Aubrey/Maturin Read-along Update: Master and Commander Chapter 2
Welcome to week two of the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-along Odyssey. This post gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts, quotes, and questions about chapter two of Master and Commander.
Quote of the Week
“This was Jack’s first direct, fully responsible acquaintance with book-keeping, and he did not much relish it.”
This quote reminded me of when I first became principal and had to start working on the school budget.
Where are Jack and Stephen this week?
Jack and Stephen are still in Port Mahon as Jack prepares the Sophie for her task and Stephen learns about being a naval surgeon.
Term of the Week: 12-pounder
The 12-pounder long gun was an intermediary calibre piece of artillery mounted on warships of the Age of sail. They were used as main guns on the most typical frigates of the early 18th century, on the second deck of fourth-rate ships of the line, and on the upper decks or castles of 80-gun and 120-gun ships of the line.
From Wikipedia
Your Turn
Leave a comment with an insight, question, or favorite line from the past week. Please refrain from any spoilers.
My favorite line in chapter 2 comes after Stephen Maturin protests that he doesn’t have the skills to be a naval surgeon.
“Think of what we are usually sent – surgeon’s mates, wretched half-grown stunted apprentices that have knocked about an apothecary’s shop just long enough for the Navy office to give them a warrant. They know nothing of surgery, let alone physic; they learn on the poor seamen as they go along, and they hope for an experienced loblolly boy or beast-leech or a cunning-man or maybe a butcher among the hands – the press brings in all sorts. And when they have picked up a smattering of their trade, off they go into frigates and ships of the line.”
Hello, I’m new hear and totally new to the series. I also have no sailing/nautical knowledge. So from a very ignorant starting position I would say:
1. I was surprised and a little disappointed that after setting up a contentious first meeting between Aubrey and Maturin, with (in my opinion) many ways to use this conflict in the plot and character development, the author has them meet the next morning and quickly apologize/become friends. For instance, Aubrey could have remained ignorant of the unpleasant man’s name and profession, learn that his newly assigned ship was in need of a ship’s surgeon, be informed there was a physician available and request his help, only then to learn (gasp) that it was the very same critic of his musical enjoyment the night before. Thereafter both could have earned each other’s respect and friendship through the coming wartime trials, each one demonstrating his professional competency and good character under fire.
2. I also wish that Maturin’s Naturalist’s curiosity and keen observational skills, set up early on in his identification of birds, etc. were better applied to the descriptions of naval life/descriptions of the ship. This is used to good effect in a few passages, but I think could have been used more often as a device to help a landlubber like me understand what is going on and visualize the Sophie.
I do do however think that the first two chapters show the weight and complexity of the British Navy both in command structure and sheer physical presence. Even though I didn’t grasp the particulars in Aubrey’s outfitting and modifying the Sophie I have the impression that he is a knowledgeable and canny new Master and Commander with an eye toward maximizing the ship potential for furthering his career.
Just my impressions as a first time reader of the first two chapters of the book 🙂
The sheer headache of administration and logistics in this chapter, there is no avoiding it. I recently acquired King’s A Sea of Words: enormously helpful in explaining the nautical terminology. It has slowed my reading somewhat but it’s well worth it.