text:
The Commodore (novel)

The Commodore is the seventeenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1995. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

In this novel, Aubrey and Maturin complete their circumnavigation of the globe begun in The Thirteen Gun Salute and continued through The Nutmeg of Consolation, Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, and The Wine-Dark Sea. After a long-awaited stay at home in England, Commodore Aubrey is given a squadron to conduct a mission against slave ships in West Africa and then he and Maturin are sent against Napoleon's Navy. Dr Maturin finally meets his young daughter, whom he must protect from a vicious enemy agent out to get him through his family. The story ranges from England to Spain to West Africa and the rocky west coast of Ireland.

Reviewers of this novel were impressed with how well the characters were drawn, if you met them, "you'd know them". What keeps one reading is the "improbable, delightful friendship between the two men" With part of the story on land, dealing with family issues, the impeccable writing marks O'Brian as the heir "of Jane Austen herself." Reardon remarked the strengths of this novel thus: "The book is not so much about battle, although there are some battles. It is not so much about history, although it is filled with the real stuff of the past. It is not even, in the end, about sailing, although it captures with unique clarity the terrible beauty and wondrous excitement, the deep awe and hard work, that are so much the experience of keeping a ship afloat and on its voyage."

Plot summary
Jack Aubrey wins the Ringle, a Baltimore Clipper, from his friend Captain Dundas, as the Surprise accompanies HMS Berenice back to England, after a stop on Ascension Island for repairs to the Surprise. Maturin meets with Sir Joseph Blaine, while Aubrey heads home to his family. When Maturin does reach home with Sarah and Emily, he finds his young daughter Brigid in the care of Clarissa Oakes, now widowed. He searches for his wife, but finds only some of her horses. Their daughter is developing slowly as to language and social skills.

When Maturin meets Sir Joseph at their club, he learns that the Duke of Habachtsthal, the third conspirator in the Ledward-Wray conspiracy, is aiming at both of them. The Duke's influence has delayed the pardons of both Clarissa and Padeen, and all are at risk. To secure his fortune and his family, Maturin asks Aubrey for the Ringle to move his cash to Corunna and to carry Clarissa, Padeen and Brigid to live at the Benedictine house in Ávila, Spain, for safety. Brigid takes to Padeen, and is speaking in Irish and English aboard the Ringle. Blaine and Maturin separately hire Mr Pratt, to gather information on the Duke and to find Diana.

Aubrey gets orders to command a squadron of ships, a position which earns him promotion to commodore. The mission to disrupt the African slave trade, which is illegal under British law since 1807, is bruited in the English newspapers to be sure the French know of it. The second, secret mission of the squadron is to intercept a French squadron aimed at Ireland, hoping for better success than in 1796-97. Two of the ships in the squadron have captains not up to Aubrey's standards: Duff in HMS Stately disrupts discipline, while Thomas of HMS Thames is not ready for battle. Tom Pullings is the full captain of the flagship HMS Bellona, where Aubrey stays and Maturin is surgeon. The Ringle meets the squadron at the Berlings off Peniche peninsula. The squadron sails to Freetown to begin the first mission, practising gunnery and other naval skills en route. Aubrey is in a bad mood, felt throughout the ships, until Maturin tells him that Pastor Hinksey is to be married and set up in India; jealousy had gnawed at him.

Aubrey devises a scheme using the smaller vessels in the squadron to surprise each slave port up to the Bight of Benin. This successfully disrupts the slave trade, and saves over 6,000 slaves. Aubrey ends short of Whydah, as news of the squadron's success empties that harbour. They take eighteen slave ships as prizes, first taking the Nancy, and using the empty ship for target practice to good effect in Freetown. The success is not without loss of men to disease and attack. Maturin survives a bout of yellow fever contracted while botanizing on Philip's Island with Mr Square. As he recuperates, they stop at St Thomas island for medical supplies; two officers (one from Stately, one from Thames) step ashore for a duel by guns, each fatally wounded, resolving nothing. They reach Freetown again, now in the Harmattan, which is the dry season. The British colonial governor's wife invites Maturin to dinner; he is friends with her brother and both are esteemed naturalists. Maturin leaves the potto he had aboard in her care.

Aubrey hastens to meet the French squadron, commanded by the wily Commodore Esprit-Tranquille Maistral, waiting south and east of the point the French are expected to meet the Caesar arriving from America. Caesar fails to arrive, so they proceed northeast to Ireland. The Bellona attacks the French pennant-ship, while the Thames and Stately attack the other French two-decker ship. The first strikes on a rocky shelf and surrenders; the second badly mauls the Stately and flees eastwards. Thames is stuck in a reef. HMS Royal Oak and Warwick handle the four French troop carriers and one frigate, which are penned in a cove. They join the scene of battle, having heard the gunfire. Bellona is taking water and Aubrey is glad for the help. The other French frigate slips away. Ashore, Maturin speaks to the Irishmen who want the guns aboard the foundered ship. He and Father Boyle persuade them this is not the moment, as anyone found with the French guns by the British will be hanged. After tending the wounded, Maturin learns from his friend Roche that the flags are at half-staff on account of the death of a minor royal, the Duke of Habachtsthal, who has committed suicide. Maturin, pleased at the news, proceeds to the home of Colonel Villiers, a relative of Diana's late husband with whom she is now staying, where he and Diana are happily reunited.

Characters
See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series

 * Return to England
 * Jack Aubrey: Appointed Commodore in the Royal Navy.
 * Stephen Maturin: Surgeon of the Bellona, physician, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer.
 * Heneage Dundas: Captain of HMS Berenice, brother to the first Sea Lord, and friend of Aubrey.
 * Preserved Killick: Aubrey's steward.
 * Barret Bonden: Coxwain for Aubrey.
 * Mr David Adams: Captain's clerk on Surprise, then Secretary for the Commodore on Bellona.
 * Padeen Colman: Irish servant to Maturin.
 * Sarah and Emily Sweeting: Melanesian girls rescued earlier by Maturin (in The Nuutmeg of Consolation), rated as ships boys; set up in The Grapes under Mrs Broad's care.
 * Duke of Habachtsthal: Minor royalty in the British line, with property in a German state (held by the French) and in Ireland, and last man of three leaking British information to the French. He kills himself at the end of this story.
 * Awkward Davies: Able seaman.
 * Joe Plaice: Able seaman and cousin to Bonden.
 * Fellowes: Captain of HMS Thunderer.
 * Mr Philips: Admiralty officer aboard the Thunderer with a message for Maturin.
 * Sophia Aubrey: Wife of Jack and mother of their three children.
 * Fannie and Charlotte Aubrey: Twin daughters of Jack and Sophia.
 * George Aubrey: Young son of Jack and Sophia.
 * Mrs Williams: Mother of Sophia and aunt to Diana Villiers, a mean and gossiping woman, trying to interfere with Brigid's upbringing.
 * Mrs Selina Morris: Friend and companion to Mrs Williams, of the same character.
 * Mr Briggs: Servant to Mrs Morris and money man for her and Mrs Williams, as the three take bets on horses.
 * Diana Villiers: Stephen's wife and mother of their child.
 * Clarissa Oakes: Young gentlewoman, widow of Lieutenant William Oakes, now part of Maturin's household, introduced in Clarissa Oakes.
 * Brigid Maturin: Young daughter of Stephen and Diana, showing developmental problems, until Padeen enters her life; nickname Brideen.
 * Aunt Petronilla: Aunt to Maturin who heads a Benedictine convent in Avila, where his daughter, Clarissa and Padeen will stay.
 * Mr Hinksey: Priest for the parish including Ashgrove Cottage, helpful to Mrs Aubrey, and about to be married.
 * Sir Joseph Blaine: Head of Intelligence at the Admiralty, naturalist who studies beetles, and friend of Maturin.
 * Mr Pratt: Investigator ("thief taker") introduced in The Reverse of the Medal.
 * Mr Brendan Lawrence: Lawyer for Aubrey, and advisor to Maturin in responding to the Duke, introduced in The Reverse of the Medal.
 * Mnason: Jack's butler at Woolcombe.

 * At sea with the squadron
 * William Smith: First assistant surgeon on Bellona, with experience in Bridgetown.
 * Alexander Macaulay: Second assistant surgeon on Bellona, fresh from his training.
 * Mr Wetherby: Youngster on Bellona.
 * Mr William Reade: Midshipman, about age 15, on HMS Bellona, who lost an arm in battle; introduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute. He sails the Ringle, Aubrey's personally-owned tender, a fast-sailing Baltimore clipper.
 * Mr Gray: First Lieutenant on the Bellona, who dies from infection after surgery.
 * Mr William Harding: Second Lieutenant on the Bellona, moves up to first on the death of Mr Gray.
 * Mr Whewell: Acting third Lieutenant on the Bellona, promoted from master's mate on the Aurora due to his knowledge relevant to the mission.
 * John Paulton: Friend met in New South Wales who assisted in kinder treatment and escape of Padeen Colman in The Nutmeg of Consolation; his novel is published, and dedicated to Stephen Maturin, as reported by some in the squadron who read it.
 * Mr Willoughby: Marine Lieutenant aboard HMS Stately, who is insulted at dinner by the 2nd Lieutenant of HMS Thames.
 * William Duff: Captain of HMS Stately; he loses a leg in the action against the French squadron in Bantry Bay in Ireland.

 * Met at Freetown
 * John Square: Krooman who assists Maturin during the first mission of the squadron.
 * Houmouzios: Greek money lender in the market at Freetown who takes messages for Maturin.
 * James Wood: Colonial Governor at Freetown in Sierra Leone with experience in the Royal Navy.
 * Mrs Wood: Born Christine Hatherleigh, she is the sister of Edward, who is an eminent naturalist. She shares her brother's interest and knowledge.

 * Met in West Cork
 * Esprit-Tranquille Maistral: Commodore of the French squadron headed to Bantry Bay in West Cork in Ireland.
 * Mr Frank Geary: Captain of HMS Warwick, posted at Bere Haven, which they left on hearing reports of gunfire.
 * Father Boyle: Ashore in Ireland where the French ship grounded, he aids in bringing the wounded to hospitals on land.
 * Stanislas Roche: Local man in West Cork, old friend to Maturin, who explains why the flags are at half-mast, and takes him where Diana Villiers is staying, at the home of a relative of her late husband.

