The Mauritius Command
Encyclopedia
The Mauritius Command is a historical naval novel by British author Patrick O'Brian
. It is fourth in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories that follow the partnership of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. It retells in fictional form the real campaign
carried out by the Royal Navy
in 1810 under Commodore Josias Rowley
. As is common to most of the stories, Aubrey's inspired tactical seamanship is a suitable foil for the dramatic and "Machiavellian" scheming of his medical man and intelligence expert Maturin. Both Britain and France need to protect their trade routes and prey on the enemy in the Indian Ocean
. Mauritius
and La Réunion
are suitably placed to be desirable bases for both countries. At the start of the book the French hold the islands and are capturing British ships.
in charge of a squadron of ships sent to take the islands of Mauritius
and Réunion
from the French
, and so protect British
shipping interests in the Indian Ocean
.
Aubrey is ordered to take command, as the Commodore
of a small squadron of ships in Cape Town
and sails south from Portsmouth
with some of the ships, to the Cape of Good Hope
, with instructions to disrupt French interests in the region. Particularly he is charged with taking the islands of Mauritius
and La Réunion
. He is given command of the 38-gun frigate HMS Boadicea
. The wife of one of his captains, Lady Clonfert, seeks passage with Aubrey to enable her to join her husband but Aubrey is not keen on this and contrives to leave early one morning without her.
The long journey takes the squadron to the Cape of Good Hope. On the way Aubrey attempts to bring the crew up to his standards of efficiency, but he is only partly successful. They meet with the French ship Hébé which is escorting a captured merchant ship. After a brief chase the French are overcome and the ships captured. Hébé turns out to be HMS Hyaena captured some time before by the French. He sends the prizes to Gibraltar under the command of the Boadiceas aged First Lieutenant Akers. Aubrey uses this device to be rid of the officer and send home letters, one of which attempts to excuse his leaving early without Lady Clonfert.
On arrival, Aubrey meets Admiral Bertie
and also has to contend with the disparate characters of his captains. One of these is Lord Clonfert, a minor member of the Irish aristocracy who has political influence, and who served with Jack Aubrey whilst out in the West Indies. They were involved in an action together and he had some reservations at the time about Clonfert's courage. Another is Captain Corbett
who is a harsh disciplinarian and drives his men almost to the point of mutiny. Barett Bonden, usually Aubrey's coxswain, and Preserved Killick request permission to join Aubrey once more, particularly as Bonden was given fifty lashes for an unpolished firing piece on his gun.
During his campaign Aubrey temporarily switches his pennant to the elderly 64-gun ship of the line
HMS Raisonnable
, but returns to the more seaworthy HMS Boadicea with the onset of the tropical cyclone season. La Réunion is captured almost bloodlessly after a landing by British East India Company
troops under the cooperative Colonel Keating
, their path already softened up by Maturin's propaganda and political machinations. Mauritius proves a tougher nut to crack. As HMS Néréide
is detached to chase the Iphigenia
to Port South East on Mauritius, Maturin suffers a serious fall and spends much time in the company of Lord Clonfert and Mr. McAdam, Clonfert's learned but drunken surgeon. The first demonstrates himself to be a largely ineffective person, craving the fawning attentions of his officers and crew, whilst McAdam, a less convivial conversationalist, is made fun of by the young officers particularly when "in his cups."
However, events worsen on their arrival. Keen to capitalise on the capture of the Île de la Passe
fort, the small group of ships, under the command of the unadventurous but solid Captain Pym
, land men and troops to consolidate the land campaign. While they are so disposed, the French appear with four ships Bellone
, Minerve
, Victor
and Ceylon. They boldly sail past the fort into the port; the British are caught unprepared but decide to sail in to attack. They struggle to navigate the unfamiliar channel into the harbour and, with two British ships running aground, the French are able to bring all their guns to bear on the ships that eventually reach the harbour. The end result is the Néréide is taken (Clonfert is severely wounded in the neck and head by a wooden splinter), Sirius
and Magiciénne
are burnt to prevent their capture, and Iphigenia and the fort Île de la Passe are abandoned to be retaken by the French. Only a messenger vessel, with Maturin aboard, gets back to La Réunion to inform the commodore of the "ill tidings".
