A Sea of Words, Third Edition: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian

Perhaps the most astonishing sentence in the fascinating "A Sea of Words" appears on p. xix: "Our survey of O'Brian's books found more than 8,000 words that could use defining for modern readers, including the names of some 400 ships, 500 people, and 1,200 places." No wonder we wondered as we wandered with Jack & Stephen! After reading this almost 500 page book, many of us will be wandering considerably less. It even has translations from French, Spanish, and Latin together (for the Latin) with full attribution to the author (such as Horace) and the poem. Two reader alerts: 1. The book is a fine mixture of biography, geography, biology, botany, naval battles, ships, shoes, sealing wax, cabbages and kings. There are good reproductions of portraits & etchings, mini-essays on notable ships & battles, an informative 30 page chapter on the Royal Navy & French wars and a masterful 20 page section on naval medicine at the time. This array of richness is in addition to the more usual lexicon entries such as "Jones, Tom: the boisterous hero of Henry Fielding's novel, 'Tom Jones,'" and "close to the wind: When a ship's BOW is pointing as far into the wind as possible without LUFFING the sails." Readers who like this variety and detail will find every page fascinating. Readers who expect a brief-entry dictionary format may be surprised. 2. The words selected reflect Dr. Maturin's enthusiasm for medicine, botany & biology as well as Jack Aubrey's nautical world. Thus, entries such as "clouded yellow: A butterfly of the genus Colias, especially c.edusa" are well-represented along with "coaming: A raised border around HATCHES and SCUTTLES that prevents water on deck from running below." Again, thoroughly appropriate selection in a companion to the complete tales, but perhaps also a surprise to those expecting a more exclusively nautical array. "A Sea of Words" is well-worth having, almost like a 21st book in the series, bringing readers vividly into the world O'Brian created. It has additional merit in making clear part of the magic of this world is brilliant reporting of actual events & personages such as Christie-Palliere, Lord St. Vincent, and the determined Queenie Thrale who was the beauteous daughter of no less than Dr. Johnson's Hester Thrale. There are extensive, helpful quotes from letters & naval dispatches, including Lord St. Vincent's exasperation at Queenie's importunings on behalf of one of the real world inspirations for Jack Aubrey. And merit in addition to merit, reading "A Sea of Words" can enrich not only the glorious Aubrey-Maturin canon but also can improve splendidly a reader's delight in other work of the age of sail, such as the Gilbert-Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" and "Pinafore." For example, "Though related to a peer,I can hand, reef and steer" may have extra meaning after considering the drawing of sailors dizzyingly shown 100 feet aloft & reading the nautical details of competing approaches to reefing. Here and there, a few minor questions. Perhaps a few of the citations could be more useful if more complete, such as indicating "white letter" or Roman type was used in contrast to the Germanic "black letter" style and perhaps including the slightly saltier meanings (where called for by the text) to terms such as "rove" and "roving." And yes, part of the continued pleasure is the authors' respect for their readers' abilities & at least basic naval knowledge. This makes for participatory rather than passive reading. I'd a USCG Captain's license for under 100 ton sail but reading "A Sea of Words" is still a long, welcome, wonderful voyage of discovery. Authors: sail on, blue pennant at the mast. Many readers already have appreciated your book and new readers are likely to enjoy most thoroughly this splendid companion & lexicon for O'Brian's Glorious Series.

If you’re just getting into the Master and Commander Books like me, one of the first things you notice is that the author doesn’t care that you know nothing of sailing in the Napoleonic era. Lol. So some tips for my fellow landlubbers. 1. Several YouTube videos were helpful and interesting. “How an 18th Century Battleship Works” by Animagraphs. And “HMS Victory Total Guide Part 1 and 2” by Epic History TV 2. Get this book. After regular dictionaries and google repeatedly failed me, I picked up this book in paperback. It’s been super useful. I prefer the paperback version over the Kindle version because (1) I’m reading the novels on Kindle and it’s just easier to thumb through the book; and (2) it’s easier to see the illustrations. I highly recommend this.

Contains most words from the books.