 * Squadron leaders:
 * Captain Tom Pullings: Bellona
 * Captain William Duff: Stately
 * Captain Thomas (nicknamed the Purple Emperor): Thames
 * Captain Francis Howard: Aurora
 * Captain Michael Fitton: Nimble
 * Captain Smith: Camilla
 * Dick Richardson (introduced in The Mauritius Command): Laurel

Ships

 * British:

 * HM Hired Vessel Surprise – Twenty-eight gun frigate
 * HMS Berenice – Sixty-four gun two decker
 * HMS Thunderer – Seventy-four gun two decker

Jack Aubrey's squadron:
 * HMS Bellona (1760) – Seventy-four gun; broadside weight of 926 pounds; crew of 590
 * HMS Stately (1784) – Sixty-four; broadside weight of 792 pounds
 * HMS Thames – Thirty-two gun, 12 pounder; broadside weight of 300 pounds
 * HMS Aurora – A twenty-four gun, 9 pounder; crew of 196
 * HMS Nimble – A cutter
 * HMS Camilla (1776) – Twenty-gun ship
 * HMS Laurel - twenty-two guns, new sixth rate
 * HMS Orestes (1805)– Brig-rigged sloop
 * Ringle – Baltimore clipper, tender to Dundas on Berenice then to Aubrey on Bellona

Arrive upon hearing the gunfire in Bere Haven, Ireland
 * HMS Royal Oak (1809) – Seventy-four gun
 * HMS Warwick – Seventy-four gun
 * Frigate in company

Slave ship
 * Nancy

 * French:
 * Two ships of the line with seventy-four guns
 * Caesar, seventy-four guns, missed her rendezvous
 * Two frigates, one with thirty six guns, the other with thirty-two guns, all eighteen pounder
 * Four troop carriers
 * Marie-Paule, privateer that threatens Ringle before the landing in Corunna

Series chronology
This novel references actual events with accurate historical detail, like all in this series. In respect to the internal chronology of the series, it is the last of eleven novels (beginning with The Surgeon's Mate) that might take five or six years to happen but are all pegged to an extended 1812, or as Patrick O'Brian says it, 1812a and 1812b (introduction to The Far Side of the World, the tenth novel in this series). The events of The Yellow Admiral again match up with the historical years of the Napoleonic wars in sequence, as the first six novels did.

Reviews
Kirkus Reviews has strong words of praise for a mesmerizing performance on many levels, with direct links to Jane Austen's novel Perusasion as to the domestic lives of the main characters, and a writing style marking O'Brian as the heir "of Jane Austen herself." The story has a section on land with "the perils of domesticity" as challenges, as well as the dual mission at sea. They particularly noted "Maturin's enlightened 18th-century speculations on love, sex, and politics".

Publishers Weekly notes the amount of domestic life in this novel, told with great historical and nautical accuracy. Both Aubrey and Maturin undertake the naval mission with "clouds" from their family affairs.

Joel White, writing in the New York Times, says that compared to some of the earlier novels, The Commodore is "relatively peaceful compared with the usual Patrick O'Brian offering" as to battles. On the other hand, he remarks that "it is not the sea battles that keep us turning the pages, but rather the improbable, delightful friendship between the two men as well as their relationships with their families and shipmates." The main characters "are complex men, expertly portrayed", and both leave home for their naval mission unhappy due to family concerns. The naval mission begins on the west coast of Africa to intercept slave ships, the trade already outlawed in England, then moves on to surprise a French expedition. That comes to a conclusion that makes "all right with the world, and the opportunity open for another book to come."

Patrick Reardon writing in the Chicago Tribune notes the well-drawn characters, so clear that "you'd know them" if you met them. Further, The Commodore is a worthy successor to the 16 earlier Aubrey-Maturin novels that O'Brian, now in his 80s, has written over the past two decades. The book is not so much about battle, although there are some battles. It is not so much about history, although it is filled with the real stuff of the past. It is not even, in the end, about sailing, although it captures with unique clarity the terrible beauty and wondrous excitement, the deep awe and hard work, that are so much the experience of keeping a ship afloat and on its voyage." "The Commodore, like its predecessors, is about people, seen deep within the context of the exotic and mundane events of their lives."

Publication history

 * Recorded Books, LLC; Unabridged Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull (ISBN 1419320882)
 * E-book edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2011 (ISBN 9780393088489)

References to actual history
The book makes reference to the West African slave trade and the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The Act made smugglers of slave traders, putting them at risk of seizure by the Royal Navy. As described in the novel, the slaves removed from the slave ships were not returned to their birthplace or place of seizure, but brought to Freetown in Sierra Leone, where they were not subject to re-capture. Aubrey's first sight of slaves aboard a ship designed for that trade deeply affected him, though he did not share Maturin's fierce abolitionist views, a way to depict the long struggle to end slavery in the UK and its colonies and territories. The ship Nancy as described in the novel is quite similar to the British ship Brookes as to the space allotted for the human cargo.

Aubrey is promoted to Commodore, the first flag officer rank. He has a captain under him, so he wears the uniform of a Rear Admiral. This rank came into formal existence in the Royal Navy in 1805, before the setting of this novel, about 1812 or 1813.

How the Baltimore clipper came to O'Brian's attention
Ken Ringle of The Washington Post interviewed Patrick O'Brian and kept up correspondence with him. Ringle learned that O'Brian did not know about the fast sailing type of vessel called the Baltimore clipper, a vessel used by the Americans in the War of 1812. He writes that after December 1992, "when I happened on a new book on Baltimore clippers, I picked up a copy to send him." Thus the vessel is named Ringle, and its amazing sailing properties well-described, and used for critical parts of the plot, like saving Maturin's family and fortune.

title: The Commodore (novel)


text:
Shawn Wayans

Shawn Mathis Wayans (born January 19, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He made his debut on the comedy television series In Living Color (1990–1993). He went on to work with his brother Marlon Wayans on The WB sitcom The Wayans Bros.(1995–1999), and in the comedy films Don't Be a Menace (1996), Scary Movie (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), White Chicks (2004), Little Man (2006), and Dance Flick (2009).

Early life and education
Wayans, the ninth of ten siblings, was born in New York City, the son of Elvira Alethia (Green), a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager. His family were once Jehovah's Witnesses. Wayans grew up in the Fulton Houses in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea and is a 1989 graduate of the Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities.

Career
On Fox's In Living Color, he began as DJ SW-1 and later became a featured performer, working with brothers Dwayne, Keenan (the show's creator), Damon, Marlon and sister Kim.

Along with Marlon, Shawn Wayans created and starred in the sitcom The Wayans Bros. (The WB, 1995–99) and co-wrote, co-executive produced, and starred in the 1996 feature Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, in which Keenen also acted. Wayans guest starred on episodes of MacGyver and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and provided the voice of Toof for the animated children's series Waynehead (based on brother Damon's real life childhood experiences).

After a supporting stint in the 1999 gang drama New Blood, Wayans's film fortunes improved dramatically when he co-starred with his brother Marlon in a hit film directed by their older brother Keenen: Scary Movie (1999–2000), a comic satire (which he also co-wrote) of the then-recent trend of horror films like Scream.

Wayans played the apparently closeted Ray Wilkins, a role he reprised for the similarly popular 2001 sequel Scary Movie 2. He has been involved with subsequent sequels.

Shawn and Marlon Wayans starred in the 2004 Keenen-directed comedy White Chicks, playing FBI agents forced to masquerade as spoiled white blonde heiresses. Shawn also received a share of story and screenplay credit on the film. He teamed up with Marlon and Keenen again for the 2006 comedy Little Man, which he acted in, co-wrote, and co-produced.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Shawn Wayans


text:
The Wine-Dark Sea

The Wine-Dark Sea is the sixteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1993. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

This novel constitutes the fourth of a five-novel circumnavigation of the globe; other novels in this voyage include The Thirteen Gun Salute, The Nutmeg of Consolation, Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, and The Commodore.

The chase of the Franklin brings the Surprise to Peru and the undercover mission so long delayed. Aubrey navigates through an undersea volcanic eruption, which decides him as winner of the chase. Captain Aubrey's illegitimate son, Father Panda, provides crucial help to Maturin in Lima and for his long walk along the Andes Mountains to meet the Surprise. Aubrey is unable to beat to windward during a hard blow while trying to reach Maturin to warn him of Dutourd's escape and is nearly starved.

This novel received enthusiastic positive reviews on its release. The writing is "literate, leisurely, and as charming as the rest of the series" while the story is "a real hair-raiser". Another review noted reading the novel "induces a rueful awe at the depth and intensity of the author's determination to make his characters authentic creatures of their time", and praises the "nuanced handling of everyone's political and religious beliefs and how these relate to the war they are fighting." The plot and the writing style were praised: "The naval actions are bang-on and bang-up--fast, furious and bloody--and the Andean milieu is as vivid as the shipboard scenes." It is this novel that elicited the observation that "The best way to think of these novels is as a single 5,000-page book." The battles are intense and the storms riveting, but it is the "meticulously recorded mundane moments of the story (and of the sea journey) that bring the novel to full life." Another reviewer quotes some of the dialogue between Aubrey and Maturin, and remarks that the "painstakingly researched details about 19th-Century life aboard ship, that elevates his tales into heady escapism. O'Brian won the Heywood Hill Literary Prize, with a cash award, for his writing and for this novel in 1995.

Plot summary
The Surprise, with bow guns blazing, is in close pursuit of the American privateer Franklin in the wine-dark waters of the South Pacific. The chase is interrupted by a submarine volcanic eruption that completely disables the Franklin, with lesser damages to the Surprise. At sunrise, Aubrey sends Reade to take the Franklin; Maturin and Martin separate the dead from wounded aboard the prize. Jean Dutourd, the idealistic French owner, is taken aboard Surprise. A wealthy philanthropist, his plan to colonize a South Pacific island, Moahu, as a new utopian society with Frankins passengers as equal citizens was stopped by the appearance of the Surprise, and the Admiralty's support for the Queen of Moahu in a battle for supremacy on the island. The Franklin took prizes of British ships en route to Moahu, proved by ransomers aboard, seamen taken as security, along with cargoes taken. Franklins American sailing master was killed by shots from the Surprise. Aubrey finds that Dutourd does not have a letter of marque which would permit him to operate as a privateer. Although the sailing master did, but Dutourd is not listed on his muster. Absent the letter, Aubrey views Dutourd as a pirate, while Maturin considers his talkative nature a risk ashore to his mission. Aboard ship, Dutourd is allowed semi-free access and his utopian talk appeals to some of the seamen.

Surprise and Franklin, with Capt. Pullings, in command, take an American whaler as prize. An ex-British naval sailor on the whaler tells Aubrey of the Alastor, a privateer turned true pirate, flying the black flag and demanding immediate surrender or death of its victims. In their ultimately successful encounter with the Alastor, Aubrey receives severe wounds to his eye and his leg.

