Jack Aubrey, a former sea-officer in the British Navy and still bitter about his court-martial, agrees to take command of his old ship, the Surprise, which was sold to Dr. Stephen Maturin, who obtained a letter of marque to the use the ship as a privateer.

The War of 1812 continues, and Jack Aubrey sets course for Cape Horn on a mission after his own heart: intercepting a powerful American frigate outward bound to play havoc with the British whaling trade. Little do he and Maturin know that disaster awaits them in the Great South Sea: typhoons, shipwrecks, murder, and criminal insanity.

After surviving a great typhoon in the South China Sea, Captain Jack Aubrey, ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, and the crew of the HMS Diane attempt to rebuild their ship to leave the small desert island where they have been shipwrecked.

A British whaler has been captured by an ambitious chief in the Sandwich Islands at French instigation, and Captain Aubrey is dispatched with the Surprise to restore order. But stowed away in the cable-tier is an escaped female convict. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies. Only Aubrey's friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin, can fathom Clarissa's secrets: her crime, her personality, and a clue identifying...

The continuing saga of the Royal Navy's Captain Jack Aubrey, now being sued by slaveholders for the ships he confiscated off Africa. At the same his wife is after him for his affair with a mistress. Things improve when he goes to sea to fight the French and captures a ship with gold.