The most popular pattern on Ravelry (an online community people who do yarn crafts) at the moment is "The Garment".
Not quite Dr Maturin's onesie, but certainly in the spirt.
https://aus.social/@hannah@posts.rat.pictures/117124602067350315
If it's of interest, the good people of AH answered a question about Stephen. I made a small contribution myself.
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1vs0a9b/in_the_film_master_and_commander_there_is_a/
I've been an audiobook listener for decades, and some of my work is tangentially related to publishing, so I know about rights. This series is the first I've seen that has had four different audiobook narrators: Simon Vance, Patrick Tull, Ric Jerrom, and Robert Hardy. I know that sometimes US and UK publishers will commission their own versions, but I find it odd that the last two are available, and the first two no longer so.
Sometimes a late author's estate may have something to say about such things, but the fact that there are two current versions suggests that they aren't involved with this.
UPDATE: So Patrick Tull's recordings are available in the US, along with Ric Jerrom, but not Robert Hardy. Weird.
I first read a half dozen of the novels in the 90s, but didn't read any more. Now I'm setting out to read the entire series; three down so far. Is Harbor and High Seas interesting enough as a companion? And does it work on Kindle (because the paperback is fairly expensive in the UK; it's a US edition)?
I've seen reviews on Amazon saying that there's not much info, and that each chapter has spoilers, so you can't read them before reading each novel; that's fine, I'd read them after just to be more familiar with the areas where each one takes place.
I was walking around Costco, headphones in and listening to the Nutmeg of Consolation.
I got to the dinner party scene and the next section made me stop so I could listen properly.
Must have looked very odd standing there with a grin on my face.
>!Stephen walked into the narrow room where the officers put on their swords. There were few left, Tom's regulation lion-headed affair, three with basket-hilts belonging to the Highlanders, and his own. He buckled it on and walked down the steps into pleasant freshness; and standing there on the gravel he saw Captain Lowe, who said to him 'I don't give a bugger for Joe Banks; and I don't give a bugger for you either, you half-baked sod of a ship's surgeon.' He spoke very loud and hoarse and two or three officers turned.!<
>!Stephen looked at him attentively. The man was in a choking rage but he was perfectly steady on his feet; he was not drunk.!<
>!'Will you answer for that, sir?' he asked.!<
>!'There's my answer,' said the big man, with a blow that knocked Stephen's wig from his head.!<
>!Stephen leapt back, whipped out his sword and cried 'Draw, man, draw, or I shall stick you like a hog.'!<
>!Lowe unsheathed his sabre: little good did it do him. In two hissing passes his right thigh was ploughed up. At the third Stephen's sword was through his shoulder. And at the issue of a confused struggle at close quarters he was flat on his back, Stephen's foot on his chest, Stephen's sword-point at his throat and the cold voice saying above him 'Ask my pardon or you are a dead man. Ask my pardon, I say, or you are a dead man, a dead man.'!<
>!'I ask your pardon,' said Lowe, and his eyes filled with blood.!<
It's not often Stephen gets a scene like this, it's usually something that happens 'off screen' so to speak.
Wish me joy shipmates! I have begun my fifth circumnavigation. I cannot tell you how excited I am about starting the adventure again.
A glass of wine with you!
Does anyone else feel the casualties of the Cacafuego action seem to come out really light?
Is anyone better informed historically able to shed light on how this might actually make sense?
I understand the logic of how the Sophie's gunnery managed to inflict devastation on the Cacafuego before boarding, but I cannot wrap my head around how they can take so few casualties during the boarding action. Even with the ruse of striking the colours, there is quite a bit of time where the hand to hand combat in close quarters can lead to only 3 dead and 8 wounded.
I appreciate the historical inspiration had similar casualties, but that does not make it less puzzling.
Edit: thank you everyone for the amazing answers, I am pasting below the link u/super_jay shared of Cochrane (Jack Aubrey's historical inspiration) recounting the historical action that inspired the Cacafuego story below for easy reference to anyone coming across this thread in future:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/15393/page/949
​
Largely your life is pretty miserable, there is no such thing as privacy, you live and eat and sleep and shit in a wooden box the size of a swimming pool, which sounds okay except there are 399 other men living in it. It's mostly monotonous routine but still hard labour and then sometimes you see the enemy.
