ot at all, HRH. O'Brian is the kind of writer
who would not shrink from exploring such an area if
it existed within his imagination. I have had
fraternal - even stronger than fraternal feelings with men
without any feelings of sexual desire. I have seen men
hold hands and even (in the Middle East) kiss each
other with affection but without desire. Haven't you?

ight now I'm reading Post Captain. As far as
names go I've noticed that aristocratic people many
times have strang names. The CIA is usually full of ivy
league graduates and if you look at the list of CIA
dirctors you will find many strange names such as Hoyt.
Who would want to name their child Hoyt. <br> One
other question that I have that I would like to direct
to both you and Susan. It seems to me that the
friendship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin is almost
too close at times. It almost seems like their
married. As a matter of fact in Post Captain, Diana
Villiers makes the same observation. Do you think that
some sort of unadmitted homosexual feelings exist
between Jack and Stephen?

really can only guess - to wit; it was intended
to lower the dignity, to balance the heroic yet
equally fuddy name Horatio (as in Horatio Nelson).
Hornblower was portrayed as a flawed person. He cheated on
his wife (No, I'm not a Clinton apologist) and was
rather awkward at other times. Sherlock (Holmes),
Hercule (Poirot), are all English first names for heroic
men. Maybe it's just an English "thing."<br>Where are
you in the series and what do you think?

ould you have any idea why Forrester chose the silly name "Hornblower" for his
main character?  It seems to lower the dignity of the whole thing.

s. W.,<br>I am sure you are correct when you say
Cochrane contributes to the composite and that this book
you mention should provide wonderful reference to the
series. You are the first Mensa member I have met, so
forgive me if my awkward atempts to mine your mind
intrude. Do you guys have a secret handshake? Or do you
communicate telepathically, instead? ( I'm a silly man, I
know - I mean no offense - I am really interested in
your thoughts). Does poor punctuation distract you?
Why did you form this club if you belonged to a Mensa
group? How were you recruited, if that is the right
term? Did you read Hornblower, too? Do you dislike
questions as much as O'Brian?<br>I just finished The
Hundred Days - Such a wonderful book, especially after
that rather quiet Yellow Admiral. Even the title is
misleading. This latest work is one of his best, I think - at
least in a while. Got to go but Later...

i, welcome to the group! I've been out of town a
few days, but I'm delighted to return to see a new
e-face in the room.<br><br>I believe Jack Aubrey is
patterned after a composite of several naval officers of
the period, Cochrane most notable, but there are also
Nelsonian episodes, and noteworthy events that happened to
several other seamen of the period happen also to various
characters in the Aubrey-Maturin books. <br><br>There's a
new book coming out in a few months, I don't think
the title is set yet; the working title is "The Man
In The Moment," author Dr. Anthony Gary Brown. This
will describe all the characters mentioned in the
books, and the historical annotation of where the name
came from, and the references suggested by the
character's name. For example, if you recall the duel Stephen
fought with Richard Canning: Canning is a distinguished
political name in England and George Canning (1770-1827,
several times Foreign Secretary and eventually Prime
Minister) famously fought a non-fatal duel in 1980 with
Lord Castelreagh, the Secretary of State for War. I
think that having a reference book like that will help
me understand some of the stuff that flew over my
head the first time or so I read the O'Brian books,
and I look forward to re-reading them with this at
hand, to look up the characters and see how O'Brian
slyly uses their names to suggest background for
situations, and so forth.<br><br>Yes, I'm a Mensa member, and
I run Mensa's Patrick O'Brian Special Interest
Group, although we haven't had any noteworthy
activities, other than a newsletter. <br> - Susan

reetings.<br>Forrester pretty much defined the
genre, I believe, with a flawed but valiant hero who
acted within the complex but ultimately satisfying
escapist world of sailing ships. O'Brian, however has
perfected the genre with his superb writing (well-drawn,
non-stereotypical roles, colored with varied shades of pathos)and
obvious fascination with the finer points of life (how
the man admires a good meal!). In fact, if such
comparisons are necessary (think: celebrity death
match)O'Brian captures the genre as if it his own. <br><br>The
Bolitho series (can't think of the author's name - see
what I mean about memory?)does an admirable job, but
is still an obvious imitation of Hornblower. Not in
the same category of O'Brian, whose style and
observations about life put him in the "literature" category.
There are others, whose names (of course) I can't
remember. The bottom line is Forrester might have been the
inspiration for O'Brian, but I am reminded of a comparison of
Salieri and Mozart, or Aretha Franklin singing an Olivia
Newton-John tune.<br><br>Windy, ain't I?<br><br>Yes, it was
Cochrane he mentioned.

