Pirates of the 1800s

Pirates in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin historical naval book series

- daily segment for my Pirate Week challenge
September 13-19, 2009
hosted by Gofita's Pages

My husband has been reading the exploits of Captain Jack Aubrey and naval surgeon Stephen Maturin book series by Patrick O'Brian since last year. The series covers the period of 1800 to 1815 during the Napoleanic wars.


The most popular of the series is Master and Commander which was also made into a movie in 2003 directed by Peter Weir starring Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin. BTW, excellent movie that captures action out at sea during the 1800's.







The hubby is now on book 16 of 21. For pirates week, I asked him if Captain Aubrey came across any pirates during his sea-faring. Yes, indeed. He said that Captain Aubrey did occasionally come across ships sailing under a black flag.



The Black Flag ships raised plain black flags without the Jolly Roger symbol (skull and bones) we are so familiar with these days.

Pirate ships during Captain Aubrey's time were usually taken and the crew was tried and hanged for their offenses.

arghhh!

Aubrey-Maturin series:

Master and Commander (1970)
Post Captain (1972)
HMS Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune of War (1979)
The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason's Harbour (1983)
The Far Side of the World (1984)
The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
The Letter of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
Clarissa Oakes (1992) - (The Truelove in the USA)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004) - (21 in the USA)

Now, this series of 21 books would be a challenge. Do I dare?

*source of ship