A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales (Paperback)

by Dean King (Author), John B. Hattendorf (Author), J. Worth Estes (Author)
Key Phrases: rated ships, one eighth part, topgallant royal, Royal Navy, United States, French Revolution (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A gem of a book." -- Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"To any disoriented lubber who needs to take a quick bearing on Aubrey's world of staysails and sternposts, it will be a useful compass."--The Economist

"Dean King's lexicon will charm cultists."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"An outstandingly useful passkey to the wooden world of Britain's Royal Navy in the great age of sail."--Sea History

"A gem of a book."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
-- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"To any disoriented lubber who needs to take a quick bearing on Aubrey's world of staysails and sternposts, it will be a useful compass."--The Economist

"Dean King's lexicon will charm cultists."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"An outstandingly useful passkey to the wooden world of Britain's Royal Navy in the great age of sail."--Sea History

"A gem of a book."--Minneapolis Star Tribune

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Owl Books (NY); 2nd edition (August 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805051163
• ISBN-13: 978-0805051162
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,997 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives the series a new dimension, December 28, 1999

By	Doug Briggs (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Readers who want to know everything there is about everything there is in the Aubrey/Maturin series will treasure this book. It isn't simply a glossary of seafaring terms, but provides bios of the more important naval figures of the time, the flora and fauna of Maturin's interests, geographical places encountered, some of which no longer bear the names of those times . . . In short, A Sea of Words describes just about everything in O'Brian's seafaring tales we're not likely to know.

What is this bark that Stephen dispenses for certain ailments? Why, the bark of the Chinchona tree -- it contains quinine, says A Sea of Words, while also describing the many other medical terms he slings around.

Jack attempts several times to give Stephen a grasp of the weather-gage, as it relates to ships in battle, but never so clearly as Dean King's description, which includes both the advantages of the weather- and lee-gages.

It's all here, and even if one had the encyclopedias and all the other essential references needed, which I seriously doubt would be found even in a big-city library, why go shopping when one book will do?

For those sorely needed maps, get Harbors & High Seas by King and Hattendorf, and you're all set.

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get with the lingo, June 26, 2001

By	tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

This book is a great reference for all interested in the age of fighting sail, or readers of nautical fiction. The heart of the book is an immense lexicon or dictionary of nautical terms and (British) naval history and leaders during the times of the French Revolution and Napoleonic world war about A.D 1800. Specifically geared to the Patrick O'Brian novels about Captain Aubrey and his surgeon-spy Maturin, this can be read with benefit also to understanding any other authors in the genre. The lexicon is prefaced with Hattendorf's chapter on the organization of the British Navy from top to bottom. It specifies the career ladder from landman to Admiral of the Red, basic British vs. French battle tactics, and overviews the War of the French Revolution (1793-1803) and the Napoleonic Wars (1805-1815). A time line of these wars is appended. Another chapter by Estes discusses the state of contemporary medicine. Perhaps most immediately useful is a brief section illustrating the standing and running rigging of square-rigged ships, and their sail plans, the most confusing part of all for a lubber. In light of Maturin's cover as a naturalist, a chapter on the state of naturalist studies before Darwin would be a useful addition to a future edition (as would a section about the competition to determine longitude accurately).

If you are new to nautical matters, and begin the Forester, Kent or Woodman series of novels with the start of the hero's career, I suggest you not consult this work until later so that you taste the same initial confusion as any raw young midshipman. This is a useful rite of passage for anyone falling in love with nautical fiction: if you care enough to learn the challengingly obscure terms you will be hooked. You will also learn the origins of many slang expressions, like scuttlebutt, three sheets to the wind, bye and large, bitter end, squared away, cut and run, scuttled, doldrums, son of a gun, at liberty, etc. The geographical companion book, Harbors and High Seas, could be acquired anytime, but I don't consider it as useful as this book. (Note: my review is based on a 2nd edition [green cover], which did not contain the error Desiree mentions in her review.)

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly required, but definately fun to read, May 23, 2000

By	Hollister Herhold (Short Hills, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

If you're the kind of person who finds joy in reading about language and colloquialisms of the past, this is a great book. It also contains a fair amount of background on many of the historical (real) characters from the Aubrey/Maturin books, as well as many geographic locations visited from the novels. A brief chronology of the wars during the age of sail (Napoleonic, War of 1812, etc) is quite useful. I'm also fairly impressed with its completeness with the obviously strange ones - "Drowned Baby", for instance. (It's a dessert.) You don't need it to understand the language of O'Brian's books, but you'll probably have more fun if you bring "A Sea of Words" along for the ride.