The Nutmeg of Consolation is the fourteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1991. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Building a schooner on an island in the South China Sea as food supplies grow scant, Aubrey and his shipmates are attacked by pirates then rescued by a Chinese ship large enough to hold them all as far as Batavia, where Raffles has a ship for them. Aubrey names the sweet-smelling ship from one of the sultan's many titles, Nutmeg of Consolation. They sail into the Celebes Sea, where battle commences.
This novel constitutes the second of a five-novel circumnavigation of the globe; other novels in this voyage include The Thirteen Gun Salute, Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove, The Wine-Dark Sea, and The Commodore.
Reviews written soon after publication were generally impressed with the main characters, drawn well, though opposite in abilities. The author's ability to put the reader in an era about 200 years ago was judged to be impressive and engrossing, "contemporary novels, written, paradoxically, in an 18th-Century voice", also that O'Brian created "a whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit." Some feared that too much nautical detail will put off some readers, while others found that of small importance compared to the characters and how they are facing the world. The author's descriptions of the flora and fauna seen in Maturin's rambles received strong praise. All of the reviews noted the descriptions of the squalor and brutality of the penal colony at Botany Bay in that era. One reviewer said that Doctor Maturin was the more interesting of the two characters in this novel, for his botanising and his reactions to the changes of fortune and to insult. At least one reviewer gave his view of the fourteen novels as a whole, and on O'Brian's ability to break out of the nautical genre, to write excellent novels.
Plot summary Aubrey and his crew are shipwrecked on a remote island in the South China Sea after surviving the destruction of HMS Diane in a typhoon. A cricket match is underway between the sailors and marines, which keeps up the crew's spirits as they build the schooner needed for reaching Batavia. Doctor Maturin is killing game for the pot, particularly wild boar and babirussas. Dyaks, Kesegaran and her male assistants, arrive on the island. Speaking in Malay with Maturin, the Dyaks promise to take a message to Batavia in exchange for a note on Shao Yen for twenty "joes" (Portuguese Johannes coins), but instead return in a proa with 300 pirates, twice as many as the 150 Dianes. After beheading the ship's carpenter and some other crew members while stealing tools, they attack the encampment and burn the schooner. They are routed after a bloody conflict and all pirates lost as their proa is sunk by the last remaining ball from the "long nine" gun, well-aimed.
On the last day of rum and tobacco supplies, Maturin meets four Chinese children collecting precious birds' nests from the surrounding cliffs. Maturin binds the boy's injured leg. Maturin persuades the children's father, Li Po, to carry the remaining crew of the Diane in the empty holds of his roomy junk back to Batavia. It is intercepted by Wan Da, whom Maturin knows well from Pulo Prabang, and who shares information about the French frigate nearly ready to sail. Upon arriving in Batavia, Aubrey is provided by Governor Raffles with a 20-gun ship which Aubrey renames Nutmeg of Consolation after one of the titles of the Sultan of Pulo Prabang. At sea, Aubrey hears from a Dutch merchantman that the French frigate Cornélie is watering at an island, Nil Desperandum. Aubrey disguises the Nutmeg as a Dutch merchantman and, when the disguise fails, engages in battle with the Cornélie. Aubrey attempts to outwit the Cornélie in the Salibabu Passage but is outmanoeuvred and nearly outgunned until, at the height of the chase, Nutmeg encounters the Surprise, under Thomas Pullings, accompanied by the Triton, a British privateer. The Surprise gives chase, and the Cornélie soon founders. The Surprise takes the survivors, including Lieutenant Dumesnil, on board. Pullings has taken many prizes in the time they were parted, with two American privateers in convoy. The Nutmeg and its convoy sail back to Batavia, via Canton, under Lieutenant Fielding.
Resuming command of Surprise, Aubrey continues their interrupted journey to New South Wales. Stopping to collect fresh foods at Sweetings Island, Maturin rescues two young Melanesian girls, the sole survivors of an outbreak of smallpox. Sailing into Sydney Cove, Aubrey, Maturin and Martin are shocked at life in the penal colony under Governor Macquarie, no better than it was after the "Rum Rebellion". Maturin and Tom Pullings attend a formal dinner, hosted by Mrs Macquarie and the Governor's deputy, Colonel McPherson, at Government House. Captain Lowe insults Sir Joseph Banks and Maturin, and again insults Maturin outside the house; Maturin fights and wins a duel against Captain Lowe on the spot. Maturin learns by letter that Sir Joseph Blaine could not transfer Maturin's funds to Smith's failed bank, so his fortune is not lost.
Dr Redfern takes Maturin to see Padeen Colman, recovering in the hospital from his severe flogging for absconding from the penal colony. Maturin and Martin journey inland of Sydney to examine the local flora and fauna and collect specimens. On a second trip, they stay with Paulton north of Sydney near Bird Island, and find Padeen in better shape, assigned to work there as Maturin had arranged. The Irishman was convicted for stealing laudanum from an Edinburgh apothecary, meriting the punishment of transportation to this penal colony. Maturin tells Padeen to meet him at Bird Island on the day Surprise is to sail. This plan is checked by Aubrey, who promised to take no escaped prisoners, leaving Maturin in a quandary. Maturin hears from Hastings of the recently arrived Waverley that his wife Diana had a daughter in April, and he is overjoyed, but tells no one else his good news. Maturin and Martin, keen to see the duck-billed platypus, locally named the 'water-mole', are taken on a final expedition in the cutter by Barret Bonden. Maturin and Martin spot two platypuses. Maturin secures one - a male - in his net but his arm is pierced by its two poison-spurs. When the Surprise arrives to pick them up, Padeen is also taken aboard. To everyone's relief Maturin slowly regains consciousness after he is aboard.
