Christmas Cove

Thanks Don for this informed take on the location of Jack's Desolation Island

POB occasionally gives contradictory information, forcing one to choose what to believe, and what to discard.

Captain Tremerac is Kerguelen - Captain Yves de Kerguelen de Tremerac. And contrary to what Jack/POB say, Cook did find it on his final voyage, and mapped part of its coast with the assistance of his sailing master, William Bligh. The harbor where the Leopard sought shelter is almost certainly Captain Cook's Christmas Harbor, in the far NW corner of Kerguelen.

More follows...

The Fortune Of War - Patrick O'Brian

Why did Jack claim in a later book that Kerguelen was not his Desolation Island? Perhaps because he [POB] gave it some fictional characteristics, and did not want some pedantic cove annoying him with criticism that he got some details wrong. But the information in DI is so specific, it is hard to argue that Desolation Island is elsewhere.

You can look up Cook's account of the place, complete with seals, cabbage, and even a message in a bottle left by Kerguelen's men.

The Fortune Of War - Patrick O'Brian

Thanks to Don Seltzer from the Gunroom