Indispensable concordance that explains, magnifies, and elucidates the world of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Before I picked up this little book (the same size as the paperback novels themselves), I was surrounded by a world atlas, two dictionaries, and a stack of pages I downloaded from the Internet showing the parts of frigates, schooners, corvettes, and so on. Now, I hold A SEA OF WORDS directly behind the novel I'm reading (at this writing, No. 7: THE SURGEON'S MATE), and when a word or phrase or -- in O'Brian's most pernicious -- an entire Latin sentence comes up, I just lay the novel forward and find the unknown in this great little book. While it's fun at this point in my life to be surprised occasionally by a word I haven't heard, it can become daunting when they appear twice on every page. Yet I detect that O'Brian isn't trying to show off; he's trying to put me into the time and place. And were I time-traveler going back 200 years, I would take this book with me as a sure guide.

I cannot state how helpful this was in making sense of the period terminology. There's such a love of the open sea and that carries through in all of O'Brien's writings, but an appreciation of the minutiae is only really possible if you actually understand the ins and outs of the ships themselves. Enter A Sea of Words (mine, a 3rd Edition paperback)! I was approximately a third through Master & Commander when my copy arrived, and while I was enjoying the book through the first third, I LOVED it in the remainder, and got hooked onto the whole series. Really, the only thing that could have made this book a complete masterwork would be a section specifically fora listing of each ship our esteemed Captain Aubrey commanded, complete with diagrams. Having no real experience with the Age of Sail heading into these novels, really getting the concept of just how these ships differed would've helped my mind's eye in better bringing the world to life. Even so, I would unreservedly recommend this work to any would-be fan of the series.

Very complete and well organized with lots of interesting supporting material. Quite readable as a volume in itself.

This book is a useful companion to all reading in the Patrick O'Brian series of novels involving British square-rigged ships and their equipment. It is just a reference book though, not a novel itself, and so would in my opinion only deserve 3 stars if it were perfect. I would have trouble giving a dictionary more stars, for example. I have certainly used it a lot while reading, though, and I used to be in the Navy so some of these words are familiar but still only remotely so. A good aid to have!

I am former Navy and current sailor who fell in love with nautical language as a teenager. I use a little foul language to myself when somebody comes onboard my ship, and calls a line a “rope”. A real sailor would send them overboard for disrespecting the tradition. When a term tells you exactly what to do, I feel you have a certain obligation to learn the language.

As a very ex-seagoing engineer (steam and diesel), who is fascinated by Napoleonic wars military and naval history, I sometimes find that I have only the the vaguest idea what Patrick O'Brian has written about primarily because of the vast historical and geographical scale of the Napoleonic wars. And, one may be quite unfamiliar with the rigging of ships, and the accompanying terminology, of that period of time which could be very complex. However, as an ex-mariner, it is of particular interest. Additionally, O'Brian does get very technical from time to time. But, no longer. Now, I'm saved. Intriguingly, I am finding two things that are happening. One can bat through a stunningly good yarn and ignore the detail, or one can enhance one's understanding by using the lexicon in parallel with reading the yarn, taking on board (no pun intended) and attempting to understand the detail, at the same time. The latter may, perhaps, be regarded as slightly disadvantageous because it really does slow one's reading down quite a bit, depending on one's depth of knowledge. However, an opportunity is presented through the lexicon to explore many sub-topics such as naval medical practices, navigation, flora and fauna, naval discipline, background history and naval hierarchy eg important admirals and politicians of the period, and so on. And, the dialogue is just so much funnier if you can appreciate the subtleties. Altogether, an interesting and significant increase in one's perspective on each of O'Brian's stories can be gained through this excellent volume. But, be warned, once you have started looking up a word you may then become diverted from the main plot and enthralled by the meaning of other words. later, I've just read 'Treason's Harbour'. The final battle would have been largely incomprehensible without 'A Sea of Words', whereas it is really exciting when read with the lexicon.

Excellente lecture ! Livre très encyclopédique non seulement pour les lecteurs anglophones des romans de Patrick O'Brian, mais également pour tous ceux qui veulent en apprendre plus sur le monde autour duquel ils ont été écrits : celui des guerres napoléoniennes. Très encyclopédique, tout passionné de cet époque y trouverait des connaissances fascinantes jusque dans le jargon des marins de la Royal Navy.

Like Dr. Maturin, this book is the perfect companion to the voyages of Jack Aubrey, giving clear, cogent descriptions and definitions of the many many arcane nautical terms used.

Für alle die mit Patrick O’Brian im verbunden sind, ein tolles Unterstützung Buch! Für alle die mit Patrick O’Brian im verbunden sind, ein tolles Unterstützung Buch!

For fans of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, this book is a very worthy addition. Far more interesting information within than expected. Happy with the purchase.