The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
First edition cover
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| Author | Patrick O'Brian |
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| Cover artist | Geoff Hunt |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Aubrey-Maturin series |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Harper Collins (UK) |
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Publication date
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2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Compact audio cassette, Compact Disc) |
| Pages | 144 first edition, hardback |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 55801030 |
| 823/.914 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6029.B55 A135 2004 |
| Preceded by | Blue at the Mizzen |
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey is the unfinished twenty-first historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in its incomplete form in 2004. It appeared in the United States of America under the simple title of 21.
Though this is the early part of an unfinished novel, reviewers examined it. Some took the opportunity to look back at the whole series of completed novels, 6,443 pages by one count. They are pleased to see that Sam Panda, Aubrey's son from his "long-legged youth" and now going by Sam Mputa, his mother's last name, is a papal nuncio, that Maturin pursues Christine Wood and again sees his daughter Brigid, who is beginning to hold her own with her older cousins, the Aubrey's twin girls. The sailors and the families of Maturin and Aubrey get as far as the island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon is firmly exiled, and there the writing stops, with no hint of what might have happened in South Africa, had the squadron arrived there. There is wide acclaim for the Afterword by Richard Snow, included in the book.
The published work appears with an "Editor's Note" by Starling Lawrence and an Afterword by Richard Snow, who had written an influential review of the series in the New York Times Book Review many years before. Commentators have credited Snow's review with helping to popularize the series in the United States.
There is a foreword in UK editions by William Waldegrave.
The story begins with Surprise in the Strait of Magellan, caught up in foul weather. Hanson first spots Cape Pilar at the very opening of the Strait, and soon Surprise moors and conducts some trade with the inhospitable locals for meat and vegetables. Having re-provisioned, she and Ringle sail northwards in fine weather until they enter the River Plate and moor close to the island functioning as the main administrative centre. A quarantine officer comes aboard, Dr Quental, and gives the frigate a clean bill of health.
Wantage informs Maturin of a rumpus in the town: a fight between Protestant mariners from a Boston barque clash with the Catholic locals over the right of polygamy. Further signs of local resentment emerge when a large scow dumps the town's filth next to the frigate and the Portuguese sailors shout abuse at the Surprises. Aubrey spots a black Legate and recognises him as his own natural son, Sam. The Most Reverend Doctor Samuel Mputa, the Papal Nuncio to the Republic of Argentina, has recently saved the government from an open rebellion.
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Wikipedia