Hornblower and the Atropos

Last updated
Hornblower and the Atropos
HornblowerAndTheAtropos.jpg
First edition cover
Author C. S. Forester
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Horatio Hornblower
Genre Historical novel
Publisher Michael Joseph
Publication date
1953
Media typeHardcover & paperback
Pages285 pp
Preceded by Hornblower and the Crisis
(1967) 
Followed by The Happy Return
(1937) 

Hornblower and the Atropos is a 1953 historical novel by C.S. Forester.

Contents

Horatio Hornblower is posted to HMS Atropos , the smallest vessel in the Royal Navy that merits command by a post-captain, as he salvages treasure from the Mediterranean Sea.

Plot summary

On a December day in 1805, Hornblower travels with his very pregnant wife and their son to London on a canal boat via the Thames and Severn Canal and the Thames. He is excited about getting his new orders and obtaining his first command as a post-captain. On the canal, the assistant boatman becomes incapacitated through drink, thus allowing Hornblower the opportunity to learn much of canal boat operation when he volunteers to take the man's place at the boat's helm.

Upon their arrival in London, Hornblower assumes command of the Atropos. His first assignment is a unique one: to organise Admiral Horatio Nelson's funeral. The Battle of Trafalgar had just taken place, in which Nelson was shot and killed by a musket. The whole nation is in deep mourning and all eyes are on the funeral. The funeral consists of a procession on the Thames between Greenwich Pier and Whitehall Steps, during which the ceremonial barge conveying Nelson's coffin springs a leak. The crew, after frantic bailing, barely manage to unload the coffin without disrupting the proceedings noticeably.

Once Hornblower finishes with the funeral, he is presented to the King at Court. He is informed that the King's nephew, a German prince driven out of his principality by Napoleon, is to be one of his midshipmen on the Atropos. Hornblower's treatment of the prince is a continuing subplot.

Hornblower is then sent to collect from Gibraltar three Sinhalese pearl divers and their quarrelsome salvage master to recover treasure from a sunken British ship, the Speedwell, which went down in Marmorice Bay in Turkey carrying a fortune in silver and gold – the pay chests of the British Army in Egypt. Hornblower is given the salvage operation. The Turks are already aware of the presence of the gold, and in the weeks Atropos is present in Marmorice become aware of the supposedly secret recovery operation. They bring a Turkish warship into the bay, and man a previously deserted fort, trapping Atropos. When the Turks demand all the money Hornblower has so far recovered, he puts them off until the following morning. In the middle of the night, he makes a daring escape by an extremely perilous route, avoiding both ship and fort, and outsmarting the Turks.

Following Hornblower's delivery of the treasure at Gibraltar, he helps capture a Spanish ship, the Castilla, and makes his way into a Sicilian port for repairs. He does such a fine job that his ship attracts the notice of the King of The Two Sicilies. The British government transfers the vessel to the Sicilian navy in return for the King's allegiance. Hornblower makes his way back to England, only to find both of his children mortally ill with smallpox.

Inconsistencies

Other books in the series refer to Hornblower capturing the Castilla as a lieutenant, but he is a captain in this book, which actually describes the battle. [1] Confusingly, the obscure short story "The Hand of Destiny" (1940) also describes an entirely different action featuring Lieutenant Hornblower capturing the Castilla. Forester, apparently, would retcon Hornblower's history, overwriting the events of his short stories in subsequent novel-length works. "The fact that he discouraged the re-publication of the short stories is an indicator that he gave the novels' events preference. Also, in this book it is mentioned that Hornblower is presented to King George III for the first time. However, In "Flying Colours" Hornblower mentioned to Frere that he was presented at court in " '98'" 1798 should be somewhere in between being prisoner at Ferrol and sailing with "Renown" to the Caribbean, (see "Lieutenant Hornblower". [2]

Related Research Articles

C. S. Forester British novelist, "Hornblower" author

Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 10-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars. The Hornblower novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938. His other works include The African Queen and The Good Shepherd.

Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Napoleonic Wars–era Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films, radio and television programmes, and C. Northcote Parkinson elaborated a definitive biography.

