The Lubber’s Hole - A Patrick O’Brian Podcast

We're finally at Desolation Island: the pumps have gained, and the ship could yet float. We have flatulent cabbages, an illicit whaler's forge and a spot of covert counterespionage. Amongst all of that, though, Jack and Stephen are still far from enjoying plain sailing. Beware the giant petrels!

At forty-six degrees south with no rudder, our battered Leopard finds hope of salvation—until suddenly safety seems as distant as the moon. Jack bets everything on finding Kerguelen’s land, Stephen bemoans a lack of lime-juice, and the gunroom takes a long-overdue, civilised breath. Whether or no, Tom Collins!

In the wake of the destruction of the Waakzaamheid, a wounded Jack Aubrey contends with fractured discipline, mutinous whispers, and a muffled ship's bell. But the real ordeal in the freezing Southern Ocean has only just begun - the Leopard and her crew are in a grim fight for survival.

Pursued across the South Atlantic by the Waakzaamheid, Jack Aubrey evades, fights, and then flees the Dutch 74. Below decks there's tragedy, as a monstrous gale drives both vessels into the Roaring Forties. A desperate duel with stern-chasers ends with one of the most shocking and memorable moments in the canon.

As HMS Leopard runs south toward the Cape, Jack Aubrey prepares to meet a superior enemy. We encounter seabirds, superstitions, social diseases and substance abuse, and Stephen gets personal with Midshipman Herapath.

We welcome historian and author Peter Moore to discuss his new book, Dangerous Game: Thomas Cochrane’s Life on the Edge. Peter dives deep into the real-life naval hero who inspired Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey. Discover fresh archival revelations, the complex family dynamics shaping Cochrane's ambitions, his controversial 1814 stock exchange trial, and forgotten exploits from chemical warfare plans to daring night actions. Plus, we explore Peter's own journey into O’Brian’s fiction and the creative craft of naval biography.

The crew of the Leopard go through hell and out the other side. We have disease and despair, a finely-honed intelligence coup, an escape to higher ground, and a fascinating detour into the 18th-century literary and theological easter eggs hidden in Louisa Wogan’s cabin. Grab a slice of iced pudding and settle in!

We get a thickening of the plot with Louisa Wogan and her lover Herapath; plants everywhere to be paid off in this book and later ones; idyllic sailing time, Old Adam, a saintly cleric, decomposed puffins, and Stephen's nemesis finally declares itself as he gathers allies.

There's death below decks, a stowaway, rats and a dog, Stephen stepping up as surgeon and spy (despite his Jonesing), an introduction to the wardroom, classical poets, toasted cheese and Corelli in C Major.

Jack and Stephen get some help from their friends, Stephen navigates the highs and lows of London street life, and we discover what's been happening to Diana Villiers. To cap it all, Stephen and Jack are persuaded that the best place for them is at sea.

Desolation Island opens with bucolic absurdity - we’ve got Jack Aubrey on ‘Fiddler’s Green’, Stephen dissecting a fresh cadaver's hands before dinner, a catastrophic get-rich-quick scheme, and Jane Austen-style fibbing from almost everyone. Grab a glass of port and mind your poke—we're getting the band back together.

The pieces fall into place for the final stages of the invasion of Mauritius - we find out how that’s all going to play out! Plus resolution for Stephen, a boiled baby for Tom Pullings, grief and anger for McAdam, un-earned glory for Admiral Bertie, and a delightful piece of news from home for Jack Aubrey.

After flexing his brain surgery skills, Stephen is off to subvert the catholics of Mauritius, but gets a nasty dunking. Jack Aubrey has a chance to take on Commodore Hamelin on equal terms.

They're all at it: Jack Aubrey summons his resilience, Tom Pullings summons himself, and fate summons a familiar captain back to the waters off Mauritius. We’re going to have cat-and-mouse pursuits, false dawns, anti-climaxes and yet another blood-soaked action at sea, with a hidden clue as to the fate awaiting one of our main characters.

We step into O'Brian's re-telling of the Battle of Grand Port, the only major French naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the most devastating, catastrophic reversals in the entire Aubrey-Maturin canon. For one of our characters in particular, it’s going to be a life-changing event.

We're taking a break from The Mauritius Command to bring you a guest interview with Antonia Senior. Antonia is a book critic at The Times, as well as a writer, podcaster and journalist. But before she was any of those things, she was a Patrick O’Brian fan, and we had a great time talking to her about historical fiction, what makes O'Brian such a standout, and which other authors come close. With a little chat about espionage on the side!

After the hurricane, we meet human frailty, dockyard corruption, rain-soaked letters from home, and an unborn porcupine. Our heroes debate the value of a human life, with a Tory and a Radical managing not to fall out. Finally, as the invasion of La Réunion begins, lives are saved by the Voltairean Stephen Maturin.

Stephen and Jack are ashore again at the cape, ready to spend the British king’s gold on mercenaries and propaganda; Killick is anxious about meeting the ghost in the bread-room; Clonfert's fakery continues to be an issue; and all creatures, great and small, are at risk from some stormy weather.

Stephen prepares to play his part in Jack’s Mauritius mission. We have reflections on natural philosophy, a covert mission ashore, and co-operation with the Army in the first action of the campaign - but will it be a success for all concerned? Plus - more parrot revelations.

We arrive at the Cape of Good Hope, receive Jack's true orders, and witness the immediate elevation—and corresponding pressure—that comes with the new post of Commodore Aubrey. Meanwhile there's a surprise reunion with a couple of old Jack Aubrey followers, and a protestant parrot.