Cochrane – The Life & Exploits of a Fighting Captain – Robert Harvey -- Both a complementary addition to the Patrick O’Brian naval series, it stands on its own as the biography of an almost unbelievable naval hero. From single ship actions (in one action, Cochrane fought and defeated a ship more than twice his own ship’s size and firepower); to political missions (Cochrane became the admiral of the emergent navy of the west coast of South America, using his tiny fleet to stop Spain from reinforcing its failing colonies), Harvey writes a compelling story. But the stories take on even more interest when you match them with the adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Over and over, bits of action or plotting from Cochrane’s life show up in the Aubrey novels (O’Brian openly admitted that he borrowed from Cochrane’s career to build Aubrey’s), and as interesting are where the parallels fail. The descriptions of the stock market swindles and trial are particularly interesting and vivid.  

Patrick O’Brian naval series

• The Commodore
• Desolation Island
• The Far Side of the World
• The Fortune of War
•  H.M.S. Surprise
• The Ionian Mission
• The Letter of Marque   
• Master and Commander
• The Mauritius Command
• The Commodore
• The Fortune of War
• The Hundred Days

Companion books:

Lobscouse & Spotted Dog : Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, et al / Hardcover / Published 1997

Harbors and High Seas : An Atlas and Geographical Guide to the Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian

Other Nautical fiction