Jack Aubrey's long service is at last rewarded: he is promoted to the rank of Commodore and given a squadron of ships to command. His mission is twofold – to make a large dent in the slave trade off the coast of Africa and, on his return, to intercept a French fleet set for Bantry Bay with a cargo of weapons for the disaffected among the Irish. Invention and surprise follow at every turn in this tale of nineteenth-century seamanship, as rich, as compelling, as masterly as any of its predecessors

Reviews

‘One of the most brilliantly sustained pieces of historical fictional writing this century.’
James Teacher, Spectator

“Robert Hardy’s reading gives a real feel of salt spray, not to mention a taste of the lash.”
Times on The Fortune of War