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Master and Commander is a historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. First published in 1970 it is first in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. Jack Aubrey is a Lieutenant languishing in port without a ship, Stephen Maturin is a penniless half-Irish, half-Catalan physician and natural philosopher. The two main characters are first set at odds by and then united by a love of music (Aubrey plays the violin, Maturin the cello).
Plot introduction
The novel introduces these two characters and gives Jack his first command (and promotion to the rank of Commander) on a tiny sloop-of-war, HMS Sophie. Stephen accepts a position as Sophie's surgeon, although as a physician he is overqualified for the job. We are introduced to Master's Mates Thomas Pullings and William Mowett and midshipman William Babbington, who become long-term fixtures in the series, and James Dillon, Sophie's first lieutenant, whose secret background of Irish Republicanism intersects Stephen's own.
Plot summary
The novel begins on April 18, 1800, in Port Mahon, Minorca, at that time a base of the Royal Navy. Aubrey and Maturin are both at the Governor's Ball and meet for the first time. On his return to his lodgings Aubrey finds that he has been given a command. As 'Master and Commander' and in charge of the sloop Sophie he gathers a crew complement; most crucially, the ship has no surgeon and Jack persuades Maturin to fill this position, at least on a temporary basis.
He has to re-ordinance the ship and ready her to sail in convoy with twelve merchant vessels. During their journey east, the new Captain takes the opportunity to get to know his crew and to weld them into a fighting unit. As he does he explains many naval matters to Maturin, since the doctor is a novice sailor.
En route, they meet an Algerian quarter-galley who attacks their rearmost vessel, the Norwegian Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter. The Sophie chases her off. Eventually having retrieved the Norse ship the convoy makes its destination off Cagliari. After a second convoy duty to Leghorn, Aubrey reports to Lord Keith in the Genoa roads.
Characters in "Master and Commander"
- Jack Aubrey – Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and appointed Commander at the start. Captain of HMS Sophie.
- Stephen Maturin – ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and intelligence officer.
- Harte – Captain and station Commandant
- Mollie Harte – Wife to the station Commandant
- Lord Keith (Thos Walker) – Admiral in the Mediterranean
- Samuel Allen – erstwhile Captain in Sophie, succeeded by Aubrey
- Mr. Baldick – Lieutenant in Sophie, ill and replaced
- Mr. Williams – administrator in Mahon for Aubrey's prize-agent
- David Richards – Mr. Williams relative who ships as Midshipman in Sophie
- William Marshall – master in Sophie
- Tom Pullings – master's mate in Sophie
- William Mowett – master's mate in Sophie
- Isaac Wilson – ordinary seaman in Sophie
- Watt – bosun in Sophie
- Lamb – carpenter
- Ricketts – purser
- George Day – the gunner
- Charles Stephen Ricketts – son to the purser, rated midshipman
- William Babbington – midshipman in Sophie
- James Dillon – first lieutenant in Sophie
- Alfred King – negro crew member, also a dumb mute
- Quinn – sergeant of marines
Ships in "Master and Commander"
The British
- HMS Sophie - sloop
- HMS Pallas - frigate
- HMS Niobe - frigate
- Généreux -
- Burford -
- Tartarus - bomb-ketch
- HMS Audacious - Ship of the line and flagship
The Spanish
- Cacafuego - xebec-frigate
- * n.b. were real ships during the period depicted.
Major themes
Many incidents and events in the book are directly copied from the real cruises of Lord Cochrane in his sloop HMS Speedy. Cochrane described them in detail in his Autobiography of a Seaman.
Allusions/references to other works
Throughout the novel O'Brian makes references to other literature, one of the most obvious is when he quotes from the poem "The Shipwreak" by William Falconer on page 85. "The Shipwreak" by William Falconer also referenced here
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
The capture of the Spanish xebec-frigate Cacafuego by the greatly inferior Sophie brings Aubrey and his crew great glory and wealth. This episode is based on the capture of the Spanish frigate El Gamo by Thomas Cochrane commanding the sloop HMS Speedy Thomas Cochrane's original capture of "El Gamo".
The exploit of setting up a decoy of a large ship at night by attaching lights to a small boat was executed by the French privateer Robert Surcouf to successfully escape the British frigate HMS Sybille. It was also used by Cochrane and described in his Autobiography of a Seaman (used by O'Brian as source material for this novel).
The book ends with Aubrey and Maturin witnessing the Battle of Algeciras, firstly from the deck of the French Desiax, then from the Rock of Gibraltar.
Literary significance & criticism
"Nothing is glamourised. The press gangings, the squalor are all here....The battle scenes are tremendous...This is not secondhand Forester, but a really fine piece of writing."—Sunday Mirror Sunday Mirror review - quoted in "Cunningham"
Reviews
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The film The Far Side of the World takes part of its title from this novel and some themes, but very little of its plot. In fact no one book provides the total plot line for the movie, however more comes from The Far Side of the World than the other novels.
Release details
- 1970, UK, Collins Publishers (ISBN ?), Pub Date ? ? 1970, Hardback
- 1970, USA, Books on Tape (ISBN 5557101411), Pub date ? January 1970, Audio cassette (unabridged) not sure if the date can be correct
- 1972, UK, Fontana (ISBN 0006129137), Pub Date 1 May 1972, Paperback
- 1989, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0006166261), Pub date 9 February 1989, Paperback
- 1990, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393307050), Pub date ? November 1990, Paperback
- 1992, UK, ISIS Audio Books (ISBN 1850898774), Pub date ? October 1992, Audio cassette (unabridged)
- 1994, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393037010), Pub date ? November 1994, Paperback
- 1995, UK, Bespoke Audio (ISBN 1860510035), Pub date ? June 1995, Audio cassette (abridged Robert Hardy Narrator)
- 1996, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0006499155), Pub date 7 October 1996, Paperback
- 1998, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0002215268), Pub date 27 January 1998, Hardback
- 1999, USA, Thorndike Press (ISBN 0786219327), Pub date ? November 1999, Large print paperback
- 1999, USA, Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & Co (ISBN 0754013340), Pub date 1 November 1999, Board book ?
- 2000, USA, Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & Co (ISBN 075402248X), Pub date 1 August 2000, Large print paperback
- 2002, UK, Soundings (ISBN 1842833103), Pub date ? June 2002, Audio Cassette (abridged Christopher Kay Narrator)
- 2003, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393325172), Pub date ? October 2003, Paperback (Movie Tie-In)
- 2003, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0007166087), Pub date 6 October 2003, Hardback (Movie Tie-In)
- 2003, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 000715786X), Pub date 6 October 2003, Paperback (Movie Tie-In)
- 2003, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0001053299), Pub date 6 October 2003, Audio Cassette (abridged Robert Hardy Narrator)
- 2003, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0007160852), Pub date 6 October 2003, Audio CD (abridged Robert Hardy Narrator)
- 2004, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393324761), Pub date 21 January 2004, Paperback (Movie Tie-In)
- 2004, UK, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0786187131), Pub date ? January 2004, MP3 CD (abridged Robert Whitfield (Narrator)
- 2005, UK, Soundings (ISBN 1842832603), Pub date ? January 2005, Audio Cassette (abridged Christopher Kay? Narrator)
- ?, USA, Firebird Distributing (ISBN 0001053299), Pub date ? ? ?, Paperback ?
- ?, USA, Recorded Books, LLC (ISBN 1402582722), Pub date ? ? ?, Audio cassette (unabridged by
Sources, references, external links, quotations
Footnotes
"Master and Commander"