The Characters Archive

Mastering Leadership Reflexes: A Case Study of Captain Aubrey

The most fascinating aspect of Jack Aubrey’s character is the contradiction between his personality by land and by sea. On land he’s lost, unlucky in money and love, while at sea he’s utterly in command of himself and those around him. We’ve examined his leadership skills before (here and here) but the following is a [...]
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The Real Stephen Maturin?

It’s no secret that POB drew inspiration from history for many of the characters and plots that make our beloved series so amazing. Jack Aubrey, for example, is pretty clearly inspired by Thomas Cochrane, and that’s just the easiest one to spot. But Stephen Maturin is such a quirky character, it’s hard to imagine any [...]
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Eyewitness Accounts of the Hamilton/Burr Duel

Throughout the course of our beloved series, Stephen fights several duels and almost fights several more. He is by no means abnormal for his time; gentlemen of his era often felt the only way to defend their honor was to shoot someone over it. One of the most famous historical duels was that between Alexander [...]
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Education and Leadership in Cinema: Master and Commander

We have already discussed Jack Aubrey’s skills and characteristics as a leader as well as the potential educational value of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, but the following guide takes those two concepts and combines them! It’s very exciting. The guide is meant to be used in training firefighters in the [...]
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The 1778 Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen and its Present-Day Implications

This article is somewhat different from what is usually posted here. It’s a political piece discussing current events, but it definitely relates back to our era and our areas of focus. Full disclosure: I’m of a liberal bent, and I think the following article makes a lot of sense. But I’m not posting it to [...]
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Suggested Reading: Aubrey/Maturin Companion Books

Obviously, the world Patrick O’Brian brings so vividly to life in our beloved series is complex and foreign to most readers. There is certainly no shortage of information about the time period and the novels themselves online (including over 250 articles on this site alone), but there are also many excellent companion books available. Your [...]
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The Hidden Hand: Espionage and Napoleon

*SPOILERS*
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Napoleon and the Jews

While Mr. Canning is the only Jewish character of any importance in the Aubrey/Maturin series (I think, correct me if I’m wrong), the history of Jews during the Napoleonic era is fascinating because it shows perfectly the contradictions in Napoleon’s character. On the one hand, he was as Stephen would say a tyrant, a despot, [...]
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Surgeons At Sea: Logs from the Age of Sail

The National Archives has opened up and made accessible over 1,000 Royal Navy Medical Officer Journals, just like the ones Stephen keeps on his travels with Jack. Some of them have been digitized and can be downloaded free of charge. Unfortunately, none of them contain any sketches (others in the collection apparently do, but most of [...]
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Law and Morality in Patrick O’Brian’s Post Captain

One of the things that makes our beloved series so, um, belovable, is the incredible density of the details packed into it. There’s more in every book than just an enjoyable adventure. Within each book one can find discourses on nature (both animal and human), medicine, science, politics, technology… Every aspect of Napoleonic Era life [...]
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