Sailing into Leadership: Analysis of “Master and Commander”

One of the most remarkable literary achievements of the 20^th century emerged in 1989 when W.W. Norton published Patrick O’Brian’s multi-volume fictional re-creation of British naval life during the Napoleonic Wars.  Eventually stretching to twenty books, O’Brian’s account of the lives of Captain Jack Aubrey and his great friend, Doctor Stephen Maturin entranced reviewers and millions of readers.  A reviewer from the New York Times stated that O’Brian’s books are simply “the best historical novels ever written.”  “Master and Commander” is the first Hollywood movie made from O’Brian’s books and what follows is not a review but rather an essay that uses the movie to frame a discussion of leadership.  The focus is the character of Jack Aubrey- created by Patrick O’Brian, visualized by director Peter Weir and brought to life by actor Russell Crowe.  An examination of Aubrey’s behavior, thoughts and values throughout the movie provides a wealth of insight into the concept of leadership.

As the movie begins, it is the spring of 1805 and we are aboard HMS Surprise, a small Royal Navy frigate with a crew of 197 souls and an armament of 28 guns. HMS Surprise serves as a tiny but exact mirror of the actual British navy and Jack Aubrey serves as an archetype of a fighting British sea-captain during the Napoleonic wars. As we will see, the movie title of “Master and Commander” is actually an incomplete description of Aubrey’s role, which can more accurately be described as “Master, Commander and Leader.”  Each of these three roles describes a different aspect of Aubrey’s performance.  Each derives from a unique set of competencies but all three roles strongly complement each other.  The fact that Aubrey is successful as master, commander and leader has a decisive effect on the course of events in the movie.

HMS Surprise has left England under orders to find the French frigate Acheron and “sink, burn or take her as a prize.”  The Surprise is off the coast of Brazil and approaching a fogbank that seems to contain something suspicious. When the alarm is raised, we are introduced to Captain Jack Aubrey who peers into the fogbank, sees gunflashes and quickly realizes that the Surprise is about to be mauled by the larger, more heavily gunned enemy ship.  Aubrey is energized by the prospect of combat (“straight at ‘em, Mr. Mowatt!”)  but events quickly take a turn for the worse as Surprise’s rudder is shot away and the British barely escape into the fog.

We learn more of Aubrey in the wake of the Surprise’s first disastrous encounter with the French. The ship’s officers, somewhat in shock, are discussing the engagement and they observe that Acheron was “more like a ship of the line than a frigate” and “our shots couldn’t penetrate.” They all assume that the clear superiority of the French ship means the Surprise will have to abandon its mission and return to England. Their misgivings are well-founded.  HMS Surprise, with 28 guns, is about as small as a ship can be and still be called a frigate. By way of comparison, the four British frigates that fought at Trafalgar were all armed with at least 36 guns. Jack Aubrey, however, sees the situation from a very different perspective.  Positively radiating with decisiveness, he tells his officers that there is not a moment to lose if they are to carry out repairs and catch up with the French.

As the ship recovers, we see an absolute beehive of complicated, intense activity; a visual reminder that warships of this period were the largest, most complex and deadliest moving objects in the world.  In addition, these ships were a veritable “system of systems” and competent commanders had to know every aspect of their ship.  We see Captain Aubrey talking gunnery with the gunner, navigation with the sailing master and ship repairs with the carpenter.  Aubrey’s obvious competence links to a leadership insight derived from Clausewitz.  The Prussian philosopher of war once observed that great leaders need to be decisive but it is useless to be decisive if you are going to be decisively wrong; great leaders need competency to inform their decisiveness.

A social contract?

Aubrey’s behavior is a reminder that leadership is a social contract.  There are traits, values and abilities that people expect of their leaders and, if leaders consistently demonstrate these qualities, they establish a relationship of influence with their team.  Great leaders can build teams that are marked by cohesion, trust and exceptional performance. If leaders fail to meet the expectations of their team, the team will not trust their leader and this lack of trust can be devastating for team performance and survival.  At this point in the film, Aubrey has demonstrated many of the qualities that his crew expect of their commander.  He is competent, decisive, fair and an intelligent risk-taker.  As we will see, one of the results of this strong social contract is that the crew is happy to follow him into danger.

While the ship is being repaired, Aubrey’s friend, Doctor Stephen Maturin is treating the wounded.  One of the very young midshipmen, Lord Blakeney, was seriously wounded and requires an amputation of his right arm.  Aubrey visits him and gives him a biography of Admiral Nelson to read during his recuperation.  We notice that Jack Aubrey, in an affecting display of emotional intelligence, is aware that the young midshipman is downcast by his injuries.  By looking carefully, we can see that Aubrey is subtly providing encouragement to Blakeney.  The book he provided makes the point that Nelson lost an arm but eventually became England’s greatest sea-warrior.

We learn more of the complexities of Jack Aubrey the next morning when two young sailors come to see him.  They have a mock-up of the internal framing of the Acheron that one of them observed when he saw Acheron being built.  Aubrey immediately grasps the operational implications of its innovative design, which enables Acheron to be both fast and heavily protected (which is usually thought of as a tradeoff in naval circles). Aubrey shows the sailors that he appreciates their information (“Killick, an extra ration of rum for these men”).  As he discusses the Acheron’s innovative ship design with his officers, we see that they are still worried that the Acheron is out of their class but Aubrey addresses their concerns with practical, fact-based reassurance.  Although the French ship has forty-four guns to their twenty-eight guns, Aubrey thinks that the Surprise possesses some intangible advantages that level the killing field. He is convinced that the Surprise is more maneuverable than the Acheron and that his guncrews are better-trained and more effective than their French counterparts.  Without any further dissent from his officers, the Surprise carries on with its pursuit of the bigger and more powerful enemy ship (which is another telling indicator of the effectiveness of Aubrey’s leadership).

Dinner and social

The discussion about the Acheron is followed by a wonderfully impactful scene in which most of the ship’s officers have gathered for a semi-formal dinner with their captain.  One of the remarkable aspects of this scene is the way in which their good spirits and conviviality jump off the screen. It is clear that Aubrey has been successful in establishing a warm human relationship among his officers.  One of the highlights of the evening occurs when young Midshipman Calamy asks his captain for anecdotes about Admiral Nelson (because Aubrey had served with Nelson at the Battle of the Nile).  Aubrey says that he has had the honor of speaking with Nelson twice and he proceeds to describe both occasions. His first encounter occurred at a dinner when Nelson said to him, “Aubrey, may I trouble you for the salt.” As Aubrey intended, the unexpected silliness of this remembrance provokes a gust of delighted laughter from around the table.  But the second anecdote goes straight to the mystery that is leadership.  He relates that Nelson once said that he didn’t need a boatcloak on a cold winter’s night because “his zeal for King and Country kept him warm.”  Aubrey freely acknowledges that this statement would sound pitiful if it came from anyone else but somehow when you heard Nelson say it, “you felt your heart glow.”  Those five words provide one of the most memorably concise descriptions of charismatic leadership ever written.

One reason for the crew’s satisfaction with their captain becomes clear the next day when they are once again ambushed by the Acheron and must flee for their lives (“Run like smoke and oakum!”).  They are only saved by their captain’s superior seamanship and innovative tactical thinking.  When night falls and the French are still in hot pursuit, Aubrey has the idea to use a decoy raft rigged up with lanterns to fool the Acheron and throw her off the Surprise’s track.  As the decoy is lowered into the water, it was manned by Midshipman Calamy whose job is to uncover the raft’s lanterns so the decoy looks like the stern of the Surprise in the dark.  He then has to jump overboard and swim back to the Surprise.  When he is safely hauled aboard, he is met by a smiling Jack Aubrey who says, “Now tell me that wasn’t fun.”  One consistent theme throughout the movie is the variety of ways in which Aubrey characterizes audacious action as the norm for British naval officers.

The Acheron wanders off in the dark like a miniature cyclone spitting fire at the decoy. As a result, when dawn comes, the Surprise is now on the tail of the Acheron and in control of the tactical situation.  The sailing master is in awe of Aubrey’s masterful feat of nighttime navigation (“My God, that’s seamanship”).  Both ships then engage in a mad chase through the storm-tossed southern seas around Cape Horn where the Surprise loses part of her mizzen mast and a young seaman is washed overboard.  As a result of the delay, the Acheron disappears as the Surprise sails into the Pacific. As they begin their search, the crew spend much of their time engaged in gunnery drill.  Captain Aubrey has very high standards for the ship’s gunnery because he expects his guncrews to be both fast and accurate.  For those unfamiliar with the characteristics of naval artillery in the age of sail, it should be noted that speed and accuracy of cannonfire were usually thought of as mutually exclusive characteristics.  Aubrey’s standards, while achievable, require intensive, dangerous training and highly disciplined guncrews.  To keep the crew motivated while they are training so hard, Aubrey gives them a rousing talk (Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly? NO!, they roar back.  Do you want your children to have to sing “La Marseillaise”? NO!).  Like any competent manager, Aubrey sets expectations that are challenging, measureable and transparent- the guncrews of the Surprise must be able to fire two shots for every one shot fired by the Acheron.

