The Golden Ocean: Amazon.ca: Patrick O'Brian: Books

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O'Brian's first sea-going novel, The Golden Ocean is a precurser to the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series in its excitement and rich humor, its eloquent style and and tapestry of historical detail. Peter Palofox, second son of a poor Irish parson, sets out on the voyage of a lifetime when he seeks his fortune as a midshipman in Commodore Anson's flotilla. With five ships under his command, Anson leaves England in 1740 to circumnavigate the globe and attack Spanish ships wherever they can be found. Peter comes of age in the complex but sharply defined community of the fleet as they engage in battle, fight disease, and face shipwreck.

Ingram

In the mid-eighteenth century, Peter Palafox, the son of a poor Irish parson, signs on a ship as a midshipman, just in time for Commodore Anson's epic circumnavigation of the world. Reprint.

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'GOOD-BYE,' THEY WERE ALL CRYING. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars O'Brian's First Foray, Jun 15 2003

By	Peter Mackay "surgeonsmate" (Campbell, ACT Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novel cycle is an epic work of literatue, one with a legion of fans and likely to explode after the Russell Crowe movie is released.

Before there was that famous meeting in an octagonal music room, there was O'Brian's first prototype of the naval fiction adventure story, set on Anson's circumnavigation, where the main characters are a scurvy crew of midshipmen having too much fun entirely.

It's a pleasure to read this book and to see the first occurrences of some of O'Brian's later and long-running jokes, characters and situations. It's fun and it's educational, as well as being a great read.

Highly recommended in its own right, but mandatory for anyone who is a fan of the later books. In fact, I'd finished the opus and was feeling rather flat when I discovered this book and its companion - The Unkown Shore, and the magic returned.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful sea story, Jul 17 2002

By	Bart Scovill "WarriorPages.com" (Sarasota, Florida USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the Aubry/Maturin series, Mr. O'Brian shows us life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars from the perspective of an officer. In the Golden Ocean, we get a glimpse of what life was like as a midshipman and a closer look into the lower decks during war with the Spanish. Like Mr. O'Brian's later works, the characters are likeable but also completely human and therefore fallible. Newcomers to Patrick O'Brian's works might be put off early in the book by the British and Irish colloquialism and the seemingly lengthy delay in getting to sea and thus the meat of the story. However, it's worth the initial learning curve because both of these apparent shortcomings are actually the jewels that make Mr. O'Brian's books so great. The colloquialism is easy to get used to and adds colour (u added in honor of Mr. O'Brian) to the story. At the same time, the apparent delay serves to give the reader insight into what it must have felt like for a seaman utterly dependent on wind and tide and just as eager to get to sea. That's the beauty of Mr. O'Brian's stories, they really draw you into them.

For me the experience of reading this book is a Microcosm of the Aubry/Maturin series, in the beginning I wasn't sure I would enjoy or even stick with it, but shortly I would find I couldn't put it down and was sad to see it end. I would recommend this book with the caveat that if you like it you'll love the Aubry/Maturin series.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A slow start...a rousing conclusion!, Jul 15 2002

By	Rodger Raubach (Converse County ,WY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This being the first book I have read by Patrick O'Brian , I struggled a bit getting into the flow of the novel due to the peculiar Gaelic flavored writing style. In fact it took several starts over a couple of years to make it past the first chapter or two. However once past the somewhat slow start , the pace of the novel describing the adventure of the young parson's son , Peter Palafox , the tale progresses nicely. Young Palafox has obtained an appointment as a midshipman on Commodore Anson's flagship Centurion through the good offices of his father and the ship's chaplain. He and his lifelong friend Sean have several misadventures on the way to England to join the ship's company and arrive just in the nick of time to sail with the vessel.

The maturation of young Palafox into a competent naval officer is set against a broad tapestry of Anson's historic 1740 circimnavigation of the globe , spanning over three years. The crew of the Centurion and the small fleet commanded by the commodore encounter fantastic hardships and outright disasters on an unimaginable scale , only to finally return home with the riches of the Spanish Main as a reward. Some of the best descriptive writing of the entire book details rounding The Horn into the Pacific--called in the book The Golden Ocean. Hence , the title of this volume.

Other than an initial struggle with the somewhat complex writing style of the author , I enjoyed the book immensely. I still don't pretend to understand some of the Gaelic expresions and interjections , but I plan to continue reading some of the other works by this author.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars armchair adventure
I was LIVING this story (amazing historical detail and sympathetic characters). Particularly enjoyable for the Irish colloquial terms. Read more

Published on Jun 30 2002 by kymm

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good, But...
The Golden Ocean provides a servicable account of the exploits of Commodore (soon to be Admiral) Anson on his heartbreaking, devastating, but ultimately triumphal voyage around... Read more

Published on Aug 7 2001 by Joseph Rolfes

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PERFECT PRECURSOR
The Golden Ocean was written in 1956 and is Patrick O'Brian's first novel about the sea. As such, it is the perfect precursor to the highly acclimed Aubrey/Maturin series. Read more

Published on Mar 16 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a wonderful retelling of the Anson voyage
This precursor to the Aubrey-Maturin series is more memorable than some of the books in that series. Read more

Published on Oct 20 1998