In my blog about the author Patrick O’Brian I included a picture of me holding a flintlock Sea Service pistol, the same type that you can see Russell Crowe wielding as Captain Jack Aubrey in the film version of Master and Commander.  In the film the enemy ship is French, the Acheron, whereas in the novel it’s American, one of the superb new frigates that faced the British at sea and on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. Since its anniversary last year that war has received long-overdue attention in Canada, with focus on the achievements of the British forces and the local militia ...