Early Career
This section covers the career of Aubrey before the Aubrey-Maturin series, for more information on that period, see the individual books.
Like many officers in the British fleet, Aubrey spent much of his life raised on the sea, joining the navy very early in his life. While a midshipman aboard the HMS Resolution commanded by a friend of General Aubrey's, Captain Douglas, Jack was turned before the mast for hiding a girl aboard the ship. He spent six months as a common seaman before being rerated as a midshipman. This was when Lord Keith was still Captain Elphinstone, therefore pre-1797.
Aubrey also spent some time as 5th Lieutenant aboard HMS Hannibal (in service 1786–1801), under Captain John Newman. There, after insulting the first Lieutenant, he was put in front of a board, with Lord Keith upon it, which reprimanded him for his "petulance," which led to Aubrey spending eight months ashore with half pay.
While second lieutenant aboard HMS Foudroyant (1798), Aubrey was the leader of the prize crew for the Généreux when she was captured by Nelson's fleet in 1800.
Read more about this topic: Jack Aubrey
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Probably more than youngsters at any age, early adolescents expect the adults they care about to demonstrate the virtues they want demonstrated. They also tend to expect adults they admire to be absolutely perfect. When adults disappoint them, they can be critical and intolerant.”
—The Lions Clubs International and the Quest Nation. The Surprising Years, I, ch.4 (1985)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)