I’m glad to see that W.W. Norton did not Americanize the spelling of Treason’s Harbour, the ninth in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. Stuck ashore in Malta during a ship refit, Aubrey awkwardly makes a pass at a fellow officer’s wife (and fails), but accidentally befriends her massive dog, which leads the island to think he has succeeded. Maturin, meanwhile, is awash in spycraft, and — in an amusing turn — has to rebuff a Spanish-fly-supported, espionage-induced effort at seduction by the same officer’s wife.
Finally afloat, we follow our heroes across the Mediterranean, and across a sliver of the Egyptian desert (pre-Suez canal era) to the Red Sea. A traitor in the English Admiralty dooms their mission there, but I found two incidents memorable. First, the passenger who enjoys swimming from the boat is torn apart by sharks in the Red Sea. Since Aubrey often enjoys a swim, it’s useful for O’Brian to toss over another incidental character. Second, Maturin gets a diving bell, modeled after that used by Halley (the astronomer), and puts it to good use on the mission. Knowing O’Brian’s work, this is all probably historically accurate. Anyway, they return to Malta to report the failure of their mission, and the existence of a traitor. The reader knows who it is, but the characters are going to have to wait another book or two to find out. I guess O’Brian realized he was on a roll by this point (1983), and could leave loose ends as back-story for the future. I know I’m going to read the next eleven (!), so he wasn’t wrong.