#Island Maturin

[ola-na-tungee]

they're idiots, both of them.

[hey-scully-itsme]

the albatross is his therapist

[thekenobee]

“Jack you have debauched my sloth” would stay the same

[matrim-cauthons-hat]

stephen maturin: *gets sad about diana villiers AGAIN*

sophie aubrey: "Jack, honey, you need to take your boyfriend to Australia"

[firstofficerrose]

Stephen shows up to the Grapes, and while the jar of preserved human hands he's carrying doesn't cause any comment, the people running the inn are positively gossiping about why in the world Dr. Maturin would show up with no notice while well dressed.

[mycological-mariner]

Just finished the first chapter of Desolation Island. Here’s my wandering brain constructions:

I Love the twins, I do. They have to be colour coded so their father remembers which one is which. Also being raised by a bunch of sailors, they’re gonna be brilliant. I adore Sophie. I love that she’s getting more character in just the first chapter. Not only bless her for being the only sane and stable person around, but her love for Stephen! Makes me soft. She and Jack are just a delight.

Speaking of Stephen ‘I can quit whenever I want’ Maturin, he’s never gonna catch a break, is he. Christ. His comrade died under his care, he gets pickpocketed while trying to run an errand for his friend, he’s still bad on the drops. And then that’s all before mentioning meeting Diana in London. Also, the blurb on the back says there’s a ‘beautiful spy’ aboard the Leopard, so. Spy vs Spy!

I am looking forward to seeing if Diana appears in any of the chapters. It’s stressing me out lol

I’ve seen the name Andrew Wray come up before so I know he’s gonna play some important role (is he the spy? yes I’m treating this like a whodunnit but it’s more like a whoisit).

Also, I had to check, but apparently wife purchasing was a real thing? The only thing that surprised me about it was how recent it was. What - what the fuck. At least it’s acknowledged that it’s a pretty fucked practice.

Anyways, I’m gonna call it now, Jack is gonna lose a massive gamble. Everything is going a little too well for him, I can’t wait to see Jack shoot himself in the foot.

Anyways, I’m really loving the book! I can’t wait for everything to go to shit!

[swingindoorsusan]

The Holy Ship Doctor Trinity

Livesey

Chopper Maturin

[sheriffclownkins]

Stephen Maturin and i share a braincell because when they first mentioned the Galápagos Islands i thought “omg are we gonna see its beautiful and evolutionarily unique fauna including my favorite reptile the marine iguana” AND THEN WE SAW MY FAVORITE REPTILE THE MARINE IGUANA

[ltwilliammowett]

Desolation Island, by Geoff Hunt (1948-)

Cover art for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series book.

[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.

[the-golden-vanity]

@thebaffledcaptain/@iamthemaestro tagged me to make a poll of my 5 favorite characters, and given the theme of my blog, I thought I'd keep it restricted to boat guys. Let's see what happens!

No-pressure tagging @matelothot,@georges-chambers, @clove-pinks, @bloomrebounds, and anyone else who'd like to do this.

Thanks, @thebaffledcaptain!

[illustratus]

Desolation Island by Geoff Hunt

Cover art for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series book.

[thekenobee]

The fact that a reasonable, sensible, long-suffering Stephen turns into a savage within a second when Jack's life is in peril is very important to me

[thiefbird]

Despite all my better judgement, I appear to be into Boat Media. Having thoroughly enjoyed Temeraire and Aubrey-Maturin, I am now looking to broaden my horizons. Do have any recommendations for further reading?

I do!

I don't think CS Forester has quite the same voice as an author as Patrick O'Brian, but the Hornblower series holds a fond place in my heart - I actually recommend the TV series with Ioan Gruffudd, Jamie Bamber, Richard Lindsey, and Paul McGann before the books, if you like the Aubreyad, which I rarely do; it has a bit more of the feel of daily life added to it than the books originally did, which may well have been the influence of O'Brian's writing, and it is an affectionate adaptation.

I have not read this yet, but @gabrielnovakgoestomyschool has been badgering me to read a Boat Media, the name of which escapes me, so I will have them give propaganda for it in the notes.

I do not know if this is based on a book, but the miniseries To The Ends of the Earth was very good!

Similarly, I have not read The Terror, and I have heard that the show is better than the book, but I really enjoyed the first two episodes of The Terror! Unfortunately it is a show that requires me to actually pay attention, so it is taking a long time for me to watch it because I don't often have the spoons+time I don't want to be writing rn, but I have heard many good things and few bad.

