Aubrey/Maturin Read-along Update: Master and Commander Chapter 1
HMS Caledonia in Mahon, Anton Schranz
Welcome to the first of what I hope will be weekly updates for the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. The plan is to make a very brief post each Sunday or Monday to give readers a place to post their thoughts, questions, or reactions to the chapter just finished. If you’ve read ahead or read the series before, please refrain from any spoilers.
Each week I hope to post a quote from the chapter, a description of the current setting, and maybe even a nautical or historical term of the week. These weekly posts will likely be very brief so that I am able to keep them going without taking too much time.
Quote of the week
“You play, sir?”
“I scrape a little, sir. I torment a fiddle from time to time.”
“So do I! So do I! Whenever I have leisure, I make my attempts upon the ‘cello.'”
Where are Jack and Stephen this week?
Jack and Stephen are in Port Mahon, Minorca, on April 1, 1800.
In 1800, when the book opens, Britain is at war with revolutionary France and its ally Spain. Napoleon Bonaparte had recently made himself First Consul, making him the most powerful person in France. The Spanish King, Charles V, had allied himself with France against Britain in 1796.
The Royal Navy has resumed naval operations in the Mediterranean following Lord Nelson’s 1798 victory at the Battle of the Nile. They now control most of the Mediterranean and are supplied with food from the states of the Barbary Coast of North Africa. Port Mahon, on Minorca, is a major port, having served as a Royal Navy base there years before. – WikiPOBia entry for Master and Commander (Careful: spoilers abound!)
Term of the Week: Master and Commander:
A Master and Commander was a commissioned officer ranking above a lieutenant but below a post captain. The primary function of an officer with this rank was to take command of a small naval vessel (a sloop) which did not qualify for any of the six rates and therefore did not merit a post-captain.
The rank developed in the late seventeenth century and derives from the fact that, originally, such an officer was required to function as his own master as well as exercising overall command. However, by the late eighteenth century all but the smallest sloops (those with ten or twelve guns and a total crew of 45) carried a warranted master as well as the commander. In recognition of this, the words ‘Master and’ were officially deleted from the designation of the rank in 1794, although undoubtedly many officers already in the service (such as Jack Aubrey) would have continued to use the old familiar form of words for many years afterwards.
It was not uncommon for a lieutenant who had distinguished himself in action (perhaps by leading a boarding party or commanding a cutting out operation) to be promoted to commander shortly afterwards. This was very far from guaranteeing he would have a ship to command, since the number of commanders was often three or more times as great as the number of suitable vessels.
Somewhat confusingly, a commander who held a current commission – in other words, who was actually in charge of a vessel – was addressed and referred to as ‘Captain [surname]’ despite the fact that he was not strictly a [post] captain.
from WikiPOBia
Your Turn
Leave a comment with an insight, question, or favorite line from the past week. Please refrain from any spoilers.
This is so useful. You answered my three questions after I read the first chapter last night. What year? Where exactly? and what Master and Commander meant. It was hard not to move on to the next chapter. However, since I have other books I need to be reading right now, I may be able to stick to that for a while.
I found this post from 6 yrs ago from a fellow blogger with photos of modern day Minorca and Port Mahon. I loved being able to picture Jack standing at the top of the pigtail steps looking out over the harbour. This post is relevant for the first 3 chapters…
https://immortalmemoryblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/minorca-aubrey-and-maturin-become-part-of-the-immortal-memory/amp/
Hello, my first time posting to this blog on my second trip thru the canon. I also laughed at that quotation because that was a pleasant surprise that this author was going to be different in bringing humour to his works. I was also hugely impressed – if not intimidated – by the early hint of a formidable breadth and depth of knowledge of so many subject areas that it beggars description. And oh, the natural ebb and flow of language, both conversational and descriptive; the excruciating attention to detail that made me really think I am “in” this world, as Brona described when he is standing on the parapet, searching for his Sophie among the ships in the harbour. Remarkable. May I add my take that I found the segue from animosity to generosity towards Stephen quite natural. Jack is genuinely full of the milk of human kindness on receiving his promotion, and a command, and it would be churlish of him to carry through a challenge for such a ridiculous, ego-driven reason as a musical disagreement. His warm apology shows maturity, humility, and a generous, open spirit. Desirable qualities in a ship commander, as I see in a former boss of mine, Admiral MacDonald, the newly-appointed Chief of all Canada’s defence forces. I look forward to following other posts as we read through this wonderful series. A glass with you, friends!