You see the enemy as a small dot on the horizon, then hours pass as you creep ever closer together. While this is going on you go on about your chores, eat your meals, maybe even get 4 hours sleep, wake up and go holystone the deck, and the enemy ship is still there drawing closer.
Then you drop the daily routine and all of a sudden your mates are getting decapitated and maimed by cannonballs, people are getting impaled with massive wooden splinters, your captain is shouting "tis but a scratch" and laughing
Then it enters another phase and you're stabbing strangers as fast as your hand will move because they're trying to stab you, you're slipping in their blood, then all of a sudden you've won, you have one 74th of one-eight of the equivalent of a couple of million quid, your captain is pouring a glass of wine for the guy who he was trying to kill 15 minutes ago, and they play a little Boccherini together and wish each other good luck.
The YouTube Algorithm fed me this link yesterday. It was quite interesting and as the video was quite old, it's possible some of you might not have seen it either, it was certainly new to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u-lYDTMQdo
There's also one for Master and Commander (in two parts) but I've not watched that one yet.
This new YouTube extolling the meticulous production of the film says that they planned sequels, absurdly saying all 20! Which makes no sense given the cobbled together nature of the script from a number of books. It also says that young male audiences are discovering the film on streaming, attracted by its authenticity, and it has the decency to recommend reading the books.
I've been a fan of the series since I was a teenager. Currently listening to the audiobooks for the first time (I've read the series 3 times). side note: Patrick Tull is amazing.
I'm working on a local AI personal intelligence/assistant. I named it Maturin. The actual AI assistant is Killick. The wake word is "Killick there!"
I can't wait to train it to be surly and grumbling.
Anyways, I figured you folks would appreciate the naming.
I get that Peter Weir didn't want a "fat guy, skinny guy" duo for the movie, but Aubrey is canonically huge and he looks like an ape. Having semi-circumnaviated, I felt the urge to draw him. Maturin is next.
Unsure how to add images, or I'd post a jpeg.
Hi all, I've been slowly reading the Aubrey Maturin books for over 10 years. I hit a wall (or a sandbar, perhaps) last year and have not been able to resume reading. The next book would be Treason's Harbour. Anyone else run into this rut? Any suggestions on how to get back into it?
I recently enlisted artificial intelligence to help me come up with another book series to try out. It made me realize just how spoiled I am to have all the O'Brian books at my disposal. I challenged to come up with a recommendation that is:
AI agreed (it is so very agreeable) that all those things in one series is a tall ask, particularly the podcast community. It mentioned the Sharpe series and Hornblower, both of which I'm familiar with but don't sit on the same shelf as O'Brian in my library. It also mentioned a WWI series by John Biggins which I haven't been able to put my hands on yet. I ended up settling on Mary Renault's trilogy about Alexander the Great. I chose it in large part because I think the Lubbers Hole mentioned that O'Brian admired Renault and even dedicated The Mauritius Command to her. I'm only a few chapter's in and I do love the detail in historic terms and the daily life detail but so far it doesn't scratch that same itch that O'Brian so uniquely scratches.
If anyone has other series recommendations please share.
This is my first time reading the novels and maybe I'm still not used to O'Brian's style, but I don't understand Steven's abrupt decision to join the crew of the Polychrest. He seems to have other plans and then suddenly says he'll see Jack in a week. I listen to audiobooks and sometimes do so while walking, so I sometimes wonder if I've missed something. I listened to it again and it still seem like an abrupt decision
I’ve been listening to the Ric Jerrom narrated audiobooks on my commute each day, and have just finished Blue at the Mizzen.
It now appears that there isn’t a Ric Jerrom version of The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey.
So, for those that have completed a circumnavigation or two:
Should I read / listen to the incomplete book? The completionist in me says yes, the sentimentalist tells me it will be sad to start another book and never be able to finish it (and that Blue at the Mizzen might be a beautiful place to end); and
Assuming the answer is yes, should I read it or get an audiobook narrated by someone else?
It would be cool to post some images of the ships in question [or something very like them], videos of how sailing ships worked and of historical encounters like those described in the books.
Or even to invite discussion by posting a full page from one the novels that one found particularly enjoyable, stirring, or (let's face it, occasionally) incomprehensible; without having to type the whole thing out.