Summary for The Far Side of the World
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| SPOILER WARNING: Plot or ending details for "The Far Side of the World" follow. |
A chapter by chapter look at The Far Side of the World
Contents |
CHAPTER 1
Gibraltar - Jack worried about failure at Zambra - Admiral Ives out of temper - interrupted by Emperor of Morocco - Jack declines his invitation, to dine with Laura and Charles Fielding instead - soft-hearted Jack takes on Hollom, obvious Jonah - Billy Sutton tells of Boulay's 'suicide' and Ives's savagery - but also sense of humour - mail; Diana upset by rumours about Laura Fielding, Blaine disquieted by Whitehall machinations - Stephen writes to Diana for Wray to carry - Ives says Jack has won a victory - no one regrets Harte - Ives becomes a peer - Jack ordered to Pacific, to pursue American Norfolk - South American politics.
CHAPTER 2
Equipping Surprise for Pacific, many interruptions - Dundas introduces Allen, expert on whalers - Stephen birdwatching, tries to refuse Admiral's invitation - dinner conversation, deodands - Pocock explains South American situation, money hidden in Danae - Stephen takes Higgins as mate - Martin taken as schoolmaster - coloured bargemen in Iris - Pullings to sail as volunteer - Allen as master - Horner as gunner with pretty wife - crew made up with mutineers and lunatics - Padeen Colman included as lunatic.
CHAPTER 3
Surprise heads for Cape St Roque to cut off Norfolk - dinner with officers, lobscouse, terrible goose pie - Allen speaks of whaling, Spanish Disturbance explained, rounding the Horn, killing a whale, spermaceti, ambergris, wicked finwhales - Tenerife sighted - Defenders unhappy, ventriloquism - Scourge the bosun's cat - Horner consults Stephen for impotence - Nagel flogged for insubordination - Stephen bleeds crew, catches sharks with the blood - Hollom serenades Mrs Horner.
CHAPTER 4
Jack and Stephen swimming - Indiamen sighted - Stephen worried by anonymous letters - Mowett admires Homer's Iliad - doldrums or variables - short of water - discontent, Surprises versus Defenders, Hollom and Mrs Horner misbehaving - ship painted - boobies from St Paul's Rocks - Stephen asked to correct Martin's love-letter - Line crossed, on Sunday with wet paint - Cape St Roque, Norfolk has not passed - water shortage critical - Surprise struck by lightning - Stephen and Martin go ashore on Sao Francisco river.
CHAPTER 5
Surprise creeps into Penedo - Sr Lopez's brisk shipyard - Stephen talks with Peruvian guest, introduced to coca - botanizing, Martin bitten by ape - Norfolk has passed - bowsprit finished by turn of tide - pilot drunk, grounds on mudbank at high spring tide - stuck for two weeks - Stephen admires Jack's fortitude - wonderful botanizing, boa constrictor - now sixteen days behind Norfolk - race for the Horn - Higgins unsatisfactory - Mrs Horner pregnant, terrified of Horner - sperm whale sighted - Mrs Horner procures abortion from Higgins, nearly dies - Danae sighted, in American hands, chased and taken - gold lost to Norfolk, but banknotes and bills recovered - Pullings sent home with Danae and dispatches - Joe Plaice trepanned - storm blows down to the Horn - adverse winds and heavy weather, Stephen injured - signs of scurvy - Hollom and Mrs Horner revive.
CHAPTER 6
Juan Fernandez Island - ship and crew recovered, but no sign of Norfolk - sail sighted, anchor weighing, capstan fails - Horner last aboard, bloodstained, says Hollom has deserted with Mrs Horner - Jack mystified, Stephen clarifies - chase is neutral Spanish merchantman - news of Norfolk, north of Valparaiso - crew uneasy, Horner drinking - accuses Stephen - Higgins terrified - Marine shoots sea-creature's child - Higgins gets Jonah's lift - sea-creature wails round ship - Horner hangs himself - Stephen refuses to revive him - Acapulco whaler sighted - ship cheered up - chase, fine prize - Norfolk headed for Huahiva to make Earthly Paradise - Allen sent to take Acapulco into Valparaiso.
CHAPTER 7
Galapagos, difficult strait - iguanas, tortoises, etc - boat from Intrepid Fox, taken by Norfolk - Jack won't allow Stephen to go ashore - midshipman swallows grapeshot - gunroom dinner, poetry, Galapagos pudding - crossing Pacific on the equator - specktioneer Hogg, undisciplined - Stephen falls in Pacific, Jack after him - picked up by pahi - female crew - very hostile - Jack and Stephen marooned.
CHAPTER 8
Jack calculates possibility of rescue - climbs palm tree, Surprise in sight, but far to leeward - Stephen mystified by coral - rescue by Honey in launch - return to Surprise - Martin, Hogg, three others wounded in encounter with pahi - Stephen humbled.
CHAPTER 9
Glad to be alive - divisions - Stephen and Martin discuss women, phalaropes - suggested boxing match, Stephen had met the Game Chicken - dirty weather, typhoon - Stephen falls, concussed, deep coma - Martin urged to trepan, too much motion - Old Sodbury's island sighted - log run off the reel - Norfolk sunk in channel - Mr Butcher, surgeon of Norfolk - war over, they say - he willing to trepan - Stephen recovers just in time - disagreement with Captain Palmer - Hermione deserters - dirty night, Surprise vanished by morning.
CHAPTER 10
Jack's experience of weather - doubts Palmer's word - story of Hermione - no sign of Surprise - food short - ill-feeling between Norfolks and Surprises - Jack plans to lengthen the launch - search for yams - Jack sights American whaler - hard work, catching sharks, making weapons, carpentry - Norfolks try to borrow, then steal, carpenter's tools - Jack negotiates return of tools - whaler arrives - battle, Hermione informer killed - Surprise appears in pursuit.
