Publisher's Synopsis
"We've beat them before and we'll beat them again". In 1803 Napoleon smashes the Peace of Amiens, and Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N. taking refuge in France from his creditors, is interned. He escapes from France, from debtor's prison, from a possible mutiny, and pursues his quarry straight into the mouth of a French-held harbour. "Aubrey and Maturin compose one of those complex and fascinating pairs of characters which have inspired thrilling stories of all kinds since the Iliad". Iris Murdoch and John Bayley.