The Reverse of the Medal


Geography and History in The Reverse of the Medal, by Patrick O'Brian



Today I finished The Reverse of the Medal , the eleventh in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Like the others, this is the third time I have read it, as I originally l read through these books in April of 1995. My earlier postings begin here.
The Reverse of the Medal is based loosely on the trial of Lord Cochrane for fraud of the Stock Exchange.

Lord Cochrane
© NMM London

Cochrane was the famous captain of the HMS Speedy whose capture of of a much larger Spanish man-of-war was the basis of the first book in this series, Master and Commander. Cochrane was found guilty, but subsequent biographers tend to think he was innocent, including the most recent, Christopher Lloyd. Apparently not all, as O'Brian tells us in the forward:

Lord Ellenborough and his descendants, however, took the opposite view, and one of them set about refuting the publications ... in a book devoted to the question. But he found he was not competent to deal with the legal aspects and he handed over the task, together with his papers, to Mr Attlay of Lincoln's Inn, a very able lawyer whose long, fully documented and closely reasoned book might shake all but the most determined of Lord Cochrane's supporters.

Guilty or not, Cochrane was discharged from the navy, but went on to distinguish himself in the navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece and was finally restored in 1832 to the post captain's list as an an Admiral (as well as an Earl, he became the Earl of Dundonald when his father died). Cochrane also wrote an autobiography, Autobiography of a Seaman, published in 1860, the year he died at age 85.

This book starts out in Bridgetown, Barbados. AmericaTravelling.net gives this capsule history:

Captain John Powell landed on Barbados in 1625 and claimed the uninhabited island for England. Two years later, his brother Captain Henry Powell landed with a party of 80 settlers and 10 slaves. The group established the island's first European settlement, Jamestown, on the western coast at what is now Holetown. More settlers followed in their wake and by the end of 1628 the colony's population had grown to 2000.
Within a few years the colonists had cleared much of the native forest and planted tobacco and cotton. They replanted their fields with sugar in the 1640s. To meet the labor demands of the new crop, planters, who had previously relied upon indentured servants, began to import large numbers of African slaves. Their estates, the first large sugar plantations in the Caribbean, proved immensely profitable, and by the mid-17th century the planters and merchants were thriving.
In 1639, island freeholders formed a Legislative Assembly, only the second such parliament established in a British colony (Bermuda was the first). Barbados was loyal to the Crown during Britain's civil wars and, following the beheading of King Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell dispatched a force to establish his authority over Barbados. The invading fleet arrived in 1651 and by the following year Barbados had surrendered and signed the Articles of Capitulation, which formed the basis for the Charter of Barbados. The charter guaranteed government by a governor and a freely elected assembly, as well as freedom from taxation without local consent. When the British Crown was restored in 1660, this charter ironically provided Barbados with a greater measure of independence from the English monarchy than that of other British colonies.

They sail the Surprise to Portsmouth, where the ship is decommissioned. Maturin goes to London, to see the fictional Sir Joseph Blaine in his house in Shepherd's Market.

Shepaerd's Market is in Mayfair, just east of Park Lane near Curzon St.

Maturin himself stays at his club, Blacks, because the Bunch of Grapes, the inn where usually stays, has burned down. Once Aubrey is arrested, he is taken to the Marshalsea Prison, in Southwark, and the trial is held in the Guildhall. Maturin meets Duhamel in Regent's Park,
After the trial, they return to Portsmouth. Maturin has bought the Surprise, and fitted it out for their next voyage.

Posted: Thu - December 18, 2003 at 05:14 PM          

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