It's June, 1808 - and off the Coast of Nicaragua Captain Horatio Hornblower has his hands full ... Now in command of HMS Lydia, a thirty-six-gun frigate, Hornblower has instructions to form an alliance against the Spanish colonies with a mad and messianic revolutionary, El Supremo; to find a water route across the Central American isthmus; and 'to take, sink, burn or destroy' the fifty-gun Spanish ship of the line Natividad - or face court-martial....

The year is 1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblower, a seventeen-year-old boy unschooled in seafaring and the ways of seamen, is ordered to board a French merchant ship and take command of crew and cargo for the glory of England. Though not an unqualified success, this first naval adventure teaches the young midshipman enough to launch him on a series of increasingly glorious exploits. This novel—in which young Horatio gets

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Horatio Hornblower returns to sea with the rank of Commodore in command of a small squadron during the Napoleonic wars. The fate of Europe hangs on the outcome of his mission.

The fictional biography of the famous naval hero, Horatio Hornblower, central character in C.S. Forester's series of 12 celebrated novels.