Royal Navy ?

[J. Dillon]

A & E is running a new Hornblower series. It ran tonight.

HMS "Hotspur" flew the Blue ensign. I always had the understanding the White ensign was proper for men-o-war in the Royal Navy, or is the Blue ensign correct for that period ?

JD

[TimH]

Bummer, I would have liked to have watched that.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

It's on still(again). It looks like they are showing it over and over tonight. 8pm, 10pm, 12am, 2am. The 2nd new movie is on tomorrow.

Steven

[ion barnes]

So what is your critique of Mr Hornblower?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

From an early date, the RN was orgainised into "Red", "Blue" and "White" divisions.

The references in O'Brian to "Yellow" Admirals are a part of this - a retired Captain who was made Admiral after retirement due to his position on the seniority list was called a "Yellow" admiral because he had no command - real Admirals were promoted sucessively as rear, vice and full Admirals of the Red, Blue and finally White divisions.

This was stopped soon after the end of the Naopleonic wars and from then on the White ensign was reserved for the Royal Navy, and yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Blue for Trinity House, other Government vessels, many Yacht Clubs and merhchant ships where the Master and a proportion of other officers were in the Royal Naval Reserve, and the Red for all other vessels.

[skuthorp]

Thank you Andrew, I'd always wondered about Admirals of the Blue, White, etc ;)

[Ian McColgin]

They did have fun having him back the forstaysails.

Actually, this is more a foreandaft rigged trick. Being caught all aback, as the frog was, is bad till you gain some stern way, but most fast tacks I've seen on a square rigged boat involved backing the forecourses, which are so much bigger than the staysails.

Whatever.

[ 12-03-2003, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Ian McColgin ]

[NormMessinger]

Hornblower will be on again this evening, Eight Eastern and Pacific, seven central. Mountain, who knows.

We saw Master and Commander yesterday afternoon and Hornblower last night. Wouldn't it be extreme if the best of both could be combined into one. An Imax, perhaps.

[Meerkat]

<grumble> I posted something about this in a couple of other threads. They got his first wife's name wrong I believe (I think it was Sarah, not Mariah) and I don't think Pellow went ashore (away from the channel fleet at any rate) this early in the books.

Overall, I though both movies where fan-damn-tastic! I rate them better as engaging tales and more to the author's intention than M&C!

[Mike Field]

.
No, his first wife's name was indeed Maria. And his second, Barbara. So I don't know where that "Sarah" came from.

Wonderful stories. I hope they've stuck to them in the filming.
.

[TimH]

Maria was Hornblowers first. He married her at the beginning of the third book when he was making a living playing whist because of peace breaking out :D . And If I remember right, Edward Pellew left after the first book and went off to the west indies where he became an admiral and met up again with Hornblower later on in the series again.

[Meerkat]

Ah, ok! But the movie Hornblower pronounced it as "Mariah", not Maria and that was what misled me.

It's been so long since I've read these books, I've forgotten many details. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the movies so much.

[Tonyr]

I saw the one called "Duty" (or similar title) last night. Perhaps it was savaged/truncated to fit the local A & E time requirements, but I have to say that I thought it was one of the worst plotted and acted movies I have seen in a long time. The books are much better. Sorry if this upsets anyone.

Tony.

[J. Dillon]

I agree. Pretty weak. What sort of tides do they have on that coast. The aground ship " Grass hopper" was it ? Sure was up high and dry. Way above what one might consider high water, unless it was the bay of Fundy which it wasn't. And those light weight cannons up and being transported on the top of a wagon, and when they hit the deck or ground they didn't seem to make much of an impact. Oh yea Hornblower diving overboard fully dressed to save the fair damsel. Although I did hear it was done a few times for real by one of the skippers of the bark "Peking". Phony modesty about the fused bomb. ugh. Hope they do better with the next one.

JD

[Meerkat]

As the "Grasshopper" supposedly ran aground during a storm, that might explain her location...

I admit the movie(s) had their fair share of cheesiness at points, but, overall, I still enjoyed them a lot. Perfect for a teenaged audience, which is where I think they're pointed.

[Tonyr]

Fair comment, Meercat. I had not considered that.
Perhaps I was a bit unkind.
Tony.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

Meercat posted:

"Overall, I though both movies where fan-damn-tastic! I rate them better as engaging tales and more to the author's intention than M&C!"

Meer, am I mixed up here or did you say last week that you hadn't read the O'brian books?

Steven

[Meerkat]

I think you are mixed up Steven. I have read the O'Brian books several times and own the whole set in hardback.

I used to own first eds. of the early Hornblower books too, but not knowing what I had, they slipped away... :(

IMO, Hornblower (Forester) is pointed at a more junior "boy's tales" market than is Aubery (O'Brian). For me, Hornblower was far more about action and adventure, with a chaste romantic dash of love, but nothing TOO mooshy ;) . OTOH, O'Brian is far more cereberal in many places and far "hotter" (although not really sizzling) when it comes to romance and sex.