Jack Aubrey

His story takes us from the Scottish countryside to the Napoleonic Wars, from the corridors of Westminster to the revolutionary struggles of South America, and eventually to the far side of the world.

And along the way we'll discover that being a national hero doesn't necessarily mean being an easy man to get along with.

Because Thomas Cochrane had a gift for winning battles.

Getting on with people was another matter entirely.

He was also fined £1,000 and subjected to the humiliating punishment of being placed in the pillory.

The conviction was a devastating blow.

Cochrane was a serving naval officer, a member of parliament and a celebrated war hero.

Now he was a convicted criminal.

And after 12 books I think I've read now, you recognize the formula here and there.

But not unlike the Patrick O'Brien, Jack Aubrey books, Aubrey Maturin books, they were, again, not necessarily the most intellectually – something books, not the most intellectual books, but really, really super enjoyable, fun reads.

Well, you can move on to Proust next.

yeah well you know like you know i mean like whenever they start people bring up proust i'm like man you know i should probably i feel like that's something i should read you know but at first i have to read infinite jest i think before i can move on to proust but uh but yeah you know like that's that's he's something that's like kind of him and and thomas pinchin and Uh, Harold, uh, Harold, uh,

Remember last episode in 8th, That was kind of the follow on after the destruction of the Voxenheit.

So we had a badly wounded Jack Aubrey facing a complete breakdown of discipline in a cold, quiet seascape.

And what transpired was a real ordeal in the Southern Ocean, a catastrophe among the icebergs left the leopard in a grim fight for survival.

And most of the crew, except for Jack and his followers, abandon her in this agonizing scramble for survival.

And we remember that, boy, that ending scene with people pumping over to get in the boats and people in the boats going, no, no, no, no, stay out.

You're going to capsize us.

A snapped steering oar leaves safety as distant as the moon.

So kind of act one, act two.

What, what do you- We talked all about James, but, but, but Paul in this.

Dude, I, I've always loved Paul Bettany, you know, from movies like Master and Commander, um, you know, Captain Aubrey's confidant.

And I, I've loved Paul Bettany.

And he, what's so funny is he's a founding member of the MCU.

We're gonna start beating you up." So if a moderate somehow survives, then yes, you're 100% right that the Democrats, if they get a president who is a moderate, will, will become [chuckles] more moderate and say, "Yes, we'd like the win, and we wanna do it." My point is that if you look at the insanity, chaos, and self-defeating actions of the Republicans in this election year, they wanna win too, but they're not scared enough to do the right thing.

They're not scared enough to do the smart thing because they believe just, it's like Lucky Jack Aubrey.

They just win.

We just win.

Same thing with, uh, another Russell Crowe movie, Master and Commander, which is one of my favorites.

Captain Jack Aubrey did not exist, but in that film and in that book series, the Napoleonic Wars did.

Yeah.

And life on naval ships at that time-

Last time, HMS Leopard was being pursued across the South Atlantic by the heavy Dutch 74-gun ship, the Wachsamheit.

And after all of Jack Aubrey's evasive tactics, the chapter ended with a desperate duel between the stern chasers of the Leopard and the bow chasers of the Wachsamheit, ending in one of the most shocking and memorable moments in the canon.

Let's put it this way.

No more Wachsamheit.

Now, Mike, I'm choosing my words with care here.

In this episode, we are in the eerie, silent wake of the destruction of the Vox Amite.

We have a wounded, you could say badly wounded, Jack Aubrey contending with fractured discipline, mutinous whispers and a muffled ship's bell.

But the real ordeal in the freezing Southern Ocean has only just begun.

He is in Westminster Abbey.

He is the inspiration for a number of the most extraordinary fictional characters in the British canon, i.e. Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey.

A, an incredible man, an incredible career.

The- I had read a biography of him, uh, about 10 years ago, which was really good, but this new one by Peter Moore is, spoiler alert, the absolute dog's bollocks.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, it's extraordinary at how young a lot of them were.

So he's, he's put in charge of a brig called HMS Speedy, and now this is the point at which the real Lord Cochrane meshes a little bit with one of my great heroes, Roger Moore House, uh, the Captain Jack Aubrey.

Oh, I thought you were gonna say me then.