Chapters 9 and 10 Summary

Chapter 9 introduces the final significant character of the novel, John Paulton, a friend of Martin's. Paulton suffers from a variety of emotional neuroses, and Martin remarks that in England he had been known as "Anguish Paulton" (p. 284) because he is usually overwrought. Paulton is an unpublished novelist who came to New South Wales to work as an overseer on his cousin's estate—he had believed the solitude would allow him to finish his first novel, though it has not. Paulton provides much information and advice on local conditions. Because of Maturin's duel, the Port Jackson officials are set against Surprise and Aubrey finds refitting and resupply to be tediously daunting. The Surprise thus spends an inordinate amount of time in port. While at Port Jackson, Maturin attempts to relocate Sarah and Emily to an orphanage, but they run back to...