THE SURGEON’S MATE — CHAPTER ONE

This first chapter is a nice precis of the more contemporary events of the previous novel — spies, escape, sea battles, the butcher’s bill, etc. As the Shannon and the captured Chesapeake glide into the harbor under topsails, helped by the tide, the damage becomes apparent. It reminds me strongly of section 36 of the Song of Myself which describes the aftermath of one of John Paul Jones’ battles —

“Stretch’d and still lies the midnight,

Two great hulls motionless on the breast of the darkness,

Our vessel riddled and slowly sinking, preparations to pass to the one we have conquer’d,

The captain on the quarter-deck coldly giving his orders through a countenance white as a sheet,

Near by the corpse of the child that serv’d in the cabin,

The dead face of an old salt with long white hair and carefully curl’d whiskers,

The flames spite of all that can be done flickering aloft and below,

The husky voices of the two or three officers yet fit for duty,

Formless stacks of bodies and bodies by themselves, dabs of flesh upon the masts and spars,

Cut of cordage, dangle of rigging, slight shock of the soothe of waves,

Black and impassive guns, litter of powder-parcels, strong scent,

A few large stars overhead, silent and mournful shining,

Delicate sniffs of sea-breeze, smells of sedgy grass and fields by the shore, death-messages given in charge to survivors,

The hiss of the surgeon’s knife, the gnawing teeth of his saw,

Wheeze, cluck, swash of falling blood, short wild scream, and long, dull, tapering groan,

These so, these irretrievable.”

The daylight is shining on this scene, the damage has been alleviated for the most part, and the ships accompanying them are resounding with cheers and applause, but “…any man who had seen action could imagine the slaughter-house look of the ships when the battle ended.” One of the most junior and also one of the few remaining lieutenants, Wallis, receives the Port Admiral, who immediately recognizes Jack, standing near the Marine officers. Their greeting is perfunctory, as is the interaction between the ship’s doctors, Mr. Fox, and the pale, overworked, bloodstained Maturin. There are several mentions of Stephen’s strange, pale eyes — I looked long and hard for a decent representation of them. The film, as much as too many people hate it, got Stephen’s eyes right — Paul Bettany does have strange, pale eyes. But he’s not dark nor ill-favoured. This guy below is dark and has the eyes, but he is too pretty to be Maturin:

And of course Stephen is rude to the Port Admiral. Diana makes an appearance — she has apparently been helping in the operating theatre below, and will be whisked off to stay with the Port Admiral’s wife once her tasks are done. Before she leaves, though, there is this rather noticeable conversation between her and Jack. Out of the blue, she asks if Sophie had a hard time with her last baby. Jack is at a loss — he was in Maritius when George was born, but tells Diana that he didn’t think the birth was too difficult. At least, Sophie never mentioned it. Hm.

Rowed across Halifax Harbor, O’Brien gives us a poignant description of the three — this group “…bound together by strong, intricate relationships…” Two once-rivals, and Diana, the ‘…great love of Stephen’s life…”, now engaged to be married to the man she’s abandoned more than once. They land and go their separate ways — Diana to the Admiral’s house and the company of “…short legged, good natured Lady Harriet Colpoys…”, Jack to check on his mail, hoping for some clarity regarding the scam artist he left in charge of allegedly extracting silver from the lead dross on his property, and Stephen, via a circuitous and circumspect route (for Halifax is uncomfortably close to New England, and Stephen did execute French operatives there, as well as stole away Johnson’s mistress and a riviere of diamonds worth untold thousands}, to visit with the head of British intelligence.

Halifax was, apparently, an ‘interesting’ place during the War of 1812. Go here for a more detailed view of this time period: https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/63954/dalrev_vol23_iss3_pp289_304.pdf?sequence=1 . This page also has interesting tidbits: https://snr.org.uk/british-naval-problems-halifax-war-1812/

Stephen and Beck, the operative in charge of the Halifax office, are initially unimpressed with each other. Beck expected something more ‘heroic’ and not wearing blue spectacles to protect against the sun.

Stephen thinks Beck looks misshapen and distorted — a person with the “…settled look of a man who fitted nowhere.” But as Stephen’s report goes on, Beck undergoes a change of heart. Perhaps it has to do with Stephen’s nonchalant admission that he dealt with the Pontet-Canet by cutting his throat. Those expressionless, pale eyes work their magic on Beck — it’s doubtful that he’ll turn his back to Stephen ever again.

