The Surgeon's Mate (1980)

The Surgeon's Mate is the seventh historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series written by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1980. The story is set during the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars.

Buoyed by victory over an American ship, Aubrey, Maturin and Diana Villiers speed to England on a mail packet that is chased for the papers in Maturin's hands, and possibly for Diana herself. The papers, including a copy of the official report of victory over an American ship, thus arrive in England before the originals, as the packet sailed to outrun the American chasers. Aubrey then commands HMS Ariel for a mission on the Danish coast, which ultimately leads him and Maturin once again to being prisoners of war.

This novel was part of the reissue of the series, with copies not always available in the original order written. This was a challenge to readers and reviewers of that time (1990–92), who did not fit this novel into its place in the sequence, suggesting each novel can be read on its own. It was praised as part of "O'Brian's superb series on the early-19th-century adventures" of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and specifically marked as "Splendid escape. Literate and amusing.", providing a "look at the darker side of Maturin's life: his work in British intelligence."

Plot summary

Sailing into Halifax, the victorious HMS Shannon contends with her losses in officers and crew, with particular concern for Captain Broke, who lies unconscious from head wounds. The American Captain Lawrence dies en route from the battle and is buried at Halifax. Once in port, as prisoners of war are taken ashore and the British Navy deserters identified among them, the Shannons and her passengers, Captain Jack Aubrey, Dr Stephen Maturin, and Mrs Diana Villiers, feel the full joy of the first naval victory in the ongoing war with America. Maturin communicates with Major Beck, an army counterpart in intelligence work. At the victory ball, Aubrey is pursued by Amanda Smith, known to Diana for her predatory ways. Jack spends the night with Miss Smith then quickly tires of her, yet she persists. He receives his first letters from his wife Sophia since the Leopard was left in the Dutch East Indies, so long ago. Others write the report of Broke's victory, to speed the official news to England.

Captain Dalgleish on the mail packet Diligence carries a copy of the official report, and Aubrey, Maturin, and Mrs Villiers as passengers. The American privateer Liberty and another, unnamed, vessel, have lay in wait for Diligence and chase her on the northern route home. Diana is certain the privateers have been hired by the vengeful Johnson, who will spare no expense in recovering the intelligence papers and the priceless heirloom diamond, the Blue Peter, which Stephen and Diana have stolen from him. The Liberty eventually wrecks on submerged ice in the foggy Grand Banks, her crew taken aboard by her follower, while the Diligence escapes and reaches the English Channel in 17 days. News of the victory is well-received in England, but Jack is eager to get home. His daughters and son have grown much since he last saw them, and his wife Sophia has admirably managed the ploys of the projector Kimber, in whose fraudulent schemes Jack has unwisely invested much of his fortune. Stephen visits Ireland for his uncle. He gives Johnson's private papers to Sir Joseph Blaine and asks him for Diana's release, whose American citizenship has caused her to be held in British custody. Blaine also recommends a lawyer for Aubrey to deal with the projector. Taking Diana with him, Stephen travels to Paris on a strictly scientific trip to present his work at the Institut de France, which he hopes will have the additional effect of quieting French suspicions that he is an intelligence agent. At the Institut, Diana wears the Blue Peter, of which she is quite fond. Stephen learns of the death of a Catalan poet, Ponsich, on an intelligence mission near Pomerania.

Jack's uncanny knack for inviting trouble on land is compounded when he begins receiving letters at home from Miss Smith, who claims to be pregnant by him, though Stephen suggests she is lying. Stephen visits Blaine again, who explains that Ponsich was killed during a botched diplomatic mission to capture the battery fortifying the French-held island of Grimsholm, off the coast of Denmark in the Baltic Sea. The battery is manned by Catalan troops assigned there by Bonaparte and kept loyal through false promises. They are led by Colonel Ramón d'Ullastret, who coincidentally is Stephen's godfather. Blaine explains that Grimsholm is too heavily fortified to be taken by force, but suggests that if the Catalans could be persuaded to surrender the island, it would change the situation in the Baltic enough to allow Prussia to join the offensive against Bonaparte. Stephen volunteers to perform the mission himself, with Jack as his captain.