Philip's comments (member since Oct 17, 2007)

Philip's comments from the Armchair Sailors group.

Quite an amazing find. I understand from the BBC story and newspaper accounts here in the States that there is an intention to leave the ship undisturbed out of respect for its proposed status as a war memorial. But it would be lovely to have some analysis, wouldn't it?

I have a bit of a Stephen-like question -- Is it in fact a ship (as per BBC) or a sloop (so says NY Times)? 22 guns could be either, so does it depend on the number of masts?

Thanks, Matthew, I got to see those ships too when i was there this past November. A couple of my friends did the one-week sailing adventures on Surprise when she was still the HMS "Rose."

Welcome aboard, Rebecca, I'm still a squeaker here too. Thanks for the recommendation.

Give you joy, Squirrel!

Wow- that's good to learn about. Makes me think of the Mary Rose in Portsmouth.

Did I miss something, or did the BBC clip not show the ship itself?

That's great, thanks for postign the link!

This past weekend I was visiting San Diego, a good place for those who love ships and the sea. The aircraft carrier USS Midway is now a living museum, and the maritime museum also has a Tall Ship, the Star of India (still being sailed annually) as well as the replica ship HMS Surprise, formerly HMS Rose.

Loads of fun boating in the harbor and bay, dominated by Coronado Island and the US Naval Air Station with two Nimitz- class carriers in port.

Well heck, Squirrel, I was interested until I saw that (as J. Aubrey might say) it was merely a bluff-bowed Dutch built blunderbuss.

H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian.

Hello Monissa,

I can see why you're reading the Hornblower books in the order they were written -- but the characters get less wooden and the settings more alive a few books into the series, which of course was not written in a set chronological sequence. This tendency is visible I think, to a lesser extent to be sure, in O'Brian.

I think some of the books about the younger Hornblower, written a bit later when Forester had hit his stride, are the most fun. My personal favorite of the series is Lieutenant Hornblower, which is told from the perspective of Wm. Bush. Yet my second favorite is probably Admiral Hornbloer in the West Indies.

I long have wished that O'Brian would have felt free to diverge from his linear chronology (even with a decade-long 1812!) so that he could have written about Jack and/or Stephen before they met in 1801, or alternately, in the longish gaps between some of the story lines in the earlier books.

Now I've consulted that wonderful handbook by Patrick O'Brian, Men of War: Life in Nelson's Navy, in search of the name of the side walls rising alongside the upper deck. My memory from reading books (I truly am an armchair sailor) brings up references to the rail on top, the hammocks stowed there, the gangways leading fore and aft along the edges, and so on, but not the part in question.

Hull is the general term, of course, and I know bulwark for at least the moveable internal walls ...

Anyway, this elegant little book has a cross-section of the Victory on pp. 20-21, and models of frigates on pp. 23-25, with lots of labels for the lubberly, though naught for this.

Yes, I remember visiting this ship in Portsmouth the same day I made my pilgrimage to the Victory. The Warrior seemed so very, very long. I remember thinking how high the ship's side walls (WHAT'S THE TERM?) rose from her deck.

Thanks, Scotty. As you might guess it's hard for me to pick one favorite Aubrey/Maturin book, but in no particular order my top five right now would be -

HMS Surprise
Desolation Island
The Surgeon's Mate
Treason's Harbour
Reverse of the Medal

One thing I noticed reading through again was that some books that I didn't like as much the first time (such as The Mauritius Command) I came to like a lot more on repeated readings. In that case, the complicated details of ships coming and going all the time I found a bit overwhelming, and I didn't appreciate the Jack vs. Lord Clonfert sub-plot as much as I do now.

took the quiz

You scored 9 out of a possible 10
Flying colours: Sir, England expects every man will do his duty, but you have done all this and more. I am recommending that you be appointed to your own command with all the haste that is practicable. As you were.

The pictures look fine, thanks for posting!

These replicas are about all we can see of old ships here in America, apart from Old Ironsides [USS Constitution] in Boston.

I remember enjoying visiting actual ships like the Mary Rose and HMS Victory at Portsmouth and the Dutch East Indiaman at Amsterdam. Visiting made Patrick O'Brian's descriptions come that much more alive.

Hello All! Very happy find Goodreads and this group as well.

I am a longtime O'Brian fan. I started reading the series when The Wine-Dark Sea was published. I raced through the books the first time through, because as Scotty says above (message #4) the later books are really all one long novel. More recent readings have become more leisurely as I savor the language and descriptions.

Currently I am reading Treason's Harbour, one of my top five or so from the series.