The Far Side of the World is the tenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1984. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
The story from Treason's Harbour has several points resolved, as to the success of Maturin's work identifying the French spies, the trap that Aubrey sailed out of but HMS Pollux did not, and Aubrey resolving the tension between him and Lieutenant Fielding, who escaped the worst French prisoner-of-war facility. In Gibraltar, Captain Aubrey receives another mission, to sail HMS Surprise to protect British whalers in the Pacific Ocean from USS Norfolk, for his first voyage around Cape Horn. Dr Maturin has not yet identified the high-level spy who got away. Unaware, he sends the letter to his own wife explaining his protection of the Navy wife via that very villain.
Plot summary Aubrey meets Admiral Ives, now in Gibraltar, who is pleased with the last mission of HMS Surprise, despite Aubrey's negative report. Mr Yarrow will rephrase it to make the success clearer to the Admiralty. The admiral is now a peer, his deepest wish, and he is a happy man. Aubrey dines with Laura Fielding and her husband, Lieutenant Fielding, who is now satisfied that his wife is true to him and thanks Aubrey for bringing her from Malta to Gibraltar (though it is Maturin who brought her to the ship, saving her from two assassins). Maturin receives news from his intelligence-chief in London, Sir Joseph Blaine, confirming high level infiltration of British intelligence by the French. Maturin's wife Diana has heard rumours of his pretended infidelity in Valletta, Malta, with Mrs Fielding for intelligence reasons. He sends her a letter via Andrew Wray, unsuspecting of Wray's role as a French agent. Maturin learns of his success in Malta, destroying the French intelligence network based there, all but André Lesueur taken.
Surprise is not yet to be broken up; Admiral Ives sends Aubrey on a mission to protect British whalers in the Pacific Ocean from the frigate USS Norfolk, sailing on HMS Surprise on his first voyage around Cape Horn. Aubrey makes all haste to prepare his ship with men and supplies. He recruits Mr Allen, a new master with an in-depth knowledge of whalers, takes on Mr Martin as schoolmaster to the midshipmen, and Mr Hollom, an ageing midshipman, whom Aubrey wonders might be a Jonah.
The Surprise sails to the farthest east point of Brazil, where the bowsprit is burnt by lightning. During the repairs in Penedo, Pullings sees the USS Norfolk pass by. Mrs Horner, the gunner's wife, engages in an affair with Hollom, and becomes pregnant. Maturin will not interfere with the pregnancy, so she turns to his assistant, Higgins, who leaves her near death. Maturin saves her life. In the Atlantic, Surprise retakes the packet Danaë, with Lieutenant Lawrence in command. Tom Pullings sails the Danae back to England, after Maturin and Aubrey take possession of a hidden brass box, per instructions to Maturin. Surprise rounds Cape Horn with some losses, and then reaches the Juan Fernández Islands to refit and recover. There, the gunner kills his wife and Hollom, and re-boards the ship. Off Chile, Horner learns that Higgins performed an abortion on his wife; Higgins disappears from the ship and Horner hangs himself in his cabin. In the Pacific, with information from a Spanish merchantman, Surprise retakes the valuable whaler Acapulco with Caleb Gill in command, nephew to the Norfolk'''s captain. Mr Allen negotiates with the agent for the whaler in Valparaiso, where the American prisoners are left ashore. Taking the whaler restores the spirit to the crew.
Arrived at the Galapagos archipelago, Maturin and Martin are amazed at the new species they see on land, in the air and in the sea. Surprise picks up men from the whaler Intrepid Fox, now burnt by USS Norfolk. Knowing where the Norfolk is headed, Aubrey sails along the equator west toward the Marquesas. Maturin is disappointed and furious that the promise made to let him explore ashore is broken. Aubrey saves Maturin when he falls overboard one evening, but no one misses them until dawn. The two men are rescued by Polynesian women on a pahi, who ultimately leave them on a small island with a fishing line. The launch from the Surprise finds them. Maturin is needed aboard Surprise, as the group sent to board the pahi was cruelly beaten by the women.
After surviving the tail of a typhoon, the Surprise finds the Norfolk wrecked on a reef by the same typhoon and her survivors encamped on an island. Aubrey, Mr Martin and some of the crew take Maturin ashore for surgery; he is in a coma since hitting his head during the typhoon. Just as the surgeon from the Norfolk, Dr Butcher, prepares to operate, Maturin wakes from his coma. A heavy storm blows the Surprise away. Relations between the two marooned groups are tense, because some of the crew on the Norfolk were British mutineers and deserters in 1797 aboard HMS Hermione; they will be hanged for desertion and mutiny if they are returned to the Royal Navy. One admits this to Bonden. Aubrey tells the American Captain Palmer that he and his crew are now prisoners of war. Both groups are eager to leave this island. Aubrey orders his carpenters to lengthen the launch so they can sail away, pushing the rest to collect food. He sees an American whaler on the horizon. The crew of the Norfolk spot the same whaler, cheer at the sight, and then kill their informer. The Norfolks fight with the Surprises. Their cheering stops when the whaler loses two masts and strikes her colours, because it is the Surprise that takes her in chase.
Characters See also Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin seriesJack Aubrey: Captain of HMS Surprise. Stephen Maturin: ship's surgeon, friend to Jack, natural philosopher and an intelligence officer. Sophia Aubrey (née Williams): wife of Jack and mother of their three children. She was introduced in Post Captain. Diana Villiers Maturin: Wife of Stephen and first cousin to Sophia. Introduced in Post Captain.
