Clarissa Oakes

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Clarissa Oakes (titled The Truelove in the U.S.A.), (1993) is an historical novel set during the Napoleonic Wars written by Patrick O'Brian. It again features the duo, "Lucky" Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and companion Stephen Maturin.

[edit] Plot summary

Clarissa Oakes opens with the Surprise on its way back to England from Port Jackson in New South Wales. Jack Aubrey is in an ill-humour as a result of the frigate's visit to the penal settlement - firstly, because Stephen Maturin fought a duel with an army officer, consequently antagonising the local administration, and secondly because Padeen Colman, Stephen's servant and an absconder, was secreted aboard the ship against his express wishes. Jack also observes a certain ribaldry amongst his crew and remains puzzled until he and Captain Pullings stumble across a young female convict, Clarissa Harvill, during a ship's inspection. Jack learns that she was smuggled aboard the frigate in Sydney by Midshipman Oakes and is at first determined to leave them both on Norfolk Island but has a change of heart after being dosed with laudanum by Maturin and allows the couple to stay aboard until they can be put off at a hospitable port.

As the Surprise leaves, they spot a cutter, the Eclair. Believing its Captain to be after stow-aways, Clarissa and Oakes are hastily married by Martin, the ship's assistant surgeon and a clergyman, and Jack orders Bonden to hide Padeen Colman. It turns out, however, that the cutter is simply bearing Sydney dispatches and mail for Aubrey, the former instructing him to settle a local dispute on Moahu, a British island to the south of the Sandwich group. A gun room feast, hosted by Tom Pullings, is held in honour of the newly-weds. Despite the delicious food (a swordfish caught by Davies earlier), it proves to be a dismal affair given the level of animosity existing amongst some of the gun room members, particularly West and Davidge.

The ship spots a whaler and lands on the South Sea island of Annamooka. Wainright, the Daisy's captain, comes aboard and fills Jack in on the situation on Moahu - there is a war between Kalahua in the north and Puolani in the south, with the northern chief being supported by an French-owned twenty-two gun privateer, the Franklin, sailing under the American flag. The privateer has also captured the Truelove, a Whitby-built British whaler. Whilst the Surprise reprovisions, Clarissa, who has received a black eye from Oakes, also confesses to Maturin on their botanizing walk together about her being abused as a young girl and ending up doing the accounting at Mother Abbot's brothel in Picadilly. She mentions an aristocrat who was an acquaintance of Ledward's and Wray's and Stephen realizes that this is the highly-placed traitor they are seeking (whose identity is revealed in The Commodore).

Aubrey drives his frigate's crew hard on the trip to Moahu to quell the dissension aboard. On reaching land, they pick up the Truelove, a Nootka fur-trader, and a column is sent to intercept the fleeing French - the skirmish is won but Davidge is killed. The Surprise then sails to the south of the island to defend Queen Puolani against the main body of French and Kalahua's tribesmen. Aubrey sets up carronades in a cleft and there is a terrific slaughter of the enemy the following day. The Truelove departs, commanded by Oakes and with Clarissa on board bearing Stephen's coded letter to Blaine. The Franklin puts her nose in but sails away immediately, with the Surprise giving chase.

Clarissa Oakes was published in the U.S. as The Truelove, which is the name of a ship in the novel.

[edit] Characters in "Clarissa Oakes"

• Jack Aubrey - Captain of the Surprise
• Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer
• Midshipman Billy Oakes - Midshipman on the Surprise
• Clarissa Harvill - fugitive prisoner and stowaway; becomes Mrs Oakes
• Captain Tom Pullings
• Mr Martin
• Barret Bonden
• Preserved Killick
• Awkward Davies
• Mr Reade - Midshipman on the Surprise
• Sarah and Emily Sweeting - two Melanesian girls; ships boys on the Surprise
• West and Davidge - two officers on the Surprise
• Weightman - butcher on the Surprise
• Jemmy Ducks - poultry keeper on the Surprise
• Adams - purser on the Surprise
• Puolani - Queen of the Polynesian island of Moahu
• Wainright - Captain of the Daisy
• Dr Falconer - Daisy's surgeon and a naturalist
• Jean Dutourd - Franklin's commander
• Pakeea - Annamooka chieftain
• Tereo - Annamooka senior chieftain

[edit] Ships in "Clarissa Oakes"

The British:

• HM Hired Vessel Surprise
• HMS Eclair
• The Truelove - a Nootka fur-trader

South Seas whalers

• The Daisy
• The Heartsease

Other:

• Franklin (twenty-two gun privateer, French-owned but American colours)

[edit] Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

[edit] Reviews

"What lifts The Truelove into the highest ranks of fiction is what it shares with the rest of its author's writing: page after page of unmistakably original insights into the mysteries of the world." - Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune^[1]

[edit] Editions

• Audio Edition Recorded Books, LLC; Unabridged Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull (ISBN 1419302728)

[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations

[edit] Footnotes