HMS Surprise (novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
HMS Surprise  
1st edition
1st edition
Author(s) Patrick O'Brian
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Aubrey-Maturin series
Genre(s) Historical novel
Publisher Harper Collins (UK)
Publication date 1973
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD)
Pages 416 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-00-221316-8, (first edition, hardback)
OCLC Number 722008
Dewey Decimal 823/.9/14
LC Classification PZ3.O1285 Hac PR6029.B55
Preceded by Post Captain
Followed by The Mauritius Command

HMS Surprise is a 1973 historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. It is third in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories that follow the partnership of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. In it Aubrey gains command of HMS Surprise, a fictional version based on, but with a different back story, the historical HMS Surprise. She becomes the most important fictional ship in the Aubrey-Maturin series.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

After the capture of the Spanish gold shipment (in Post Captain), the Admiralty is debating on how to reward the captains responsible, including Jack Aubrey. As Spain was not at war the captured ships are not considered prizes, and as a result of the decision the captains end up with much smaller bounties than they hoped. The new First Lord of the Admiralty also mentions Stephen Maturin's name during the proceedings, despite the information being classified, possibly exposing him to a large audience as an intelligence agent.

Stephen willingly goes on a mission to Spain anyway, and is to be picked up by Jack on the HMS Lively on its return to English waters. Jack arrives at the rendezvous point to learn from a Catalan revolutionary that Stephen has been captured and is being tortured by French intelligence. Jack decides to lead a rescue mission, saving Stephen and killing the French interrogators.

Upon returning to England Jack finds that the fortune he had expected from the Spanish gold fleet was not as large as he had hoped and he is still in debt. Jack is taken by bailiffs and is held in a sponging-house. Stephen returns to Sir Joseph and tells of his capture and Jack’s predicament.

Jack's arrest for debt also puts his would-be marriage to Sophie Williams into doubt, as her mother has stipulated that her husband should be financially stable. Stephen uses his influence to get Jack an advance on his grant of money (far smaller than the prize would have been) which clears some of his debt so he is released. Stephen meets with Sophie and convinces her to see Jack secretly before he takes command of his new ship HMS Surprise. Jack and Sophie meet in a coach in the middle of the night, and promise to marry no one else.

Stephen and Jack leave in the Surprise to ferry an ambassador to the East Indies. He is also interested in tracking down a French squadron commanded by Admiral Linois, as the waters of the Indian Ocean are otherwise devoid of prizes. On their journey, Surprise gets caught in the doldrums north of the equator, and the crew, especially those who had recently come from long service aboard another ship, begin to show signs of severe scurvy. The ship makes an emergency stop along the coast of Brazil for fresh fruit and supplies.

As the journey continues the Surprise goes wide around the Cape of Good Hope, held by the Dutch who are at war with England. To avoid encounters, Surprise ventures into the waters of the Antarctic Ocean, where they are forced to endure a severe storm. The ambassador at this time becomes very ill. The Surprise puts into India to refit from the storm and to rest the ambassador. While ashore Stephen meets a local street-wise child, a girl named Dil, who eagerly shows him around the city. Stephen is watching a parade with Dil when he sees Diana Villiers, who has returned to India ahead of her companion, the wealthy merchant Richard Canning, Stephen's rival for her affection. They agree to visit, and spend several days together, at the end of which Stephen asks her to marry him. She does not respond immediately, but promises to at a later date, and Stephen departs. Meanwhile Dil is killed when she is robbed of silver bracelets which Stephen gave her.

The ambassador dies east of India and the Surprise turns around, setting sail for Britain. They soon encounter the East India Company's China Fleet, returning to England, unescorted. A day after leaving the China Fleet the Surprise spots Linois's squadron cruising the Indian Ocean. Surprise engages the smallest ship of the squadron, the corvette Berceau, shredding her rigging, then turns and makes speed back to the China Fleet to warn them and organize a defence.

Choosing the largest ships of the China Fleet, Jack dresses them as Men-of-War and sends some of his officers to help them fight. The French squadron closes on the Surprise and the large Indiamen. The Surprise turns and engages the largest French warship, the 74-gun ship of the line Marengo, and exchanges broadsides with the heavier ship, but is outgunned and in peril when one of the Indiamen engages the French ship from the other side, forcing her to disengage. The damage from the action forces the entire French squadron to flee to refit.

