Captain Hornblower RN
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Hornblower's Ships
Names of Ships from the Hornblower Books. Introduction Hornblower’s biographer, C S Forester, wrote eleven books covering the most active and dramatic episodes of the life of his subject. In addition, he also wrote a Hornblower “Companion” and the so called three “lost” short stories. There were some years and activities in Hornblower’s life that were not written about before the biographer’s death and therefore not recorded. However, the books and stories that were published describe not only what Hornblower did and thought about his life and career but also mentioned in varying levels of detail the people and the ships that he encountered. Hornblower of course served on many ships but also fought with and against them, captured them, sank them or protected them besides just being aware of them. Of all the ships mentioned, a handful of them would have been highly significant for him. The Indefatigable was the ship on which Midshipman and then Acting Lieutenant Hornblower mostly learnt and developed his skills as a seaman and as a fighting man. This learning continued with his experiences on the Renown as a lieutenant. His first commands, apart from prizes taken, were on the Hotspur and the Atropos. Later as a full captain, he took the Lydia round the Horn to the Pacific coast of South America and his first and only captaincy of a ship of the line was on the Sutherland. He first flew his own flag on the Nonsuch and sailed to the Baltic on her. In later years his ships were smaller as befitted the nature of the tasks that fell to him. -
“Names from Hornblower”
“Names from Hornblower” Introduction C S Forester, Hornblower’s biographer, wrote eleven books covering the most active and dramatic episodes of the life of his subject. In addition he also wrote a Hornblower “companion” and the so called three “lost” short stories. There were of course some years and activities in Hornblower’s life that were not written about before the biographer’s death and therefore not recorded. However, the books and stories that were published describe in an enthralling and entertaining way what Hornblower did and what was in his mind as he encountered so much in his career. In the course of his life Hornblower came across many men and women from all levels and backgrounds. Various members of royalty and members of the aristocracy were encountered but the range of people extended from politicians, senior naval officers and soldiers to a multitude of seamen and various other “ordinary” people. Many individuals from other countries crossed his path. The three principal women in his life, his wives Maria and Barbara, and his mistress, Marie, are comprehensively portrayed as are the two men who gave him long and devoted service, Bush and Brown. Throughout the books and short stories, Mr Forester in most cases named the people who formed part of Hornblower’s life, however indirectly in some cases. The intention of the list of names that follows is to provide a helpful reference and background for the many keen and well-read followers of Hornblower. By John Maunder 2016 1 The Hornblower books: MID: Mr Midshipman Hornblower. LTH: Lieutenant Hornblower. -
From Hells Afloat to Happy Ships: Naval Fiction's Influence Upon The
From Hells Afloat to Happy Ships: Naval Fiction’s Influence Upon the History of the Royal Navy during the Georgian Era Kelly Kathleen Chaves De la représentation du dix-neuvième-siècle de “l'enfer à flot” à la description du 21ème siècle des “bateaux heureux," le ton de l'histoire sociale navale a changé nettement avec le temps. Ce changement, autant progressif que radical, de l'historiographie a été occasioné par l'influence de la fiction navale de Smollett, de Forester et d'O'Brian. En examinant chronologiquement les contributions fictives des auteurs indiqués et de la littérature scolaire de la marine royale de 1748-2007, cet article argue du fait que le ton et l'emphase de l'histoire sociale navale a été toujours influencée par la fiction navale populaire du jour. “Don’t talk to me of naval tradition!” Winston Churchill reputedly snapped as he stormed out of a Cabinet meeting in 1914, “The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.”1 While rum, sodomy and the lash existed in equal proportions in the Georgian Navy to which Churchill referred, the early social history of the Royal Navy originally presented no more than this bleak trilogy. In this version of history, sailors suffered under sadistic captains who enjoyed ordering floggings; the sailors debauched innocent youths sent to sea and numbed themselves with grog, the 1 I would like to thank Roger Knight and N.A.M. Rodger for responding to my numerous questions and John Hattendorf for allowing me to interview him and for reading an early draft of this article. -
SECRET WEAPONS of the NAPOLEONIC WARS T Might Not
SECRET WEAPONS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS T might not be amiss to ask: what is a secret weapon?Dur- ing the recent war we had all sorts of answers, usually in the form of Nazi threats. A transatlantic rocket would indeed have been a secret weapon, but we were sometimes told that Hitler's secret weapon was hunger, applied to enslaved peo- ples, and that ours was America's know-how in back-yard mechanics. But a secret weapon should be at least reason- ably secret, and something of a surprise to the enemy when it is used, and it should be a weapon. For the period under discussion, I should like to begin with a few borderIine cases. In 1795, an official regulation made lemon juice a regular part of the diet of his Majesty's sailors. It was about time, incidentally, since the virtues of the citrus fruits in combating scurvy had been known, to some at least, since the days of Elizabeth. Edward Jenner's smallpox vac- cination, first convincingly demonstrated in 1796, was soon put into the regulations as something constantly to be rec- ommended by military surgeons, although no one was to be vaccinated against his will. No doubt the British armed forces benefited from these measures, and earlier than the men of other countries, but no effort was made to keep the discover- ies from becoming common property, and they can hardly be called secret weapons. Toward the end of the Napoleonic War a British naval architect designed a fighting ship with a rounded instead of a 20 Secret Weapons of the Napoleonic Wars 21 square stern. -
Reflections-23
Reflections The Magazine of the C S FORESTER SOCIETY ISSN 2042-1389 Number 23 – November 2012 http://csforester.eu William Bush vs Horatio Hornblower, Ship’s Biscuits, a New Hornblower Adventure by John Mahon, Hornblower’s great guns, Letter from the Chairman, African Queen =100 , Nurse Cavell, Correspondence, New Members Wiliam Bush vs Horatio Hornblower Dirk Scholten When I attended my first AGM in 2010 I had a What kind of person is Bush? Some personal facts and conversation with Lawrie Brewer about William Bush. I figures about him: mentioned my fascination for him - his qualities, his The birthplace and date of William Bush are not revealed personality and above all his courage. I remember that by Forester (nor of Hornblower by the way, we need Lawrie introduced the word “stolid” when it came to Bush. Northcote Parkinson for that). We know that he is 3 years Although my English is not too bad and my vocabulary is older than Hornblower so he is born in the year 1773. sufficient, the word was not familiar. I looked it up and Because we know in which year he was killed - in a found out that it is one of those English words that are just typical Bush-like action – namely 1813, he lived to a little more subtle than “sturdy” or “courageous” or even become 40 years old. “phlegmatic”, words I was familiar with. I therefore focus my story around the word “stolid” when I talk about this Contrary to Hornblower we do not know much about his remarkable figure in the books of CS Forester, lieutenant, personal life.