The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey is the unfinished twenty-first historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in its incomplete form in 2004. It appeared in the United States of America under the title of 21.
Though this is the early part of an unfinished novel, reviewers examined it. Some took the opportunity to look back at the whole series of completed novels, 6,443 pages by one count. They were pleased to see that Sam Panda, Aubrey's son from his "long-legged youth" and now going by Sam Mputa, his mother's last name, is a papal nuncio, and that Maturin pursues Christine Wood and again sees his daughter Brigid, who is beginning to hold her own with her older cousins, the Aubrey twin girls. The sailors and the families of Maturin and Aubrey get as far as the island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon is firmly exiled, and there the writing stops, with no hint of what might have happened in South Africa, had the squadron arrived there. There is wide acclaim for the afterword by Richard Snow, included in the book.
Editor's note, foreword and afterword
The published work appears with an "Editor's Note" by Starling Lawrence and an Afterword by Richard Snow, who had written an influential review of the series in the New York Times Book Review many years before.[1] Commentators have credited Snow's review with helping to popularize the series in the United States.[2]
The story begins with Surprise in the Strait of Magellan, caught up in foul weather. Hanson first spots Cape Pilar at the very opening of the Strait, and soon Surprise moors and conducts some trade with the inhospitable locals for meat and vegetables. Having re-provisioned, she and Ringle sail northwards in fine weather until they enter the River Plate and moor close to the island functioning as the main administrative centre. A quarantine officer comes aboard and gives the frigate a clean bill of health.
Wantage (a character killed and buried at sea in chapter six of the preceding book: Blue at the Mizzen) informs Maturin of a rumpus in the town: a fight between Protestant mariners from a Boston barque clash with the Catholic locals over the right of polygamy. Further signs of local resentment emerge when a large scow dumps the town's filth next to the frigate and the Portuguese sailors shout abuse at the Surprises. Aubrey sees the Papal legate on the shore, preparing to bless the town's ships, and recognises him as his own natural son Sam. As the Papal Nuncio to the Republic of Argentina, the Most Reverend Doctor Samuel Mputa had recently saved the government from an open rebellion.
The South African squadron, under its Commander-in-Chief Admiral Lord Leyton, makes its appearance. Taking command of the blue squadron, Aubrey boards his new flagship, HMSSuffolk, seeing his blue rear admiral's flag hoisted on the mizzen mast. He has an interview with the cantankerous Admiral, who wants to send two of his officers and a midshipman home to England on Surprise. Aubrey explains that he does not own the Surprise, a private vessel once more, but ultimately pledges Maturin's consent in exchange for enough prime hands to man the shorthanded Suffolk, its crew having been reduced by disease. Aboard Surprise, Aubrey tells the assembled hands that he can take 63 volunteers over to join him on Suffolk, and receives cheers.
While the fleet re-provisions, Ringle sails to England under the steady and capable Lieutenant Harding, and returns with Sophie Aubrey, Christine Wood, her brother Edward Heatherleigh, Maturin's daughter Brigid, and Aubrey's twins Fanny and Charlotte, all of whom will sail with Aubrey and Maturin to South Africa. The three girls had not been getting along well, with the Aubrey twins jealous of any attention their mother gives to young Brigid, a concern to both fathers. Brigid is a natural sailor, having been on the Ringle at a very young age for her voyage to Spain and on the packet to return to England. The twins are seasick most of the way to the River Plate, whereas Brigid is at home, friends with the sailors and ready with answers to everything aboard ship. When they meet their father, the twins have shed the jealousy and begin to have a kinder connection with their cousin Brigid.
On Leyton's flagship, Stephen and Jack encounter Captain Randolph Miller, Leyton's nephew and Aubrey's neighbour at Woolcombe, who has a reputation as a ladies' man and as an excellent pistol shot, earning him the nickname "Hair-Trigger Miller". In England, Miller had been paying court to Christine Wood. After hosting Aubrey and Maturin at a dinner, Admiral Leyton orders Aubrey to take Suffolk to Saint Helena, to wait there for Leyton's squadron, and then to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope, carrying Miller to Cape Town aboard Suffolk.
