Post Captain (novel)

Post Captain

Lippincott First edition
Author	Patrick O'Brian
Cover artist	Dell'Orco[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Aubrey–Maturin series
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Collins (UK)
Publication date	1972
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Compact audio cassette, Compact Disc)
Pages	414 first edition, hardback
ISBN	0-00-221657-4 first edition hardback
OCLC	38885590
Dewey Decimal	823/.9/14
LC Class	PZ3.O1285 Po PR6029.B55
Preceded by	Master and Commander
Followed by	HMS Surprise

Post Captain is the second historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1972. It features the characters of Captain Jack Aubrey and naval surgeon Stephen Maturin in the early 19th century and is set in the Napoleonic Wars.

During the brief Peace of Amiens, Aubrey and Maturin live in a country house allowing both of them to meet the women they eventually will marry. Then their life is turned upside down when Aubrey loses his money due to decisions of the prize court and a dishonest prize-agent. When the war begins afresh, Aubrey has a command, seeing action while gaining fewer prizes yet succeeding in his military goals. The emotions of his love life interfere with his ways at sea.

The novel was received well at its initial publishing, but received more and better notice after its re-issue in 1990. That much of the story is set on land drew some to consider it O'Brian's homage to Jane Austen, one of his favorite authors.

Plot summary

With the Peace of Amiens, Jack Aubrey returns to England and rents a house with Stephen Maturin, with shipmates running the household, spending time in the hunt. He meets the Williams family. Aubrey courts Sophia Williams, the eldest of three daughters, while Maturin pursues Diana Villiers, Sophia's cousin. Aubrey wants to marry Sophia, but she delays making a firm engagement. His fortune abruptly disappears when his prize-agent absconds with his funds and the prize court finds that two merchant ships he captured were owned by neutral nations. The court demands he repay the value of the ships (rather than gain the prize money he expected), a sum beyond his means. Mrs Williams takes her daughters away to Bath on this news. Aubrey dallies with Diana, straining his friendship with Maturin and showing himself indecisive on land, a contrast with his decisive ways at sea. Aubrey and Maturin flee England to avoid Aubrey being taken for debt.

In Toulon to visit Christy Pallière, the French captain who had captured Aubrey's first command Sophie before the peace, they learn that war is imminent. French authorities round up all English subjects. Aubrey and Maturin escape over the Pyrenees to Maturin's property with Maturin disguised as an itinerant bear trainer and Aubrey as the bear, Flora. They make their way to Gibraltar where Aubrey and Maturin take passage aboard a British East India Company ship. The ship is captured by the privateer Bellone, but a British squadron overtakes them and rescues Aubrey, Maturin and the other passengers.

In England, Aubrey is offered a letter of marque by Mr Canning, a wealthy Jewish merchant. At the same gathering at Queeney's, Mrs Williams and Cecilia are among the guests; unaware he would be there, Sophia stayed home with Frances. Mrs Williams learns of Maturin's castle in Spain and his training as a physician, raising his status in her eyes. An inadequate thief approaches Aubrey as he walks outdoors; Mr Scriven proves to be a useful friend, knowing the law of debt and where Aubrey can be safe from bailiffs. He and Maturin move to The Grapes, safe in the Liberty of the Savoy.

Aubrey is given command of HMS Polychrest, so he turns Canning down. Polychrest is an odd ship that was purpose-built to for an experimental weapon now abandoned. He asks that Tom Pullings be promoted to lieutenant. Polychrest is structurally weak and sails poorly, and the first lieutenant, Parker, is free with punishment. Aubrey is given a free hand by Admiral Harte, who stands to benefit personally from any prizes taken. To Harte's disappointment, Aubrey captures no prizes. When he drives the French privateer Bellone aground outside a Spanish port, the merchants reward him. Harte assigns Aubrey to escort convoys in the English Channel. Aubrey gains a reputation for lingering in port as he carries on a furtive affair with Diana. Maturin is sent on an intelligence gathering mission in Spain. On his return, Maturin is advised by Aubrey's friend Heneage Dundas to warn Aubrey about his reputation with the Admiralty. When Maturin does so, Aubrey gets angry and the two agree to fight a duel. Aubrey calls on Diana, but finds her with Canning, ending Aubrey's interest in Diana. Aubrey is ordered to raid the French port of Chaulieu to sink the French troopships and gunboats and to destroy the Fanciulla. The crew plans to mutiny because of their harsh treatment under Parker. Maturin overhears their plans and warns Aubrey. Aubrey quashes the mutiny by putting the instigators and some loyal crew in a ship's boat and then begins the attack on the moment. He rues his angry words with Maturin. During the engagement in Chaulieu, Polychrest runs aground. Aubrey leads three of the ship's boats to board and capture Fanciulla. The successful mariners refloat Polychrest, which founders soon after leaving Chaulieu, and the crew transfer to Fanciulla. After the battle, Aubrey and Maturin resume their friendship.

