Patrick OBrians Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame Captain Jack Aubrey & his friend & surgeon Stephen Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful & dangerous spy -- & a treacherous disease which decimates the crew. The ingredients of a wonderfully powerful & dramatic OBrian novel are heightened by descriptive writing of rare quality. Nowhere in contemporary prose have the majesty & terror of the sea been more effectively rendered than in the thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm in which Jacks ship under-manned & out-gunned is the quarry not the hunter.