Desolation Island (1978)

Desolation Island is the fifth historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in 1978.

The story follows Jack Aubrey as he takes command of HMS Leopard on a mission meant to reach Australia, and occurs prior to the War of 1812. Stephen Maturin joins the voyage in order to monitor a beautiful young American spy who is aboard the ship as a prisoner.

Critics praised the novel's "literate, clear-eyed realism" at initial publication, as well as the stirring naval action in the cold southern ocean as the Leopard is chased by the Dutch ship.

Plot summary

Having recovered financially in The Mauritius Command, Captain Jack Aubrey is expanding his home and has paid off his mother-in-law's debts, and his wife is no longer pinching pennies. His household is staffed with seamen, and his twin daughters and infant son are thriving. Despite his comfortable pay while serving in the Fencibles, he is still frittering away his fortune with foolish business endeavours. Stephen Maturin learns that Diana Villiers has returned from America, unmarried, but when he calls upon her he finds only a letter explaining that her young American friend Louisa Wogan has been apprehended by British authorities and questioned as a spy. Though Diana herself is innocent, she has been forced to flee England suddenly, so Stephen pays her bills. Arrangements are made to transport Mrs Wogan to a penal colony in New South Wales.

Meanwhile, the governor in New South Wales, Captain Bligh of Bounty infamy, has been deposed in a feud with the local settlers. Jack is offered command of the old HMS Leopard for a mission to Australia to restore Bligh, which he accepts to escape his woes on land. Sir Joseph Blaine explains to Stephen that Mrs Wogan will be carried aboard the Leopard as a prisoner, along with two dozen other convicts to disguise the nature of the charges against her. Partly to prevent Stephen's laudanum addiction from compromising his work, Blaine assigns Maturin to the voyage to watch Wogan, hoping that by doing so he may uncover American secrets.

Shortly after embarking, the prisoners kill their superintendent and surgeon during a storm, and Stephen discovers the squalor of their captivity in the orlop. Jack orders their conditions be improved to meet naval standards but an outbreak of "gaol fever" (jail fever, now understood to be typhus) nonetheless spreads from the convicts to the seamen, killing most of the male prisoners and 116 of the ship's crew, leaving the Leopard severely undermanned. Stephen's assistant Mr Martin dies and is replaced by Michael Herapath, who has stowed away in pursuit of his lover, Mrs Wogan. Jack rates Herapath a midshipman despite his American citizenship. The ship is forced to leave many recovering crew members at Recife, including Tom Pullings. He is replaced with James Grant as first lieutenant, who proves a challenge for Captain Aubrey. While they are in port, HMS Nymph arrives damaged from an encounter with the Waakzaamheid, a Dutch 74-gun ship-of-the-line. Stephen fabricates a story that Mr Martin was a French agent in a letter that he deliberately leaves for Herapath and Wogan to read and copy, hoping the false information will confuse French and American intelligence.

The Leopard encounters the Dutch ship before reaching the Cape of Good Hope, but Jack cannot risk a confrontation with the much larger and fully manned Waakzaamheid. He repels a boarding party with grapeshot during the night and nearly escapes his pursuer, but the Dutch captain eerily predicts Jack's every move and blocks his route to the Cape. The Dutchman chases them south into the Roaring Forties for five days, where the waves and wind increase, and the ships finally engage in dangerously high seas. Casks of fresh water are jettisoned from the Leopard to lighten her. After a long exchange of fire Jack is struck in the head by a large splinter and knocked senseless. With the Waakzaamheid gaining on her, a lucky shot from the Leopard strikes her foremast, causing it to fall into the sea. Without its driving force the Waakzaamheid yaws onto her beam-ends in the trough of a deep wave and is overwhelmed by the next, sinking with all hands.

Now east of the Cape, the Leopard aims for New South Wales. Jack orders the crew to collect ice to replace their fresh water stores, but the ship strikes an iceberg stern-on, damaging the rudder and causing a severe leak. Desperate to save the ship, all hands work the pumps continuously for days and rush to fother a sail to stop the leak. Though Jack has been seriously wounded in the battle, he tries to quell rumors that his mind is unsound. Grant challenges Jack's fitness for command, requesting permission to take the Leopard's boats and the men who wish to leave and head for the Cape, which Jack accepts. Only the jolly boat is left behind. Jack and the crew members loyal to him continue to drift east on the Leopard, still rudderless and pumping furiously to keep her afloat. Making adroit use of anchors and a jury-rigged rudder, Jack navigates the ship to safe harbour in a bay of the remote, uninhabited, and poorly charted Desolation Island just as a storm approaches. Despite its name, it is full of fresh food in the rainy Antarctic summer.