Memories of Patrick O'Brian Weekends, Portsmouth 2003 and 2004
My friends
Since we’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of the release of Master & Commander, The Far Side of the World this month and prompted by the lovely esteven I wondered if you’d indulge me sharing with you the two “Patrick O’Brian Weekends” I was lucky enough to go to in Portsmouth in October 2003 and 2004? My ramblings are somewhat lengthy, so it’s all under a cut - please feel free to ignore or scroll through!
These “Weekends” had been held each year since around 2000 I believe, long before I knew about them, or the film was ever mooted, and were firmly fixed with the books in mind, but by the time I went in 2003, the film was almost ready for release. Not that that was really a topic for discussion - we were there for the books.
A little later in the post, I’ve included scans of the concert programmes, dinner menus and other memorabilia from the weekends, but first, just a few recollections.
I’d been an aficionada of “the sailing navy” in literature for many, many years. As a teenager I’d devoured C S Forester’s “Hornblower” series, and over the years had discovered Alexander Kent (Bolitho), Dudley Pope (Ramage), Dewie Lambdin (Lewrie) and later on, Julian Stockwin (Kydd) and Richard Woodman (Drinkwater). Patrick O’Brian was almost the last author I came to . . . and to this day, I have no idea why he escaped me for so long!
Being a bit of a musician myself, the opening paragraph of Master and Commander sucked me right in and then I was lost. You all know that feeling don’t you?! I read the books right through from start to finish during one long, hot summer and then promptly started again from the beginning and have been reading them in a ‘cycle’ like that ever since!
Imagine my delight then, when planning a weekend in Portsmouth one year, to find under the Portsmouth Tourist Office’s list of “things to do” that there was actually to be something called a “Patrick O’Brian Weekend”. It was rather expensive and didn’t include accommodation which had to be booked separately, but I was determined to scrimp and save and get myself there! Which I did . . . not once, but twice. So, so fortunate!
The first evening was held in the Naval Museum within the Historic Dockyard, and was a concert of music and readings from the novels, with the theme of “A Celebration of Friendship”. This was a quite fascinating idea, I thought, and so it proved. A group of local Shakespearean actors read extracts from the books (yes, doing all the ‘voices’!), followed by musical interludes - you can see the programme and the extracts used below (and look them up if you wish!). It was such a good start to the weekend.
The following day began with a talk by the author, Richard Woodman
http://www.historicnavalfiction.com/authors-a-z/518-richard-woodman
who worked for many years for Trinity House (who maintain lighthouses among other things). His naval “hero” is one Nathaniel Drinkwater. Asked how he came up with that name, he explained he’d seen the name on the side of a builder’s skip and thought it chimed in quite nicely with the cadence of ‘Horatio Hornblower’!
After lunch we were taken on a ‘cruise’ around the dockyard, so we could see the buildings and current naval ships from the seaward side. This trip was organised by Dr Colin White - the man who made the whole weekend possible and such a delightful occasion. He was the Director of the Naval Museum at that time, and although he passed away a few years ago, will be remembered very fondly (RIP). He was an absolute fount of knowledge on the sailing Navy! Nelson was his particular forté, but there was very little he didn’t know about that era, or the writing of PoB.
On return to the Naval Museum we found that the room we’d previously been in had been completely transformed into a room from circa 1799! A re-enactment group had taken over, all dressed in costumes of the time and exhibiting such things as food & drink (we were given a sample of “toasted cheese” which was quite inedible!) clothing, weapons, naval artefacts and - the most interesting part for me - medical equipment from that time. Scary!!! I spent nearly the whole afternoon at the medical table, finding out what each instrument was for, learning about the history of medicine at that time.
Then back to the hotel to rest a while and change into our evening finery (though with some thermal layers underneath, since it was late October in England!!) for the most wonderful part of the whole weekend - dinner (with special permission from the Admiralty) aboard HMS Victory. This first year the deck had been cleared and long tables set out, with a seating plan shown at one end of the room. Ignoring the “top table” where the guests of honour would be seated I searched and searched for my name, but couldn’t see it anywhere. Eventually, I glanced at the “top table” guest list and was shocked and amazed to find my name there!! Instant nervousness! What on earth would I find to say to these incredibly well-informed people? How on earth was I going to cope? I was almost ready to run away . . .