Aubrey immediately rushes to see if Iphigenia and Île de la Passe can be saved but the British are chased off after finding both are clearly in French hands. After eventually making contact with the Emma transport and the Windham, which itself appears to be unseaworthy, Aubrey believes his fortunes have changed when HMS Africaine - now commanded by Captain Corbett - re-joins them. Sailing in chase of the French during the night, Africaine clashes with the Astrée
and the renamed Iphigenia (once again the French Iphigenie). But the encounter goes badly and Corbett is killed during the fight, probably, as the ship's surgeon informs Maturin later, by his own oppressed men. The French capture the ship, but leave it dismasted when the Boadicea and Aubrey bear down on them and, much to Aubrey's joy, refuse an engagement. Joined by the Otter and Staunch, the flotilla eventually reaches harbour and Africaine's refit is the Commodore's top priority.
Before repairs are complete the Pearl races towards harbour, meeting HMS Boadicea with the news that Bombay
is nearby, being pounded by both the French Vénus
and Victor
. Outrunning the Staunch and Otter, Jack engages the pair who have captured Bombay and makes use of extra volunteer crew from the refitting HMS Africaine to board both Bombay, recapturing her, and the Venus. During the encounter the French Commodore, Hamelin, is killed by grapeshot
in his heart. Now with news that Bellone and Minerve are almost certainly "heaved down", and Iphigenia and Néréide are likely to be of little use even if refitted, Aubrey believes the tide has turned in his favour. En-route from St. Denis to take Mauritius from the French, the squadron encounters a large British force under the command of Admiral Bertie, who proceeds to steal Aubrey and Keating's thunder by taking command of the whole invasion force and claiming the honours. However, news of the birth of his son causes Aubrey to remain ebullient even when everyone expects his mood to be downcast.
The final invasion, based almost entirely on Aubrey and Keating's original plan, is almost without bloodshed. The French capitulate after being given honourable terms, and Maturin finds that Clonfert has committed suicide by removing the bandages from his wounds while captured, unable to face up to the jubilation of his rival, Jack Aubrey, in victory. A ceremonial dinner is given back in Cape Town and Admiral Bertie, under the impression that Aubrey has influential political connections, gives Aubrey the honour of taking the dispatches aboard the Boadicea and sailing for England in compensation for "stealing" his victory.
effectively to support the campaign) and as a naturalist (in which he is seen collecting relics of the extinct birds the Dodo
and the Solitaire
).
O'Brian used literary license in making Aubrey a Commodore while still a relatively junior captain. At that time, a captain would spend twenty years or more on the Captain's list before his promotion to Admiral. A Commodore's appointment was a considerable plum, and only very senior captains received them. On a remote station, when an admiral would have to draw on the captains on station, it would be a different matter. But Aubrey was appointed directly by the Admiralty
to a post that, traditionally, would have come to an officer more than a dozen years more senior with the help of Maturin's persuasion.
carried out by the Royal Navy in 1810 under Commodore Josias Rowley
. O'Brian notes this in the preface. The island was formally captured on 3 December 1810.
The story contains numerous allusions to the ideas and thinking of others. At one point Aubrey is recorded "adding, not without pride, Ex Africa surgit semper aliquid novo, – novi, eh?" ("Always something new coming out of Africa".) This is the popular version of a quotation from Pliny the Elder, "unde etiam vulgare Graeciae dictum semper aliquid novi Africam adferre" – "Whence the common saying among the Greeks, 'Africa always offers something new'."
Later Maturin quotes the Earl of Rochester
, "Every man would be a coward if he durst" (which he would have seen in Samuel Johnson
's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
.)
Throughout there are allusions and quotes from Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll
and Horace
.
. Produced and directed by Bruce Young, its cast was:
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
. It is fourth in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories that follow the partnership of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. It retells in fictional form the real campaign
Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811
The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Île de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars...
carried out by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1810 under Commodore Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
. As is common to most of the stories, Aubrey's inspired tactical seamanship is a suitable foil for the dramatic and "Machiavellian" scheming of his medical man and intelligence expert Maturin. Both Britain and France need to protect their trade routes and prey on the enemy in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and La Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
are suitably placed to be desirable bases for both countries. At the start of the book the French hold the islands and are capturing British ships.
Plot introduction
The novel sees Aubrey made CommodoreCommodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...
in charge of a squadron of ships sent to take the islands of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
from the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and so protect British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
shipping interests in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
Plot summary
When the novel begins, Aubrey is at home in his cramped Ashgrove Cottage with his wife, his twin baby girls and his shrewish mother-in-law, Mrs Williams, ashore and without a ship on half pay from the Navy. His spirits are lifted when his long time friend and colleague Stephen Maturin comes to call.Aubrey is ordered to take command, as the Commodore
Commodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...
of a small squadron of ships in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and sails south from Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
with some of the ships, to the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
, with instructions to disrupt French interests in the region. Particularly he is charged with taking the islands of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and La Réunion
La Reunion
La Reunion may refer to:* La Reunion , a communal settlement near present-day Dallas, Texas*La Réunion, Lot-et-Garonne, a town in the Lot-et-Garonne department of France*Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar...
. He is given command of the 38-gun frigate HMS Boadicea
HMS Boadicea (1797)
HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty would award the Naval General Service Medal...
. The wife of one of his captains, Lady Clonfert, seeks passage with Aubrey to enable her to join her husband but Aubrey is not keen on this and contrives to leave early one morning without her.
The long journey takes the squadron to the Cape of Good Hope. On the way Aubrey attempts to bring the crew up to his standards of efficiency, but he is only partly successful. They meet with the French ship Hébé which is escorting a captured merchant ship. After a brief chase the French are overcome and the ships captured. Hébé turns out to be HMS Hyaena captured some time before by the French. He sends the prizes to Gibraltar under the command of the Boadiceas aged First Lieutenant Akers. Aubrey uses this device to be rid of the officer and send home letters, one of which attempts to excuse his leaving early without Lady Clonfert.
On arrival, Aubrey meets Admiral Bertie
Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet
Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, KCB, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions....
and also has to contend with the disparate characters of his captains. One of these is Lord Clonfert, a minor member of the Irish aristocracy who has political influence, and who served with Jack Aubrey whilst out in the West Indies. They were involved in an action together and he had some reservations at the time about Clonfert's courage. Another is Captain Corbett
Robert Corbet
Captain Robert Corbet RN , often spelled Corbett, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who was killed in action in highly controversial circumstances...
who is a harsh disciplinarian and drives his men almost to the point of mutiny. Barett Bonden, usually Aubrey's coxswain, and Preserved Killick request permission to join Aubrey once more, particularly as Bonden was given fifty lashes for an unpolished firing piece on his gun.
During his campaign Aubrey temporarily switches his pennant to the elderly 64-gun ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
HMS Raisonnable
HMS Raisonnable (1768)
HMS Raisonnable was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 10 December 1768 and commissioned on 17 November 1770 under the command of Captain Maurice Suckling,...
, but returns to the more seaworthy HMS Boadicea with the onset of the tropical cyclone season. La Réunion is captured almost bloodlessly after a landing by British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
troops under the cooperative Colonel Keating
Henry Sheehy Keating
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Sheehy Keating KCB was born at Bansha, County Tipperary in Ireland and was an officer of the British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in two important operations against French colonies...