I haven't read Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, or Moby Dick since high school(and I'm not certain I finished Moby Dick as that was right when my very severe adhd/autistic burnout started) but I very much enjoyed them then!

My last, but certainly not least, recommendation is Gone To Weather, an absolutely stunning webcomic by @focsle (beg pardon for the tag!)!

(And finally, watch this space - I'm working on an original Napoleonic War Boat Media novel, and I hope to have a finished first draft by the end of the year!)

[firstofficerrose]

Stephen is canonically wearing a jean jacket.

[guillemelgat]

Hey hello I made a thing! As perhaps a few of you know, I have spent the last half a year being completely unhinged about Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books, and I’ve always been particularly interested in the character Stephen Maturin and his relationship to Catalonia. I saw that there was a lack of stuff about this part of his identity, and, being me, I felt the need to fill it in the only way I could: compiling music and yelling about it for thirty pages. Hence this playlist.

You really don’t need to know anything about these books to listen to this playlist. You also don’t need to know anything about Catalan (I hope). Catalonia and the Catalan Countries in general (including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and parts of southern France, Aragon, and Sardinia) have a really interesting musical and literary tradition, and I wanted to make that more accessible, so I put together a few songs I liked, translated them, and wrote a bit about each of their significance, including the most important cultural tidbits I could. Some things don’t translate super well, and I hope my Catalan followers will forgive me for trying to adapt them more for English-speaking audiences than perhaps would be preferable; I usually don’t choose to do that, but in this case I wanted to open the door, and not to intimidate people.

Now that that’s out of the way, here is a link to the PDF of the liner notes (graphic design is my passion, as they say): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MUpRM84W8aypznEIrt0eA1jG5OxaRZvz/view?usp=sharing

Under the cut I’ve included the ephimera and unnecessary commentary that you know and love, feel free to read or ignore it as you will

These roughly follow the order of the songs and are varying levels of seriousness

If you like "Sant Joan, feu-lo ben gran" then I'd highly recommend listening to the whole Tornaveus album. I almost included the “Stabat Mater de Sudanell” and the “Goigs de Sant Julià de Lòria”, which are both from western Catalonia, and they also have more cançons de pandero, in perhaps a slightly more traditional style. A lot of the other songs have interesting cultural commentary in them, especially on feminist topics, and they’re very well-researched because literally one of the members of the group is basically the ethnomusicologist of Catalan music at the moment. Anyways, if people would like the liner notes perhaps next time I’m home I’ll scan them, they’re in Catalan and English and very well-written. Also note the legendary Lluís Llach song which has been turned into a polyphonic piece lol (and I did not include the “Goigs de la Nostra Senyora de la Llibertat” but tbh that might have been a mistake on my part) (Blorbo side note that I think this fits Stephen’s childhood very well which is mostly why I chose it)

“L’Hereu Riera” is one of my favorite Catalan folk songs I love it so much and if you want to hear the Catalan version (as opposed to the Valencian one included here) and see the dance and also see a cobla, I am including a link to this version by Germà Negre which is tragically not on Spotify. I chose the Valencian one because (1) Al Tall and (2) I think it fits The Blorbo better (specifically I was thinking of his fiancée who dies before Book One who idk if anyone ever remembers shdjfhskf). That being said, Stephen would probably know the Catalan one (and almost certainly not the Valencian one). Also, on a memey-er note, Hereu Riera bisexual king and literal icon <3 love how he has to remind his girlfriend on her deathbed that actually he'd technically be interested in both her sisters AND her brothers if he wasn't so into her that he never wanted to marry anyone else

I literally did put in Roger Mas just so there would be at least one person with a Lleidan accent, #diversity win

Many points about the “Cançó de pandero de l’Urgell” and “Jo no canto per la veu” so here we go:

I put these two songs in mostly because I got very obsessed with the cançó de pandero from Alcarràs (which is a great movie that came out last year about a farming family in a village near Lleida that is winning all the awards atm). Anyways, since Carla Simón has been too busy winning things to put up the gotdam soundtrack, I did a bit of digging and it turns out that it was written for the movie?? By her brother??? It's excellent and very anticapitalist and you can listen to it here and see the trailer for Alcarràs all in one! (Includes English subtitles)

The original “Canto per un amic meu que per mi daria la vida” is probably from a Valencian cant de batre, although I could not get any confirmation on that. But regardless everyone should listen to Pep Botifarra's version of it, which I would literally marry if it had a physical form it’s so so good. (I posted it here back in ye olden days but it's been long enough I think I can post it again)

Valencian music side note because I can’t stop myself: the second pair of verses in the "Cançó de pandero de l'Urgell" (starting with “vos esteu ben acotxada…”) are sung by Miquel Gil, who is a very famous Valencian traditional singer, anyways you should listen to this version of him singing “Del Sud” by Obrint Pas (you want to go down a Valencian music rabbit hole so so bad)

I firmly believe that Stephen would canonically be obsessed with Ausiàs March, and the fact that he has not yet recited any of his poems is Patrick O’Brian’s biggest failing in my eyes. Anyways I have more thoughts but I’m saving them for other posts shdfjsd

If you read this before listening to the playlist please just listen to "El testament d'Amèlia" and follow along with the lyrics in real time before reading the blurb, it's such a good experience to let that song hit you as it comes. I won't say more than that but you'll get it when you get it. (Also obligatory listen to Marala they're so good <3)

From the Càntut album, I also quite like the songs "El pomeró" and "El divino vull cantar", and Càntut in general is an incredible resource, it's a database of folk song field recordings from northeastern Catalonia.

Brief pause to scream about the fact that Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés WERE ON NPR??? AND NO ONE TOLD ME???? Anyways link in the sources section, also they're great and you should listen to their whole discography

As the #1 Roba Estesa stan blog on Tumblr, listen to Roba Estesa. And Ebri Knight. And El Diluvi.

I chose this version of "La presó de Lleida" because I like it but here's a more traditional one sung by Joan Manel Serrat, another Catalan legend. Here's another one in Catalan rumba style with Sílvia Pérez Cruz singing, the sound is a bit wonky but it's also one of my favorites. The Valencian version of this song is called "La presó de Tibi" and El Diluvi have done a very explicitly anti-monarchical rendition of it (the Balearic one is "La presó de Nàpols").

I'm sorry for never putting the Sílvia Pérez Cruz version of "Corrandes d'exili" but if you want it here it is. Also note that the statue of the Virgin in the poem is a reference to the Virgin of Montserrat, it literally all goes back to her shfjkshdf (also apologies for being very bad at Christianity and Catholicism, if I mistranslated things let me know)

HOO BOY SARDANA TIME

Okay so I have a whole essay to deliver on this that I've been holding inside for the past like two months or so, I apologize in advance for my excessive pedantry on the topic.

In Master and Commander, Stephen delivers this speech:

"‘Then I must tell you that on Sunday mornings it is the custom, in that country, for people of all ages and conditions to dance, on coming out of church: so I was dancing with Ramon Mateu i Cadafalch in the square before the cathedral church of Tarragona, where I had gone to hear the Palestrina Missa Brevis. The dance is a particular dance, a round called the sardana.’"

I hate to be a hater but it is very, very unlikely that anyone would have been dancing a sardana as far south as Tarragona in this time period. The sardana as the symbol of equality and brotherhood emerged in the Renaixença and would not yet have been a thing; Stephen could well have heard sardanas in Ullastret, but they would have been a more typical folk dance, and not anything like the way they're described in the book. It's very ironic, then, that they've become THE Catalan music style for Aubreyad readers, but hopefully this playlist can change that a bit :)

(also sorry for being a sardana-hater on main, someone bring me to dance a sardana and maybe I'll feel better)

Songs that didn't make the cut: La cançó del lladre, Rossinyol que vas a França, La balanguera, La gavina - I'm always happy for more recs!

Originally, this list was also going to include songs in Irish; I quickly realized that I was in over my head with that one, but the working list of songs is here (may be subject to changes so save songs elsewhere if you like them!). Also I would add "Fé Bhláth" by Imelda May and Kíla if it was on Spotify but alas it is not; and "Amhrán na Leabhar" which I have not had time to add but was kindly recommended by someone. I'd love it if someone was interested in actually doing a proper playlist for Irish though—it's a gap in my knowledge that I'd love to start filling.

Aaaaaaand that's a wrap. I hope. Final comment to say thank you to everyone who voted in the cover image poll, turns out you all won :) (Pirineus did win and take the cover of the liner notes though)