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157-565: The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels —20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian , set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin , a physician, natural philosopher , and intelligence agent . The first novel, Master and Commander ,

314-499: A left-wing point-of-view. The book has been made into a film and manga . While Right-wing novelist Yukio Mishima , in his novel Gogo no Eikō (1963) ( The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea ,1965), chronicles the story of Ryuji, a sailor with vague notions that a special honor awaiting him at sea. Another aspect of sailors' lives is their experiences of sailortown , that area of public houses, brothels, lodgings, etc., close to

471-473: A widow who ran a tugboat and successfully competed for a share of the towboat business in Puget Sound . Annie and her crew also did some crime fighting and helped people caught in storms and floods. The series was extremely popular and there were two films and a television show that were based on it. Harcourt published L.A. Meyer's Bloody Jack (2002), the first novel in the young adult fiction series set in

628-424: A bargepole." Lucy Eyre wrote to point out the appeal of the series to women readers, mentioning the nautical detail, and how it might be viewed the same as precise medical language on the television program ER . She notes that "O'Brian is never heavy-handed with his research: it's simply that the books are set in a perfectly realised world, which happens to be a ship at war." When reviewing The Wine-Dark Sea in

785-634: A black sailor from the West Indies was first published in America as The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle. However, it was not until the twentieth century that sea stories "of men for'ard of the bridge" really developed, starting with American playwright Eugene O'Neill 's SS Glencairn one act plays written 1913–17, and his full-length play The Hairy Ape (1922). The latter is an expressionist play about

942-553: A brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich. At first Yank feels secure as he stokes the engines of an ocean liner, and is highly confident in his physical power over the ship's engines, but later he undergoes a crisis of identity. O'Neill spent several years at sea, and he joined the Marine Transport Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of

1099-525: A change in the major popular nautical works. On the one hand Marryat's heroes focus on gentlemanly characteristics modeled on idealized ideas of actual captains such as Thomas Cochrane and Horatio Nelson . On the other hand, Forester's Hornblower is a model hero, presenting bravery, but inadequate at life ashore and beyond the navy and with limited emotional complexity. More recently O'Brian has explored complex ideas about masculinities through his characters Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin's friendship, along with

1256-554: A clever Wellerism , "'It's not a fit night out for man or beast,' as the centaur observed, ha, ha, ha!" ( Yellow Admiral ). Master and Commander was first published in 1969, in the US by Lippincott, and in Great Britain and Ireland by Collins in 1970. The series continued to be a modest success in both countries, though publication was only by Collins in the UK after the fourth novel. Publication in

1413-478: A common motif through the series; for instance the following conversation between Jack and Stephen in Post Captain : "'The carrier has brought you an ape.' 'What sort of an ape?' asked Stephen. 'A damned ill-conditioned sort of an ape. It had a can of ale at every pot-house on the road, and is reeling drunk. It has been offering itself to Babbington.'" Puns—often "bad" on the part of Jack—are also common throughout

1570-544: A considerable portion of a volume setting up comical sequences – for example, Jack's use of rum in the "debauchery" of Maturin's pet sloth in HMS Surprise or Jack's assertion to William Babbington, while discussing nautical terminology, that "Sheep ain't poetical", supporting his statement by saying: "Remember that fellow in the play who calls out: 'My Kingdom for a horse'? Would not have been poetry at all, had he said sheep." (See The Ionian Mission .) Drunk animals are

1727-411: A deep love for music, and many and many an evening had they played together, violin answering cello or both singing together far into the night." This musical connection began in the first paragraph of the first book in the series, when the two characters meet at a concert. They also share a delight in puns and dry witticisms, and particularly memorable wordplay is sometimes repeated in subsequent novels in

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1884-452: A definition, but also opting to include more fiction than just that which is explicitly about the sea, John Peck opts for a broader maritime fiction, which includes works like Jane Austen 's Mansfield Park (1814) and George Eliot 's Daniel Deronda (1876), that depict cultural situations dependent on the maritime economy and culture, without explicitly exploring the naval experience. However, as critic Luis Iglasius notes, when defending

2041-504: A distinct genre, writers in both Europe and the United States produced major works of literature in the genre, for example Melville 's Moby-Dick , Victor Hugo 's Toilers of the Sea and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim . John Peck describes Herman Mellville and Joseph Conrad as the "two great English-language writers of sea stories": better novelists than predecessors Cooper and Marryat, both flourished writing in

2198-523: A film of the same name , mined the same literary vein, and gained popularity by association with The Cruel Sea . Another important British novelist who wrote about life at sea was William Golding (1911–1993). His novel Pincher Martin (1956) records the delusions experienced by a drowning sailor in his last moments. Golding's postmodernist trilogy To the Ends of the Earth is about sea voyages to Australia in

2355-445: A focus on masculinity and heroism, investigations of social hierarchies, and the psychological struggles of the individual in the hostile environment of the sea. Stylistically, readers of the genre expect an emphasis on adventure, accurate representation of maritime culture, and use of nautical language. Works of nautical fiction may be romances , such as historical romance , fantasy , and adventure fiction , and also may overlap with

2512-611: A great deal to be said for making hay while the iron is hot" (from Treason's Harbour and similarly in Desolation Island ). In HMS Surprise (Chapter 6), Aubrey says that "A bird in the hand is worth any amount of beating about the bush". Sometimes Aubrey gets in a muddle and Maturin affectionately mocks him by playing on the mixed metaphor: '... they have chosen their cake, and must lie in it.'; Maturin replies, 'You mean, they cannot have their bed and eat it?' (also from HMS Surprise , Chapter 7). Related to proverbs, Aubrey tells Maturin

2669-452: A group of disparate characters sailing from Mexico to Europe aboard a German passenger ship. The large cast of characters includes Germans, a Swiss family, Mexicans, Americans, Spaniards, a group of Cuban medical students, and a Swede. In steerage there are 876 Spanish workers being returned from Cuba. Porter's title alludes to Ship of Fools (1494) by Sebastian Brant , which is an allegory , originating from Plato , The allegory depicts

2826-443: A more "traditional models of masculinity", where masculinity is a part of a more conservative social order. However, as the genre has developed, models of masculinity and the nature of male heroism in sea novels vary greatly, despite being based on similar historical precedents like Thomas Cochrane (nicknamed the "Sea Wolf"), whose heroic exploits have been adapted by Marryat, Forestor, and O'Brian, among others. Susan Bassnet maps

2983-568: A narrative apparently lasting several months ensues before a specific arrival at Christmas 1813. Thereafter, the book and the next in the series ( The Hundred Days ) move swiftly through the historical events of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia and his defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition , his exile and escape from Elba, and his final campaign and defeat in June 1815. The last completed book in

3140-476: A naturalist, studies the world by observing plants and animals directly. Because organisms are functionally inseparable from the environment in which they live and because their structure and function cannot be adequately interpreted without knowing some of their evolutionary history, the study of natural history embraces the study of fossils as well as physiographic and other aspects of the physical environment". A common thread in many definitions of natural history