, their path already softened up by Maturin's propaganda and political machinations. Mauritius proves a tougher nut to crack. As HMS Néréide
French frigate Néréide (1779)
The Néréide was a Sybille class 32-gun, copper-hulled, frigate of the French Navy. On 22 December 1797 HMS Phoebe captured her and she was taken into British service as HMS Nereide. The French recaptured her at the Battle of Grand Port, only to lose her again when the British took Île de France in...
is detached to chase the Iphigenia
HMS Iphigenia (1805)
HMS Iphigenia was a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings....
to Port South East on Mauritius, Maturin suffers a serious fall and spends much time in the company of Lord Clonfert and Mr. McAdam, Clonfert's learned but drunken surgeon. The first demonstrates himself to be a largely ineffective person, craving the fawning attentions of his officers and crew, whilst McAdam, a less convivial conversationalist, is made fun of by the young officers particularly when "in his cups."
However, events worsen on their arrival. Keen to capitalise on the capture of the Île de la Passe
Île de la Passe
Ile de la Passe is a rocky islet in the bay off Grand Port on the island of Mauritius. Between 20–25 August 1810, during the British campaign to capture the island from the French, it was the scene of the Battle of Grand Port...
fort, the small group of ships, under the command of the unadventurous but solid Captain Pym
Samuel Pym
Sir Samuel Pym KCB was a British admiral, brother of Sir William Pym.In June 1788, Pym joined the Royal Navy as captain's servant of the frigate Eurydice...
, land men and troops to consolidate the land campaign. While they are so disposed, the French appear with four ships Bellone
French frigate Bellone (1807)
The Bellone was an 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.She departed Saint-Malo on 18 January 1809, bound for the Indian Ocean, under Guy-Victor Duperré....
, Minerve
French frigate Minerve (1809)
The Minerva was a 48-gun frigate of the Portuguese navy.She was captured on 22 November 1809 by Duperré's Bellone, who gave her command to Pierre Bouvet. She subsequently served in the French Navy as Minerve. The two ships sailed together, capturing the East Indiamen Windham and Ceylan in the...
, Victor
French corvette Revenant
Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. She was later requisitioned for service in the French Navy, and was renamed Iéna, but was subsequently captured by and served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor...
and Ceylon. They boldly sail past the fort into the port; the British are caught unprepared but decide to sail in to attack. They struggle to navigate the unfamiliar channel into the harbour and, with two British ships running aground, the French are able to bring all their guns to bear on the ships that eventually reach the harbour. The end result is the Néréide is taken (Clonfert is severely wounded in the neck and head by a wooden splinter), Sirius
HMS Sirius (1797)
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
and Magiciénne
French frigate Magicienne (1778)
The Magicienne was a frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1781 and she served with the Royal Navy until her crew burned her in 1810 to prevent her capture after she grounded at Île de France...
are burnt to prevent their capture, and Iphigenia and the fort Île de la Passe are abandoned to be retaken by the French. Only a messenger vessel, with Maturin aboard, gets back to La Réunion to inform the commodore of the "ill tidings".
Aubrey immediately rushes to see if Iphigenia and Île de la Passe can be saved but the British are chased off after finding both are clearly in French hands. After eventually making contact with the Emma transport and the Windham, which itself appears to be unseaworthy, Aubrey believes his fortunes have changed when HMS Africaine - now commanded by Captain Corbett - re-joins them. Sailing in chase of the French during the night, Africaine clashes with the Astrée
HMS Pomone (1811)
The Astrée was a 44-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Cherbourg in 1809. In December of the next year she captured HMS Africaine. The Royal Navy captured Astrée in 1810 and took her into service under her French name, but then in 1811 recommissioned her as HMS Pomone...
and the renamed Iphigenia (once again the French Iphigenie). But the encounter goes badly and Corbett is killed during the fight, probably, as the ship's surgeon informs Maturin later, by his own oppressed men. The French capture the ship, but leave it dismasted when the Boadicea and Aubrey bear down on them and, much to Aubrey's joy, refuse an engagement. Joined by the Otter and Staunch, the flotilla eventually reaches harbour and Africaine's refit is the Commodore's top priority.
