Blue at the Mizzen

After Napoleon's fall has ended the long war, Captain Jack Aubrey and the physician-intelligence agent Stephen Maturin sail from Europe on a political-naval mission toward the newly independent states of South America. Jack commands a ship whose next prize is professional: a chance at flag rank, the blue ensign of a rear-admiral. Stephen's scientific collecting and his work among juntas and informants run beside the seamanship. The novel follows a voyage of diplomacy, survey, and action along the Chilean coast, with the familiar shipboard hierarchy and the two men's friendship still at the centre. It is a naval tale set in the unsettled peace after 1815.

Bound in dark blue buckram, cover blocked in gilt and colour with a design by Neil Gower. Blue slipcase.