3297-488: A part of science proper. In Victorian Scotland, the study of natural history was believed to contribute to good mental health. Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist hobbies such as the study of birds , butterflies, seashells ( malacology / conchology ), beetles, and wildflowers; meanwhile, scientists tried to define a unified discipline of biology (though with only partial success, at least until

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3454-514: A period sailing vessel without breaking from the narrative. This was especially common early in the series, when Maturin was still new to the Royal Navy. In the first of the series, during a tour of the rigging, Maturin asks his guide if he "could not explain this maze of ropes and wood and canvas without using sea-terms" and receives the reply "No, for it is by those names alone that they are known, in nearly every case". Also, O'Brian often addresses

3611-426: A prominent part in their plots, they keeps actual sea-culture as a "peripheral presence." Similarly, Iglesias describes earlier English novels like Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722), and Roderick Random (1748) as populating the naval world with characters unfamiliar with the sea to better understand land-bound society, not fulfilling the immersive generic expectations of nautical fiction. Following

3768-453: A relationship with an actress resulting in a child are not what might be expected", that is he is not "the kind of honest lad', the kind of midshipmen portrayed by Jane Austen or "who well be at the centre of Marryat's Mr Midshipman Easy ". Peck further suggests that in "Marryat's navy there is" both "contempt for" and "fear of women". The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1920s ran a series of short stories about "Tugboat Annie" Brennan,

3925-436: A reputation as a "fighting captain", a reputation which he sought to retain throughout his career. But while frequently "brilliant" and much respected at sea, he is less competent on land, as indiscreet liaisons, impertinent remarks, and poor financial decisions often bring him trouble. Aubrey's professional life of daring exploits and reverses was inspired by the chequered careers of Thomas Cochrane and other notable captains of

4082-408: A ship can be a symbol: "if thought of as isolated in the midst of the ocean, a ship can stand for mankind and human society moving through time and struggling with its destiny." Set in 1931 Ship of Fools is an allegory that traces the rise of Nazism and looks metaphorically at the progress of the world on its "voyage to eternity" in the years leading to World War II . The novel tells the tale of

4239-476: A ship in heavy sea, but when it came to men aboard he wrote as a conservatively-minded officer", and criticizes Conrad's depiction of the sailor Donkin as a villain in his novella Nigger of the Narcissus . Japanese authors have also explored working-men's life at sea. Takiji Kobayashi 's K'sanikōsen (1929) ( The Crab Cannery Ship , 2013)) describes the exploitation of Japanese crab fishermen by ship owners from

4396-765: A strong skill with pistols and duelling by swords. Maturin's various professional roles and personal interests allow the series to leave the sea and explore different aspects of the political and social order during the Napoleonic Era. Eventually, Maturin upstages Aubrey in character development within the series due to the diverse situations in which O'Brian can place him. On the surface, the two main characters have little in common. As O'Brian wrote in The Ionian Mission , "Although (they) were almost as unlike as men could be, unlike in nationality, religion, education, size, shape, profession, habit of mind, they were united in

4553-484: A thematic perspective, he defines his collection "Fictions of the Sea" around a broader question of the "Britain and the Sea" in literature, which comes to include 16th and 17th maritime instructional literature, and fictional depictions of the nautical which offer lasting cultural resonance, for example Milton's Paradise Lost and Coleridge's " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ". Choosing not to fall into this wide of

4710-502: A vessel without a pilot, populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, and seemingly ignorant of their course. The concept makes up the framework of the 15th century book which served as the inspiration for Hieronymous Bosch 's famous painting, Ship of Fools : a ship—an entire fleet at first—sets off from Basel, bound for the Paradise of Fools. A distinction between nautical fiction and other fiction merely using

4867-503: A whale by Captain Ahab immerses the narrator, Ishmael, in a spiritual journey, a theme also featured in Conrad's much later Heart of Darkness . The importance of naval power in maintaining Britains' vast worldwide empire led to numerous novels with nautical themes. Some of these just touch on the sea, as with Sylvia's Lovers (1863) by Elizabeth Gaskell, where the nautical world is a foil to

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5024-460: Is also echoed by H.W. Greene and J.B. Losos: "Natural history focuses on where organisms are and what they do in their environment, including interactions with other organisms. It encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do". Some definitions go further, focusing on direct observation of organisms in their environments, both past and present, such as this one by G.A. Bartholomew: "A student of natural history, or

5181-564: Is based on his journey on the Congo River on the Roi des Belges . His other nautical fiction includes An Outcast of the Islands (1896) The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897), Lord Jim (1900), Typhoon (1902), Chance (1913), The Rescue (1920), The Rover (1923). A number of other novelists started writing nautical fiction early in the century. Jack London 's The Sea Wolf (1904),

5338-640: Is forced to work out afresh his own ideas of manhood. Though much of the tradition focuses on a militaristic storytelling, some of the prototypes of the genre focus on a commercial naval heritage but continue to highlight the role of masculinity and heroism with that tradition. For example, Iglesias describes Coopers novels and the subsequent novels in the American tradition growing out of "a distinctive attitude borne of commercial enterprise, confronting and ultimately superseding its Atlantic rival." Only one of his novels, The Two Admirals , describes order of battle. Yet,

5495-457: Is greed, with the subject of slavery being a primary medium for exploring the issue. The story line has a very extensive cast of characters, and the narrative interweaves elements of appalling cruelty and horror with extended comic interludes. It shared, in 1992, the Booker Prize that year with Michael Ondaatje 's The English Patient . A sequel, The Quality of Mercy , Unsworth's last book,

5652-482: Is himself a perfect Quixote: an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution until '93; a United Irishman until the rising, Lord Edward's adviser ... And now Catalan independence. Or perhaps I should say, Catalan independence from the beginning, simultaneously with the others. But always heart and soul, blood and purse in some cause from which he can derive no conceivable personal benefit." Despite their many differences,

5809-471: Is kidnapped as a boy onto a raiding ship and leads an exciting life in the Mediterranean area around the year 1000 AD. Later, he makes an expedition eastward into what is now Russia. The Long Ships was later adapted into a film. Authors continue writing nautical fiction in the twenty-first century, including, for example, another Scandinavian, Danish novelist Carsten Jensen 's (1952–) epic novel We,

5966-400: Is most often defined as a type of observation and a subject of study, it can also be defined as a body of knowledge, and as a craft or a practice, in which the emphasis is placed more on the observer than on the observed. Definitions from biologists often focus on the scientific study of individual organisms in their environment, as seen in this definition by Marston Bates: "Natural history is

6123-405: Is next to no historical information – is developed as the fictional character Mintah. The importance of "the idea of the gentleman" can also be a theme of novels set on passenger ships, as for example with Anthony Trollope 's novel John Caldigate . Several chapters of this novel deal with the eponymous hero's voyage to Australia. While Trollope claims "that life at sea is unlike life in general"

