Post Captain by Patrick O’Brian
Following my enjoyment of Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brian, I couldn’t resist some further reading in this excellent series.
The second novel, Post Captain, treats readers to more of the same brilliant narrative, daredevil action, political and military intrigue.
Captain Jack Aubrey has fallen on hard times and has to constantly avoid his debt collectors and court bailiffs. The merry-go-round he rides on to achieve this is fascinating and laughable.
It’s peacetime, so he ultimately flees to France with friend Dr Stephen Maturin, who also doubles as a spy for naval intelligence.
They receive advance warning that Napoleon is about to declare war on Britain and narrowly escape before all British subjects are rounded up and detained.
Their route to neutral Spain is with Aubrey dressed in a bear suit, entertaining villagers along the way, avoiding dogs and other bears.
Aubrey secures command of an experimental vessel, and despite its design flaws, performs gallantly in capturing a French ship and destroying a battery.
His reward was to be promoted Post-Captain and given temporary command of a model frigate. Through Maturin’s influence he sailed into battle with a Spanish flotilla returning with gold from South America. Maturin had intelligence that Spain was about to enter the war as France’s ally and this was a pre-emptive strike, which proved successful.
Aubrey is in favor with the Admiralty while a Tory Lord is in charge, but the political climate favors the Whigs and the impression is that his advantage will be fleeting. Aubrey’s father is a notorious Tory MP with a rotten borough and a loud mouth.
Will Aubrey earn the reward he needs to settle his debts and marry Sophia? I’ll have to read HMS Surprise to find out.
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My dad is absolutely hooked on this series. I think there are something like 16 novels in all, and he never tires of reading the whole lot through about every 8 or 9 months or so.
Hi Andrew. I can well believe that people get hooked on this series. There are 20 books in all. Apparently there’s a movie starring Russell Crowe as well, but I’ve not seen it or heard about it, except on the book cover.