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Master and Commander
Post Captain
HMS Surprise
The Mauritius Command
Desolation Island
The Fortune of War
The Surgeon's Mate
The Ionian Mission
Treason's Harbour
The Far Side of the World
The Reverse of the Medal
The Letter of Marque
The Thirteen-Gun Salute
The Nutmeg of Consolation
Clarissa Oakes
The Wine-Dark Sea
The Commodore
The Yellow Admiral
The Hundred Days
Blue at the Mizzen
 

[14.10.04] As all readers of Blue at the Mizzen probably realised, it wasn't intended to be the last book about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. And it turns out that O'Brian was working on a novel when he died. The unfinished novel is published as The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey, containing both a facsimile of the manuscript and in a printed version. A must for the fan!

[05.04.04] The movie Master and Commander, based on a number of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, is released on DVD, in two different editions - Single Disc and Double Disc ("Collectors Edition"). Rumour has it that those who wait will live to buy further editions, with added material. The film, though, might remain the same - or will one also have a Director's Cut Edition?

The Jack Aubrey – Stephen Maturin novels

Information will be added as my reading and re-reading progresses and allows. Main links (the titles) are to reasonably priced paperback editions.

1 Master and Commander
Hardcover; Audio CD; Audio Cassette; Large print
This edition contains a small piece on O'Brian and the novels, The Winning Post at Last, previously published in the Spectator.
2 Post Captain
Hardcover; Audio CD; Audio Cassette; Large print
This edition contains a small essay on O'Brian, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.
3 HMS Surprise
Hardcover; Audio CD; Audio Cassette; Large print
This edition contains a small essay, Arms and the Man, by Charlton Heston, giving his personal impression of the novels, the language and some of the major characters.
4 The Mauritius Command
Hardcover; Audio CD; Audio Cassette; Large print
Being at home with his family, striving to make ends meet on half pay, Jack Aubrey is ordered to go to The Indian Ocean, to try to put a stop to French interference with the trade with India, by conquering Mautiritus (Ile de France) and La Réunion (Ile bourbon), and capturing or sinking the French Navy vessels in the area. He is given command over a small fleet and has to trust his commanders, something that doesn't all come easy with him. And his masters have plans of their own.

This edition also contains an essay on Jack Aubrey's Ships, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.
5 Desolation Island
Hardcover; Audio Cassette; Large print

At home again, Jack has come into money and his family life is flourishing – the age-old problem of mothers-in-law is still there, but not as problematic as before. Stephen arrives as news that Jack has a new command, The Leopard, bound for the East Indies, reaches Jack.

The Admiralty sees fit to equip it also with some convicts sentenced to transportation, so that a visit to Australia will be needed. En route The Leopard encounters a strange fever and has a number of skirmishes with the Dutch ship Waakzaamheid ("Vigilance") until a collision with an ice-berg severely damages The Leopard. Abandoned by parts of the crew Jack manages to reach Desolation Island (I believed this to be Kerguelen, a French possession, but a conversation in The Thirteen-Gun Salute reveals that this is not so) in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. All the time, Stephen guards one of the convicts, a beautful lady of dubious connections, reminiscent of Diana Villiers.

This edition contains a 20-page scholarly historical essay, The Naval World of Jack Aubrey, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.

6 The Fortune of War
Hardcover; Audio Cassette;
Large print

Having managed to repair, Jack and his ship arrives in the Dutch East Indies, where the ship is found to be in such a condition that is used as a transport. Receiving a new command, Jack and Stephen sails as passengers in a despatch wessel for England. En route the War of 1812 breaks out, and eventually they find themselves as American prisoners of war. Their ingenuity finds them a way out, with a well-known lady.

This edition contains a small piece by O'Brian, telling some of his life history and the history of his writing, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.

7 The Surgeon's Mate
Hardcover; Audio Cassette; Large print

Having escaped the Americans, Jack, Stephen and Diana find themselves in Nova Scotia. Despite being followed they make their way to England, where Jack and Stephen are sent into the Baltic. On the way home, they are made prisoners of war by the French, spending many days in "The Temple" in Paris.

This edition also contains an essay on the novels by the editor who accepted the first novel for publication, after other publishers had turned it down.

8 The Ionian Mission
Hardcover; Audio Cassette;
Large print

Jack has been made captain of a ship sent to reinforce the blockade of Toulon, but soon they are sent eastwards in order to maintain British interests in the sphere of the Ottoman empire.

This edition also contains a small review of the series, In which we serve by John Bailey, previously published in The New York Review of Books, November 1991.

9 Treason's Harbour
Hardcover; Audio CD
Audio Cassette; Large print

Sitting in Malta, awaiting repairs to their ship, Stephen and Jack is entangled in a web of rumours and plots of treason. They get sent off on a mission in the Red Sea, having to go by land across Suez. Will they accomplish their mission, or has rumour preceded them?

In this edition, Louis Jolyon West has an interesting essay on The Medical World of Dr Stephen Maturin, giving a historical background to O'Brian's stories of Stephen's work.

10 The Far Side of the World
Hardcover; Audio CD
Audio Cassette; Large print

En route for Britain, Jack and his HMS Surprise is sent on an expedition to protect whalers in the South Atlantic and the Pacific from an American frigate, the Norfolk.