6280-449: Is not a universally held opinion. Several other notable authors, wrote contemporary to O'Brian and Forester, but expanded the boundaries of the genre. Nicholas Monsarrat 's novel The Cruel Sea (1951) follows a young naval officer Keith Lockhart during World War II service aboard "small ships". Monsarrat's short-story collections H.M.S. Marlborough Will Enter Harbour (1949), and The Ship That Died of Shame (1959) previously made into

6437-442: Is not limited to it. It involves the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms, so while it dates from studies in the ancient Greco-Roman world and the mediaeval Arabic world , through to European Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's natural history is a cross-discipline umbrella of many specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multidisciplinary nature. The meaning of

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6594-450: Is portrayed by his long-lasting and frequently frustrating romantic pursuit of the beautiful but unreliable Diana Villiers . He uses several addictive substances, including laudanum and coca leaves, arising from scientific curiosity, control of his reactions to physical problems, and substance dependence . He has the values of a gentleman of the era, including a strong sense of honour and involvement in duels. The latter led him to develop

6751-513: Is seen in the slave trade: "The story of Britain's involvement in the slave trade echoes the profit versus morality debate that is present in so many maritime novels". Sacred Hunger (1992) is a historical novel by Barry Unsworth (1930–2012), which is set in the mid 18th century in the English sea port of Liverpool and aboard the Liverpool Merchant a slave ship . The novel's central theme

6908-803: Is sometimes compared to Jane Austen , C. S. Forester and other British authors central to the English literature canon. Though sometimes compared to Trollope , Melville , Conrad and even Proust , the Aubrey–Maturin series has most often been compared to the works of Jane Austen , one of O'Brian's greatest inspirations in English literature. In a cover story in The New York Times Book Review published on 6 January 1991, Richard Snow characterised Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin naval adventure novels as "the best historical novels ever written. On every page Mr. O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of

7065-399: Is the inclusion of a descriptive component, as seen in a recent definition by H.W. Greene: "Descriptive ecology and ethology". Several authors have argued for a more expansive view of natural history, including S. Herman, who defines the field as "the scientific study of plants and animals in their natural environments. It is concerned with levels of organization from the individual organism to

7222-423: Is the most definitive writer of this genre, writing over one hundred boys' books, "many with a maritime theme", including Westward Ho! . Other authors include R. M. Ballantyne , The Coral Island (1858), G.A. Henty , Under Drake's Flag (1882), Robert Louis Stevenson , Treasure Island (1883), and Rudyard Kipling , Captains Courageous (1897), all of which were also read by adults, and helped expand

7379-419: Is the opening scene of The Hundred Days , in which a gossipy conversation between anonymous sailors imparts important news and information about the main characters. Patrick O'Brian once wrote, "Obviously, I have lived very much out of the world: I know little of present-day Dublin or London or Paris, even less of post-modernity, post-structuralism, hard rock or rap, and I cannot write with much conviction about

7536-406: Is very well-educated with several intellectual pursuits. He is passionately fascinated by the natural world, and takes every opportunity to explore the native wildlife of his ships' ports of call around the world. He is also deeply introspective, and frequently muses on philosophical concepts of identity and self-understanding in his ciphered personal journal. Another aspect of this complex character

7693-454: The Hudson Review , Gary Krist is very critical of the plot of the books, suggesting that the books are full of elements of "pop fiction" and O'Brian's excessive "delight in the sheer specificity of seafaring mechanics." However, he did not deny the qualities that "push it close to that great, fuzzy art-entertainment meridian" including character development and at times, "the sense of being in

7850-538: The American Society of Naturalists and Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists . Professional societies have recognized the importance of natural history and have initiated new sections in their journals specifically for natural history observations to support the discipline. These include "Natural History Field Notes" of Biotropica , "The Scientific Naturalist" of Ecology , "From the Field" of Waterbirds , and

8007-700: The Lake District or on the Norfolk Broads . Two short stories in Coots in the North are about sailing on a yacht in the Baltic: The Unofficial Side and Two Shorts and a Long. Swedish novelist Frans G. Bengtsson became widely known for his Viking saga novel Röde Orm ( The Long Ships ), published in two parts in 1941 and 1945. The hero Orm, later called Röde Orm (Red Snake) because of his red beard,

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8164-399: The Napoleonic Wars , as established by frequent reference to historical events, with The Fortune of War ending on 1 June 1813 with the battle between HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake . The series then enters a kind of fantasy-time in which it takes another dozen novels to progress to November 1813. Much of this period is spent at sea, with little or no connection to real-world years, and

8321-476: The Natural History Society of Northumbria founded in 1829, London Natural History Society (1858), Birmingham Natural History Society (1859), British Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872, Glasgow Natural History Society, Manchester Microscopical and Natural History Society established in 1880, Whitby Naturalists' Club founded in 1913, Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society and

8478-525: The Renaissance , making it one of the longest-lasting of all natural history books. From the ancient Greeks until the work of Carl Linnaeus and other 18th-century naturalists, a major concept of natural history was the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being , an arrangement of minerals, vegetables, more primitive forms of animals, and more complex life forms on a linear scale of supposedly increasing perfection, culminating in our species. Natural history

8635-466: The Sublime in nature: 'of all the objects that I have ever seen, there is none which affects my imagination as much as the sea or ocean' ". Later in this century Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's narrative poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), developed the idea of the ocean as "realm of unspoiled nature and a refuge from the perceived threats of civilization". However, it is Byron "who has taken most of

8792-567: The biological and geological sciences. The two were strongly associated. During the heyday of the gentleman scientists , many people contributed to both fields, and early papers in both were commonly read at professional science society meetings such as the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences —both founded during the 17th century. Natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus' aspiration to improve

8949-497: The humanities (primarily what is now known as classics ) and divinity , with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. The study of nature revived in the Renaissance , and quickly became a third branch of academic knowledge, itself divided into descriptive natural history and natural philosophy , the analytical study of nature. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry , while natural history included

9106-402: The merchant navy include, James Hanley , Jim Phelan , George Garrett , John Sommerfield ( They Die Young (1930), ), Liam O'Flaherty and B. Traven . Writing about the men below decks required a different approach. For example, James Hanley describes Traven's Death Ship (1934), as "the first real book about the lives for'ard of the bridge". The novel portrays what Hanley calls

9263-590: The modern evolutionary synthesis ). Still, the traditions of natural history continue to play a part in the study of biology, especially ecology (the study of natural systems involving living organisms and the inorganic components of the Earth's biosphere that support them), ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior), and evolutionary biology (the study of the relationships between life forms over very long periods of time), and re-emerges today as integrative organismal biology. Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building

9420-494: The " adventure novel " genre. Moreover, unlike the earlier novels, which were written during a thriving nautical economic boom, full of opportunities and affirmation of national identity, novels by these authors were written "at a point where a maritime based economic order [was] disintegrating." The genre also inspired a number of popular mass-market authors, like American Ned Buntline , British Charles Kingsley and Frenchman Jules Verne . Mellville's fiction frequently involves

