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 novel constitutes the first of a five-novel circumnavigation of the globe; other novels in this voyage include The Nutmeg of Consolation, Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, The Wine-Dark Sea, and The Commodore.
Spain hears that England may be supporting the independence of its colonies in South America, while an envoy is needed in the Malay states to gain an ally for England. These two changes alter Aubrey's mission from his private man-of-war, Surprise en route to South America. They learn this at Lisbon, where Surprise parts company under Tom Pullings. Aubrey is reinstated on the Navy List in London and gains command of HMS Diane, carrying the envoy to negotiate a treaty with Pulo Prabang and Maturin gains a stay in a naturalist's paradise. Then the Diane is en route to a rendezvous with Surprise, when shoals and a typhoon challenge the Diane and her crew.
Reviews of this novel follow the plot but are more properly reviews of the series to date, as W W Norton began publishing the series of novels in the US. Richard Snow, writing in The New York Times, said they were "the best historical novels ever written." Many in the US took note of his article and sought out the novels. Writing about this novel, comments include that "the ultimate appeal of the Aubrey/Maturin adventures lies in O'Brian's delicious old-fashioned prose" that is "sketching with apparent accuracy and truth the early 19th-century world." Another reviewer finds "There is a recklessness with plot that is intentionally subversive of the genre", while showing "a dazzling receptiveness to language, an understanding of period speech so entire". O'Brian's style has been compared to that of Jane Austen. As to this novel's plot, "the most charming segment is Maturin's idyllic stay in a remote valley, where he blissfully encounters and studies a variety of tame exotic beasts." and "twists of plot are swift, drastic, on occasion comic," and sometimes grotesque.
Plot summary
On land after ceasing his use of laudanum, Stephen Maturin finds he has changed; his naturally "ardent" temperament returns and alters his relationship with his wife Diana, who is now pregnant with their child. Maturin looks forward to the arrival of the child he is certain is a daughter. As the high level traitor in British intelligence is not yet identified, the time on land raises risks to his friend Jack Aubrey, who agrees to sail immediately. Aubrey, Maturin, and their shipmates prepare for a mission to sail the letter of marque Surprise on a mission to South America. Upon reaching Lisbon, Sir Joseph Blaine intercepts Maturin with news that he and Aubrey are required to carry a diplomat to the Sultan of Pulo Prabang, a piratical Malay state in the South China Sea. Edward Fox is the envoy leading the mission to persuade the Sultan to become an English rather than French ally. The French mission includes the same English traitors - Ledward and Wray - who were responsible for Aubrey's former disgrace. With the Surprise under the command of Captain Pullings, Aubrey and Maturin return with Blaine to England, where Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, reinstates Aubrey as a Post-Captain in the Royal Navy and gives him command of the recently captured French ship Diane. The voyage south forms the crew, with frequent training on the guns; by the luck of a timely breeze and much hard rowing in the ship's boats, Diane escapes the inshore currents of Inaccessible Island. Sailing through the high forties (south latitude), she first touches land at Java, meeting Lieutenant Governor Raffles near Batavia, where they hear the first word of bank failures in England.
Arriving in Pulo Prabang, Maturin meets fellow natural philosopher van Buren and helps the arrogant envoy Fox plot against the French mission. During the leisurely negotiations with the Sultan, Maturin climbs the "Thousand Steps" to Kumai, a protected valley in the crater of a volcano and home to the orangutans he has been longing to see. Returning to town, he learns that Abdul, the Sultan's cupbearer and catamite has been caught in a compromising position with both Ledward and Wray. Abdul is executed and Ledward and Wray are banished from the court for their indiscretions, effectively ending the French mission. Wray and Ledward are eventually assassinated and Maturin and van Buren dissect their bodies.
After a feast to celebrate the treaty, at which Fox and his retinue behave without discretion, the Diane makes for Batavia and to rendezvous with the Surprise. Fox behaves with increasing arrogance during the return voyage, the success of the treaty having gone to his head. After missing their rendezvous, the Diane sails toward Batavia, so Fox can sail to England on another ship. The frigate strikes a hidden reef and the ship cannot be floated again. They set up camp on a small island, but Fox insists on sailing in Diane'''s pinnace, rather than waiting until the ship is again afloat. He leaves Edwards aboard with an official duplicate of the treaty. A typhoon destroys the marooned Diane and Aubrey believes that the pinnace, if caught in the same storm, likely did not survive. With the situation growing desperate, Aubrey directs the men to build a vessel to get them to Batavia.
Title The title refers to the honour, a thirteen-gun salute from the ship's guns, that is due to Fox as an official envoy and representative of the King.
