The relationship [between Aubrey and Maturin]...is about the best thing afloat....For Conradian power of description and sheer excitement there is nothing in naval fiction to beat the stern chase as the outgunned Leopard staggers through mountain waves in icy latitudes to escape the Dutch seventy-four. —Stephen Vaughan, ObserverCommissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Stephen Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy—and a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the undermanned, outgunned Leopard sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic, where, in mountain seas, the Dutchman closes. Read more ASIN B006CQQPM8 XRay Enabled ISBN13 978-0393088526 Edition 1st Language English File size 2.7 MB Page Flip Enabled Publisher W. W. Norton & Company Word Wise Enabled Book 5 of 21 Aubrey/Maturin Novels Print length 321 pages Accessibility Learn more Screen Reader Supported Publication date December 5, 2011 Enhanced typesetting Enabled