The Ionian Mission (1981)

The Ionian Mission is the eighth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1981. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars.

The plot begins with the marriage of Dr Maturin and Diana Villiers. Soon after, Captain Aubrey takes HMS Worcester on blockade duty around Toulon, France, until the ship is sent for refitting. With Worcester refitting, he is reassigned to HMS Surprise on which he, Maturin and Professor Graham seek a new ally among the pashas on the coast of the Ionian Sea.

In reviews at the time of the 1991-92 reissue of this novel, one reviewer described Maturin's "hair-raising infiltration of the enemy coast" and then the mission of the title by Aubrey and Maturin, "to the Greek islands to tinker with the balance of power at the fringes of the Turkish empire", summing it up as "splendid adventures at a stately pace". Another finds that time aboard the old ship Worcester has little excitement, while tension rises when "Aubrey is caught in a complex net of Turkish politics and rivalries", in which the fleet Admiral would be just as happy if Aubrey failed.

Plot summary

Stephen Maturin and Diana Villiers have found domestic tranquility in their marriage. Though they share a new house in London on Half Moon Street, Stephen's intelligence work demands privacy, so he settles in his rooms at The Grapes, where Diana comes often, and from which he walks to breakfast with her daily. Meanwhile, Jack Aubrey longs to get away from his ongoing lawsuit. Jack is given command of HMS Worcester for blockade duty off the French coast near Toulon. Jagiello brings the Maturins to port in his own carriage, which upsets, making Stephen's arrival rather last-minute.

While she is doing gunnery practice with gunpowder bought from a fireworks firm, Worcester encounters the French ship Jemmapes. Worcester engages immediately, not having changed to ordinary gunpowder; the brightly coloured flashes from her guns convince the enemy she is carrying some new weapon, and Jemmapes sails away. Stephen is injured and returns to taking laudanum for the pain. Some of the crew practice an oratorio while the midshipmen practice Hamlet. Passengers are dropped off at Gibraltar and Port Mahon, including a Mr Graham, professor of moral philosophy, though the parson Nathaniel Martin is aboard long enough for Stephen to discover their shared interest in birds, before Martin joins HMS Berwick. Worcester joins the squadron off Toulon. Babbington, master and commander, joins the Mediterranean squadron as captain of the Dryad. Babbington has fallen in love with Admiral Harte's daughter Fanny, but her father wants her to marry the wealthy Andrew Wray. Babbington figures that Wray and Harte have conspired to assign him to blockade duty. Before Dryad, the Worcesters see HMS Surprise arrive with mail for the fleet.

Admiral Thornton, commander of the blockade, is wasting away with the endless responsibilities of managing the complex political situation on the Mediterranean station. He has repeatedly refused reassignment, however, and Jack and Stephen suspect that engaging the French in a decisive fleet action may be his only hope of recovery. Thornton's second-in-command, Harte, has lesser goals. While Thornton is away, Harte passes instructions to Aubrey and Babbington regarding a mission to the neutral port of Medina on the north coast of Africa, with strict orders that they not upset the delicate political circumstances by engaging in any action that might be construed as aggressive, lest the local authorities find reason to side with the French.

Arriving off Medina, Dryad sees French ships already anchored in the port and rejoins Worcester. Jack enters the neutral port in an attempt to draw French fire, but a tense, silent standoff ensues as the French similarly refuse to engage first, and Jack leaves without a shot having been fired. His crew is disappointed and he feels his reputation as a fighting captain is tarnished. Rejoining the fleet, Jack is reprimanded by Thornton and Harte for failing to capture Medina: it is revealed that Thornton had intended to deliberately allow Dryad to be captured by the French in order to create a pretext upon which Aubrey could attack the port. Jack realises that Harte, who has long disliked him, intentionally left this out of his orders in the hope that he and Babbington would botch the mission. Fortunately, he had the foresight to request Harte's orders in writing, so Thornton chalks it up to a miscommunication and returns Jack to the blockade.

Worcester then brings Maturin to the coast of France under the cover of night for a rendezvous with other agents. Shots suddenly ring out in the darkness, persuading Stephen to abandon the rendezvous. Waiting for the launch, he discovers Professor Graham, also working as a British agent, who has attempted his own rendezvous the same night and accidentally shot himself in the foot. Graham is rescued and handed over to the Captain of the Fleet to act as a Turkish advisor. Later, a storm blows the British ships off station and the French fleet slips the blockade. Admiral Thornton is pleased, but the winds change, preventing a successful engagement. The French admiral Emeriau declines battle and returns to Toulon. A few shots are exchanged, killing the captain and first lieutenant of HMS Surprise, and the Worcester, a poorly built ship, is strained beyond usefulness during the chase. Thornton tells Jack to take her to Malta to refit, then shift part of his crew to the Surprise for a mission to the Seven Islands on the Ionian coast.