The Ionian Mission

Infobox Book |
name = The Ionian Mission


image_caption = First edition cover (pre Geoff Hunt)
author = Patrick O'Brian
country = United Kingdom
language = English
cover_artist =
series = Aubrey-Maturin series
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Harper Collins (UK)
release_date = 1981
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD)
pages = pages (first edition, hardback) & pages (paperback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-393-03708-8, (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-393-30821-9 (paperback edition UK)
preceded_by = The Surgeon's Mate
followed_by = Treason's Harbour

"The Ionian Mission", (1981) is a historical novel by naval author Patrick O'Brian in the continuing series about Jack Aubrey and sea surgeon and friend Stephen Maturin.

Plot summary

The book opens with Jack, Pullings and Mowett aboard the HMS "Worcester" waiting for Stephen to embark, but Stephen is late because Diana had thrown a party and then the carriage that Jagielo had been driving Stephen in wrecks. Finally Stephen arrives in time and they set sail for the Mediterranean.

The "Worcester" joins the blockade off Toulon under the command of Admiral Thornton (an admiral of the white). The ship soon settles into the blockade routine, with some of the crew improvising a choir and the midshipmen's berth acting out "Hamlet". The only trouble is when Jack has a run-in with his drunken aristocratic third lieutenant, Somers, for missing stays and has him transferred to another ship. Stephen, in the meantime, befriends Mr Martin, an impoverished parson and fellow bird lover, before he joins the "Berwick". Stephen, after consulting with Admiral Thornton, is set ashore in Spain and spends time there setting up a meeting with French royalists. While Admiral Thornton is in Malta, Admiral Harte (an admiral of the red) and his second-in-command, sends Jack and Babbington, commanding a brig the "Dryad", to take presents to the Pasha of Barka as well as a new envoy, Mr Consul Hamilton. Upon discovering two French ships in Medina, Jack and Babbington both send their ships in to fight the French. However, as the port is a neutral location, the French are required to fire first and this they refuse to do. Despite tempting the French several times, the British have to leave and Jack's reputation as a fighting captain takes a heavy dent.

Upon returning to the fleet Jack is summoned by Admiral Thorne and severely reprimanded, stating it was the British intention to have the Dryad captured so that the British could have sent a squadron to oppose the Bey. Admiral Harte claims that he had explained this, but Jack had asked him write his orders which stated that 'scrupulous respect will be paid to the laws of neutrality' so is in the clear.

The "Worcester" is ordered to Mahon to pick up Stephen. At Mahon Jack runs into his old lover Mercedes at the Crown, but before he can do anything Stephen runs in and tells him he has to set sail immediately. The crew, thinking that Jack is after a prize, is excited but eventually realizes it is not to be: their mission is a more covert one in which they will land Stephen in France. Stephen is to meet with the royalists in a duck blind in an uninhabited coastal marsh. But the plan goes awry when another British agent sets up a meeting in the same area and, in the confusion, the two groups exchange sporadic fire. While Stephen is hiding in the sand dunes waiting for the "Worcester"'s launch, he captures the other British agent, the same Professor Graham that the "Worcester" brought to Mahon earlier in the book. Upon returning to the fleet Stephen hands him over to the Captain of the Fleet to act as his Turkish translator.

During a strong storm the French fleet makes a break for the Atlantic and the British fleet gives chase. Although the British catch them, the wind changes direction and the French men-of-war return to Toulon. The fastest British ships attempt to cut of their rear and the "Surprise" exchanges a few shots with the slowest ship - the 80 gun "Robuste" - before giving up the chase. Admiral Thornton is too worn down by disappointment to continue and leaves the station. Admiral Harte, overcome by the political complexity of his temporary position as Commander-in-Chief, appoints Jack and his officers to command the HMS "Surprise" - the "Worcester" sent to Gibraltar for repairs and Captain Lambert and his first lieutenant having being killed by the same cannon ball. Also, in a show of false goodwill, he allows Jack to hand pick his crew.

Harte then sends the "Surprise" and Babington’s "Dryad" on a mission to the Ionian Sea to put one of three Turkish Beys in control of Kutali and remove the French from Marga. After talking to all three claimants to the city Jack promises British support to Sciahan Bey, the present occupier of the island. The crew spends several days rigging out their cables to bring the expected cannons up to the city's citadel. However, Mustapha, one of the claimants that Jack didn’t back, rebels against the Ottomans and captures the British transport ships. Professor Graham returns from a mission into Turkey and hastily informs Jack about what has happened. Aubrey immediately sets sail and overtakes Mustapha’s two ships - the thirty-two gun "Torgud" with two thirty-six pounders on board, and the twenty-gun "Kitabi". After a long engagement the "Kitabi" sinks and the "Surprise"'s crew board and take the "Torgud". Lieutenant Pullings is injured but Mowett informs the Captain that he has survived.

Characters in "The Ionian Mission"

*Jack Aubrey - appointed Captain of HMS "Worcester"
*Stephen Maturin - ship's surgeon, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer.
*Sophie Aubrey - Jack's wife
*Mrs. Williams - Sophie's mother
*Diana Maturin (nee Villiers) - Stephen's wife
*Lieutenant Pullings - first lieutenant of HMS "Worcester"
*Lieutenant Mowett - second lieutenant of HMS "Worcester", and a poet
*Somers - the drunken aristocratic third lieutenant of HMS "Worcester"
*Rowan - third lieutenant of HMS "Worcester", and a poet
*Admiral Thornton - Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet
*Admiral Harte - Second-in-Command
*Admiral Mitchell - an admiral of the blue and commander of the inshore squadron; reached his position from the ranks of the foredeck.
*Captain Heneage Dundas - Captain of the "Excellent" and a close friend of Jack's
*Captain William Babbington - Captain of the "Dryad" and a former midshipman of Jack's
*Professor Graham - a professor of moral philosophy
*Mr Martin - an impoverished naval parson
*Dr Harrington - Physician of the Fleet
*Captain Harry Bennet - Captain of the "Berwick"
*Sciahan Bey - a Turkish Bey supported by Jack
*Mustapha - ruler of Karia and Turkish Capitan-Bey

Ships in "The Ionian Mission"

The British:

*HMS "Worcester"
*HMS "Ocean"
*HMS "Surprise"
*HMS "Excellent"
*HMS "Berwick"
*HMS "San Josef"
*HMS "Pomone"
*HMS "Renown"
*HMS "Orion"
*HMS "Dryad"
*"Bonhomme Richard"

The French:

*"Jemmapes"
*"Archimede"
*"Junon"
*"Robuste"
*"Boree"
*"Lion"

Turkish ships:

*"Torgud"
*"Kitabi"

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

Literary significance & criticism

Reviews

"O'Brian's books are as atypical of conventional sea stories as Conrad's. Like John LeCarré, he has erased the boundary separating a debased genre from 'serious' fiction. O'Brian is a novelist, pure and simple, one of the best we have."—Mark Horowitz, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"They're funny, they're exciting, they're informative...There are legions of us who gladly ship out time and time again under Captain Aubrey."—The New Yorker

Editions

*William Collins; 1981
*Fontana; paperback edition 1982
*HarperCollins; paperback edition 1993
*HarperCollins; B-format paperback edition 1996
*HarperCollins; paperback edition 2003. (ISBN 0 00 649922 8)
*Recorded Books, LLC; Unabridged Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull (ISBN 1402591810)

ources, references, external links, quotations

Footnotes