I agree!! I ended up skipping parts because the technological bits got to be a bit too much for me, but even Post Captain was where it got to be interesting because there were women that Stephen and Jack were eyeing. When I returned to M&C after having gone through the books to The Surgeon's Mate, I found I was able to understand things a bit better...
...will still need that book of nautical terms though, and may have to recruit the help of visual aids to "see" the movements on the ship. Which is one thing I am hoping the movie will help cure (probably not though..I'll be too busy playing "Spot the Coxwain")