The ships reach Callao, the port for Lima. Maturin's mission begins now, done under cover of Surprise not being a Royal Navy ship, but perceived as a privateer, and she is again in this port with Pullings as her captain, with many prizes in tow. Maturin's goal is to assist the movement for independence of Peru from Spain, with aid from English gold as needed. Father Sam Panda is assigned here, and he proves a useful contact in Maturin's work. Another of Maturin's tasks ashore is to find suitable care for his longtime assistant, Nathaniel Martin, who is too ill for his work at sea. Maturin sees his old friend Dr Geary, surgeon of The Three Graces merchantman, who offers to take Martin home. Martin mistook salt sores (from a period of low fresh water aboard) to be the pox, treating himself with harsh medicines, which in turn made him truly ill. As the hospital in Callao is inadequate, Maturin yields up his patient to Geary.

Maturin meets with Gayongos, revolutionary sympathiser, and departs on a mule into the mountains, to meet with Father Don Jaime O'Higgins. The plan is agreed and will be set in motion in a couple of days. Gayongos reports at the Benedictine monastery that Dutourd is in Lima; Maturin says, let the Inquisition have him. Maturin sends a message to Pullings that he is gone botanizing in the mountains. He meets Eduardo, knowledgeable Inca guide, and the two trek in the higher altitudes. Eduardo receives a message from Gayongos that the revolution has failed before it began. Maturin must flee by land to Chile. Dutourd is arrested as a heretic, but the damage is done. When Aubrey discovers that Dutourd escaped, he sails in a cutter with a few crewmen to Callao to retake Dutourd or to warn Maturin. After many days of hard sailing against the wind, they reach the harbour and are taken aboard the Surprise by Captain Pullings barely alive. Aubrey welcomes Sam Panda who updates him on the political situation and the plan to meet with Maturin. Trekking over the Andes Mountains with llamas, Maturin and Eduardo are caught in a viento blanco (blizzard), their lives saved by the shelter Eduardo found, though Maturin loses some toes to frostbite.

Maturin makes his way to Arica with help from Eduardo, and then takes ship to Valparaíso, where Aubrey picks up Maturin and his collections. Maturin informs him of three American China ships sailing from Boston. The Surprise sails to intercept them off Cape Horn but, as she prepares to engage them, is herself fired upon by a thirty-eight gun US frigate and her brig. After a very close encounter with an ice island, the Surprise is again chased until her pursuer sails into a dead end in the ice field. The Surprise sails out, losing her main mast and rudder to a lightning strike. The crew of the jury-rigged Surprise spot a ship hull-down on the horizon. The ship, recognized by Maturin as having two rows of cannon, is HMS Berenice under Captain Heneage Dundas, accompanied by her tender, and carries Aubrey's much younger half-brother Philip. Dundas has provisions to repair the ship and pepper for Maturin to preserve his specimens from moths. Dundas has precious news from home, as he visited Ashgrove Cottage before he sailed, seeing Sophia and their children, but not Diana, only her horses. He met Clarissa Oakes there, who is now a widow. Aubrey and Maturin are happily homeward bound.

Characters
See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series

 * Jack Aubrey: Captain of HM Hired Vessel Surprise, and its owner.
 * Stephen Maturin: Ship's surgeon, physician, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer.
 * Sophia Aubrey: Wife of Jack and mother of their three children.
 * Diana Villiers: Wife of Stephen and mother of their young daughter Brigid.
 * Clarissa Oakes: Living at the Aubrey home, widow of young Oakes; introduced in Clarissa Oakes.

 * The chase and the prizes
 * Thomas Pullings: Commander in the Royal Navy, Captain by courtesy, he is a volunteer aboard Surprise. He acts as its first officer when Aubrey is aboard. He takes command of the Franklin when it is seized.
 * Mr West: Second Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant, discharged for duelling, and would like to be one again. He is killed by the volcanic eruption. He was introduced in The Letter of Marque.
 * Reverend Nathaniel Martin: assistant-surgeon, natural philosopher, clergyman and friend to Maturin. He becomes ill en route to Peru and is sent home from Callao on a merchantman to recover. He is a beneficed clergyman now, with two livings on Aubrey's holdings. He was introduced in The Ionian Mission.
 * Mr William Reade: Midshipman, now age 14, on the Surprise who lost an arm in battle; introduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute. His voice is breaking now. With young Norton promoted to the midshipman's berth, he has a friend to go skylarking.
 * Mr Sam Norton: Promoted to midshipman to fill the vacancy of Oakes, who sailed the prize Truelove from Moahu.
 * Mr Arthur Wedell: Ransomer taken from the Franklin, who stays with the Surprise and is promoted to acting midshipman. He is near the age of Reade and very lively. The three midshipmen are punished after Wedell falls through the skylight into the Captain's cabin.
 * Jean Dutourd: Owner of the Franklin, now a prisoner under Aubrey. He is an idealist and a talkative man, who planned to use Moahu to set up his notion of a utopian community. That plan is ended by the capture of his ship. He is considered a pirate by Aubrey but his talk attracts some of the crew, and later contributes to waylaying Maturin's mission.
 * Mr William B Chauncy: The Sailing Master aboard the Franklin, who holds a letter of marque from the US, but does not list Dutourd on the muster. He is killed, along with all his skilled seamen, by a cannonball from the Surprise during the chase.
 * Mr Bulkeley: Bosun on the Surprise. At Callao, Aubrey discharges him for capabarre, a habit he learned too well when in the Royal Navy.
 * Barret Bonden: Captain's Coxswain on the Surprise.
 * Preserved Killick: Captain's Steward on the Surprise.
 * Awkward Davies: Able Seaman on the Surprise.
 * Joe Plaice: Cousin to Bonden and able seaman.
 * Mr Grainger: Acting mate or Lieutenant joining the Gun room. He is promoted from forecastleman due to vacancy from battle at Moahu; he sailed his own brig before joining Surprise at Shelmerston for this voyage (which began back in The Thirteen Gun Salute).
 * Henry Vidal: Acting Second Lieutenant on the Surprise; by religion, he is a Knipperdolling from Shelmerston. While Maturin walks the Andes, he is put off the ship by Aubrey for having let Dutourd escape to shore.
 * Ben Vidal: Nephew to Vidal who is taken on the cutter with Aubrey when trying to reach Callao to recapture Dutourd or warn Maturin.
 * Mr Adams: Skilled captain's clerk.
 * William Sadler: Replaces Vidal as acting second mate or lieutenant on Surprise.
 * Sarah and Emily Sweeting: Melanesian girls rescued earlier by Maturin in The Nutmeg of Consolation, rated as ship's boys. Jemmy Ducks tends them and they work in the sick berth as well as help Maturin with his collections.
 * Edward Shelton: One-time Royal Navy serving on the American whaler since the peace, joins Surprise as able, and shares information about the pirate ship with Aubrey.
 * Fabien: Apothecary's assistant from New Orleans, was aboard the Franklin, taken by Maturin as an assistant in the sick bay and for drawings of fauna in his collections.
 * Zeek: American whaler on the ship taken by Surprise, who killed his captain with the whaling spear, because he was about to abandon him in a small boat.

 * In Peru
 * Dr Francis Geary: Surgeon of The Three Graces merchantman, once a classmate of Maturin, who agrees to care for Martin on their return to England.
 * Sam Panda: Young Catholic priest, illegitimate son to Aubrey and now grown taller and larger than his father, raised by Irish missionaries in southern Africa, now a rising star in the Catholic church. Maturin is a good friend to him. Introduced in The Reverse of the Medal.
 * Eduardo: Maturin's Inca guide in the Andes, notable naturalist, fluent in Spanish and Quechua.
 * Don Jaime O'Higgins: Vicar-General in Peru, abolitionist and supporter of the split from Spain.
 * Joselito: Mule belonging to Don Bernardo O'Higgins and loaned to Maturin for his botanizing walk.
 * Pascual de Gayongos: Wealthy Catalan merchant and revolutionary sympathiser in Peru with whom Maturin makes a strong link. He supplies the boat to take Maturin from Arica along the coast near Valparaiso.
 * General Hurtado: High-ranked Peruvian General who made the decision that the revolution could not proceed with the charges of foreign gold in the air.
 * Castro: Low level official in Lima who is the unstable figure trying to gain benefit from Dutourd's noisy talk.

 * Howmeward bound
 * Heneage Dundas: Captain of HMS Berenice and longtime friend of Aubrey.
 * Philip Aubrey: Much younger half-brother of Jack, who has been sailing with Captain Dundas as a midshipman. His birth is mentioned in Post Captain.

Ships

 * British
 * HM Hired Vessel Surprise - an elderly twenty-eight gun frigate
 * The Three Graces merchantman
 * HMS Berenice - sixty-four-gun man-of-war
 * A Baltimore clipper (Berenice's tender), not named in this book but name given as Ringle in The Commodore
 * French
 * Alastor - pirate ship
 * Alastor's launch - used by Aubrey to sail to Callao
 * American
 * Franklin (captured)
 * American whaler - captured by the Surprise and Franklin
 * Nootka fur trader - captured by the Franklin
 * Unnamed thirty-eight gun frigate and brig in convoy

Title
The novel's title is the English translation of an oft-repeated description from Homer. Example of Homer's verse: “And if some god should strike me, out on the wine-dark sea, I will endure it,”

Series chronology
This novel references actual events with accurate historical detail, like all in this series. In respect to the internal chronology of the series, it is the tenth of eleven novels (beginning with The Surgeon's Mate) that might take five or six years to happen but are all pegged to an extended 1812, or as Patrick O'Brian says it, 1812a and 1812b (introduction to The Far Side of the World, the tenth novel in this series). The events of The Yellow Admiral again match up with the historical years of the Napoleonic wars in sequence, as the first six novels did.

Continuity
In this novel, the voyage begun in The Thirteen Gun Salute, with a covert mission (first mentioned in The Reverse of the Medal) in Peru for Maturin, comes finally to Peru. Because of the demands of the Spanish government not to interfere with their colonies in South America, the Surprise sailed under Captain Pullings as a privateer, west to Peru, sailing until she met up with Aubrey in the Salibabu Passage in the South China Sea on the other side of the world. Aubrey and Maturin sailed on HMS Diane to complete a mission to the east, in Pulo Prabang and Maturin eliminates two traitors to the British cause. Aubrey sails again in the Surprise, sending the Nutmeg back to Batavia, where the Governor had given it to him (The Nutmeg of Consolation). Surprise proceeds to Australia, picking up a friend and a stowaway. The Governor at Sydney sends Aubrey on a mission to Moahu, successfully completed (Clarissa Oakes / The Truelove). Surprise chases and takes the American privateer Franklin in this novel, bringing Surprise to Peru, where Maturin's mission, so close to success, is jeopardized, and Maturin walks the Andes Mountains until he can reach the coast safely and rendezvous with Surprise. They sail around the Cape Horn, suffering damage from lightning, but meet with HMS Berenice, with supplies to repair her, and Aubrey and Maturin are ready to be home after the long voyage around the world.

