Besides reaching the peak of naval skills and authority, Jack Aubrey is presented as being interested in mathematics and astronomy, a great lover of music and player of the violin, a hearty singer and is generally accompanied by his friend and shipmate Stephen Maturin on the cello.
35 Facts About Jack Aubrey
1.
2.
Jack Aubrey is played by Russell Crowe in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and by Michael Troughton and David Robb in the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of the novels.
3.
Jack Aubrey's mother died when he was a boy; he is an only child.
4.
Jack Aubrey's father General Aubrey lives a longer life, and is a character in some of the novels, often working against the career interest of his son with clumsy politics.
5.
In Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey describes the efforts of his slightly older neighbour "Queeney" to teach him some Latin and the mathematics associated with a sailing ship and its navigation so that he could pass his examination for lieutenant, an event that happened before the first novel.
6.
Queeney's family had occupied Damplow when Jack Aubrey was a boy, a house adjoining General Jack Aubrey's estate.
7.
Jack Aubrey spent six months as a common seaman before being re-rated as a midshipman.
8.
Jack Aubrey spent some time as fifth lieutenant aboard HMS Hannibal, under Captain John Newman.
9.
Jack Aubrey earned a silver Nile medal, having served as a lieutenant aboard HMS Leander during the battle of the Nile in 1798, mentioned in Master and Commander.
10.
The Nile Medal is mentioned whenever Jack Aubrey wears his dress uniform.
11.
Jack Aubrey is between twenty and thirty years old when the first story opens, a lieutenant passing time on the island of Minorca, at a musical performance.
12.
Jack Aubrey is given his first command: a fourteen-gun brig-rigged sloop, HMS Sophie.
13.
Jack Aubrey is a great lover of music and player of the violin; he is a hearty singer.
14.
Jack Aubrey is a man of even temperament, generally cheerful, sociable and alert to the feelings of his shipmates.
15.
Jack Aubrey knows every aspect of the ships he sails and how best to gain speed over the oceans from each one by use of the sails without putting too much stress on the masts or yards, a complex and hard-earned knowledge.
16.
Jack Aubrey has been described as "the bluff and ultracompetent Aubrey".
17.
Jack Aubrey feels the joy of battle; he is skilled in planning his attacks and in carrying them out, using cannon or hand-to-hand fighting.
18.
Jack Aubrey is particularly fond of the music of Corelli and Boccherini.
19.
Maturin enters actively into the humour of fractured proverbs by the eighth novel, The Ionian Mission, as shown in this exchange between the two friends in Chapter 10: 'Why, as to that,' said Jack Aubrey, blowing on his coffee-cup and staring out of the stern-window at the harbour, 'as to that.
20.
Jack Aubrey loves his family, though most of the time he is away on a ship.
21.
Jack Aubrey sits as justice of the peace for certain local matters.
22.
Jack Aubrey can earn the money by taking rich prizes, but only with the help of his wife's good management and his lawyer's persistence at winning in lawsuits meant to take it from him, does the money stay in his hands for good uses.
23.
Jack Aubrey is a prisoner of war with a perfect view of the naval battle in Algeciras Bay in Master and Commander.
24.
Jack Aubrey is a passenger aboard HMS Java when she is captured by USS Constitution in The Fortune of War.
25.
Again a prisoner of war, Jack Aubrey arrives in Boston aboard USS Constitution.
26.
The battles in which Jack Aubrey participates are inspired by real ship engagements, but not involving the same ships by name, or sometimes by exact date of the real encounter.
27.
The Franklin is a privateer Jack Aubrey captures and uses for a brief time before he sells it.
28.
Jack Aubrey earned the silver Nile medal and wore it on his dress uniform always.
29.
Jack Aubrey earned it as a lieutenant in an action before the series began, in the 1798 Battle of the Nile.
30.
Jack Aubrey's portrait was painted to hang at home, showing him wearing the red ribbon of the Order of the Bath, described at the start of Desolation Island, after he returned from great success in The Mauritius Command.
31.
Jack Aubrey received an elaborate diamond chelengk, earned in The Ionian Mission from the Turks, and mentioned in Treason's Harbour as having been saved by Killick.
32.
Jack Aubrey has a Lloyd's 100-guinea presentation sword, mentioned in the start of The Reverse of the Medal and in The Nutmeg of Consolation.
33.
Jack Aubrey is described with his military awards at the start of The Reverse of the Medal.
34.
Jack Aubrey is played by Russell Crowe in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
35.
Jack Aubrey is played by David Robb in the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of the novels.