Editing Patrick O'Brian (section)

=== Sailing experience ===
As background to his later sea-going novels, O'Brian did claim to have had limited experience on a square-rigged sailing vessel, as described within his previously-quoted 1994 essay:

{{Quote|text=The disease that racked my bosom every now and then did not much affect my strength and when it left me in peace (for there were long remissions) sea-air and sea-voyages were recommended. An uncle had a two-ton [[sloop]] and several friends had boats, which was fine, but what was even better was that my particular friend Edward, who shared a tutor with me, had a cousin who possessed an ocean-going yacht, a converted square-rigged [[merchantman]], that he used to crew with undergraduates and fair-sized boys, together with some real seamen, and sail far off into the Atlantic. The young are wonderfully resilient, and although I never became much of a topman, after a while I could hand, reef and steer without disgrace, which allowed more ambitious sailoring later on.<ref name="cunningham1994" />}}

However, in 1995, venture capitalist [[Thomas Perkins (businessman)|Thomas Perkins]] offered O'Brian a two-week cruise aboard his then sailing yacht, a {{convert|154|ft|m|adj=on}} [[ketch]]. In an article about the experience written after O'Brian's death, Perkins commented that "... his knowledge of the practical aspects of sailing seemed, amazingly, almost nil" and "... he seemed to have no feeling for the wind and the course, and frequently I had to intervene to prevent a full standing [[jibe|gybe]]. I began to suspect that his autobiographical references to his months at sea as a youth were fanciful."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latitude38.com/features/O'Brian.htm |title=Cruising with Patrick O'Brian – The Man and the Myth |last=Perkins |first=Tom |publisher=Latitude 38|date=August 2000 |access-date=30 March 2017}}</ref>