Before repairs are complete the Pearl races towards harbour, meeting HMS Boadicea with the news that Bombay
HMS Bombay (1805)
HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a 672 ton fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name...
is nearby, being pounded by both the French Vénus
French frigate Vénus (1808)
The Vénus was a Junon class frigate of the French Navy.On 10 November 1808, she departed Cherbourg, bound for Île de France, where she served as Hamelin's flagship, leading a squadron also comprising the frigate Manche and the sloop Créole....
and Victor
French corvette Revenant
Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. She was later requisitioned for service in the French Navy, and was renamed Iéna, but was subsequently captured by and served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor...
. Outrunning the Staunch and Otter, Jack engages the pair who have captured Bombay and makes use of extra volunteer crew from the refitting HMS Africaine to board both Bombay, recapturing her, and the Venus. During the encounter the French Commodore, Hamelin, is killed by grapeshot
Grapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of shot that is not a one solid element, but a mass of small metal balls or slugs packed tightly into a canvas bag. It was used both in land and naval warfare. When assembled, the balls resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name...
in his heart. Now with news that Bellone and Minerve are almost certainly "heaved down", and Iphigenia and Néréide are likely to be of little use even if refitted, Aubrey believes the tide has turned in his favour. En-route from St. Denis to take Mauritius from the French, the squadron encounters a large British force under the command of Admiral Bertie, who proceeds to steal Aubrey and Keating's thunder by taking command of the whole invasion force and claiming the honours. However, news of the birth of his son causes Aubrey to remain ebullient even when everyone expects his mood to be downcast.
The final invasion, based almost entirely on Aubrey and Keating's original plan, is almost without bloodshed. The French capitulate after being given honourable terms, and Maturin finds that Clonfert has committed suicide by removing the bandages from his wounds while captured, unable to face up to the jubilation of his rival, Jack Aubrey, in victory. A ceremonial dinner is given back in Cape Town and Admiral Bertie, under the impression that Aubrey has influential political connections, gives Aubrey the honour of taking the dispatches aboard the Boadicea and sailing for England in compensation for "stealing" his victory.
Characters
See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin seriesRecurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series
This is a list of recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. References to page numbers, where they appear, are based upon the W. W. Norton & Company printing of the novels.-Main characters and their families:...
- Jack Aubrey - Captain in the Royal Navy and appointed Commodore during this story. Also captain of HMS Boadicea.
- Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack, and intelligence officer.
- Captain PymSamuel PymSir Samuel Pym KCB was a British admiral, brother of Sir William Pym.In June 1788, Pym joined the Royal Navy as captain's servant of the frigate Eurydice...
- captain of HMS Sirius - Lord Clonfert - captain of HMS Otter and then HMS Néréide
- Captain CorbettRobert CorbetCaptain Robert Corbet RN , often spelled Corbett, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who was killed in action in highly controversial circumstances...
- captain of HMS Néréide and then HMS Africaine - Lady Clonfert - wife to the above, wanted passage with the squadron
- Captain Eliot - captain in HMS Raisonnable
- Mrs. Williams - Jack's mother in law, now bankrupt.
- Sophie Aubrey - Jack's long suffering and patient wife.
- Charlotte and Fanny - Jack and Sophie's twin, infant daughters.
- Cecilia - Young daughter of Mrs. William's middle daughter. Niece of Sophie and Jack.
- Bessie - cook at Ashgrove Cottage
- Lt. Colonel H KeatingHenry Sheehy KeatingLieutenant General Sir Henry Sheehy Keating KCB was born at Bansha, County Tipperary in Ireland and was an officer of the British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in two important operations against French colonies...
- army commander - Colonel Fraser
- Colonel McLeod
- Tom Pullings
- Mr. Farquhar - temporary governor of La Réunion
- Mr. John Fellowes - Bosun
- Bonden - Jack's CoxswainCoxswainThe coxswain is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority. ...
- Colonel Saint-Susanne - French army commander on La Réunion
- Killick - Jack's steward
- Captain LambertHenry LambertCaptain Henry Lambert RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During his career, Lambert served in numerous ships and several military actions with success, participating in the capture of Île Bonaparte in the Indian Ocean as second in...
