AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Of all the four mentioned, O'Brian comes top in terms of period authenticity, I think. Forester probably knew enough about it to be as authentic, but I suspect that because he was effectively re-creating the genre that Marryat started, he couldn't spend too much time on the technical details! But Forester's research into the arcane subject of submarine recovery techniques in the 18th century is obviously very careful (HMS Atropos). But he paints a very restricted picture of the social life of the late 18th and early 19th centuries compared with O'Brian; Hornblower is presented as a remote and isolated person.
Of course, O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin series are excellent. But for a good read about an earlier period of naval history,O'Brian's "The Golden Ocean" and "The Unknown Shore" paint an interesting and well-researched picture of Anson's expedition.
No-one has mentioned Marryat - who WAS an officer in the Napoleonic Wars! "Midshipman Easy" is a good exciting read, "Peter Simple" is similar but more serious and more concerned with social injustices. It goes without saying that Marryat got the technical stuff right; the only problem is that it was still "how things are done" when he wrote, so he doesn't explain things as a modern author might. Marryat was politically concerned with the reformation of the navy (he campaigned against the use of corporal punishment), so it is worth remembering that his books are written to illustrate ideals rather than reality; some of his officers are a bit too good to be true (though, as pretty much EVERY such author does, he used Cochrane as a model). Marryat does sometimes drop into sermonizing, but at his best he is excellent. And his satirical description of some of the loonier ideas of the early 19th century are a scream - if you think that Terry Pratchett invented "retrophrenology", then Midshipman Easy will have you in stitches towards the end!
