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''Desolation Island'' is the fifth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in 1978. Jack Aubrey is in funds from his successful mission to take the islands of Mauritius and Reunion. His house has additions, but he is ready for another voyage. The story includes a voyage to Australia, and occurs prior to the War of 1812. ==Plot summary== Jack Aubrey, having recovered financially in The Mauritius Command, expands his house, pays off his mother-in-law's debts, and his wife is no longer pinching pennies. Household staffed with seamen, his daughters and his son are thriving. After serving in the Fencibles office for a while, Aubrey starts getting into difficulties both in cards and at business, due to his belief, on land, in the honesty of others. Diana Villiers returns from America, unmarried. Maturin sees her, and hopes again to marry her. After the local settlers enter into a feud with Captain Bligh, the governor in New South Wales, Aubrey takes a command of the old HMS ''Leopard'' for a mission to New South Wales to escape his woes. In the meantime, Diana and her American friend Louisa Wogan are taken for questioning as spies. Wogan gets sent to New South Wales on the ''Leopard'', while Aubrey is furious at carrying prisoners. Sophia Aubrey knows that her husband needs to be at sea. Maturin gets assigned to the voyage by Sir Joseph Blaine to watch Wogan, in the hopes of catching her in espionage. Diana, innocent of the espionage charges, flees with Mr Johnson, but is deeply in Maturin’s mind, as he pays her bills. The prisoners kill their superintendent and surgeon during a storm, so their conditions are raised to meet naval standards. They bring gaol fever on board ship, which spreads to the seamen, killing most of the male prisoners and 116 of the ship's crew. Mr Martin, Maturin’s assistant, dies; he is replaced by Michael Herapath, who has stowed away in pursuit of Louisa Wogan. Aubrey rates him a midshipman, despite his American citizenship. Aubrey is forced to leave many recovering crew members at Recife, including Tom Pullings. He is replaced with James Grant as first lieutenant, a challenge for Aubrey. While they are in port, HMS ''Nymph'' arrives damaged from its encounter with the ''Waakzaamheid'', a 74-gun Dutch ship-of-the-line crossing the equator. The ''Leopard'' encounters the ''Waakzaamheid'' before reaching the Cape of Good Hope. The ''Waakzaamheid'' chases the ''Leopard'' south into the Roaring Forties for five days. The waves and wind increase, and the ships engage. Abruptly, after a shot from the ''Leopard'' destroyed her foremast, the ''Waakzaamheid'' is thrown on her beam ends in the trough of a deep wave and sinks with all hands. Now east of the Cape, the ''Leopard'' aims for New South Wales, but soon strikes an iceberg, damaging the rudder and causing a severe leak. All hands pump, and the seamen work to fother a sail to stop the leak. Aubrey was wounded in the battle, but maintains his authority. Grant, who is more comfortable as captain, disagrees that the ''Leopard'' will float, and is given permission to take two smaller boats with the men who wish to leave for the Cape, carrying dispatches from Maturin. The ''Leopard'' drifts east with the wind, still rudderless, pumping all the time. Aubrey, making adroit use of anchors and sails, directs the ship to safe harbour in a bay of Desolation Island. Despite its name, it is full of fresh food in the rainy Antarctic summer: seals, birds, fish, and cabbages, a true haven. The crew repair leaks, but cannot leave until the rudder is replaced. Their forge went overboard earlier, so it is a challenge. Maturin is in paradise as he and Herapath collect samples of the local plant and animal life and identify that edible cabbage, which fights scurvy. Maturin uses a small island in the bay for observations in the daylight. The American brig ''Lafayette'', a whaler, arrives at the bay for supplies of the cabbage. They lost their surgeon, but they have a forge. A delicate situation arises immediately, reflecting American – British tensions from the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair of 1807, continued British pressing of Americans into the Royal Navy, and awareness that the two nations might be at war already. Maturin uses Herapath as first envoy to Captain Putnam. Maturin follows, providing medical care to all aboard. The Captain offers to pay, but Maturin does not accept payment. The next morning the forge is on the beach for the use of Aubrey. Maturin sees a perfect way to speed his plan to spoil Mrs Wogan's contact as an intelligence source by letting her and Herapath slip away on the whaler with documents he shared with Herapath. She is now pregnant with Herapath’s child. Aubrey must resist any efforts at pressing the British sailors they see on the whaler and he does resist. The rudder is set in place and the forge returned. The ''Lafayette'' sails on the tide, as Maturin and Barret Bonden watch the ship pick up Herapath and Mrs Wogan, and then it slips out of the bay. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Desolation Island (novel)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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