In the last few handwritten pages that follow the end of the typescript, the full squadron arrives at the southwest coast of Africa. While the ships remain docked in the town of Loando (modern-day Luanda, Angola) to refit after storm damage, the squadron's officers and families take up residence in a Portuguese military headquarters building. Stephen returns from ship's business to find Miller again visiting Christine, which Miller had done almost every day, bringing her flowers. After Stephen shows Miller the door, Christine asks him to intervene and convey her wish to Miller that the uninvited visits should stop.
Leyton orders the squadron to prepare for an exercise at sea. Stephen is in the town, accompanied by Harding and Jacob, when he meets Miller and delivers Christine's message. In response, Miller calls Stephen a liar and strikes him, and Stephen calmly calls him out. Miller demands pistols but Maturin stands upon his right, as the aggrieved party, to name the weapons; they will duel with swords. In response to Miller's complaints that he knows nothing of swords, Admiral Leyton and Miller's own seconds agree that the terms are fair, and that Miller must accept the challenge or be forever disgraced. The duel takes place, and with three or four thrusts Stephen disarms Miller and demands Miller's apology at swordpoint, which is given.
At the end of the manuscript, we observe Miller at sea on Leyton's flagship. Disrespected even by his own servant, Miller takes to his cabin, avoiding company and his duties on deck. He is seen to be sweating profusely and changing his uniform with uncommon frequency, apparently deeply disturbed by his loss of face in the duel.
Jack Aubrey – Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron, aboard HMS Suffolk.
Stephen Maturin – ship's surgeon, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer.
The Most Reverend Doctor Samuel Mputa – Papal Nuncio to the Republic of Argentina, and Jack's natural son with Sally Mputa.
Sophia Aubrey – Wife of Jack and mother of their three children.
Charlotte and Fanny Aubrey – twin daughters of Sophia and Jack Aubrey.
George Aubrey – their son, who is midshipman on another ship.
Brigid Maturin – Stephen's daughter by his late wife, Diana Villiers.
Christine Wood – Widow and an expert naturalist and anatomist; she received a marriage proposal from Maturin.
Captain Randolph Miller – an Army officer who courts Christine Wood.
Admiral Lord Leyton – Commander-in-Chief South African squadron who is also uncle of Captain Miller.
Lieutenant Harding – First Lieutenant on the Surprise.
Horatio Hanson – Acting master on the Surprise and natural son of the Duke of Clarence, the future William IV.
Dr Amos Jacob – Assistant-surgeon and intelligence agent.
Dr Quental – quarantine doctor.
Awkward Davies – Able seaman who follows Aubrey from ship to ship.
Preserved Killick – Jack's steward.
Padeen Colman – Irish servant to Maturin who is close to Brigid Maturin.
Mr Wells – Young midshipman on the Surprise.
Captain Simmons – Captain of HMS Suffolk.
Edward Heatherleigh – Christine Wood's brother and a renowned naturalist.
Henry Wantage – Master's mate (although the character died in Blue at the Mizzen)
Ships
HMSSuffolk – Aubrey's flagship, a 74-gun man-of-war (named as HMSImplacable in Blue at the Mizzen)
Surprise – 28-gun privately owned frigate
Ringle – a schooner, privately owned by Jack and used as his tender.
Unfinished manuscript
The book is the posthumous publication of an uncompleted typescript, published as a result of Patrick O'Brian's position as an accomplished author of historical sea fiction. It comprises the partially corrected typescript of the approximately three chapters completed by O'Brian before his death in January 2000, as well as a facsimile of the handwritten manuscript which continues beyond the end of the typescript.
The facsimile of O'Brian's handwritten script includes his doodling of placements for a fictitious on-board dinner party.
In a 1999 interview with Publishers Weekly, "O'Brian observes that he is already three chapters into his 21st. "I don't think I could rest easy unless I had a book on the go, you know," he says."[3]
Reviews
Joseph O'Connor says this is "... a preparatory exercise, a kind of setting-out; the literary equivalent of the twinkle in the eye. One wonders what a stylist as accomplished as the late Mr O'Brian would have made of the decision to publish such an unready fragment, but reading it sometimes feels like an act of intrusion. You can't help but sense that he might have regarded its appearance as tantamount to arriving at the captain's table clad only in knickers."[4]
Charles McGrath, writing in the New York Times says "It's a keepsake, a souvenir, for those diehards who have already made the whole 6,443-page journey and want one last look at Jack and Stephen as they embark on yet another mission -- sailing around South America this time and on to South Africa." McGrath remarks that "The Aubrey-Maturin novels are to a certain extent a ship-in-the-bottle enterprise: a miniature world, lovingly rendered and hermetically sealed in a dustproof vacuum. That's what keeps them from attaining true greatness, perhaps, but it's another part of the appeal."[5]
Kirkus Reviews praises O'Brian's writing overall, one of the 20th century's finest prose stylists, and W W Norton's decision to publish the partial text as it stood when the author died.
