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Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, originally the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester, and later the subject of films and television programs.
Life
According to Forester, Hornblower was born on July 4, 1776.
Hornblower is a skilled pilot and navigator. He is philosophically opposed to capital punishment to the extent that he contrives escape for a crewman condemned to the yard-arm in Hornblower and the Hotspur. This, despite believing that severe corporal punishment (e.g. flogging round the fleet and keelhauling) is the only way to maintain discipline in the face of severe privation. Despite near-constant success, he judges himself lacking professionally and personally. He is contemptuous of those around him (including both his wives and his best friend, Capt. Bush), but strives to shield them from his contempt and savages himself for failing to possess those qualities of theirs he sees as desirable.
Hornblower's exploits include confronting Spanish fire ships during his exam for Lieutenant, surviving a Captain with paranoid schizophrenia, orchestrating the funeral of Horatio Nelson from a sinking barge conveying the coffin, recovering sunken treasure with the aid of pearl divers from Ceylon, and having his ship gifted to the King of the Two Sicilies for diplomatic reasons. And that's just the first 5 books.
As in the novels of Frederick Marryat and Patrick O'Brian, many of Hornblower's exploits are based upon those of Horatio Nelson and Thomas Cochrane. Brian Perett has written a book The Real Hornblower: The Life and Times of Admiral Sir James Gordon, GCB, ISBN 1557509689, presenting the case for a different inspiration.
A "biography" of Hornblower, called The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, was published in 1970 by C. Northcote Parkinson.
The Hornblower novels
The novels, in the order they were written:
- The Happy Return (called Beat to Quarters in America)
- A Ship of the Line (called simply Ship of the Line in America)
- Flying Colours (spelled Flying Colors in America)
- Commodore Hornblower
- Lord Hornblower
- Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (collected short stories)
- Hornblower and the Atropos
- Lieutenant Hornblower
- Hornblower in the West Indies
- Hornblower and the Hotspur
- Hornblower and the Crisis (unfinished novel + short stories)
In chronological order:
- Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (collected short stories)
- Lieutenant Hornblower
- Hornblower and the Hotspur
- Hornblower and the Atropos
- Hornblower and the Crisis (unfinished novel + short stories)
- The Happy Return (called Beat to Quarters in America)
- A Ship of the Line (called simply Ship of the Line in America)
- Flying Colours (spelled Flying Colors in America)
- Commodore Hornblower
- Lord Hornblower
- Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower's ships
- Justinian (Midshipman)
- Indefatigable (Midshipman)
- Renown, 2 decker (Lieutenant)
- Hotspur (Hornblower and the Hotspur,Hornblower and the Crisis)
- Atropos, 22 gun large sloop (Hornblower and the Atropos)
- Lydia, 36 gun frigate (The Happy Return)
- Navtividad, 50 gun 2 decker (The Happy Return)
- HMS Sutherland (A Ship of the Line)
- Witch of Endor, 10 gun French cutter (Flying Colours)
- Nonsuch (Commodore Hornblower,Lord Hornblower)
- Lotus, Raven sloops (Commodore Hornblower)
- Moth, Harvey, bomb-ketches (Commodore Hornblower)
- Clam cutter (Commodore Hornblower)
- Flame and Porta Coeli, 18 gun brigs (Lord Hornblower)
- Camilla, 36 gun flush decked frigate (Lord Hornblower)
- Crab, schooner (Hornblower in the West Indies)
- Phoebe, Clorinda, Roebuck, frigates (Hornblower in the West Indies)
Hornblower in other media
External link
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