The 2003 film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is based on the 1969 novel of the same title by Patrick O'Brian along with some of his other novels set in the early 1800's about a British Navy captain and his friend, a surgeon. The British sailing warship HMS Surprise (HMS is Her Majesty's Ship for Queen Anne) is ordered to locate and destroy a French warship the Acheron which has been attacking British whaling ships. Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) is the commander of the Surprise and Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) is a medical doctor who is the ship's surgeon. At one point Dr. Maturin uses a silver dollar sized coin to repair a skull fracture and later, during a battle, a sailor handles a similar coin. Captain Aubrey wears a naval medal at a funeral.

The film begins with a prologue:

The captain and some midshipmen use telescopes to search the ocean. One man spots a ship in a fog bank which turns out to be the Acheron which attacks the Surprise. The Acheron is a larger ship with more guns and a reinforced hull and badly damages the Surprise.

The Surprise is towed by boats into the fog and eludes the Acheron. The crew begins work repairing the ship. The ship's officers hold a meeting to decide what to do.

Some officers want to give up the pursuit but Captain Aubrey orders the pursuit to continue. Some sailors were injured in the battle and the doctor works on them.

The coin appears to be a silver dollar sized coin. At that time it would probably be a Spanish eight reales coin which were in circulation in Britain. The carpenter hands the coin to the doctor.

The doctor receives the coin.

The doctor examines the coin which has four holes drilled in it.

The doctor inserts the coin to patch the sailor's skull.

The captain has written a letter to his wife Sophie in England.

The letter is dated "Tuesday 14 May 1805."

The Surprise docks in a Brazilian city and picks ups mail.

The crew spots something interesting.

She is the only woman in the film.

Another ship is following the Surprise.

Both ships sail south around the tip of South America and into the Pacific Ocean. Captain Aubrey believes that the Acheron is headed to the Galapagos Islands to prey on the British whaling (whale hunting) fleet. The Surprise heads for the Galapagos.

Dr. Maturin is also a naturalist and he wants to collect specimens of the strange animals living there.

Some survivors of a British whaling ship appear and are taken on board the Surprise. They tell of an attack by the Acheron. On the Surprise Dr. Maturin is accidently shot and the Surprise docks at the island.

The doctor is taken to the island where he operates on himself to remove the bullet. The crew spends some time on the island and when he recovers the doctor and a midshipman look for animal specimens. The doctor climbs a hill and spots the Acheron. He immediately runs and is then carried downhill to report the sighting. Captain Aubrey decides the the only way to attack the Acheron is to disguise the Surprise as a whaling ship and lure the Surprise close to it. The crewmen stow their British uniforms and dress as a supposed motley crew of a whaling ship.

The Acheron takes the bait and attacks the "whaler."

Below the deck the guns are ready and while waiting for the attack a sailor handles a coin.

The coin appears to also be a silver dollar.

There is a slight impression of a head on the coin.

Both ships are damaged and the Surprise's crew boards the Acheron and takes the ship. Captain Aubrey conducts a funeral service for the dead sailors.

The captain wears the "Battle of the Nile" silver medal which was awarded to officers who participated in the 1798 battle between the British and the French in Egypt.

Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey
Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin, Surgeon
James D'Arcy as First Lieutenant Thomas Pullings
Director: Peter Weir
Writers: Peter Weir, John Collee
Based on the 1969 novel Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian