The Mauritius Command (Aubrey/Maturin)

The Patrick O'Brian naval series of books are an acquired taste. If you love the first book, chances are that over the next few years you will find a way to work through the entire series. I do not recommend reading the book on its own. The true joy is seeing the transformation and progression of the two main characters. The books are not for everyone, the writing style differs from what is found in 21st century adventure novels. The language is deep and the sentences are carefully crafted. While the books appear on the outside to be simple naval adventure tales, they are really deep studies in character development of a British naval officer and his best friend/ship surgeon/intelligence operative. The Mauritius Command is one of the best books in the series. Almost the entire book takes place at sea. A few of the earlier book got bogged down whenever the lead character, naval officer Jack Aubrey, steps onto land, but at soon as he takes to sea the books take on a whole new life. While the characters speak of honor and duty, the author makes no attempts to hide the rough, cruel, and violent life aboard British naval ships during the early 19th century. While not a quick read, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, the Mauritius Command and all of the books in the series are well worth you time.

The opening of THE MAURITIUS COMMAND finds "Lucky" Jack Aubrey married, poor, and bored. He is without a command, on half pay, and doing no more than tinkering with his telescopes. Happily, his particular friend Stephen Maturin comes bearing glad tidings: an assignment leading an expedition to capture the French-held islands of Mauritius and La Reunion just east of Madagascar.Unlike the previous novels, where Jack commands a vessel usually unattached from joint maneuvers, he here commands several ships. Unfortunately, the Commodore (as Jack is temporarily called) has a problem: the captains of the three primary ships are troublesome. Lord Clonfert nurses a long held jealously of Jack's fame and success, and has a tendency for self-promotion and showmanship. Pym is solid, but in the end lacks judgment in battle. Corbett is the polar opposite of Jack in regard to discipline. While Jack believes in discipline, he staunchly believes that brutality and frequent punishment is both cruel and counterproductive, leading to an unhappy ship. Corbett, on the other hand, is a savage disciplinarian, and keeps his crew on the edge of mutiny.All of the novels in the series have their unique appeal, and this one delights in its chronicling the course of a single campaign, a campaign that O'Brian notes is based quite closely on real events. The novel is also superb in its setting in a locale of which most readers will be utterly unfamiliar. It is also fun because more than in the previous novels, Stephen Maturin plays a more prominent role as an intelligence officer, and his work on the islands in fermenting rebellion against the French is as crucial as Jack's role in leading the military expedition.I would caution anyone tempted to read O'Brian to start with the very first novel and work from the first to the last. I deeply love these books, but they do not stand alone.

Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe. Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania. Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatl

At the end of the previous novel in the series, Jack Aubrey is returning home to England and marriage to his beloved Sophie, dreaming of the rosy future.Here in the opening chapters of The Mauritius Command is that future, and they are some of the most sustained humorous scenes of the entire Canon. Poor Jack - marriage isn't quite what he imagined it to be!But all too soon we are away on another cruise with Stephen Maturin, this time with a temporary promotion to Commodore, and the flying of a broad pendant to mark the fact. There's glory for you!The bulk of the novel concerns the more or less historical campaign to win back Mauritus from the French, and it is here that I venture a word of criticism, for Patrick O'Brian bound himself a little too tightly with the actual history and has to resort to some literary strategems to keep up with the sometimes confusing action.But that's by the by and along the way we meet some fascinating new characters, revisit some happy old ones, and spend a reasonable amount of time doing the things that make a Patrick O'Brian novel so well worth reading.I enjoyed this book very much, hence the five star rating, for even a Patrick O'Brian book a trifle off his usual pace is a very good book indeed.It is a good self-contained adventure, very rare in this series where a journey quite often takes four books or so to come to a conclusion, and it comes with the necessary maps at the beginning and an excellent essay on Jack Aubrey's ships at the end, including extracts from the plans of the dear old Surprise.An excellent read and the pleasure is enhanced by the marvellous Geoff Hunt painting on the cover.

O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series seems to get better with every book. I found the first, Master and Commander, hard slugging and gave the series a second try based on recommendations and the publicity following the author's passing. It has been well worth the second try.Unfortunately, The Mauritius Command reveals the second strategic error that the author made in writing the series. The first error was starting it in 1800 leading to some historical crowding later on. Similarly, the author has let several years slide since HMS Surprise contributing further to the crowding. I have read that the author regretted his timing of the series although in fairness too him it wasn't obvious that Aubrey/Maturin would catch on and that he would ultimately complete 20 novels covering an 18-year period. The novel itself has few flaws and is well paced.Jack Aubrey has spent the intervening years in wedded bliss although his circumstances and life away from the sea have not been kind to him. Not only is Jack Aubrey married but he also has twins. The opening pages make me wonder what married life would have been like for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth had Jane Austen written a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. The allusions are there and the writing is good enough for O'Brian to pull it off.The Mauritius Command really picks up when the duo return to the sea bound for Capetown and a campaign against the French held islands of La Reunion and Mauritius. Aubrey is to fly a Commodore's pennant and administer a hiding to the French. However, he has to deal with an untrustworthy admiral, captains with varying abilities and fighting spirit and personality conflicts. The tension builds steadily and there is more action than in earlier novels. The conclusion is anti-climactic although it is very neatly tied together.The Mauritius Command was published at roughly the same time as Kent's Passage to Mutiny. Both are examples of the authors at their peaks. O'Brian is clearly the better writer of the two but he doesn't deliver the action the way Kent does. Still if events didn't happen as O'Brian relates, he did a superb job of catching the flavour of the times. He was a great author and The Mauritius Command demonstrates this thoroughly.