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Sea Stories Blowing Through
By Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel, September 10, 2003

The sea thunders as waves break over the beam of a tall-masted ship. It's a living thing, its oak planks and hemp ropes moaning and creaking from the strain. Above, the rigging whines under a cumulus cloud of salt-stained canvas.

A chantey rises up from below decks.

"Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men."

And on the quarterdeck, pacing, scowling, his club-tailed hair in the wind, is the captain, commander, king and god of all he surveys.

He could be Australian hunk Russell Crowe or British wunderboy Ioan Gruffud. The character could be real-life legend Capt. James Cook or Lt. William Bligh, or fictional hero Horatio Hornblower or "Lucky" Jack Aubrey.

This fall, the fleet is in. Specifically the Royal Navy, Napoleonic Wars edition.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" was just the appetizer. From now through the end of the year, the golden age of sail lives again, on big screen and small and on the new-release table at your neighborhood bookseller.

In an uncertain time, the romance of the sea and the heroism of those who sailed it will be celebrated over and over again.

"Heart of oak are our ships, heart of oak are our men;

We always are ready, steady, boys, steady!

We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."

Patrick O'Brian's 20 "Master and Commander" books, about a Royal Navy captain and his friend - a doctor and amateur naturalist who dabbles in spying - are coming to the big screen. C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower returns to TV. And new books and reissues of books about the mutiny on the Bounty, the life of James Cook and the search for pirates promise to take us back to the days when men were men, ships were wood and you explored and fought where the wind took you.

"Sea tales have a power that is literally mythical," says Caroline Alexander, an author who set the stage for the great sail revival with her book on Sir Ernest Shackleton, "The Endurance," in 1998. Her new book is even saltier - "The Bounty" is a fresh take on Bligh and Fletcher Christian and the infamous mutiny aboard the ship of that name.

"From 'The Odyssey' onward, harsh sea voyages have a romance to them that is inescapable," Alexander says. "If the HMS Bounty mutiny was simply about an outlaw trekking across the mountains to escape, nobody would care. But it's a sea tale, with an island paradise and a mystery."

Uncharted worlds

The cusp of the 19th century, where this confluence of fact and fiction takes place, draws writers, filmmakers and consumers of culture and history to it like few other eras.

The ancient art of sailing reached a zenith during the Napoleonic Wars. But the warships weren't just for combat. The culmination of generations of almost uninterrupted war between Britain and France and their allies was also a glorious time of discovery. Hawai'i and Tahiti were uncharted worlds for the Europeans, explored by Capt. Cook and others, including the Bounty's William Bligh, who accompanied Cook on the explorer's final, fatal trip to Hawai'i.

First came the real sailors, most famously Lord Thomas Cochrane, a daring captain and adventurer. His exploits would first inspire Forester's Horatio Hornblower in the 1940s and '50s, and later O'Brian's novels. O'Brian's heroes now come to life in a new Russell Crowe movie. And Hornblower's adventures have been an annual miniseries fixture on the A&E network since 1998.

"When I think about how many movies and miniseries we've done, from the Jane Austen adaptations to 'Hornblower' - it's been just glorious for us," says Delia Fine, executive producer of A&E's Horatio Hornblower miniseries, which resumes this December. "Audiences can't get enough of it."

The early 1800s, the end of the Age of Reason, was one of the most tumultuous and colorful eras in history. Women were just beginning to emerge from the shadows of Western society. Science was finally winning out over religious superstition.

And the world was at war.

"Empires were gained and lost," Fine says. "The world was truly shifting and changing in tremendous ways, with warfare and trade and scientific breakthroughs, and that makes it an incredibly interesting period, dramatically."

Gordon Laco is a Canadian writer and tall-ships expert who was historical consultant on "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," which comes to a very large screen near you

Nov. 14.

The film is set in 1805 on a small frigate, the Surprise.

"The men who were fighting on the HMS Surprise would have been the sons of men who were the sons of men who were the sons of men who knew only a world at war," Laco says.

Combat between the French and British empires "had been going on that long," Laco says. The rise of Napoleon at the end of the 1700s let the French all but conquer the continent. But not the sea. Britannia ruled the waves.

Some sailors were enlistees, some were "pressed men," arrested on land or even at sea and forced to serve, something that led to the War of 1812. But most were men of duty defending their country.

"We need, in these uncertain times, to look to people who had certainty in their lives," Fine says. "These were people who knew, when they swung out of that hammock after four hours of sleep, why they had to have their feet on that deck."

Epics on the big screen

The historic parallels to the present world situation were just one of the reasons 20th century Fox wanted to put O'Brian's novels on the screen.

O'Brian, who died in 2000, sold millions of copies of his books, which also garnered glowing reviews that called him a modern Jane Austen.

