In this, the first of Patrick O’Brian’s much lauded Aubrey–Maturin novels, discover a vibrant world conjured by a master storyteller, rich with detail and character.1800. Napoleon Bonaparte is the biggest threat to peace yet seen.Newly promoted to command of his first ship, Captain Jack Aubrey, along with his crew, and new friend and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, must patrol a Mediterranean fraught with peril but rich with rewards. A glimpse of white sail...

How far will a man go in the name of revenge, honour, love or simple survival?Far from familiar seas, Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew must test themselves to the very limits of human endurance.Following a daring rescue, Jack Aubrey accepts a new command and a new commission to a far-flung destination. Ahead of him and his crew are the new sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and the terrifying hazards of an archipelago of islands in the East Indie...

Whether on land or at sea, can Jack Aubrey stay one step ahead of his enemies?With the Treaty of Amiens, England is at peace. At least for now. . .Accompanied by his friend, ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, Captain Jack Aubrey has returned home to England and the life of a country gentleman. But their comfortable experience is cut short when Jack is made a pauper overnight. He flees to the continent, narrowly escaping debtor’s prison, only to find hi...

With factions on board, and multiple enemies to contend with, only the most careful navigation will save them.As he sails away from Port Jackson, Captain Jack Aubrey feels nothing but relief at leaving the penal colony and its inhabitants far behind. But, unknown to him, hidden among his crew is one Clarissa Oakes. With Britain at war on two fronts, with both America and France, Aubrey’s orders are to make for the Sandwich Islands and intervene in the conflict there.

To whom does one’s true allegiance lie?Jack Aubrey’s long service has at last been rewarded with promotion to the rank of commodore, and a squadron of ships to command. His new commission is twofold – first, inhibit the slave trade off the coast of West Africa, and then, on his return, intercept a French fleet loaded with weapons intended for the disaffected Irish.But will the conflict of loyalties be insurmountable for his friend, and Irishman, Stephen Maturin?

Britain and America are newly at war, and Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are caught in the very thick of the action.En route to England and his next command, Captain Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship’s surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, find themselves swept up in the War of 1812. As Aubrey convalesces from his wounds in a Boston hospital, awaiting the next prisoner exchange, Maturin’s past activities as a spy return to haunt him and precipitate both men into new and unexpe...

Can Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew defy the odds, and outmanoeuvre the French, to take two small but vital islands in the Indian Ocean?Life ashore on half pay, despite the joys of family life, is unlikely to satisfy a man of action such as Jack Aubrey. The sea calls to him. And so, when his friend, ship’s surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders, Aubrey soon finds himself in command of a frigate and setting sail for the Cape of Good Hope.

For a man of war, peacetime is the ultimate challenge.Leaving behind them a Europe still taking stock after the definitive battle of Waterloo, Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin set sail for Chile. But even with the newly minted peace, life at sea remains beset with danger and imminent disaster, and the political turmoil of the South American continent is equal to any threat they have yet faced.Out of loss – of purpose, of love – can the two friends rescue w...

On dry land, having been drawn into the half-worlds of London’s criminal underground and of government espionage, Jack Aubrey faces perhaps the greatest challenge of his life.With rumours of peace running rampant, Captain Jack Aubrey chances his luck on the stock exchange. However, when his plans go awry, Marshalsea prison awaits. Can Stephen Maturin rescue his friend from a politically motivated trial and the enormity of being stricken from the Navy Lists?When the ...

The higher one climbs, the further there is to fall.As war with Napoleon seemingly draws to a close, opportunities for advancement are limited and Jack Aubrey faces the ultimate indignity – the possibility of being ‘yellowed’, or retired, and set aside with no squadron of his own. But the blockade of Brest presents dangers to equal those of the furthest shores.Who poses the greater threat to a naval man through and through? A resurgent Bonaparte or the Admiralty its...

On foreign shores, and far from home, a friend can become a foe in a heartbeat.Shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the Dutch East Indies as the Napoleonic Wars rage on, circumstances look far from promising for Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew. And yet, having overcome the odds and contrived their escape, still further peril awaits in the fiercely tidal waters of the Salibu Passage and the penal settlements of New South Wales.What fresh dangers lie over the hori...

On Desolation Island, with the known world out of reach, uneasy alliances are sometimes forged…Captain Bligh, of Bounty fame, is now governor of New South Wales and facing mutiny anew, having lost the support of local settlers. Jack Aubrey is commissioned to come to his rescue. With a beautiful but dangerous spy on board, along with an unwelcome hold full of convicts, and war with America brewing, can Captain Jack Aubrey reach Australia in one piece?Outmanned and ou...