Chapter 1 Summary

This is the story of Captain Jack Aubrey's first command, and the beginning of what has been called one of the greatest literary buddy stories in recent history. Master and Commander is the story of the maturing and tempestuous relationship between a ship's Captain and the ship's surgeon, Dr. Stephen Maturin, two unforgettable characters revealing themselves for the first time in Patrick O'Brian's first book about Captain Jack.

The novel opens in a music room in Port Mahon, the capital city of Minorca, one of the Balearic Islands. The room is handsomely set in the Governor's House, with gilt chairs filled with Italian musicians rendering an enthusiastic first movement of Pietro Locatelli's C Major Quarter. Although perhaps not all of the audience is equally energized by the passion of the music and its performers, a handful are, including two men seated in the...