I recently drove across the United States from Massachusetts to Arizona. During the trip I had the pleasure of reading one of Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels, The Nutmeg of Consolation, which, like O'Brian's other novels, are the best books to read on a trip.

O'Brian's seafaring novels concern the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin in the British navy of slightly over two hundred years ago. Reading an O'Brian novel while on a trip makes you feel that you are undergoing two voyages; one in the actual world and one in the world of Dr. Maturin and Captain Aubrey. I remember reading O'Brian's description of the ship sailing though a hurricane in the South Atlantic while flying in a plane through a thunderstorm over the Rocky Mountains. The buffeting of the plane added a multimedia component to O'Brian's vivid prose.

Maturin and Aubrey are the type of men who you would want as traveling companions. They have different abilities that complement each other.
Captain Aubrey is brave in the face of danger and is able to show the leadership necessary to hold a group of men together in the face of hardship. This ability is tested at the start of The Nutmeg of Consolation when the crew is shipwrecked on an isolated island.

Captain Jack Aubrey realizes that in order to keep his men as a functioning unit, even though they are not aboard ship, the traditional rituals need to be continued. These include conducting church services on Sunday with the men dressed in their best clothes and playing games of cricket. This discipline serves them well when they are attacked by hostile natives.

Dr. Maturin is more intellectual and introspective than Captain Aubrey. He is naturalist who is a appreciative observer of the exotic plants and animals found during the ship's journeys. He is a surrogate for the reader by commenting upon the sites are personages that he encounters. His skills complement Aubrey in that he uses subtlety and tack to help extricate the crewmembers from the island.

Life in the Royal Navy was often rough as Dr. Maturin reports to the local official once he finally reaches the mainland:

'I am a very poor reporter of battles. I do not see them nor in general do I take part. In this one I was in the hospital-tent almost all the time; I did not even join in the final charge. It was a severe engagement. They killed and wounded many of our people: we destroyed them entirely. But Captain Aubrey will give out an exact account. He leapt about the field of blood as though it were his native heath. You know a tiger's coughing roar, of course?'
'Of course.'
'That is the noise he makes when in battle. Will I go and fetch him now, and shift my clothes into something more worthy of dear Mrs Raffles' table?'
'Certainly: my barge will carry you over at once, and bring our guests back. Pray how many officers survived?'
'All but the purser, the clerk and one midshipman, though Fielding will limp the days of his life, and Bennett, a master's mate, is still in a very precarious state, while little Reade lost an arm.'
'That little curly headed boy?'
'No. The little curly headed boy was killed.'
Raffles shook his head; but there was no decent comment, and he only said 'I will send for the barge.'

O'Brian describes the excitement of being aboard a sailing ship going a full speed.

The morning watch found this cracking-on in progress; and with all hands on deck after breakfast it was carried farther. Royal masts were sent up and their sails were set upon them, very fine and delicate canvas too; and since the wind, a good steady topgallent breeze, was now abaft the bean, studdingsails too made their charming appearance, four on the weather side of the foremast and two on the main, with all the jibs that would stand, a noble array. Presently skysails flashed out above the royals, and all hands watched the water rise high at the bows, sink to the copper abaft the forechains and then race hissing along her side, leaving a broad wake behind, stretching straight and true to the west by south.

That excitement is what keeps Maturin and Aubrey off the dry land of Europe and seeking new adventures. I wish that my voyages were as exciting.