![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasYou know, the "Master and Commander" series by Patrick O'Brian.
So far, I've read Master and Commander, Post Captain, HMS Surprise, The Marturius Command, Desolation Island, and listened to The Fortune of War as a book-on-tape, because none of the local library networks had it in in book form, and I didn't feel like waiting a week for it to be returned.
But I may have missed something, because I believe it was slightly abridged. And because I'd never listened to a book on tape before, so my mind may have wandered.
I was wondering if any other fans of the series could clear something up for me:
Okay. So Jack and Steven are on board the Java when the USS Constitution (my favorite Age of Sail fighting vessel ever, by the way) captures them, and they're taken prisoner. They give their parole when they're held in Boston.
But then they escape from Boston because of some French spies who are trying to kill or capture Stephen, make it to the HMS Shannon, and participate in the Shannon vs. Chesapeake duel ("Don't give up the ship, lads!")
Now, as I understand it, by giving their parole, Jack and Stephen are agreeing not to take any military action against Americans until they're exchanged. So, while I could see that it might be honorable for them to escape and to go to Halifax, and even fight against Frenchmen or anybody else who wasn't an American, wasn't manning one of the quarterdeck guns and participating in a boarding action a direct violation of Jack Aubery's parole?
I'm figuring one of several things happened:
1. (This is the most likely) I blanked out and missed a part of the story where they explained how this wasn't a violation.
2. (This is nearly as likely) I'm totally misunderstanding how "parole" works.
3. (Also plausible) There was an explanation in the book that was edited out of the book-on-tape version.
4. (Not really likely) Jack Aubery figured, "Fuck it," and broke his parole.
5. (Not really likely) Patrick O'Brian totally forgot about that whole "parole" thing.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
So far, I've read Master and Commander, Post Captain, HMS Surprise, The Marturius Command, Desolation Island, and listened to The Fortune of War as a book-on-tape, because none of the local library networks had it in in book form, and I didn't feel like waiting a week for it to be returned.
But I may have missed something, because I believe it was slightly abridged. And because I'd never listened to a book on tape before, so my mind may have wandered.
I was wondering if any other fans of the series could clear something up for me:
Okay. So Jack and Steven are on board the Java when the USS Constitution (my favorite Age of Sail fighting vessel ever, by the way) captures them, and they're taken prisoner. They give their parole when they're held in Boston.
But then they escape from Boston because of some French spies who are trying to kill or capture Stephen, make it to the HMS Shannon, and participate in the Shannon vs. Chesapeake duel ("Don't give up the ship, lads!")
Now, as I understand it, by giving their parole, Jack and Stephen are agreeing not to take any military action against Americans until they're exchanged. So, while I could see that it might be honorable for them to escape and to go to Halifax, and even fight against Frenchmen or anybody else who wasn't an American, wasn't manning one of the quarterdeck guns and participating in a boarding action a direct violation of Jack Aubery's parole?
I'm figuring one of several things happened:
1. (This is the most likely) I blanked out and missed a part of the story where they explained how this wasn't a violation.
2. (This is nearly as likely) I'm totally misunderstanding how "parole" works.
3. (Also plausible) There was an explanation in the book that was edited out of the book-on-tape version.
4. (Not really likely) Jack Aubery figured, "Fuck it," and broke his parole.
5. (Not really likely) Patrick O'Brian totally forgot about that whole "parole" thing.
Can anyone shed some light on this?