The Nutmeg of Consolation

In "The Nutmeg of Consolation," the fourteenth installment of Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series, Jack and Stephen find themselves stranded on a desert island in the South China Sea after a shipwreck. Their attempts to construct a makeshift vessel are thwarted by a fierce attack from Malay pirates, but with Stephen's clever resourcefulness and the help of an unexpected ally from Jack's past, they manage to escape to a precarious refuge in a penal colony in New South Wales.