Books like Horatio Hornblower Goes to Sea

The Horatio Hornblower series published by C.S. Forester from the late 1940s through the early 1960s is perhaps the greatest seafaring historical fiction ever written (my opinion). The series of eleven books plays out during the dramatic period of the Napoleonic wars,when Britain was in a life and death struggle with France. While Napoleon’s armies sweep across Europe, Britain’s superb navy thwarts the ambitions of the French Emperor to dominate the continent.Into this monumental struggle steps our hero, Midshipman Horatio Hornblower, who receives his first assignment to HMS Justinian, a decidedly second rate ship with a sickly captain and a bully as the senior Midshipman. Chronologically, the first book in the series is Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, and it is one of my favorites, displaying all of the elements that makes the series special. Here is why you should introduce your boy(s) to this great character:Character –While this series has much to recommend it (see below), the character of Horatio Hornblower is what makes it special. Horatio enters the service in his early teens and has never been to sea. He is gawky and not handsome–not at all the image of a charismatic leader. He gets violently sea sick at the beginning of each voyage and is deathly afraid of heights, which makes his duties aloft in the swaying rigging of a tall ship particularly daunting. What he has is courage, ambition and integrity. Both qualities will be sorely tested as he rises through the ranks.Action–No one writes a sea battle better than CS Forester. He has a way of putting you viscerally in the thick of the action.Supporting Cast–Forester has created truly memorable supporting players in this great saga to include Hornblower’s closest friend and fellow officer William Bush and his mentor the great Edward Pellew, Captain of the HMS Indefatigable. Pellew was an actual historical figure and one of the most decorated frigate commanders of the period.Prose–There is nothing outdated in Forester’s prose style and one thing I most admire is his ability to convey a sense of the complexity of naval operations in the age of sail without falling back on excessive nautical jargon, which so many other do (I’m talking about you, Patrick O’Brian!)This is the kind of series that boys 12-18 could really get immersed in and I can’t recommend it highly enough. After all, Ernest Hemingway is quoted as saying, “I recommend Forester to everyone literate I know,” and Winston Churchill stated, “I find Hornblower admirable.”