In a later novel, however, by way of contrast Jack does refer to her capture by the Royal Navy in In one important aspect the fictional description of the Surprise agrees with history: while Captain Edward Hamilton had been in command, he ordered the installation of a mainmast of a size usually specified for a gun Fifth Rate frigate, giving her a unique appearance. The real Surprise was sold out of the service inthree years before Jack Aubrey fictionally takes command. The action of Linois against the China Fleet was genuine, although the real Surprise did not take part, and it actually occurred in while the fictional Jack Aubrey was still in command of the Polychrest. Although records are complex, Rif Winfield's research indicates that when the Surprise was initially taken into the Royal Navy in in the Mediterranean, she was The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 as a Sixth Rate of twenty-eight guns. Inprobably during her refit at Plymouth, the Surprise was once again converted to a gun Sixth Rate, armed and crewed as stated above. For a longitudinal section and deckplans of Surpriseplus descriptions of her inner arrangements and portraits of her officers, go to my HMS Surprise pages. HMS Boadicea. Again through the action of Stephen Maturin at the Admiralty, Jack Aubrey is given command of the gun frigate HMS Boadiceawith the prospects of being commodore of a squadron of ships to be directed against Mauritius and the nearby islands in the Indian Ocean. After the successful conclusion of the campaign, Jack is ordered home in his ship to carry the happy news. Boadicea is another real Royal Navy ship, and there is nothing in O'Brian's description of her which conflicts with her genuine history. She was eventually broken up in HMS Raisonable. The Raisonable was another genuine Royal Navy vessel of the Ardent class of Third Rates, launched in and hulked in By the time of the Mauritius campaign, gun ships were considered too small to normally take a place in a line of battle and were often relegated to such service as being the flagship of a squadron on foreign duty. Armament: Gun Deck twenty-six pound long guns, Upper Deck twenty-six pound long guns, Quarterdeck ten 9-pound long guns, Forecastle two 9-pound long guns. Continue to the next page. HMS Sophie " HMS Surprise (novel) - Wikipedia

Post Captain is the second historical novel in the Aubrey—Maturin series by Patrick O'Brianfirst published in It features the characters of Captain Jack Aubrey and naval surgeon Stephen Maturin in the early 19th century and is set in the Napoleonic Wars. During the brief Peace of Amiens, Aubrey and Maturin live in a country house allowing both of them to meet the women they love. The mores of courtship restrict both men as to making a proposal of marriage. Then their lives are turned upside down when Aubrey loses his money due to decisions of the prize court and a dishonest prize-agent. To avoid seizure for debt, they proceed through France to Maturin's property in Spain. When the war begins afresh, Aubrey has a command aboard HMS Polychrestseeing action while gaining fewer prizes yet succeeding in his military goals. He gains his promotion and is captain of the frigate HMS Lively while its captain is ashore. The emotions of his love life interfere with his ways at sea, showing him sharply different in his decisiveness at sea compared to his clumsiness on land. The novel was received well at its initial publishing, but received more and better notice after its re-issue in That much of the story is set on land drew some The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 consider it O'Brian's homage to Jane Austenone of his favorite authors. With the Peace of AmiensJack Aubrey returns to England and rents a house with Stephen Maturin, with shipmates running the household, spending time in the hunt. He meets the Williams family. Aubrey wants to marry Sophia, but they delay making a firm engagement. His fortune abruptly disappears when his prize-agent absconds with his funds and the prize court finds that two merchant ships he captured were owned by neutral nations. The court demands he repay the value of the ships rather than gain the prize money he expecteda sum beyond his means. Mrs Williams takes her daughters away to Bath on this news. Aubrey dallies with Diana, straining his friendship with Maturin and showing himself indecisive on land, a contrast with his decisive ways at sea. Aubrey and Maturin flee England to avoid Aubrey being taken for debt. French authorities round up all English subjects. Aubrey and Maturin escape over the The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 to Maturin's property with Maturin disguised as an itinerant bear trainer and Aubrey as the bear, Flora. The ship is captured by the privateer Bellonebut a British squadron overtakes them and rescues Aubrey, Maturin and the other passengers. At the same gathering at Queeney's, Mrs Williams and Cecilia are among the guests. Unaware he would be there, Sophia stayed home with Frances. Mrs Williams learns of Maturin's castle in Spain and his training as a physician, raising his status in her