The sixteenth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series. The two men pursue a prize through the strange-colored Great South Sea in as adventure filled with disaster and delight. Their ship, 'Surprise', becomes a privateer as one of the men seeks to ignite the revolutionary spirit in South America. The men become separated, and the brilliantly detailed narrative reunites them at last in a breathtaking chase through stormy seas and icebergs south of Cape Horn, where the hunters suddenly become the hunted.