Author | C. S. Forester |
---|---|
Cover artist | Val Biro |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Horatio Hornblower |
Genre | Historical novel |
Publisher | Michael Joseph, London |
Publication date | 1952 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 253 |
ISBN | 1859989764 |
OCLC | 22239426 |
Preceded by | Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (1950) |
Followed by | Hornblower and the Hotspur (1962) |
Text | Lieutenant Hornblower online |
Lieutenant Hornblower (published 1952) 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 book is unique in the series in being told not from Horatio Hornblower's point of view, but rather from Bush's. This helped Forester to explain Hornblower's unsuitable first marriage besides giving an objective view of Hornblower himself. [1] This unusual narrative perspective also allows Forester to sustain a mystery, advanced hint by hint in the course of the novel, about how Captain Sawyer came to be injured—an event possibly witnessed by Hornblower.
William Bush, who becomes Hornblower's faithful companion and best friend, is introduced boarding HMS Renown as the third lieutenant. Hornblower is the fifth and most junior lieutenant. It is quickly apparent that Captain James Sawyer suffers from paranoia, constantly suspecting plots to undermine his authority and inflicting irrational and arbitrary punishments upon Hornblower and the other officers. A young volunteer named Wellard suffers particularly badly. Four of the lieutenants meet in secret in the lower decks to discuss what can be done, but are interrupted when Wellard warns them that the captain is on his way to arrest "mutineers". The officers scatter. Then they learn that the captain has fallen head-first into the hold.
When the captain regains consciousness, he has entirely lost his reason due to the fall, and is incapable of resuming command. Buckland, the first lieutenant, takes charge. Ordered to capture an anchorage from which Spanish privateers are operating, he organises a clumsy frontal attack, which is repulsed. Hornblower suggests a surprise attack at night. Bush leads the successful attack, but it is Hornblower who is instrumental in negotiating the unconditional surrender of the remaining Spanish forces.
The Spanish base at Samaná is destroyed, a Spanish privateer and some small craft are captured and Buckland's promotion seems assured. Unfortunately for him, the Spanish prisoners seize control of the Renown during the night, taking Buckland prisoner while he is asleep in his cot. Hornblower alertly retakes the ship, but in the desperate fighting, Bush is severely wounded and the helpless Sawyer is killed.
Upon their return to port, there is an awkward court of enquiry. Hornblower repeatedly denies any knowledge of how Captain Sawyer came to fall into the hold. Anxious to protect Sawyer's reputation, the court convicts no one, but Buckland is passed over, and Hornblower is promoted to commander.
Unfortunately, the Peace of Amiens (1802) is signed before Hornblower's promotion can be confirmed, and he is restored to the rank of lieutenant. Moreover, the demotion is retroactive, so he must gradually repay the additional money he had received as commander. Reduced to poverty, he ekes out a living by playing whist for a modest stipend (plus whatever he wins or loses) at an upper-class gaming establishment. He resides in a lodging house, where he meets his future first wife Maria (née Mason), the daughter of the landlady. Bush meets him several times, and notes in a newspaper that Midshipman Wellard, a suspect in Sawyer's fall into the hold, has drowned in an accident.
The Peace of Amiens comes to an end in 1803. War has not yet begun, but is imminent, as evinced by a press gang Hornblower and Bush encounter. Hornblower's promotion is confirmed (by a Lord of the Admiralty he impresses with his exceptional cardplaying skills) and he is appointed commander of a sloop-of-war.
This novel provides the material for episodes 5 and 6 of the Hornblower series of television films, which concern the voyage of the Renown and the subsequent enquiry, and for some scenes at the beginning of episode 7.
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 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic Wars.
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and C. Northcote Parkinson elaborated a "biography" of him, The True Story of Horatio Hornblower.
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"Hornblower and the Widow McCool" is a short story by C. S. Forester featuring his fictional naval hero Horatio Hornblower. It was first published in the 9 December 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post as "Hornblower's Temptation" and then in the UK in the April 1951 Argosy as "Hornblower and the Big Decision." It was published as "Hornblower and the Widow McCool" along with the unfinished novel Hornblower and the Crisis and the short story "The Last Encounter" in 1967, after Forester's death. The story is set after Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and before Lieutenant Hornblower.
Alan Lewrie is the fictional hero and main character of Dewey Lambdin's naval adventure series of novels set during the American and the French Revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars. The series spanned some twenty-five novels with a 26th reportedly in progress at the time of Mr. Lambdin's death in July 2021.
Mutiny is the fifth episode of the British film series Hornblower. It was released on April 8, 2001. It is based on the 1952 book Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester. Mutiny was written by T. R. Bowen and directed by Andrew Grieve.
Retribution is the sixth episode of the British film series Hornblower. It was released on 15 April 2001, the week after the fifth episode, Mutiny, of which it is a continuation. It is based on the 1952 book Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester.
Loyalty is the seventh film of the British TV film series Hornblower, based on the books by C. S. Forester, particularly Hornblower and the Hotspur. It was released on 5 January 2003, nearly four years after the first four films and nine months after the next two films.
Duty is the eighth and final episode of the British TV series Hornblower, based on the 1962 book Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester. It was released on 6 January 2003, a day after episode 7: Loyalty.
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.