I am a HUGE fan of naval fiction set during the great age of sail (American Revolution, Napoleonic Wars). I find there is something extremely compelling about the whole idea of "iron men in wooden ships", the hardships they endured, the triumphs, the losses... Maybe it is also because I had an ancestor who sailed out of Dartmouth in Devon as a privateer in that era. It must be in my blood!
As a result, I have wanted to do a series of caches highlighting some of the fictional Royal Navy Captains whose stories have captivated me. This cache is the SECOND in that series.
Captain Horatio Hornblower is the famous protagonist of a series of 11 novels by C. S. Forester, perhaps- the earliest well-known author of naval fiction, and considered the “founder” of this genre. Starting with an unpromising beginning as a seasick midshipman, Hornblower gains promotion steadily as a result of his skill and daring, despite his initial poverty and lack of influential friends. Eventually he is promoted to Admiral of the Fleet, made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and named the 1’st Baron Hornblower. Hornblower is courageous, intelligent and a skilled seaman, but he is also burdened by his intense reserve, introspection and self-doubt. Despite numerous personal feats of extraordinary skill and cunning, he belittles his achievements by numerous rationalizations, remembering only his fears. He consistently ignores or is unaware of the admiration with which he is held by his fellow sailors.
“Captain Horatio Hornblower” is a 1951 film based on three C .S. Forester novels - ‘The Happy Return’, ‘A Ship of the Line’ and ‘Flying Colours’. The film starred Gregory Peck as Hornblower. There was also a series of British historical fiction war television films based on three of C. S. Forester's novels about Captain Horatio Hornblower. The series ran from 1998 to 2003, with Ioan Gruffudd in the title role.