Blue at the Mizzen
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| Blue at the Mizzen | |
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | Patrick O'Brian |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Geoff Hunt |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Aubrey-Maturin series |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Harper Collins (UK) |
| Publication date | 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD) |
| Pages | 320 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-393-04844-6, (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-393-32107-X (paperback edition UK) |
| Preceded by | The Hundred Days |
| Followed by | The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey |
Blue at the Mizzen was the last completed work in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. A blue ensign at the mizzen-mast was the flag of the Rear Admiral of the Blue, the lowest flag rank in the Royal Navy of the early 19th century.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Aubrey and Maturin are again sent around Cape Horn on a secret mission to help the Chileans gain independence from Spain.
The Surprise makes her way out of Gibraltar but is cruelly struck by a Nordic lumber ship and is forced to return for repairs. In the meantime, Jack conducts a clandestine affair with his cousin, Lord Barmouth's new young wife, and the Admiral hastens the repair work, having at first delayed it in preference of Royal Navy ships. The frigate makes her way for more serious repairs in Madeira but arrives just in time to see Coelho's famous yard at Funchal in flames. Stephen receives a coded report from Amos Jacob regarding the Chilean situation and takes the Ringle to England, where Sir Joseph Blaine updates him - the Chileans have split into two northern and southern factions, with the latter retaining the services of Sir David Lindsay to command the Chilean navy. Whilst Stephen stays with Sophie Aubrey at Woolcombe, Jack returns the Surprise to Sepping's yard in England for a thorough re-fit and also recruits a strong competent crew out of Shelmerston for the long voyage ahead.
Whilst in London, Aubrey, initially against his wishes, is asked by the Duke of Clarence to accept his illegitimate son (whom the Duke refers to as a former shipmate's son, for propriety's sake) as a midshipman, and to his surprise and delight, finds the boy to be a competent sailor as well as having the mathematical skills that are essential for a navigator.
After leaving England, the Surprise first heads for Sierra Leone in order that Stephen can make a proposal of marriage to a young attractive widow living in Freetown. Christine Wood shares his tastes for natural philosophy and is altogether more level-headed than his late wife Diana. Whilst she attracts him physically, so that he has erotic dreams about her, she has suffered from her previous marriage to an impotent husband. Initially unwilling to marry him, she does consent to visit the Aubreys and meet Stephen's daughter, Brigid, at their home in Dorset.
Once the Surprise reaches San Patricio in Chile, a storage post for whalers, Ringle is taken to a yard for repairs following a grounding in the Pillon passage. After a meeting between Aubrey and Maturin and Sir David Lindsay, in which the two sides agree to mutually support each other, Maturin writes a letter to Blaine describing the different juntas and the training of three republican sloops by the Surprises, who assist in capturing a moderate privateer. After meeting Dr Jacob once more, Jack decides to make his way with the Surprise and Ringle to Valparaiso and Stephen and Jacob ride there by mule. Here they meet General Bernardo O'Higgins, the Director-General and General Eduardo Valdes (also Stephen's cousin). The latter are informed of the Spanish king's viceroy in Peru's decision to invade Chile and a plan is hatched to confront the Royalist forces at Valdivia, where the viceroy will need to seek stores. After dinner aboard, the Surprise and Ringle make sail and a plan is hatched to drop Chilean troops at Concepcion while the ships will destroy the gun emplacements at Cala Alta and then bombard the fort at Valdivia.
The plan is a success and the revolutionaries capture four chests of silver and one of gold which are taken by the Surprise to Valparaiso and then overland to Santiago. Unfortunately Sir David Lindsay fights a duel with one of his officers and is killed. Sentiment, however, gradually turns against the English and Jack receives news that the local junta at Villanueva plans to impound his frigate. He decides on a bold action to cut out the Peruvian fifty-gun frigate Esmeralda from Callao to strengthen the Chilean navy. Assisted by the Ringle, there is a hard-fought broadside action and eventually the ship is taken, although Aubrey is wounded in the thigh and chest. Stephen and Jacob compose a coded message to Sir Joseph Blaine which is taken by the schooner to the Lisbon packet and on to a returning merchantman.
Aubrey and his officers are given a lavish dinner by the junta's President, Carrera, after which Jack insists on his sailors receiving their share of the prize money and Esmeralda's value. The next day he receives a note from Don Miguel confirming the delivery of five thousand pieces of eight and use of any naval stores the Surprise requires. With a happy and fully re-equipped ship, Aubrey sets about exercising the young Chilean naval officers as his frigate continues her survey. Finally, Amos Jacob arrives on a green brig with a coded message from Sir Joseph Blaine: the Duke of Clarence requests Horatio Hanson's return to sit his lieutenant's examination (having fought very valiantly in the cutting-out episode) but, more importantly, Aubrey is required to take command of the blue squadron in South Africa, hoisting his flag, blue at the mizzen, aboard HMS Implacable.
