Patrick O'Brian's Navy

The sailing ship of the 18th century was the most complex machine of its age, and even today the mechanics, maintenance and particulars of a frigate are almost too involved for most of us to comprehend. This book is a treasure trove of information about the ships, the history they and their sailors made and the terminology that's unique both to the sea and to that era. I enjoyed reading the Aubrey and Maturin series the first time, but re-reading it with this book as a reference and guide is sublime. If you love these books, or any fiction about the sea and sailors, you should have this book alongside.

If you love the O'Brian books, tall ships, navel history/battles, you cannot do better. The writting is concise and informative. The history is crisp and puts you in the action. This is the kind of nautical art that you love and cannot afford to own, the best of its kind. Be warned however; if you have not finished reading all the Aubrey books, just enjoy the pictures in Patrick O'Brian's Navy, and read it later, for they mention some of the incidents in the books that you may prefer to find out on your own. This is truly a coffee-table book, rich and glorious. If you buy one for yourself, you are bound to buy more for your friends and relatives who love the Aubrey books, as did I. You will not regret it.

Richard O'Neill's coffee table book is a splendid, though terse, overview of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. It does a fine job covering virtually every aspect, from the types of ships to their crews and various subjects such as punishment and entertainment available onshore and off by seamen. It is not the definitive word on the Royal Navy during this period, nor is it meant to be, since O'Neill spends much time relating the real history to the events chronicled in O'Brian's novels. May be regarded as an essential purchase by diehard fans of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

This would make a lovely Father's Day present, it is really beautiful. It is also highly interesting and informative. Being a 'coffee table' book can sometimes be a criticism. In this case it is not. This IS a book you will proudly keep where people can see it, but you will also find it infinitely interesting to dip into every now and then.

"Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World" is one of those books that doesn't really have an author. Richard O'Neill is listed as the Consulting Editor, but the Editor and Indexer is Philip de Ste. Croix, and there are a number of "Contributors" including David Miller, who has his own Jack Aubrey-related book coming out soon ("The World of Jack Aubrey").This is a handsome coffee table-size volume, about 150 pages long, and heavily illustrated. The illustrations may be its strongest point - hundreds of them, mostly contemporary to Jack Aubrey's era and mostly reproduced in vivid color. I have seen many of them before, but usually in black-and-white, so even just on this score, "Patrick O'Brian's Navy" is an attractive addition to a historical nautical library. And there are some modern illustrations as well, usually in the form of diagrams to show complex information such as sail and rigging designations, crew assignments, and the arrangement of watches. Other data is conveyed in tabular form, like those for uniform details, prize money distribution, and crew organization for various ship classes. Although the primary focus is upon the Royal Navy, there are also chapters devoted to what might be called the geo-political world of the Napoleonic Era. There is a conscious effort to tie all this to Jack Aubrey and the O'Brian novels, with the text, detailing historical events in which Jack took part (including those before the start of the book series) and occasionally providing sidebars titled "Through Aubrey's Eyes" that relate particular subjects to volume and chapter of the novels. Although the overall level of information presented cannot equal that in Brian Lavery's "Nelson's Navy", this is nonetheless an interesting compendium of facts and anecdotes.There are also two short addendums: "A Cast of Characters" listing the major people and ships in the O'Brian novels and describing their actions and fates, and a Glossary of nautical terms and slang.