Which book is that? Master and Commander or Mauritius Command?
What a great job!

Hi, Esteven!
This is from "Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian" by Brian Lavery, published in Great Britain in 2003 by Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 1 85177 946 8. This book itself is based on Brian Lavery's fundamental work "Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815".
I have written about it here:http://ancient-skipper.livejournal.com/14403.html?nc=9
(though the whole topic in Russian, a short resume is in English)

Thank you so much for telling me what you were writing about. The book is really very good and one of the many companion books to POBs works.
In case you are interested here is my first list of companion books which I have read and enjoyed very much. It is from 2004 http://esteven.livejournal.com/16527.html#cutid1 and is a bit more extensive now. :D
Having recently read Vol 3 and 4, I can also recommend "The Naval History of Great Britain" by W.M. James (Stackpole Books, ISBN 0-8117-0023-2)
My personal favourite is Anthony Gary Brown's "Of Persons, Animals,Ships and Cannons", which he has edited new and added entries for books 20 and 21.
Thanks again for your reply.
Do have a good day

Hi, Esteven!
Thank you very much for your list, I'll use it. Of this list I have only “Nelson’s Navy” and “Jack Aubrey’s Commands”.
Also very good (imho) books are:
N.A.M. Rodger “The Safeguard of the Sea” and “Command of the Ocean” (in process of reading now)
T. Benady “Royal Navy at Gibraltar”
“The Mammoth Book of Trafalgar” (also in process of reading)
C. Oman “Nelson”
Works of A. T. Mahan
As for POB books themselves I have read 3 first novels and am reading now “The Mauritius Command”. Generally speaking, my readings on Nelson’s Navy period include such authors as C.S. Forester, A. Kent, Donachie, etc., but O’Brian is the best (though I like very much Hornblower).
I’d like to read about Thomas Cochrane; maybe I’ll find something in Guttenberg site.
All the best!

Yes, Oman's "Nelson" is still The Biography.As to Cochrane, here are two links that should help you:
http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/adventure/tommy10.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/d#a5543
He is a fascinating commander and POB's "Master and Commander" is heavily based on the fight of "Speedy vs EL Gamo" (C. commanded Speedy)
If you are reading Forester and Kent,you may also like to look at Frederick Marryat http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m#a627
"Frank Mildway, Midshipman Easy" or "Peter Simple" Marryat is the first who wrote naval fiction about AoS and at one stage he served under Cochrane.
You may find it interesting that POB's "Mauritius Command" is based on the real Mauritius Campaign of 1809
As Mr Trinque wrote: The historical background of Patrick O'Brian's "The Mauritius Campaign" is the historical effort of the Royal Navy to capture the islands of Reunion and Mauritius in 1809-1810. O'Brian followed the course of the real events very closely in his novel. With one exception, he kept the historical names of the ships involved (HMS "Bombay" in the novel was actually HMS Ceylon; the name was changed to avoid confusion with an Indiaman also named Ceylon). And in most cases he used the names of the actual participants in the campaign, two exceptions being Jack Aubrey (who fills the historical role of Josias Rowley) and Lord Clonfert (who commands the same ships as the genuine Nesbit Willoughby).
(see the links)
http://hometown.aol.com/batrinque/personal2/index.htm
http://www.wargamer.com/aos/mauritius-epitaph.asp
I hope I have not spammed you too much.
Have a save weekend