Explore the real-world places that appear in Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Portsmouth Harbour and Gosport, Spithead Anchorage, Fleet Prison and London Debt Troubles, Admiralty, Whitehall, Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Passage and 7 more.
Portsmouth Harbour — HMS Leopard fits out and sails
The Leopard, a worn 50-gun ship, is fitted out at Portsmouth as a convict transport with Captain Jack Aubrey in command. Aubrey has just escaped debtors' prison and a financial scandal, and is eager to be at sea again. Stephen Maturin joins as surgeon and intelligence agent, and the ship is loaded with convicts and a hold full of stores for the long passage to New South Wales.
Portsmouth has been the Royal Navy's principal home base since the 15th century, and during the Napoleonic Wars its dockyard was among the busiest in the world. Convict transports departed for Australia from the south coast ports from 1787 onward.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a major heritage attraction, home to HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose Museum. The Gosport waterfront across the harbour offers views of the same anchorage.
Visit: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (historic site)
The Solent — where the Leopard waits for her convoy
The Leopard lies at Spithead as she completes her preparations and takes on her passengers, including the mysterious Louisa Wogan, an American woman in the company of the convicts' party. The anchorage serves as the last point of England the crew sees before the voyage begins in earnest.
Spithead was the traditional assembly point for Royal Navy fleets and convoys. It was the scene of the 1797 Spithead mutiny, a major naval protest over pay and conditions.
The Solent is a busy waterway for ferries, yachts and cruise ships. The Spinnaker Tower and Southsea seafront give good views of the anchorage.
Visit: Spinnaker Tower (landmark)
Farringdon — Aubrey's financial peril
Jack Aubrey begins the book under the shadow of ruin, with debts and the threat of being a debtor in prison, which makes the lucrative convict-transport commission an urgent rescue. His fortunes in London, tangled with the intrigues of Sir Joseph Blaine's intelligence service, set the stage for Maturin's own secret mission.
The Fleet Prison stood on Farringdon Street and housed debtors for centuries. It was demolished in 1846 after being closed as a prison.
The site is occupied by modern office buildings along Farringdon Street, and no part of the prison survives above ground. The nearby Old Bailey and Museum of London remain places to explore the area's legal history.
Whitehall — orders for the Leopard
The Admiralty is where Aubrey receives his commission to carry convicts to New South Wales and help restore order after the overthrow of Governor Bligh. Sir Joseph Blaine of naval intelligence also uses the setting to brief Maturin about the spy aboard.
The Admiralty Building on Whitehall was built in the 1720s and served as the headquarters of the Royal Navy's governing board. Nelson and many other famous officers received orders there.
The building is part of the Ministry of Defence complex and is not open to the public. The surrounding Whitehall streets and Horse Guards Parade are open.
Atlantic Ocean — typhus fever strikes the ship
Once clear of the Channel, the Leopard is battered by weather while gaol fever, a typhus-like disease, begins to spread among the convicts and then the crew. Stephen Maturin struggles to treat the sick while also being drawn into a game of espionage with Louisa Wogan, who proves a dangerous agent.
The Bay of Biscay is notorious for heavy seas and storms. Ship fever, or typhus, regularly devastated crowded ships in the age of sail.
The bay is crossed by ferry routes and shipping lanes between Britain and Spain. Its wild seas remain well known to sailors.
Funchal Roads — a passing port
The Leopard's route south follows the usual convoy path through the Atlantic islands, where ships take on wine and fresh provisions. Aubrey sees the voyage as a chance to restore his fortune, while Maturin watches Mrs. Wogan's movements carefully.
Funchal was a regular victualling stop for ships heading to the East Indies and Australia. Madeira wine was prized and often carried on long voyages because it did not spoil.
Funchal is Madeira's capital and a popular tourist destination with botanical gardens, wine lodges and a cable car above the harbour.
Visit: Madeira Wine Company Blandy's Wine Lodge (tour)
Southern Africa — last stop before the Southern Ocean
The Cape is the major waypoint on the route to Australia, where the Leopard hopes to restock and recover from the fever. The ship then plunges into the wild Southern Ocean, where huge seas, icebergs and a Dutch ship, the Waakzaamheid, test Aubrey's seamanship.
The Cape was a key strategic station on the route to the East, seized by Britain in 1806 from the Dutch. Cape Town's Table Bay was the great refreshment port for ships heading east.
Cape Point lies within Table Mountain National Park, and attracts visitors with its lighthouse and sweeping ocean views.
Visit: Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve (park)
Roaring Forties — the Leopard pursued by the Waakzaamheid
In the Roaring Forties the Leopard is hunted by a heavier Dutch 74-gun ship, the Waakzaamheid, in a long chase through gales and fog. Aubrey, short of crew because of the fever, uses every skill to survive the pursuit, while Maturin tends the sick and faces Mrs. Wogan's betrayal.
The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds that powered the clipper route to Australia, and are remembered for sudden storms and great seas. Icebergs drifting north from Antarctica added to the danger.
These waters remain among the most remote and rough on Earth, crossed mainly by research vessels and cargo ships.
Southern Indian Ocean — the wreck of the Leopard's fortunes
Crippled in battle with the Waakzaamheid, the Leopard limps to the barren Desolation Island, where the ship is hauled out for repairs and the crew survive on seals and penguins. Maturin explores the island's strange wildlife, while Mrs. Wogan and the convicts present new dangers and the Dutch ship returns for a final reckoning.
Captain James Cook named the Kerguelen Islands 'Desolation Island' in 1776 for their barrenness, after Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovered them in 1772. They were later used for sealing and whaling.
The islands form part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and host a research station, Port-aux-Français. There is no tourism except for limited supply-ship visits.
Sydney Heads — arrival in New South Wales
After the ordeal of fever, storm and battle, the Leopard reaches the entrance to Sydney's harbour to deliver her surviving convicts. Aubrey and Maturin arrive in a colony shaken by the aftermath of the Rum Rebellion against Governor Bligh.
Sydney Heads form the entrance to Port Jackson, where the First Fleet arrived in 1788. North Head and South Head were later used as fortifications and quarantine stations.
North Head Sanctuary and Sydney Harbour National Park offer walking tracks, lookouts and historic military sites.
Visit: Sydney Harbour National Park (park)
Circular Quay — the colonial capital
Sydney is the colony Aubrey is sent to help stabilize after the overthrow of Governor Bligh. The Leopard's convicts are landed, and Jack and Stephen meet the colonial officers whose politics echo the rebellion against Bligh.
Sydney Cove was the site of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. The Rum Rebellion of 1808 saw the New South Wales Corps depose Governor William Bligh.
Circular Quay is a major transport hub beside the Sydney Opera House and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The nearby Rocks area preserves colonial-era streets and buildings.
Visit: The Rocks Discovery Museum (museum)
Macquarie Street — convict history in Sydney
The fate of the convicts delivered by the Leopard reflects the world of Sydney's convict barracks and labour system. The colonial administration Aubrey encounters depends on this convict workforce.
Hyde Park Barracks was designed by convict architect Francis Greenway and built in 1819 to house male convicts. It later served as an immigration depot and asylum.
It is now a museum telling the story of convict life in Sydney, and is part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing.
Visit: Hyde Park Barracks Museum (museum)
More by Patrick O'Brian: Master and Commander locations map · Treason's Harbour locations map · All Patrick O'Brian books
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