Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/The Mauritius Command temp

The Mauritius Command is a historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. It is fourth in the series of stories that follow the partnership of Captain Jack Aubrey and the sea surgeon Stephen Maturin.

Plot introduction
The novel sees Aubrey made Commodore in charge of a squadron of ships sent to take the islands of Mauritius and Réunion from the French, and so protect British shipping interests in the Indian Ocean.

Plot summary
Aubrey is at home in his cramped Ashgrove Cottage with his twin baby girls, his wife and her mother, ashore and out of work and of necessity on half pay from the Navy. His spirits are lifted when his long time friend and colleague Stephen Maturin comes to call.

Aubrey is brought orders to take command as commodore a small squadron of ship in Portsmouth and the take them south and into the Indian Ocean, with instructions to disrupt French intentions and interest in the region. Particularly he is charged with taking the Islands of Mauritius and La Réunion. He is now given command of the 38-gun frigate HMS Boadicea

The long journey takes the group of vessels with their commanders and crew south of the equator and via storm and drill to the point where Jack is part is only partly happy with their efficiency. Jack also has to conend with disperate characters in his commanders. Lord Clonfert, a member of the aristocracy and with influence and Captain Corbett a harsh disciplinarian, even for the day. Corbett drives his men almost to the point of mutuny.

During his campaign Jack temporarily switches his pennant to the elderly 64-gun ship-of-the-line HMS Raisonable, but returns to the HMS Boadicea with the onset of the tropical typhoon season.

Characters in "The Mauritius Command"

 * Jack Aubrey - Captain in the Royal Navy and appointed Commodore during this story. And Captain in HMS Boadicea.
 * Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and intelligence officer.
 * Pym - captain of HMS Sirius
 * Captain Corbett - captain of HMS Néréide
 * Lord Clonfert - captain of HMS Otter
 * Lady Clonfort - wife to the above, wanted passage with the squadron
 * Captain Eliot - captain in HMS Raisonable
 * Mrs. Williams - Jack's mother in law, now bankrupt.
 * Sophie Aubrey - Jack's long suffering and patient wife.
 * Bessie - cook at Ashgrove Cottage
 * Diana Villiers - Stephen's love interest
 * Lieut. Colonel H Keating - army commander
 * Colonel Fraser
 * Colonel McLeod
 * Tom Pullings
 * Farquhar - temporary governor of La Réunion
 * Mr Fellowes - Boson
 * Bonden -
 * Colonel Saint-Susanne - French army commander on La Réunion
 * Killick -
 * Captain Lambert -
 * Captain Curtis -

The Squadron

 * HMS Boudicea
 * HMS Raisonable
 * HMS Sirius
 * HMS Néréide
 * HMS Sirius
 * HMS Otter
 * HMS Magiciénne

Major themes
The novel is based upon a real campaign carried out by the Royal Navy in 1810 under Commodore Josiah Rowley.

The novel gives further scope to Maturin's role as both a secret agent (in which he uses propaganda effectively to support the campaign) and as a naturalist (in which he is seen collecting relics of the extinct birds the Dodo and the Solitaire).

O'Brian used literary license in making Jack a Commodore when he wasn't very senior. During the time in question a Captain was spending twenty years or more on the Captain's list before his promotion to Admiral. A Commodore's appointment was a considerable plum, and only very senior Captains received them. On a remote station, when an admiral would have to draw on the Captains on station, it would be a different matter. But Jack was appointed directly by the Admiralty to a post that, traditionally, would have come to an officer more than a dozen years more senior.

Allusions/references to other works
The plot of the novel is very closely based upon a real campaign carried out by the Royal Navy in 1810 under Commodore Josias Rowley. O'Brian notes this in the preface. The island was formally captured on 3 December 1810 (See also History of Mauritius.)

Dotted around the story ar allusions to ideas and thinking of others. But most stricking is when a character actually quotes from literature. At one point Jack is recorded "adding, not without pride, 'Ex Africa surgit semper aliquid novo, – novi, eh?'". This is a direct quotation from Pliny the Elder. Meaning, "There's always something new coming out of Africa."

Later Stephen is found quoting, Johnson, "Every man would be a coward if he durst"

Throughout we have allusions and quotes from Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Horace.

Literary significance & criticism
"Jack's assignment: to capture the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius from the French. That campaign forms the narrative thread of this rollicking sea saga. But its substance is more beguiling still..."—Elizabeth Peer, Newsweek

Release details

 * 1977, UK, Collins Publishers (ISBN 000222383X), Pub Date ? ? 1977, Hardcover
 * 1978, UK, Fontana (ISBN 0006153488), Pub Date ? May 1978, Paperback
 * 1978, USA, Stein & Day (ISBN 0812824768), Pub Date ? May 1978, Hardcover edition
 * 1989, UK, Fontana (ISBN 0006165745), Pub Date 9 February 1989, Paperback
 * 1991, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 039330762X), Pub date ? May 1991, Paperback Reprint edition
 * 1992, USA, William A. Thomas Braille Bookstore (ISBN 1569560714), Pub date ? December 1992, Hardcover edition
 * 1993, UK, ISIS Audio Books (ISBN 1850898715), Pub date ? April 1993, Audio book (Cassette), Patrick Tull (Narrator)
 * 1994, USA, W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393037045), Pub date ? ? 1994, Hardcover Reprint edition
 * 1996, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 000649918X), Pub date 2 September 1996, Paperback
 * 1997, UK, Harper Collins (ISBN 0001052950), Pub date 20 January 1997, Audio book (Cassette), Robert Hardy (Narrator)
 * 2000, USA, Thorndike Press (ISBN 0786219351), Pub Date ? November 2000, Hardcover
 * 2001, UK, Chivers (ISBN 075401519X), Pub date 1 March 2001, Hardcover Large-print edition
 * 2001, UK, Recorded Books Unabridged (ISBN 1402502230), Pub date ? September 2001, Recorded unknown, Patrick Tull (Narrator)
 * 2001, UK, Chivers (ISBN 0754023982), Pub date 1 December 2001, Paperback Large-print edition
 * 2002, UK, Soundings (ISBN 1842832638), Pub date ? September 2002, Audio book (CD), Stephen Thorne (Narrator)
 * 2004, USA, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0786185627), Unabridged audio edition, Pub date August 2004, MP3 CD, Simon Vance (Narrator)
 * 2004, USA, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0786184590), Unabridged audio edition, Pub date August 2004, MP3 CD, Simon Vance (Narrator)