O'Brian wrote a very good biography of Joseph Banks, and was the translator to English of "Papillon" and the followup "Banco" by Henri Charrière, before the fil

O'Brian wrote a very good biography of Joseph Banks, and was the translator to English of "Papillon" and the followup "Banco" by Henri Charrière, before the film came out. Two books "the Golden Ocean" and "the Unknown Shore" presage much of what is in the Aubrey/Maturin series, writing about the voyages of Anson.