HMS Surprise is the 1973 historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. It is third in the series of stories of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin.
Captain Jack Aubrey is charged with carrying a British ambassador to the East Indies.
Accompanying him (as always) is his friend Stephen Maturin, and much of the novel deals with the ups and downs of Stephen's relationship with Diana Villiers, introduced in the previous novel, Post ...
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HMS Surprise is the 1973 historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. It is third in the series of stories of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin.
Captain Jack Aubrey is charged with carrying a British ambassador to the East Indies.
Accompanying him (as always) is his friend Stephen Maturin, and much of the novel deals with the ups and downs of Stephen's relationship with Diana Villiers, introduced in the previous novel, Post Captain.
As the book opens the Admiralty is debating on how to reward the captains who captured the Spanish gold ships. Since Spain was not at war the prizes are not considered prizes and the captains end up with much smaller bounties than they thought they would receive. In the same meeting the new First Lord of the Admiralty mentions Stephen's name even though it is in a classified folder, blowing his cover as a spy.
Stephen willingly goes on a mission to Spain anyway, and is to be picked up by Jack while he is guiding HMS Lively on a return...
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