An excellent companion to the Patrick O'Brian Aubery/Maturin 20-volume continuous novel. Read the essays and study the diagrams as soon as you get your copy, then use the lexicon next time you're reading an episode and feel like a lubber.

I've only had time to browse through this briefly, but so far it looks to be exactly what I was after. It's quite a thick paper back - nearly 500 words or so - with chapters that cover the structure of the Royal Navy, naval ranks, the Napoleonic Wars, and contemporary naval medicine. There are also maps, diagrams of various types of ships, and a large lexicon covering all the various types of naval jargon and period slang which appear in the Aubrey-Maturin books. I can now happily say that I know what figgy-dowdy is.

For those of you may be looking for a guide to help understand the series, I can recommend this highly. ( )

A treasure trove of information to explain the language of the time found in O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. ( )

Very useful reference for landlubbers reading the Aubrey-Maturin series. ( )

Dictionary-format companion to the Aubrey-Maturin novels. A great resource for everything from nautical terms to French and Latin phrases. ( )