But my fears were completely unfounded for they were the friendliest, most humorous group of raconteurs one could ever hope to meet and it didn’t matter that I didn’t say much, I just listened, fascinated by their tales, their insight, their jollity and their erudite knowledge of all things Patrick O’Brian. So I began to relax and eventually had the most wonderful evening. Knowing the books so well, I was also able to contribute something to the conversation after all . . .
One of the subjects was, of course, the film and why these superb books and stories had never been filmed before? I was firmly of the opinion that it was because there had never before been an actor who could have portrayed Jack Aubrey, but I felt (and it remains my humble opinion) that Russell Crowe had been born to play this part. Many of the guests hadn’t really seen very much of his work, so were a little sceptical, but I hope that they’ve all been convinced since that time!
The most memorable part of the whole evening was before we ate, after Colin White had said The Grace. He then asked us just to close our eyes for a few moments in silence (oh, I forgot to say there was a string trio playing in the background!) and just feel ‘at one’ with all the sailors who had served aboard this ship in the past. It was a truly moving moment, I found. I relaxed and tried to concentrate on the ship and its history. It was absolutely silent, and I swear that at that moment, the spirit of Barret Bonden touched me on the shoulder. It was not in any way eerie or discomforting, but more sort of profound; a most amazing moment.
Richard Woodman signed my dinner menu (as you will see below) and the evening passed far too quickly in the end.
On Sunday, we met up for a buffet lunch and then a talk by Geoff Hunt - who, if you have the ‘older’ versions of the books, you will know painted the wonderful pictures that adorn the covers. You can see a couple of them on the programmes below.
I met some extremely interesting people - apart from Richard Woodman and Colin White, there was Lt Cdr Frank Nowosielski (the then current “Commander” of HMS Victory) who made us laugh by saying that because naval personnel found it very difficult to pronounce his name, he was known throughout the service as “Commander Alphabet”!!
In 2004 I was fortunate to be able to attend again. There were some of the same names and faces in attendance, as well as many new ones (including Dag Larsen, who was translating the books for an Icelandic readership), but this time, at the Dinner, Count Nicolai Tolstoy was able to join us. (Dinner this year was held on the Gun Deck, with tables slung between the canon - very authentic!). You may know that he is Patrick O’Brian’s stepson, and also the Executor of his Estate. He was very excited at the time, for they were just about to publish “Book 21”. This was the book PoB was writing at the time of his death - obviously the further adventures of Jack and Stephen - but it was only written in his handwriting and had not been typed up. After some deciphering (and any of you who have this book will have seen it!) it was published as far as it went, and is, therefore, quite an historic object.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/02/forever-bailing-patrick-obrians-last-unfinished-novel-and-the-end-of-the-aubrey-matrurin-series
He brought along with him some things he thought we might enjoy seeing such as the pen Patrick used for writing the books (apparently he never used a typewriter, but always wrote with pen and ink). He gave us a fascinating insight into what he could remember of his stepfather, and he, too, graciously signed my dinner menu (see below).
A few years after all of this, I acquired a computer, discovered the Internet and found perfect_duet among many other fandoms and the rest, as they say, is history!
If you’ve got this far, may I thank you so much for allowing me the indulgence of sharing the weekends with you; they are difficult to describe in mere words, but I was very privileged to be part of them, and it’s always nice to share.
And now onto the pictures. I wanted these to be large enough to read, so they’re scans from the originals - I apologise if they take up a lot of space, but if you’re interested, see below the cut.
The Programmes
2003 : The Concert
2003 : The Dinner on board HMS Victory
2004 : The Concert
2004 : Dinner on board HMS Victory
Count Nicolai Tolstoy’s “autograph”
And finally, Dr Colin White, raconteur extraordinaire and lover of all things
“sailing navy” who made the whole thing possible . . .