At Gibraltar Admiral Sir Francis Ives KB: Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, who receives a peerage in part on the successes of missions by HMS Surprise. Mr Yarrow: Secretary to Admiral Ives. Andrew Wray: Acting Second Secretary of the Admiralty, husband of Fanny Harte, come to the Mediterranean to investigate dockyard corruption. Wray is known to the reader – but not to Maturin – to be working as a spy for the French. Introduced in Desolation Island. William Sutton: Captain on his way to England to sit in Parliament and a lively guest at Aubrey's dinner with the Fieldings. Laura Fielding: Wife of Lieutenant Charles Fielding, used by the French to gather intelligence, then rescued by Maturin before they could dispose of her. Introduced in Treason's Harbour.
On HMS SurpriseMr Rowan: Former first lieutenant on HMS Surprise, sent to Malta with crucial message regarding events at Zambra in Treason's Harbour. Surprise was slow in reaching Gibraltar, yet Rowan did not return before her next mission from Gibraltar. Introduced in The Ionian Mission. Barret Bonden: Jack Aubrey's coxswain since Aubrey's first command. Introduced in Master and Commander. Preserved Killick: Jack Aubrey's shrewish steward on HMS Surprise. Introduced in Master and Commander. Mr Mowett: First lieutenant on HMS Surprise. Introduced in Master and Commander. Captain Pullings: He is a commander with no ship, so he volunteers on HMS Surprise, sharing duties with Mowett until they retake the packet ship Danae, when Pullings parts from Surprise to return Danae to England. Introduced in Master and Commander. Mr Honey: Acting third lieutenant on HMS Surprise, mentioned for promotion from master's mate. Mr Peter Calamy: Young midshipman taken on by Aubrey in Worcester and carried to Surprise, now 12 years old. He likes Maturin, and watches out for him. He lost his hair to scurvy rounding Cape Horn. Introduced in The Ionian Mission. Mr Williamson: Young midshipman taken by Aubrey in Worcester and carried to Surprise, where he lost half an arm in the battle with the Turkish ship Torgud. He loses some toes and tips of his ears to frostbite in the southern 60s (south latitude) rounding Cape Horn. Introduced in The Ionian Mission. John Nesbitt: One of the first-voyagers in midshipmen's berth who joined at Gibraltar. He broke his collar bone in storm in southern Atlantic Mr Blakeney: Signal midshipman on Juan Fernandez when sail is seen; he joined at Gibraltar. Mr Hollom: midshipman nearly 40 years old, rated master's mate but never a lieutenant, once on the Lively with Aubrey, now taken on HMS Surprise. Left to die with Mrs Horner, at Mr Horner's hand. He is the Jonah on the ship. Mr Borrell: Master gunner promoted out of HMS Surprise to HMS Burford. Mr Horner: New master gunner on HMS Surprise, who later kills himself. Mrs Horner: Young and attractive wife of the gunner, 19 years old. She helps with the young gentlemen until she is left at Juan Fernandez. Mr Gill: Master promoted out of HMS Surprise to the Burford. Mr Michael Allen: New master on HMS Surprise, a man with whaling experience and knowledge of the southern whaling waters. He sailed previously with James Colnett on a semi exploration-whaling expedition to the South Atlantic. Heneage Dundas: Captain of HMS Edinburgh based in Malta and a close friend to Aubrey. He connects Aubrey with Allen. Introduced in Master and Commander. Mr Martin: He is a Royal Navy chaplain, friend of Maturin and natural philosopher, now assigned to Surprise. He is schoolmaster to the many young midshipmen and assists in medical care. Introduced in The Ionian Mission. Higgins: Taken on at Gibraltar as assistant to Maturin for his skills in pulling teeth. He disappears off the ship after Mr Horner confronts him, knowing that Higgins "used an instrument" on his wife when she was pregnant. Joe Plaice: Elderly forecastle hand, cousin to Barret Bonden, who hits his head, and has the trepanning operation done by Maturin, with the flattened silver coin left to replace the bone removed. Padeen Colman: Huge, gentle Irish-speaking manservant chosen by Maturin in Gibraltar to serve on HMS Surprise. Lieutenant Lawrence: Prize captain from USS Norfolk, in his turn taken when HMS Surprise retook Danae in the Atlantic. He is a close relative of Captain James Lawrence, who visited Aubrey in Boston in Surgeon's Mate. Caleb Gill: American Captain on captured British whaler Acapulco, prisoner on Surprise. He is nephew to Captain Palmer of USS Norfolk. He is disappointed to be taking the prize home, as his real desire was to reach the Marquesa Islands, the paradise mentioned in the intercepted letter. Mr Hogg: Specksioneer from the whaler Intrepid Fox, who has sailed many times to the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, picked up at the Galapagos with five mates. He is useful in spotting the island where Aubrey and Maturin were left by the Polynesian women, and other situations.
On a coral island in the Pacific Captain Palmer: Captain of the USS Norfolk. Mr Butcher: surgeon of the American USS Norfolk, ready to operate on Maturin. Earlier he was on USS Constitution, one of several medical men deciding if Aubrey's injured arm could be saved (and it was saved), in Surgeon's Mate. Haines: Former British Navy sailor, part of 1797 mutiny, since moved to the US, on the USS Norfolk and an informer. His shipmates kill him.
Ships British HMS Surprise – 28 gun frigateDanaë – packet shipAcapulco – whalerAmelia – whaler taken by USS Norfolk, loaded with oil from Intrepid FoxIntrepid Fox – a whaler burned by the NorfolkSpanishEstrella Polar – merchant ship American USS NorfolkSeries chronology