This edition contains, like the 3rd book, a small essay, Arms and the Man, by Charlton Heston, giving his personal impression of the novels, the language and some of the major characters.

11 The Reverse of the Medal
Hardcover; Audio CD; Large print

Returning from the South Seas to Britain with some prize money, Jack Aubrey is tempted into the stock market. This leaves him open to severe critizism, ending with his being dismissed from the Royal Navy.

This edition contains a small essay, Patrick O'Brian, by William Waldegrave, giving his personal impression of the novels and O'Brian's writing.

12 The Letter of Marque
Hardcover; Audio Cassette; Large print

Jack Aubrey, no more an officer of the Royal Navy, sets out as a private man-of-war. Stephen Maturin, having inherited wealth, buys the old Surprise when it is decommissioned by the navy. Their old crew-members volunteer to man the ship, and they all set out hunting for prizes. And it is not without reason Jack has been called "Lucky Jack Aubrey" all his time.

This edition contains, like the 4th book, an essay on Jack Aubrey's Ships, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.

13 The Thirteen-Gun Salute
Hardcover; Audio Cassette; Large print
The Surprise and her captain and crew are paid by the government to sail to South America, amongst other things in order to let Dr. Maturin work with freedom fighters. Along the way, Jack Aubrey is reinstated in the Royal Navy and given command over a vessel sent to the East Indies, while the Surprise goes on on her original mission of harrassing whalers in the South Seas. The idea is to meet up in the Pacific, then go on to South America with Dr. Maturin. Much happens along the way, and Jack Aubrey and his crew end up on an isolated, uninhabited island in the East Indies.

This edition contains, like the sixth book, a small piece by O'Brian, telling some of his life history and the history of his writing, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.

14 The Nutmeg of Consolation
Hardcover; Audio CD;
Audio Cassette; Large print
Having fought off a dayak attack, Jack Aubrey and his men are saved and arrives in Batavia. The governor equips Jack with a captured vessel, that Jack christens "The Nutmeg of Consolation" or just Nutmeg for short. They set off to sink or conquer the Cornélie, their French counterpart. They end up in the penal colony in New South Wales, where the local authorities seem set on making life difficult for them.

This edition contains, like the 5th book, a 20-page scholarly historical essay, The Naval World of Jack Aubrey, from Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography.

15 Clarissa Oakes
Hardcover; Audio Cassette
Setting out from the prison colonies, Jack is unaware that his ship carries a female with an intriguing past, that one of his midshipmen has concealed on board. They've set out for South America, but orders reach Jack to intervene in a local conflict that has attracted American and French interests.

This edition also contains, like the 7th book, an essay on the novels by the editor who accepted the first novel for publication, after other publishers had turned it down.

16 The Wine-Dark Sea

The Surprise, with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, pursues enemy ships in the Pacific en route to South America, where Stephen has orders to seek out likely partners in a plot to throw the Spanish out of some of their colonies.

This edition, like the 8th book, also contains a small review of the series, In which we serve by John Bailey, previously published in The New York Review of Books, November 1991.

17 The Commodore

Having returned home, Jack Aubrey finally makes the next step on the ladder and is promoted commodore. There is much to sort out at home, not at least for Stephen Maturin; Diana has fled from home and left their daughter Brigid with Clarissa Oakes and the servants.

Jack receives orders to command a squadron of ships going to West Africa to harrass the slave trade, but also to lay in wait for a convoy of French ships.

This edition, like the 1st book, contains a small piece on O'Brian and the novels, The Winning Post at Last, previously published in the Spectator.

18 The Yellow Admiral Coming home from the West African venture, Jack feels "put to pasture" being sent off to help with the blockade of Brest. Peace is looming on the horizon, possibly bringing an abrupt end to many a naval career. A Yellow Admiral is a commodore promoted to Admiral but without being given anything to command, i.e. he is retired. In order to escape this fate, Jack undertakes a hydrographical expedition to South America, which coincides with Stephen's being sent there to undertake more mischief for the Spanish.

This edition contains a speech made at a dinner in honour of O'Brian.

19 The Hundred Days Napoleon escapes from Elba, and Jack Aubrey is ordered to take command of all vessels in Funchal, and take them to Gibraltar. A battle for control of the Mediterranean ensues.
20 Blue at the Mizzen

Napoleon having been defeated, Jack Aubrey again finds himself and his men on their way to South America.

Ostensibly on a hydrographical expedition, they fight for the Chileans in their struggle for freedom.

Finally, Jack receives his admiralship.

Blue at the Mizzen ends with Jack and Stephen on their way to new adventures. It is obvious that O'Brian must have had designs for further books, neither the careers or family and love lives of Jack and Stephen had reached their conclusion. It is sad that these further books never will come (but have a look at book 21).

(21) The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey The unfinished novel O'Brian was working on at the time of his death

Be aware that from The Thirteen-Gun Salute on, Amazon shows the wrong covers (covers from an earlier edition) for the paperbacks.

The whole series can be bought in a hardcover edition set.

More books connected to the novels.

This page was last updated on 05.02.2005.

 

 

 

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© janeriks Jan Erik Frantsvåg 2001 Reg.no. NO 983 140 831
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