eyes. The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 inadequate thief approaches Aubrey as he walks outdoors; Mr Scriven proves to be a useful friend, knowing the law of debt and where Aubrey can be safe from bailiffs. Polychrest is an odd ship that was purpose-built as an experimental weapon, the project now abandoned. He asks that Tom Pullings be promoted to lieutenant. Polychrest is structurally The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 and sails poorly, and the first lieutenant, Parker, is free with punishment. Aubrey is given a free hand by Admiral Harte, who stands to benefit personally from any prizes taken. To Harte's disappointment, Aubrey captures no prizes. When he drives the French privateer Bellone aground outside a Spanish port, the merchants reward him. Harte assigns Aubrey to escort convoys in the English Channel. Aubrey gains a reputation for lingering in port as he carries on a furtive affair with Diana. Maturin is sent on an intelligence gathering mission in Spain. On his return, Maturin is advised by Aubrey's friend Heneage Dundas to warn The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 about his reputation with the Admiralty. When Maturin does so, Aubrey gets angry and the two agree to fight a duel. Aubrey calls on Diana, but finds her with Canning, ending Aubrey's interest in Diana. Aubrey is ordered to raid the French port of Chaulieu to sink the French troopships and gunboats and to destroy the Fanciulla. The crew plans to mutiny because of their harsh treatment under Parker. Maturin overhears their plans and warns Aubrey. Aubrey quashes the mutiny by putting the instigators and some loyal crew in a ship's boat and then begins the attack. He rues his angry words with Maturin. During the engagement in Chaulieu, Polychrest runs aground. Aubrey leads three of the ship's boats to board and capture Fanciulla. The successful mariners refloat Polychrestwhich founders soon after leaving Chaulieu, and the crew transfer to Fanciulla. After the battle, Aubrey and Maturin resume their friendship. Aubrey returns to England in Fanciulla and is promoted to Post-captain. Debt still hanging over him, he asks for any command. Returning from Spain, Maturin tells the head of naval intelligence, Sir Joseph Blaine, that the Spanish will declare war as soon as four ships full of bullion from Montevideo arrive safely in Cadiz. At Maturin's urging, Sophia asks Aubrey to transport her and her sister to the Downs. While on board, Aubrey and Sophia come to an agreement not to marry anyone The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1 Aubrey is too poor to propose a marriage settlement satisfactory to Mrs Williams. Maturin is close friends with Sophia, but does not take up her advice to propose to Diana. While attending the opera, he sees that Diana is being kept by Canning; his pain is deep. Maturin takes no pay for his intelligence work, but he does ask a favour: that Lively be included in the squadron sent to intercept the Spanish. The Admiralty agrees, and asks Maturin to negotiate the treasure fleet's surrender. Because of Maturin's temporary rank and his connection to the Admiralty, Aubrey realizes that Maturin has been involved in intelligence work for Britain. Aubrey understands that there is a side of his friend that he did not know. The Spanish convoy refuses to surrender, and battle breaks out. Claracarrying the treasure, strikes her colours to Livelygreatly pleasing its captain. Then he chases Fama. He invites two of the Spanish captains to dinner, along with Dr Maturin, and they all toast Sophia. See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey—Maturin series. Stephen Maturin, in presenting his radical position against the tyranny of the navy, says that he would "certainly have joined the mutineers" had he been at the Spithead Mutiny. The consequent Peace of Amiens lasted only one year, ending on 18 May It was the only period of peace during the so-called 'Great French War' between and For a few hundred years beginning in the 14th century, the Duchy of Lancaster was not subject to the King's laws, including pursuit for debt, having its own courts, laws and power of decision. Savoy was part of the lands in that Duchy. Though it was adjacent to the City of London and to Westminster, the Liberty of the Savoysometimes called the Liberties of the Savoy, was a safe haven from debt collectors acting under the King's law until sometime in the 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars. The author explained this from his own knowledge at a publisher's web page. The Whigs charged Lord Melville with misappropriation of public funds. The novel posits that Melville could not properly defend himself, because the funds in question were associated with the secret appropriations for intelligence gathering while he was Treasurer in the Admiralty. At the end of the novel, Lord Melville still holds his position, as the impeachment and trial occur in the House of Lords. Lord Melville is acquitted in real life, but does not hold the office of First Lord again; his son Robert holds the post later in the Napoleonic Wars, and like his father, is in favor of the fictional