Goofs for
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Factual errors: In many scenes HMS Surprise/HMS Rose is clearly motoring, as the sails are either hanging limp or aback. In one scene the ship seems to be making at least 5 knots with all sails backed.
  
  
• Factual errors: Traditionally, and continuing to current times, toasts in the British Navy are not preceded by "to". For example, "Lord Nelson" not "To Lord Nelson".
  
  
• Factual errors: When Captain Aubrey orders the Surprise due South after battling around the horn, Lieutenant Pullings says, "Due South, Mr Bonden," to Barrett Bonden, who is at the wheel. The prefix "Mr" was used only for officers and would not have been used to refer to Bonden, who was the captain's coxswain and so not an officer.
  
  

• Revealing mistakes: When the crew is shown battling a leak below the waterline, the boat is pitching on the sea. However the water is not sloshing back and forth in the bilge/hold because the "pitching" of the boat is simulated by camera movement.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The distinctive Pinnacle Rock seen in the Galápagos was created by the US Navy using it for target practice in World War II.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After the doctor has been shot, we see him in the hammock being tended to. He is very pale. However, as the hammock shifts, you can see the makeup link just below is neck and the rest of his upper body is still normal color.
  
  
• Anachronisms: While Dr. Stephen Maturin describes the iguana-like lizards that live in the Galápagos as "vegetarians", the word vegetarian wasn't coined until 1842.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The worn-out parasol carried by the Native girl in the boat is a small folding carriage style that was not fashionable until the 1850s. Parasols at this time were much larger and didn't have a folding handle.
  
  
• Factual errors: As the "Surprise" sails around the Horn and the weather deteriorates, the ship begins to ice up. However, in one shot the icicles on the bow of the ship are hanging straight down, which could not happen unless the "Surprise" was becalmed.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Following the first encounter with the Acheron, Captain Aubrey inspects a chart using a magnifier. In the magnified image, a pattern of ink overspray is visible surrounding each letter in the phrase "Hidden Reef" as the magnifier is panned over it. Such a pattern is precisely characteristic of modern-day inkjet printers, but of neither quill pens or the printing presses of the period.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the credits, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams's name is spelled "Ralph Vaughn Williams".
  
  
• Continuity: When the ship is about to leave the Galapagos, Dr Maturin is on deck and has a growth of beard/moustache. He goes down to the cabin to remonstrate with Aubrey but appears there clean shaven. On deck again, slightly later, he has re-acquired his stubble.
  
  
• Continuity: In the opening scene when Surprise is attacked by Acheron, Captain Aubrey gives to command to "run out the starboard battery". We then cut to the gun deck showing the guns not yet run out. However the ship has already been "cleared for action" and a previous shot shows the starboard guns run out ready to fire.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the closing scenes, as the dead are buried at sea, the crew is saying the Lord's Prayer. Given the year, they would be using the version known by all from The Book of Common Prayer (1662 edition): "Our Father, which art in heaven..." Instead they say, "Our Father, who art in heaven..." the first instance of which actually appeared in the American Book of Common Prayer (1892 Revision). As a ship of the King's Navy, the established Anglican Book of Common Prayer would be the normative source of liturgy and prayer.
  
  
• Continuity: When Aubrey decides to follow the Acheron into Valpariso, he order's the crew beat to quarters. As a result, we see crew members and Royal Marines climbing the rigging into their assigned places on the mast. However, in the overhead shot of the Rose/Surprise, there are clearly no men positioned anywhere above the deck.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Despite his abundant talent and the hard work he put in to learn the violin, it is apparent on several occasions that Russell Crowe is miming the violin part.
  
  
• Factual errors: During the Storm when the Surprise is chasing the Acheron around Cape Horn, Barrett Bonden is shown alone at the wheel. It was customary on a Royal Navy vessel of the time to always have at least two men at the wheel both as a security measure in case one man was injured in battle, and because the rudder itself was extremely heavy and difficult to turn. During any sort of heavy weather there would certainly have been four or more men at the wheel as one man would not be able to control the rudder (which is why the ship has two connected wheels).
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When all the men are singing at the captain's table, the camera moves round the table. At one point it is knocked by something.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the final scene when Aubrey and Maturin are playing their instruments together, Aubrey briefly stops strumming his violin to put it to his neck. A violin can still be heard strumming as he does this.
  