9577-406: The "lubberly" reader. The combination of the historical-voice narration and naval terms may seem daunting at first to some readers; but most note that after a short while a "total immersion" effect results. Occasionally, O'Brian explains obscure nautical terms by placing Stephen Maturin into the tutelage of seamen, allowing the author to vicariously teach the reader about various parts and functions of

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9734-864: The "real, horrible, fantastic, but disgustingly true". Hanley's own early novel Boy has been described as "truly disturbing novel", and explores sexual abuse of a teenage youth aboard a cargo ship. According to Paul Lester the "opening pages of Jim Phelan's Ten-A-Pennry People , resembles Boy ", and this novel continues with details of how life as a stoker "will destroy a man physically". George Garrett in his short stories also wrote "about life among harsh realities" on both land and at sea. The works of these writer diverges greatly from earlier writers who use more romantic depictions of upper-class men at sea, like Fenimore Cooper, Melville (even Redburn ) and Joseph Conrad, depicting what critic Alan Ross called men generally "found covered in grease below decks". Garrett wrote, that "[Conrad] could write romantically and vividly of

9891-451: The 18th century, as Bernhard Klein notes in defining "sea fiction" for his scholarly collection on sea fiction, European cultures began to gain an appreciation of the "sea" through varying thematic lenses. First because of the economic opportunities brought by the sea and then through the influence of the Romantic movement . As early as 1712 Joseph Addison identified "the sea as an archetype of

10048-537: The British navy, including Alexander Kent and Dudley Pope . Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series straddles the divide between popular and literary fiction , distinguishing itself from Hornblower, one reviewer even commented the books have "escaped the usual confines of naval adventure [. . .] attract[ing] new readers who wouldn’t touch Horatio Hornblower with a bargepole." There are also reviews that compare these works to Jane Austen and similar authors. though this

10205-756: The English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin historia naturalis ) has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also History below). In antiquity , "natural history" covered essentially anything connected with nature , or used materials drawn from nature, such as Pliny the Elder 's encyclopedia of this title , published c.  77 to 79 AD , which covers astronomy , geography , humans and their technology , medicine , and superstition , as well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two main divisions:

10362-601: The Mast (1840) as utilizing a similar style and addressing the same thematic issues of national and masculine identity as nautical fiction developing after Cooper's pioneering works. Fenimore Cooper greatly influenced the French novelist Eugène Sue (1804 –1857), his naval experiences supplying much of the material for Sue's first novels, Kernock le pirate (1830), Atar-Gull (1831), the "widely admired" La Salamandre (1832), La Coucaratcha (1832–1834), and others, which were composed at

10519-659: The Natural History Institute (Prescott, Arizona): Natural history – a practice of intentional focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy – is the oldest continuous human endeavor. In the evolutionary past of our species, the practice of natural history was essential for our survival, imparting critical information on habits and chronologies of plants and animals that we could eat or that could eat us. Natural history continues to be critical to human survival and thriving. It contributes to our fundamental understanding of how

10676-607: The Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series is historical fiction, which were inspired by the documented occurrences of actual women who served aboard ship as men. Early in the nineteenth century Captain Marryat 's Frank Mildhay (1829) explores an important part of sailor's life ashore, their sexual encounters. John Peck, in Maritime Fiction comments that Frank's "encounters with prostitutes and

10833-532: The Pyrates (1724), which contains biographies of several notorious English pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack . Tobias Smollett 's The Adventures of Roderick Random , published in 1748, is a picaresque novel partially based on Smollett's experience as a naval-surgeon's mate in the British Navy. Jonathan Raban suggests that it was the Romantic movement , and especially Byron , which made "the sea

10990-518: The Royal Navy from the period. Irish- Catalan Dr. Stephen Maturin ostensibly serves as an adept ship's surgeon on Aubrey's various commands. However, unknown to many of his associates, he also serves as a particularly skilled volunteer intelligence agent for the British Admiralty. Maturin is described as a small, quiet, "ugly" man who is known to cast a "dangerous, pale, reptilian eye" towards his enemies. Unlike his action-oriented friend, Maturin

11147-417: The Sea (1866), and Leopold McClintock 's book about his 1857–59 expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin 's lost ships, as well as works by James Fenimore Cooper and Frederick Marryat . Most of Conrad's works draw directly from this seafaring career: Conrad had a career in both the French and British merchant marine , climbing to the rank of captain. His most famous novel, Heart of Darkness (1899),

11304-539: The Sorby Natural History Society, Sheffield , founded in 1918. The growth of natural history societies was also spurred due to the growth of British colonies in tropical regions with numerous new species to be discovered. Many civil servants took an interest in their new surroundings, sending specimens back to museums in the Britain . (See also: Indian natural history ) Societies in other countries include

11461-450: The US ceased with Desolation Island in 1978. However, in 1989 Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton discovered the novels on a plane flight between London and New York. W. W. Norton began printing the books, and they were taken more seriously by critics and became a publishing success. O'Brian's series of novels sold over 400,000 copies in the next two years and continued to be a success, selling over 2 million copies by 2000. In its review of

11618-504: The World drew from three books in the series. Russell Crowe played the role of Jack Aubrey, and Paul Bettany that of Stephen Maturin. Patrick O'Brian 's The Golden Ocean (1956) and The Unknown Shore (1959) both depict fictional pairs of young men, loosely based on real seamen, who participate in George Anson's voyage around the world . In these two novels, O'Brian began to develop

11775-465: The World (IWW), which was fighting for improved living conditions for the working class utilizing quick "on the job" direct action. O'Neill was a major influence on a number of subsequent writers of nautical fiction, like James Hanley and George Garrett. The 1930s saw the publication of a number of short stories and novels about life of seamen below deck, some written by adventure seekers from wealthy families, like Melville and O'Neill, and others from

11932-452: The adventures of a refined youth among coarse and brutal sailors and the seedier areas of Liverpool . In June 1839 Melville had signed aboard the merchant ship St. Lawrence as a "boy" (a green hand) for a cruise from New York to Liverpool . He returned on the same ship on the first of October, after five weeks in England. Joseph Conrad 's novella The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897) about

12089-449: The adventures of the crew of a China tea clipper, who are forced to abandon ship and take to the boats. The novels of two other prominent British sea novelists, C.S. Forester (1899–1966) and Patrick O'Brian (1914–2000), define the conventional boundaries of contemporary naval fiction. A number of later authors draw on Forester's and O'Brian's models of representing individual officers or sailors as they progress through their careers in

12246-470: The assumption of a higher status than is warranted, is a running theme of the book. This theme focuses upon that major theme of maritime fiction, the proper conduct of a gentleman; however, it also deals with his often-stormy friendship between the protagonist Talbot and one of the officers, Lieutenant Summers, who sometimes feels slighted by Talbot's ill-thought-out comments and advice. Like many of Golding's books, it also looks at man's reversion to savagery in

