# Sailing into the Sunset **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2000, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712 "2000-01-10T14:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/1 "2000-01-10T14:16:00Z")
Did anyone hear that Patrick O’Brien died last week? He was the author of the long-running Jack Aubrey novels. I had heard him interviewed recently on NPR, and he sounded in pretty good shape for a man in his late 80’s. Heck, I’m impressed he was still writing at that age. I guess we’ll never know how Aubrey and Maturin made out in the Napoleonic Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Cheese\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cheese\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheese_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/2 "2000-01-10T21:17:00Z")
I missed it. Was he Irish? ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/3 "2000-01-10T21:18:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/003888.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/003888.html) (Hell, the man deserves two threads) Aubrey and Maturin made it through the Napoleonic Wars just fine (If you don’t count lossing 3 or 4 ships, dozens of shipmates, thousands of pounds in stock swindles and a wife). Nappy finally met his Waterloo in book 19. O’Brian was already up to 1813 by the time he got to book 7 or 8. The next 10 books or so take place in 1814 in which they went around the world 3 or 4 times. By book 19 he could no longer hold back the inevitable. Book 20 puts our heroes in the middle of Chile’s war of independence. I was hoping that after O’Brian got over that Waterloo hurtle he might skip ahead to some adventures in the Chinese opium wars (a subject sure to be of great interest to the good Dr. Maturin.) Guess that won’t happen now. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/4 "2000-01-11T21:39:00Z")
You know, I should have known that, since I did read “The Yellow Admiral.” I’m an O’Brien newbie; I’ve only read TYA, “Post Captain”, and “Master and Commander.” ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/5 "2000-01-11T22:17:00Z")
I envy you, Guy. You have many months (years, if you’re more disciplined than I) of great reading ahead of you. It’s like you’re just starting the greatest 6000 page novel ever written. Try to read them in order and be patient with O’Brian’s distortion of time. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sailing-into-the-sunset/12712/6 "2000-01-13T15:47:00Z")
What throws me off is the nautical terminology. I bought the reference book, “A Sea of Words”, but it’s still confusing.