I am reading HMS Surprise, and again I envy you reading the series for the first time. Remember I mentioned Diana, Dil and Sally.
Would anyone be interested in a discussion group? I would be happy to read the novels again. 
Sounds good to me! I just ordered the second and third books.
I should like it of all things. My very patient husband has listened to me rave about these books and has suffered through having many amusing bits read aloud to him, so he’d probably be glad if I had somewhere else to vent my enthusiasm.
How shall we set this up, a thread on each novel? I would recommend A Sea of Words. It doesn’t cover the whole series. I obtained mine on Ebay.
I am about to embark on a Hornblower adventure. Should I read them in the order they were written or chronological order?
I bought Mr Midshipman Hornblower already. Should I start with that?
Oh cool. I’m getting one. (I always hear that in Pippin’s voice.)
I have no opinion on setup. Whatever you guys decide is fine with me.
There is an event in the later novels that I must not spoil; I can’t remember which ones, so I’d recommend reading them in chronological order rather than the order in which they were written.
Harbors and High Seasis great, too, if you want to keep up with where in the world they’re going.
One thread per novel sounds good to me.
Cool.
In the book it isn’t a whale. It is an unknown and (for the most part) unseen creature that makes a sound that none of them have heard before: A loud, desolate and oddly human sound.
There has been a murder on board and discipline is breaking down (a subplot not in the film script). The creature is seen as a harbinger of evil. O’Brian never describes it and the only speculation is Maturins “some kind of manatee, perhaps”. The whole sequence is one of OBrian’s most suspenseful passages and the filmed version didn’t work at all - it was rightly removed from the finished production.
Is the same creature, or novel for that matter, where the Marine officer killed the child of the creature?
That’s right, in both cases.
Should I have spoilered my last post? I’m sorry if I should.
I dunno, I got called on it in another thread, and we’re going to start threads on reading and discussing the novels, so I’m being careful.
That said, who wants to start a read & discuss thread for M&C?
Word. That whole sequence in Desolation Island was just amazingly memorable.
I saw the movie in the theatre. There were a couple of women sitting near us. When it was over, I spoke to them. Turns out one of the women was an expert in British Naval history. She said they got so much right that she was very pleased.
I need to reread the books. I just wish there were ebooks versions of them, since that’s mostly what I read these days. I’m burning through Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe books now. I really like them, though I kinda don’t think I’m the target audience for them. 
This might be of interest to O’Brian fans; he was a big fan of Jane Austen (and purposefully gave Jack Aubrey her initials, I’ve read): "Jane Austen and the Navy" - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Go forth, and post.
That’s interesting, because one of the review excerpts on my copy of The Yellow Admiral says “Jane Austen sur mer.” I have found it an apt description.
In response to the “whale song” episode in The Far Side of the World:
I took Stephen’s suggestion that the noise was made by the mourning mother creature as a blatant falsehood on his part. He had been greatly annoyed by the marine captain’s wanton slaughter of anything that flew or swam nearby, and by practising upon the superstitions of the crew, effectively guaranteed a moratorium on further sport hunting.
Bumped.
Just came across this interesting article about the movie: https://www.thewrap.com/master-commander-15th-anniversary/
Nice article. Interesting how M&C and Troy were the last of the big budget historical epics.