Patrick O'Brian has the skill to take you on a journey which, although based on fictional characters, carries you to an exciting and different age, to a world being forged by men with character and determination. This book is no exception. Anyone who has read the dry factual accounts of this campaign in the Indian Ocean in 1810, will be held captive by Mr O'Brians Jack Aubrey, leading a dull domestic life which many of us who perhaps seek adventure recognise, given a command, a commodores pennant, and in the company of Stephen Maturin travels to The Cape of Good Hope to again deal with the French fleet. His acting rank also sees him managing the contrasting Captains under his command.