The best resource for illustrations would be the National Maritime museum at Greenwich http://www.nmm.ac.uk/ and for vessel history http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/ but the greatest pleasure is to see the original documents - ships muster, captain's letters etc. at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ for contemporary reports on commercial shipping of the period see http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lloydslist/ and the reference there can be followed up at http://www.1812privateers.org/Bibliography bottom of page. Best wishes, Michael Latitude 56:47386 North Longitude -2:84576 West www.1812privateers.org

"The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book - Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels" by Anthony Gary Brown would be a good start (or its predecessor "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of Patrick O'Brian" (1999). Peter Beeston.

Greetings, Being a life long enthusiast of C.S. Forester Hornblower series, Richard Woodman a Nathan Drinkwater series, and Patrick O'Brian with Jack Aubrey. Each seem carefully researched and build one upon another, over the years. 'Master and Commander' movie, viewed frequently, leaves one anxious for more. Perhaps the lingering powerful impression was the deckhead height, was evertone smaller then?? Peter On 2011-11-06, at 3:41 AM, "Peter Beeston" <mausoleus@bigpond.com> wrote: > > "The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book - Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the > Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels" by Anthony Gary Brown would be a good start (or > its predecessor "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin > Sea Novels of Patrick O'Brian" (1999). > > > Peter Beeston. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Peter Though my understanding is that people at the turn of the 18th/19th Centuries were generally not as tall as today, it is clear that the gun decks of Napoleonic era warships never allowed a lot of head room. The crew's comfort was not a great priority and one must bear in mind that the naval day probably did not allow much free time below decks. To quote Brian Lavery (who was, incidentally, a consultant on the Peter Weir film) "The essential role of a warship was to carry a gun armament into action.... In order to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, it was necessary to keep the gundeck quite low. On the other hand, it had to be far enough above the waterline to keep out water when the ship was heeling, or when waves were high....... The distance between one gundeck and the deck above was one of the fixed factors of naval architecture. About five feet of clear headroom was needed to allow the men to operate the guns, and this did much to determine the height of a ship with a given number of decks. Decks which did not carry guns, such as the orlop decks on ships of the line, or the lower decks of frigates, needed less headroom, and were often closer to the one above." The quote comes from Lavery's book "Nelson's Navy - The ships, men and organisation 1793-1815" in Conway's "History of Sail" series, out of print (though new copies are available on Amazon and it is readily available secondhand via www.abebooks.com - there are other books with similar titles, but I don't know whether they are just US editions or differ in any way). It can be thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in the period - it's not too technical, but tells you most of what you could wish to know, with plenty of illustrations, and it is certainly the sort of thing Hector might like to add to his shopping list..... unless he prefers to go for one of Lavery's other books, "Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian". I haven't read this but I'm sure it is excellent. As Hector states, many of Jack Aubrey's adventures are based upon real incidents, although they didn't necessarily all happen to the same person. The first book (Master and Commander), the stock market episode (the Reverse of the Medal), and Aubrey's involvement in the South American wars of independence all draw heavily upon the life and career of Lord Cochrane. A brief run-though of his career can be found at http://tinyurl.com/fmsay and there are a number of biographies. Given his important role in the founding of the Chilean navy, it is possible that something may be available in Spanish. Hornblower fans, on the other hand, might be interested to read "The Real Hornblower - the life and times of Admiral Sir James Gordon" by Bryan Perrett. Cheers Piers 'Master and Commander' movie, viewed frequently, leaves one anxious for more. Perhaps the lingering powerful impression was the deckhead height, was evertone smaller then?? Peter