Reviews and awards
By the time of the publication of this novel by WW Norton jointly with HarperCollins, reviewers have read the series in order and have caught up with the plot, ending the confusion seen in reviews of novels earlier in the series, reviews written at the time of re-issue, not at first publication. There are more reviews in newspapers of note.

Kirkus Reviews said this novel is literate, leisurely, and as charming as the rest of the series. Sending Maturin to deal with the tottering Spanish vice regency in South America is a good choice, aboard the privateer Surprise. "Maturin's mission, complicated enough by the various revolutionary factions, becomes a real hair-raiser involving an arduous transit of the Andes, where he is spit on by llamas and sees the great condors."

Thomas Fleming writing in the New York Times noted that "O'Brian's persistence . . . eventually induces a rueful awe at the depth and intensity of the author's determination to make his characters authentic creatures of their time. It is life aboard the Surprise that mainly animates O'Brian. His narrative of the proto-revolution in Peru is sketchy at best. . . . This deficiency is more than balanced by the intricate intimacy with which the reader comes to know the Surprise. . . . Equally fine is O'Brian's nuanced handling of everyone's political and religious beliefs and how these relate to the war they are fighting."

Publishers Weekly remarks that If O'Brian hasn't quite had a break-out book yet, then this deserves to be it. In an enthusiastic review, they describe the writing: "The naval actions are bang-on and bang-up--fast, furious and bloody--and the Andean milieu is as vivid as the shipboard scenes. As usual, readers can revel in the symbiotic friendship of Jack and Stephen, who make for a marvelous duo, whether in their violin and cello duets or in their sharp dialogue."

Patrick T Reardon writing in the Chicago Tribune describes how the author brings this story to full life: "The best way to think of these novels is as a single 5,000-page book. But this is no overstuffed epic. It is, if you can imagine such a thing, an intimate book that just happens to be 5,000 pages long. . . . As usual, O'Brian's battle scenes are engrossing, and his storm chapters are even more riveting. But it's the in-between times, the closely observed and meticulously recorded mundane moments of the story (and of the sea journey) that bring the novel to full life."

Paul D Colford, writing in the Los Angeles Times, cites a quote from the story as an example of the fine prose and painstaking research by the author that elevates this book, and the series to a higher level.

Here, in The Wine-Dark Sea, are the two old friends as they puzzle from the quarterdeck at a "strange-coloured" swirling sea:

Aubrey: "I have never seen anything like it."

Maturin: "It is much thicker now than it was when I went below. And now an umber light pervades the whole, like a Claude Lorrain run mad."

It's this kind of passing historical reference (to the 17th-Century landscape artist known for his rendering of light), as well as O'Brian's painstakingly researched details about 19th-Century life aboard ship, that elevates his tales into heady escapism.

Author Patrick O'Brian won the Heywood Hill Literary Prize in 1995, the first such prize offered, for his literary contributions and this novel. In his acceptance speech in July 1995, O'Brian, then age 80, said it was the first literary prize of his adult life, in the amount of 10,000 pounds.

Allusions to history, natural science, real places and persons
Crew members recruited from Shelmerston, the fictitious port on the west coast of England, report a large number of religious sects. One such is the group called Knipperdollings, a group who do not hold to the precepts of the first such group centuries earlier, but took the name to identify their beliefs apart from others. Martin gives Aubrey a full detailed history of the Knipperdolling beliefs then and on the ship.

Maturin mentions the Viennese treatment for the pox (venereal diseases), saying it relies on murias hydrargi corrosivus, which is a corrosive compound of mercury.

Dutourd asks Maturin if he knew Georges Cuvier, a well-known anatomist and natural philosopher in Paris.

In his botanizing walks up into the high Andes Mountain peaks, Maturin is delighted to see numerous condors, a puma, huge flowering bromeliads and to see and then learn the difference between guanacos and vicuñas. In the long trek out of Peru, llamas are used, a domesticated breed, which took some time to stop spitting at Maturin.

The Vicar General (a Catholic priest) with whom Father Sam Panda works has the last name O'Higgins, and is suggested to be a relative of Bernardo O'Higgins, who was fighting for Chilean independence from Spanish colonial rule since 1810.

Aubrey mentions the Spanish Disturbance in Nootka Sound (off Vancouver Island) in 1789 as being a year with good effects in his life. After the loss in the American Revolution, the Royal Navy left midshipman and officers "on the beach". The Nootka crisis took some years to be resolved, on the question of which European power has rights to North and South American lands, if there is no settlement from that European power on the land. The Royal Navy stepped up its ship making, and in 1792 allowed master's mate Aubrey to pass for Lieutenant and get a berth on ship, at the same time readying the Royal Navy for the long war against France.

The port town at Callao is real, as is Lima, up higher in the mountains from Callao; in current times, the two are part of one urbanized area. The Andes Mountains are noted for many high peaks and passes, with an average height throughout the long range of 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Maturin and Eduardo viewed Lake Titicaca and its wildlife. Such high altitudes can strain breathing; the coca leaves that Maturin liked to chew, something he learned on his first visit to Peru, make it easier to stand the altitude. Maturin and Eduardo drank mate as they walked, which is a tea made from the coca leaf. Maturin came down from the mountains at Arica, a port now in Chile but then considered part of Peru. He made his way to the appointed meeting place at Valparaiso, a major port city in Chile.

Publication history
As listed
 * 1993 HarperCollins hardback ISBN 0-00-223826-8 / 978-0-00-223826-7 (UK edition)
 * 1993, November W. W. Norton hardback ISBN 0-393-03558-1 / 978-0-393-03558-2 (USA edition)
 * 1994, April Thorndike Press paperback ISBN 0-7862-0133-9 / 978-0-7862-0133-4 (USA edition)
 * 1994, October W. W. Norton paperback ISBN 0-393-31244-5 / 978-0-393-31244-7 (USA edition)
 * 1994 Recorded Books audio cassette edition ISBN 0-7366-2657-3 / 978-0-7366-2657-6 (USA edition)
 * 1995, March Chivers Large print ISBN 0-7451-3576-5 / 978-0-7451-3576-2 (UK edition)
 * 1995, September Isis Audio cassette edition ISBN 1-85496-922-6 / 978-1-85496-922-4 (UK edition)
 * 1997, July HarperCollins paperback ISBN 0-00-649931-7 / 978-0-00-649931-2 (UK edition)
 * 2000, March HarperCollins audio cassette edition ISBN 0-00-105579-8 / 978-0-00-105579-7 (UK edition)
 * 2001, January Books on Tape audio CD edition ISBN 0-7366-6166-2 / 978-0-7366-6166-9 (USA edition)
 * 2002, January Random House Audio cassette edition ISBN 0-375-41602-1 / 978-0-375-41602-6 (USA edition)
 * 2006, November Blackstone Audiobooks Audio CD edition ISBN 0-7861-5978-2 / 978-0-7861-5978-9 (USA edition)
 * 2008 Playaway audio edition ISBN 1-60775-420-7 / 978-1-60775-420-6 (USA edition)
 * 2008, June Harper Perennial paperback edition ISBN 0-00-727559-5 / 978-0-00-727559-5 (UK edition)
 * 2011, December W. W. Norton E-Book edition ISBN 9780393063691 (USA edition)
 * 2011, December Harper E-book edition (Canada & UK edition)
 * 2013, October Audible Studios audio edition (UK edition)

It is in this book that the drawing of a sailing ship of this era is added to the print copies. "Far more confusing to newcomers may be some of the nautical and scientific dialogue the characters exchange. O'Brian's publishers have equipped the book with a drawing of the Surprise, numbering 21 sails, from the flying jib to the mizzen topgallant staysail. But that hardly prepares the unwary for Captain Aubrey and his crew's discussions of recondite items like cross-catharpins, dumb-chalders, side-trees, heel-pieces, side-fishes, cheeks, front-fish and cant-pieces."

The popularity of the series has expanded beyond a small group of devoted fans, as the author is invited to visit the US, where many distinguished readers of his newly discovered series wait to meet him. Paul D. Colford notes that when he "visited the United States a few weeks ago, fans waiting to meet, lunch and have tea with him included Walter Cronkite, Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who invited O'Brian to attend a session of the high court. Hollywood also wants a piece of the press-shy storyteller." The activities of US publisher W. W. Norton & Company are mentioned as part of the increase in popularity: "Norton also plans to keep stoking interest in O'Brian by reissuing all his books in hardcover starting in the spring and by bringing out two additional titles in April." This process of discovery by W. W. Norton was begun in 1990, and mentioned in the article on The Nutmeg of Consolation.

title: The Wine-Dark Sea


text:
Talk:Smokey Stover

Notary Sojac
Got some new info about the origin of Notary Sojac -- I have my own theory about it, but just ran across this: http://bobbuethe.tripod.com/cartoonacy/qanda/q_smokey.htm

;Bear 18:16, 2004 May 16 (UTC)

Segway?
Am I just crazy? How does a gasoline-powered truck in any way "presage" a human-powered scooter? This has been added twice. Just having two wheels is not enough of a link. Any opinions on this? --  Sampo Torgo  [talk]
 * No- you are not crazy, merely ignorant (note: this is not an insult). The point is that the two wheels are side-by-side, an unstable configuration. This was not realised as a practical configuration until the Segway's employment of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and computers. By the way, the Segway is NOT human powered. - Leonard G. 03:40, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * That is not a valid link between the two. Saying it "presages" a Segway is basically saying that a comic strip was seriously attempting to predict future concepts, rather than putting forth a comical idea. But, hey, whatever gets you off. Oh, and you're pedantic (note: this is not an insult). —  Sampo Torgo  [talk]  [[Image:Flag of Acadia.svg|20px|]] @ 06:52, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

I plead guilty to using the word "presage" without knowing precisely what it meant. "Presage" means to have foreknowledge, as in prophecy. Smokey's vehicle was a mere comical antecedent to the Segway.Lestrade 12:13, 13 September 2006 (UTC)Lestrade
 * OK, that makes a lot more sense. I knew 'presage' wasn't right, but couldn't think of what phrase would accurately reflect the connection. —  Sampo Torgo  [talk]  [[Image:Flag of Acadia.svg|20px|]] @ 16:33, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Smokey tv stover.jpg
Image:Smokey tv stover.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 05:35, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Mad Poiuyt
Perhaps there's no need to explain this one*, but I was baffled by it for some time as a youngster (I'm 75, as I type). It's simply most of the top row of a conventional keyboard, read from right to left. (It's not a Dutch word!) *Except in European countries that use the QWERTZ letter arrangement

Flat Foot Flanagan with the Foo Foo
The 1946 strip included here has "Gravy Boat Co.", which suggests that "gravy ain't wavey" might be a pun on "gravy boat". The "poiuyt" explained above is something I never would have guessed, and I know about etaoin shrdlu. I think 'sojac' must mean something.

