Just Finished Reading: The Far Side of the World by Patrick O’Brian

The Western Mediterranean: 1812. Captain Jack Aubrey (played by Russell Crowe in the 2003 movie adaptation Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) is looking with regret at the probable end of his navy career and the breaking up of his beloved frigate Surprise. Awaiting orders to return to England he is given instead orders to pursue and engage an enemy frigate reported to be making its way to the Southern Pacific ocean in order to endanger the British whaling fleet based there. But to find such a mall target after a voyage of thousands of miles with a mixed crew of old salts and new recruits will test all of his abilities to the limit and that is even before they attempt to cross the treacherous waters of Cape Horn.

Despite not being Russell Crowe’s biggest fan I enjoyed this naval romp at the movies and even picked up the DVD once it hit the cheap box. So when I had the opportunity to pick up the 1984 novel I did so expecting a story of tense naval warfare in the Napoleonic Age. Without going into too much detail or giving too much away I really didn’t get what I expected. The first thing that jumped out at me was the rather fundamental difference in Aubrey’s enemy. In the movie it was quite clearly a French frigate up to no good although it had been built – if memory serves – in Boston. In the book the frigate was American and rather than being based during the Napoleonic War was instead based during The War of 1812 when Britain and American were at war with each other. As I read more and more of this comparatively brief novel (running to just over 340 pages) it dawned on me that this was a completely different story than that portrayed on film. Apart from the main players (including the good Doctor Maturin played by Paul Bettany) and the bare facts of the plot it transpired that nothing else made it from the book to the screen. That didn’t, however, make this any less interesting or readable. Within a handful of pages I found myself hooked by the early 19^th Century language (gleaned from actual Admiralty reports apparently) and the completely unapologetic – and unexplained apart from a detailed diagram in the preface – use of sailing terms used at the time. It did take a little while to get my head around the terminology but by the half way mark I was pretty confident that I could tell the difference between a studdingsail and a top gallant. Of course I already knew my jibs from my spankers but then who doesn’t?

I think what the author was going for, and admirably achieving, was a total emersion in a world long gone (unless that is you’re one of those people who can afford to go sailing on a regular basis). It was a world where it took weeks or moths to get any great distance and where being years away from home was hardly remarked upon. I did find myself more than once struggling to regain the 21^st Century after being lost in the early 19^th for more than half an hour. With an almost effortless style O’Brian managed to drop me right in the middle of things and expected me to get on with them and to, in effect, sink or swim. It was an interesting experience that I shall be repeating in the not too distant future. The only slight warning I would give is the unstated expectation that you are willing to learn your way around a Royal Navy frigate and to cope with a whole different set of terms I for one had never come across before. It is an effort (or it was for me) but it’s most definitely worth it. Recommended.