The Far Side of the World 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 part of the title and some of the plot-structure for the 2003 Peter Weir film, "". 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". In reviewing the
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Galapagos Islands we get a beautifully filmed sequence about how the dawn of scientific enlightenment might have felt." "San Francisco Chronicle" film reviewer Mick LaSalle was generally downbeat and, after praising director Weir’s handling of scenes with no dialog, observed that “Weir is less surefooted as a screenwriter. Having not read any of O'Brian's novels, I can't say if the fault is in Weir's adaptation or in the source material, but halfway into "Master and Commander," the friendship of the captain and the doctor begins to seem schematic, as if all the positive traits that an individual could have were