I heard somewhere it was the first one written of the series, though it falls in the middle now chronologically.

I got into the Age of Sail proper through Jane Austen, then Patrick O'Brian, and Naomi Novik; then a friend of mine made me sit through 15 Sharpe movies and I decided those books would be the logical next step. I can't read too many of the genre in a row or the language shift drives me crazy, but they make for terrific, absorbing breaks between my usual reading material.