Patrick OBrians Blue at the Mizzennovel #20 in the widely celebrated Aubrey/Maturin seriesended with Jack Aubrey getting the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: rear admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. The next novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of the authors death, would have been the chronicle of that mission, and much else besides. The three chapters left on OBrians desk are presented here both in printed versionincluding his corrections to the typescriptand a facsimile of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript to include a duel between Stephen Maturin and an impertinent officer who is courting his fiancée. These chapters show that OBrians powers of observation, his humor, and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.