A lovely and welcome oddity: the much-loved author’s final fragment, titled simply by its position in the canon.
Correctly deciding that it would be impossible if not sacrilegious to hire a writer to complete successfully a work no more than a quarter finished, thereby placing one of the 20th-century’s finest prose stylists among the ranks of the undead that populate the thriller and crime shelves in the bookstores, Norton has instead taken the high road and released this tantalizing beginning as O’Brian left it. What his devoted readers will find is a lightly edited printing of the typescript, each page faced by a photocopy of the manuscript page from which it had been transcribed, and then, when the typed pages stopped, the handwritten pages alone. The effect is tantalizing, touching, and powerful. The story takes up with newly minted Admiral Jack Aubrey and his bosom friend and colleague, scholar-spy Dr. Stephen Maturin, rounding Cape Horn on Surprise, headed for the mouth of the River Plate, where Aubrey is to transfer his flag to a new squadron headed for new assignments off the Cape of Good Hope. Days of superbly calm sailing take them to the Argentine republic where, thanks to murderous local political storms, their welcome is cool if not hostile, a situation eased splendidly by the arrival of the Papal Nuncio, a supremely charming African polyglot who is also Aubrey’s illegitimate son, the happy result of an ancient liaison. When the squadron at last arrives under the command of the windbaggy peer Lord Leyton, it brings trouble in the form of Maturin’s old Trinity classmate Randolph Miller, a scoundrel who is also Lord Leyton’s cousin. There is a Confrontation and a duel, and then all sail for Africa by way of St. Helena. And there the story stops, ending in a superb afterword by Richard Snow.
It’s all there. The wonderful language. The leisurely pace. The rich detail. There’s just no end. Readers will be left to their dreams.[6]
Publishers Weekly marks this fragment as a worthy addition to the series, marking the end of an era.
For Aubrey/Maturin addicts, there could be no better gift: a new, albeit incomplete, story with freshly piquant details, wry humor and salty nautical action. Although the official word was that O'Brian had finished the series with 1999's Blue at the Mizzen, he was in fact working on a new installment at the time of his death in 2000. This short volume juxtaposes a facsimile of O'Brian's handwritten manuscript of the untitled novel with a printed version of the text, which corresponds to O'Brian's loosely edited, typed pages. As the tale opens, our heroes are off the coast of South America, trying to find a friendly place to put the Surprise in for victuals and water. Jack Aubrey has received the happy news that he has been given the rank of rear admiral of the Blue, and all is well for the time being. But the Catholic locals are surly at best to the mostly Protestant crew. To fix things, Stephen Maturin does some judicious buttering up and Aubrey reunites with Samuel Mputa, the region's Papal Nuncio and, incidentally, one of his "indiscretions" from his days as "a long-legged youth" serving on the South African station. The typescript of the third chapter ends mid-sentence, but the handwritten manuscript continues on to include a duel between Maturin and a romantic rival, leaving readers begging for more. Alas, this fragmentary but worthy addition to the series is truly the end of a literary era, leaving only readers' imaginations to fill in the rest of the story. FYI: Norton is simultaneously publishing a five-volume boxed set of all the Aubrey/Maturin novels, which together have sold more than six million copies.[7]
Library Journal notes that in this form, the uncompleted novel "provides an interesting look into the workings of one writer's mind. There is also a sweet, elegiac afterword by Richard Snow, the American Heritage magazine editor who was an early champion of O'Brian's work. While useful for literary scholars and O'Brian fans who wish to complete their sets, this volume is meaningless to new readers of the series and therefore of limited value to libraries."[8]
2004, October W. W. Norton; Hardback as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN0-393-06025-X
2004 Recorded Books audio cassette as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4193-1278-2 / 978-1-4193-1278-6 (USA edition)
2004, January Recorded Books audio CD as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4193-1280-4 / 978-1-4193-1280-9 (USA edition)
2004, October Recorded Books audio CD as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4193-0893-9 / 978-1-4193-0893-2 (USA edition)
2005, April HarperCollins paperback ISBN0-00-719470-6 / 978-0-00-719470-4 (UK edition)
2008, June Harper Perennial paperback ISBN0-00-727564-1 / 978-0-00-727564-9 (UK edition)
2008, September Blackstone Audiobooks audio MP3/CD as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4332-2961-7 / 978-1-4332-2961-9 (USA edition)
2008 September Blackstone Audiobooks Audio CD as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4332-2958-7 / 978-1-4332-2958-9 (USA edition)
2008 September Blackstone Audiobooks Audio cassette as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4332-2957-9 / 978-1-4332-2957-2 (USA edition)
2010, April Harper paperback ISBN0-00-735843-1 / 978-0-00-735843-4 (UK edition)
2010, April HarperCollins Audio CD ISBN0-00-735871-7 / 978-0-00-735871-7 (UK edition) followed by Abridged version in May 2010
