historygeek has been reading the Patrick O'Brian sea adventure series for a couple of months and recommending them highly, so I picked this one up in soft cover on spec. Once I got past the flurry of character updates in the first chapter, I quite enjoyed the book. This one doesn't have a lot of plot -- it is more of a travelogue -- but it was still a good read. The nautical stuff is still bewildering, but a person can let most of that slide and trust that it will come clear later.

This is the book in which they are sent off to intercept an American ship that has been sent off to harass the British whaling fleet in the Pacific. They hope to catch the Norfolk before it rounds The Horn, but, of course, they don't and have to follow it round.

The cover shows Russell Crowe's face, but the movie follows the book only very sketchily.

I am exchanging this one with historygeek for a couple of others in the series. It may get released after that.