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 O'Brian, but the basic plot mostly comes from "The Far Side of the World". However, in the film version, the action takes place in 1805, during the Napoleonic wars, instead of 1813 during the Anglo-American War of 1812, as the producers wished to avoid offending American audiences. In consequence, the fictional opponent was changed from the USS "Norfolk" to the French privateer frigate "Acheron". "Acheron" in the film was reconstructed by the film's special-effects team who took stem-to-stern digital scans of USS "Constitution" at her berth in Boston, from which the computer model of "Acheron" was rendered. The stern chase