10 facts you may not have known about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

1. The film is an adaptation of three novels of Patrict Obrian's Aubrey-Maturin series which includes a total of 20 novels following Jack Aubrey's naval career. Jack Aubrey is a fictional character in the Aubrey-Maturin series who rises from a lieutenant to a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

2. Although Jack Aubrey (played by Russell Crowe in the film) is a fictional character it is believed that the inspiration of the character was taken from Captain Thomas Cochrane and Captain William Woolsey.

3. The film takes place around 1805 during the Napoleonic War instead of the Anglo-American War of 1812, as the producers of the film wished to avoid offending American audiences so decided to have the fight between the British and French.

4. Only 10 days were actually spent filming at sea aboard the Rose (an 18th century reproduction of a 20-gun (seaford class) 6-rate post ship of the Royal Navy called the HMS Rose previously called the HMS Surprise like in the film) and the rest was shot on a replica in a large tank at Baja Studio.

5. Sound designer Richard King and Peter Weir wanted the sounds of gun battle to be authentic and as close to the way the novel describes the sounds of the battles that take place. Which lead them both to Michigan where they located a 24 pounder cannon and a 12 pounder cannon that they were able to fire and record the sound of at a nearby national guard base and lead Richard King to earning an Oscar for the sound effects on the film.

6. Russel Crowe plays most of the violin himself in the film and has said it was the single hardest thing he's ever had to learn for a film.

7. The film totals more than 750 visual effects shots which include CGI, miniatures, live-action, and full scale VFX, In pre-production Peter Weir was uncertain about using computer generated imagery and how it would effect his film but he was reassured it would work after watching Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring which used miniatures and then added CGI later to give it a look of depth that would go on to inspire Peter.

8. The studio tank used to film the replica ship scenes was the same tank used to film the Titanic being able to fit about 200 crew members inside the studio.

9. Peter Weir shot footage of a real Typhoon for the sole purpose of putting it in the film.

10. Master and Commander was the first film to ever shoot in the Galapagos Islands.