Upon entering Calcutta, Jack receives an enthusiastic welcome from the merchants, including Canning, who are happy to refit the Surprise and allow him to transport jewels as freight, which will gain him a percentage of their value on his arrival in England. During the refit, Canning confronts Stephen and they challenge each other to a duel. During the duel Canning shoots Stephen in the ribs, but Stephen is able to gather himself and then shoots Canning in the heart, killing him. Stephen convinces Diana to return to England, though on a merchant ship instead of Surprise; Jack will hear nothing of it. Meanwhile, Stephen is running a high fever because the bullet is still lodged in his ribs. With the help of Jack and the ambassador’s surgeon, Stephen operates on himself, removing the bullet.

As the Surprise sails home they stop at Madeira, and there Stephen finds that Diana has left him for a Mr. Johnstone from America (called "Mr. Johnson" in later books). Jack, on the other hand, had sent ahead for Sophie so that he may marry her now that he is out of debt, but she is not on the island. Within a day’s sailing, Jack overtakes an English frigate in the night and finds that Sophie is aboard. She refuses to marry him then but promises that once they return to England, she will.

[edit] Main characters

Main article: Recurring characters in the Aubrey-Maturin series
  • Jack Aubrey - Captain in the Royal Navy and appointed Captain of HMS Surprise.
  • Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and intelligence officer.
  • Sophie Williams - Jack's love interest
  • Mrs. Williams - Sophie's mother
  • Diana Villiers - Stephen's love interest
  • Dil - Female child, Stephen's Indian guide
  • Richard Canning - Rich merchant, Diana's "protector" in India
  • Tom Pullings - Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, third of the Surprise
  • Barrett Bonden - Jack's coxswain
  • Preserved Killick - Jack's steward
  • Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois - French Admiral

[edit] Ships

The British:

  • HMS Surprise - frigate
  • Addington - Indiaman
  • Ocean - Indiaman
  • Camden - Indiaman
  • Bombay Castle - Indiaman
  • Alfred - Indiaman
  • Wexwood - Indiaman
  • Lushington - Indiaman
  • Royal George - Indiaman

The French:

[edit] Major themes

Wiki letter w.svg This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

[edit] Allusions

The capture of the Spanish treasure fleet features in Hornblower and the Hotspur, the last-published full length novel in C. S. Forester's Hornblower series. Forester adds Hornblower in the Hotspur as an extra to the five British ships in the squadron sent to intercept the fleet. Theoretically, the episode provided the fictional character Jack Aubrey with an opportunity to meet the fictional character Horatio Hornblower.

[edit] History

The "cutting out" (capturing while in port, either at anchor or berthed) of HMS Hermione refers to an actual event involving HMS Surprise in 1799.

The capture of the Spanish treasure fleet, with Jack in command of HMS Lively, is based on the 1804 Battle of Cape Santa Maria.

Aubrey's attack on the French squadron is a fictionalization of the 1804 Battle of Pulo Aura.

[edit] Literary criticism

"His books can absorb and enthral landlubbers like myself who do not even know the difference between a jib-boom and a taffrail." [1]

[edit] Adaptations

The novel was adapted in three parts in the Afternoon Play strand on BBC Radio 4, adapted by Roger Danes and directed and produced by Bruce Young, with Aubrey played by David Robb and Maturin by Richard Dillane. The rest of the cast was:

[edit] Release details

  • 1973, UK, Collins (ISBN 0002213168), Pub Date ? ? 1973, hardback (First edition)
  • 1973, USA, Lippincott (ISBN ???), Pub date ? ? 1973, hardback (1st American edition)

[edit] Editions

[icon] This section requires expansion.

[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations

  • Richard O'Neill (2003). Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World. Running Press. ISBN 0762415401. 
  • Dean King (2001). A Sea of Words: Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales. Henry Holt. ISBN 0805066152. 
  • Dean King (2001). Harbors and High Seas: Map Book and Geographical Guide to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian. Henry Holt. ISBN 0805066144. 
  • Brian Lavery (2003). Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian. Conway Maritime. ISBN 0851779468. 
  • Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Lisa Grossman Thomas (2000). Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which Is a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. W W Norton & Co Ltd. ISBN 0393320944. 
  • David Miller (2003). The World of Jack Aubrey: Twelve-Pounders, Frigates, Cutlasses, and Insignia of His Majesty's Royal Navy. Running Press Book Publishers. ISBN 0762416521. 
  • A.E. Cunningham (Editor) (1994). Patrick O'Brian: Critical appreciations and a bibliography. British Library. ISBN 0712310711. 

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Webster, Valerie (19 January 1974). "Review of HMS Surprise". Scotsman. 
Characters
Aubrey–Maturin series
Other novels
Short story collections
Non-fiction
Biographies of O'Brian
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Surprise_(novel)&oldid=477373970"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages