I believe the series was twenty novels, twenty-one if you count a final unfinished book that was published as-is.
They were great reads, I think I’ve read the entire cycle 6 or 7 times so far.
O’Brian is a descendant of the Commodore Anson who took the Manilla treasure galleon “Covadonga” in 1740, after sailing around Cape Horn. One of four the British took in three and a half centuries. Hi
Anson was later First Sea Lord and O’Brian was born in the manor house Anson built with his share of the treasure.
***who took the Manila treasure galleon***
I read the book Manila Galleon by F. Van Wyck Mason over sixty years ago! definitely adult reading but good!
loved sea stories back then. Also read the Captain Blood trilogy and the Beat To Quarters trilogy. Kept me sane during my teen years.
Last sea stories I read a few years ago were THE LOST GOD and Other Adventure Stories by John Russell.
And of course Moby Dick and other stories by Herman Melville.