I also noticed that one 1938 comic, Fire Escape, makes a foo reference to a contemporary song that also used a supposedly nonsense word. "It sounds like Flat Foot Flanagan with the Foo Foo" almost certainly refers to Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy), a 1938 jazz song by Slim Gaillard. "The floy floy" is a seemingly-nonsense word that was a slang term for gonorrhea, although this has nothing to do with "foo". I added the reference to the song's article, but not to this one. Roches (talk) 04:41, 14 August 2015 (UTC)
 * That's very interesting. Slim Gaillard was a maniac himself, and very talented, and it wouldn't surprise me if he connected to Smokey Stover. As we all know, or should know, "foo" is used for the name of an imaginary file or process in computer science, and "bar" is the name of another file if one needs it to complete a proof of concept. This supposedly comes from "FUBAR" which is short for "F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition" and is said to come from military lingo in WW2. However, "foo" was around before that, and as the article says, Smokey Stover was painted on WW2 airplanes. What are we to make of this? Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

title: Talk:Smokey Stover


text: File:Whitefeather Spring marker.jpg

title: File:Whitefeather Spring marker.jpg


text:
Talk:Demographics of Puerto Rico

2020 Census Update
So, the article is full of "stuff" that doesn't really reflect census realities. And there's lots of "padding" talking about U.S. Immigration Law; Such as the 1790 Immigration Act, which had nothing to do with Puerto Rico until the 1898 Spanish American War. Between 1790-1898 it's immigration would be under Spanish, briefly French (via Napoleon) Law, though from 1804 to 1840s it's likely refugees from haiti & haitian occupied dominican republic affected it.

The current census website:

(please note: it's currently set on New York State, but the interface allows rapid change between States & Territories)

Very helpfully, it allows one to check the change between 2010 & 2020 Census, which, allows one to see how much a population changed in real numbers, as well as Reidentification. One of the Biggest changes, is the near disappearance of the "White Hispanic" (fell by -2,262,110 an 80.8% Drop!) while "Some Other Race+Hispanic" +547,000 189% & "Two Or More Race+ Hispanic" +1,512,000 grew as much as 1250% (all 50 Main US States had a similar extinction of the White Hispanic Category.)

The Current 2020 Numbers for Puerto Rico are:

Hispanic: 98.9% or 3,249,043 Non-Hispanic: 1.1 or 36,831 of which; Whites: 24,548, which fell from 2010 by 2,398

Sadly, the CDC NVSS Birth Data for Puerto Rico by Race isn't included on this page like it is for other states. I'm not in a position to link that info currently, I'm sorry to say. PS, the birth data for 2014 was ruined by Typographical error as it was for Guam & North Marianas Islands.

Non-Hispanic White Birth Mothers fell from 2,644 in 2013 to 298 in 2020.

The article doesn't "get" that nowdays, no one wants to be seen as "White" anymore, even "white" people. It's increasingly a "null" category, defined by hostile outsiders.2603:7080:CB3F:5032:7449:6155:9B71:BA6D (talk) 12:20, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

Citation needed note for 1840 as the year of rediscovery of Taino
I removed the following citation needed note and adjusted the article slightly: "Earliest Neo-Taino movement activities have been dated to post-1960s, and rural jibaro identity has been based contemporaneously on European descent and land-owner post-slave owning identity. 1840 date seems highly spurious." I modified the article to read "some sources say" because there is a source directly next to this citation needed note with that year. Namnatulco (talk) 16:59, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Demographics of Puerto Rico


text:
Clarissa Oakes

Clarissa Oakes (titled The Truelove in the United States) is the fifteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1992. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

This novel constitutes the third of a five-novel circumnavigation of the globe; other novels in this voyage include The Thirteen Gun Salute, The Nutmeg of Consolation, The Wine-Dark Sea, and The Commodore.

Glad that the penal colony is behind him, Captain Aubrey discovers a stowaway prisoner aboard near Norfolk Island. He deals with her before he allows the cutter from the governor at New South Wales to deliver his new orders to handle a political situation on a Pacific island. En route, Maturin learns the key to finding the high level agent giving British information to the French, while Aubrey addresses the unhappy crew of Surprise.

One reviewer finds this novel a pure joy to read as it shares unmistakably original insights into the mysteries of the world. "His books add up to a portrait of an entire world, containing every single aspect of human life." Specifically, the title character Clarissa Oakes "gives O'Brian a chance to explore their [Aubrey and Maturin's] characters in exceptional depth." One reviewer compared O'Brian's writing style to that of several famous writers, considering that he has left C S Forester far behind, and is "one of the best storytellers afloat," with use of nautical detail that is "unalloyed, unapologetic and absolutely right." Another called it "intelligent escape" as reading material, while another found that it "will delight fans."

Plot summary
Surprise sails eastbound from Port Jackson in New South Wales. Jack Aubrey is in an ill-humour as a result of the frigate's visit to the abysmal penal settlement – firstly, because Stephen Maturin's duel with an army officer antagonized the local administration until the governor returned, and secondly because Padeen Colman, Maturin's servant and an absconder, was rescued against Aubrey's wishes. Aubrey observes ribaldry amongst his crew and remains puzzled until he and Pullings find a young female convict, Clarissa Harvill, during the ship's inspection. She was smuggled aboard in Sydney Cove by Midshipman Oakes. Aubrey is at first determined to leave them both on Norfolk Island, but lets them stay aboard until they reach a safer port.

Surprise spots a cutter, HMS Eclair. Aubrey suspects the cutter seeks the runaways. He agrees that Harvill and Oakes may marry on board. Aubrey gives some fine red silk he bought for Sophie to be used for a wedding dress for Clarissa, who wears midshipman's clothes. Martin conducts the ceremony, while Bonden hides Padeen. The cutter bears dispatches for Aubrey and mail for the ship, and a captain whose father was surgeon on Surprise, eager to see her. The mail brings many letters from Sophia and from Diana. Aubrey sees Maturin's happiness that his daughter was born, while Sophia writes him that the infant has development troubles, a secret to keep from Maturin. The governor orders Aubrey to settle a local dispute on Moahu, a nominally British island to the south of the Sandwich Islands. The gun room feasts the newlyweds. Despite the delicious swordfish speared by Davies (after it pierced the ship), good conversation is impaired by the level of animosity existing amongst the gun room members, most visibly West and Davidge. The cause is jealousy over Clarissa, who has had sexual liaisons with several of the ship's officers. This ill-will spreads to the crew, who divide in pro-and anti-Clarissa factions. In the blue water sailing, Maturin befriends Clarissa Oakes.

The ship spots a British whaler at the island of Annamooka in Tonga. Wainright, captain of Daisy, tells Aubrey about the situation on Moahu. There is a war between Kalahua in the north and Puolani in the south, with the northern chief being supported by the armed privateer Franklin, sailing under the American flag, owned by Jean Dutourd of Louisiana, and Britain is at war with America. The privateer has captured Truelove, a British whaler. While the crew provisions Surprise, Clarissa, who has received a black eye from Oakes, confesses to Maturin on their botanizing walk together about her being sexually abused as a young girl and later working as a bookkeeper and occasional prostitute at a brothel in Piccadilly. These experiences formed her sexual outlook, indifference to something that gives no pleasure. Maturin explains the jealousy of men to her. When she mentions that she saw an aristocratic acquaintance of the late turncoats Ledward and Wray at the brothel, Maturin realises that he is the highly placed traitor long sought by Sir Joseph Blaine and Maturin. He sends a coded letter to Blaine via Wainwright.

Aubrey drives his frigate's crew hard on the trip to Moahu due to their poor showing at Annamooka. On reaching Moahu, they meet Truelove, now their prize, and a column is sent to intercept the fleeing French. The skirmish is won but Davidge and others are killed, with no survivors among the French. Surprise then sails to the south of the island to defend Queen Puolani against the main body of French and Kalahua's tribesmen, as she agrees to accept the protection of King George III. Aubrey sets up carronades in a cleft and there is a terrific slaughter of the enemy the following day. That night, after a great feast, Aubrey welcomes the queen to his bed. Truelove departs, commanded by Oakes, with Clarissa on board bearing a copy of the letter to Blaine with her. Aubrey gives funds to Oakes, while Maturin gives funds to Clarissa, separately, for their passage to England. Franklin appears but sails away immediately, with Surprise giving chase.

Characters

 * Jack Aubrey: Captain of HM Hired Vessel Surprise and on the Navy List.
 * Stephen Maturin: Ship's Surgeon, natural philosopher, particular friend of Jack and an intelligence officer.
 * Sophia Aubrey: Wife of Jack and mother of their three children.
 * Diana Villiers: Cousin to Sophia, wife of Stephen and mother of their daughter.
 * Brigid Maturin: Infant daughter of Maturin and his wife, Diana Villiers.

