These are two seagoing adventures by Patrick O'Brian. They're not part of the Aubrey-Maturin series, but set some decades earlier, around 1740.
The Golden Ocean is more like a (very superior) young-adult novel than those in the series, centering on Irish midshipman Peter Palafox. His voyage is full of adventure and danger, as his ship and others in the small fleet circle the globe. It's interesting, having read all the Aubrey-Maturin novels, to see life aboard from a midshipman's point of view, where the captain is a remote and forbidding figure and where the main character is always getting into trouble. It's a pleasure to see Peter growing up and becoming imperceptibly more competent, not just as a sailor but as a leader. Great fun.
The Unknown Shore follows the adventures of two other young men in another of the fleet's ships. This book too is full of adventure and danger, in particular a long and harrowing section following a shipwreck in which the characters go through extreme hardships–all plenty of fun to read about when you're sitting in a comfy armchair.
But the most interesting thing about this book is how it's a precursor for the series, with Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow playing early versions of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Byron doesn't correspond exactly (for example, he likes to read and write poetry), but Tobias does in almost every detail; he's Stephen Maturin as a teenager. The whole book is like a workshop where O'Brian is hammering out the characters and themes and balance between good and bad fortune that would come to occupy his great series. Fascinating on that account, but also on its own.
Both books are filled with O'Brian's wonderful dialogue, his humor and love of language, and the romance of sailing ships. As always with O'Brian: highly recommended.
by arrec