Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian

Being a descendant of an Admiral of the Fleet I have always been intested in naval life in the days of sail and wondered what the balance was between wonderful and privileged adventure and virtual slavery below decks. "Jack Aubrey Commands" gives you all the answers!I am not a great fan of Patrick O'Brian's books, but am glad he wrote them. This book, by Brian Lavery, is well-researched, suitably illustrated and enjoyable reading for well-informed naval historians or schoolboys who have an interest in the subject.

This book covers a large area rather thinly. It is saved from "coffee table" status by some penetrating insights into such things at shipbuiding methods, or the composition of the Admiralty administration. It left me with the need to follow up many subjects, and I count that a plus for this type of book. I was a little disappointed that there was so little nexus between the sections of the book, and O'Brian's stories. One of the joys of O'Brian's work is that it seems closely related to fact, and I'd hoped for the little tingle of pleasure when the fact and the fiction are joined together. on a very minor point, it seems to me that the cover illustration shows a ship whose sails are not properly set...some are on starboard, and some on port tack. If I'm wrong, someone please show me my blunder.

While the sub-title of this book relates it to Jack Aubrey's world, this book is equally at home in understanding the world of C. S. Forester and indeed to the real world of of the Royal Navy of the time. The book is broken into sections on the major aspects of the Navy including: ships, officers, men, techniques, life at sea, enemies, the Navy in Action, and finally the experience of war. The book is a delight to read. Each of these sections contains not only information about the actual navy of the time, but also relates many of the details to particular Forester or O'Brian books. For instance the naval blockade is discussed as a tactic. Then there it talks about Hornblower having the Hotspur on blockade duty, and Aubrey being part of the Mediteranean Fleet in the book The Ionian Mission. He even mentions other novels, such as Sharpe's Trafalgar, while normally a soldiers story, Sharpe is put at Trafalgar almost as an accident. Profusely illustrated by paintings from the time, these include not only the usual outlines of ships, but of the details of the action. These include not only the use of the guns, but also of the less happy parts of the ship, like the surgeon's cockpit. It's fascinating to read just how accurately life is portrayed in fiction.

If you're a fan of nautical adventure, this is definitely a book you want to own. Lavery, a greatly respected naval historian, has written several earlier volumes on the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic period (including the highly regarded _Nelson's Navy_), and he was also one of the principal technical advisors on Peter Weir's film, MASTER AND COMMANDER. (Weir, in fact, provides a glowing Foreword.) This heavily illustrated volume tries to cover all the bases, organizing its topics into chapters like "The World of the Seaman," "The Ships," "Officers," "The Lower Deck," "Techniques," and so on. Technical information is provided but is kept under control so as not to frighten the novice, and he quotes heavily from early Victorian memoires, biographies, and histories -- and also from the works of Marryat, Forester, O'Brian, and even Jane Austen's _Persuasion_. On the other hand, Lavery, unfortunately, was not well served by his editor, copyeditor, or proofreader. (Having worked for them myself in the past, as a freelance editor, I know Naval Institute Press is capable of far better support work.) There often are several typos, omitted words, and confusing references on a single page. There also are a number of incorrect or incomplete source citations and at least one mislabeled diagram (on page 104). Lavery also is prone to frequent and unnecessary repetition in his discourse, especially in explaining points of shiphandling and other technical matters. Finally, the index and the bibliography are rather amateurishly organized. But on the *other* other hand, I finally understand catharpins!

Brian Lavery is the author of the thoroughly excellent "Nelson's Navy", praised by Patrick O'Brian as the most nearly royal road to knowledge about the Royal Navy of the 1793-18115 period he knew. Lavery's new book, "Jack Aubrey's Commands: A Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian", is quite evidently tied to the release of the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", based upon O'Brian's novels -- the book's foreword, after all, was written by Peter Weir. the director of the movie. But the book is at least as much directed towards the readers of O'Brian's novels as to viewers of the film (and more so, I would argue), and it should be equally enticing for those simply interested in that historical era. To be sure, Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" is an excellent reference book that contains far more detailed information than the present work, but "Jack Aubrey's Commands" is written in a more approachable style for the general reader, with a text that is meant to be read as a continuous whole, rather than as a collection of details and essays. Its particular strength lies in the numerous and lengthy quotes taken from contemporary sources, making the narrative more vivid and easy to relate to a living world long vanished. In this regard, "Jack Aubrey's Commands" serves as a companion to Lavery's own "Nelson's Navy" as well as to the novels of Patrick O'Brian.Someone recently asked me whether it was better to buy "Jack Aubrey's Commands" or Richard O'Neill's recent "Patrick O'Brian's Navy: Jack Aubrey's World". Putting the obvious answer of "Buy both of them!" aside (and assuming that the reader already has Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" or feels that this earlier work is as yet too formidable to approach), then my recommendation would depend on the reader's personal preferences. Both volumes contain a good detail of information about the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey's era. O'Neill's book is especially strong in the area of excellent period illustrations, Lavery's in the direction of narrative strength. The first is perhaps best for repeated browsing, the latter for a straightforward read.