The Commodore is the seventeenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1995. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

In this novel, Aubrey and Maturin complete their circumnavigation of the globe begun in The Thirteen Gun Salute and continued through The Nutmeg of Consolation, Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, and The Wine-Dark Sea. After a long-awaited stay at home in England, Commodore Aubrey is given a squadron to conduct a mission against slave ships in West Africa and then he and Maturin are sent against Napoleon's Navy. Dr Maturin finally meets his young daughter, whom he must protect from a vicious enemy agent out to get him through his family. The story ranges from England to Spain to West Africa and the rocky west coast of Ireland.

Reviewers of this novel were impressed with how well the characters were drawn, if you met them, "you'd know them".

Publishers Weekly notes the amount of domestic life in this novel, told with great historical and nautical accuracy. Both Aubrey and Maturin undertake the naval mission with "clouds" from their family affairs.

Joel White, writing in the New York Times, says that compared to some of the earlier novels, The Commodore is "relatively peaceful compared with the usual Patrick O'Brian offering" as to battles. On the other hand, he remarks that "it is not the sea battles that keep us turning the pages, but rather the improbable, delightful friendship between the two men as well as their relationships with their families and shipmates." The main characters "are complex men, expertly portrayed", and both leave home for their naval mission unhappy due to family concerns. The naval mission begins on the west coast of Africa to intercept slave ships, the trade already outlawed in England, then moves on to surprise a French expedition. That comes to a conclusion that makes "all right with the world, and the opportunity open for another book to come."

Publication history

  • Recorded Books, LLC; Unabridged Audio edition narrated by Patrick Tull ()
  • E-book edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2011 ()

References to actual history

The book makes reference to the West African slave trade and the Slave Trade Act 1807. The Act made smugglers of slave traders, putting them at risk of seizure by the Royal Navy. As described in the novel, the slaves removed from the slave ships were not returned to their birthplace or place of seizure, but brought to Freetown in Sierra Leone, where they were not subject to re-capture. Aubrey's first sight of slaves aboard a ship designed for that trade deeply affected him, though he did not share Maturin's fierce abolitionist views, a way to depict the long struggle to end slavery in the UK and its colonies and territories. The ship Nancy as described in the novel is quite similar to the British ship Brookes as to the space allotted for the human cargo.

Aubrey is promoted to Commodore, the first flag officer rank. He has a captain under him, so he wears the uniform of a Rear Admiral. This rank came into formal existence in the Royal Navy in 1805, before the setting of this novel, about 1812 or 1813.

How the Baltimore clipper came to O'Brian's attention

Ken Ringle of The Washington Post interviewed Patrick O'Brian and kept up correspondence with him. Ringle learned that O'Brian did not know about the fast sailing type of vessel called the Baltimore clipper, a vessel used by the Americans in the War of 1812. He writes that after December 1992, "when I happened on a new book on Baltimore clippers, I picked up a copy to send him." Thus the vessel is named Ringle, and its amazing sailing properties well-described, and used for critical parts of the plot, like saving Maturin's family and fortune.

References

  • The Commodore at the Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project