The story concludes with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, the final end of the Napoleonic wars until the treaties were signed in July 1815. Aubrey and Maturin set sail for Chile in the "Surprise" to undermine Spanish colonial rule there, promoting the independence movement, to gain an ally for Britain. This is a continuation of the theme started in "The Wine-Dark Sea". Aubrey meets Captain Christy-Pallière as an ally, after first meeting him as the lieutenant who took him and his ship prisoner in the first novel, "Master and Commander". Diana's diamond of great value, called the Blue Peter, was first mentioned in "The Fortune of War", used to recover Maturin from a French prison in "The Surgeon's Mate", pawned in "The Yellow Admiral" to support their family until Stephen's fortune is again available to him to buy it back, and in this novel, the diamond is buried with her.