Aubrey–Maturin series Times" Best Seller list. These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to the English literature canon. The 2003 film "" took material from books in this series, notably "Master and Commander", "HMS Surprise", "The Letter of Marque", "The Fortune of War", and particularly "The Far Side of the World". Russell Crowe played the role of Jack Aubrey, and Paul Bettany that of Stephen Maturin. Patrick O'Brian's "The Golden Ocean" (1956) and "The Unknown Shore" (1959) both depict fictional pairs of young men, loosely
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World events in no one novel. The author drew from real events in the Napoleonic Wars, as he describes in the introduction to the first novel, "Master and Commander". Many have speculated on which Royal Navy captain matches the fictional character most. The author claims no one real captain was the model for his fictional character. The Royal Navy Museum considers Captain Lord Cochrane as the inspiration for the character in the first novel, "Master and Commander". Taylor, author of a biography of Pellew, puts forth Captain Sir Edward Pellew as one of the inspirations for Aubrey's fictional career and traits.