Since Stacey’s didn’t have volume 18 in the Aubrey-Maturin series handy, I picked up a couple of other Patrick O’Brian’s, including The Golden Ocean. This novel was written earlier (1956) than the series which made the author famous, but it’s in print now thanks to his other success. The Golden Ocean is a historical rewrite of a 1740 Royal Navy expedition to grab a Spanish treasure ship. To do it, the Navy sent five ships around the world. One made it home, albeit with vast sums of gold and silver.
O’Brian’s style isn’t fully recognizable here, and the start of the novel (getting the protagonist from Ireland to his new ship) is painful, but the sailing makes up for it all. This story doesn’t rate up there with the later series, but the real events retold here were amazing enough for their time. I would not have picked up the novel without being a committed O’Brian fan, and I would not advise starting here, but with those caveats, a reasonable read.