Aboard HM Hired Vessel Surprise
 * Mr William Reade: Midshipman on Surprise who lost an arm in battle; introduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute. His voice is starting to break now.
 * William Oakes: Midshipman on Surprise who was taken on in Batavia as able seaman, then promoted to midshipman in The Nutmeg of Consolation. His mate was killed in action. He is promoted to master's mate during this voyage. On parting, Aubrey gives him an acting lieutenant's commission.
 * Clarissa Oakes née Harvill: Fugitive prisoner from Botany Bay and stowaway on Surprise until discovered by the captain, then she marries William Oakes aboard ship. She is educated and of good family, a gentlewoman.
 * The unknown duke: The unknown deduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute takes form as a duke with the Order of the Garter, who walks with a limp, and would never talk with Ledward publicly when Ledward was alive, per description that emerges from conversation between Clarissa Oakes and Maturin. He is the high-ranking government official who leaks information to the French.
 * Captain Tom Pullings: Commander in the Royal Navy and first mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise.
 * Mr Nathaniel Martin: Surgeon's Assistant on Surprise, parson, and natural philosopher. Aubrey offers him livings (position as parson) as he now has several belonging to him by inheritance. He was introduced in The Ionian Mission.
 * Padeen Colman: Irish-speaking servant to Maturin, and loblolly boy aboard ship.
 * Barret Bonden: Captain's Coxswain on Surprise.
 * Preserved Killick: Captain's Steward on Surprise.
 * Mr Bulkeley: Bosun on Surprise.
 * Awkward Davies: Able Seaman on Surprise.
 * Sarah and Emily Sweeting: Melanesian orphans saved from Sweetings Island in The Nutmeg of Consolation; rated ship's boys on Surprise.
 * Mr Davidge: Third Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He attended Trinity College in Dublin like Maturin, and knew the same amount of duelling in those years. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant and would like to be one again, introduced in The Letter of Marque. He is killed leading the successful first attack against the French on Moahu.
 * Mr West: Second Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant, and would like to be one again. He was introduced in The Letter of Marque.
 * Mr M'Mullen: Commands the cutter Eclair out of Sydney, and whose father was surgeon on Surprise in 1799 at the recapture of Hermione.
 * Weightman: Butcher on Surprise, who cannot accept that the island pigs want taro in their feed.
 * Jemmy Ducks: Poultry Keeper on Surprise with responsibility for the little girls, too.
 * Mr Adams: Captain's Clerk on Surprise.
 * Edward Norton: Recently deceased owner of neighboring lands to Aubrey's boyhood home of Woolcombe, and a friend to his grandfather. In childhood, Aubrey called him cousin Edward. Norton owned all the land for the borough of Milport with its 17 electors and leaves it to Jack Aubrey. Introduced in The Letter of Marque.
 * Mr Withers: Attorney from Dorchester who handled all of Aubrey's legal work, also deceased, whose young partner sends all the paperwork to Aubrey at sea, instead of handling it. Aubrey works at it, and asks Adams help, as well.

At Annamooka island
 * Pakeea: Annamooka Chieftain.
 * Tereo: Annamooka Senior Chieftain who welcomes Aubrey and his ship, allows them to get water and fresh food.
 * Mr Wainright: Captain of Daisy.
 * Dr Falconer: Surgeon on Daisy, and a naturalist.

At Moahu island
 * William Hoskins: On Truelove, once armourer's mate on HMS Polychrest (see Post Captain), tells Aubrey how many French are on Truelove as Surprise seizes several French prisoners who were fooled by the ship's disguise. Hoskins is not fooled.
 * Puolani: Queen of the Polynesian island of Moahu.
 * Kalahua: Leader on the north of the island of Moahu, allies with Dutourd to fight the Queen's forces, so he can rule. He loses, is killed and eaten by the winners.
 * Jean Dutourd: Franklin's owner and an idealist, seeking an island to set up his notion of a utopian community, but likely to attack any in the way of his ideals. He is from Louisiana, now a part of the US, an enemy to the UK. His followers and crew are mainly French, from Louisiana or Canada. They have chosen Moahu.
 * The Sailing Master: As Dutourd is no seaman, he hires an American to sail Franklin, which operates under American colors. The sailing master is not yet seen, but Truelove crew and the islanders know of him.

Ships

 * British
 * HM Hired Vessel Surprise
 * HMS Eclair – 14-gun cutter
 * British South Seas whalers and Nootka Island fur-traders
 * Truelove
 * Daisy
 * Heartsease
 * American
 * Franklin – 22-gun privateer, with a crew of French speakers from Louisiana

Title in the US
Clarissa Oakes was published in the U.S. as The Truelove, which is the name of a ship in the novel.

Series chronology
This novel references actual historical events with accurate historical detail, like all in this series. In respect to the internal chronology of the series, it is the ninth of eleven novels (beginning with The Surgeon's Mate) that might take five or six years to happen but are all pegged to an extended 1812, or as Patrick O'Brian says it, 1812a and 1812b (introduction to The Far Side of the World, the tenth novel in this series). The events of The Yellow Admiral again match up with the historical years of the Napoleonic wars in sequence, as the first six novels did.

Reviews
Dick Adler writing in the Chicago Tribune has high praise for this novel, finding it "a pure joy to read-on its own or as part of the glorious whole. It was published in England as Clarissa Oakes, which probably sounded too Jane Austen-ish to American editorial ears. But it's a perfect title, because the slim and lively girl who stows away on the HMS Surprise as it sails from Botany Bay is the real heart of O`Brian's moving and erotic story." Adler feels that Clarissa Oakes' presence "gives O`Brian a chance to explore their [Aubrey and Maturin's] characters in exceptional depth." The story has "plenty of action, including a remarkable battle with cannibals in which O`Brian sums up all the horror in one unforgettable image."

Adler concludes that "what lifts The Truelove into the highest ranks of fiction is what it shares with the rest of its author's writing: page after page of unmistakably original insights into the mysteries of the world.

Anthony Bailey, writing in The New York Times, finds that this novel puts the reader "on board the Surprise in the South Pacific in the early 19th century amid a swirl of nautical detail, unalloyed, unapologetic and absolutely right." in a novel written by "one of the best storytellers afloat". He suggests that with his first novel in this series, O'Brian may have been competing with C. S. Forester, but "At this point, he is in a different squadron altogether, providing pleasure for those who will never be able to read a new Captain Marryat (the author, in the 1830s and 1840s, of a number of sea adventures) – but in this instance a Marryat with a touch of Jane Austen, Erskine Childers and John le Carré thrown in." The relationship between the principal characters is "One of the delights of these books", where "Aubrey is a sailor in his blood and bones" and Maturin "remains a landlubber the non-seafaring reader can identify with." Bailey notes the use of letters home, a device used also by William Golding in his sea-faring trilogy To the Ends of the Earth, and finds that "O'Brian while telling his yarn writes like a man simply at home in a 500-ton frigate. All the naval minutiae of the early 19th century are evidently in his grasp, but like the Surprise's maintopsails, they are used to drive the book forward, a great show that also has cumulative effect." Bailey highlights many aspects of the plot, which issues are addressed by Aubrey, and which are handled by Maturin, and notes that in this novel, the officers have a particularly varied diet, including "a suicidal swordfish, soused pig's face and a Polynesian stew in which a human ear floats."

Kirkus Reviews finds this novel to be "Intelligent escape. Not for the rushed."

Publishers Weekly feels this novel "will delight fans, while offering newcomers a good place to jump in."

Allusion to real places
The plot takes the ship to a fictional island south of the Hawaiian Islands, which were first known as the Sandwich Islands.

Publication history

 * Recorded Books LLC Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull ISBN 1419302728
 * W. W. Norton & Company E-book edition 2011 ISBN 9780393063684

title: Clarissa Oakes


text:
Hyper engine

The hyper engine was a 1930s study project by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to develop a high-performance aircraft engine that would be equal to or better than the aircraft and engines then under development in Europe. The project goal was to produce an engine that was capable of delivering 1 hp/in3 (46 kW/L) of engine displacement for a weight of less than 1 lb/hp delivered. The ultimate design goal was an increased power-to-weight ratio suitable for long-range airliners and bombers.

At the time, no production engine could come close to the requirements, although this milestone had been met by specially modified or purpose-built racing engines such as the Napier Lion and Rolls-Royce R. A typical large engine of the era, the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial, developed about 1,200 hp (895 kW) from 1,830 in3 (30 L) so an advance of at least 50% would be needed. Simply scaling up an existing design would not solve the problem. While it would have increased the total available power, it would also increase the weight, and thus not have any significant effect on the power-to-weight ratio. To meet the goals, more radical changes were needed.

Several engines were built as part of the hyper program, but for a variety of reasons none of these saw production use. Air-cooled engines from a variety of US companies were delivering similar power ratings by the early 1940s, and the licensed production of the Rolls-Royce Merlin as the Packard V-1650 provided hyper-like performance from an inline while the Allison V-1710 did the same from a US design, one produced as a private effort outside the hyper program.

Design and development
Improvements in construction and lighter materials had already delivered some benefits on the way to higher power-to-weight ratios. Aluminum was being introduced in place of steel as the quality and strength of aluminum alloys improved during the 1930s; this lowered engine weight noticeably, but not enough to achieve a 50% overall improvement. To reach that goal, the power of the engine would also need to be increased. Power is a combination of energy and the rate it is delivered, so to improve the power-to-weight ratio, one would need to increase the operating pressures of the engine, the operating speed, or a combination of both. Further gains could be made by eliminating losses like friction, combustion inefficiencies and scavenging losses, delivering more of the theoretical power to the propeller.

The USAAC engineers determined that it would study all three improvements. Before long, they concluded that increasing the combustion temperature and scavenging efficiency promised the greatest increases of all of the possibilities. To meet that goal, increasing engine speed seemed to be the most attractive solution. However, there were a number of practical problems that were impeding progress in these areas.

Increasing the compression ratio is an easy change that improves the mean effective pressure (MEP), but leads to engine knocking from inconsistent detonation. Uncontrolled, knock can damage the engine and was a major block on the way to improved power settings. This change would also increase the operating temperatures, which presented a problem with the valves. Valves were already reaching temperatures that would cause pre-ignition of the fuel as it flowed past them.

Increasing operational speed is also, theoretically, a simple change to the engine design. However, at high operating speeds the valves do not completely close before the cam opens them again, a problem called "valve float". Valve float allows gases in the cylinder to escape through the partially open valve, reducing the engine efficiency. Increasing valve spring pressure to close the valves faster led to rapid cam wear and increased friction, reducing overall performance by more than any horsepower gained.

As valves were a key issue in both approaches to improved performance, they had been a major area of research in the 1920s and 30s. In the UK, Harry Ricardo had written an influential paper on the sleeve valve system for exactly these reasons, claiming it was the only way forward. He had some success in selling this idea, most notably to Bristol Aeroplane Company Engines, where Roy Fedden became "a believer". Ricardo's friendly competitor, Frank Halford, designed his own sleeve valve engine with Napier & Son, another prominent British engine maker.

The USAAC was not so convinced that the sleeve valve was the only solution. Ironically it was one of Ricardo's papers on the sleeve valve design that led to the USAAC's hyper engine efforts. In one late 1920s paper he claimed that the 1 hp/in³ goal was impossible to achieve with poppet valve type engines. The USAAC engineering team at Wright Field decided to test this claim by beating it. They proposed an engine of about 1200 cubic inches (20 L), hoping the engine's smaller size would lead to reduced drag and hence improved range.

Hyper No.1
Sam Heron, head of development at Wright Field and a former colleague of Ricardo while Heron had been working at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, started working on the problem with a single-cylinder test engine that he converted to liquid cooling, using a Liberty L-12 engine cylinder. He pushed the power to 480 psi Brake Mean Effective Pressure, and the coolant temperature to 300 F before reaching the magic numbers. By 1932, the USAAC's encouraging efforts led the Army to sign a development contract with Continental Motors Company for the continued development of the engine design. The contract limited Continental's role to construction and testing, leaving the actual engineering development to the Army.

