Master and Commander, and a Comparison of 1800's Navy Life

I really enjoyed the movie “Master and Commander”. It was full of action, adventure, and suspense! The movie was made from a 20-book series, authored by Patrick O’Brian. Master and Commander was about Capitan “Lucky” Jack Aubrey and his crew on the HMS Surprise. The movie was made to take place during the Napoleonic Wars.

In the beginning of the movie Capitan Aubrey is given orders to follow and capture a French warship by the name of Auberon, which was located off the eastern coast of South America.

I believe this movie depicts sea battles and sea life very well. I think it was set to take place during the early part of the 1800’s. The HMS Surprise was an average warship for its time. It had 28 guns, and held 147 men. At first sight of the ship it did not look like it had room enough to hold that many though. The ship hands and the rest of the crew lived and slept in cramped quarters located in the lower level of the ship. The Capitan, along with the on ship surgeon, and other officers lived and slept in much nicer accommodations.

Whenever the ship began to run low on food or supplies they would stop at a port that was near by and load up.

So all in all, after researching, I found the movie “Master and Commander” to be a very historically accurate movie, when it came to the depiction of navy life and sea battles. Over all I think it is a must see!!

The actual battle scenes of the movie were very confusing to watch for me, but I think the director purposely made them appear that way. It was probably done this way to show you how confusing war can be especially when fought aboard a ship. During the first battle, which caught Capitan Aubrey and his crew by surprise, 47 were left wounded and 9 were dead.

By Foundering, Wreck, Fire, Explosion 530 10.2

Some topics in this essay:
Scurvy Eighteenth, West Indies, Fire Explosion, HMS Surprise, Victualing Board, Capitan Aubrey, Navy Life, South America, Individual Accident, Napoleonic Wars, eighteenth century, movie “master commander”, capitan aubrey, life sea, aubrey crew, hms surprise, lived slept, yellow fever, sea battles, rum ration, west indies,