Showing results by author "Patrick O’Brian" in All Categories

El capitán Jack Aubrey, R. N., en tierra después de un exitoso crucero, es persuadido por un conocido casual para hacer ciertas inversiones en la ciudad. Esta decisión inocente lo atrapa en la clandestinidad criminal de Londres y en el espionaje del gobierno, la provincia de su amigo Stephen Maturin. ¿Es la humillación de Aubrey y la ruina amenazada de su carrera un complot deliberado? Esta oscura historia es un telón de fondo apropiado para la caracterización brillante y el diálogo brillante que los lectores de O'Brian han llegado a esperar.

Three previously unpublished short stories by the great Patrick O'Brian - Noughts and Crosses, Two's Company and No Pirates Nowadays. Noughts and Crosses: When Sullivan and Ross decide to go shark fishing among the atolls of the Great Barrier Reef little do they know what awaits them. With their schooner beached for cleaning they take a small whaler out to sea, but when the very devil of a storm turns the whole of the sea white, it drives them to the nearest atoll for shelter.

En route to England and his next command, Captain Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship’s surgeon and secret agent Stephen Maturin, find themselves swept up in the War of 1812. As Aubrey convalesces from his wounds in a Boston hospital, awaiting the next prisoner exchange, Maturin’s past activities as a spy return to haunt him and precipitate both men into new and unexpected dangers.

Jack Aubrey, veteran of numerous battles, has been promoted to senior captain commanding a ship that has been sent out to reinforce the squadron blockading Toulon. Compared to the early days of the Napoleonic conflict, the action is slow, cold and dull. But a sudden turn of events takes Aubrey, and ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where the skill, daring and, indeed, luck of both men will be tested to the utmost.

As Captain Jack Aubrey cools his heels in a Maltese harbour, awaiting repairs to his ship, war rages on. Fearing that hostilities will end before he has any further opportunities for fame and fortune, Aubrey accepts several secret missions, but all is not as it seems.

Captain Bligh, of Bounty fame, is now governor of New South Wales and facing mutiny anew, having lost the support of local settlers. Jack Aubrey is commissioned to come to his rescue. With a beautiful but dangerous spy on board, along with an unwelcome hold full of convicts, and war with America brewing, can Captain Jack Aubrey reach Australia in one piece?

Following a daring rescue, Jack Aubrey accepts a new command and a new commission to a far-flung destination. Ahead of him and his crew are the new sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and the terrifying hazards of an archipelago of islands in the East Indies, where their French enemies have near overwhelming superiority.

Jack Aubrey’s long service has at last been rewarded with promotion to the rank of commodore, and a squadron of ships to command. His new commission is twofold – first, inhibit the slave trade off the coast of West Africa, and then, on his return, intercept a French fleet loaded with weapons intended for the disaffected Irish.

Ordered home by despatch vessel, Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin have been tasked with bringing the news of the latest victory in the war with America back to the government in Britain. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought upon the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers who pursue their ship soon become menacing.

Essere al comando di una nave, dare la caccia a brigantini nell'Adriatico, a tartane nel golfo del Leone, a sciabecchi e saettie lungo la costa spagnola, vivere in prima persona arrembaggi e duelli: questi sono gli orizzonti di Jack Aubrey, uomo di mare temerario e irruente, figlio orgoglioso di una nazione (l'Inghilterra del diciannovesimo secolo) simile a lui nell'inestinguibile sete di dominio che la pervade e nell'intima inquietudine che la tormenta.

As he sails away from Port Jackson, Captain Jack Aubrey feels nothing but relief at leaving the penal colony and its inhabitants far behind. But, unknown to him, hidden among his crew is one Clarissa Oakes. With Britain at war on two fronts, with both America and France, Aubrey’s orders are to make for the Sandwich Islands and intervene in the conflict there.

