The Daily Aubrey-Maturin: The Far Side of the World (Book 10), Chapters 1-2 (pg. 3221-3290)

CHAPTER 1

We open with everyone back on Gibraltar safely after escaping from the French trap. Aubrey’s worried about a perceived failure, but Admiral Ives paints it as a great victory (they did damage a brand new French ship-of-the-line after all) and no one liked Admiral Harte anyway. Maturin still hasn’t sussed it that Wray is the mole however, even after receiving news that the French agents eluded surefire capture on Malta, while his primary suspect died by “suicide” that was committed by holding the gun in his non-dominant hand. Hmmmm...

Oh, and Aubrey’s honor is also saved by convincing Mr Fielding that neither he nor Stephen had an affair with his wife, which is probably true, but our narrators may be unreliable in parts.

And in even better news, the Surprise is saved from the scrapheap by an urgent mission to go protect British whaling interests in the Pacific, starting by intercepting the Norfolk before it reaches Cape Horn. There’s no time to waste, as usual!

CHAPTER 2

Unlike the last few endeavors, Aubrey can’t quite get a prime crew for this mission, though Pullings does volunteer seeing as how he’s commander without a ship to command. Maturin takes a new assistant in Higgins, the dentist, but a good portion of the crew is made up of youngsters, landsmen, mutineers, or lunatics.

Onwards!

TMILinks

Work work work

Lol

Hmm