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''The Ionian Mission'' is the eighth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1981. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars. The plot begins with the marriage of Dr Maturin and Diana Villiers. Soon after, Captain Aubrey takes HMS ''Worcester'' on blockade duty around Toulon, France, until the ship is sent for refitting. With these refitting, he is reassigned to HMS ''Surprise'' on which he, Maturin and Professor Graham seek a new ally among the pashas on the coast of the Ionian Sea. ==Plot summary== Maturin and Villiers are happily married. After a time together in their new house on Half Moon Street, Maturin settles in his rooms at The Grapes, where Diana comes often, and from which he walks to breakfast with her daily. He has missions to do, and Aubrey needs to get away from his financial problems. Aubrey gets a stint on HMS ''Worcester'' for Toulon blockade duty. Jagiello brings the Maturins to port in his own carriage, which upsets, making Stephen’s arrival rather last-minute. While she is doing gunnery practice with gunpowder bought from a fireworks firm, ''Worcester'' encounters the French ship ''Jemmapes''. Worcester engages immediately, not having changed to ordinary gunpowder. ''Jemmapes'' sees the bright colors as the sign of some new weapon, and sails away. Some of the crew practice an oratorio while the midshipmen practice ''Hamlet''. Passengers are dropped off at Gibraltar and Port Mahon (Graham, professor of moral philosophy), though the parson Nathaniel Martin is aboard long enough for Maturin to discover their shared interest in birds, before Martin joins HMS ''Berwick''. ''Worcester'' joins the squadron off Toulon. Babbington, master and commander, joins the squadron in the Mediterranean as captain of the ''Dryad''. Babbington fell in love with Admiral Harte’s daughter Fanny. But her father wants the best husband for his daughter that money can buy, and that is Andrew Wray. Babbington figures that Wray and Harte combined got him assigned to blockade duty. Before ''Dryad'', the Worcesters see HMS ''Surprise'' arrive with mail for this fleet, joining it. Admiral Thornton’s desire is to engage the French in a fleet action. The second-in-command, Harte, has lesser goals. Harte sends Aubrey and Babbington on a mission to the north coast of Africa, with the notion that Babbington will be taken by the French ships in the neutral port Medina. Babbington sees the ships before he enters port and rejoins ''Worcester''. Being told not to fire first at the French, Aubrey enters the neutral port in hopes the French ships will fire first, but they never do, so he returns, in the right but with Aubrey feeling his image is tarnished. ''Worcester'' brings Maturin to the coast of France, and waits to pick him up. Maturin's mission fails due to other British spies afoot. Waiting for the launch, Maturin finds the other British agent, Professor Graham, who has shot himself in the foot. Maturin hands him over to the Captain of the Fleet to act as a Turkish advisor. Later, the French fleet slips the blockade. Thornton is pleased, but the winds change, barring a successful engagement. The French do not want battle and return to port. A few shots were exchanged, killing the captain and first lieutenant of HMS ''Surprise''. Further, ''Worcester'', a poorly built ship, is strained beyond usefulness. Thornton tells Aubrey to take her to Malta to refit, then shift part of his crew to the ''Surprise'' for a mission to the Seven Islands on the Ionian coast. As they sail, a poetry contest is set up, with Mowett and Rowan splitting the prize. Then ''Surprise'' takes the blockade runner ''Bonhomme Richard'', filled with spices, dyes, and heaps of silver. The silver is shared out at once, and Rowan takes the prize to Malta. Aubrey visits the three beys, Ismail, Mustapha and Sciahon, choosing the last as the best ally for Britain to take Corfu, if not more of the Seven Islands, from the French. Sciahon Bey holds Kutali, the preferred base for naval operations. ''Surprise'' is long in port at Kutali being windbound. The ''Dryad'' and the gun-laden transports she fetched seem long in coming. Graham engages in a harsh argument with Aubrey. Rumor spreads that Ismail has permission to take charge of Kutali, causing the locals to beg Aubrey to protect them. Graham travels by land to Ali Pasha of Iannina learning that Mustapha lured ''Dryad'' and the transports into his port, and is sailing on his ship ''Torgud'' to take Kutali. The rumor was started by Ali Pasha in his own double dealing, to fire up Mustapha against his enemy Ismail; in the end, Ali Pasha wants rid of Mustapha. Mustapha is on his own, with no approval from the Sultan of Turkey. ''Surprise'' is ready to sail on the instant, especially as the winds have changed. Aubrey will attack both ships, ''Kitabi'' sailing with ''Torgud''. They meet at sea, with ''Surprise'' firing broadsides instantly and repeatedly. ''Torgud'' is cruelly damaged, with many dead. Young Williamson loses half his arm. ''Kitabi'' goes between ''Surprise'' and ''Torgud'', crashing into ''Torgud''’s side. Aubrey boards ''Kitabi'', and takes her. Boarding crew proceeds to ''Torgud'', jumping across like Nelson. Pullings falls, so Aubrey stands above him then fights fiercely in the close hand-to-hand combat. Aubrey reaches Mustapha, early wounded and sitting. His aide Ulusan says, we surrender. Bonden carries the swords and ensigns. Aubrey asks Mowett what happened to Pullings, to learn he survives. They return to the ''Surprise'' before the ''Torgud'' can sink. 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「The Ionian Mission」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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