Aubrey returns to England in Fanciulla and is promoted to Post-captain. Debt still hanging over him, he asks for any command. He is assigned as temporary captain for HMS Lively whose Captain Hamond, has taken leave to sit in Parliament. Returning from Spain, Maturin tells the head of naval intelligence, Sir Joseph Blaine, that the Spanish will declare war as soon as four ships full of bullion from Montevideo arrive safely in Cadiz. At Maturin's urging, Sophia asks Jack Aubrey to transport her and her sister to the Downs. While on board, Aubrey and Sophia come to an agreement not to marry anyone else; Aubrey is too poor to propose a marriage settlement satisfactory to Mrs Williams. Maturin is close friends with Sophia, but does not take up her advice to propose to Diana. While attending the opera, he sees that Diana is being kept by Canning; his pain is deep.

Maturin takes no pay for his intelligence work, but he does ask a favour: that Lively be included in the squadron sent to intercept the Spanish. The Admiralty agrees, and asks Maturin to negotiate the treasure fleet's surrender. Because of Maturin's temporary rank and his connection to the Admiralty, Aubrey realizes that Maturin has been involved in intelligence work for Britain. Aubrey understands at last that there is a side of his friend that he did not know. The Spanish convoy refuses to surrender, and battle breaks out. One Spanish frigate (the Mercedes) explodes and the other three (Fama, Clara, Medea) surrender. Clara, carrying the treasure, strikes her colours to Lively, greatly pleasing its captain. Then he chases Fama. He invites two of the Spanish captains to dinner, along with Dr Maturin, and they all toast Sophia.

