Adventure on the High Seas

The novel's principle setting is the high seas during a time of war; Napoleon Bonaparte's military adventures threaten the British Empire and only a strong naval response keeps the French aggression at bay and ensures the survival of the empire. As a commander and later post captain of the Royal Navy, Jack Aubrey's sworn and obvious duty is to engage and destroy the French at every opportunity. He carries out this duty first with H.M.S. Polychrest and later with H.M.S. Lively, engaging the French successfully on several occasions. Aubrey's particular friend Stephen Maturin also stands in opposition to the French, finding their governmental system tyrannical and offensive. He participates as an intelligence officer—a spy—in the defense of England and with the hope that Catalonia will revolt from Spanish rule.

The novel relates sea voyages in the...