12403-432: The book, which is full of fantastic adventure, danger, and romance, is really an autobiography of Almira Paul of Halifax, Nova Scotia , and what it is more likely is that the story was based on the lives of real women such as Hannah Snell and Mary Anne Talbot —women who defied convention to live life on their own terms. Star-Crossed (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) by Linda Collison, and the subsequent Barbados Bound , Book 1 of

12560-503: The contemporary scene." This becomes obvious for readers of the Aubrey–Maturin Series, as he adopts a narrative voice contemporary with their setting. Richard Ollard, in examining the general reception to O'Brian's books, suggests that O'Brian's naval officers would be able to talk with and recognise Jane Austen's characters. In addition to the period language, O'Brian is adept at using naval jargon with little or no translation for

12717-560: The credit for inventing the nineteenth-century sea, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–16): A distinct sea novel genre, which focuses on representing nautical culture exclusively, did not gain traction until the early part of the 19th century. However, works dealing with life at sea had been written in the 18th century. These include works dealing with piracy , such as Daniel Defoe 's Captain Singleton (1720), and A General History of

12874-550: The crew struggling "heroically to keep the ship afloat" during a storm. Critic John Fordham sees Hanley's novel as "a conscious anti-romantic attack" on Chance . There are, however, stories of women dressed as men serving at sea. In 1815, American Louisa Baker supposedly wrote The Female Marine; or the Adventures of Louisa Baker a narrative about her life aboard the USS Constitution as a warning to other young women. The book

13031-569: The culture of the navy. His literary works form part of a larger British cultural examination of maritime service during the early part of the 19th century, where subjects such as naval discipline and naval funding were in widespread public debate. Peck describes Marryat's novels as consistent in their core thematic focuses on masculinity and the contemporary naval culture, and in doing so, he suggests, they provide reflection on "a complex historical moment in which author, in his clumsy way, engages with rapid change in Britain." Marryat's novels encouraged

13188-450: The development of the English language novel and while the tradition is mainly British and North American, there are also significant works from literatures in Japan, France, Scandinavia , and other Western traditions. Though the treatment of themes and settings related to the sea and maritime culture is common throughout the history of western literature , nautical fiction, as a distinct genre,

13345-409: The development of the genre's motifs and characteristics in works like those of Cooper and Marryat, a number of notable European novelists explored the genre, such as Eugène Sue , Edouard Corbière , Frederick Chamier and William Glasgock . James Fenimore Cooper wrote what is often described as the first sea novel, The Pilot (1824), in response to Walter Scott's The Pirate (1821). Cooper

13502-403: The diversity of the natural world. Natural history was understood by Pliny the Elder to cover anything that could be found in the world, including living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art, and humanity. De Materia Medica was written between 50 and 70 AD by Pedanius Dioscorides , a Roman physician of Greek origin. It was widely read for more than 1,500 years until supplanted in

13659-405: The divide between popular and literary fiction , like Patrick O'Brian 's Aubrey-Maturin series (1970–2004). Because of the historical dominance of nautical culture by men, they are usually the central characters, except for works that feature ships carrying women passengers. For this reason, nautical fiction is often marketed for men. Nautical fiction usually includes distinctive themes, such as

13816-471: The docks which caters to their needs away from home. Herman Melville describes in Redburn Liverpool 's sailortown. There are also works that deal with their experiences in their home port and those of their families ashore. Carsten Jensen 's Vi, de druknede ( We, the drowned , 2006) not only deals with men at sea but also encompasses the lives of boys growing up with dreams of becoming sailors and

13973-470: The drowned (2006) describes life on both sea and land from the beginning of Danish-Prussian War in 1848 to the end of World War II . The novel focuses on the Danish seaport of Marstal , on the island of Ærø , and voyages by the town's seamen all over the globe. Those nautical novels dealing with life on naval and merchant ships set in the past are often written by men and deal with a purely male world with

14130-496: The early 19th century centering around the titular character Mary (Jacky) Faber. The first adventure featured Jacky disguised as a cabin boy aboard a British naval ship. The eleven subsequent titles feature other maritime or river adventures, with reference to and direct inspiration from nautical culture, historical events and people, tall tales and classic nautical fiction. Until the 20th century nautical fiction focused on officer protagonists and John Peck suggests, that "the idea of

14287-502: The early nineteenth century, and draws extensively on the traditions of Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville, and is Golding's most extensive piece of historiographic metafiction . Four of Arthur Ransome ’s children's novels in the Swallows and Amazons series (published 1930–1947) involve sailing at sea ( Peter Duck , We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea , Missee Lee and Great Northern? ). The others are about sailing small boats in

14444-489: The economic condition of Sweden. Similarly, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find useful mineral deposits. Modern definitions of natural history come from a variety of fields and sources, and many of the modern definitions emphasize a particular aspect of the field, creating a plurality of definitions with a number of common themes among them. For example, while natural history

14601-410: The ecosystem, and stresses identification, life history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships. It often and appropriately includes an esthetic component", and T. Fleischner, who defines the field even more broadly, as "A practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy". These definitions explicitly include the arts in

14758-710: The emergence of professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly in the 19th century, scientists began to use their natural history collections as teaching tools for advanced students and the basis for their own morphological research. The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archaeology, forms the name of many national, regional, and local natural history societies that maintain records for animals (including birds (ornithology), insects ( entomology ) and mammals (mammalogy)), fungi ( mycology ), plants (botany), and other organisms. They may also have geological and microscopical sections. Examples of these societies in Britain include

14915-498: The events of the novels take up substantially more time than the few months 'available'. External historical reference returns with The Yellow Admiral , the 18th book in the series. Towards the beginning of this novel, it is stated that the British army under the Duke of Wellington has entered France from Spain, which occurred in November 1813. Time is then paused again for a few chapters, as

15072-444: The experiences of the wives – and widows – of the seamen. James Hanley is another author who explores not only life afloat but the experiences of them and their families on land, especially in his series of five novels The Furys Chronicle . While many maritime novels focus on adventure and heroic deeds, the prime function of ships, other than warfare, is the making of money. The darkest aspect of this, involving both greed and cruelty

15229-411: The field of botany, be it as authors, collectors, or illustrators. In modern Europe, professional disciplines such as botany, geology, mycology , palaeontology , physiology , and zoology were formed. Natural history , formerly the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly scorned by scientists of a more specialized manner and relegated to an "amateur" activity, rather than

15386-634: The field of natural history, and are aligned with the broad definition outlined by B. Lopez, who defines the field as the "Patient interrogation of a landscape" while referring to the natural history knowledge of the Eskimo ( Inuit ). A slightly different framework for natural history, covering a similar range of themes, is also implied in the scope of work encompassed by many leading natural history museums , which often include elements of anthropology, geology, paleontology, and astronomy along with botany and zoology, or include both cultural and natural components of

