And I thought the sailing jargon of the Swallows and Amazons series was mysterious. But that was just messing around in boats, to quote Ratty, and this rises to a whole other level of importance, as well as impenetrableness. Fortunately, one of the two main characters, Stephen Maturin, ship’s sturgeon, is absolutely a noobie. That helps us some as much needs to be explained to him, but at least he is there on board to get the visual version.
This period, about 1800, is that of the Napoleonic wars. As far as navel matters go, there are the British, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch fleets all skittering around the various established North Atlantic ports, such as Gibraltar and such, attacking each other and dragging their pray to the nearest convenient port to commandeer the spoils. Not so much as military strategy as sharks looking for prey.
The series follows the fates of Captain Aubrey, relatively young and still fairly new at this, and the landlubber friend he made because, as a competent violinist, he could really use a decent cello. Fortunately, Maturin turns out to be a rather competent surgeon as well, the sort of fellow the British Navy is sorely lacking, and he decides to give the life aquatic a go, thanks to his friend’s urging.
A fascinating take on the maritime life of this period, even if a page or two flow totally over my head. Willing to take a shot of the next of the series, at least.