The rights to film these books have been in various hands for decades, but now is the right time to film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," says Hutch Parker, president of the Fox Film Group.

"The movies are constantly looking for new, expansive universes, big themes, big stories, big experiences, spectacles on a great canvas," Parker says.

" 'Braveheart,' 'Titanic' and 'Gladiator' opened the door to the historical epic again. I see this movie as kind of a continuation of that trend."

The $135 million movie used a real tall ship, the HMS Rose, assorted models and sets. A&E's "Hornblower" series has bought or rented many a European tall ship. Fine and Parker both say that fans of the O'Brian and Forester novels will let them know when things aren't authentic.

"You would not believe the mail we got when we shot some of the last series from the deck of a ship set we built up on a hill in Minorca," Fine says with a laugh.

Director Peter Weir, of "The Truman Show" and "The Year of Living Dangerously," charged Laco with keeping the "Master and Commander" set accurate. Laco acquired a cannon, trained a gun crew and recorded the real sounds of a brass cannon firing deadly shot.

The HMS Rose put to sea for some scenes, with her crew, including Crowe, mastering the art of scampering up the rigging and "skylarking," playing Tarzan among the lines in the towering masts. (Thanks to Ladyamy)

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Mastering the Commander
BoatUS (19/03)

With a turbulent, troubled year nearly behind us, the chance to escape to another century, where heroes ruled, bravery won the day and spectacular tall shops roamed the sea discovering exotic new lands, sounds like just the
ticket. Hollywood filmmakers are certainly banking on it.

In only a few weeks, ardent readers of the late author Patrick O'Brian will be able to judge for themselves if his complex, if not eccentric, characters and history-based sea stories can possibly survive the translation into a feature film. On the plus side, those involved in the project-from the head of 20th Century Fox to the director, stars and extras-all immersed themselves in the O'Brian novels in preparing for and filming Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World due to premier Nov. 14.

Films based upon cherished books have had a great run lately, from Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings series. But not since The Perfect Storm has Hollywood tackled a sea-going drama on an epic scale. The almost cult-like followers of Patrick O'Brian have known it was only a matter of time before any one of the 20-book series became a movie. (Fan reviews are already being posted on POB Web sites of a preliminary trailer of the film; the real trailer wasn't out as of mid-July).

Nearly two decades ago, the obscure Irish author sent his 10th manuscript, The Far Side of the World, to his New York editor at then-U.S. publisher Lippincott. This particular editor, himself a sailor, saw genius in the works where meticulous historical research combined with a quality of writing that breathed new life into the dusty genre of "historical fiction." In appreciation, O'Brian dedicated this book in 1984 to Wolcott Gibbs, Jr. "who first encouraged these tales."

Today, Tony Gibbs is the chairman of the BoatUS National Advisory Council, a travel writer and author of 15 books himself. And, he has the same trepidation over filmmakers doing justice to O'Brian.

"I approach it with modified hope," he said. If they have been as true to the books as possible, much like the Lord of the Rings films did, I'm cautiously optimistic. I will certainly go see it."

Since just about the entire movie takes place on board the fictional British Navy frigate HMS Suprise, the authenticity of the shipboard scenes may make or break the movie. Director Peter Weir was said to have read the series of books four times and spared no expense in seeking our naval records, logs, diaries, paintings and museum pieces to assure the accuracy of film's setting, the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Weir's prior films include Witness, The Truman Show, Gallipoli, Dead Poet's Society, and The Year of Living Dangerously.

"The eight-ball he (Weir) is working behind is the existence of a novel of which many, many people are extremely fond, and I do not envy him," said Gibbs. "I was quite frankly daunted when I heard about the film being made starring Russell Crowe."

But Gibbs said after seeing A Beautiful Mind he then knew Crowe could probably become just about any character. "I think the film's success in going to depend as much on the performances as how well the era is preserved."

Crowe plays British Navy Capt. "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, a figure of legendary sailing and fighting skill, with large appetites for wine, food, music and ladies. The Academy Award-winning Australian has told associates he got so deep into the role he did not want to give up the captain's uniform and continually being called "sir" by everyone on the set.

"I think Peter Weir will deliver the goods for all the Patrick O'Brian fans," said Doug Merrifield, the marine coordinator for the film. He was in charge of the ships, the replicas and on-the-water shooting. "It was always Peter Weir's intention to remain as truthful to Patrick O'Brian as possible. Ultimately, in a translation, there are some licenses that have to be taken, but I think readers will thoroughly enjoy Peter's vision."

