The actions of the Royal Navy at the time, documented in official reports and in the Naval Chronicle, provided much of the material for Hornblower's fictional adventures. Many parallels exist between Hornblower and real naval officers of the period, notably Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, Sir George Cockburn, Lord Cochrane, Sir Edward Pellew, Jeremiah Coghlan, Sir James Gordon, and Sir William Hoste.

The burdens that this placed on captains far from home led Forester to invent a character struggling with the stresses of a 'man alone'. : 81 Two countries could be at war in one part of the world after a peace was obtained months before in another part because of the time required to communicate around the world. After surviving many adventures in a wide variety of locales, he rises to become Admiral of the Fleet.įorester's original inspiration was an old copy of the Naval Chronicle that described the effective dates of the Treaty of Ghent. As the Napoleonic Wars progress, he steadily gains promotion as a result of his skill and daring, despite his initial poverty and lack of influential friends. Later stories fill out his earlier years, starting with his unpromising beginning as a seasick midshipman. Herein, Hornblower is a captain on a secret mission to Central America in 1808. įorester's series about Hornblower tales began with the novel The Happy Return (US title: Beat to Quarters), published in 1937. Northcote Parkinson elaborated a 'biography' of him, The True Story of Horatio Hornblower. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and C. 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.

Lieutenant Hornblower by C.S. Forester