envy your having so much O'Brian ahead of you.
I have re-read the entire series twice and each
time I get something more. One of the advantages of my
having episodic, poor long-term memory is the chance to
re-read the series.

nother member. How would you compare the other sea books
that you've read such as the Hornblower series with
the works of O'Brian? That sea captain that you said
that O'Brian may have roughly based Aubrey on was that
Cochrane or something like that?

have only ever read the first few novels of the
Aubrey/Maturin series. And have never made it to the "Hundred
Days" as of yet. In the last few months I've started
reading the series again and am getting much more out of
it the second time.

n message #18 I stated "I hope that is contrary
to the spirit of this club," where I meant to
include the word "not." in the next massage the
correction is made in a clumsy attempt of mine to edit my
message after posting it. Sorry.

ello.<br>I have been an avid reader of Obrian
for about seven years. Before this I was an avid
reader of the Hornblower series, and any other
Napoleonic naval warfare historical fiction (including the
Richard Bolitho series). I had the great pleasure of
meeting O'Brian at a reading at the (excuse my inaccurate
name recollection) Seaport Museum in Manhattan, just
after the publication of The Winedark Sea. I asked him
questions which apparently irritated him, much in the same
way Mathurin hates questions - "How did you achieve
your acclaimed accuracy of early nineteenth century
conversational speech, since most written records have a style
different than the conversational?" or something like that.
He bristled and gave a disappointing answer, and
bristled more when I asked him who was Aubrey and Mathurin
patterned after, if anyone. He said no one; that they were
created from his imagination. He did mention one sea
captain of that age - whose name escapes me - whose
historical exploits were similiar to Aubrey's. He
autographed my copy and was probably glad to see me go.
<br><br>Although I admire his work immensely - one of my favorite
authors - I retain an amount of critical distance. I'm
not what you would call a "fan" of anyone. I hope
that is not contrary to the spirit of this club and I
hope to converse with you all(both of you at this
point) soon.<br><br>Also, did I understand that our
founder is a member of MENSA? I am most interested in
those who celebrate thought and growth. Again, I look
forward to chatting with you. Contact me at my EMail
address, if you like.

ello.<br>I have been an avid reader of Obrian
for about seven years. Before this I was an avid
reader of the Hornblower series, and any other
Napoleonic naval warfare historical fiction (including the
Richard Bolitho series). I had the great pleasure of
meeting O'Brian at a reading at the (excuse my inaccurate
name recollection) Seaport Museum in Manhattan, just
after the publication of The Winedark Sea. I asked him
questions which apparently irritated him, much in the same
way Mathurin hates questions - "How did you achieve
your acclaimed accuracy of early nineteenth century
conversational speech, since most written records have a style
different than the conversational?" or something like that.
He bristled and gave a disappointing answer, and
bristled more when I asked him who was Aubrey and Mathurin
patterned after, if anyone. He said no one; that they were
created from his imagination. He did mention one sea
captain of that age - whose name escapes me - whose
historical exploits were similiar to Aubrey's. He
autographed my copy and was probably glad to see me go.
<br><br>Although I admire his work immensely - one of my favorite
authors - I retain an amount of critical distance. I'm
not what you would call a "fan" of anyone. I hope
that is contrary to the spirit of this club and I hope
to converse with you all(both of you at this point)
soon.<br><br>Also, did I understand that our founder is a member of
MENSA? I am most interested in those who celebrate
thought and growth. Again, I look forward to chatting
with you. Contact me at my EMail address, if you like.

es, I've just checked it myself. Thank you very much.

ep, that one is down. The one I meant to suggest
for translations does work: it's
at:<br><br><a href=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3774/pob-tr.htm
target=new>http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3774/pob-tr.htm</a><br><br>\
I just went there, and it is a translation of the
foreign phrases from the O'Brian books: about 50 pages
long.<br><br> - Susan

have tried that translation link that you mention before.  I always get a
message back from Geocities saying that the site is no longer available.

