 |
|
11-02-2019, 19:16
|
#1
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wherever at anchor
Boat: Brent Swain Pilot House 36' Steel Sloop
Posts: 242
|
Patric O'brian
Aubrey/Maturin series was a joy. PO is a Shakespeare as a naval historical fiction writer with a genius for character creation. I have been through the series x 2. Before I go for 3 just wondering if anyone else does adventure writing as good. Not necessarily have to be ocean based just good writing with an adventure bent.
Greetings to all you lucky ones not snowed in by a 49th parallel vicinity winter.
... thank you
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 20:03
|
#2
|
Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Little Compton, RI
Boat: Cape George 31
Posts: 1,645
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Try out CS Forester's "Hornblower" series. Far superior, IMO: better writing; better plots; classier. Not that PO's not extremely enjoyable--but it you like him, you'll love CS Forester. Read also (not in that series), "The Gun" and "Death to the French." Of course, "The African Queen" is a classic as well.
Another superstar of nautical writing is, of course, Joseph Conrad. Esp. "Nostromo" "Victory," for full-length books, and "Typhoon," "The End of the Tether," and "The Secret Sharer" for short stories.
__________________
Ben
zartmancruising.com
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 20:09
|
#3
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 7
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Give Dewey Lambdin a try. The protagonist is a bit more of a rascal but the series is full of adventure.
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 20:43
|
#4
|
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Under a boat, in a marina, in the San Francisco Bay
Posts: 4,340
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by Benz
Try out CS Forester's "Hornblower" series. Far superior, IMO
|
Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 20:59
|
#5
|
Senior Cruiser

Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 29° 49.16’ N 82° 25.82’ W
Boat: Pearson 422
Posts: 15,281
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by fstbttms
Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.
|
Well I wouldn't put it quite so harshly, but having read both I do think that O'Brian's works are more sophisticated and historically accurate (from a maritime point of view) than the Hornblower books.
That being said, CS Forester is well worth the read.
Might also find the works of Alistair Maclean somewhat interesting.
__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.
Sometimes it's necessary to state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious.
Rust is the poor man's Loctite.
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 21:04
|
#6
|
Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Kona, Hawaii, Carlsbad, CA
Boat: 1969 Pearson 35 #108 & 1976 Sabre 28
Posts: 7,355
|
Re: Patric O'brian
I'll second Dewey Lambdin. Even though O'brian's books were/are great reads and well researched apparently he had little if any experience at sea. Interesting write up on Latitude 38 from someone who took O'brian for a short cruise. https://www.latitude38.com/features/O%27Brian.htm
__________________
Peter O.
'Ae'a, Pearson 35
'Ms American Pie', Sabre 28 Mark II
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 21:07
|
#7
|
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Long Island NY
Boat: Hylas 54
Posts: 170
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Hammond Innes. His books are more modern, mid twentieth century, and they are not all set on the ocean, but many are and they are all good.
"The Wreck of the Mary Deare" is maybe the best known, but there are others of equal quality.
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 21:08
|
#8
|
CF Adviser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Boat: Van Helleman Schooner 65ft StarGazer
Posts: 9,570
|
Re: Patric O'brian
I enjoyed the Master Mariner by Nicholas Monssarat
Master Mariner https://g.co/kgs/PiQMJD
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 21:09
|
#9
|
Moderator
Join Date: May 2008
Location: cruising SW Pacific
Boat: Jon Sayer 1-off 46 ft fract rig sloop strip plank in W Red Cedar
Posts: 17,588
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Add Alexander Kent to the list... more stories of the Brits defeating the Froggies.
Interesting aside: According to a long ago story in Lat 38, Patrick O was invited on a European cruise on a very large sailing yacht. He was reported to be rather unfamiliar with life at sea and with sailboats difficulty in maintaining a schedule... made a disgruntled and unhappy passenger, and caused the yacht to put him ashore at an unscheduled stop. But his knowledge of 18th century seamanship seems pretty good to me (not that I know all that much about it!).
Jim
I see that RoverHi has referenced the same article above,and I see that I remembered the story somewhat incorrectly. I apologize for the inaccuracy, but he somehow still didn't seem to live up to his reputation. thanks to PeterO for finding the original and linking it.
__________________
Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II, lying Port Cygnet once again.
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 22:33
|
#10
|
Registered User

Join Date: May 2011
Location: Miami Florida
Boat: Ellis Flybridge 28
Posts: 3,762
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by fstbttms
Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.
|
I’ve read both, O’Brian is great but Forester is better.
Bernard Cornwell also writes great historical novels. His Sharpe’s Rifles series is great. He even pays homage to Forester by having one of Forester’s characters appear in one of his books.
I just recently reread The Ship by Forester as I heard that Tom Hanks was making a movie of it. It’s a WW2 story.
__________________
Retired from Hopkins-Carter Marine Supplies
|
|
|
11-02-2019, 23:11
|
#11
|
Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 20,693
|
Re: Patric O'brian
List of authors in the order (more or less) that I thought of them: Farley Mowat, Hammond Innes, Desmond Bageley, Alistair Maclean, Neville Shute (whose biography, Slide RuleI really enjoyed), and Douglas Freeman. For 18th & 19th century history, I've mostly concentrated on Patrick O'Brian, and Alexander Kent, even though the Hornblower books hove across my bow first and am interested in what everybody likes so much about them, maybe time for a re-read? eh?
Ann
PS: "The Riddle of the Sands", Erskine Childers
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
|
|
|
12-02-2019, 04:20
|
#12
|
CF Adviser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Boat: Van Helleman Schooner 65ft StarGazer
Posts: 9,570
|
Re: Patric O'brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by JPA Cate
PS: "The Riddle of the Sands", Erskine Childers
|
 One of my all time favorites Ann
|
|
|
12-02-2019, 05:14
|
#13
|
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Gosport
Boat: Fisher 37
Posts: 78
|
Re: Patric O'brian
The shipping news or anything by E Annie Proulx who is brilliant.
|
|
|
12-02-2019, 08:04
|
#14
|
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Southport CT
Boat: J/36
Posts: 1,666
|
Re: Patric O'brian
For an adventure read, try The Nagle Journal,( https://www.amazon.com/Nagle-Journal.../dp/B002JHEUNK)
A first-hand account, it starts out with him in a gun crew at the Battle of Brandywine, (his father was an army colonel) and ends up with him in Ohio in 1841, by way of the Caribbean, London, Mediterranean, Sydney, and a lot of other places. A true story: Congress even awarded him a pension for his service during the Revolution.
|
|
|
12-02-2019, 08:18
|
#15
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Alameda, California
Boat: Islander 36
Posts: 100
|
Re: Patric O'brian
John D MacDonald's character Travis McGee lives on a sailboat in Florida, and is always fighting bad guys, usually while boating. Fun reading. There is about 50 in the series, from the 70s I think.
|
|
|
 |
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Rate This Thread |
Linear Mode
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
Advertise Here
Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vendor Spotlight |
|
|
|
|
|