Post Captain (1972)
3 Stars out of 5
414 Pages
Patrick O’Brian
"falsum in
unam, falsum in omnibus”
"false in
one thing, false in all things".
Roman Law
“Post Captain” is
more like a series of novellas linked by the inclusion of its two protagonists
than like a cohesive novel consisting of minor story arcs that are brought
together in a final denouement. In the opening section, we meet Aubrey ashore –
always a problem for him and this novel will prove it to be markedly true.
Aubrey lives with Maturin in a rented country house. They are seemingly happy
and in Aubrey’s case, quite wealthy. He did quite well in terms of naval prizes
in book 1 and is now living the life of a country gentleman as he awaits his
presumed de rigueur promotion to Post Captain. Aubrey is “courted” by a local
mother of three young women. She is Mrs. Williams and of her three daughters,
Sophia is the eldest and the one Mrs. Williams most wants to make a match with to
Aubrey. There is also a cousin, Dianna Villiers – she of no name or wealth, a
kind of foundling to Mrs. Williams. Dianna is also quite saucy for the times,
as she will prove time and again as she verbally jousts with Maturin.
Alas, poor Aubrey’s fortune quickly evaporates, and having
done so, Mrs. Williams ensures Sophia is no longer on the market for Aubrey. In
keeping with his poor ashore decision making skills Aubrey turns his eyes on Dianna,
who has by now become a point of intense fascination to Maturin. This conflict
will test the strong friendship/love of Maturin and Aubrey, leading to the
brink of a duel to the death. However, Dianna will soon also be off the
market to both men as she is more attracted to a third, and in a later act of Aubrey’s unusual skills and
bravery at sea, the duel which had been put on hold will quietly fall to
the side as the two men resume their long running relationship of trust and
affection. These scenes will be played out over the length of the novel, but
will be unfortunately be so haphazardly included in the novel’s narrative that
much of the emotional weight of the dissension between the two men and even
more so, their reconciliation will be lost to the reader. There is some
literary gold within these sections as O’Brian will to some degree accurately emulate
Austin’s astute observations of class distinction and behavior. He is far less effective in copying Austin’s exquisite command of 19th century English dialog. O’Brian’s efforts are noteworthy, nevertheless.
One consequence of Aubrey’s newly acquired penniless state
is that throughout the remainder of the book, he will spend almost all of his
time ashore dodging the various bailiffs sent to collect him for his debts. In one
amusing episode, he will actually order one of his crew to impress into the
naval service one of the very men sent to arrest Aubrey. However, the biggest
consequence of Aubrey’s need for money is a greatly magnified need to return to
duty in the navy. And again, we are given the opportunity to witness how clumsy
Aubrey is ashore as he fruitlessly seeks a ship and command. Aubrey will enter
into badly couched arguments with the First Lord of the Admiralty (Earl St.
Vincent) and will end up merely antagonizing the very man he should have been
courting. The scenes are useful also in that they describe the politics of the
time (Aubrey’s father is in Parliament and a member of the opposition) as well
as the unfortunate fate of many former ship captains. The biggest problem for
Aubrey and the other former captains is that the English Navy is flush with captains
deserving a promotion to Post Captain and/or to a ship. The reason there so
many in want is that this book takes place during the Treaty of Amiens – and ironically,
this time of peace has set many former captains adrift as the English Navy
simply has no need for a large navy during this interregnum between wars. That
will soon change.
During the final stages of the peace, Aubrey and Maturin are
visiting a former foe in the French navy; visiting him in France. While there,
the peace treaty falls to pieces, and the French government now firmly in the
hands of Napoleon orders the arrest of all the Englishmen in France. Thus ensues
another comical interlude as Maturin adopts the role of bear trainer and
Aubrey the guise of said bear. They will make a serio-comic journey out of
France to neutral Spain where Maturin owns an estate. They
will in time make it back to England where Aubrey will be given (finally) a
ship, but no promotion. This ship unlike all others in the book is a fictional
ship, the Polychrest. The Polychrest was built for a special
weapon system that was later abandoned. A key element to the Polychrest’s unique architecture is that she lacks a true stern; both ends of this ship appear to
be bows. Such a design will require expert seamanship on the part of the
captain and his crew. Unfortunately for Aubrey, the same First Lord of the
Admiralty that gave him this ship (the same he previously antagonized) has also
given Aubrey no crew of seasoned sailors. Aubrey will create a crew but they
will be far from experienced including as they do many impressed “sailors” such as
the aforementioned bailiff.
O’Brian’s point in creating this scenario is to of course
highlight just how skilled at sea Aubrey is. He will do so of course. He will
also prove his sense of right and wrong as he makes decisions that will make
the highly avaricious First Lord Vincent angry. These actions and decisions of
Aubrey will take a feared and highly capable privateer (the Bellone) out of action pleasing many
English merchants that had been preyed upon by the Bellone, but because no prize ships were captured, Vincent will
vent once more his spleen at poor Captain Aubrey. Undeterred, Aubrey will take
the Polychrest out on a mission not
far removed from a suicide mission. He will succeed in the books’ best
described naval action and in doing so, he will also succeed in capturing a
French frigate, the Fanciulla, though
he will lose the unfortunate Polychrest.
In an act characteristic of the morally upright Aubrey, he will recommend
captaincy of the Fanciulla be given
to his First Lieutenant (Mr. Parker) and not to himself. However, brighter days
lie ahead for the honorable Aubrey.
A consequence of the resumption of the war is the
replacement of the venal Vincent with the far more focused Lord Melville; a man
that greatly admires both Aubrey and Maturin. Maturin has recently in other
story arcs within this book displayed his capabilities to Melville and others
inside the English military hierarchy of his abilities as an English spy. The success of
which will now help earn Aubrey his long awaited promotion to Post Captain and
to a temporary captaincy of the HMS Lively. Again Aubrey will be placed into
a situation where he must prove himself not just an able seaman but far more importantly,
an able commander of men. The Lively
is an extremely capable ship and her crew just as much so. Her previous captain
is away for a short period of time as he works as a MP in Parliament. Thus
Aubrey must shape this new crew to his tastes and do so without disturbing an already
finely tuned crew. One thing he finds out about this crew is that as good as
they are at seamanship they are woefully inexperienced in naval warfare – he has
his goal now, and he exercises it and the crew superbly. All of this will lead
to a final confrontation at sea between a four ship English squadron sent to
intercept a Spanish squadron approaching Spain with a cargo of New World gold.
If the gold reaches Spain, the Spanish will throw in with the French. It is a
clever use of actual history and a final (for this book) chance for Aubrey to
prove his skills. You know he will do so, but as in the first book, you cannot
be 100% certain of just how Aubrey and Maturin will excel in this last
engagement.
You will have to read the book to find out. You won’t be
disappointed if you enjoy stories of moral and physical courage. Aubrey and
Maturin are nothing but fine examples of both at sea. Their misadventures
ashore as they both seek the hand of the quixotic Dianna, or as Aubrey and
Sophia seek some kind of relationship despite Aubrey’s new penury might shake
your opinion of them; certainly of the ashore maladapted Aubrey. As a reader
you might ask yourself, are these characters believable or at least consistent?
I believe you will agree they are. I especially liked the philosophical debate the Irishman Maturin engages in regarding the poetry of fellow Irishman Ossian, and how he is countered by Scotsman, First Lieutenant McDonald. Their discussion of a principle of Roman Law plays very effectively against the flaws of several of the characters within this book. It also helps to highlight the mixture of strengths and weaknesses possessed by the redoubtable Aubrey. Just what is he exactly: a sad fool ashore, but brilliant leader of men at sea? It would seem so, and perhaps he is the exception that proves the rule with respect to the Roman principle just mentioned.
Where you may share a negative opinion with
me is that this book suffers from two flaws: O’Brian consistently disappoints
in his segue descriptions on a small scale (they are far too abrupt) and as noted previously, at least in
this book, in linking properly the various vignettes and in doing so with a pacing that leads to a major
climax to the overall story presented in this book. I did like this book, and
if I consider the various sub-sections as standalone stories, this book is comparable
to “Master and Commander” in quality. If I look
for a complete artfully designed full length novel, I walk away from this book somewhat
disappointed; not so much I won’t read book 3, but still with some dismay.
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