Characters

See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series

• Jack Aubrey: Commander of Polychrest and later appointed Captain of HMS Lively.
• Stephen Maturin: Ship's surgeon, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and intelligence officer; son of Irish and Catalan parents, knows both countries well.
• Sophia Williams: Eldest daughter of three, fair haired beauty of strong character, who lives in the neighborhood where Jack Aubrey takes a house during the brief peace. Aubrey falls in love with her but is indecisive with her in contrast to his decisive nature at sea.
• Mrs Williams: Mother of Sophia, Cecilia, and Frances Williams, widowed. She is protective of her daughters while working to find a suitable husband for each. An unpleasant personality.
• Diana Villiers: Same age cousin of Sophia Williams, both orphaned and widowed in India, now living with her Williams cousins. Both Stephen Maturin and Jack Aubrey are attracted to her dark-haired beauty and abrupt ways. Stephen surprises himself that he can fall in love again.
• Earl Saint Vincent: First Lord of the Admiralty when Aubrey first requests a ship, after prize court decisions go against him. He does not have enough ships at hand.
• General Aubrey: Father of Jack Aubrey. He recently married his dairymaid, and they have a son about the time Jack Aubrey learns of his debt due to the adverse prize court decision. The general lives at Woolcombe, is a member of Parliament, and speaks out too often, and against the Royal Navy, thus against his son's career advancement.
• Sir Joseph Blaine: Head of naval intelligence, Stephen Maturin's contact at the Admiralty, and an entomologist.
• Christy Pallière: Captain of the French ship that took Sophie, with cousins in Bath whom Jack Aubrey visited when also visiting Sophia. He is affable and sociable, and a good ship captain.
• Dr Ramis: French ship's surgeon and contact for Maturin in Toulon.
• Dumanoir de Plessy: Captain of the French privateer Bellone, wounded while taking the Lord Nelson. Maturin treats his wounds, yielding kinder treatment to the passengers now prisoners on his prize.
• Azéma: Second captain from Bellone, captain aboard the prize Lord Nelson merchant ship, who struck his colors on meeting four Royal Navy ships of the line.
• Mr Adam Scriven: An unemployed literary man and translator who instructs Aubrey and Maturin in the laws of debt and the safe haven of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Liberty of the Savoy in the midst of London.
• Mrs Broad: Runs The Grapes, the inn in the Savoy, where Aubrey is safe from bailiffs wanting to take him for debt. He and Maturin set up there.
• Lord Keith: Admiral in the Royal Navy, married to Queeney.
• Queeney: Wife of Lord Keith, and in earlier days, neighbour and tutor to young Jack Aubrey, who hosts a gathering where Aubrey and Maturin meet Canning, as well as Diana Villiers, Mrs Williams and Cecilia.
• Heneage Dundas: Close friend of Jack Aubrey who is already made post captain, into HMS Franchise when he meets Aubrey and Maturin at Queeeney's "rout" (large evening party).
• Mr Richard Canning: Wealthy trader with a fleet of merchant ships. He offers Aubrey a position as captain on his new privateering ship built like the Bellone. A married man, he pursues Diana Villiers, who goes into keeping with him.
• Lord Melville: First Lord of the Admiralty when war resumes. His political support is the opposition to those who supported his predecessor, Lord Saint Vincent.
• Admiral Harte: He has a squadron in the Downs, to which the Polychrest is attached. He has a strong grudge against Aubrey.
• Mr Parker: First Lieutenant in Polychrest, he uses too much punishment which was part of what nearly precipitated a mutiny on the Polychrest. He had sailed with Prince William (Duke of Clarence), who pressed Lord Melville about his friend's progress. Ironically, Aubrey's good word about him helps him gain his step at age 56 to master and commander on the Fanciulla, bought into service after capture.
• Mr Tom Pullings: Young Second Lieutenant in Polychrest, promoted from master's mate, after his stint with the British East India Company during the peace, on the ship Lord Nelson that Aubrey and Maturin board at Gibraltar.
• Mr and Mrs Pullings: Parents of Tom who bring the food for the feast in Gosport to celebrate his promotion to lieutenant. Mrs Pullings brings her specialty savory pheasant pie, so good that she and Maturin talk at length about the tasty truffles she includes in it.
• Mr William Babbington: Midshipman in Polychrest who injures his left arm in the taking of the Fanciulla.
• Mr Parslow: Young midshipman aboard Polychrest.
• Barret Bonden: Coxswain from HM Sloop Sophie who joins Aubrey when he has HMS Polychrest and brought aboard the HMS Lively.
• Joe Plaice: Cousin to Bonden who signs on to the crew of the Polychrest.
• Preserved Killick: Servant to Aubrey aboard HMS Polychrest and one of the only crewman he can take aboard HMS Lively as a jobbing captain.
• James MacDonald: Reliable first Lieutenant of Marines on Polychrest, until he loses part of his left arm in the attack of Bellone, recuperating in the naval hospital under Maturin's care. He has extensive conversations with Maturin on many topics, and loans his fine pistols to Maturin for the duel that never happens.
• Smithers: Lieutenant of Marines replacing MacDonald aboard Polychrest, independently wealthy, who loses to Maturin at cards, but supports Aubrey at the time of the threatened mutiny.
• Captain Hamond: Regular captain of HMS Lively, recently a Member of Parliament, who takes a leave of absence to engage in political activities, leaving the vacancy for Aubrey.
• Mr Simmons: First lieutenant aboard HMS Lively, a well-run frigate. He is prize captain of Clara.
• Mr Dashwood: Another lieutenant aboard HMS Lively. His sister and nephew takes a ride to meet her husband, carried as a favour, similar to the ride Sophia and Cecilia Williams take to the Downs from Plymouth. He is on duty when the Fama strikes her colours. He is assigned prize captain of that ship.
• Don José Bustamente: Admiral of the Spanish squadron, with his flag on the Medea, carrying treasures from the River Plate to Cadiz. The Royal Navy decides to intercept this squadron, hoping it will strike colors in the face of British force.
• Don Ignacio: Captain of the Clara, taken aboard HMS Lively when Clara struck her colours.
• Graham: Commodore of squadron and captain of HMS Indefatigable pursuing the Spanish squadron. He is impatient for action when the negotiations for surrender seem not to succeed.
• Sutton: Captain of HMS Amphion, in the squadron to intercept the Real Armada (Spanish Royal Navy) squadron before it reaches Cadiz.

