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(More customer reviews)Jack Aubrey may be resigned to the perils of his profession, but Stephen must now be silently wondering if maybe he and Jack are the men who never return.
Indeed, this story began two volumes ago, in "Desolation Island", where it looked like they might have "copped it" in the horrible old Leopard.
Then the next story, The Fortune of War, begins with the Leopard limping into a British port off the Malay Peninsula, where after being treated handsomely they board the fast-sailing packet ship La Fletch for England (at last) where Jack is to take command of a new frigate.
But the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune say nay, for their ship burns and sinks, leaving them on the open ocean in a ship's boat whose sails had been stolen and sold by a corrupt boatswain. After many brutal, parched, sunburned days in the lifeboat terror strikes once more when a ship within hailing distance fails to see them and sails on.
As they appear about to succumb to the elements, however, they are rescued by HMS Java. Just as they are recovering from the debilitating ordeal in the lifeboat, Java engages the American ship Constitution (it's the War of 1812), loses the battle, and Aubrey and Maturin find themselves prisoners of war in Boston.
There they discover they are very special prisoners, for Aubrey or Maturin -- or both -- are suspected of being more than a captain and his ship's surgeon. They escape this peril by sailing a little sloop out of Boston harbor into the open sea where they meet and are taken aboard the blockading HMS Shannon. With them is the love of Stephen's life, Diana Villiers, who was in Boston due to entirely credible circumstances, and whose fervent desire to leave with them is equally credible.
The long and perilous chain of events that lead us to this story seem to be behind them. But they must endure one more sea battle -- the Shannon engages the USS Chesapeake in a short but exceedingly bloody engagement (all true), takes Chesapeake, and lands them in friendly Halifax.
Now comes the The Surgeon's Mate, where it seems that Aubrey and Maturin and Diana will at last reach England without further hair-raising adventures. Not so fast, mate. Shortly into this fine, fine tale they board the packet Diligence for England, but the Diligence is intercepted by two strangely determined American privateers. It soon becomes evident that it is Aubrey and Maturin -- and a person of no less importance to their pursuers, Diana -- that is the prize sought, not the dispatch-carrying Diligence.
Like O'Brian is known to do by those who read the fine print and between the lines, and do with great cunning, here he throws us a nice bone to chew on. The first schooner seen is a sleek, fast vessel, one that Captain Dalgleish is familiar with. He lowers his telescope and tells Aubrey, "Yes. She is the Liberty; and I see Mr. Henry has given her a new coat of paint."
Interesting indeed. Those who have explored the lives of the Patriots know that the Patrick Henry who concluded his moving speech for independence with the immortal words, "Give me liberty of give me death," owned a fast, sleek schooner named Liberty.
So now, six points off the starboard bow of the Diligence is the American privateer Liberty, commanded, coincidentally, by a "Mr. Henry."
Like icebergs, some of O'Brian's most pregnant stuff is tucked away from the view of many readers. Its discovery is not necessary to fully enjoy the story, but when we do find a gem the satisfaction is as pure as being let in on a fine secret.
We recall that in the very first volume of this wonderful series, Aubrey's ship Sophie took a much superior ship named the Cacafuego. "Caca fuego" could be translated into a seemingly vulgar phrase, which led a New York Times reviewer to prose disparagingly about Master and Commander and ridicule O'Brian's choice of ship names. But it so happens that the Spanish had not one but two ships by that name. Nothing is preposterous in an O'Brian tale. Patrick Henry died a dozen years before the War of 1812, and O'Brian is not implying it was Patrick Henry's Liberty that intercepted the Diligence -- he's just having fun and permitting a few readers to get a double dip.
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