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Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the historical fiction discussion of POST CAPTAIN
by Patrick O'Brian.

This is the reading assignment for week thirteen - (January 24, 2011 to January 30, 2011) which is the last week for this book discussion.

Week Thirteen - January 24 - January 30 - Chapter 14 - p. 445-496

This is the fourth historical fiction group selected book.

We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers if you are catching up.

This book was kicked off on November 1st.

This discussion is being led by assisting moderator - Christopher. During the discussion of Master and Commander, Christopher volunteered to steer us through the second book in the series. Please support him in this effort.

We always enjoy the participation of all group members. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, and may be available on Kindle or audible.

This thread opens up January 24th for discussion. This is a non spoiler thread.

Welcome,

~Bentley


TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL

Patrick O'Brian

Please feel free to research the complete Table of Contents and Syllabus on this thread and to see which version Christopher is using.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Post Captain is the second book in the series and comes after Master and Commander.

Patrick O'Brian

I found Chapter 14 very satisfying in some ways, unsatisfying in others.

Satisfying: Stephen really comes into his own. The short, unattractive dour individual who spent most of the book mooning over Diana Villiers turns out to be an intelligence agent of stature and influence in the highest levels of government. He essentially makes Jack a fortune in prize money from the captured Spanish ships. Jack shows himself to be a more than capable sea captan, using the incredible fighting and sailing machine that is the Lively to amazing effect. And he presumabley gets together with Sophie.

Unsatisfying: The happy ending seems contrived. After all the talk about a lengthy list of captains seeking commands, Jack's crushing debt, and the brutal 19th century debt collection methods, it would seem much more likely that Jack would end up in debtor's prison, or at least in a situation more in line with his circumstances. Yet O'Brian puts him aboard a ship and in a mission (yes, it really happened) that is one in a million. Yes, it's fun, it's gratifying, but .... It's like the characters in a book have pretty nasty ups and downs then, out of the clear blue sky, one of them wins the lottery, and the book ends. How does that fit in with everything that's gone before?

I enjoyed reading Post Captain this time as much or more than any other O'Brian book I've read, and I hope you did, too. I never really saw how multifaceted it is, so many ways of looking at so many things in the book. The characters and the dialogue really jumped off the page at me. I really had trouble keeping myself to one or two major concepts when writing these posts. Thanks for reading.

Chris, I have not forgotten you; will get caught up soon and we can discuss this chapter. Thank you so much for carrying on with the second book in the series.

One thing that is so interesting about this book is the terminology. For example, "three sheets in the wind".

Michael Quinion states:

It’s a sailor’s expression, from the days of sailing ships. The terminology of sailing ships is excessively complicated and every time I refer to it people write in to say I’ve got it wrong, usually contradicting each other. So treat what follows as a broad-brush treatment, open to dispute on fine points.

We ignorant landlubbers might think that a sheet is a sail, but it’s actually a rope (always called a line in sailing terminology), or sometimes on really big ships a chain, which is attached to the bottom corner of a sail. The word actually comes from an Old English term for the corner of a sail. The sheets were as vital in the days of three-masted square-rigged sea-going ships as they are today, since they trim the sail to the wind. If they run loose, the sail flutters about in the wind and the ship wallows off its course out of control.

Extend this idea to sailors on shore leave, staggering back to the ship after a good night on the town, well tanked up. The irregular and uncertain locomotion of these jolly tars must have reminded onlookers of the way a ship moved in which the sheets were loose. Perhaps one loose sheet might not have been enough to get the image across, so the speakers borrowed the idea of a three-masted sailing ship with three sheets loose, so the saying became three sheets in the wind.

Our first written example comes from that recorder of low life, Pierce Egan, in his Real life in London of 1821. But it must surely be much older.

The version you give, incidentally, is comparatively recent, since the older one (the only one given in the big Oxford English Dictionary) is three sheets in the wind. However, online searches show that your version is now much more as common than the one containing in, so it may be that some day soon it will be the only one around. The version with to seems to be gaining ground because so many people think that a sheet is a sail.

From the following source in its entirety:

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996�2011.

Here is a link to that site: (if you like to learn about the origin of phrases and words)

Yes in retrospect this was really quite a jewel of a book when one gives it a chance and sticks it out to the end. It really had a little bit of everything. I especially liked the deep characterization development of the two main characters. Also, the study of mores and customs of the day was aptly executed.

As far as too much luck befalling the main character, I don't begrudge him that considering the tough times he has faced and his unfortunate plight. I actually was relieved that there was some hope for Jack at the end and that Stephen had more than a small part in making all things possible.