| The Far Side of the World | |
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1st edition |
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| Author(s) | Patrick O'Brian |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Aubrey-Maturin series |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Harper Collins (UK) |
| Publication date | 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book (Cassette, CD) |
| Pages | pages (first edition, hardback) & pages 366 (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-393-03710-X, (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-393-30862-6 (paperback edition UK) 2003 / ISBN 0-393-32476-1 (paperback movie tie-in edition) |
| OCLC Number | 31704568 |
| Preceded by | Treason's Harbour |
| Followed by | The Reverse of the Medal |
The Far Side of the World is an historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1984 and is the tenth book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, concerning the adventures of naval commander Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship's surgeon, naturalist and spy, Stephen Maturin. The novel provided part of the title and some of plot-structure for the 2003 Peter Weir film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Contents |
The Far Side of the World continues the story of Jack Aubrey's exploits during the War of 1812. Aubrey reports to his commander-in-chief at Gibraltar, who sends him and HMS Surprise to intercept the American frigate USS Norfolk which plans to attack British whalers in the South Seas. Jack makes all haste to have the Surprise victualled as quickly as possible and recruits a new master, a Mr Allen. Not only is he an excellent seaman but he also has an in-depth knowledge of whalers, having sailed previously with James Colnett on a semi exploration-whaling expedition to the South Atlantic. Stephen Maturin also persuades Jack to take Mr Martin along with them, a clergyman who Jack approves of and who is unhappy with his current ship.
Maturin receives disturbing news from his intelligence-chief in London, Sir Joseph Blaine, which tends to confirm his suspicions of treason and infiltration by the French. He also hears from his wife, who has heard rumours of the infidelity he pretended in Valetta, Malta with the red-haired Mrs Fielding for intelligence reasons. He sends a letter to reassure her via Andrew Wray, unaware of the latter's role as a French agent.
The Surprise encounters many setbacks, suffering delays in Brazil from a lightning-struck prow before they round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean to locate the Norfolk, which has captured and burnt several whalers. The crew of the Surprise, having nearly been shipwrecked by the tail of a typhoon, finally discover the Norfolk wrecked on a reef by the same typhoon and her crew encamped on an island. Aubrey, Mr Martin and some of the crew take Stephen ashore as he is in a coma after hitting his head in a fall and needs to be on land to be operated on. However, he makes a recovery without an operation. While they are ashore, another heavy storm blows the Surprise away and they are stranded. Relations between the two marooned groups deteriorate rapidly, particularly after Jack announces to the American Captain Palmer that he will have to take his crew prisoner. Some of them are from HMS Hermione, a ship that mutinied in the West Indies and they know they will be hanged if returned to British authorities. The situation reaches a crisis point after Jack orders the crew of the Surprise to lengthen their boat so they can sail away, pushing them particularly hard when he sees an American whaler on the horizon. The crew of the Norfolk sabotage the boat after spotting the same whaler but it is at this point that they see her strike her colours, having been pursued through a gap in the reef by the Surprise.
A sub-plot in the book is the illicit affair between the sweet singing but otherwise untalented Hollom, a passed midshipman who never received a lieutenant's commission and is too old to fit in with the young midshipmen who Jack takes aboard in pity, and the pretty wife brought aboard by the sexually impotent gunner, Horner. Hollom is considered a "Jonah" by the crew - someone who brings bad luck to the ship - and the two lovers are presumed to have been beaten to death by the ferocious, brutal and jealous husband on an island whilst the Surprise is being provisioned. Horner himself sinks into a black despair and is discovered hanged in his cabin.
The marooned captain of the Norfolk reminds Aubrey of the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair as a way of protecting members of his crew, who are mutineers off of HMS Hermione.
The USS Chesapeake lay off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, and was under the command of Commodore James Barron. HMS Leopard, under the command of Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, hailed and requested to search the Chesapeake for suspected deserters from the Royal Navy; when the Chesapeake refused, the Leopard began to fire broadsides, killing three aboard the Chesapeake and injuring another 18 (one of whom, Robert Macdonald, later died from his wounds ashore). The Chesapeake, her decks cluttered with stores in preparation for a long cruise, managed to fire only a single gun in reply to the Leopard, and Barron quickly struck his colours and surrendered his ship; however, Humphreys refused the surrender, and simply sent a boarding party to search for the deserters.
HMS Leopard found four Royal Navy deserters among the Chesapeake crew: David Martin, John Strachan, and William Ware, run from HMS Melampus; and Jenkin Ratford, run from HMS Halifax. Of the four, only Ratford was British-born: Strachan was a white man born in the United States (though later serving in the Royal Navy), and Martin and Ware were African Americans (place of birth uncertain). Leopard carried the men to Halifax for trial: the British citizen, Ratford, was sentenced to death and hanged on the Halifax; the three Americans - as non-British nationals - were sentenced to 500 lashes each, but the sentence was later commuted, and the British government eventually offered to return them to the United States and pay reparations.
The USS Norfolk also recalls the historical expedition of the USS Essex. Essex sailed in South Atlantic waters and along the coast of Brazil until January 1813 when Captain David Porter undertook the decimation of English whale fisheries in the Pacific.[1] Although her crew suffered greatly from a shortage of provisions and heavy gales while rounding Cape Horn, she anchored safely at Valparaíso, Chile, on 14 March, having seized schooners Elizabeth and Nereyda along the way. The next five months brought Essex 13 prizes.
In January 1814, Essex sailed into neutral waters at Valparaiso, only to be trapped there for six weeks by the 36-gun British frigate, HMS Phoebe and the 18-gun sloop-of-war HMS Cherub. On 28 March 1814, Porter determined to gain the open sea, fearing the arrival of British reinforcements. Upon rounding the point, Essex lost her main top-mast to foul weather, forcing her return to the harbour. The British, disregarding the neutrality of the harbour, proceeded with the attack on the crippled ship. For 2½ hours, Essex, armed almost entirely with powerful but short range guns called carronades, resisted the enemy's superior fighting power and longer gun range. A fire erupted twice aboard the Essex, at which point about 50 men abandoned the ship and swam for shore; only half of them landing. Eventually, the hopeless situation forced the frigate to surrender. The Essex suffered 58 killed, 97 wounded, while the British casualties were 5 dead, 10 wounded.
The novel provided much of the overall plot-structure for the 2003 Peter Weir film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though the fictional USS Norfolk morphed into the fictional American-built French privateer Acheron, and episodes also migrated from other books in the series, including Master and Commander and HMS Surprise. The design and size of the fictional Acheron reflect those of the USS Constitution.