The Unknown Shore

The Unknown Shore is a novel written in the 1950s by Patrick O'Brian. It is the story of two friends, Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow who sail aboard the Wager as part of Anson's 1740 expedition.

Related Topics:
Novel - Patrick O'Brian - Jack Byron - Wager - Anson

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The midshipman Byron and somewhat unworldly surgeon's mate Barrow are prototypes for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin who appear in many of O'Brian's later novels.

Related Topics:
Midshipman - Jack Aubrey - Stephen Maturin - Later novels

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In reality, John "Jack" Byron was a historical person and the basic facts of the story are true. He went on to a distinguished naval career, rising to the rank of Vice-admiral.

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There is an easter egg O'Brian includes in the novel. His Jack Byron secretly writes poetry. He wants Tobias to refrain from mentioning it to any of his peers. Byron's grandson was the famous poet Lord Byron.

Related Topics:
Easter egg - Lord Byron

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In the early part of the novel, set in London, other members of the expedition are featured. They appear in more detail in The Golden Ocean, another O'Brian novel about the Anson expedition.

Related Topics:
London - The Golden Ocean

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The expedition is beset by storms while rounding of Cape Horn, the Wager is shipwrecked off the coast of Chile as their position could not be determined. The crew reject the authority of their officers, once the ship was wrecked and leave the captain, some officers and some other crew on the island when they sail away in a boat built from the wreck. The marooned officers make their way to a Spanish settlement with the help of the native people. The novel is based on the accounts of the survivors. Survivors from the lower deck made their way back to Britain long before the officers. The novel describes the crew members asserting that the officers had no authority over them, once their ship was wrecked. The wreck of the Wager played a role in revising officers commissions, so that they retained formal authority over the crew, even if their ship was lost.

Related Topics:
Cape Horn - Chile - Maroon

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There is an important passage in O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novel Desolation Island where Byron's name comes up. Maturin and Pullings, the first Lieutenant fall into a conversation about Pullings' grandfather who had sailed with Byron, and the wrecks they had gone through together, and the conclusions they had drawn about how a wreck can test men's character. It provides important, painless foreshadowing for the discipline problems that were to arise aboard the Leopard.

Related Topics:
Aubrey-Maturin - Desolation Island

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