The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian is a very enjoyable seafaring novel featuring colleagues and friends Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon, natural philosopher and spy Stephen Maturin. This book is the tenth in the Aubrey-Maturin series. It is the first book in the series that I have read (indeed the first Patrick O'Brian book I have read at all), and I found it to be thoroughly satisfying as a stand alone novel.

While the HMS Surprise is nearing the end of her life and was expected to be broken up, instead Aubrey is assigned to take her 'round the Horn in pursuit of the USS Norfolk, an American ship pursuing and destroying British whalers. Aubrey must make haste to put together a crew from scratch which he just manages to do, not always able to use as much discretion as he might like. The adventures begin immediately including the drama of an affair of a midshipman with the master gunner's young wife who becomes pregnant. Maturin refuses to perform an abortion so she receives a botched one at the hands of the barber and very nearly dies. That escalates into further tragedy.

One escapade follows another and the ship is battered by extreme weather events again and again. Stephen Maturin experiences one mishap after the other, as well; dragging the Captain along with him. After Stephen falls off the deck into the sea, Captain Aubrey jumps in after him and just when it seems all hope is lost for them, they are saved by a group of Polynesian women in a pahi. From there they are stranded on a small island and miraculously end up being saved by a launch from The Surprise.

The Surpise is then battered by a typhoon, in which Stephen Maturin is thrown down and hits his head putting him in a coma. Captain Aubrey, Mr. Martin (the chaplain and a natural philosopher) and some of the crew take the unconscious man ashore so that the Norfolk's physician, Dr. Butcher, can perform trepanning on him. Fortunately, before the slightly too eager Dr. Butcher can start the operation, Stephen awakens on his own and is saved from that risky procedure. In the meantime, stormy weather has blown The Surprise away and Aubrey, Maturin, Martin and the crew that has accompanied them are temporarily stranded. Tensions have broken out between the "captured" Norfolk crew and the Surpise crew because it turns out most of the Norfolks' crew consists of mutineers and deserters and will be hanged upon their return. This creates a very dangerous situation for those from The Surprise. A whaler is spotted on the horizon and those from the Norfolk believe they are saved, but it turns out to be The Surprise in disguise and the day, and the mission is saved for Captain Aubrey and crew.

The seafaring jargon is addicting and the story quite enjoyable. The conversations revolving around the natural history phenomena along the route between Stephen and Mr. Martin are my favorite part of the book. ( )

Jack Aubrey recibe ordenes de interceptar a los barcos estadounidenses que estan acosando a los balleneros britanicos en aguas americanas, lo que supone una doble mision: llevar a cabo una investigacion al respecto y poner fin al problema mediante los metodos que considere mas oportunos. Es probablemente, la mejor novela de la serie.

decima entrega de Aubrey, la historia media enredada con muchas cosas que pasan, en el pacífico en medio de la guerra de 1812. ( )

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Omschrijving
Tijdens de Napoleontische oorlogen krijgt kapitein Jack Aubrey de opdracht om met zijn schip een pakketboot te begeleiden op zijn tocht naar Zuid-Amerika.

Kapitein Jack Aubrey hijst de zeilen voor een reis naar Kaap Hoorn. Hij zal een Amerikaans fregat moeten onderscheppen dat de Britse walvisjacht dreigt te verstoren. Zijn vriend Stephen Maturin is als altijd zijn trouwe reisgenoot, al heeft Aubrey geen idee van de geheime instructies die Maturin heeft gekregen. Deze reis voert hen langs de Zuid-Amerikaanse kust en via de Galápagoseilanden de Grote Oceaan op, waar Aubrey en Maturin onder meer te maken krijgen met een krijgslustig volk van Polynesische mannenhaatsters. De achtervolging bereikt haar hoogtepunt in een bloedstollende confrontatie met de Amerikanen.
De avonturen van Jack Aubrey en Stephen Maturin zijn op spectaculaire wijze verfilmd door Peter Weir, met in de hoofdrol Russell Crowe. ( )

The war of 1812 continues, and Jack Aubrey sets course for Cape Horn on a mission after his own heart: intercepting a powerful American frigate outward bound to play havoc with the British whaling trade. Stephen Maturin has fish of his own to fry in the world of secret intelligence. Disaster in various guises awaits them in the Great South Sea and in the far reaches of the Pacific: typhoons, castaways, shipwrecks, murder, and criminal insanity.