Clarissa Oakes

Clarissa Oakes

First edition
Author	Patrick O'Brian
Cover artist	Geoff Hunt
Language	English
Series	Aubrey-Maturin series
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Harper Collins (UK)
Publication date	1992
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print Hardback & Paperback, Audio Book (Compact audio cassette & CD)
Pages	256 paperback edition
ISBN	0-393-03109-8 first edition, hardback
OCLC	25051419
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 20
LC Class	PR6029.B55 C57 1992
Preceded by	The Nutmeg of Consolation
Followed by	The Wine-Dark Sea

Clarissa Oakes (titled The Truelove in the U.S.A.) is the fifteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1992. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. This novel constitutes the third of a five-novel circumnavigation of the globe; other novels in this voyage include The Thirteen Gun Salute, The Nutmeg of Consolation, The Wine-Dark Sea, and The Commodore.

Glad that the penal colony is behind him, Captain Aubrey discovers a stowaway prisoner aboard near Norfolk Island. He deals with her before he allows the cutter from the governor at New South Wales to deliver his new orders to deal with a political situation on a Pacific island. En route, Maturin learns the key to finding the high level agent giving British information to the French.

Plot summary

Surprise sails eastbound from Port Jackson in New South Wales. Jack Aubrey is in an ill-humour as a result of the frigate's visit to the abysmal penal settlement - firstly, because Stephen Maturin's duel with an army officer antagonized the local administration until the governor returned, and secondly because Padeen Colman, Maturin's servant and an absconder, was rescued against Aubrey's wishes. Aubrey observes ribaldry amongst his crew and remains puzzled until he and Pullings find a young female convict, Clarissa Harvill, during the ship's inspection. She was smuggled aboard in Sydney by Midshipman Oakes. Aubrey is at first determined to leave them both on Norfolk Island, but lets them stay aboard until they reach a South American port.

The Surprise spots a cutter, the Eclair. Aubrey suspects the cutter seeks the runaways. He agrees that Harvill and Oakes may marry on board. Aubrey gives some fine red silk he bought for a dress for her, who wears midshipman's clothes. Martin conducts the ceremony, while Bonden hides Padeen. The cutter bears dispatches for Aubrey and mail for the ship, and a Captain whose father was surgeon on the Surprise, eager to see her. The mail brings many letters from Sophia and from Diana, leaving Aubrey with a secret to keep from Maturin, about his infant daughter. The Governor orders Aubrey to settle a local dispute on Moahu, a nominally British island to the south of the Sandwich Islands. The gun room feasts the newlyweds. Despite the delicious swordfish speared by Davies (after it pierced the ship), good conversation is impaired by the level of animosity existing amongst the gun room members, most visibly West and Davidge. The cause is jealousy over Clarissa, who has had sexual liaisons with several of the ship's officers. This ill-will spreads to the crew, who divide in pro-and anti-Clarissa factions. In the blue water sailing, Maturin befriends Clarissa Oakes.

The ship spots a British whaler at the South Sea island of Annamooka. Wainright, captain of the Daisy, tells Aubrey about 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 armed privateer, the Franklin, sailing under the American flag, owned by Jean Dutourd of Louisiana. The privateer has captured the Truelove, British whaler. While the crew provisions the Surprise, Clarissa, who has received a black eye from Oakes, confesses to Maturin on their botanizing walk together about her being sexually abused as a young girl and later working as a bookkeeper and occasional prostitute at a brothel in Picadilly. These experiences formed her sexual outlook, indifference to something that gives no pleasure. Maturin explains the jealousy of men to her. When she mentions that she saw an aristocratic acquaintance of the late turncoats Ledward and Wray at the brothel, Maturin realises that this is the highly placed traitor he and Sir Joseph Blaine are seeking. He sends a coded letter to Blaine via Wainwright.

Aubrey drives his frigate's crew hard on the trip to Moahu due to their poor showing at Annamooka. On reaching Moahu, they meet the Truelove, now their prize, and a column is sent to intercept the fleeing French. The skirmish is won but Davidge and others are killed, with no survivors among the French. The Surprise then sails to the south of the island to defend Queen Puolani against the main body of French and Kalahua's tribesmen, as she agrees to accept the protection of King George. 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, with Clarissa on board bearing a copy of the letter to Blaine with her. The Franklin appears but sails away immediately, with the Surprise giving chase.

