The Ionian Mission is the eighth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1981. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars.

The plot begins with the marriage of Dr Maturin and Diana Villiers. Soon after, Captain Aubrey takes HMS Worcester on blockade duty around Toulon, France, until the ship is sent for refitting. With Worcester refitting, he is reassigned to HMS Surprise on which he, Maturin and Professor Graham seek a new ally among the pashas on the coast of the Ionian Sea.

In reviews at the time of the 1991-92 reissue of this novel, one reviewer described Maturin's "hair-raising infiltration of the enemy coast" and then the mission of the title by Aubrey and Maturin, "to the Greek islands to tinker with the balance of power at the fringes of the Turkish empire", summing it up as "splendid adventures at a stately pace".

In the engagement with the two Turkish ships, Aubrey first boarded the Kitabi, which surrendered, then jumped across to the nearby Torgud. One of his men said he had boarded like Nelson, referring to Horatio Nelson at the battle of St. Vincent, who took two Spanish ships, jumping from the San Nicolas to the San Josef. Jack Aubrey's model in his naval career has always been Lord Nelson.

Series chronology

This novel references actual events with accurate historical detail, like all in this series. In respect to the internal chronology of the series, it is the second of eleven novels (beginning with The Surgeon's Mate) that might take five or six years to happen but are all pegged to an extended 1812, or as Patrick O'Brian says it, 1812a and 1812b (introduction to The Far Side of the World, the tenth novel in this series). The events of The Yellow Admiral again match up with the historical years of the Napoleonic wars in sequence, as the first six novels did.

Reviews

One reviewer finds good writing throughout the novel, whether depicting the tedious work of the naval blockade or the quick thinking needed to deal with Turkish politics, while the other reviewer felt that the novel was not interesting until the Surprise reached the Ionian coast.

Kirkus Reviews found this novel to have splendid adventures and the writing at a stately pace, reviewing it at the reissue in late 1991. Aubrey loses favour inside the Admiralty: "He can't get things right on shore, but he is quick enough to put Worcester to trim, taking slack out of the sails and the crew until Worcester is the ablest ship in the line bottling up Napoleon's navy in Toulon." First, "there is little excitement as HMS Worcester settles in with the other blockading ships, some with crews showing signs of strain from remaining constantly alert but inactive." Following novels were released at the same time by the UK and US publishers. Collins asked Geoff Hunt in 1988 to do the cover art for the twelve books published by then, with The Letter of Marque being the first book to have Hunt's work on the first edition. He continued to paint the covers for future books; the covers were used on both USA and UK editions. Reissues of earlier novels used the Geoff Hunt covers.

References

  • Maps for The Ionian Mission