[edit] Characters in Blue at the Mizzen
- Jack Aubrey - Post-Captain; promoted to a Rear Admiral of the Blue
- Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer
- Sophie Aubrey - Jack's wife
- Christine Wood - Stephen's new love interest
- Dr Amos Jacob - assistant surgeon and intelligence officer
- Prince William, the Duke of Clarence
- Horatio Hanson - the Duke's bastard son; master's mate on the Surprise
- Mr Harding - First Lieutenant on the Surprise
- Mr Oates - Second Lieutenant on the Surprise
- Mr Whewell - Third Lieutenant on the Surprise
- Mr Woodbine - master on the Surprise
- Preserved Killick - Aubrey's steward
- Grimble - Killick's mate
- Awkward Davies - long-serving Able Seaman
- Joe Plaice - long-serving Able Seaman
- Poll Skeeping - loblolly boy
- Mr Woodbine - Master on the Surprise
- Mr Wells - midshipman on the Surprise
- Mr Adams - Captain Aubrey's secretary
- William Reade - commands the Ringle
- Mr Wantage - master's mate
- Mr Daniel - master's mate
- Latham - Jack's new coxswain
- Padeen Colman - Maturin's servant
- Sir Joseph Blaine - Head of Intelligence, Admiralty
- Sarah and Emily Sweeting - Mrs Broad's servants at the Grapes
- Brigid Maturin - Stephen Maturin's daughter
- Charlotte, Fanny, Philip and George Aubrey
- Colonel Roche - Wellington's aide-de-camp at Waterloo
- Lord and Lady Barmouth - Commander-in-Chief of Meditteranean Fleet
- Lord and Lady Keith - retired admiral
- Mr Wilkins - Delaware's Master
- Clarissa Andrews (was Oakes) - married to the rector of Wytherton
Chile:
- Sir David Lindsay - ex Post-Captain in the Royal Navy; ex-officio commander of the Chilean navy
- Don Bernardo O'Higgins - Director-General of Chilean revolutionaries
- General Eduardo Valdes - General in the Chilean revolutionary army
- Don Miguel Carrera - President of the local junta in Valparaiso
[edit] Ships in Blue at the Mizzen
- HM hired hydrographical vessel Surprise - twenty-eight gun frigate (with a 36 gun frigate's main mast)
- HMS Ringle - Surprise's escort
- the Asp - ex-Royal Navy; being re-fitted in Chile
- USS Delaware - Captain Lodge
- Isaac Newton - a converted packet; carrying some Members of the Royal Society
- His Catholic Majesty's O'Higgins - ancient heavy frigate (changed to San Martin)
[edit] Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
History:
The main plot is loosely based on Lord Cochrane's setting up and commanding the Chilean Navy. A historical figure from Chile's independence movement, Don Bernardo O'Higgins, also features in the book.
Naturalists:
Whilst on Sierra Leone, Christine Wood is able to show Stephen Maturin a prodigious amount of wildlife, including:
- an elephantine heron (Ardea goliath)
- a nightjar with elongated flight feathers (Shaw's Caprimulgus longipennis)
- a feather from the Congo peacock
Coca leaves:
In Peru, Maturin and Jacob also have a discussion about coca-leaves - Stephen keeps his leaves in his inner pocket in a pouch, along with the lime and necessary outer wrapping. Stephen is curious about their use in considerable quantities, and the resultant reaction according to altitude. He cites the porters in the Peruvian Andes, who increase their dose if they have to carry a heavy burden over a very high pass.
Jacob mentions that there are many sorts of coca - for example, the Tia Juana, and that asthmatic patients and those afflicted by migraine often are affected by hallucinations, their strength and frequency varying with the height.
[edit] Reviews
"Filled with exuberance and humor, and a writer's palpable delight at exercising his finest muscles. . . . At sea with a master." — San Francisco Chronicle
"O'Brian has presented his readers with a shining jewel...an intricate, multifaceted work." — New York Times Book Review
[edit] Editions
- W.W. Norton & Company; Paperback Reprint edition (1999) (ISBN 0393048446)
- Recorded Books, LLC; Unabridged Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull (ISBN 1402591748)