Starting with the L-12-cylinder, they decreased the stroke from 7 in to 5 in in order to allow higher engine speeds, and then decreased the bore from 5 in to 4.62 in, creating the 84 in³ cylinder. This would be used in a V-12 engine of 1008 in³ displacement. They used the L-12's overhead camshaft to operate multiple valves of smaller size, which would improve charging and scavenging efficiency. Continental's first test engine, the single-cylinder Hyper No.1, first ran in 1933.

They eventually determined that exhaust valves could run cooler when a hollow core filled with sodium is used — the sodium liquefies and considerably increases the heat transfer from the valve's head to its stem and then to the relatively cooler cylinder head where the liquid coolant picks it up.

Liquid cooling systems at that time used plain water, which limited operating temperatures to about 180 F. The engineers proposed using ethylene glycol, which would allow temperatures up to 280 °F. At first they proposed using 100% glycol, but there was little improvement due to the lower specific heat of the glycol (about 2/3 that of water). They eventually determined that a 50/50 mixture (by volume) of water and glycol provided optimal heat removal.

Hyper No.2
A second cylinder was added to Hyper No. 1 to make a horizontal opposed engine for evaluation of an horizontal opposed 12-cylinder engine. After running the modified engine with different combinations of cylinder bore and stroke, it was found that the high coolant temperature required to maintain the required output was impractical. A third high-performance single-cylinder engine was then constructed with lower operating parameters. This engine was designated "Hyper No. 2", and became the test bed for developing the cylinders that would become the O-1430-1.

Continental O/V/IV/XIV-1430
The Army apparently became concerned about the development of a suitable supercharger for high-altitude use, and for further development in 1934 they asked for a newer cylinder with slightly less performance and an increased volume of 118.8 in3 from its 5.5 in bore and 5.0 in stroke. This size cylinder would then be used in a 1,425 in3 12-cylinder engine, delivering the same 1,000 hp, with a performance of 0.7 hp/in3. This placed its performance on a par with newer experimental engines from Europe like the Rolls-Royce PV-12, at least when running on the higher-octane fuels the Army planned to use.

Another change was to the engine layout. The Army, convinced that future aircraft designs would use engines buried in the wings for additional streamlining, asked Continental to design a full-sized flat-horizontally opposed engine for installation inside a wing. The resulting engine was the Continental O-1430, which would require a ten-year development period which changed the layout to first an upright V-12 engine and later, an inverted V-12 engine before becoming reliable enough to be considered for full production as the Continental IV-1430 in 1943. By then other engines had already passed its 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) rating, and although the IV-1430 had a better power-to-weight ratio, there was little else to suggest setting up production in the middle of the war was worthwhile.

The project was eventually guided by the requirements in the "Request for data R40-C", which was included as a part of the Financial Year (FY) 1940 aircraft procurement program.

Request for data R40-C
As 1938 came to an end, war in Europe was imminent. At this point, European aircraft had greatly surpassed US designs. The two top USAAC fighters, the Seversky P-35 and the Curtiss P-36A, were just able to hit 300 mph. Against the 340+ mph Messerschmitt Bf 109 they would be completely outclassed. One of America’s answers to this issue, the twin-engined Lockheed XP-38, was entering an extended test program.

Although the XP-38 was able to fly at speeds in excess of 413 mph, its twin engines and relatively large frame meant it was large and heavy. This, in turn, meant the XP-38 was not as maneuverable as most single-engine fighters. The XP-38 also had a newly introduced liquid-cooled engine, the Allison V-1710. The Allison's in-line vee cylinder arrangement allowed for a narrow aerodynamic shape that had less drag than the air-cooled radial engine fighters that predominated in America at the time.

The fighter aircraft procurement program for FY 1940 was contained in a document that was approved by Assistant Secretary of War Louis K. Johnson on 9 June 1939. That document was the "Request for Data R40-C", and unlike previous aircraft procurement requests, it was sent to only a limited number of aircraft manufacturers. The original document was to be sent to:
 * Bell Aircraft Corporation
 * Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
 * Curtiss-Wright Corporation Curtiss Airplane Division
 * Curtiss-Wright Corporation, St. Louis Airplane Division
 * Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
 * Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
 * Republic Aviation Corporation
 * Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division, United Aircraft Corporation
 * Vultee Aircraft Division, Aviation Manufacturing Corporation

After final review and approval as Air Corps Type Specification XC-622, a further four manufacturers were added to the distribution:
 * Hughes Aircraft Corporation
 * McDonnell Aircraft Company
 * Boeing Aircraft Company
 * Northrop Aircraft, Incorporated

These companies had only ten days to agree to the terms of the document, and only 30 days to submit their designs.

FY 1940
A total of 26 designs, with a mix of 16 engine models from six engine companies, were submitted by seven of the selected companies. These engines became known as the "Hyper Engines", a contraction of High-performance engines. The submitted designs were graded using a "Figure of merit" (FOM) rating system, and then, using the FOM results (which ranged from 444.12 for the Allison V-1710-E8 to 817.90 for the Pratt and Whitney X-1800-A4G), they were separated into one of three groups.

 * Those placed in the first group were little more than modifications to existing designs. They were not considered to be sufficiently advanced.
 * Those placed in the third group proposed using an engine that was unlikely to be developed into flying condition by the time the airframe was ready to fly. They were not considered to be viable in the time frame allowed.
 * The remaining ten designs were placed in the second group: those that were an advancement in aeronautical engineering, with an engine that would be ready to fly, when needed.

Only three of these ten designs were approved, and contracts were made for a limited prototype run of three aircraft for each.

The three aircraft/engine combinations that were selected:
 * 1) Vultee Aircraft's Model 70 Alternate 2, (FOM score: 817.9), which became the Vultee XP-54, powered by the Pratt & Whitney X-1800-A4G engine
 * 2) Curtiss-Wright St Louis' Model P248C, (FOM score: 770.6), which became the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender, powered by the Continental IV-1430-3 engine
 * 3) Northrop's Model N2-B (FOM score: 725.8), which became the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, powered by the Pratt & Whitney X-1800-A3G engine

FY 1941
Three additional high-performance engines were considered for the USAAC's FY 1942 "Hyper" engine procurement program. They were:
 * Wright R-2160 "Tornado"
 * Pratt & Whitney H-3130
 * Allison V-3420

Not to be left out, the US Navy selected the Lycoming XH-2470 for funding in FY 1942 as well.

Program end
In the end, all of these programs were canceled, and the surviving engines became museum pieces.

Ironically, engines that were not considered under the program; the Allison V-1710, Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone and Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major, all surpassed the USAAC requirements, and continue flying into the 21st century, primarily flying restored warbird aircraft.

title: Hyper engine


text:
Marquess of Ripon

Marquess of Ripon, in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1871 for the Liberal politician George Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon.

History
The Robinson family descended from William Robinson (d. 1616), a wealthy York merchant, Lord Mayor and Member of Parliament for York. His grandson Sir William Robinson also represented York in Parliament and served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1638. Sir William's elder son Metcalfe Robinson sat as Member of Parliament for York and was created a Baronet in 1660 (see Robinson Baronets). He died childless in 1689 when the baronetcy became extinct. The title was revived in the following year when his nephew William Robinson was created a Baronet, of Newby in the County of York, in the Baronetage of England. Sir William represented both Northallerton and York in Parliament. His eldest son Metcalfe, the second Baronet, only survived him by four days and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tancred, the third Baronet. He was a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy. This line of the family failed on the death of his younger son, the fifth Baronet, in 1792.

The late Baronet was succeeded by his first cousin once removed, Thomas Robinson, 3rd Baron Grantham, who became the sixth Baronet. He was the grandson of Thomas Robinson (fourth son of the first Baronet), a prominent diplomat and politician who served as Ambassador to the Austrian Empire, as Secretary of State for the Southern Department and as Leader of the House of Commons; in 1761 he was created Baron Grantham, of Grantham in the County of Lincoln, in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron, who was also a successful diplomat and politician who served as Ambassador to Spain and as Foreign Secretary. Lord Grantham married Lady Mary Jemima, daughter of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, and Jemima Yorke, 2nd Marchioness Grey and 4th Baroness Lucas, granddaughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent.

He was succeeded by his elder son Thomas, the aforementioned third Baron Grantham. In 1803 Thomas assumed the surname of Weddell in lieu of his patronymic. In 1833 he succeeded his maternal aunt as 2nd Earl de Grey and 6th Baron Lucas. His aunt Lady Amabel (or Annabella) Yorke had succeeded her mother the Marchioness Grey (on whose death the marquessate became extinct) in the barony of Lucas in 1797 and in 1816 she was created Countess de Grey, of Wrest in the County of Bedford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, with remainder to her sister Lady Mary Jemima and the heirs male of her body. Lady de Grey was the childless widow of Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth, son of Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont. Thomas, the second Earl de Grey, also inherited the Grey family seat of Wrest Park, near Silsoe in Bedfordshire. The same year he succeeded to the earldom, he assumed by Royal licence the surname of de Grey in lieu of Weddell.

Lord de Grey had no sons and was succeeded in the barony of Lucas (which could be passed on through female lines) by his daughter, Anne (see Baron Lucas for further history of this title). He was succeeded in the other titles by his nephew, George Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon. He was the only son of the Honourable F. J. Robinson, second son of the second Baron Grantham. F. J. Robinson was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1823 and 1827, and he served briefly as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between August 1827 and January 1828. In 1827 he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Viscount Goderich, of Nocton in the County of Lincoln. This was a revival of the viscountcy of Goderich created for his great-great-grandfather the Duke of Kent in 1706. In 1833 Robinson was further honoured when he was made Earl of Ripon, in the County of Kent in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. On his death in 1859 he was succeeded by his only son, the aforementioned second Earl of Ripon. The latter also succeeded his uncle in the earldom of de Grey later in 1859, whereby he became known by the style of "Earl de Grey and Ripon". He was a distinguished Liberal statesman and held office in every Liberal administration from 1861 until his death in 1908. In 1871 he was created Marquess of Ripon, in the County of York in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was succeeded by his only son and only surviving child, the second Marquess. He represented Ripon in Parliament between 1874 and 1880. He was childless, therefore all the titles became extinct upon his death in 1923. The second Marquess was regarded as the finest shot of his generation.

