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Stephen Maturin
First appearance	Master and Commander
Last appearance	The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
Created by	Patrick O'Brian
Portrayed by	Paul Bettany
Episode count	21/21
Information
Occupation	Doctor/ Ship's surgeon/ Intelligence agent/Naturalist
Title	Doctor
Spouse(s)	Diana Villiers,
Children	Brigid Maturin
Relatives	Several

Stephen Maturin (pronounced /ˈmætʃʊrɪn/) is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his career as a physician, naturalist and spy in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and the long pursuit of his beloved Diana Villiers.

Maturin was played by Paul Bettany in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

[edit] Biography

Stephen Maturin (Esteban Maturin y Domanova), a Roman Catholic, is the illegitimate son of an Irish officer serving in the Spanish Army and a Catalan lady. He is cousin to the historical Lord Edward FitzGerald. As a boy he lived in Ireland, and spent his teenage years in Spain. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and later qualified as a Physician from the Sorbonne.

He was in Paris during the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, of which he was at first an ardent supporter. Returning to Ireland he was a member of the "United Irishmen", and was apparently engaged to a woman called Mona, who died in unspecified circumstances. He was against the 1798 rebellion and refused to take part.

In 1800 he travelled to Minorca with a patient who died there, leaving him penniless and stranded. A chance meeting with Jack Aubrey gained him the position of ship's surgeon aboard HMS Sophie.

As an advocate of Catalan independence from Spain, and a resolute opponent of Bonaparte's tyranny, Maturin became involved in intelligence gathering, and eventually a renowned (to those in a position to know) secret agent, though he never accepts payment for his services.

As well as his activities as a physician and agent, Maturin is a celebrated naturalist (a member of the Royal Society) with a particular interest in birds, and the discoverer of the then unknown species of tortoise Testudo aubreii.

He also experiments with drugs, being a frequent user (sometimes an addict) of laudanum, as well as coca, khat, and tobacco. He also plays the cello and the flute.

He is described as a short, slight, dark-haired, very pale man, though he does become fairly dark-skinned when the ships travel to tropical climes (a result of his Hiberno-Spanish heritage and predilection for naked sun-bathing), although he has "curious" pale blue eyes. He weighs "barely 9 stone" (126 pounds, 56 kg). Untidy or even disreputable in appearance he spends as little as possible on clothes, and when encouraged by his particular friend Jack Aubrey wears a periwig over his sparse close-cropped hair, despite a considerable share of prize money earned over the years, and a fortune inherited from his Catalan godfather in 1812.

He is renowned for his ability to nearly drown, and his frequent falls from every manner of ship have become a bit of a running joke in the series. While fairly surefooted on land, he manages to get into mortal peril in even the calmest water - causing Captain Aubrey to become very proficient at diving rescues - and is prone to plunging down hatches and companionways onboard vessel. His clumsiness may (in part) be due to his torture by the French at Mahon, where he was subjected to the rack (among other implements), tearing his sinews.

Maturin is fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan, French and Latin, can also speak Irish, read Portuguese, and has a working knowledge of Greek, Malay, Arabic and Urdu. Sadly, he rarely seems to understand naval jargon.

In 1802 he meets and falls in love with Diana Villiers, whom he eventually marries after many vicissitudes in 1813 or 1814. They have a daughter, Brigid, before Diana's death in 1815 in a coach accident. He then strikes up a relationship with fellow naturalist Christine Hatherleigh Wood, and proposes marriage, though this is unresolved by the end of the series.

In The Reverse of the Medal Stephen uses part of his fortune to buy the recently decommissioned HMS Surprise, giving its command to Jack Aubrey (who had recently been framed for stock manipulation and temporarily lost his commission) to be used as a privateer; he eventually gives the Surprise to Aubrey as a gift.