Desolation Island

Aubrey and Maturin have a desperate run of bad luck while transporting prisoners, c. 1811

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Ahhhh, to be back at sea with my good friends, Aubrey and Maturin. This book gives us, the readers, an unfortunate front row seat to some of the crueler hardships endured by a man-of-war crew. In particular the outbreak of disease in a large scale way and a desperately damaged ship followed by the possibility of being marooned and having to winter over on some tiny spit of land amid the frozen seas surrounding Antarctica.

The "gaol fever" experienced by the crew is another name for typhus.

I am always a bit surprised when, in the course of sailing from England to the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, Brazil is a common way point. Not so when coming back to England, due to the nature of the prevailing winds.

We are also treated to a running battle through a storm, on high and dangerous seas, which ends disastrously for Captain Aubrey's opponent.

A strong current of espionage and international intrigue flows through this one as well. The Americans are nearing the point of declaring war on the British. English forces are so preoccupied with countering Napoleon that they have taken to interfering with American merchant shipping and pressing both merchantmen and whalers into the Royal Navy. President Jefferson et al don't like this turn of events, of course, and they are planning to do something about it.