Captain Aubrey. Captain Hamond, later Sir Graham Hamond, 2nd Baronetwas not in fact a member of Parliament and was in command of Lively in the action, taking the Spanish ships as Aubrey does in the novel. In a conversation with MacDonald, Stephen Maturin argues about the various qualities of the Gaelic poet Ossian 's writing and authenticity. In this same conversation, MacDonald references the Roman legal principle " falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus ", [8] which translates to "false in one thing, false in all things". W W Norton issued a reprint in the USA 18 years after the initial publication as part of its reissue in paperback of all the novels in the series prior to The novel has been in print since the re-issue, and also released in e-book and audiobook formats, in response to continuing interest in the novel. The process of reissuing the novels initially published prior to was in full swing inas the whole series gained a new and wider audience, as Mark Howowitz describes in writing about The Nutmeg of Consolationthe fourteenth novel in the series and initially published in Two of my favorite friends are fictitious characters; they live in more than a dozen volumes always near at hand. Their names are Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and their creator is a year-old novelist named Patrick O'Brian, whose 14 books about them have been continuously in print in England since the first, "Master and Commander," was published in O'Brian's British fans include T. BinyonIris MurdochA. ByattTimothy Mo and the late Mary Renaultbut, until recently, this splendid saga of two serving officers in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars was unavailable in this country, apart from the first few installments which went immediately out of print. Last year, however, W. Norton decided to reissue the series in its entirety, and so far nine of the 14 have appeared here, including the most recent chapter, The Nutmeg of Consolation. Mary Renault had high praise for this novel:. Master and Commander raised almost dangerously high expectations, Post Captain triumphantly surpasses them. Mr O'Brian is a master of his period, in which his characters are finely placed, while remaining three-dimensional, thoroughly human beings. This book sets him at the very top of his genre; he does not just have the chief qualifications of a first-class historical novelist, he has them all. The action scenes are superb; towards the end, far from being aware that one is reading what is, physically, a fairly long book, one notes with dismay that there is not much more to come A brilliant book. Library Journal found this to be a "rich blend of adventure, romance, and intrigue", reviewing an audio book version read by John Lee [12] and "Recommended for most collections. Mr O'Brian is particularly pleased when he is compared to Jane Austen, whom he reveres as the finest of all English novelists. First editions of most of her novels share shelf space in his small library here with first editions of Gibbon and Dr. The second book of the series, Post Captain, set mostly in country houses and as much a novel of manners as a sea story, has been said to be Mr. O'Brian's homage to Ms. In a more recent review, author Jo Walton finds this the book in the series with the poorest plot structure-"broken- backed", though complimenting the characters and incidents. Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series - Wikipedia

As is noted in the articles about each novel, some of these characters are based on real historical The Aubrey-Maturin Chronicles: Master and Commander / Post Captain / HMS Surprise Volume 1, while others are purely fictional. Because there is an article describing each novel, links are made to those articles when mentioning the stories in which each character appears. References to page numbers, where they appear, are based upon the W. His huge bulk, his terrifying strength and activity, the awful pallor of his face and his way of foaming at the mouth when he is stirred, all make him a most dreadful opponent. What Stephen calls his berserker rage fairly clears the enemy's decks before him. He also howls. But he has other sides: not only is he very useful when you must sway up the mast short- handed, but in sudden emergencies too. Brown, Anthony Gary From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Ionian Mission. New York, NY: W. Wiki of HMSSurprise. Retrieved 17 July Brooks USN retired 27 June US Central Intelligence Agency. Master and Commander. Patrick O'Brian. Categories : Patrick O'Brian characters. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Add links. https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4569290/normal_5fc3f895d3099.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4573012/normal_5fc5899778a43.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4570042/normal_5fc40ef80f3d7.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4575213/normal_5fc6f68d019ab.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4569573/normal_5fc5c5e752c19.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4570361/normal_5fc419f180e4e.pdf