Desolation Island is the fifth historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in 1978.

The story follows Jack Aubrey as he takes command of HMS Leopard on a mission meant to reach Australia, and occurs prior to the War of 1812. Stephen Maturin is assigned to the voyage in order to monitor a beautiful young American spy who is aboard the ship as a prisoner.

Critics praised the novel's "literate, clear-eyed realism" at initial publication, Reviewing a later book in the series for the Los Angeles Times, Anthony Day glowingly recalled Desolation Island, writing, "Aubrey's relentless pursuit of the Dutch warship Waakzaamheid in the roaring ocean below the southern tip of Africa, day after day in frightful weather, stirs the emotions of dread and hope in every reader."

Allusions/references to history, culture and geography

The Leopard stops for water and fresh supplies in Saint Jago, one of the Cape Verde islands, west of Senegal and in Aubrey's time a colony of Portugal. In the nineteenth century, the name Saint Jago was used instead of the modern Santiago.

The real-life Leopards earlier involvement in the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair in 1807 is described in the novel. The appearance of the American whaler reveals the tension between the English and the Americans on the eve of the War of 1812. O'Brian based the account of the near-sinking of the Leopard, after striking an iceberg, on an actual event involving and her commander Edward Riou in 1789.

The novel uses Lieutenant James Grant as the model for the fictional second lieutenant Grant, who parts from the Leopard when the situation is most grim. The real Grant was promoted to commander in 1805, and this story takes place about 1811. Despite his early success as captain of sloops, the real Grant's career was not followed by anything more than the promotion to commander, though he was years older than Jack Aubrey, so he provides a good base for the fictional lieutenant who would much rather be the captain.

Captain William Bligh's governorship of New South Wales is mentioned as the motive for Aubrey's mission, though Aubrey does not reach New South Wales during the novel, nor meets Bligh in any part of the story. Aubrey does tell Maturin how Bligh is viewed by the Royal Navy, the point of which is that his storytelling foreshadows how Aubrey handles his crew after the Dutch ship sinks and their ship hits the iceberg, and how Aubrey handles Lieutenant Grant, turning a potential mutiny into an officially condoned parting of ways. In addition, Aubrey and Maturin speak with Captain Peter Heywood, who served aboard the Bounty during the mutiny and was later recovered from Pitcairn Island by Captain Edwards, sent to fetch the mutineers back.

The reason why Bligh is in trouble in the moment of the novel is also described. In short, Bligh faced another mutiny, but this time by staff under him as Governor of the colony of New South Wales. Captain Heywood offers the explanation that Bligh seemed not to understand the reactions of others to many things he said, and then to react too harshly, which those around him perceived as harsh criticism and a miserable life. The Rum Rebellion, also known as the Rum Puncheon Rebellion, of 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia's recorded history. As Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh was deposed by the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston, working closely with John Macarthur, on 26 January 1808. Afterwards, acting governors were sworn in until the arrival from Britain of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie at the beginning of 1810.

From the book, Desolation Island is geographically close to the Kerguelen Islands. However, in a later book, The Thirteen Gun Salute, O'Brian writes some dialogue between Richardson and Aubrey that explicitly states that Kerguelen Island is not Desolation Island: "'Kerguelen is what some people call Desolation Island, is it not, sir?' asked Richardson. 'So they do. But it is not our Desolation Island, which is smaller, farther south and east.'" Despite the dialogue in The Thirteen Gun Salute, the description of the harbor where the Leopard seeks shelter is taken exactly from Captain Cook's description of Christmas Harbor, in the far northwest corner of Kerguelen, which he mapped with the assistance of his sailing master, William Bligh, on his last voyage.

One reader and amateur critic argued that the novel reprised an ancient theme in religion and mythology, that of descent and redemption. In this view, Jack and Stephen are disgraced in the Overworld, Jack by ruinous investments, card games and quarrels, Stephen by losing a patient, falling from favor with naval intelligence, and above all, by losing Diana. They journey to the Underworld, below the equator, to the high southern latitudes, experience epic trials, and achieve redemption at Desolation Island. This paper, "Allegory Wrestling, or Desolation Island Decoded", was originally posted on the Gunroom email list, devoted to the Aubrey-Maturin series, and presented at a panel on Patrick O'Brian and the series at a popular culture conference in Boston in 1998.

Relation to other novels in the series

Desolation Island differs from the prior novels in the series in that the main characters are not back in England or safely on their way by the end of the story. This novel ends with Aubrey and Maturin still on Desolation Island at the end of the Antarctic summer, having just floated the ship and installed the rudder, far from home and from the intended destination for their original mission, with a part of the crew having already separated to try to navigate to the Cape in small boats. The reader does not know if the original mission will be completed or how they will get home to England until the next novel, The Fortune of War, or a yet later novel. As in previous novels, several characters are introduced who appear in later novels. Many of the characters appear in the next novel, The Fortune of War, and some appear in several novels before their story is told (e.g. Andrew Wray).

Film and music adaptation

The novel is one of several novels in the series whose themes were incorporated into the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

The American folksinger Jed Marum wrote and recorded the song "Desolation Island" in 2001, based on the book.

Publication history

  • 1978 Collins Hardback First edition
  • 1979, March Stein & Day; Hardcover edition First USA edition
  • 1979 Fontana / Collins; Paperback edition / 978-0-00-615586-7 (UK edition)
  • 1981 Day Books; 1st Mass-market Paperback edition
  • 1991 W. W. Norton & Company Paperback Reprint edition (USA edition)
  • 1994 W. W. Norton & Company Hardcover Reprint edition (USA edition)
  • 1998, May HarperCollins hardback / 978-0-00-222145-0 (UK edition)
  • 2001, January Thorndike Press Hardcover Large-print edition / 978-0-7862-1926-1 (USA edition)
  • 2001, January Chivers Large Print hardback / 978-0-7540-1544-4 (UK edition)
  • 2004 Blackstone Audiobooks Unabridged Audio CD edition
  • 1993 Recorded Books Audio CD edition, narrator Patrick Tull, / 978-1-4025-3930-5 (USA edition)
  • 2011 W. W. Norton & Company e-Book (USA edition)
  • 2011 Harper e-book (UK edition)

This novel was first published by Stein & Day in the USA. Fontana / Collins issued a paperback in the same year, 1979. W W Norton issued a reprint 12 years after the initial publication as part of its reissue in paperback of all the novels in the series prior to 1991.

The process of reissuing the novels initially published prior to 1991 was in full swing in 1991, as the whole series gained a new and wider audience, as Mark Howowitz describes in writing about The Nutmeg of Consolation, the fourteenth novel in the series and initially published in 1991.

<blockquote>Two of my favorite friends are fictitious characters; they live in more than a dozen volumes always near at hand. Their names are Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and their creator is a 77-year-old novelist named Patrick O'Brian, whose 14 books about them have been continuously in print in England since the first, "Master and Commander," was published in 1970.

O'Brian's British fans include T. J. Binyon, Iris Murdoch, A. S. Byatt, Timothy Mo and the late Mary Renault, but, until recently, this splendid saga of two serving officers in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars was unavailable in this country, apart from the first few installments which went immediately out of print. Last year, however, W. W. Norton decided to reissue the series in its entirety, and so far nine of the 14 have appeared here, including the most recent chapter, The Nutmeg of Consolation.</blockquote>

References

  • Maps for Desolation Island