Patrick OBrian didn't just write sea stories. The 20 volume Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin series explores
the complex relationship of two good friends who spend much of their life couped up in a rather
small box, a.k.a. ship on the sea. Some have compared him to Jane Austen and it seems that
people who like Jane Austen also like O'Brian. There is a mailing list called the gunroom devoted
to discussing O'Brian and things he wrote about and just about anything you can think about.