The family seats were Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, and Newby Hall and Studley Royal Park in Yorkshire

Robinson Baronets, of Newby (1690)

 * Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet (1655–1736)
 * Sir Metcalfe Robinson, 2nd Baronet (c. 1683–1736)
 * Sir Tancred Robinson, 3rd Baronet (c. 1685–1754)
 * Sir William Robinson, 4th Baronet (1713–1770)
 * Sir Norton Robinson, 5th Baronet (c. 1715–1792)
 * Thomas Philip Robinson, 3rd Baron Grantham (1781–1859)

Barons Grantham (1761)

 * Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham (c. 1695–1770)
 * Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham (1738–1786)
 * Thomas Philip Robinson, 3rd Baron Grantham (1781–1859) (succeeded as 2nd Earl de Grey in 1833)

Earls de Grey (1816)

 * Amabel Yorke, 1st Countess de Grey (1751–1833)
 * Thomas Philip de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781–1859)
 * George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 3rd Earl de Grey, 1st Marquess of Ripon (1827–1909)

Viscount Goderich (1827)

 * Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich; created Earl of Ripon in 1833 (1782–1859)

Earls of Ripon (1833)

 * Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon (1782–1859)
 * George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon (1827–1909) (succeeded as 4th Baron Grantham and 3rd Earl de Grey in 1859; created Marquess of Ripon in 1871)

Marquesses of Ripon (1871)

 * George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon (1827–1909)
 * Frederick Oliver Robinson, 2nd Marquess of Ripon (1852–1923)

title: Marquess of Ripon


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Impse

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled Impse.'

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

Nonsensical topic - has little possibility of expanding into an encyclopedic article. The concept has its roots in a DOOM fanfiction story where a Marine has...an encounter with an imp, along with a DOOM modification created later, following suit on the same subject. I'm sure you can guess what happens. Bloodshedder 18:20, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, but list the website impse.cx on goatse.cx as a parody. Fredrik 19:00, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Since this article has no content, it could have been speedily deleted. RickK 20:52, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Useless article on a non-notable subject. Delete. -- Cyrius|&#9998 21:34, May 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete for the reasons stated above. --bceaglejoe 23:58, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, this is retarded. --Starx 01:37, 17 May 2004 (UTC)
 * No content, delete.Beelzebubs 03:16, 17 May 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue or the deletion should be placed on other relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Impse


text:
Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!

Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! is a 1972 children's book by Dr. Seuss. Written as a book for early beginning readers, it is suitable for children who can not yet read at the level of more advanced beginning books such as The Cat in the Hat. The book presents, in short and funny fashion, Dr. Seuss's nonsensical words, rhymes, and illustrations.

It is not entirely clear what the story is about but is known to have a similar ending to Green Eggs and Ham. One popular interpretation of the story, given Marvin is wearing purple pajamas, is that he is being told to go to bed by his parent, though the story was designed to be ambiguous in nature.

Story
Marvin K. Mooney, a young dog boy wearing purple pajamas standing in the middle of a rug, is asked to "go" by an unseen individual because "the time has come" for him. The individual, who is depicted with a large arm and pointing finger and is also the narrator, tells him to "go".

The narrator suggests wacky and bizarre ways for Marvin to leave (even though the narrator has no preference for the method), but all suggestions conclude with the narrator repeating the directive. After all the suggestions are listed, the individual points their finger very close at Marvin to firmly confirm that they order him to leave the room. Marvin finally complies, choosing to exit on foot. The individual waves goodbye to him.

In political culture
At the height of the Watergate scandal, in a July 1974 collaboration with political humorist Art Buchwald, Dr. Seuss took a two-year-old copy of his book, crossed out "Marvin K. Mooney" wherever it occurred and wrote in "Richard M. Nixon". With Dr. Seuss's consent, Buchwald and his editors reprinted the markup as a newspaper column, published on July 30. Nixon resigned ten days later on August 9.

In Maureen Dowd's column for The New York Times, "Wilting over Waffles", dated April 23, 2008, she suggests that Democrats in the 2008 presidential election might take a cue from this book in their approach to Hillary Clinton's prolonged campaign against Barack Obama, asking her to "just go. I don't care how". MEP Daniel Hannan quoted the book in reference to Gordon Brown after the 2009 European Parliament election.

The same idea has also been applied to Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and Donald Trump during and after both the 2016 United States presidential election and the 2020 United States presidential election.


text:
Bridge City

Bridge City may refer to a place in the United States:

 * Bridge City, Louisiana, a census-designated place
 * Bridge City, Texas, a city located in the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area

title: Bridge City


text:
Dictyoptera

Dictyoptera (from Greek δίκτυον diktyon "net" and πτερόν pteron "wing") is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea (termites and cockroaches together) and the order Mantodea (mantises). All modern Dictyoptera have short ovipositors and typically lay oothecae. The oldest fossils of Dictyoptera from the Late Carboniferous, referred to as "roachoids" have long ovipositors and did not lay oothecae. The oldest modern oothecae-laying dictyopterans date to the Late Triassic.

Classification and phylogeny
The use of the term Dictyoptera has changed over the years, and while largely out of use for much of the last century, it is becoming more widely used. It has usually been considered a superorder, with Isoptera, Blattodea and Mantodea being its three orders. In some classifications, however, Dictyoptera is shifted to order status and in others the order Isoptera has been subsumed under Blattodea while retaining Dictyoptera as a superorder. Regardless, in all classifications the constituent groups are the same, just treated at different rank. Termites and cockroaches are very closely related, with ecological and molecular data pointing to a relationship with the cockroach genus Cryptocercus.

According to genetic evidence, the closest living relatives of the Dictyoptera are the orders Phasmatodea, Mantophasmatodea, and Grylloblattodea. If the Dictyoptera are considered a superorder these other orders might be included in it.

Evolutionary relationships based on Eggleton, Beccaloni & Inward 2007 and modified by Evangelista et al. 2019, are shown in the cladogram: The cockroach families Anaplectidae, Lamproblattidae, and Tryonicidae are not shown but are placed within the superfamily Blattoidea. The cockroach families Corydiidae and Ectobiidae were previously known as the Polyphagidae and Blattellidae. The cladogram also shows the family Alienopteridae (originally assigned to its own order "Alienoptera") as sister to Mantodea, but it was subsequently reassigned to the extinct Blattodea superfamily Umenocoleoidea by Vršanský et al..

title: Dictyoptera


text:
Mass number

The mass number (symbol A, from the German word: Atomgewicht, "atomic weight"), also called atomic mass number or nucleon number, is the total number of protons and neutrons (together known as nucleons) in an atomic nucleus. It is approximately equal to the atomic (also known as isotopic) mass of the atom expressed in atomic mass units. Since protons and neutrons are both baryons, the mass number A is identical with the baryon number B of the nucleus (and also of the whole atom or ion). The mass number is different for each isotope of a given chemical element, and the difference between the mass number and the atomic number Z gives the number of neutrons (N) in the nucleus: N = A − Z.

The mass number is written either after the element name or as a superscript to the left of an element's symbol. For example, the most common isotope of carbon is carbon-12, or 12carbon, which has 6 protons and 6 neutrons. The full isotope symbol would also have the atomic number (Z) as a subscript to the left of the element symbol directly below the mass number:.

Mass number changes in radioactive decay
Different types of radioactive decay are characterized by their changes in mass number as well as atomic number, according to the radioactive displacement law of Fajans and Soddy. For example, uranium-238 usually decays by alpha decay, where the nucleus loses two neutrons and two protons in the form of an alpha particle. Thus the atomic number and the number of neutrons each decrease by 2 (Z: 92 → 90, N: 146 → 144), so that the mass number decreases by 4 (A = 238 → 234); the result is an atom of thorium-234 and an alpha particle :

 * {| border="0"

 * - style="height:2em;"
 * }
 * }

On the other hand, carbon-14 decays by beta decay, whereby one neutron is transmuted into a proton with the emission of an electron and an antineutrino. Thus the atomic number increases by 1 (Z: 6 → 7) and the mass number remains the same (A = 14), while the number of neutrons decreases by 1 (N: 8 → 7). The resulting atom is nitrogen-14, with seven protons and seven neutrons:

 * {| border="0"

 * - style="height:2em;"
 * }
 * }

Beta decay is possible because different isobars have mass differences on the order of a few electron masses. If possible, a nuclide will undergo beta decay to an adjacent isobar with lower mass. In the absence of other decay modes, a cascade of beta decays terminates at the isobar with the lowest atomic mass.

Another type of radioactive decay without change in mass number is emission of a gamma ray from a nuclear isomer or metastable excited state of an atomic nucleus. Since all the protons and neutrons remain in the nucleus unchanged in this process, the mass number is also unchanged.

Mass number and isotopic mass
The mass number gives an estimate of the isotopic mass measured in atomic mass units (u). For 12C, the isotopic mass is exactly 12, since the atomic mass unit is defined as 1/12 of the mass of 12C. For other isotopes, the isotopic mass is usually within 0.1 u of the mass number. For example, 35Cl (17 protons and 18 neutrons) has a mass number of 35 and an isotopic mass of 34.96885. The difference of the actual isotopic mass minus the mass number of an atom is known as the mass excess, which for 35Cl is –0.03115. Mass excess should not be confused with mass defect which is the difference between the mass of an atom and its constituent particles (namely protons, neutrons and electrons).

There are two reasons for mass excess:
 * 1) The neutron is slightly heavier than the proton. This increases the mass of nuclei with more neutrons than protons relative to the atomic mass unit scale based on 12C with equal numbers of protons and neutrons.
 * 2) Nuclear binding energy varies between nuclei. A nucleus with greater binding energy has a lower total energy, and therefore a lower mass according to Einstein's mass–energy equivalence relation E = mc2. For 35Cl, the isotopic mass is less than 35, so this must be the dominant factor.

Relative atomic mass of an element
The mass number should also not be confused with the standard atomic weight (also called atomic weight) of an element, which is the ratio of the average atomic mass of the different isotopes of that element (weighted by abundance) to the atomic mass constant. The atomic weight is a mass ratio, while the mass number is a counted number (and so an integer).

This weighted average can be quite different from the near-integer values for individual isotopic masses. For instance, there are two main isotopes of chlorine: chlorine-35 and chlorine-37. In any given sample of chlorine that has not been subjected to mass separation there will be roughly 75% of chlorine atoms which are chlorine-35 and only 25% of chlorine atoms which are chlorine-37. This gives chlorine a relative atomic mass of 35.5 (actually 35.4527 g/mol).

Moreover, the weighted average mass can be near-integer, but at the same time not corresponding to the mass of any natural isotope. For example, bromine has only two stable isotopes, 79Br and 81Br, naturally present in approximately equal fractions, which leads to the standard atomic mass of bromine close to 80 (79.904 g/mol), even though the isotope 80Br with such mass is unstable.

title: Mass number