Wooden Ships and Iron Men: Difference between revisions

[[File:s290-Battle of Trafalgar 17.jpg|frame|"[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2005/10/battle-trafalgar/worrall-text England expects that every man will do his duty.]"]]

 

 

A setting and an era, which has become a genre almost unto itself.

Not to be confused with the [[Avalon Hill]] [[Board Game]] of the same name, which is is [[Trope Namer|where we got the trope name]], or with [[Schizo-Tech]] settings where wood ships coexist with [[Powered Armor]]. The phrase shows up at least as far back as the [http://books.google.com/books?id=8FACAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA14&dq=wooden+ships+and+iron+men late 19th century], making it [[Older Than Radio]].

 

{{examples}}

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[El Cazador (comics)|El Cazador]]''

* ''[[Marvel 1602]]'' is set in an early part of this period. [[Iron Man]] himself features.

 

* The ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6245901/1/Three_Years_At_Sea Three Years at Sea] is basically this {{smallcaps| [[Recycled in Space|on a Fire Nation ship!]]}}

 

== Film ==

* ''[[HMS Defiant]]'' (movie, 1962)

* ''[[Mutiny on the Bounty]]'' there were at least 4 film versions: the best known are probably the ones from 1935 with Charles Laughton as Bligh and [[Clark Gable]] as Fletcher Christian; and 1962, with Trevor Howard as Bligh and [[Marlon Brando]] as Christian.

{{quote|'''Picard''': Just imagine what it was like. No engines, no computers. Just the wind and the sea and the stars to guide you.

'''Riker''': Bad food, brutal discipline... no women. }}

* ''[[Master and Commander (film)|Master and Commander]]'' is a good example of the more realistic portrayals of the era.

* [[Errol Flynn]]'s swashbuckling [[Pirate]] films, ''[[Captain Blood]]'' and ''[[The Sea Hawk]]'' (which has [[Adaptation Displacement|absolutely nothing to do with]] [[Rafael Sabatini|the book]]).

** ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043379/ Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.]'' (1951). Starring Gregory Peck in his prime in the eponymous role. Virginia Mayo played Lady Barbara Wellesley.

** A series of eight movies from 1999 to 2003 by A&E. Starting with the award-winning ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129686/ Hornblower: The Even Chance]''.

 

== Folklore ==

* The American [[Tall Tale]] of A. B. Stormalong took place in this time period. However, like all the great American tall tales, his heart broke when the big battleships set out to sea, [[The Magic Goes Away|iron ships crewed by wooden men.]]

 

== Literature ==

* Both played straight and somewhat subverted in ''[[The Gentlemen Bastards]]'' book ''Red Seas under Red Skies''.

* ''[[Billy Budd]]''

** There are plenty of the standard type as well. They frequently [[Interservice Rivalry|do not get along well]] with the airborne versions, and one of the leads is a navy man adjusting to dragonback service.

* While David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' depicts life at sea rather romantically, its sequel, ''The Malloreon'', paints a considerably more grim picture of the conditions driving a sailor to desert his captain. It still involves a lot of "[[Talk Like a Pirate|mateys]]", though.

* [[Rafael Sabatini]]'s swashbuckling [[Pirate]] books, ''[[Captain Blood]]'' and ''[[The Sea Hawk]]''.

* Quite a lot of [[John Ringo]]'s ''Emerald Sea'' and ''Against the Tide'', in the [[Council Wars]] series, are 40th century recreations of this era, due to the Fall and restrictions imposed by the world-controling AI "Mother" that make combustion-based engines beyond a certain low power output unavailable.

* The sections concerning the people of the Iron Islands in [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], especially those that take place on boats, come across like this. Bonus points for them being called the Iron Men.

* Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet's poem "[http://www.constitutional.net/099.html Clipper Ships and Captains]" is an ode to this period, even going so far as to include the lines:

{{quote|When the best ships still were wooden ships

But the men were iron men. }}

 

== Live Action Television ==

* ''[[The Onedin Line]]''.

 

== Music ==

* ''[[7th Sea]]'' draws heavily upon this setting for any of its nautical adventures, especially anything involving the Pirate Nations.

* ''[[Furry Pirates]]''

 

== Theme Parks ==

* [[Disney Theme Parks]]: Aside from ''Pirates of the Caribbean'', this trope is said word-for-word in the ''Sailing Ship Columbia'' attraction.

 

== Toys ==

* ''[[LEGO Pirates]]''

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Sid Meier's Pirates!]]'' revolves entirely around this period in the Caribbean. The player character is a Privateer (not quite a pirate as it says on the tin) and will fight many (one-on-one) naval battles during the course of his/her career.

* The naval aspects of the ''[[Europa Universalis]]'' series live and breathe this trope, since the game spans virtually the entire Golden Age of Sail.

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Open Blue]]''

* This is the general theme of the Soleil Alliance, based on the East India Company, in ''[[Lambda]]''. Except that you swap out "Iron Men" with "[[Magical Girl]]s".

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Treasure Planet]]'' is this period [[Recycled in Space|IN SPAAAAACE!!]]

* The opening to Disney's ''[[Pocahontas]]'' features a wooden sailing ship weathering a bad storm at sea.

 

== Real Life ==