Their discussion ends satisfactorily; Stephen asks only for a passport certificate for Diana, an authorization for the paymaster to accept a draft on Stephen’s London bank, and the loan of a couple of burly bodyguards. Until Beck has dealt with the known agents in Halifax (thanks to Stephen’s gift of Johnson’s papers and payrolls), walking around Halifax alone may prove dangerous for now-known secret agent Maturin. Beck give him 3 men — one at least 6 feet tall — and Stephen finishes his business and then finds himself at a loss. He has no idea where he and Jack have their quarters.

Fortunately, he meets Jack coming back from the post office, where the guy has just told him that he has no letters. However, there are a couple of pieces of gossip which may prove to be problematic. Admiral Harte is back in charge at the admiralty. Yes, that’s the husband of Molly Harte, who ‘entertained’ Jack in Majorca with some sex and a dose of the clap. Also, ‘…that fellow Wray…” now has a position of power in the ministry. Wray is the guy who cheated Jack at cards back when he was in London, and whom Jack also publicly accused of malfeasance. At the time, Jack thought he might be challenged to a duel, but nothing came of it. However, now Wray is in a position to hurt Jack. Keep that in mind.

Despite sharing a room at The Goat with Jack, Stephen sleeps through his snores and wakes the next morning to a sombre Jack: the post office didn’t have a single letter for him, though there were a few for Stephen. He’s heard as well that his promised frigate, the Acasta, has been given to someone else. Jack is also wearing a black armband for the funeral of the American captain, Lawrence. https://trinitywallstreet.org/stories-news/war-and-remembrance-trinity-churchyard has some information on this burial, as well as the repatriation and reburial of this American hero. Unlike the other captains in attendance at the funeral, Jack knew and liked Lawrence. “….the rattle of earth on the coffin made him very grave indeed….”, and he finds the reviving good humor of the rest of the funeral party a little jarring. Yet Jack can never stay solemn for long — the general happiness of Halifax eventually seeps in.

Back to speak with Diana at Admiral Colpoy’s house. This link gives you more information than you wanted on this particular admiral: https://morethannelson.com/officer/sir-edward-griffith-colpoys/

Diana is happy — she’s helping Lady Harriet plan the ball for that night, but when Stephen asks her to save a dance for him, she replies that she will not be attending the ball, for she has nothing to wear. The local seamstresses are beyond hope — but Diana has seen a blue lutestring ballgown brought in by a very clever Frenchwoman who smuggles in the latest Parisian designs. Lady Harriet cannot wear the lutestring — it’s a bit too scanty for her — but she’s chosen “…a wicked merde d’oie muslin…” that at least covers her entirely. And yes. Merde d’oie translates directly as ‘goose shit’. It’s a darkish brown/green/grey color, and here is a link to a page that talks about the dyes used to make it: https://eshkolhakofer.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-unsung-henna-hero-herraouy-and-henna.html There’s also another page that explains ‘lutestring’: https://vanessariley.com/Research/Regency-Clothes/Regency%20Fashion%20Glossary.pdf

Diana wishes to buy the lutestring, and Stephen gives her the money to pay for it (the missive to the paymaster has come in handy). He’s a little hurt by her appropriation of the diamonds given to her by Johnson. She feels that she’s earned them — Stephen is pained to see her behave crassly. But he pays up for the dress and shares a letter sent him by the Institut de France — the French equivalent of the Royal Society — which invites him to give a lecture on the extinct avifauna of Rodrigues Island. He passes over a second packet, with accompanying ‘pin money’ (which she refuses), and then the passport certificate. She poo-poohs it a bit, and then asks if the intelligence papers he brought were of use. Maturin lies and tells her that maybe he should have chosen more wisely. Diana’s response make me happy — she’s less intimidating when I know far more about Stephen Maturin than does she. “To think of you as a spy — oh Lord!”, she exclaims. She’s happy — but less so once Stephen reminds her that they are to be married soon. She begins to backtrack — what’s the hurry, now that we’re safe? She leaves quickly, taking advantage of a pair of local ladies who have called. Though she’s in a strange rush, Stephen notes that she “…moved with the perfect, unconscious grace that had always touched him, and he felt a wave of tenderness, allied to his former passionate love; perhaps its ghost.” I really hate seeing Stephen believing that he no longer loves Diana, and am pleased to see that passion slowly returning.

Later, Stephen leaves Jack to the unpleasant task of trying to identify English deserters among the prisoners taken with the Chesapeake and goes to visit the former surgeon of the Chesapeake, an ‘unusually learned man’, who had learned his trade as an accoucheur, or man-midwife. Drinking spruce beer (a real thing, for all love: https://www.growforagecookferment.com/spruce-beer/) that may be, dubiously, a guard against scurvy, and probably mildly carminative (relieves flatulence), Stephen asks for the surgeon’s list of probable symptoms relating to early pregnancy. Hm. This is the second mention of this possibility in this chapter. Damn.