Book Review: Men-of-War – Life in Nelson’s Navy

Men-of-War: Life in Nelson’s Navy
by Patrick O’Brian.
W. W. Norton, 95 pages.
ISBN 0393326608 (paperback – reviewed – perhaps out of print),
0393038580 (hardcover)

Patrick O’Brian brings to us a short (only 95 pages) account of the British Navy c1800, the time of the great Lord Nelson.

It was a hard time to be a sailor. O’Brian points out that the food was “usually so bad that when they could catch them, the men often ate rats, or millers as they were called in the service, because of their dusty coats as they got into the flour and dried peas.” And trust me, that’s not the grossest part he mentions…

Still, the brutal, primitive reality of the time is easily overshadowed by the romance and the heroism. And it is to this sensibility that O’Brian appeals. He gives a brief overview of the types of ships used in Nelson’s navy, and a description of the crucial armaments they would carry. He walks us through the various members of the ships’ crews, and follows the career progress of a hypothetical young midshipman as he climbs the ranks all the way to Admiral.

Finally, he concludes with a look at life at sea, including combat. As an added bonus, there is a short chapter included of various sea-songs of the era.

O’Brian’s work is a wonderful companion to the abundant literature romanticizing the era. Ever since Frederick Marryat, arguably the first novelist of the Age of Sail, countless authors have set their heroes on the wooden planks of the great “rated” ships of the line. From C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower (you may have seen the A&E series of films) to O’Brian’s own Aubrey-Maturin series of novels (filmed as Russell Crowe’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), naval fiction has been and remains immensely popular. Supplementary books like this one give good background to the reader, and extend the adventure into history.