2010, September W. W. Norton paperback as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN0-393-33933-5 / 978-0-393-33933-8 (USA edition)
2010, September W. W. Norton e-book as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (USA edition)
2011, December Harper e-book (UK and Canada edition)
2012, June Blackstone Audio Audio CD as 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack AubreyISBN1-4332-2960-9 / 978-1-4332-2960-2 (USA edition)
In the Afterword, Richard Snow noted that 5 million copies of the books in the series had been sold to date.[10] In its review of 21, Publishers Weekly says that over 6 million copies have been sold.[7] This represents an additional 3 million sales since Publishers Weekly reported sales as of 1999 in their review of Blue at the Mizzen
On the dust jacket of 21, the back includes an appreciation of O'Brian from Geoff Hunt, who drew covers for the 20 completed books of the series as well as for 21, beneath a monochrome drawing of a sailing ship.
Related Research Articles
Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centre on the friendship of the English naval captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen Maturin. The 20-novel series, the first of which is Master and Commander, is known for its well-researched and highly detailed portrayal of early 19th-century life, as well as its authentic and evocative language. A partially finished 21st novel in the series was published posthumously containing facing pages of handwriting and typescript.
Master and Commander is a nautical historical novel by the English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in the UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel Aubrey–Maturin series, set largely in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, on which O'Brian continued working until his death in 2000.
John "Jack" Aubrey, is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series of novels portrays his rise from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty -book series encompasses Aubrey's adventures and various commands along his course to flying a rear admiral's flag.
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a physician, natural philosopher, and intelligence agent. The first novel, Master and Commander, was published in 1969 and the last finished novel in 1999. The 21st novel of the series, left unfinished at O'Brian's death in 2000, appeared in print in late 2004. The series received considerable international acclaim, and most of the novels reached The New York Times Best Seller list. These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to English literature.
Stephen Maturin is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and the long pursuit of his beloved Diana Villiers.
The Mauritius Command is the fourth naval historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1977.
The Nutmeg of Consolation is the fourteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1991. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
HMS Surprise is the third historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1973. The series follows the partnership of Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin during the wars against Napoleonic France.
Post Captain is the second historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1972. It features the characters of Captain Jack Aubrey and naval surgeon Stephen Maturin, and is set in the early 19th century during the Napoleonic Wars.
Treason's Harbour is the ninth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1983. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Reverse of the Medal is the eleventh historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1986. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
The Letter of Marque is the twelfth historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1988. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Blue at the Mizzen is the twentieth and last completed historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1999. It is set after the Napoleonic wars, in the fight for Chilean independence from Spain.
The Hundred Days is the nineteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1998. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars, specifically in their last portion in 1815, the Hundred Days.
The Yellow Admiral is the eighteenth naval historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1996. The story is set in the era of the Napoleonic Wars.
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.
The Wine-Dark Sea is the sixteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1993. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
The Thirteen-Gun Salute is the thirteenth historical novel in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1989. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
This is a list of recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. As is noted in the articles about each novel, some of these characters are based on real historical persons, while others are purely fictional. Because there is an article describing each novel, links are made to those articles when mentioning the stories in which each character appears. References to page numbers, where they appear, are based upon the W. W. Norton & Company printing of the novels.
Diana Villiers is a fictional character in the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. Described as beautiful, mercurial, and entirely unreliable, she is the great love and great sorrow of Stephen Maturin's life.
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