HMS Surprise (novel) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

After the capture of the Spanish gold shipment (in Post Captain), the Admiralty is debating on how to reward the captains responsible, including Jack Aubrey. As Spain was not at war the captured ships are not considered prizes, and as a result of the decision the captains end up with much smaller bounties than they hoped. The new First Lord of the Admiralty also mentions Stephen Maturin's name during the proceedings, despite the information being classified, possibly exposing him to a large audience as an intelligence agent.

Stephen willingly goes on a mission to Spain anyway, and is to be picked up by Jack on the HMS Lively on its return to English waters. Jack arrives at the rendezvous point to learn from a Catalan revolutionary that Stephen has been captured and is being tortured by French intelligence. Jack decides to lead a rescue mission, saving Stephen and killing the French interrogators.

Upon returning to England Jack finds that the fortune he had expected from the Spanish gold fleet was not as large as he had hoped and he is still in debt. Jack is taken by bailiffs and is held in a sponging-house. Stephen returns to Sir Joseph and tells of his capture and Jack’s predicament.

Jack's arrest for debt also puts his would-be marriage to Sophie Williams into doubt, as her mother has stipulated that her husband should be financially stable. Stephen uses his influence to get Jack an advance on his grant of money (far smaller than the prize would have been) which clears some of his debt so he is released. Stephen meets with Sophie and convinces her to see Jack secretly before he takes command of his new ship HMS Surprise. Jack and Sophie meet in a coach in the middle of the night, and promise to marry no one else.

Stephen and Jack leave in the Surprise to ferry an ambassador to the East Indies. He is also interested in tracking down a French squadron commanded by Admiral Linois, as the waters of the Indian Ocean are otherwise devoid of prizes. On their journey, Surprise gets caught in the doldrums north of the equator, and the crew, especially those who had recently come from long service aboard another ship, begin to show signs of severe scurvy. The ship makes an emergency stop along the coast of Brazil for fresh fruit and supplies.

As the journey continues the Surprise goes wide around the Cape of Good Hope, held by the Dutch who are at war with England. To avoid encounters, Surprise ventures into the waters of the Antarctic Ocean, where they are forced to endure a severe storm. The ambassador at this time becomes very ill. The Surprise puts into India to refit from the storm and to rest the ambassador. While ashore Stephen meets a local street-wise child, a girl named Dil, who eagerly shows him around the city. Stephen is watching a parade with Dil when he sees Diana Villiers, who has returned to India ahead of her companion, the wealthy merchant Richard Canning, Stephen's rival for her affection. They agree to visit, and spend several days together, at the end of which Stephen asks her to marry him. She does not respond immediately, but promises to at a later date, and Stephen departs. Meanwhile Dil is killed when she is robbed of silver bracelets that Stephen had given her.

The ambassador dies east of India and the Surprise turns around, setting sail for Britain. They soon encounter the East India Company's China Fleet, returning to England, unescorted. A day after leaving the China Fleet the Surprise spots Linois's squadron cruising the Indian Ocean. Surprise engages the smallest ship of the squadron, the corvette Berceau, shredding her rigging, then turns and makes speed back to the China Fleet to warn them and organize a defence.

Choosing the largest ships of the China Fleet, Jack dresses them as men-of-war and sends some of his officers to help them fight. The French squadron closes on the Surprise and the large Indiamen. The Surprise turns and engages the largest French warship, the 74-gun ship of the line Marengo, and exchanges broadsides with the heavier ship, but is outgunned and in peril when one of the Indiamen engages the French ship from the other side, forcing her to disengage. The damage from the action forces the entire French squadron to flee to refit.

Upon entering Calcutta, Jack receives an enthusiastic welcome from the merchants, including Canning, who are happy to refit the Surprise and allow him to transport jewels as freight, which will gain him a percentage of their value on his arrival in England. During the refit, Canning confronts Stephen and they challenge each other to a duel. During the duel Canning shoots Stephen in the ribs, but Stephen is able to gather himself and then shoots Canning in the heart, killing him. Stephen convinces Diana to return to England, though on a merchant ship instead of Surprise; Jack will hear nothing of it. Meanwhile, Stephen is running a high fever because the bullet is still lodged in his ribs. With the help of Jack and the ambassador’s surgeon, Stephen operates on himself, removing the bullet.

As the Surprise sails home they stop at Madeira, and there Stephen finds that Diana has left him for a Mr. Johnstone from America (called "Mr. Johnson" in later books). Jack, on the other hand, had sent ahead for Sophie so that he may marry her now that he is out of debt, but she is not on the island. Within a day’s sailing, Jack overtakes an English frigate in the night and finds that Sophie is aboard. She refuses to marry him then but promises that once they return to England, she will.