- captain of HMS Iphigenia - Captain Curtis - captain of HMS Magicienne
- Hamelin - French commodore, based in the Vénus
- Lord Narborough (Garron) - captain of HMS Staunch
- Lt. Webber - 2nd in HMS Néréide
- Lt. Lemuel Akers - 1st in HMS Boadicea detached to sail HMS Hyaena to Gibraltar.
- Duvallier - French commander in Port South East
- McAdams - Surgeon in HMS Néréide
- Mr. Satterly - Master in HMS Néréide
- Lt. Seymour - 2nd in HMS Boadicea (acting 1st)
- Lt. Trollope- 3rd in HMS Boadicea (acting 2nd)
- Buchan - Master in HMS Boadicea
- Johnson - master's mateMaster's mateMaster's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master...
in HMS Boadicea - Admiral BertieSir Albemarle Bertie, 1st BaronetAdmiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, KCB, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions....
- who calls a halt to the squadron's independence - General Abercrombie - commander of the invasion army
- GolovninVasily GolovninVasily Mikhailovich Golovnin .-Early life and career:Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was born in April 1776, in the village of Gulyniki in Ryazan Oblast, on his father's country estate. Both his father and grandfather had served in the Russian military as officers in the elite Preobrazhensky...
- Russian fleet lieutenant, captain of sloop Diana - Fortescue - captain of the schooner Wasp
The Squadron
- HMS BoadiceaHMS Boadicea (1797)HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty would award the Naval General Service Medal...
* - HMS RaisonnableHMS Raisonnable (1768)HMS Raisonnable was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 10 December 1768 and commissioned on 17 November 1770 under the command of Captain Maurice Suckling,...
* - HMS SiriusHMS Sirius (1797)HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
* - HMS NéréideFrench frigate Néréide (1779)The Néréide was a Sybille class 32-gun, copper-hulled, frigate of the French Navy. On 22 December 1797 HMS Phoebe captured her and she was taken into British service as HMS Nereide. The French recaptured her at the Battle of Grand Port, only to lose her again when the British took Île de France in...
* - HMS OtterHMS Otter (1805)HMS Otter was a Royal Navy 16-gun Merlin-class ship sloop, launched in 1805 at Hull. She participated in two notable actions in the Indian Ocean and was sold in 1828.-Armament:...
* - HMS MagiciénneFrench frigate Magicienne (1778)The Magicienne was a frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1781 and she served with the Royal Navy until her crew burned her in 1810 to prevent her capture after she grounded at Île de France...
* - HMS StaunchHMS Staunch (1804)HMS Staunch was a Royal Navy 14-gun , built by Benjamin Tanner and launched in 1804 at Dartmouth, Devon. She served in the Indian Ocean and participated in the Action of 18 September 1810 before she foundered with the loss of all hands in 1811.-Service:...
* - brig - HMS IphigeniaHMS Iphigenia (1805)HMS Iphigenia was a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings....
* - HMS Africaine *
- HMS BombayHMS Bombay (1805)HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a 672 ton fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name...
* - Wyndham * - Indiaman used as transport once recaptured
- Kite - transport
- Solebay - transport
- Emma - transport
- HMS LeopardHMS Leopard (1790)HMS Leopard was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.-Construction and commissioning:...
* - Wasp - schooner
The French
- CarolineFrench frigate Caroline (1806)The Caroline was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.On 12 November 1808, the French authorities sent four new 40 gun frigates to the Indian Ocean...
* - frigate - BelloneFrench frigate Bellone (1807)The Bellone was an 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.She departed Saint-Malo on 18 January 1809, bound for the Indian Ocean, under Guy-Victor Duperré....
* - frigate - MinerveFrench frigate Minerve (1809)The Minerva was a 48-gun frigate of the Portuguese navy.She was captured on 22 November 1809 by Duperré's Bellone, who gave her command to Pierre Bouvet. She subsequently served in the French Navy as Minerve. The two ships sailed together, capturing the East Indiamen Windham and Ceylan in the...
