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. Stephen
Maturin has fish of his own to fry in the world of secret intelligence.
Disaster in various guises awaits them in the Great South Sea and in the
far reaches of the Pacific: typhoons, castaways, shipwrecks, murder, and
criminal insanity.