Mustering The Company
Navigation
- The Author
- ►The Battles
- ►The Books
- 01. Master and Commander
- 02. Post Captain
- 03. HMS Surprise
- 04. The Mauritius Command
- 05. Desolation Island
- 06. The Fortune of War
- 08. The Ionian Mission
- 09. Treason’s Harbour
- 10. The Far Side of the World
- 11. The Reverse of the Medal
- 12. The Letter of Marque
- 13. The Thirteen Gun Salute
- 14. The Nutmeg of Consolation
- 15. The Truelove/Clarissa Oakes
- 16. The Wine-Dark Sea
- 17. The Commodore
- 18. The Yellow Admiral
- 21. The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
- Spoliers
- ►The Characters
- ►The Dear Surprise
- ►The History
- ►The Images
- ►The Media
- ►The Movie
- ►The Resources
- ►The Royal Navy
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The Ships Archive
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The Continental Navy
Americans first took up arms in the spring of 1775 not to sever their relationship with the king, but to defend their rights within the British Empire. By the autumn of 1775, the British North American colonies from Maine to Georgia were in open rebellion. Royal governments had been thrust out of many colonial capitals [...] -
American Warships of the Age of Sail
Navies are born out of a spirit of independence and under the threat of war, nurtured into maturity by the urgent demands of defense and sharpened by conflict. So it was with the first American Navy. The story of American ships and sailors is an epic of blue water which seems singularly remote, almost unreal, [...] -
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 [...] -
A Few Notes on Timber for Shipbuilding
Jack [surveyed] the harbour as a naval base - a fine roomy naval base, with fresh water just at hand, deep-water repairing docks, and any amount of timber, capital Valona oak. – The Ionian Mission by Patrick O’Brian It seems fairly obvious to say that ships in Jack and Stephen’s day were made out of wood… Of [...] -
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 [...] -
Historical Shipwrecks: HMS Cerberus & HMS Orpheus Gallery
The Historical Shipwrecks album is dedicated to pictures of artifacts from shipwrecks relevant to our period. The first addition is this gallery of images relating to the HMS Cerberus and HMS Orpheus. On 29 July 1778, a French fleet under Admiral Comte d’Estaing arrived in Narragansett Bay as allies of the Americans in their war [...] -
Paintings, Plans, Diagrams and History of the HMS Boadicea
*SPOILERS* … the Boadicea proved she was a dry, wholesome ship. – The Mauritius Campaign -
Captain’s Log From Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
This comes from the official site of the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which is no longer operational it seems. It is Jack Aubrey’s log of the voyage undertaken during the movie. The most interesting thing about the log is the fact that it was obviously written by someone who [...] -
A Real-Time Account of Trafalgar From Behind French Lines
When it comes to the Battle of Trafalgar, there is certainly no shortage of first-hand accounts. It was a huge battle fought by tens of thousands of sailors, many of whom wrote of the experience. The Helmsman’s Log from the Mont Blanc is noteworthy first because it is the first real-time account from behind French [...] -
Discovering America 4/4: Sailing The Ocean Blue
Again, this article doesn’t focus specifically on the actual discovery of America but on the sailing technology that made the discovery possible. The late Middle Ages/Early Renaissance was an exciting time in terms of innovation, and innovations were made in ship design as much as in any area. Mariners and Their Ships: A Revolution in [...]