Since we’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of the release of Master & Commander, The Far Side of the World this month and prompted by the lovely esteven I wondered if you’d indulge me sharing with you the two “Patrick O’Brian Weekends” I was lucky enough to go to in Portsmouth in October 2003 and 2004? My ramblings are somewhat lengthy, so it’s all under a cut - please feel free to ignore or scroll through!
These “Weekends” had been held each year since around 2000 I believe, long before I knew about them, or the film was ever mooted, and were firmly fixed with the books in mind, but by the time I went in 2003, the film was almost ready for release. Not that that was really a topic for discussion - we were there for the books.
A little later in the post, I’ve included scans of the concert programmes, dinner menus and other memorabilia from the weekends, but first, just a few recollections.
I’d been an aficionada of “the sailing navy” in literature for many, many years. As a teenager I’d devoured C S Forester’s “Hornblower” series, and over the years had discovered Alexander Kent (Bolitho), Dudley Pope (Ramage), Dewie Lambdin (Lewrie) and later on, Julian Stockwin (Kydd) and Richard Woodman (Drinkwater). Patrick O’Brian was almost the last author I came to . . . and to this day, I have no idea why he escaped me for so long!
Being a bit of a musician myself, the opening paragraph of Master and Commander sucked me right in and then I was lost. You all know that feeling don’t you?! I read the books right through from start to finish during one long, hot summer and then promptly started again from the beginning and have been reading them in a ‘cycle’ like that ever since!
Imagine my delight then, when planning a weekend in Portsmouth one year, to find under the Portsmouth Tourist Office’s list of “things to do” that there was actually to be something called a “Patrick O’Brian Weekend”. It was rather expensive and didn’t include accommodation which had to be booked separately, but I was determined to scrimp and save and get myself there! Which I did . . . not once, but twice. So, so fortunate!
The first evening was held in the Naval Museum within the Historic Dockyard, and was a concert of music and readings from the novels, with the theme of “A Celebration of Friendship”. This was a quite fascinating idea, I thought, and so it proved. A group of local Shakespearean actors read extracts from the books (yes, doing all the ‘voices’!), followed by musical interludes - you can see the programme and the extracts used below (and look them up if you wish!). It was such a good start to the weekend.
The following day began with a talk by the author, Richard Woodman
http://www.historicnavalfiction.com/authors-a-z/518-richard-woodman
who worked for many years for Trinity House (who maintain lighthouses among other things). His naval “hero” is one Nathaniel Drinkwater. Asked how he came up with that name, he explained he’d seen the name on the side of a builder’s skip and thought it chimed in quite nicely with the cadence of ‘Horatio Hornblower’!
After lunch we were taken on a ‘cruise’ around the dockyard, so we could see the buildings and current naval ships from the seaward side. This trip was organised by Dr Colin White - the man who made the whole weekend possible and such a delightful occasion. He was the Director of the Naval Museum at that time, and although he passed away a few years ago, will be remembered very fondly (RIP). He was an absolute fount of knowledge on the sailing Navy! Nelson was his particular forté, but there was very little he didn’t know about that era, or the writing of PoB.
On return to the Naval Museum we found that the room we’d previously been in had been completely transformed into a room from circa 1799! A re-enactment group had taken over, all dressed in costumes of the time and exhibiting such things as food & drink (we were given a sample of “toasted cheese” which was quite inedible!) clothing, weapons, naval artefacts and - the most interesting part for me - medical equipment from that time. Scary!!! I spent nearly the whole afternoon at the medical table, finding out what each instrument was for, learning about the history of medicine at that time.
Then back to the hotel to rest a while and change into our evening finery (though with some thermal layers underneath, since it was late October in England!!) for the most wonderful part of the whole weekend - dinner (with special permission from the Admiralty) aboard HMS Victory. This first year the deck had been cleared and long tables set out, with a seating plan shown at one end of the room. Ignoring the “top table” where the guests of honour would be seated I searched and searched for my name, but couldn’t see it anywhere. Eventually, I glanced at the “top table” guest list and was shocked and amazed to find my name there!! Instant nervousness! What on earth would I find to say to these incredibly well-informed people? How on earth was I going to cope? I was almost ready to run away . . .
