What aspects of life in the British Navy were familiar to you before reading the book? Did you learn anything new, or did anything surprise you?

What aspects of life in the British Navy were familiar to you before reading the book? Did you learn anything new, or did anything surprise you?

All of the information in the book was new to me. I think I was most amazed by how much disease and pain the human body can endure.

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Most of the information about sea life ie hierarchy of command and social structure I had read about also diet and problems with scurvy

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I loved this book–it was a tremendous learning source. Items learned: titled gents without seaworthy experience were given captain-ships, recruiting methods for manning ships, lack of planning for beginning sailing from ports, various jobs on the ship, actual line of command, reguard for weather…list goes on forever.

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I didn’t know anything about the wreck of The Wager or the aftermath. I did, however, know a lot about life aboard British Navy ships during the era. I’ve read all the books in both the Hornblower and the Aubrey-Maturin series (that’s a total of 32 books) so there weren’t a lot of surprises in that respect.

I wasn’t aware of what “really” went on in early sailing ships. I knew it was a pretty rugged experience and many lost their lives in search of treasure. The author brought all this to life with his vivid descriptions.
Glad today’s ships have advanced technology to keep them on course. Another surprise was that such phrases as…three sheets to the wind, pipe down, turn a blind eye, toe the line…were actually early sailing terms. Very interesting!

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I knew some, but things that shocked me were how the bugs ate through the wood! Also i knew about illness, but I felt Grann really made is so real. I liked the explantion of the reason for short jackets and where under the weather and three sheetsto the wind came from!

There were a number of aspects that I generally (thought I) knew, but the author was able to give so much background and perspective. I knew about scurvy, but didn’t really know exactly what it did to your body…yikes!

I learned so much about Brittania ruling the world because of its domination of its seafaring abilities. Another case of geography creating a country’s destiny. It has access that landlocked counties did not possess. I had no idea that children served at such a young age.