Lieutenant Hornblower
By C. S. Forester
Reviewed by D. Andrew McChesney
A Royal Navy ship-of-the-line bound for the West Indies,
captained by a man believing his lieutenants conspire against him, provides the
setting for the second tale of Horatio Hornblower. While the junior most commissioned officer
aboard, fifth lieutenant to be precise, Hornblower’s exemplary performance
saves the day for HMS Renown and her
crew.
Insisting mutiny is afoot; Captain Sawyer searches for his
lieutenants, hoping to catch them in an incriminating situation. In fact, they are meeting to deal with the
captain’s increasing paranoia. Warned,
they scatter, and in his haste to arrest them, Sawyer falls down an open
hatchway. How he fell is never fully
addressed, and Hornblower will only say that “he fell.”
With the captain injured, incapacitated, and now completely
insane, Buckland the first lieutenant takes command. Urged by Hornblower and the other
lieutenants, he reads the captain’s secret orders and sets about completing the
seventy-four gun warship’s mission. When
a first attempt results in failure, Hornblower suggests immediate follow-up
action, surmising the enemy would not be expecting it. In fact, throughout the book, it is
Hornblower’s tactful suggestions to his superiors that enable them and Renown to have any measure of success.
This book is unique amongst the eleven
Hornblower novels, with Lieutenant William Bush being the focal character of
the story, and we witness Hornblower’s feats through his eyes. We also see Bush’s opinion of Hornblower grow
until he holds his junior in highest esteem. As
great a story teller as he is, Forester sometimes misses the mark regarding
technical issues. In describing the
lower gun deck of HMS Renown, he
mentions seventeen thirty-two pound guns per side. A British third rate of the time would have
had fourteen or perhaps fifteen guns per side on that deck. There is also some confusion as to which cabin
was the captain’s, and subsequently the location of the wardroom.
Today it is natural to compare the
book with Mutiny and Retribution, the two made-for-TV movies
based on this novel. The films
remarkably convey the tale to the screen in spite of many changes. Most noticeable is the appearance of
characters from the earlier Hornblower movies, and in particular, the presence
of Lieutenant Archie Kennedy. Neither
he, Sir Edward Pellew, nor any of the hands from Mr. Midshipman Hornblower are present in the written version. The movies also dwell more on Sawyer’s
medical condition, potential recovery, and desire for vengeance after his
injury.
Unlike the book in which a simple
court of inquiry investigates the Captain Sawyer’s death, the films present a full-fledged
courts martial, complete with confession as to who apparently pushed the captain into the hold. The film ends with this admission,
Hornblower’s loss of a close friend, and his promotion to Master and Commander,
captaining Retribution. The book, however, continues with Bush’s and
Hornblower’s eventual reunion in England during the Peace of Amiens. Still seen through Bush’s eyes, the reader
becomes aware of Hornblower’s poverty, lack of influence, and bad luck in not
having his promotion confirmed. Bush
also becomes privy to Hornblower’s beginning domestic life.
In Lieutenant
Hornblower, C. S. Forester has once again told a complex story in a
compelling, simple, and straight forward manor, making it a tale very much
worth reading.
Lieutenant Hornblower was originally
published in the early 1950s. The copy
reviewed, [ISBN 0-316-29063-7 (PB)] was a paperback reissue from Back Bay Books
in 1998, priced at $13.00 US.