The title of the post comes from Proverbs 16:18. It is usually shortened as I’ve done, but the actual verse from the King James Version is as follows: ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.’ In a way, it seems appropriate in telling a bit of the story of the sarcophagus Read More …
Patrick O’Brian, best known as the author of the Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin series, died January 2nd, 2000 in Dublin, Ireland. He was buried with his wife, Mary, at Nouveau Cimetière de Collioure (New Cemetery Collioure) in the Pyrenees, France. It had been to this Catalan town in southern France where – post-World War II – the Read More …
On December 12th, 1914 in Buckinghamshire, England, Richard Patrick Russ was born to Charles and Jessie Russ, and was the eighth of nine children. In August of 1945, Richard Patrick took the name Patrick O’Brian by which he is now known. Although the writer of numerous novels and short stories, as well as biographies, he Read More …
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly? Crew: No! Capt. Jack Aubrey: Want to call that raggedy-ass Napoleon your king? Crew: No! Capt. Jack Aubrey: You want your children to sing the La Marseillaise? Crew: NO! From Captain Jack Aubrey’s address to his crew before the final battle: Master and Commander: Read More …
It was a cold, snowy day in Paris on the second of December 1804. Dressed in his “long white satin tunic embroidered in gold thread,” “a white velvet vest with gold embroidery and diamond buttons, a crimson velvet tunic and a short crimson coat with satin lining,” as well as an eighty pound “coronation mantle, Read More …
On this date, in the parsonage house in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England, the sixth child of eleven children of Reverend Edmund Nelson and Catherine Suckling was born. He became one of the greatest heroes in the history of Great Britain – as well as someone admired by Captain Jack Aubrey: Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Read More …
The Nile Delta. Aboukir Bay – Mediterranean coast. In one of the greatest naval battles in history, The Battle of the Nile – fought between the British Royal Navy led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson and the French Navy under Vice-Admiral François-Paul-Brueys d’Aigalliers – began on this day. By its’ conclusion on the third, a Read More …
In the original Patrick O’Brian Aubrey-Maturin series, many of the stories took place during the War of 1812 between the young nation of the United States and the British Empire. In the series, Jack Aubrey would have been involved, therefore he would have known of this: Courtesy of Wikipedia: The Capture of USS Chesapeake, or Read More …
Jack Aubrey would have known of this engagement: Courtesy of Wikipedia: The Glorious First of June (also known in France as the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2or Combat de Prairial)[Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic Read More …