The Frigate Surprise

The design, construction, and careers—in history and in fiction—of Jack Aubrey’s favorite command.

There is no more famous a vessel in naval fiction than HMS Surprise, the principal ship in Patrick O’Brian’s much-celebrated Aubrey-Maturin series of novels. Yet, this 28-gun frigate also had an eventful real career serving in both the French and then the Royal Navies. It was captured from the French in 1796 and took part in the famous cutting-out action on the frigate HMS Hermione, which the Spanish had taken after a savage mutiny. In 1802, after the Peace of Amiens, HMS Surprise was decommissioned and delivered into the fictional captaincy of Jack Aubrey.