That was one of O'Brien's late-life brain slips. The actual novel _The Far Side of the World_ had a gunner's wife aboard, with spectacularly disasterous results, whom Steven interacted with a lot. But apparently the adultery thread didn't make it into the movie, just like the US naval frigate.
Cheers--
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Elizabeth Ragan [log in to unmask]
Anthropology 410-548-4502
History Department
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Salisbury University
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>>> [log in to unmask] 12/04/03 02:46PM >>>
On the whole topic of women on board, O'Brian backpeddled ungracefully in one of the last books of the series (after The Far Side of the World).