Ideas matter

The Surprise eventually returns to the Galapagos where the British unexpectedly encounter the enemy ship.  As the Surprise beats to quarters and prepares to engage the enemy, Maturin shows Aubrey a curious Galapagos insect that camouflages itself as a stick to fool predators.  From this example, Aubrey is inspired to disguise the Surprise as a whaler in order to lure the Acheron into an ambush.  In another motivational speech right before the attack, Aubrey talks to the crew with several objectives in mind.  He clearly explains his plan of attack to everyone, he sets expectations (“Discipline matters as much as courage”) and he gives specific battle instructions to the topmen, the guncrews, the marines and the boarding party.  He ends his talk by saying “Quick’s the word and sharp is the action, after all Surprise is on our side.”  This, of course, has its intended effect of getting a general laugh and easing the crew’s tension.  Great commanders are usually effective communicators and it is no surprise that Aubrey’s pre-battle actions mirrored those of Admiral Nelson.  Before the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson repeatedly discussed his innovative battle plan with his ship captains to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion.  In addition, he sent his famous and motivational “England expects every man to do his duty” flag hoist for all his ships to see immediately before the battle began.

The battle with the Acheron is the culminating scene of the movie and it offers an additional insight into Aubrey as a leader.  One of the most striking aspects of his behavior (especially to a modern audience) is his practice of giving life and death responsibilities to his young officers.  Earlier in the film, we saw that sixteen-year old Midshipman Calamy was sent to man a decoy raft that was intended to draw French fire. Now, as the decisive battle approaches, Aubrey makes it clear that he will lead a boarding party onto the French ship and he wants young Midshipman Lord Blakeney to command the Surprise while he is gone. Upon hearing the news, the touching mixture of pride and absolute glee on the face of the thirteen-year old midshipman is a sight to behold.

Blakeney’s extreme youth leads modern audiences to be surprised by Aubrey’s decision but his action would have been completely normal in the British navy of 1805.  When the war with France began in 1793, a survey of one hundred British naval officers revealed that almost forty percent of them went to sea when they were no older than twelve.  One British officer of this period remembers commanding a boat in combat when he was thirteen.  When he returned to his ship, his captain told him, “You are fairly a sailor now; been drunk, been aloft and been in action.”  In the context of Aubrey’s role as a commander, his practice of spreading responsibility makes sense because it is a useful maximization of the ship’s resources while fighting outnumbered.  In Aubrey’s role as a leader, this practice also makes sense because it establishes and strengthens a relationship of trust between Aubrey and his officers that provides long-term dividends.

The decisive result of the battle, which ends with the capture of the Acheron, is directly due to Aubrey’s foresight and his capabilities as a leader.  His innovative choice of battle tactics turned out to be ideally suited for a small ship engaging a larger and more heavily armed enemy ship.  His constant emphasis on gunnery training meant that he could rely on his guncrews to inflict crippling damage on the Acheron at the beginning of the battle.  His personal bravery, exemplified by his decision to board the enemy ship, ensured that his crew, even though outnumbered, eagerly followed his example. Finally, as we repeatedly saw, Aubrey spent the entire cruise establishing strong patterns of trust and clear lines of communication with his officers.  The presence of such relationships meant that Aubrey was easily able to extend his degree of control during the battle with decisive consequences.

Determination

Throughout the movie, Aubrey personifies an aggressive, innovative, competent, determined sea-captain and this behavior makes his crew trust and admire him.  Whether it was showing emotional intelligence to a grievously wounded midshipman, creating social occasions that fostered morale and cohesion or leading his crew into mortal combat, Aubrey used his leadership abilities well. Ship captains can’t force people to trust and admire them simply because they are in charge.  On the other hand, leaders have no trouble getting others to trust and admire them because that is one of the inevitable results of great leadership.  It is this fundamental truth of the power of leadership that “Master and Commander” exemplifies.

It has now been more than twenty years since “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” was released and, at this point, it seems unlikely that a sequel is in the works, although it is rumored that a studio might eventually make a prequel in which Aubrey and Maturin first meet.  Until then, students of leadership who wish to examine Captain Jack Aubrey’s lifelong leadership journey from midshipman to admiral have the incomparable riches of a twenty-book series to explore.  O’Brian provides all sorts of leadership situations, such as leaders leading other leaders (The Mauritius Command), leaders dealing with life-changing adversity (The Nutmeg of Consolation) and leaders being challenged by cross-cultural circumstances (The Thirteen Gun Salute). Creating a variety of circumstances that are spread across a global canvas, Patrick O’Brian provides a wonderful portrait of a gifted master, commander and leader.

 

 

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