#hms surprise

[hey-scully-itsme]

some of these might be reposts but here are some pics of the Surprise/Rose from a visit in late 2022!

[ltwilliammowett]

HMS Surprise off Calcutta, by Geoff Hunt (1948-)

[gigamuffin]

prime girl!! (inspired by @chiropteracupola)

[canadianbakinblr]

Today is my husband's birthday. In his honor, my sister made a most wonderful cake. And I share it with you now, below the words that inspired it. Please enjoy.

"The weather had freshened almost to coldness, for the wind was coming more easterly, from the chilly currents between Tristan and the Cape; the sloth was amazed by the change; it shunned the deck and spent its time below. Jack was in his cabin, pricking the chart with less satisfaction than he could have wished: progress, slow, serious trouble with the mainmast-- unaccountable headwinds by night-- and sipping a glass of grog; Stephen was in the mizentop, teaching Bonden to write and scanning the sea for his first albatross. The sloth sneezed, and looking up, Jack caught its gaze fixed upon him; its inverted face had an expression of anxiety and concern. 'Try a piece of this, old cock,' he said, dipping his cake in the grog and proffering the sop. 'It might put a little heart into you.' The sloth sighed, closed its eyes, but gently absorbed the piece, and sighed again.

Some minutes later he felt a touch upon his knee: the sloth had silently climbed down and it was standing there, its beady eyes looking up into his face, bright with expectation. More cake, more grog: growing confidence and esteem. After this, as soon as the drum had beat the retreat, the sloth would meet him, hurrying toward the door on its uneven legs: it was given its own bowl, and it would grip it with its claws, lowering its round face into it and pursing its lips to drink (its tongue was too short to lap). Sometimes it went to sleep in this position, bowed over the emptiness.

'In this bucket,' said Stephen, walking into the cabin, 'in this small half-bucket, now, I have the population of Dublin, London, and Paris combined: these animalculae-- what is the matter with the sloth?' It was curled on Jack's knee, breathing heavily: its bowl and Jack's glass stood empty on the table. Stephen picked it up, peered into its affable bleary face, shook it, and hung it upon its rope. It seized hold with one fore and one hind foot, letting the others dangle limp, and went to sleep.

Stephen looked sharply round, saw the decanter, smelt to the sloth, and cried, 'Jack, you have debauched my sloth.' "

Patrick O'Brian, H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin #3)

[ola-na-tungee]

Treason's Harbour

[lonesomedreamer]

‘How lucky I am: sometimes it terrifies me. Dearest Jack…’ Her inner eye filled with a brilliant image of Jack Aubrey, tall, straight, cheerful, overflowing with life and direct open affection, his yellow hair falling over his post-captain’s epaulette and his high-coloured weather-beaten face stretched in an intensely amused laugh: she could see the wicked scar that ran from the angle of his jaw right up into his scalp, every detail of his uniform, his Nile medal, and the heavy, curved sword the Patriotic Fund had given him for sinking the Bellone. His bright blue eyes almost vanished when he laughed – all you saw were shining slits, even bluer in the scarlet flush of mirth. Never was there anyone with whom she had had such fun – no one had ever laughed like that.

Patrick O’Brian, H.M.S. Surprise

[mystery-star]

Whumptober 2023 - Day 25 | Storm

Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World (2003)

[thekenobee]

In stores now!

[papercranesong]

“Have you come aboard, my plum?” cried Jack, looking up from the bosun’s accounts with a beaming face. 

[mizeliza]

stephen: a navy captain, upset at the sight of blood? not my jack, m'alister

m'alister: your blood, sir

stephen: ah

[timetravellingdreamer1]

For @redstar-winterorbit 🙈

[hey-scully-itsme]

“did you see me”

[ltwilliammowett]

HMS Surprise

[thiefbird]

did some quick off the cuff calculations and Stephen probably spent at least 15,000 pound(the modern equivalent of at least 1 million pounds) purchasing, outfitting, and acquiring a letter of marque for the Surprise. normal platonic behaviour

[bomberqueen17]

liveblogging the Aubreyad: a snippet from book 3

I'm working on a more concise summary of book 3, HMS Surprise, and it's hard to cut some of these really great little subplots, but I must.

So here I'm going to put a couple of snippets from a subplot that is 1) fucking hilarious and 2) stands on its own.

The situation is that they are becalmed in the doldrums, and supplies are running short. The foremast jacks and midshipmen take to eating rats, euphemistically termed "millers".

'Millers,' said Jack, his mind roaming back to his famished youth. 'In the aftermost carline-culver of the larboard berth there is a hole where we used to put a piece of cheese and catch them in a noose as they poked their heads out on their way along the channel to the bread-room. Three or four a night in the middle watch we used to catch, on the Leeward Islands station. Heneage Dundas' - nodding to Stephen - 'used to eat the cheese afterwards.' 'Was you a midshipman in the Surprise, sir?' cried young Callow, amazed, amazed. If he had thought about it at all, he would have supposed that post-captains sprang fully armed from the forehead of the Admiralty. 'Indeed I was,' said Jack. 'Good heavens, sir, she must be very, very old. The oldest ship in the fleet, I dare say.”

Jack is prosaic about Callow's assessment of his antiquity.

Stephen has a cage full of pet rats which he is feeding madder as an experiment, to see if it will dye their bones.

An incident occurs that takes him out of the ship for a little time, and when he comes back, the cage door is standing open and the rats are gone. He immediately knows they have been stolen and eaten, and is coldly furious, resolving to in his turn dissect the rativores to see if their bones have been stained.

Meanwhile Jack calls young William Babbington, now one of his senior midshipmen, in for a chat, giving him praise for a recent event. Babbington is delighted, having expected that he was being called in to be yelled at, but then his conscience smites him, and he tearfully, sobbingly confesses to having eaten of the Doctor's rats. It wasn't his fault, he didn't mean to, they were already killed and cooked before he knew, but then he had eaten them so as not to let it be a waste. And the guilt is now terrible.

And in walks Stephen.

“I tell you what it is, Jack,' said Stephen, walking quickly in. 'Oh, I beg your pardon.' 'No, stay, Doctor. Stay, if you please,' cried Jack. Babbington looked wretchedly from one to the other, licked his lips and said, 'I ate your rat, sir. I am very sorry, and I ask your pardon.' 'Did you so?' said Stephen mildly. 'Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Listen, Jack, will you look at my list, now?' 'He only ate it when it was dead,' said Jack. 'It would have been a strangely hasty, agitated meal, had he ate it before,' said Stephen, looking attentively at his list. 'Tell me, sir, did you happen to keep any of the bones?' 'No, sir. I am very sorry, but we usually crunch 'em up, like larks. Some of the chaps said they looked uncommon dark, however.' 'Poor fellows, poor fellows,' said Stephen in a low, inward voice. 'Do you wish me to take notice of this theft, Dr Maturin?' asked Jack. 'No, my dear, none at all. Nature will take care of that, I am afraid.”

No, the madder will not actually poison them, but it suits his purposes to let them believe that it will. To assist in this, he administers laxatives to the members of the larboard midshipmen's berth, though I may note that in the softness of his heart he neglects to include Babbington, recently separated therefrom, in this dosing.

[ola-na-tungee]

The Far Side of The World can we please talk about what a sweet, kind-hearted soul Jack Aubrey is? not once during the many many hours in the water is he angry with Stephen