Characters

See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series

• Jack Aubrey: Captain of HM Hired Vessel Surprise and on the Navy List.
• Stephen Maturin: Ship's Surgeon, natural philosopher, particular friend of Jack and an intelligence officer.
• Sophia Aubrey: Wife of Jack and mother of their three children.
• Diana Villiers: Cousin to Sophia, wife of Stephen and mother of their daughter.
• Brigid Maturin: Infant daughter of Maturin and his wife, Diana Villiers.
• Mr William Reade: Midshipman on the Surprise who lost an arm in battle; introduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute. His voice is starting to break now.
• William Oakes: Midshipman on the Surprise who was taken on in Batavia as able seaman, then promoted to midshipman in The Nutmeg of Consolation. His mate was killed in action. He is promoted to Master's Mate during this voyage. On parting, Aubrey gives him an Acting lieutenant's commission.
• Clarissa Oakes née Harvill: Fugitive prisoner from Botany Bay and stowaway on the Surprise until discovered by the captain, then she marries William Oakes aboard ship. She is educated and of good family, a gentlewoman.
• The unknown duke: The unknown deduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute takes form as a Duke with the Order of the Bath, who walks with a limp, and would never talk with Ledward publicly when Ledward was alive, per description that emerges from conversation between Clarissa Oakes and Maturin. He is the high-ranking government official who leaks information to the French. Maturin suspects he met the man long before he was a duke.
• Captain Tom Pullings: Commander in the Royal Navy and First mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise.
• Mr Nathaniel Martin: Surgeon's Assistant on the Surprise, parson, and natural philosopher. Aubrey offers him livings (position as parson) as he now has several belonging to him by inheritance.
• Padeen Colman: Irish-speaking servant to Maturin, and loblolly boy aboard ship.
• Barret Bonden: Captain's Coxswain on the Surprise.
• Preserved Killick: Captain's Steward on the Surprise.
• Mr. Bulkeley: Bosun on the Surprise.
• Awkward Davies: Able Seaman on the Surprise.
• Sarah and Emily Sweeting: Melanesian orphans saved from Sweetings Island in The Nutmeg of Consolation; rated ship's boys on the Surprise.
• Mr Davidge: Third Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He attended Trinity College in Dublin like Maturin, and knew the same amount of duelling in those years. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant and would like to be one again, introduced in The Letter of Marque. He is killed leading the successful first attack against the French on Moahu.
• Mr West: Second Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant, and would like to be one again. He was introduced in The Letter of Marque.
• Mr M'Mullen: Commands the cutter Eclair out of Sydney, and whose father was surgeon on the Surprise in 1799 at the recapture of the Hermione.
• Weightman: Butcher on the Surprise, who cannot accept that the island pigs want taro in their feed.
• Jemmy Ducks: Poultry Keeper on the Surprise with responsibility for the little girls, too.
• Mr Adams: Captain's Clerk on the Surprise.
• Edward Norton: Recently deceased owner of neighboring lands to Aubrey's boyhood home of Woolcombe, and a friend to his grandfather. In childhood, Aubrey called him cousin Edward. Norton owns all the land for the borough of Milport with its 17 electors and leaves it to Jack Aubrey.
• Mr Withers: Attorney from Dorchester who handled all of Aubrey's legal work, also deceased, whose young partner sends all the paperwork to Aubrey at sea, instead of handling it. Aubrey works at it, and asks Adams help, as well.
• Pakeea: Annamooka Chieftain.
• Tereo: Annamooka Senior Chieftain who welcomes Aubrey and his ship, allows them to get water and fresh food.
• Mr Wainright: Captain of the Daisy.
• Dr Falconer: Surgeon on the Daisy, and a naturalist.
• William Hoskins: On the Truelove, once armourer's mate on HMS Polychrest (see Post Captain), tells Aubrey how many French are on the Truelove as Surprise seizes several French prisoners who were fooled by the ship's disguise. Hoskins is not fooled.
• Puolani: Queen of the Polynesian island of Moahu.
• Kalahua: Leader on the north of the island of Moahu, allies with Dutourd to fight the Queen's forces, so he can rule. He loses, is killed and eaten by the winners.
• Jean Dutourd: Franklin's owner and an idealist, seeking an island to set up his notion of a utopian community, but likely to attack any in the way of his ideals. He is from Louisiana, now a part of the US, an enemy to the UK. His followers and crew are mainly French, from Louisiana or Canada. They have chosen Moahu.
• The Sailing Master: As Dutourd is no seaman, he hires an American to sail the Franklin, which ship has American colors. The sailing master is not yet seen, but the Trueloves and the islanders know of him.

