Frigate Surprise [Hardcover]

Brian Lavery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2008

There is no more famous a vessel in naval fiction than HMS Surprise, the principal ship in Patrick O'Brian's much-celebrated Aubrey-Maturin series of sea stories. Yet, this 28-gun frigate also had a most eventful true historical career serving in both the French and then Royal navies and which included capture by the Inconstant in 1796 the much celebrated cutting-out action on the mutinous crew of HMS Hermione. Surprise was decomissioned in 1802 and delivered into the fictional captaincy of Jack Aubrey. This sumptuous new volume, written by acclaimed naval historian Brian Lavery, not only reveals the complete career history and commentary of HMS Surprise in both its guises, but also presents an all-embracing construction and fitting history of the Fifth Rate including some 30 line drawings as well as historical artworks and detailed photographs. The book is presented in full colour throughout and additionally includes a series of specially-commissioned sketches and some 30 paintings by co-author Geoff Hunt RSMA, the acclaimed artist of the Patrick O'Brian cover artworks and related prints. Geoff Hunt also contributes a most illuminating chapter on his experiences in, and challenges faced, when illustrating this ship. The detailed line and isometric plans are being drawn by prolific marine draughtsman Karl Heinz Marquardt.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Brian Lavery is one of Britain's leading naval historians and a prolific author. A Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and a renowned expert on the sailing navy and the Royal Navy, in 2007 he won the prestigious Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award. His naval writing was further honoured in 2008 with the Society of Nautical Research's Anderson Medal. His recent titles include Able Seamen (2011), Royal Tars (2010), We Shall Fight On The Beaches (2009), In Which They Served (2008), Churchill's Navy (2006), and the Sunday Times bestseller Empire of the Seas (2010).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Conway Maritime Press (September 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844860744
• ISBN-13: 978-1844860746
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 11.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,285,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And complete is Right!, April 26, 2009

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian (Hardcover)

This is a large format book with hard back and colour illustrations on almost every page. In short, an awful lot of book for the price. Whilst, generally speaking, books about a single ship tend to appeal to the smallest possible audience, this book will have a wider application because of the excellent way in which it has been laid out, the additional information it embraces, of course, the extra interest generated by the fans of those books by Patrick O' Brian. HMS Surprise was captured from the French in 1796 and then served in the Royal Navy with distinction. She was decommissioned at Deptford in 1802. Unlike other ships to have suffered a similar fate, it is at this point that HMS Surprise becomes the command of Jack Aubrey and went on to be the most famous ship in fictional literature.

As with all "fiction based on fact," there will be those who always wanted to know more about the real HMS Surprise and this book does justice to that demand, the period of naval history in question and, most important of all, the ship itself. The text is fascinating and as riveting as any work of fiction as we work our way through the life and trials of this vessel. The photography is not only of the highest standard, it is also well thought out and includes examples of similar items and ships which survive to this day. Then there are the maps, plans and line drawings - with sufficient information for any scale modeller.

As a writer whose own books contain outstanding marine art, I am also able to fully appreciate the work involved in producing the paintings reproduced throughout this work. They are exceptional and, in addition to the obvious skills of artist Geoff Hunt, reveal his detailed research and analysis of each ship type which enabled him to finally produce such excellent work.

This book is as complete a work on a subject as one might hope to find. It will be of interest to historians, ship lovers, enthusiasts of yesterday's navy, scale modellers and will also fill a very big gap for those fans of the fictional adventures of Captain Aubrey. Perhaps most important of all, it will appeal to anyone who likes reading a really good quality book.

NM

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real HMS Surprise - Fascinating, July 10, 2009

By 

Richard E. Spilman "Rick Spilman" (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian (Hardcover)

In his Aubrey/Maturin series, Patrick O'Brian wrote of HMS Surprise, a small British frigate, originally captured from the French. Over several books, the Surprise became almost as beloved a character, in her own way, as Jack Aubrey and Doctor Maturin themselves.

Independent of her qualities in fiction, HMS Surprise was indeed a real ship upon which O'Brian based the ship in his novels. Now, Brian Lavery, the noted naval historian and author of more than twenty books on the Royal Navy, and Geoff Hunt, the president Royal Society of Marine Artists and the painter of many of the covers in the Aubrey Maturin series, have written The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian.

What makes the book so interesting is that it brings into sharp focus the differences between the ship of history and that represented in O'Brian's novels. Equally fascinating is that the book also helps to contrast the Royal Navy of history with the often romanticized versions of fiction. It is an intriguing tale and it is hard to image two better qualified storytellers than Lavery and Hunt.


The Frigate Surprise is organized in four parts. The first - an account of the HMS Surprise of history is the longest section of the book. Roughly halfway through, this account is judiciously interrupted by a chapter describing what it would have been like to tour the Surprise, followed by a chapter of wonderful drawings of the Surprise by Karl Heintz Marquardt. Once the reader is firmly grounded in the geography of the ship, the book continues with the second half of its career.

There is a slim chapter titled, "Jack Aubrey's Surprise" which summarizes the entire Aubrey/Maturin series for that most unlikely reader who may have purchased the book without having been familiar with the O'Brian novels.

The final chapter of the book is almost the most intriguing because it is so very different from the nine chapters that precede it. So far Brian Lavery appears to be providing the narrative supported by prints of Geoff Hunt paintings and other paintings from the period. In the last chapter, however, the artist is given a voice. Geoff Hunt describes his research in preparation for painting the Surprise, including the hull, the rigging, fittings and color schemes. He then describes composing the many covers that he painted for the series, starting with his sketches and studies and ending with the finished works. Fascinating stuff.

For any lover of the work of Patrick O'Brian, The Frigate Surprise is a wonderful book. The Frigate Surprise says less about the world created by Patrick O'Brian than it does about the real world of the Royal Navy from which O'Brian's world was drawn, but that is not a bad thing either.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a word, superb!, May 22, 2009

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O'Brian (Hardcover)

The pages of "The Frigate Surprise" are filled with large reproductions of glorious Geoff Hunt paintings of the ship made famous by the novels of Patrick O'Brian, along with Royal Navy plans of Surprise herself upon her capture from the French (and of her sister ship, La Tourterelle), exquisite plans and drawings by Karl Marquardt (providing sail plans both per historical records and, as described in the O'Brian novels, with the mainmast of a 36-gun frigate), and photographs of the 20th century-built HMS Rose in her guise as the Surprise for the film "Master and Commander" and of other tall ships and models, plus narrative text from Brian Lavery on the Surprise's historical and fictional careers and by Geoff Hunt upon the challenges of painting the ship. There are also lists of spar dimensions as equipped the Surprise in 1802 and of the actual crew as of Oct. 1, 1799, a copy of an 1801 evaluation of the ship's sailing qualities by her captain, and even a little pen sketch by Patrick O'Brian himself of the deck plan as he envisioned it. There is also a wonderfully vivid "tour" through the Surprise detailed by Lavery.

The Surprise for any fan of the Aubrey-Maturin Canon must occupy a spot in our hearts rather like 221B Baker Street in the Sherlock Holmes Canon: both a paradigmatic locale for the heroes and a nexus between the real world and their fictional universe.

I cannot imagine how any fan of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels could fail to be captivated by this superb volume. For Aubrey-Maturin readers, "The Frigate Surprise" deserves the highest recommendation.