Cover art
The cover art depicts HMS Diane and one of her boats working to escape the tides and the towering cliff of Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Characters See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin seriesIn England Jack Aubrey: Captain of the letter of marque Surprise; MP; he is restored to the Navy List and appointed captain of HMS Diane because he is needed for the mission. Stephen Maturin: Ship's surgeon, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer. Aboard HMS Diane, he sails as the Captain's guest, then acts as surgeon, allowing him to mess with the gunroom. Sophia Aubrey: Jack's wife and mother of their three children. She was introduced in Post Captain. Mrs Williams: Mother to Sophia and aunt to Diana; poverty and old age are softening her spleen. She was introduced in Post Captain. Diana Villiers: First cousin to Sophia, and Stephen's wife who is now with child. She was introduced in Post Captain. Tom Smith: Banker to whom Aubrey is shifting some of his funds, and brother to Henry, captain of HMS Revenge and Edward, captain of HMS Tremendous. The unknown: The man in a high government position who aided Ledward and Wray, who is not yet identified by Sir Joseph Blaine; his existence is clear by his exercise of power by gossip against Aubrey ashore while Surprise is fitting out, and informing Spain of Surprise's mission. Padeen Colman: Irishman, once servant to Maturin, who ran from Surprise while Maturin was injured (The Letter of Marque) to steal laudanum, to which he was addicted. Aubrey intervenes as an MP to alter the sentence of death to that of transportation to Botany Bay. Introduced in The Far Side of the World. Sam Panda: Natural son of Aubrey; Maturin speaks with the Patriarch of Lisbon in his favour and he writes from Brazil that he is ordained. He was introduced in The Reverse of the Medal. Lord Melville: First Lord of the Admiralty. Sir Joseph Blaine: Head of Intelligence at the Admiralty, entomologist and good friend to Maturin. He was introduced in Post Captain.
Aboard SurpriseCaptain Tom Pullings: a volunteer and First Lieutenant on the Surprise, who later takes over as captain for the South American mission. He was introduced in Master and Commander. Barret Bonden: Coxswain to Aubrey since his first command, who follows Aubrey to HMS Diane. He was introduced in Master and Commander. Preserved Killick: Steward cum butler to Aubrey, also aids Maturin, who follows Aubrey to HMS Diane. He was introduced in Master and Commander. Mr Nathaniel Martin: Unbeneficed clergyman and natural philosopher; surgeon's mate to Maturin aboard Surprise. Introduced in The Ionian Mission. Mr Standish: Purser new to the sea and new to the Surprise, violin player and a friend of Martin from Oxford university days. Seasickness overwhelms him, so he leaves the ship in Santiago to become Colonel Lumley's secretary. Orkney men: Group of seamen picked up sailing back from the Baltic Sea aboard Surprise, who do not yet meld with the rest of the ship's crew. They have a unique cadence to their singing. Awkward Davies: able seaman aboard Surprise; a brute of a man whom Aubrey saved from drowning often. Robert Gough: Member of the United Irishmen, known to Maturin but differing in some key views. Maturin sees him aboard a snow which the Surprise chases in the Irish Sea. The snow is abandoned, to Maturin's relief, as Gough would be hanged if taken.
Aboard HMS DianeEdward Fox: Foreign Office envoy to Pulo Prabang, carried on HMS Diane, always insistent on his privileges. Mr David Edwards: Fox's secretary, a man of pleasant personality. Loder: Member of Fox's retinue, joining the ship at Batavia. Johnstone: A Judge and a member of Fox's retinue, joining the ship at Batavia. Mr James Fielding: First Lieutenant aboard HMS Diane, who has long sea experience but none in battle. Mr Bampfylde Elliott: Second Lieutenant aboard HMS Diane. This voyage is his first sea service as an officer. Aubrey judges him "no seaman" but likes the young man. He volunteers to captain the pinnace when Fox insists on sailing to Java with the treaty. Dick Richardson: Third Lieutenant in the Diane, selected by Aubrey (called Spotted Dick as midshipman when introduced in The Mauritius Command aboard HMS Boadicea). Graham: Surgeon aboard HMS Diane, who is left behind when ship is windbound in Plymouth, not responding to the blue peter. Macmillan: Surgeon's mate, who took Graham's place despite his three months at sea, taking advice from Maturin. William Reade: Midshipman on HMS Diane, one of the two youngest in midshipman's berth. Fleming: Midshipman and son of an eminent natural philosopher and member of the Royal Society. Clerke: Midshipman. Greene: Midshipman. Harper: Midshipman on HMS Diane, other of the two youngest in midshipman's berth. Seymour: Masters mate, planning to take examination for lieutenant, one of two eldest in midshipman's berth. Bennett: Masters mate, also readying for the examination, other of the eldest pair in midshipman's berth. Elijah Butcher: Captain's clerk, who aids Aubrey in his regular records for Humboldt of the temperature and salinity of the sea on this voyage. Welby: Lieutenant of the Marines on HMS Diane. Hadley: Carpenter on HMS Diane. Ahmed: Malay servant to Maturin who aids him in learning the language during the voyage.
In Pulo Prabang or Java Stamford Raffles: Governor of Java, residing at Buitenzorg. Duplessis: The French envoy in Pulo Prabang. Edward Ledward, once of the Treasury and Andrew Wray, once of the Admiralty: Two English traitors and both active enemies to Aubrey and Maturin; part of the French delegation. Both characters were introduced in Desolation Island. Sultan of Pulo Prabang: Ruler sought as an ally by Fox, for Britain, and Duplessis, for France. Sultana Hafsa: Wife of the Sultan, who is with child, and is of a powerful and jealous family. Abdul: Attractive boy who is a lover to the Sultan, and also to Ledward and Wray, his downfall. Cornelius van Buren: Well known biologist and anatomist with a special interest in the spleen, who lives at Pulo Batang, despite the Dutch having lost the lands. He married here, and keeps up a lively correspondence with natural philosophers in Europe and is a good colleague to Maturin.