Recent Articles

Post Captain (novel)

Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian

Master and Commander (1970)

Post Captain (1972)

HMS Surprise (1973)

Mauritius Command (1977)

(called The Mauritius Command in the USA)

Desolation Island (1978)

The Fortune of War (1979)

The Surgeon's Mate (1980)

The Ionian Mission (1981)

Treason's Harbour (1983)

The Far Side of the World (1984)

The Reverse of the Medal (1986)

The Letter of Marque (1988)

The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1989)

The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)

Clarissa Oakes (1993)

(called The Truelove in the USA)

The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)

The Commodore (1995)

The Yellow Admiral (1996)

The Hundred Days (1998)

Blue at the Mizzen (1999)

21 (2004)

Post Captain (1972) is a novel by Patrick O'Brian, the second in the Aubrey–Maturin series.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The book begins in 1802 with the conclusion of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Peace of Amiens. Commander Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy returns to England with his friend Stephen Maturin, to take up the life of a country squire. Jack plans to marry Sophie Williams, but his fortune is embezzled by his prize-agent and he leaves the country to avoid his creditors. He is restored to the navy by the outbreak of war in 1803, promoted to Post Captain, and given the command of HMS Lively.

The book ends with a fictionalized account of the capture of the Spanish treasure fleet by four British frigates in 1804. In real life, Captain Hammond was the captain of the Lively.