But my fears were completely unfounded for they were the friendliest, most humorous group of raconteurs one could ever hope to meet and it didn’t matter that I didn’t say much, I just listened, fascinated by their tales, their insight, their jollity and their erudite knowledge of all things Patrick O’Brian. So I began to relax and eventually had the most wonderful evening. Knowing the books so well, I was also able to contribute something to the conversation after all . . .
One of the subjects was, of course, the film and why these superb books and stories had never been filmed before? I was firmly of the opinion that it was because there had never before been an actor who could have portrayed Jack Aubrey, but I felt (and it remains my humble opinion) that Russell Crowe had been born to play this part. Many of the guests hadn’t really seen very much of his work, so were a little sceptical, but I hope that they’ve all been convinced since that time!
The most memorable part of the whole evening was before we ate, after Colin White had said The Grace. He then asked us just to close our eyes for a few moments in silence (oh, I forgot to say there was a string trio playing in the background!) and just feel ‘at one’ with all the sailors who had served aboard this ship in the past. It was a truly moving moment, I found. I relaxed and tried to concentrate on the ship and its history. It was absolutely silent, and I swear that at that moment, the spirit of Barret Bonden touched me on the shoulder. It was not in any way eerie or discomforting, but more sort of profound; a most amazing moment.
Richard Woodman signed my dinner menu (as you will see below) and the evening passed far too quickly in the end.
On Sunday, we met up for a buffet lunch and then a talk by Geoff Hunt - who, if you have the ‘older’ versions of the books, you will know painted the wonderful pictures that adorn the covers. You can see a couple of them on the programmes below.
I met some extremely interesting people - apart from Richard Woodman and Colin White, there was Lt Cdr Frank Nowosielski (the then current “Commander” of HMS Victory) who made us laugh by saying that because naval personnel found it very difficult to pronounce his name, he was known throughout the service as “Commander Alphabet”!!
In 2004 I was fortunate to be able to attend again. There were some of the same names and faces in attendance, as well as many new ones (including Dag Larsen, who was translating the books for an Icelandic readership), but this time, at the Dinner, Count Nicolai Tolstoy was able to join us. (Dinner this year was held on the Gun Deck, with tables slung between the canon - very authentic!). You may know that he is Patrick O’Brian’s stepson, and also the Executor of his Estate. He was very excited at the time, for they were just about to publish “Book 21”. This was the book PoB was writing at the time of his death - obviously the further adventures of Jack and Stephen - but it was only written in his handwriting and had not been typed up. After some deciphering (and any of you who have this book will have seen it!) it was published as far as it went, and is, therefore, quite an historic object.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/02/forever-bailing-patrick-obrians-last-unfinished-novel-and-the-end-of-the-aubrey-matrurin-series
He brought along with him some things he thought we might enjoy seeing such as the pen Patrick used for writing the books (apparently he never used a typewriter, but always wrote with pen and ink). He gave us a fascinating insight into what he could remember of his stepfather, and he, too, graciously signed my dinner menu (see below).
A few years after all of this, I acquired a computer, discovered the Internet and found perfect_duet among many other fandoms and the rest, as they say, is history!
If you’ve got this far, may I thank you so much for allowing me the indulgence of sharing the weekends with you; they are difficult to describe in mere words, but I was very privileged to be part of them, and it’s always nice to share.
And now onto the pictures. I wanted these to be large enough to read, so they’re scans from the originals - I apologise if they take up a lot of space, but if you’re interested, see below the cut.
The Programmes
2003 : The Concert
2003 : The Dinner on board HMS Victory
2004 : The Concert
2004 : Dinner on board HMS Victory
Count Nicolai Tolstoy’s “autograph”
And finally, Dr Colin White, raconteur extraordinaire and lover of all things
“sailing navy” who made the whole thing possible . . .