In the fight against the French, a treaty with the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, a piratical Malay state, may prove decisive. Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, along with a hand-picked crew, must survive the dangers of the high forties and convey a diplomatic envoy to ensure this key alliance, but dangers, both natural and man-made, will dog their every move.

Racing against time, Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew must chase the USS Norfolk as she rounds Cape Horn, pursuing her into the Great South Sea and beyond. Following the equator, ahead of them lies not only the natural wonders of the Galapagos but also a succession of disasters – men overboard, castaways, typhoons, shipwrecks, to say nothing of murder and criminal insanity.

As war with Napoleon seemingly draws to a close, opportunities for advancement are limited and Jack Aubrey faces the ultimate indignity – the possibility of being ‘yellowed’, or retired, and set aside with no squadron of his own. But the blockade of Brest presents dangers to equal those of the furthest shores.

The war is over, the armies dispersed, and the former Emperor of the French has been consigned to a Mediterranean island, yet now he is marching again on Paris with an ever-growing army. Commodore Jack Aubrey and his convoy are tasked with destroying enemy shipyards along the Adriatic coast and cutting off the financial support from that quarter, in a fast and furious race to stop the Corsican from regaining all he’s lost.

Patrick O’Brian is acclaimed as one of the greatest historical novelists of the twentieth century, celebrated throughout the world for his masterful roman fleuve, the Aubrey‒Maturin series. But he was also a prolific writer of short stories, and it is in this form that he first made his mark. Encompassing stories written in his unvarnished youth to tales told by a seasoned traveller, this is the most comprehensive collection of O’Brian’s short fiction ever published. It is a treasure chest, containing more than sixty tales, including rarities, uncollected works, and forgotten jewels.

Persa la "Sophie", Jack Aubrey e Stephen Maturin si ritrovano senza una nave, ma ben provvisti di quattrini grazie alle numerose prede catturate durante la navigazione nel Mediterraneo dalla gloriosa corvetta. D'intesa, i due amici decidono di ritirarsi per qualche tempo in campagna... dimenticando però che la terraferma riserva spesso brutte sorprese agli uomini di mare. E infatti la parentesi idilliaca viene bruscamente interrotta; raggirato dal proprio contabile, Jack si ritrova pieno di debiti ed è costretto alla fuga verso la Spagna.

Nach seiner Zeit in Mauritius (siehe Episode 4: "Geheimauftrag Mauritius") erhält Jack Aubrey ein Landkommando bei der Miliz, was ihm Gelegenheit gibt, sich auf seine Art um sein Vermögen zu kümmern. Unterstützt von seinem Freund Dr. Stephen Maturin, Schiffsarzt und Geheimagent, übernimmt er schließlich das Kommando auf der HMS Leopard, einem 50 Kanonen-Schiff der vierten Klasse, um im Auftrag der britischen Krone einen Aufstand gegen Gouverneur Bligh (dem ehemaligen Kapitän der Bounty, auf der die Mannschaft meuterte) zu regeln und Gefangene - darunter auch Frauen - nach Botany Bay im heutigen Australien zu deportieren.

Käpt'n Jack Aubrey ist ausnahmsweise an Land glücklich, den er hat geheiratet. Aber er ist auch unglücklich: Er hat kein Schiff. Doch Stephen Maturin kann hinter den Kulissen helfend eingreifen und Jack wird Kommodore. Er soll mit einem Geschwader Mauritius von den Franzosen erobern. Die ihm unterstellten Kapitäne, sture Admiräle, der Nachschub und die Angst, dass andere ihm den Ruhm für das Erreichte streitig machen könnten, machen ihm Probleme. Und das Hauptproblem sind natürlich die Franzosen auf Mauritius und La Réunion.

Leaving behind them a Europe still taking stock after the definitive battle of Waterloo, Jack Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin set sail for Chile. But even with the newly minted peace, life at sea remains beset with danger and imminent disaster, and the political turmoil of the South American continent is equal to any threat they have yet faced.