15543-617: The first two, John Holdsworth, Chief Mate (1875) and The Wreck of the Grosvenor (1877), both highlight the social anxieties of Victorian Britain . At the same time that literary works embraced the sea narrative in Britain, so did the most popular novels of adventure fiction, of which Marryat is a major example. Critic John Peck emphasizes this subgenre's impact on boys' books . In these novels young male characters go through—often morally whitewashed—experiences of adventure, romantic entanglement, and "domestic commitment". Charles Kingsley

15700-644: The genesis of a nautical fiction tradition is often attributed to Frederick Marryat. Marryat's career as a novelist stretched from 1829 until his death in 1848, with many of his works set at sea, including Mr Midshipman Easy . Adapting Cooper's approach to fiction, Marryat's sea novels also reflected his own experience in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars , in part under the command of Thomas Cochrane —who would also later inspire Patrick O'Brian's character Jack Aubrey . Thematically, Marryat focuses on ideas of heroism, proper action of officers, and reforms within

15857-492: The genesis of the sea novel genre by James Fenimore Cooper, expanding this definition includes work "tend[ing] to view the sea from the perspective of the shore" focusing on the effect of a nautical culture on the larger culture or society ashore or focusing on individuals not familiar with nautical life. This article focuses on the sea/nautical novel and avoids broader thematic discussions of nautical topics in culture . In so doing, this article highlights what critics describe as

16014-410: The genre. Critic Luis Iglesias says that novels and fiction that involved the sea before these two authors "tend to view the sea from the perspective of the shore," focusing on the effect of nautical culture on the larger culture or society ashore and individuals not familiar with nautical life; by example Iglesias points to how Jane Austen's novels don't represent the genre, because, though the sea plays

16171-511: The genres of war fiction , children's literature , travel narratives (such as the Robinsonade ), the social problem novel and psychological fiction . What constitutes nautical fiction or sea fiction, and their constituent naval, nautical or sea novels, depends largely on the focus of the commentator. Conventionally sea fiction encompasses novels in the vein of Marryat, Conrad, Melville, Forester and O'Brian: novels which are principally set on

16328-723: The gentleman is absolutely central in maritime fiction". However, historically, the bulk of people aboard nautical voyages are common sailors, drawn from the working classes. An early, somewhat disapproving, portrait of ordinary seamen is found in Herman Melville 's fourth novel Redburn: His First Voyage: Being the Sailor-boy Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, in the Merchant Service , published in 1849, Melville's semi-autobiographical account of

16485-499: The height of the Romantic movement. The more famous French novelist Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) "made no secret of his admiration for Cooper" and wrote Le Capitaine Paul (1838) as a sequel to Cooper's Pilot . Another French novelist who had a seafarer background was Edouard Corbière (1793–1875), the author of numerous maritime novels, including Les Pilotes de l'Iroise (1832), and Le Négrier, aventures de mer , (1834). In Britain,

16642-434: The historical events and themes within his books indirectly, allowing a fuller immersion for his readers without flaunting his historical understanding, unlike other similar nautical authors. O'Brian's bone-dry and cutting wit is present throughout all his novels. Its delivery, whether in the form of narration or dialogue, is often so forthright that the reader may not perceive it at first. At times, however, O'Brian will spend

16799-434: The investigation of masculinity is central to the novels; Critic Steven Hathorn describes "Cooper deliberately invests his nautical world with a masculine character, to such a degree that the appearance of women aboard ships presents an array of problems […] the novels explore how some of the biggest challenges to manhood come from within—from the very nature of masculinity itself." James Fenimore Cooper's The Pilot questions

16956-585: The last unfinished novel in 2004, Publishers Weekly reported that the series had sold over 6 million copies. W. W. Norton released the novels in e-book format on 5 December 2011. The full series has been published in German, French and Italian translations, the twenty finished books also in Spanish, and part of the series in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian translation. O'Brian

17113-408: The last war , which were critical of naval disciplinary practices, during a period when public debates ensued around various social and political reform movements. However, Marryat's novels tend to be treated as unique in this regard; Peck argues that Marryat's novels, though in part supportive of the navy, also highlight a "disturbing dimension" thereof. As the model of the sea novel solidified into

17270-409: The later part of the 20th century. Like O'Brian's novels, other 20th century authors treat masculinity as a complex plurality, full of questions about the idea of maleness . For example, William Golding's To the Ends of the Earth trilogy, explores the complexities of what constitutes a stable and acceptable male role as the civilian main character is thrust into the militaristic world of the navy, and

17427-492: The later work Afloat and Ashore (1844) he examines this subject again, as well as offering a critique of American politics. Cooper's novels created an interest in sea novels in the United States, and led both Edgar Allan Poe (with The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym ) and mass-market novelists like Lieutenant Murray Ballou to write novels in the genre. The prominence of the genre also influenced non-fiction. Critic John Peck describes Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before

17584-514: The models for the characters of Aubrey and Maturin as well as the storytelling techniques used in the series. O'Brian's books were written and published in the same chronological sequence as the events they describe, beginning with Master and Commander , set in 1800, and carrying through to the final novel, set in late 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo . However, they do not strictly follow history. The first six books quickly move through twelve years of

17741-409: The more conventional definition for the genre, even when they attempt to expand its scope. There I heard nothing but the roaring sea, the ice-cold wave. At times the swan's song I took to myself as pleasure, the gannet's noise and the voice of the curlew instead of the laughter of men, the singing gull instead of the drinking of mead. Storms there beat the stony cliffs, where

17898-403: The most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives." In a Washington Post article, Ken Ringle wrote, "... the Aubrey–Maturin series is better thought of as a single multi-volume novel, that, far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with

18055-514: The movie is based on that of The Far Side of the World (the 10th book of the series) while other events and characters are adapted from other novels in the series. The film was a critical success and grossed $ 212 million worldwide but has not yet spawned a sequel despite the sentiments of critics, fans of the movie and the book series, and Crowe himself. However, a prequel was reportedly under development as of 2021. Nautical historical novel The development of nautical fiction follows with

18212-479: The novel, in fact, presents "an intensified version of ordinary life, with social divisions rigorously enforced" which is underlined by "the physical separation of first- and second-class passengers". While William Golding 's novel Rites of Passage (1980) is set on board a warship the ship is also carrying a number of passengers on their way to Australia, who encompass a motley yet representative collection of early 19th century English society. Class division , or

18369-454: The novels, much to the chagrin of Stephen Maturin. Jack takes a special, perhaps overzealous, interest in nautical puns. For example, Jack often repeats one of Stephen's spur-of-the-moment puns regarding dog-watches. At a dinner, replying to a lubber's question on the term ' dog-watch ' ( Post Captain , Chapter 12), Stephen suggests it is "because they are curtailed, of course" ("Cur Tailed", "cur" meaning "dog"), and like other puns, Aubrey repeats

18526-473: The ongoing plot is structured around Aubrey's ascent from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Jack Aubrey is a large man (both literally and figuratively) with an energetic, gregarious, cheerful, and relatively simple personality and a deep respect for naval tradition. Remarkable early success earned him the nickname "Lucky Jack Aubrey" and

