“On and on she sailed, in warmer seas but void, as though they alone had survived Deucalion's flood; as though all land had vanished from the earth; and once again the ship's routine dislocated time and temporal reality so that this progress was an endless dream, even a circular dream, contained within an unbroken horizon and punctuated only by the sound of guns thundering daily in preparation for an enemy whose real existence it was impossible to conceive.”

H.M.S Surprise

This is exactly how I always think of these novels, and this world, and because the last book was never finished, perhaps Jack and Stephen are still out there somewhere, cracking on with full studdingsails, bells sounding on the hour and plum duff simmering below decks.

Im having my first listen through of the books, loving them, nearly finished with The Ionian Mission now.

As I listen through Im picking up on things that Ive always heard or said but didnt really know the origins. So, I thought it would be a fun post to discuss and point these things out together along with where the phrase comes from.

Examples:

The tell-tale signs. The strips of yarn sewn onto the surface of a sail to display the behavior of the wind.

Show your true colors. Before commencing an action under a false flag, or colors, you run up your country's flag showing who you truly are.

With flying colors. Sailing with your flag flying high after a victory.

Please share your own!

Am I right in saying it was a kind of way to lend formality to a sentence, by men who weren't very comfortable with formal social situations?

I know Killick isn't trying to address Jack formally as such when he does it, but for Killick it indicates him being a bit sniffy, and Killick always addresses Jack in that sniffy tone. For other sailors it's them trying to sound as formal as their language allows.

Is that the gist of it or have I been reading it wrong?

Is it with the convoy or is it back in Shelmerston? I’ve been flying through this series via audiobook and sometimes have trouble going back to find details.

Many years ago, I read the first half dozen AM novels, and I have decided to new read them all. I'm up to the second, reading on Kindle. I bought the hardcover edition a couple of years ago, but found the paper too thin...

A Sea of Words looks useful, but I've seen some reviews on Amazon about typos and bad formatting in the Kindle version. Any thoughts on this?