On ships, dockyards and facts and fiction in chapter 1;D
These are not spoilers, but some of us may like to find out the facts for themselves and not have them presented here.
For those who are interested, here is a bit of fact and fiction
We note that Patrick O’Brian liked to use the names of real ships of the period.
HMS Agamemnon
Généreux
Part of the French Fleet at the Battle of the Nile; escaped first then captured and taken into Mahon as a prize by Lt. Cochrane on the order of Lord Keith.
Guerrier
There is a Guerriere, but she was taken in 1806, so she could not have been there at the time of Master and Commander
Isis
At one time, Thomas Masterman Hardy was her captain.
Pallas (32)
A frigate commanded by Cochrane in 1805. The ship’s name is a charming tip of the hat to Thomas Cochrane by Mr O’Brian. As tootsiemuppet rightly pointed out, this was not merely a tip of the hat, it was also historically correct because Mr. Allen (Jack's predecessor in the Sophie) was based on Jahleel Brenton, Cochrane's predecessor in the Speedy :D
The pamphlet for our mandc_read is based on the Pallas recruitment poster
Santa Brigida (34)
Frigate in the Spanish Fleet at the Battle of St Vincent (1798)
HMS Thunderer (74)
A family history from the Isle of Man which it has to do with the ship.
And finally HM Brig Sophie(18)
She is the former privateer Premier Consul taken from the French in 1798 and then renamed. Sophie was broken up in 1809. Her exploits in this book are based on the real HM Brig Speedy (14)
She was Cochrane’s first commission when he took over from fellow officer Jahleel Brenton. Speedy is *not* the renamed La Bonne Citoyenne as mentioned in a book about Admiral Beaufort.
Cochrane says in his The Autobiography of a Seaman -chapter 4-
The vessel originally intended for me by Lord Keith was the *Bonne Citoyenne*, a fine corvette of eighteen guns; but the brother of his lordship's secretary happening at the time to arrive from Gibraltar... that functionary managed to place his brother in one of the finest sloops in the service, leaving to me the least efficient craft on the station This is cited in chapter 1 of Harbors and High Seas
Compare that toMaster and Commander Chapter One:
A beautiful, newly-coppered, newly-captured little French privateer had been virtually promised to him: the secretary's brother had appeared from Gibraltar - adieu, kiss my hand to that command
If a ship was English built, it would have come mainly from one of these Dockyards
Portsmouth
Chatham
Deptford
Buckler’s Hard
For those who are interested, here is a bit of fact and fiction
We note that Patrick O’Brian liked to use the names of real ships of the period.
HMS Agamemnon
Généreux
Part of the French Fleet at the Battle of the Nile; escaped first then captured and taken into Mahon as a prize by Lt. Cochrane on the order of Lord Keith.
Guerrier
There is a Guerriere, but she was taken in 1806, so she could not have been there at the time of Master and Commander
Isis
At one time, Thomas Masterman Hardy was her captain.
Pallas (32)
A frigate commanded by Cochrane in 1805. The ship’s name is a charming tip of the hat to Thomas Cochrane by Mr O’Brian. As tootsiemuppet rightly pointed out, this was not merely a tip of the hat, it was also historically correct because Mr. Allen (Jack's predecessor in the Sophie) was based on Jahleel Brenton, Cochrane's predecessor in the Speedy :D
The pamphlet for our mandc_read is based on the Pallas recruitment poster
Santa Brigida (34)
Frigate in the Spanish Fleet at the Battle of St Vincent (1798)
HMS Thunderer (74)
A family history from the Isle of Man which it has to do with the ship.
And finally HM Brig Sophie(18)
She is the former privateer Premier Consul taken from the French in 1798 and then renamed. Sophie was broken up in 1809. Her exploits in this book are based on the real HM Brig Speedy (14)
She was Cochrane’s first commission when he took over from fellow officer Jahleel Brenton. Speedy is *not* the renamed La Bonne Citoyenne as mentioned in a book about Admiral Beaufort.
Cochrane says in his The Autobiography of a Seaman -chapter 4-
The vessel originally intended for me by Lord Keith was the *Bonne Citoyenne*, a fine corvette of eighteen guns; but the brother of his lordship's secretary happening at the time to arrive from Gibraltar... that functionary managed to place his brother in one of the finest sloops in the service, leaving to me the least efficient craft on the station This is cited in chapter 1 of Harbors and High Seas
Compare that toMaster and Commander Chapter One:
A beautiful, newly-coppered, newly-captured little French privateer had been virtually promised to him: the secretary's brother had appeared from Gibraltar - adieu, kiss my hand to that command
If a ship was English built, it would have come mainly from one of these Dockyards
Portsmouth
Chatham
Deptford
Buckler’s Hard