O'Brian unfolds the action of The Commodore through the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator. Although the narrator almost always examines the events of the story through Jack's or Stephen's eyes, keeping these two characters in the forefront of the reader's attention, the omniscient quality of the narration is particularly apparent at several points in the story. The novel includes an uncommon sequence during which the squadron is viewed from the harbor it is entering, and the key perceptions noted are those of African, Arabic, and European townsmen and other landlubbers who are stunned by the display of force as Jack's ships blow an empty captured slaver to bits. Later in the story, the exact nature of the discordance in the squadron, and even on Jack's own ship, is revealed through a rarely seen conversation between two supporting characters frequently met in the series, Jack's steward, Preserved Killick...