I want to agree with you, but I just can't call Captain Aubrey "stern". The guy is camp as fuck, the very first time we meet him he's annoying everyone around him by being too exuberant in his enjoyment of classical music. Those books are, first and foremost, a rollicking good time. Sure, they're about war, but Aubrey is just such a silly billy, there's a ton of humor in them, "stern" just isn't the descriptor I'd use