The rights to O'Brian's novel were actually purchased by Fox Co-Chairman Tom Rothman over a decade ago when he became a huge O'Brian fan and obtained the right for his then-boss Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. After a few years in development at Disney, Goldwyn reacquired the rights and brought Rothman back in to finally get the film made. The story goes that when Rothman first met with Peter Weir to broach the topic of him as director, he simply presented him with a sword. Weir said one word: "O'Brian."

For reportedly spent well over $100 million on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World including buying a ship, building a full size replica, hiring a cast of top-notch actors, plus hundreds of extras and stuntmen, and a small navy of historical consultants and on-set advisors.

Based in part on production note from Fox, here's a sneak preview of what to expect when Master and Commander: Far Side of the World hits theaters:

THE STORY:

It's 1805 and HMS Surprise with nearly 200 crew led by one of the British Navy's best fighting captains, receives orders to capture or destroy a much larger and more heavily armed French privateer Acheron. The chase leads the Surprise around Cape Horn to the far reaches of the Pacific where the French ship's ability to outfox its pursuers confounds Capt. Aubrey. (In the book the enemy is an American ship, but filmmakers took their first liberty with changing it to the French).

Aubrey's closest confidante, the ship's surgeon Dr. Stephen Maturin, is the story's other main character and a mysterious one. The doctor is a reclusive man of science who abhors the bloodshed of sea battles and would prefer discovering new species of birds and beetles while the ship stops at the Galapagos Islands. But the multlayered Maturin, who sometimes dips too often into his own medicine chest, is also a spy for British intelligence.

THE CAST:

With no sailing experience, Russell Crowe was initially drawn to the part because of the involvement of fellow Aussie Weir. To get a sense of the vastness of the ocean, he took a boat trip hundreds of miles south of Fiji to the Southern Ocean and later crewed on some racing sailboats. Crowe also studied violin with the maestro of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Richard Tognetti, who is also composing the score.

Merrifield said Crowe got deeply into the military aspects of navy life for his role-the shipboard caste system and the heavy burden of leadership in making life or death decisions. In the books, Aubrey often bristled under the navy's bureaucracy, which damaged his prospects for promotion. "He got very comfortable on board and had no qualms about running up to the-no pun intended-crow's nest aloft," Merrifield said of the star.

The character of the ship's doctor is to Aubrey as Watson was to Sherlock Holmes and the Sundance Kid to Butch Cassidy. Both are major roles, playing off their opposite personalities even as they play violin-cello duets to pass the time on board ship.

This film brings Crowe back together with British actor Paul Bettany who played his Princeton roommate in A Beautiful Mind, as well as Chaucer in A Knight's Tale. Bettany won the role of Dr. Maturin and time will only tell if he can create a character who is conflicted on many levels.

For sailing extras, over 2000 men showed up fro a casting call in Vancouver, BC for sailors ages 10 to 45. Weir did not want polished faces from Hollywood but went with a truly international cast, looking fro "tired," weathered faces of all races and nationalities to reflect the often-rough crews of the era.

THE SHIP:

The other star of the film, the American sail training ship HMS Rose of Bridgeport, CT, was cast as the 28-gun HMS Surprise after Weir and company literally traveled the world looking at tall ships in maritime museums and festivals. The three-masted, 179-foot Rose fit the bill the best and it was Merrifield's job of getting Rose re-fit as Surprise, clearing two doghouses off her stern deck, adding new power trains and completely re-rigging her with four-and-a-half miles of line and a new set of canvas-looking sails.

In early 2002, HMS Rose had to be delivered down the East Coast to a dry dock in San Diego and en route had a bowsprit damaged in a hurricane off Cape Hatteras. Many of her crew sail the ship in the film or were hired to train the cast in the running of the ship. To get the authentic period parts needed, Rigger Jim Barry set up his own workshop on the set to build the needed blocks, fittings and other ship parts.

The Rose took the major players and film crew on a sailing "boot camp" for three weeks off the Pacific coast of Mexico and Merrifield said despite some seasickness, the actors enjoyed the training and the chance to figure out their roles on board ship.

Most scenes were shot in a 6.5-acre tank at Fox Studios in Baja, Mexico, the same tank used in the film Titanic. A full-size double of HMS Surprise was built and placed on a gimbal in the tank where she could heel over, pitch and roll for many of the scenes, particularly the battles, along with a newly built hull of Acheron, all 170 feet of her.

For the typhoon encountered at Cape Horn, jet engines blew thousands of gallons of water at the actors on the replicas, while real footage of a shop sailing through Cape Horn, as well as small ship model footage, will be combined through the magic of special effects.

To bring if full circle, Patrick O'Brian himself, before he died in 2000, was aboard HMS Rose for a reception honoring the publication of his 17th book, The Commodore, in 1995.

Maybe it's a sign. (Thanks to Chattles)

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