  
• Factual errors: The sailors are seen on land having a game of cricket, and the bowler is bowling overarm. This did not become common until the 1860s.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The Doctor tells Aubrey that Lord Nelson must be an exception to the rule that "authority corrupts." This saying, however, was coined by Lord Acton, who was born in 1834, and thus this quotation wasn't in existence during when the movie would have taken place.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The geography of the Galapagos is misrepresented several times, e.g., having the dialog imply that they are next to Isabela Island when they are sailing near Pinnacle Rock, which is on Bartolome.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When Hollom has a panic attack after being menaced by the crew, Midshipman Blakeney asks "Are you O.K. Mr. Hollom?" Although the movie is set in 1805, according to the Webster New World Dictionary of the American Language (second college edition) "O.K." is an American colloquialism which was first used March 23, 1839 by C.G. Greene in the Boston Morning Post (Webster New World Dictionary of the American Language (second college edition) p. 989.)
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Shortly after the first encounter with the 'Acheron', the French privateer is described as being a 44-gun ship. Later, Aubrey claims that she has "more than twice our guns". However, since HMS 'Surprise' is a 28-gun frigate, 'Acheron' would have to mount at least 58 guns for Aubrey to be correct.
  
  
• Continuity: During the amputation of Blakeney's arm, Calamy's hands change position. During close-up shots of Blakeney's face, we see both of Calamy's hand on the tourniquet. During shots when the doctor changes instruments, both of Calamy's hands are on Blakeney's shoulders.
  
  
• Factual errors: Just after the beginning of the movie we see and hear eight bells being struck. This signals the end of a watch, however, it is clear from the scenes below decks that the watch is not actually being changed.
  
  
• Continuity: Prior to the first encounter with the Acheron we see the watch glass turned and eight bells struck. A few moments later, we see the glass turned again and six bells is stuck which would mean that three hours had passed, yet the ship is still clearing for action, something which would have taken ten to fifteen minutes.
  
  
• Continuity: Towards the end of the first battle, the captain's attention is called "... on the larboard bow" (port/left side). He proceeds forward and looks over the starboard bow (right side).
  
  
• Factual errors: When the Surprise, while disguised as a whaling ship, is being chased by the Acheron, the smoke from the Surprise is trailing behind her. That would only be possible if the wind was coming from dead ahead, which is impossible in a sailing vessel.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the beginning of the movie Surprise is shown with a white pennant, indicating she was under independent command; however, during the final fight with the Acheron the Surprise flies a Red Ensign. She should have been flying a White Ensign.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The silverware used at the Captain’s table and during the brain surgery scene is machine made and of a style that would not have been used till after the late 1830s when techniques for smithing changed. Spoons of that era would likely not be molded in one piece.
  
  
• Factual errors: The two insects referred to as 'weevils' during the scene around the Captains Mess table were most certainly not weevils. The insects historically referred to as 'biscuit weevils', at the time, were extremely small and would not have shown up on camera therefore some artistic licence was taken to make the scene work.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Mr. Blakeney has his right arm amputated after the first encounter with the Acheron, but later when Captain Aubrey is teaching the midshipmen how to work their sextants to determine noon, it appears that Mr. Blakeney still has both hands on his sextant. However, Captain Aubrey is assisting the midshipman by holding the sextant upright while Blakeney makes adjustments.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the closing credits there are two credits for the recorded cannon sounds. In both instances the word 'artillery' is misspelled 'artillary'.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the Bible is handed to Crowe for morning devotions while they are becalmed, it is opened more than halfway through the book, but Job appears in the first half of the book and would have been much earlier in the Bible than represented.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): As two seamen enter Aubry's cabin to present him with a model of the "phantom's" hull, both salute the captain. However, one salutes with his left hand while the other salutes with his right. A proper salute is completed with the right hand. In fact, as the seamen leave the Captain's cabin, both salute with their right hands.
  
  
• Factual errors: During the cannon-firing practice Aubrey has the crew perform, he throws various questions at the crew, enticing them to work faster. The last of the questions he asks is: "Do you want your children to sing 'La Marseillaise'!?" The crew yells in unison: "NO!" Under Napoleon I, 'La Marseillaise' had been banned, due to Napoleon being an emperor, and 'La Marseillaise' being a song for the French republicans. 'La Marseillaise' would not again become the national anthem of France until 1830. So technically, no matter who won the battle in the movie, no one would be singing 'La Marseillaise'.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the beginning of the movie, a caption reads: "APRIL - 1805. NAPOLEON IS MASTER OF EUROPE. ONLY THE BRITISH FLEET STANDS BEFORE HIM". This was not technically true. Although France was the most powerful country in Europe at the time, France had not yet conquered Portugal - a European world power. France also was never able to fully conquer neither Spain nor Russia - both of which were world powers. Scandinavia was never conquered by Napoleon. As well, Ireland and Great Britain were never conquered by Napoleon.
  
  

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