* - frigate - VictorFrench corvette RevenantRevenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. She was later requisitioned for service in the French Navy, and was renamed Iéna, but was subsequently captured by and served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor...
* - corvette - Ceylon * - captured British Indiaman
- Wyndham * - captured British Indiaman
- VénusFrench frigate Vénus (1808)The Vénus was a Junon class frigate of the French Navy.On 10 November 1808, she departed Cherbourg, bound for Île de France, where she served as Hamelin's flagship, leading a squadron also comprising the frigate Manche and the sloop Créole....
* - frigate - MancheFrench frigate Manche (1803)The Manche was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.She took part in operations at Île de France under Captain François-Désiré Breton....
* - frigate - AstréeHMS Pomone (1811)The Astrée was a 44-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Cherbourg in 1809. In December of the next year she captured HMS Africaine. The Royal Navy captured Astrée in 1810 and took her into service under her French name, but then in 1811 recommissioned her as HMS Pomone...
* - frigate
-
-
- * N.B. were real ships during the period depicted.
-
Major themes
The novel gives further scope to Maturin's role as both a secret agent (in which he uses propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
effectively to support the campaign) and as a naturalist (in which he is seen collecting relics of the extinct birds the Dodo
Dodo
The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....
and the Solitaire
Réunion Sacred Ibis
The Réunion Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis solitarius, is an extinct bird species that was native to the island of Réunion. It is probably the same bird discovered by Portuguese sailors there in 1613...
).
O'Brian used literary license in making Aubrey a Commodore while still a relatively junior captain. At that time, a captain would spend twenty years or more on the Captain's list before his promotion to Admiral. A Commodore's appointment was a considerable plum, and only very senior captains received them. On a remote station, when an admiral would have to draw on the captains on station, it would be a different matter. But Aubrey was appointed directly by the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
to a post that, traditionally, would have come to an officer more than a dozen years more senior with the help of Maturin's persuasion.
Allusions/references to other works
The plot of the novel is very closely based upon a real campaignMauritius campaign of 1809–1811
The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Île de France and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars...
carried out by the Royal Navy in 1810 under Commodore Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
. O'Brian notes this in the preface. The island was formally captured on 3 December 1810.
The story contains numerous allusions to the ideas and thinking of others. At one point Aubrey is recorded "adding, not without pride, Ex Africa surgit semper aliquid novo, – novi, eh?" ("Always something new coming out of Africa".) This is the popular version of a quotation from Pliny the Elder, "unde etiam vulgare Graeciae dictum semper aliquid novi Africam adferre" – "Whence the common saying among the Greeks, 'Africa always offers something new'."
Later Maturin quotes the Earl of Rochester
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , styled Viscount Wilmot between 1652 and 1658, was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts...
, "Every man would be a coward if he durst" (which he would have seen in Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets was a work by Samuel Johnson, comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century...
.)
Throughout there are allusions and quotes from Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
and Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
.
Literary significance & criticism
"Jack's assignment: to capture the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius from the French. That campaign forms the narrative thread of this rollicking sea saga. But its substance is more beguiling still..."—Elizabeth Peer, Newsweek
"O'Brian's sheer brilliance as a writer constantly dazzles, and his power over the reader is unique. No writer alive can move one as O'Brian can; no one can make you laugh so loud with hilarity, whiten your knuckles with unbearable tension or choke with emotion. He is the master." — Kevin Myers, Irish Times
Adaptations
From 3 April 2011 the BBC broadcast Roger Danes' dramatization of the book, in three one-hour parts, in the Classic Serial strand on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. Produced and directed by Bruce Young, its cast was:
- Captain Jack Aubrey - David RobbDavid RobbDavid Robb is an English actor.Robb has starred in various British films and television shows, including films such as Swing Kids and Hellbound. He is well known for playing Germanicus in the famous 1976 BBC production of I, Claudius and as Robin Grant, one of the principal character in Thames...