ou asked last week about sin-eaters. All I know
about it is the description I read in Master and
Commander. When someone dies, the relatives put a wafer on
the dead man's chest - the sin-eater eats the wafer,
absorbing into himself the dead man's sins.<br><br>You also
asked about weathergauge. The best description for this
and other terminology from the O'Brian books is
probably Dean King's "A Sea of Words," which explains
O'Brian's terminology. You may also be interested in an
on-line translation of all the foreign phrases in
O'Brian's books; it is at:
<br><br><a href=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3774/conc/pob-tr.htm
target=new>http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3774/conc/pob-tr.htm</a><br\
><br> - Susan

'm glad your presentation went well.  Please do send me the paper you mentioned.
Also thanks for sending me the copies of the Mensa newsletter.

thought it went well, thanks for asking. I
enjoy exploring my favorite subjects with new
audiences, and I thought we had a very provocative and
enlightening discussion/question/answer period. I enjoyed the
papers the other presenters offered, and learned some
new stuff I want to look for on my next read-through
of the O'Brian books. If you like, I'll e-mail my
paper to you (outside of this chatroom). I just
remembered I promised you back-copies of my Newsletters - I
used a summary of my Newsletters for my handout, and
I'll send that to you right away.<br> - Susan

hanks for the gunroom information, Susan.  How did your speaking engagement on
POB at that fesival you went to last weekend go?

he Digest is easier to handle if you are
concerned about overflow - it bundles up all the messages
at regular intervals and sends you a single post.
The Gunroom has recently switched listservers, so I'm
not sure of the new rules. It used to be that if you
subscribed to the digest, you couldn't post messages; I
don't know if they've changed that.<br><br>If you want
to look at the kind of stuff posted before you
subscribe yourself, you can go to the archive
at:<br><br><a href=http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB
target=new>http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/POB</a> <br><br>and look at the current
messages.<br><br>You might also be interested in Searoom-L, which also
comes in Digest form. This is a more scholarly forum as
opposed to the more social atmosphere in gunroom, in my
view. They focus on the age of wooden sail, history,
and broader nautical fiction, whereas Gunroom aims at
discussing Patrick O'Brian more exclusively. I don't think
there's an archive for Searoom, you would have to
subscribe by sending the message <br>Subscribe
Searoom-L<br><br>or<br><br>Subscribe
Searoom-L-Digest<br><br>to:<br><br>majordomo@...

usan, could you please tell me a little about
your background and how you got involved with all this
POB stuff? You sound like an extremely interesting
person. If you don't feel comfortable putting it on the
message board, please feel free to send me an email.

usan, I'm considering getting back into the
gunroom. I've seen something on a POB webpage about a
gunroom digest that looks interesting. If I get on the
regular gunroom I will have to filter the messages to my
trash folder so my email will not overflow. I will just
consult it every now and then just to see what's
currently happening.

hanks for the links Susan. However I can't seem
to to connect with them at the moment because I'm at
a public library and the cyber patrol software used
here. I thought there was a little something fishy
about your profile. I'm glad you corrected it. I look
forward to seeing the parody that you have written. Have
you written anything else? Do you have any
information on sin eaters? One is mentioned in "Master and
Commander". Also could you please tell me what is
weather-gage? Maybe sometimes we could talk in the club chat
room sometimes.

s you requested, I posted a few links to get you started.<br> - Susan

o you know of any good diagrams of a ship that I
can get hold of so that I may see more clearly that
parts of a wooden sailing ship that O'Brian always
talks about? I can't find any of the books mentioned in
the various Patrick O'Brian homepages (such as
"Wooden World" that gives a background to O'Brian's books
along with the diagrams I mentioned above) in the
Louisville Free Public Library. And at this point I don't
want to spend a lot of money to order these kinds of
books through a local bookstore.<br> One thing that I
think would improve this club would be to add some of
the various Patrick O'Brian homepages to the club's
link section. I will try to add some links myself when
I have the time. You may want to do the same.

'm sorry but I live in Louisville, KY and won't
be able to attend the special events you mentioned
in your email. Please go ahead and send me the back
issues of the Mensa's Patrick O'Brian fan club newletter
that you mentioned. I'm not a member of Mensa.

've read a few of Patrick Obrian's Aubrey/Maturin series before.  I'm am
starting on rereading them now.  It's an extremely interesting series.

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