Patrick O'Brian

Presents the continuation of Jack Aubrey's life as the Peace of Amiens docks the Commander onshore, to France, and back to sea.

At French instigation, an ambitious Tongan chief captures a British whaler in the Friendly Isles, and Captain Aubrey is dispatched from Australia to restore order. But a spirited female convict unexpectedly joins Aubrey and Maturin as a stowaway. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies. Aubrey himself is won over, while only Stephen Maturin fathoms her secrets.

This book is set among the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams: the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet.

The continuing saga of the Royal Navy's Captain Jack Aubrey, now being sued by slaveholders for the ships he confiscated off Africa. At the same his wife is after him for his affair with a mistress. Things improve when he goes to sea to fight the French and captures a ship with gold.

The War of 1812 continues, and 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. Little do he and Maturin know that disaster awaits them in the Great South Sea: typhoons, shipwrecks, murder, and criminal insanity.

Ashore between cruises, Captain Jack Aubrey is persuaded to sink some money into an investment scheme. Soon this innocent decision enmeshes him in various criminal and even treasonous enterprises, which threaten to destroy his entire career.

1st American ed.

On the high seas, Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his co-adventurer, Dr. Stephen Maturin, chase a shipment of gold destined for Napoleon. The emperor has escaped from Elba and the gold would enable him to raise more troops.

To the delight of millions of Patrick O'Brian fans, here is the final, partial installment of the Aubrey-Maturin series, for the first time in paperback.

Blue at the Mizzen (novel #20) ended with Jack Aubrey getting the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. The next novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of the author's death,

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The Letter of Marque continues the saga of Jack Aubrey, brilliant yet disgraced officer, and Stephan Maturin, ship's surgeon and British intelligence operator. Together they sail on a desperate mission against the French, which, if successful, may redeem Aubrey from the private hell of his disgrace.