A sequel to The Mauritius Command (1970), which was the opening
salvo in the Capt. Jack Aubrey series about the Royal Navy during
the Napoleonic Wars. Once again Jack's dear friend Dr. Stephen
Maturin is also aboard, so they have the opportunity to indulge
themselves in their cello and violin duets. And the romantic
intrigue this time is supplied by French agent Mrs. Wogan, who's
been captured by the British and is being shipped as a prisoner to
Botany Bay aboard Aubrey's new command, the Leopard. Aubrey has
been having a hard time ashore, losing a fortune gambling and
buying horses while his wife frets silently with the children, and
it's much against his will that he accepts the commission to haul
convicts to Australia. On the other hand, Dr. Maturin is fighting
an addiction to tincture of laudanum, and needs the time at sea.
(He is soon masterfully fighting shipboard plague, tooth decay, and
scurvy.) A battle with a Dutch ship in Antarctic waters ruins the
Leopard's rudder, and the ship lays over at Desolation Island until
a passing American vessel can be induced to give them a forge. The
usual action ensues - but O'Brian's literate, clear-eyed realism
should draw a slightly broader audience than most nautical fare.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon, Stephen Maturin, sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy — and a treacherous disease which decimates the crew.
The ingredients of a wonderfully powerful and dramatic O’Brian novel are heightened by descriptive writing of rare quality. Nowhere in contemporary prose have the majesty and terror of the sea been more effectively rendered than in the thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm in which Jack’s ship, under-manned and out-gunned, is the quarry not the hunter.
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