“If Jane Austen had written rousing sea yarns, she would have produced something very close to the prose of Patrick O'Brian.” —Time It’s 1802. The Treat

"Few, very few books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it." —Helen Lucy Burke, Irish Press In H.M.S. Surprise, British naval of

"The relationship [between Aubrey and Maturin]...is about the best thing afloat....For Conradian power of description and sheer excitement there is nothing in n

"Every [Aubrey-Maturin] book is packed to absolute straining with erudition, wit, history, and thunderous action." —Joe Hill Stranded in Malta, Captain Jack A

“The Aubrey-Maturin series . . . ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart."—Ken Ringle, Washington Post A British whaler has b