Синий у ми́ззена: Последний роман о О́бри и Мэту́рине

1999 novel by Patrick O'Brian

Blue at the Mizzen is the twentieth and last completed historical novel in the Aubrey Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1999. It is set after the Napoleonic wars, in the fight for Chilean independence from Spain. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, having heard the details of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and having collected their share of the prize from their last capture, set sail for the dual mission of charting the Chilean coast and aiding those who seek independence from Spain. Maturin and his colleague Dr Amos Jacob speed the plot as covert intelligence agents and Aubrey's political advisors, while Aubrey makes bold moves in dealing with the factions in Chile. Reviewers were positive about this novel, finding it "a shining jewel", "an intricate, multifaceted work one of those rare novels that actually bear up under close scrutiny." A historical figure from Chile's independence movement, Don Bernardo O'Higgins, also features in the book. O'Higgins captured the Spanish frigate Esmeralda in 1820, a bit later than in this novel.

In Peru, Maturin and Jacob also have a discussion about coca leaves. Maturin keeps his leaves in his inner pocket in a pouch, along with the lime and necessary outer wrapping. Maturin expresses curiosity about their use in considerable quantities, and the resultant reaction according to altitude. He cites the porters in the Peruvian Andes, who increase their dose if they have to carry a heavy burden over a very high pass. Jacob mentions that many sorts of coca exist. For example, the Tia Juana; and that asthmatic patients and those afflicted by migraines often experience hallucinations, their strength and frequency varying with the height.

Shelmerston, the home port of HMHV Surprise since she was bought out of the service by Maturin is fictional, but based on a real place on the western coast of England, Appledore near the River Torridge in Devon. Funchal is the long time capital of the island of Madeira, part of Portugal. Gibraltar is real, a British base in the Mediterranean Sea. Freetown was the government center for British West Africa, and is now the capital of Sierra Leone. The southern tip of South America, Cape Horn, is at best a hard voyage for a sailing ship. Valdivia, Concepción, Valparaíso, and Santiago and are real places in Chile. Callao is a port city in Peru, and was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru before it became independent from Spain. The Strait of Magellan is the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean north of Tierra del Fuego discovered by Magellan. For sailing vessels going east to west, the Strait is more challenging, due to its narrowness and prevailing westerly winds, than rounding Cape Horn, which is further south. Going west to east, the Strait was faster if the season was right.

Kirkus Reviews likes the new character Horatio Hanson, marks the growing number of readers following this series, and hopes, as do most of the reviewers, (in vain) for another novel to follow this, as this novel is "escape at its most intelligent and demanding." This novel sees Maturin fall in love again, and introduces a young midshipman for Aubrey to nurture, and described Aubrey aboard Surprise attacks the Spanish fleet as the climax of this novel. They noted also the introduction of "Horatio Hanson, bastard son of a nobleman, who comes on board as a midshipman, a dashing young foil for the ship's elders." John Casey, writing in The Washington Post wrote that O'Brian covered the "year after Waterloo, so it necessarily deals with a period of deflation, both economic and emotional, for the Royal Navy and its ancillary population of shipwrights, chandlers and seamen on the beach." and that he addressed "this state of affairs succinctly and sharply in the first part of the story." Then the two main characters have their mission to aid Chile, and "Of course Jack and Stephen must sail there, and readers are treated to O'Brian's talent for life on board, incidents and accidents". Writing in The Guardian, Jan Morris says the "chronicle has aged too. It has lost something of its sprightly edge, its allusions are mistier and its pace is slower. This is in no way a criticism. As the Frenchman said: 'Le style est l'homme même', and just as Aubrey is no longer the exuberant young commander of the early novels, so O'Brian's narrative has matured with him. So have we."