Characters
See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series
Jack Aubrey: Captain of HMS Diane, post-ship Nutmeg and HM Hired Vessel Surprise. Stephen Maturin: Ship's surgeon, natural philosopher, friend to Jack and an intelligence officer. Sophia Williams: Jack's wife and mother of their three children. Diana Villiers: Cousin to Sophia, wife of Maturin, and mother of their newborn daughter. Mr David Edwards: Secretary to the deceased Envoy Mr Fox. Edwards is carrying the treaty between Britain and the Sultan of Pulo Prabang. Mr Welby: Captain of the Marines. Mr Fielding: First Lieutenant on the Diane and also in the Nutmeg. He stays with the Nutmeg when she meets Surprise. Mr Dick Richardson: Second Lieutenant in the Diane, after Elliot is presumed dead in the pinnace. He was called Spotted Dick as midshipman when introduced in The Mauritius Command aboard HMS Boadicea. Preserved Killick: Captain's steward on Nutmeg and every ship that Aubrey sails. Barret Bonden: Coxswain to Aubrey. Mr Reade: Midshipman on Diane, Nutmeg and Surprise, who loses his arm in the battle with the Dyaks. Mr Hadley: Carpenter on HMS Diane, killed in the attack by the Dyaks. Shao Yen: Banker on Java with whom Maturin dealt for the mission to Pulo Batang, and later aids Aubrey in funds to speed Nutmeg in the shipyard at Batavia. Kesegaran: Seafaring Dyak woman who returned to attack the stranded Dianes. "Green Headcloth": Dyak chieftain. Li Po: Chinese junk owner and captain, who rescued the Dianes after the typhoon. Wan Da: Powerful Malay pirate, introduced in The Thirteen Gun Salute.
Batavia and the Nutmeg of Consolation
Sir Stamford Raffles: Lieutenant-Governor of Java with an interest in botany. He receives the treaty carried by David Edwards, from Maturin. Ahmed: Maturin's Malay servant, discharged amicably at Java. Mr Macmillan: Surgeon's mate on HMS Diane, moves to Nutmeg. Mr Sowerby: Cambridge-educated naturalist who seeks a government position under Raffles, in his conservatory, and who names a plant after Maturin. Mr Miller: One of two young gentlemen engaged in Batavia as "able", soon promoted to midshipman on Nutmeg. He is killed in the battle with Cornélie. Mr Oakes: The other of two young gentlemen engaged in Batavia as "able" and promoted to midshipman on Nutmeg and moved to Surprise. Mr Conway: Promoted from the foretop to midshipman. Mr David Adams: Once a skilled captain's clerk of HMS Lively (Post Captain), he joins the Nutmeg at Batavia, to sort the records saved from the Diane from the scientific record of water temperature. William Grimshaw: New mate to Killick, formerly of HMS Thunderer.
Chasing Cornélie and meeting Surprise
Jean-Pierre (Pierrot) Dumesnil: Second Lieutenant on Cornélie; nephew of Captain Christy-Pallière, prisoner of war after his ship was taken and the captain and first lieutenant are killed in the battle. Aubrey considers him a friend. Mr Seymour: Masters mate promoted to acting Third Lieutenant of Nutmeg. Horse-Flesh Goffin: Cashiered British post-captain who is captain of the British privateer Triton. Mr Nathaniel Martin: Parson, natural philosopher and assistant ship's surgeon aboard HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He was introduced in The Ionian Mission. Mr Davidge: Third Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He attended Trinity College in Dublin like Maturin, and knew the same amount of duelling in those years. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant, introduced in The Letter of Marque. Mr West: Second Mate on HM Hired Vessel Surprise. He had been a Royal Navy lieutenant. He was introduced in The Letter of Marque. Sarah and Emily Sweeting: Two young Melanesian girls saved by Maturin, as the last survivors of a smallpox epidemic on Sweeting's Island, and taken aboard.
New South Wales Sir Joseph Banks: Botanist, president of the Royal Society and early promoter of settlement at Botany Bay; mentioned in conversation at the dinner by Maturin and Captain Lowe. Lachlan Macquarie: Governor of New South Wales since 1809. Mrs Macquarie: Governor's wife who welcomes Surprise in her husband's absence. Captain Lowe: Man aligned with McPherson who insults Maturin and the name of Sir Joseph Banks at the dinner at the Governor's house, resulting in a duel on the spot, which he loses. Colonel MacPherson: Deputy to the Governor, and a powerful political force in the dismal colony. John 'Anguish' Paulton: A writer and friend of Martin who shares his manuscript with Maturin. He plays music, and spends a pleasant evening with Aubrey as well, both playing their violins. Dr Redfern: Humanitarian doctor in the penal settlement. He is based on the historical figure. Patrick (Padeen) Colman: Prisoner at the penal colony, formerly assistant to Maturin, found in the hospital in Sydney after enduring 200 lashes. His initial crime was theft of laudanum, to which he had become addicted aboard ship, without Maturin noticing. His lashes were for trying to escape the penal colony. Maturin wants to see and save his shipmate. James Fitzgerald: Priest and cousin to Maturin, who reports that the United Irishmen in the penal colony blame him for the hanging of Robert Gough. Maturin explains he never informs, and had nothing to do with Gough being taken (Gough was aboard a snow that Aubrey chased in The Thirteen Gun Salute aboard Surprise but abandoned the chase.)