The Ionian Mission

Aubrey & Maturin amid the Greek islands and Turkish politics, c. 1812

***

Captian Aubrey starts out this tale in command of a large, but old and decrepit, ship-of-the-line: the Worcester. He is ordered to join the long-term blockade of the French at Toulon. Some of the vessels on this station have been tacking back and forth for years at this point! Ouch. The Admiral in charge is praying for the French squadron to come to sea, so he can force a decisive action.

Late in the tale, the name-sake mission appears. Thankfully a rough time at sea has made the leaky Worcester basically unusable, so Jack and a hand-picked crew are transferred to an old friend: the HMS Surprise! 

Many, including Jack, love this vessel. Here is a website dedicated to the ship (some nice deck plans and wonderful paintings):

http://www.thedearsurprise.com/gallery/the-dear-surprise-and-other-commands/hms-surprise/

Amid the Greek isles Jack, Stephen, and a Turkish expert named Professor Graham work to decide which of three unruly Turkish subjects they should back in order to evict the French from the region. As one might expect, battle ensures.

One thing I am struck by is O'Brian's ability to continuously explore some new facet of naval life in order to keep this series fresh: be it new vessels with interesting characteristics, interactions of various stripes among the crew (like performing Handel's Messiah or putting on Hamlet), or sailing to (and describing wonderfully) new locales.

Top notch!