In Re Patrick O’Brian

I had the dictionary, the atlas and the cookbook. Good news: O’Brian wrote two novels in the 50s based on an admiral by name of Anson. They are “The Golden Ocean” (1956) and “The Unknown Shore” (1959). I forgot I had them, and I don’t think I have read them. I found copies of them for you on Abe Books, rather cheap. The shipping was free so it will take a while for them to get to you.

O’Brian was born Richard Patrick Russ. After WWII, he reinvented himself, abandoning a family in England and moving to Western France on the Catalonia border. There is a badly written bookabout this, “Patrick O’Brian: A Life Revealed” by one Dean King.

O’Brian wrote the foreword to “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog,”

“Which It’s a Gastonomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels.” The recipes include Killick’s toasted cheese as well as boiled shit. It was written by Anne Chotzinofff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas. It is unique among cookbooks, and the writers note they would not have taken on such a project had they known the amount of work required. It shows.

I knew nothing of the Napoleonic Wars before I started the series. And I did not know anthing about Trafalgar. When we were in England in the early 2000s, I took the train by my self to Portsmouth to tour HMS Victory. It happened to be October 21, the anniversary of Lord Nelson’s death at Trafalgar. There was a wreath on the orlop where he died.

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