Everything you need to understand or teach Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian.
Captain Jack Aubrey, c. 1809, takes command of HMS Leopard, a fourth-rate ship-of-the-line with a tarnished history. He sets sail for Botany Bay, Australia, for the dual purpose of transporting criminals to the penal colony and thereafter to recover the infamous governor William Bligh and escort him home to England. In the event, Aubrey accomplishes neither. Leopard is pursued by a Dutch opponent and, subsequent to victory, crashes into a submerged iceberg...
Desolation Island Lesson Plans contain 124 pages of teaching material, including: