Post Captain

Patrick O'Brian wrote 21 books in the Aubrey & Maturin series. Post Captain is the second book in the series. There had been a short lull in the war with France but when Englishman Jack Aubrey and Irishman Stephen Maturin were travelling through France they had to hide when the call was made to arrest all Englishmen. They eventually reached safety in Spain.  At Maderia they boarded the East Indiaman, Lord Nelson,which was  returning to England. It proved to be an eventful journey with the ship being captured by the French before being recaptured by the English.

Back in England Jack was looking for a post on a new ship but positions were scarce until eventually he took command of a new untried ship, Polychrest. Jack had no choice but to take the position as he was in debt and bailiffs were after him to arrest him. The only place of safety was aboard ship. The novel basically deals with the rollicking adventures at sea on ships including the Polychrest and its crew, many of who are learning on the job. The book also recounts the tenuous relationships of Jack and Stephen with two women they left behind in England.

I was aware of this series of books when I worked in public libraries but decided to read this one as an article about the ship, Lord Nelson, mentioned that chapter five of this historical fiction novel was based on the capture of the ship in 1802. In 1808 Captain Charles William Hutton was in charge of the ship on its fifth voyage when it disappeared off the coast of Madras.  Captain Hutton was my 4 x great grandfather. I was therefore interested in reading this fictional account of the ship's second voyage and then continued reading the novel.

Lord Nelson East Indiaman - Wikipedia