Ships

• British
  • HM Hired Vessel Surprise
  • HMS Eclair - 14-gun cutter
• British South Seas whalers and Nootka fur-traders
  • The Truelove
  • The Daisy
  • The Heartsease
• American
  • Franklin - 22-gun privateer, with a crew of French speakers from Louisiana

Title in the US

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

Series chronology

This novel references actual historical events with accurate historical detail, like all in this series. In respect to the internal chronology of the series, it is the ninth of eleven novels (beginning with The Surgeon's Mate) that might take five or six years to happen but are all pegged to an extended 1812, or as Patrick O'Brian says it, 1812a and 1812b (introduction to The Far Side of the World, the tenth novel in this series). The events of The Yellow Admiral again match up with the historical years of the Napoleonic wars in sequence, as the first six novels did.

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews likes the plot, including the intelligent escape:

The musings and adventures of 18th-century sailors Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin (The Ionian Missionary, The Surgeon's Mate, et. many al.) follow the winds to the South Pacific. On this cruise: a shipboard wedding and a Polynesian dust-up. With Britain between wars for the moment, Captain Aubrey shifts his flag [sic] to The Truelove, a merchantman with a military past, and sails to Sydney and points east on a leisurely semiofficial cruise. As usual, Jack is accompanied by his friend Maturin, physician, naturalist, and early intelligence agent, and, as on previous voyages, the crew includes Mr. Martin, a clergyman who shares Stephen's great interest in birds of the world. This time, though, there is a bird on board--a prostitute smuggled out of Sydney by a smitten young officer. She's bad news. Even after she is wed to the smitten and violently jealous Lt. Oakes, Clarissa sees no reason not to scratch the itches of her husband's messmates. Discipline goes to pot, and Jack decides to disembark the young couple at the earliest opportunity. But nothing happens quickly when one must wait for wind. There is plenty of time for Clarissa to consult her physician, who learns that the lady is left cold by the marriage act and, in discussing her depressing past, also learns the identity of a traitor in the highest level of government. When Truelove [sic] at last finds the wind, it is off to a Hawaiianish island and rousing battle to install a government sympathetic to his Britannic majesty George III. Intelligent escape. Not for the rushed.

Publishers Weekly feels this novel will delight fans of the series:

This entry in O'Brian's late-18th-century seafaring series will delight fans, while offering newcomers a good place to jump in. Here Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are assigned to help a Polynesian queen in her struggle with a Napoleon-backed rival, and a female convict is smuggled aboard by a midshipman in Australia. (July)

Dick Adler writing in the Chicago Tribune finds this novel a pure joy to read as it shares unmistakably original insights into the mysteries of the world:

Now comes The Truelove, the 15th novel in his Aubrey/Maturin opus, and it's a pure joy to read-on its own or as part of the glorious whole. It was published in England as Clarissa Oakes, which probably sounded too Jane Austen-ish to American editorial ears. But it's a perfect title, because the slim and lively girl who stows away on the HMS Surprise as it sails from Botany Bay is the real heart of O`Brian's moving and erotic story. Her surprising and mysterious past threatens the calm of Capt. Aubrey's tight ship, and the effect her presence has on everyone else aboard gives O`Brian a chance to explore their characters in exceptional depth.

. . . there's plenty of action, including a remarkable battle with cannibals in which O`Brian sums up all the horror in one unforgettable image. But 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.

Allusion to real places

The plot takes the ship to a fictional island south of the Hawaiian Islands, which were first known as the Sandwich Islands.

Publication history

• Recorded Books LLC Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull ISBN 1419302728
• W. W. Norton & Company E-book edition 2011 ISBN 9780393063684