- Doctor Stephen Maturin - Richard DillaneRichard DillaneRichard Dillane is an English actor. He appeared as Merv, the husband of Margaret Humphreys in Jim Loach's fact-based movie Oranges and Sunshine, as Wernher von Braun in the BBC television docudrama Space Race, as Nero in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the National Theatre of GB and as Stephen...
- Governor Farquhar - David RintoulDavid RintoulDavid Rintoul is a stage and television actor.Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at Edinburgh University and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London....
- Lt-Col Keating - Thomas ArnoldThomas Arnold (disambiguation)Thomas Arnold was an influential English educator and famous headmaster of Rugby School.Thomas Arnold may refer to:*Tom Arnold , 1823-1900 Thomas Arnold the Younger*Thomas Arnold...
- Lord Clonfert - Sam Dale
- Captain Corbett - Christian RodskaChristian RodskaChristian Rodska is an English actor who has appeared in many television and radio series and narrated a number of audiobooks...
- Lt Seymour - Max Dowler
- Midshipman George Johnson - Nyasha Hatendi
- Dr McAdam/Admiral Bertie - Sean Baker
- Captain Pym - Brian Bowles
- Mrs. Williams - Joanna MonroJoanna MonroJoanna Monro is a British actress and former TV presenter who, in the 1980s, appeared on the BBC show That's Life! with Esther Rantzen....
- Sophie - Sally Orrock
Release details
- 1977, UK, Collins Publishers (ISBN 0-00-222383-X), Pub Date ? ? 1977, Hardcover
- 1978, UK, Fontana (ISBN 0-00-615348-8), Pub Date ? May 1978, Paperback
- 1978, USA, Stein & Day (ISBN 0-8128-2476-8), Pub Date ? May 1978, Hardcover edition
- 1989, UK, Fontana (ISBN 0-00-616574-5), Pub Date 9 February 1989, Paperback
- 1991, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0-393-30762-X), Pub date ? May 1991, Paperback Reprint edition
- 1992, USA, William A. Thomas Braille Bookstore (ISBN 1-56956-071-4), Pub date ? December 1992, Hardcover edition
- 1993, UK, ISIS Audio Books (ISBN 1-85089-871-5), Pub date ? April 1993, Audio book (Cassette), Patrick Tull (Narrator)
- 1994, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0-393-03704-5), Pub date ? ? 1994, Hardcover Reprint edition
- 1996, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0-00-649918-X), Pub date 2 September 1996, Paperback
- 1997, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0-00-105295-0), Pub date 20 January 1997, Audio book (Cassette), Robert Hardy (Narrator)
- 2000, USA, Thorndike Press (ISBN 0-7862-1935-1), Pub Date ? November 2000, Hardcover
- 2001, UK, Chivers (ISBN 0-7540-1519-X), Pub date 1 March 2001, Hardcover Large-print edition
- 2001, UK, Recorded Books Unabridged (ISBN 1-4025-0223-0), Pub date ? September 2001, Recorded unknown, Patrick Tull (Narrator)
- 2001, UK, Chivers (ISBN 0-7540-2398-2), Pub date 1 December 2001, Paperback Large-print edition
- 2002, UK, Soundings (ISBN 1-84283-263-8), Pub date ? September 2002, Audio book (CD), Stephen ThorneStephen ThorneStephen Thorne is a British actor of radio, film, stage and television.He trained at the and after a time in weekly rep. he played several seasons with the Old Vic Company and the RSC in Stratford and London including a tour to Russia...
(Narrator) - 2004, USA, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0-7861-8562-7), Unabridged audio edition, Pub date August 2004, MP3 CD, Simon Vance (Narrator)
- 2004, USA, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0-7861-8459-0), Unabridged audio edition, Pub date August 2004, MP3 CD, Simon Vance (Narrator)
- 2011, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 978-0-393-06049-2), Pub date 5 December 2011, e-book