The Men Who Spoke To Hornblower

The daring lives of the men who created the 18th century British Navy and famed the world of 21st century nautical fiction. Millions of readers have thrilled to the high seas adventures of characters such as: Horatio Hornblower, Jack Aubrey and Nicholas Ramage. They are characters in nautical fiction, but their exploits are based on people whose contributions and courage were very real indeed. Could Hornblower have possible been unaware of Rodney’s famous maneuver at the Battle of the Saints? Could Aubrey not have been influenced by Nelson’s technique at the Battle of the Nile? Would Ramage have ever proceeded into a fleet action without the signaling system devised by Howe? Would any of our literary heroes have been unaware of the exploits of Anson, Hawke, Duncan and Keppel? The answer, of course, is no. The great fighting captains of the Napoleonic era¾real and fictional¾were both informed and inspired by the greats that went before them. Presented here are the stories of seven of those great admirals. If you wish to truly understand Hornblower, Aubrey and Ramage, this is the place you must start. (Adapted from Geoffrey Callender's: The Sea Kings of Britain, 1907)

In April 1803, as the Peace of Amiens crumbles and Napoleon grows formidable, Horatio Hornblower, a renowned and audacious officer in the Royal Navy, helms the Hotspur on a dangerous survey mission. This mission unravels into a series of breathtaking clashes amidst the outbreak of war. In the middle of it all, Hornblower grapples with understanding his new bride, his comrades, and his own tormented disposition. These concerns weigh heavily on him alongside the looming threat of Bonaparte's cannons.

The first Horatio Hornblower Tale of the Sea 1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Midshipman Horatio Hornblower receives his first command . . . As a seventeen-year-old with a touch of sea sickness, young Horatio Hornblower hardly cuts a dash in His Majesty's navy. Yet from the moment he is ordered to board a French merchant ship in the Bay of Biscay and take command of crew and cargo, he proves his seafaring mettle on the waves. After a character-forming duel, several deadly chases and some dramatic captures and escapes, the young Hornblower is soon forged into a formidable man of the sea. This is the first of eleven books chronicling the nautical adventures of C. S. Forester's inimitable hero, Horatio Hornblower. Featuring an exclusive introduction by Bernard Cornwell, creator of Sharpe 'Absolutely compelling. One of the great masters of narrative' San Francisco Chronicle

An omnibus edition compromising of four C S Forester's classic seafaring tales about Horatio Hornblower, namely: Flying Colours, The Commodore, Lord Hornblower and Hornblower in the West Indies.

Horatio Hornblower, a knight of the Bath, is assigned to suppress a revolt on board a Royal Navy ship. He succeeds and, with help, captures Le Havre. Then follows several adventures and a catastrophic affair in France, with Hornblower's eventual return to his country and reunion with his wife.

With the war on hold, many seamen are left uselessly on dry land. Hornblower is just one of those who are now out of work and concerned about their futures. In his downtime, he gets married out of pity. But things change when he is made Commander in a sloop and is sent off to the Brest blockade as the inevitable war resumes.

Horatio Hornblower, a knight of the Bath, is assigned to suppress a revolt on board a Royal Navy ship. He succeeds and, with help, captures Le Havre. Then follows several adventures and a catastrophic affair in France, with Hornblower's eventual return to his country and reunion with his wife.

Weary of the war that he has waged nearly his entire life, Hornblower finds himself assigned an especially dangerous and dubious new task; to rescue a man he knows to be a tyrant from the mutiny of his crew in the Bay of the Seine. This risky adventure, coinciding with reports that the tide of war may be turning-as Wellington has swept over the Pyrenees and the Russians have reached the Rhine-propels Hornblower toward the heart of the French Empire, toward a fateful reunion with old friends, and toward the harrowing but glorious conclusion of his own battle with Napoleon.