Plot Summary

Prequel to the 2003 film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" that adapts the first book in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian released in 1969 and titled "Master and Commander": Jack Aubrey is elated to be given his first appointment as commander: the fourteen-gun ship HMS Sophie. Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. He invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie’s surgeon.