The Far Side of the World

At Gibraltar, Jack is ordered to take the Surprise around Cape Horn and protect British whalers in the Pacific from the American frigate USS Norfolk. Aboard, the gunner Horner's young wife has an affair with midshipman Hollom and gets pregnant, and Stephen saves her life after a botched abortion. At the Juan Fernández Islands, Horner kills his wife and Hollom. Jack and Stephen fall overboard, are rescued by Polynesian women and left on a tiny island. After a typhoon, the Surprise finds the Norfolk wrecked on a reef. Living alongside the American crew is tense, and the book ends in a fight over an American whaler.

1. ChangeAmerican becomes French

   In the book the enemy is the American frigate USS Norfolk, during the War of 1812. The film swaps in a French privateer, the Acheron, and moves back to 1805 and the Napoleonic Wars.

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2. ChangeA different end for Hollom

   In the book, midshipman Hollom has an affair with the gunner's young wife and is killed by the husband. In the film, the crew brands him a Jonah and he throws himself overboard.

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3. ChangeThe Galápagos are just a stop

   In the book, the Surprise stops at the Galápagos and keeps hunting all the way to the Marquesas. Jack and Stephen fall overboard, and the Norfolk ends up wrecked on a reef. The film turns the islands into the stage for the final battle.

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4. ChangeWhere's the spy?

   The book opens with Stephen learning the French have infiltrated British intelligence. The film drops his spy work entirely, which Christopher Hitchens complained about.

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