Ships

The British

• HMS Polychrest - sloop of fiction
• HMS Amethyst - frigate
• HMS Lively - 38 gun frigate
• HMS Indefatigable - 40 gun frigate
• HMS Medusa - 32 gun frigate
• HMS Amphion - 32 gun frigate
• Lord Nelson - East Indiaman

The French

• Fanciulla - corvette
• Bellone (Privateer)

The Spanish

• Medea - 40 gun frigate
• Fama - 34 gun frigate
• Clara - 34 gun frigate
• Mercedes - 34 gun frigate

Allusions

References to events in history

Stephen Maturin, in presenting his radical position against the tyranny of the navy, says that he would "certainly have joined the mutineers" had he been at the Spithead Mutiny.^[2]

The Treaty of Amiens was signed 25 March 1802 by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace". The consequent Peace of Amiens lasted only one year, ending on 18 May 1803. It was the only period of peace during the so-called 'Great French War' between 1793 and 1815. Captain Christy-Pallière, whom Jack and Stephen visit at Toulon, was a real French Navy officer who did command the naval base at Toulon, though not in 1803.

For a few hundred years beginning in the 14th century, the Duchy of Lancaster was not subject to the King's laws, including pursuit for debt, having its own courts, laws and power of decision. Savoy was part of the lands in that Duchy. Though it was adjacent to the City of London and to Westminster, the Liberty of the Savoy, sometimes called the Liberties of the Savoy, was a safe haven from debt collectors acting under the King's law until sometime in the 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars. The author explained this from his own knowledge at a publisher's web page.^[3]

The novel describes the political tensions between Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty with the support of Pitt, and the Whigs, whose First Lord had been Earl St Vincent, immediate predecessor to Lord Melville. The Whigs charged Lord Melville with misappropriation of public funds. The novel posits that Melville could not properly defend himself, because the funds in question were associated with the secret appropriations for intelligence gathering while he was Treasurer in the Admiralty. At the end of the novel, Lord Melville still holds his position, as the impeachment and trial occur in the House of Lords. Lord Melville is acquitted in real life, but does not hold the office of First Lord again; his son Robert holds the post later in the Napoleonic Wars, and like his father, is in favor of the fictional Captain Aubrey.

The last action in the novel is based on a real action, the Battle of Cape Santa Maria in October 1804, in which four British frigates – HMS Indefatigable, HMS Lively, HMS Medusa and HMS Amphion – successfully intercepted a Spanish flotilla carrying gold from South America, leaving from the mouth of the River Plate in present-day Montevideo, Uruguay. Captain Hamond, later Sir Graham Hamond, 2nd Baronet, was not in fact a member of Parliament and was in command of Lively in the action, taking the Spanish ships as Aubrey does in the novel.^[4]

Allusions to literature

In a conversation with MacDonald, Stephen Maturin argues about the various qualities of the Gaelic poet Ossian's writing and authenticity.^[5] This references similar controversy which had arisen during the period about the true authorship of James Macpherson's translation of his epic cycle, and continues to be questioned today in literary circles. In this same conversation, MacDonald references the Roman legal principle "falsum in unam, falsum in omnibus",^[5] which translates to "false in one thing, false in all things".

Literary significance and criticism

"One of the finest seafaring novels of the Napoleonic wars." — R. W., Taranaki Herald (New Zealand), on Post Captain^[6]

Mary Renault had high praise for this novel:

Master and Commander raised almost dangerously high expectations, Post Captain triumphantly surpasses them. Mr O'Brian is a master of his period, in which his characters are finely placed, while remaining three-dimensional, thoroughly human beings. This book sets him at the very top of his genre; he does not just have the chief qualifications of a first-class historical novelist, he has them all. The action scenes are superb; towards the end, far from being aware that one is reading what is, physically, a fairly long book, one notes with dismay that there is not much more to come....A brilliant book.^[7]

Library Journal found this to be a "rich blend of adventure, romance, and intrigue", reviewing an audio book version read by John Lee^[8]

