Patrick O'Brian
This exciting historical novel of adventure is the inspiration for the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe.
The War of 1812 continues, and Captain Jack Aubrey sets course for Cape Horn on a mission after his own heart: intercepting a powerful American frigate outward bound to play havoc with the British whaling trade. Stephen Maturin has orders of his own in the world of secret intelligence, as
...Captain Jack Aubrey has been getting into trouble during his time ashore, his trusting nature causing him problems in both business and cards. His friend, surgeon Stephen Maturin, is having a little trouble of his own. Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Aubrey Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy—and a treacherous disease that decimates the
...Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half pay without a command, until Stephen Maturin arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a commodore's pennant. Once there he is to mount an expedition against the French-held islands of Mauritius and La Réunion. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains—Lord Clonfert, a pleasure-seeking dilettante, and Captain
...This ninth volume in Patrick O'Brian's beloved Aubrey-Maturin series is full of suspense, taking on the role of both nautical adventure and spy story. The polished prose vividly evokes the nineteenth century atmosphere.
All of O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Jack Aubrey worries about repairs to his
...6) Post captain
"We've beat them before and we'll beat them again."
In 1803, Napoleon smashes the Peace of Amiens, going to war once again. This is doubly alarming news for Captain Jack Aubrey, who is taking refuge in France from his creditors. He is interned but soon escapes from his French debtor's prison, fleeing across the French countryside to lead a ship into battle. After managing to avert a possible mutiny, he pursues his quarry straight into the
...Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest victory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attention of two privateers soon becomes menacing. The chase that follows through the fogs and shallows of the Grand Banks is tense—and unexpected in its culmination.
Aubrey and Maturin must
...
Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy on a false accusation, he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin—his friend, ship's surgeon, and sometimes intelligence agent—on a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes that would put English merchant shipping
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In the early 1800s, the British Navy stands as the only bulwark against the militant fanaticism of Napoleonic France.
Captain Jack Aubrey, ashore after a successful tour of duty, is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make certain investments in the city. This innocent decision ensnares him in the London criminal underground and in government espionage, the province of his friend Stephen Maturin. Is Aubrey's humiliation and the threatened
...12) The Catalans
Alan Roig returns to Saint-Feliu after years in the East, and finds his family in crisis. His dour, middle-aged cousin Xavier, a most powerful citizen of the town, has fallen in love and plans to marry the young daughter of the local grocer. The Roig family property is threatened by this union, and Madeleine's relatives object on different grounds. Xavier is a tragic figure: Madeleine is to be his salvation. Unfortunately she does not return his
...13) H.M.S. Surprise
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans now of many battles, return to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now a senior captain commanding a line-of-battle ship in the Royal Navy's blockade of Toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate actions of his early days. A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where all his old skills of seamanship
...In response to the interest of millions of Patrick O'Brian fans, here is the final, partial installment of the Aubrey-Maturin series.
Blue at the Mizzen ended with Jack Aubrey getting the news of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to South Africa. The next novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of the author's death, would have been the chronicle of that mission, and much else besides.
...16) The Truelove
18) The hundred days
After nearly losing the Leopard to the ocean, Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, and his diminished crew sail into harbor in the Dutch East Indies. There Aubrey finds himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best-armed frigate in the Royal Navy, but not before some forceful arguing with Admiral Drury. Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a dispatch vessel, but the War of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody
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