The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian (published 1991) is the fourteenth novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series. The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician... Patrick OBrian ( December 12, 1914– January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and Irish–Catalan physician... Master and Commander (1971) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the first in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Post Captain (1972) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the second in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... HMS Surprise (1973) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the third in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... Mauritius Command (1977) (published in the United States as The Mauritius Command) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the fourth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... Spoiler warning: Desolation Island (1978) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the fifth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Fortune of War (1979) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the sixth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... The Surgeons Mate (1980) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the seventh in the Aubrey-Maturin series. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The Ionian Mission (1981) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the eighth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Treasons Harbour (1983) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the ninth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Far Side of the World is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the tenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Reverse of the Medal (1986) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the eleventh in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Letter of Marque (1988) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the twelfth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1989) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the thirteenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Clarissa Oakes (1993) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the fifteenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... The Wine-Dark Sea (1993) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the sixteenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... The Commodore (1995) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the seventeenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Yellow Admiral (1996) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the eighteenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Hundred Days (1998) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the nineteenth in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Blue at the Mizzen (1999) is a novel by Patrick OBrian, the twentieth (and last completed) book in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 21 (2004) is the unfinished twenty-first novel by Patrick OBrian in the Aubrey–Maturin series. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Patrick OBrian ( December 12, 1914– January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and Irish–Catalan physician... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician...

The book opens with Captain Aubrey and his crew shipwrecked on a remote island in the South China Sea after surviving the destruction of HMS Diane in a typhoon. While stranded on the island they fight a ferocious battle against Dyak pirates and are eventually rescued by Chinese traders.

Upon arriving in Batavia, Aubrey is provided by Sir Thomas Raffles with a 20-gun ship which Aubrey renames the Nutmeg of Consolation. Back at sea, Aubrey and the out-gunned Nutmeg engage in battle with a French frigate; at the height of the battle the Nutmeg is joined by Surprise (no longer in commission at this point, but sold out of the service as a letter of marque and sailing as a Hired Vessel of the Royal Navy) under the temporary command of Aubrey's old friend and former lieutenant, Commander Thomas Pullings.

Resuming command of the Surprise, Aubrey and Stephen Maturin continue their interrupted journey to New South Wales. On their way to Australia, Maturin rescues two young girls who are the sole survivors of an outbreak of smallpox that has killed the entire population of their small pacific island.

Once in New South Wales the book contains graphic descriptions of the hell-on-earth that was the life in the penal colony under Governor Lachlan Macquarie shortly after the "Rum Rebellion" of the NSW Corps and its coup against Governor Bligh. There are also detailed descriptions of the landscapes and fauna in and around Sydney harbour and Stephen Maturin has an interesting encounter with a male Platypus in the final pages of the book.