<i>Hornblower</i> (TV series) Series of British television films

Hornblower is a series of British historical fiction war television films based on three of C. S. Forester's ten novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Sixth-rate Historical category for Royal Navy vessels, based on number of guns

In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and sometimes without. It thus encompassed ships with up to 30 guns in all. In the first half of the 18th century the main battery guns were 6-pounders, but by mid-century these were supplanted by 9-pounders. 28-gun sixth rates were classed as frigates, those smaller as 'post ships', indicating that they were still commanded by a full ('post') captain, as opposed to sloops of 18 guns and less under commanders.

Speedwell was a 60-ton pinnace that, along with Mayflower, transported the Pilgrims and was the smaller of the two ships. A vessel of the same name and size traveled to the New World seventeen years prior as the flagship of the first expedition of Martin Pring.

<i>Captain Horatio Hornblower</i> 1951 film by Raoul Walsh

Captain Horatio Hornblower is a 1951 British-American naval swashbuckling war film in Technicolor from Warner Bros., produced by Gerry Mitchell, directed by Raoul Walsh, that stars Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty and Terence Morgan.

<i>Mr. Midshipman Hornblower</i>

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. Although it may be considered as the first episode in the Hornblower saga, it was written as a prequel; the first Hornblower novel, The Happy Return, was published in 1937.

<i>Lieutenant Hornblower</i>

Lieutenant Hornblower is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It is the second book in the series chronologically, but the seventh by order of publication.

The Even Chance is the first of eight Hornblower television adaptations relating the exploits of Horatio Hornblower, the protagonist in a series of novels and short stories by C.S. Forester. The Even Chance is the name given to this first film in the United Kingdom, while in the United States it is known as The Duel. Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd plays the title role.

<i>The Commodore</i>

The Commodore is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It was published in the United States under the title Commodore Hornblower.

The Examination for Lieutenant is an episode of the British television series Hornblower. It is loosely based on part of the 1950 novel Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester. It was released on DVD in the United States under the title The Fire Ships.

<i>Flying Colours</i> (novel)

Flying Colours is a Horatio Hornblower novel by C. S. Forester, originally published 1938 as the third in the series, but now eighth by internal chronology. It describes the adventures of Hornblower and his companions escaping from imprisonment in Napoleonic France and returning to England. It is one of three Hornblower novels adapted into the 1951 British-American film Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N..

Captain William Bush RN is a fictional character in C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series. He is Hornblower's best friend, and serves with Hornblower in the Royal Navy prior to the Peace of Amiens and again during the Napoleonic Wars.

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Royal Navy Admiral

Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté,, also known simply as Admiral Nelson, was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was wounded in combat, losing sight in one eye in Corsica at the age of 35, and most of one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife when he was 38. He was fatally shot during his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The Action of 19 December 1796 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in the last stages of the Mediterranean campaign between two British Royal Navy frigates and two Spanish Navy frigates off the coast of Murcia. The British squadron was the last remaining British naval force in the Mediterranean, sent to transport the British garrison of Elba to safety under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson. The Spanish under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart were the vanguard of a much larger squadron. One Spanish frigate was captured and another damaged before Spanish reinforcements drove the British off and recaptured the lost ship.

The Duchess and the Devil is the third episode of the British television series Hornblower. The episode first aired on 24 February 1999 on ITV. The television story is loosely based on C. S. Forester's 1950 novel Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, chapter "Hornblower, the Duchess, and the Devil".

Retribution is the sixth episode of the British film series Hornblower. It was released on 25 March 2002, nearly three years after the first four films and the day after the fifth episode, Mutiny, of which it is a continuation. It is based on the 1952 book Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester.

The Hand of Destiny is a short story C.S. Forester wrote about his most popular character, Horatio Hornblower, written in 1940, and published in Collier's magazine. Sanford Sternlicht, author of C. S. Forester and the Hornblower Saga notes the story has multiple inconsistencies with later stories. He also notes elements of the story that Forester re-used, in later stories.

Hornblower and His Majesty is a short story published in 1940 by C.S. Forester set during the War of 1812. Forester's fictional character Horatio Hornblower's is placed command of the Royal Yacht Augusta during a nautical expedition of the King George III and his entourage, for the benefit of the King's health.

References

  1. Sanford Sternlicht (1999). C. S. Forester and the Hornblower Saga. Syracuse University Press. p. 91. ISBN   9780815606215.
  2. "Hornblower trivia, Physical description: Miscellaneous". 2008. Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. specifically referencing Castilla inconsistency