Star Trek: 5 Literary Precursor Captains To James T. Kirk

4. Captain Jack Aubrey

master_and_commander21 Patrick O'Brian's Lucky Jack Aubrey is another one of those dynamic captains who loves his ship as he does his own life. He served on the HMS Surprise when he was only a boy midshipman and rose through the ranks to be its captain. The crew know this and revere him for it, pointing out his initials carved into the bowsprit to younger members of the crew in Master and Commander. When Aubrey gives a command, he knows how much the ship can take, as it's remarked that there's as much of the captain's blood in the ship as there is in his body. Though Kirk never served on board the Enterprise as a boy, he is as bound to her as Aubrey. It's a relationship that comes out in the episode "The Naked Time", when instead of a beautiful young yeoman to love and hold, he remarks about the cold, relationship between him and his ship: "This vessel, I give, she takes. She won't permit me my life. I've got to live hers." Kirk knows the breaking point of the Enterprise as well as Aubrey knows the Surprise's. When Aubrey takes his ship around the Cape in pursuit of the French Privateer Acheron, he strains the ship's mast, nearly breaking it. Eventually, he is forced to break off the pursuit, recognizing that his ship can't take the strain. In "Balance of Terror", Kirk accelerates the Enterprise past its safety point to escape the Romulan warbird's plasma torpedo. He too, realizes that his ship won't be able to escape the weapon but luckily, he discovers that the warhead's energy level dissipates with distance. Luck is another trait that Kirk shares with "Lucky" Jack Aubrey.
Contributor
Contributor

John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board. But mostly, John teaches Geek. Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession. When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.