Master and Commander

 

The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels Volume 1: Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (2016 Harper Collins hardcover 405pp)

 

‘Master and Commander’ the first in the Aubrey/Maturin series was first released 50 years ago. It and the following books had small scale success in the UK market but it wasn’t until the 1990s when American publishers gained rights to the series that they really took off in popularity. By the early 2000s they had gained a wide and dedicated fan-base and new editions were published again. Fan communities and discussion on the Internet brought them to a whole new audience and in 2003 a feature film based on elements of the books was released.

Around this time period a good friend of mine started reading the series and his enthusiasm for the books hasn’t waned since. So, a little while ago I had a chance to obtain a box-set of hardcovers containing the entire series at a much-reduced price. I didn’t let the chance slip by and now I own the lot of them and have finished reading the first instalment.

‘Master and Commander’ serves mainly as an introduction to the characters and the world of naval warfare 200 years ago. We first meet ‘Lucky’ Jack Aubrey at a low point in his career – he is land-bound without a ship and worrying about his debts. He in turn meets Stephen Maturin, a natural philosopher and physician who will serve as the reader’s gateway character.

Soon Aubrey is given command of a vessel, the Sophie, a small but nimble warship. He invites Maturin aboard to serve as ship’s surgeon and together they start to develop a friendship albeit with several secrets still kept from each other.

Aubrey displays his fabled luck in several engagements with enemy vessels and gains many prizes as a result, his financial situation improving along with his mood. His great skill as a sailor is repeatedly displayed and he’s not past using subterfuge and guile when he knows he can’t survive a frontal assault.

The reader is immediately immersed in the arcane language and culture of the Royal Navy and its only later in the novel that things begin to become clearer. We learn just enough about the Sophie’s crew to feel a loss when some individuals don’t survive a battle or otherwise fall.

The setting is entirely the Mediterranean Sea and in particular the islands off Spain’s south and east coasts. As part of the ongoing Napoleonic wars, England is fighting the combined might of Spain, France and their allies. Harassing the seaborne trade to and from those countries a major effort by the Royal Navy.

Eventually Jack’s luck runs out but that seems just a beginning to the larger story.

I enjoyed this book eventually, to start with it seemed dense and full of unfamiliar jargon which made me bounce off the text. To counter this there is a fair amount of humour along with Maturin’s never-ending scientific curiosity. It’s clear the pair’s growing friendship and their coming adventures will not disappoint.