Rating: 
Summary: Indispensable. A joy., by fermed
Review: I checked about 60 English words from this lexicon against the OED and (of course) they were all there. But this book is much more than merely a list of word definitions: it contains drawings, and maps, and pictures, French phrases, and assorted little essays that make the reading of the Aubrey-Maturin books with this lexicon at hand a far richer experience than reading them without it. The definitions are as a rule expanded and less dry than what one finds in the dictionary. I read this book page after page, as if it were a single essay, or a long poem. Alone, it stands as a great reference; in symbiosis with O'Brian's saga, it is magnificent.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but not perfect companion to O'Brian
Review: I found the book, which does not appear to have been authorized or endorsed by O'Brian or his publishers, to be generally terrific, highly readable, and a way to help quench the thirst for more which O'Brian skillfully created in his marvelous work.I did, however, find one egregious (to parochial me) error. The book describes the words "Kyrie Eleison," from the traditional Latin mass, as Latin for "Lord have mercy." I'm sure that many readers of forty-five or older recognize those words as the only place where Greek is used in the mass.
Rating: 
Summary: Some paperback editions are misprinted
Review: I found this to be a quite useful book, but I must note that pages 138 - 168 in my copy are duplicates of pages 297 - 327, and the former pages are not included at all. I have no idea how many copies this may have happened to (nor am I likely to learn, at least from this book, who Adm. Cornwallis was, nor what a dead-eye might be). As to the book itself, it is a very passable reference work, though I might have wished for more maps (Spithead and Torbay, etc.) and descriptions of battles with proper diagrams showing ship positions and rigging.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful resource
Review: I'd actually read all of the books before finding this gem, and now I can look forward to enjoying the O'Brian books all over again. This book is full of definitions and descriptions of all sorts of things found in the Aubrey/Maturin stories. Don't understand weather gage, this book explains it. Have you always wondered what the heck they meant by sailing at so-and-so points to the wind, this book not only has a definition, but a diagram showing it to you. This is a wonderful resource for old O'Brian readers as well as all you new ones out there. Well worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful resource
Review: I'd actually read all of the books before finding this gem, and now I can look forward to enjoying the O'Brian books all over again. This book is full of definitions and descriptions of all sorts of things found in the Aubrey/Maturin stories. Don't understand weather gage, this book explains it. Have you always wondered what the heck they meant by sailing at so-and-so points to the wind, this book not only has a definition, but a diagram showing it to you. This is a wonderful resource for old O'Brian readers as well as all you new ones out there. Well worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST Have
Review: If you are reading the Aubrey-Maturin books, this is an absolute MUST! Not only is it fascinating to browse, but it helps greatly to clarify the ubiquitous nautical jargon. Admittedly it does not have every word I look up, especially now that I have been using it for a while, but I would not do without it. Highly recommended (as are the Aubrey books!).
Rating:
Summary: Not exactly required, but definately fun to read
Review: If you're the kind of person who finds joy in reading about language and colloquialisms of the past, this is a great book. It also contains a fair amount of background on many of the historical (real) characters from the Aubrey/Maturin books, as well as many geographic locations visited from the novels. A brief chronology of the wars during the age of sail (Napoleonic, War of 1812, etc) is quite useful. I'm also fairly impressed with its completeness with the obviously strange ones - "Drowned Baby", for instance. (It's a dessert.) You don't need it to understand the language of O'Brian's books, but you'll probably have more fun if you bring "A Sea of Words" along for the ride.
Rating:
Summary: This is the "Bible" for the Aubrey/Maturin series
Review: Invaluable - Indespensable - Don't start an O'Brian novel (Aubrey/Maturin series) without it. You will waste a lot of time trying to look up references in the usual books (encyclopedia, etc.) on the various every day things mentioned in the Aubrey/Maturin novels. This is the ONLY book you will need. Place it by your side and find that the only references in it, are the ones you need. GOOD STUFF.
Rating:
Summary: A Huge O'Brian Fan can do without it
Review: It's fun to look at for a little while, but I haven't checked it in ages.
Rating:
Summary: Gives the series a new dimension
Review: Readers who want to know everything there is about everything there is in the Aubrey/Maturin series will treasure this book. It isn't simply a glossary of seafaring terms, but provides bios of the more important naval figures of the time, the flora and fauna of Maturin's interests, geographical places encountered, some of which no longer bear the names of those times . . . In short, A Sea of Words describes just about everything in O'Brian's seafaring tales we're not likely to know. What is this bark that Stephen dispenses for certain ailments? Why, the bark of the Chinchona tree -- it contains quinine, says A Sea of Words, while also describing the many other medical terms he slings around. Jack attempts several times to give Stephen a grasp of the weather-gage, as it relates to ships in battle, but never so clearly as Dean King's description, which includes both the advantages of the weather- and lee-gages. It's all here, and even if one had the encyclopedias and all the other essential references needed, which I seriously doubt would be found even in a big-city library, why go shopping when one book will do? For those sorely needed maps, get Harbors & High Seas by King and Hattendorf, and you're all set.
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