The Surgeon's Mate
Series: Aubrey-Maturin (7)
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Published: November 4, 1996
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780006499213
First sentence: The long harbour of Halifax in Nova Scotia on a long, long summer's day, and two frigates gliding in on the tide of flood under their topsails alone: the first, since she had belonged to the United States navy until a few days before, wore the Stars and Stripes under a white ensign; the second showed no more than her own shabby colours, for she was HMS Shannon, the winner in that short and bloody action with the Chesapeake.