18683-529: The pair are invaluable and indispensable companions throughout many years of adventure and danger. Reviewers have compared Aubrey and Maturin to other seemingly mismatched yet inseparable fictional duos such as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Don Quixote , Holmes and Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories , and Kirk and Spock in the original Star Trek TV series . The stories are primarily told in

18840-565: The plot is on land. An example of a woman aboard a ship is Joseph Conrad's Chance (1913), where in the final section Captain Anthony takes his younger bride to sea with him and the captain's "obsessive passion" disturbs "the normal working relations of the ship". James Hanley 's Captain Bottell closely parallels Conrad's work, though here Captain Bottell's obsession is with a government official's wife. This causes him to descend into madness, leaving

18997-417: The potential of naval adventure fiction. Other novels by Stevenson, including Kidnapped , Catriona , The Master of Ballantrae , and The Ebb-Tide (co-authored with Lloyd Osbourne) have significant scenes aboard ships. Twentieth century novelists expand on the earlier traditions. The modernist Joseph Conrad drew inspiration from a range of earlier nautical works like Victor Hugo 's Toilers of

19154-464: The presence of an active, complex, and compassionate intelligence." Numerous authors have admired the Aubrey–Maturin series, including Iris Murdoch , Eudora Welty and Tom Stoppard . Science fiction author David Drake has stated that his Republic of Cinnabar Navy was inspired by the Aubrey–Maturin books. On 5 November 2019 BBC News listed The Jack Aubrey Novels on its list of the 100 most influential novels . In 1995, Master and Commander

19311-460: The proper habit for aspiring authors", including the two most prominent early sea fiction writers James Fenimore Cooper and Captain Frederick Marryat , both of whose maritime adventure novels began to define generic expectations about such fiction. Critic Margaret Cohen describes Cooper's The Pilot as the first sea novel and Marryat's adaptation of that style, as continuing to "pioneer"

19468-446: The rare exception, and a core themes found in these novels is male heroism. This creates a generic expectation among readers and publishers. Critic Jerome de Groot identifies naval historical fiction, like Forester's and O'Brian's, as epitomizing the kinds of fiction marketed to men, and nautical fiction being one of the subgenre's most frequently marketed towards men. As John Peck notes, the genre of nautical fiction frequently relies on

19625-438: The role of nautical symbols of heroes of the revolutionary period, such as John Paul Jones , and their unsavory naval practices while privateering. Although contemporary sea culture includes women working as fishers and even commanding naval ships, maritime fiction on the whole has not followed this cultural change. Generally, in maritime fiction, women only have a role on passenger ships, as wives of warrant officers, and where

19782-468: The sea as a setting or backdrop is an investment in nautical detail. Luis Iglesias describes James Fenimore Cooper's use in The Pilot of nautical language and "faithful [...] descriptions of nautical maneuvers and the vernacular expression of seafaring men" as reinforcing his work's authority for the reader, and as giving more credence to characters, which distinguishes it from earlier fiction set on or around

19939-512: The sea, and immerse the characters in nautical culture. Typical sea stories follow the narrative format of "a sailor embarks upon a voyage; during the course of the voyage he is tested – by the sea, by his colleagues or by those that he encounters upon another shore; the experience either makes him or breaks him". Some scholars chose to expand the definition of what constitutes nautical fiction. However, these are inconsistent definitions: some like Bernhard Klein, choose to expand that definition into

20096-468: The sea, with his first five novels following the naval adventures of seamen, often a pair of male friends ( Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Mardi (1849), Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850) ). Moby-Dick is his most important work, sometimes called the Great American Novel , it was also named "the greatest book of the sea ever written" by D.H. Lawrence. In this work, the hunting of

20253-480: The sea. Notable exponents of the sea novel not discussed above. Notable novellas include: Naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms , including animals , fungi , and plants , in their natural environment , leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian . Natural history encompasses scientific research but

20410-414: The series will be set in "hypothetical years, rather like those hypothetical moons used in the calculation of Easter: an 1812a as it were or even an 1812b". In effect, the period from June to December 1813 is stretched out to accommodate events that ought to occupy five or six years. The series focuses on two main characters, naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician, naturalist , and spy Stephen Maturin, and

20567-499: The series, Blue at the Mizzen , is the only volume which is set entirely after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars . In his introduction to The Far Side of the World , the 10th book in the series, O'Brian wrote that if the author "had known how many books were to follow the first, he would certainly have started the sequence much earlier" in real historical time. He goes on to explain that "if his readers will bear with him", books of

20724-540: The series, years later in book-time. One character in the novel, Sir Joseph Blaine, saw the two friends as romantics, in his remarks on Maturin in HMS Surprise Chapter 4: "As I was saying, strong; but not without his weaknesses. He was blaming his particular friend for romantic notions the other day – the friend who is to marry the daughter of that woman we saw just now – and if I had not been so shocked by his condition, I should have been tempted to laugh. He

20881-501: The social life ashore. However, British novelists increasingly focused on the sea in the 19th century, particularly when they wrote about the upper classes. In such works sea voyages became a place for strong social commentary, as, for example Anthony Trollope 's John Caldigate (1877), in which he depicts a character traveling to Australia to make his fortune, and Wilkie Collins 's Armadale (1866), which follows gentlemen yachting. Likewise William Clark Russell 's novels, especially

21038-546: The study of animals and Plants—of organisms. ... I like to think, then, of natural history as the study of life at the level of the individual—of what plants and animals do, how they react to each other and their environment, how they are organized into larger groupings like populations and communities" and this more recent definition by D.S. Wilcove and T. Eisner: "The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior, and their relationships with other species". This focus on organisms in their environment

21195-515: The system of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus . The British historian of Chinese science Joseph Needham calls Li Shizhen "the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists", and his Bencao gangmu "undoubtedly the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming". His works translated to many languages direct or influence many scholars and researchers. A significant contribution to English natural history

21352-543: The tension between naval life and shore life, and these men's complex passions and character flaws. Bassnett argues, these models of manliness frequently reflect the historical contexts in which authors write. Marryat's model is a direct political response to the reforms of the Navy and the Napoleonic Wars, while Forrestor is writing about post- World War II Britain, and O'Brian is exploring the social and scholarly complexities of

21509-716: The tern spoke, icy-feathered; from the Old English poem The Seafarer . Sea narratives have a long history of development, arising from cultures with genres of adventure and travel narratives that profiled the sea and its cultural importance, for example Homer 's epic poem the Odyssey , the Old English poem The Seafarer , the Icelandic Saga of Eric the Red (c.1220–1280), or early European travel narratives like Richard Hakluyt 's (c. 1552–1616) Voyages (1589). Then during

21666-400: The third person from the points of view of the two main characters, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. The author sometimes employs a form of first-person narrative when his characters write in private journals or letters about events that are not otherwise described. The narrative point of view strays from the two main characters only briefly and seldom over the course of the series. One example

21823-403: The timeless tide of character and the human heart." Frank McNally, writing in honour of the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, reflects on the breadth of the appeal of the series of novels, for the quality of the writing and the relationships between the characters, which put them beyond the typical naval adventure, and gain interest from readers who "wouldn't touch Horatio Hornblower with

21980-575: The wake of isolation. This novel forms the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth , with Close Quarters (1987) and Fire Down Below (1989). Beryl Bainbridge deals with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in Every Man for Himself , which won the 1996 Whitbread Prize , and was a nominee of the Booker Prize . It also won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Europe and South Asia) . Sometimes, as with Katherine Anne Porter 's Ship of Fools (1962),

22137-406: The witticism as often as occasion allows. The use of humour contrasts the two central characters. Aubrey is direct and forthright while Stephen is subtle and cunning, mirroring the overall personality of each man, especially regarding warfare tactics (ships, cannons and swords compared to intelligence gathering). O'Brian has Aubrey speaking many proverbs, but usually in mangled form, such as "There's

22294-486: The working class, who had gone to sea out of necessity. Moneyed Malcolm Lowry was "driven to the docks in the family limousine", when he was eighteen to begin a voyage "as deck hand, cabin boy and ultimately a fireman's helper on a tramp steamer". From this experience as a common seaman came Lowry's novel Ultramarine (1933), a work influenced by Nordahl Grieg 's The Ship Sails On and Conrad Aiken 's Blue Voyage . Working class writers who describe experiences in

22451-475: The world works by providing the empirical foundation of natural sciences, and it contributes directly and indirectly to human emotional and physical health, thereby fostering healthier human communities. It also serves as the basis for all conservation efforts, with natural history both informing the science and inspiring the values that drive these. As a precursor to Western science , natural history began with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed

22608-664: The world's large natural history collections, such as the Natural History Museum, London , and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Three of the greatest English naturalists of the 19th century, Henry Walter Bates , Charles Darwin , and Alfred Russel Wallace —who knew each other—each made natural history travels that took years, collected thousands of specimens, many of them new to science, and by their writings both advanced knowledge of "remote" parts of

22765-564: The world. The plurality of definitions for this field has been recognized as both a weakness and a strength, and a range of definitions has recently been offered by practitioners in a recent collection of views on natural history. Prior to the advent of Western science humans were engaged and highly competent in indigenous ways of understanding the more-than-human world that are now referred to as traditional ecological knowledge . 21st century definitions of natural history are inclusive of this understanding, such as this by Thomas Fleischner of

22922-777: The world—the Amazon basin , the Galápagos Islands , and the Indonesian Archipelago , among others—and in so doing helped to transform biology from a descriptive to a theory-based science. The understanding of "Nature" as "an organism and not as a mechanism" can be traced to the writings of Alexander von Humboldt (Prussia, 1769–1859). Humboldt's copious writings and research were seminal influences for Charles Darwin, Simón Bolívar , Henry David Thoreau , Ernst Haeckel , and John Muir . Natural history museums , which evolved from cabinets of curiosities , played an important role in

23079-629: The writing of other novels by veterans of the Napoleonic wars during the 1830s, like M. H. Baker, Captain Chamier , Captain Glascock , Edward Howard , and William J. Neale ; these authors frequently both reflect on and defend the public image of the navy. Novels by these authors highlight a more conservative and supportive view of the navy, unlike texts from those interested in reforming the navy, like Nautical Economy; or forecastle recollections of events during

23236-785: Was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe—although in the Arabic and Oriental world, it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the 13th century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly into Christian philosophy , particularly by Thomas Aquinas , forming the basis for natural theology . During the Renaissance, scholars (herbalists and humanists, particularly) returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters . Leonhart Fuchs

23393-514: Was dramatised in six parts, with Michael Troughton and Nigel Anthony . The Mauritius Command , Desolation Island , HMS Surprise and The Fortune of War were all subsequently adapted between 2008 and 2018. All starred David Robb as Aubrey and Richard Dillane as Maturin. The Aubrey-Maturin series formed the basis for the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin. The primary plot of

23550-576: Was first pioneered by James Fenimore Cooper ( The Pilot , 1824) and Frederick Marryat ( Frank Mildmay , 1829 and Mr Midshipman Easy 1836) in the early 19th century. There were 18th century and earlier precursors that have nautical settings, but few are as richly developed as subsequent works in this genre. The genre has evolved to include notable literary works like Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick (1851), Joseph Conrad 's Lord Jim (1899–1900), popular fiction like C.S. Forester 's Hornblower series (1937–67), and works by authors that straddle

23707-449: Was frustrated with the inaccuracy of the depiction of nautical culture in that book. Though critical of The Pirate , Cooper borrowed many of the stylistic and thematic elements of the historical fiction genre developed by Walter Scott , such as a desire "to map the boundaries and identity of the nation." In both The Pilot and the subsequent The Red Rover (1827) Cooper explores the development of an American national identity. In

23864-489: Was influenced by Kipling 's recently published Captains Courageous (1897). Welsh novelist Richard Hughes (1900–1976) wrote only four novels, the most famous of which is the pirate adventure, A High Wind in Jamaica . He also wrote In Hazard (1938) about a merchant ship caught in a hurricane. English poet and novelist John Masefield (1878–1967), who had himself served at sea, wrote The Bird of Dawning (1933), relating

24021-402: Was made by parson-naturalists such as Gilbert White , William Kirby , John George Wood , and John Ray , who wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Many of these men wrote about nature to make the natural theology argument for the existence or goodness of God. Since early modern times, however, a great number of women made contributions to natural history, particularly in

24178-405: Was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock . Other important contributors to the field were Valerius Cordus , Konrad Gesner ( Historiae animalium ), Frederik Ruysch , and Gaspard Bauhin . The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups , culminating in

24335-515: Was published in 1969 and the last finished novel in 1999. The 21st novel of the series, left unfinished at O'Brian's death in 2000, appeared in print in late 2004. The series received considerable international acclaim, and most of the novels reached The New York Times Best Seller list . These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen , C. S. Forester and other British authors central to English literature . The 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of

24492-596: Was published in 2011. Greed and man's inhumanity to his fellows is also the subject of Fred D'Aguiar 's third novel, Feeding the Ghosts (1997), which was inspired by the true story of the Zong massacre in which 132 slaves were thrown from a slave ship into the Atlantic for insurance purposes. According to historical accounts, one slave survived and climbed back onto the ship; and in D'Aguiar's narrative this slave – about whom there

24649-474: Was widely read and accepted as fact, but historians now believe that Louisa Baker never existed, and that her story was created by publisher Nathaniel Coverly, Jr., and written by Nathan Hill Wright. The story was so popular that a sequel, The Adventures of Lucy Brown , was published. The success of this further inspired Nathaniel Coverly, Jr., to publish another tale of a female sailor, The Surprising Adventures of Almira Paul , in 1816. Again historians doubt that

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