Who's a Patrick O'Brien Fan

[James Burleigh]

I was just updating my personal profile here on the Forum, entering "interests," and it occured to me there must be other Patrick O'Brien fans out there.

Me, I've read the whole series and have started down the path a second time. I'm also a huge fan of Cornwell's Sharpe series and Forester's Hornblower series.

If you haven't read O'Brien, here's where to get started: Master and Commander

You will be hard-pressed to find better "buddy" novels in English-language literature. Aubrey is a sea captain during the Napoleonic wars, who handles his ships with courage and genius, but put him on dry land and he becomes a bumbling dupe to speculators and debtors. Maturin, just the opposite--on a ship he's bumbling, hopeless, dangerous to himself. But he is a brilliant ship's surgeon and ruthless spy for the British fighting Napoleonic France.

Jb

 

[FJRPierre]

I've have read all those series of books several times and after being confused on if/how the Main topgallant staysail is bent between the Topgallant [SIZE=10pt]mast and the Mizen topmast, I turned to the Wolfram zu Mondfeld " Historic Ship Models [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]" [/SIZE]for a detailed description of masts, sails, yards, stays, etc, etc! Do yourself a favor and print out a few of the pages and keep them in the book as a handy reference.

 

[tcfjr]

I am also a proud owner and reader of each of the three series of books you mentioned, and I've got most (but not all) of Cornwell's other books. For Christmas, my son got me a pre-release copy of Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich, a mystery set in Napoleonic France that looks very promising.

I've have read all those series of books several times and after being confused on if/how the Main topgallant staysail is bent between the Topgallant [SIZE=10pt]mast and the Mizen topmast, I turned to the Wolfram zu Mondfeld " Historic Ship Models [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]" [/SIZE]for a detailed description of masts, sails, yards, stays, etc, etc! Do yourself a favor and print out a few of the pages and keep them in the book as a handy reference.

Pierre - this is a fantastic site! Great find - thanks!