The backdrop of this novel is the temporary cessation of British-French hostilities in 1803 and the consequent stalling of British naval officer Jack Aubrey's promotion from commander to post captain. As he wonders if he will ever be promoted or get another ship, Jack learns that his business manager has absconded with his investments and that collection agents are now after him. Jack still manages to pursue a woman who is a member of a very proper English family, and this affair in turn fuels a potentially lethal breach between him and his closest friend, Dr. Maturin, who is involved in high-level espionage. To avoid debtor's prison, Jack eventually goes to France, only to be trapped there when Napoleon resumes hostilities. This rich blend of adventure, romance, and intrigue will satisfy listeners of many different tastes. John Lee's strong narration is flawed only by his tendency to pronounce "forecastle" so it sounds like "foxhole." Recommended for most collections.^[9]

Frank Prial wrote about Post Captain, in an article about the author in 1998, that "The Aubrey-Maturin series has been said to rival the sequential novels of Trollope and Anthony Powell. Mr. O'Brian is particularly pleased when he is compared to Jane Austen, whom he reveres as the finest of all English novelists. First editions of most of her novels share shelf space in his small library here with first editions of Gibbon and Dr. Johnson and a battered but still useful 1810 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The second book of the series, Post Captain, set mostly in country houses and as much a novel of manners as a sea story, has been said to be Mr. O'Brian's homage to Ms. Austen."^[10]

In a more recent review, Jo Walton finds this the book in the series with the poorest plot structure:

There’s no shape to this plot, and while the characters and incidents are as good as anything in the series, the book as a whole is broken-backed. The duel and then the fact that they never mention that they’ve reconciled feels very strange. Usually when O’Brian has a lacuna like that it helps to shape the story, here it’s just an odd absence. The duel is the last real obstacle between Jack and Stephen—they quarrel from time to time, but it never comes to this kind of thing. The main theme is the difference between land and sea, and to illustrate this we see a lot of Jack ashore—far more than in the first book. It may be the most England we get in any of the books. Jack isn’t very good at life ashore—he’s everything he isn’t at sea. He’s easily taken in, confused, indecisive and frightened. There’s a wonderful scene where he runs from the bailiffs back to sea and calls back “Mr Pullings, press that man!” He presses the bailiffs who have come to arrest him for debt!^[11]

Publication history

• 1972, UK, Collins Publishers ISBN 0-00-221657-4, 1970, hardback (First edition)
• 1972, USA, Lippincott ISBN 0-00-612913-7, 1972, hardback
• 1975, UK, Fontana ISBN 0-00-613666-4, 1 April 1975, paperback
• 1990, USA, W. W. Norton ISBN 0-393-30706-9, November 1990, paperback
• 1994, USA, W. W. Norton ISBN 0-393-03702-9, 1994, hardback
• 2000, USA, Chivers, Windsor, Paragon ISBN 0-7540-1423-1, 1 December 2000, hardback (large print)
• 2001, USA, Chivers, Windsor, Paragon ISBN 0-7540-2320-6, 1 September 2001, paperback (large print)
• 1996, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-649916-3, 7 October 1996, paperback
• 1997, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-105330-2, 21 April 1997, Audio book cassette (narrated by Robert Hardy)
• 1998, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-221657-4, 27 January 1998, hardback
• 2001, USA, Recorded Books ISBN 1-4025-0221-4, September 2001, Audio book cassette (narrated by Patrick Tull)
• 2002, UK, Soundings ISBN 1-84283-261-1, September 2002, Audio book CD (narrated by Stephen Thorne)
• 2003, USA, Blackstone Audio Books ISBN 978-1-4829-5513-2, Audio book CD (narrated by Simon Vance)
• 2004, UK, Blackstone ISBN 0-7861-8703-4, January 2004, Audio book MP3 cassette narrated by Simon Vance aka Robert Whitfield
• 2011, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 978-0-393-05993-9), 5 December 2011, e-book

References

Bibliography

• A.E. Cunningham, ed. (1994). Patrick O'Brian: A Bibliography and Critical Appreciation. British Library Publishing Division. ISBN 0-7123-1071-1. 
• 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 0-393-32094-4. 
• Dean King (2001). A Sea of Words: Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-6615-2. 
• Dean King (2001). Harbors and High Seas: Map Book and Geographical Guide to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-6614-4. 
• Brian Lavery (2003). Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian. Conway Maritime. ISBN 0-85177-946-8. 
• 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 0-7624-1652-1. 
• Richard O'Neill (2003). Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World. Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-1540-1. 

External links

• Maps for Post Captain