Story 03: “Hornblower and the Penalty of Failure” – Hornblower experiences even greater misery than losing a ship when he’s captured by The Pique. After the other boats boarded Papillon, Hornblower steers for the larboard mainchains and board Papillon. This door in this bulkhead" he continued "leads to the quarters I have set aside for captured officers. Hornblower explained that he may be able, with the help of a boat and crew, to rescue some of the crew members.

Guided by Foster, and steered by Hornblower, the fire ship clears the Santa Barbara and the Dauntless then as the fire burns through the tiller ropes, they jumped overboard, Hornblower shoved by Foster. Hornblower was assigned to command the jolly-boat and to board Papillon and to aloft to set sail while the other boats are engaged in a battle to take the ship.This book was somehow not what I was expecting and I find it difficult to define, but I very much enjoyed it.

It's a world where very little goes as Hornblower plans: each adventurous episode nearly ends his career – and his life. There's plenty of suspense and adventure; and the grim, understated humor that liberally seasons the yarns keep the reader's spirits up and the pages turning. For three weeks the Caroline wanders the area near Gibraltar until they were assured that the plague was not on the ship. The writing here is vivid; you get a really powerful picture of the hard and dangerous character of naval life in that day as you experience, along with the hero, the palms of his hands being flayed bloody by having to slide down a rough rope from a falling mast, or the winter cold and wet of the waves constantly breaking over him in an open boat. Lieutenant Chadd, taking command, Hornblower reports to Captain Pellew who, since Soames, the sailing master, was lost when the galley collided with the cutter, makes Hornblower Acting-Lieutenant.Later, while on parole Hornblower rescues some sailors from a Spanish ship wrecked on the cliffs below him. Clairvoyant, Hornblower could foresee that in a year’s time, the world would hardly remember the incident. He was so intent on enforcing his will upon these men, so desperately anxious to retain his liberty, that his face was contracted into a beast–like scowl.

But, unlike most early explorers, he has an almost compulsive compassion for the plight of others, alien as well as human and must continually fight the temptation to risk many to save one"Roddenberry doesn't mention that he is in love with his ship almost as a living entity, but perhaps that came later. Hornblower and the Examination for Lieutenant" and " Hornblower the Duchess, and the Devil" were my two favourite tales, but all of them were readable and kept my interest.

You see, I’ve always believed in a still slightly autistic adulthood that virtue, and not swagger and a strutting attitude, yields the best rewards. Simpson, at age thirty-three, had failed his examination for lieutenant too many times to ever expect promotion. Four of the episodes form the basis for the first four instalments of the series of TV films Hornblower which were released both in the US and the UK, sometimes with alternate titles. If you try the Hornblower series, see if your library has The Hornblower Companion, which provides maps for every episode and outlines the big picture on the wars and interludes between them in the period from 1794 to 1823.

Začínal si uvědomovat, že život v námořnictvu, ačkoliv se zdál plynout od jedné krize k druhé, je ve skutečnosti jednou nekončící krizí, že dokonce i v okamžiku řešení jedné mimořádné události už bylo nutné plánovat, jak vyřešit další. Meanwhile other prize crew members set sail with other sails, Papillon getting underway with the Indefatigable crew. This book is episodic, so we get the full range of Hornblower's early years; narrow escapes from enemy ships, embarrassing losses, painful battles of the French Revolution, triumphant maneuvering, and some personal bitterness. Here we have the pertinacious, the temerarious, the au courant, the über-prescient Horatio f___ing Hornblower! The 50-50 odds give him an “even chance” of escape, which is better than any 17yo novice would get in hand-to-hand combat against the burly Simpson.Although Hornblower feels unprotected in their response, an attack occurs, giving everyone aboard ship a better perspective on their tiny squabbles in their even tinier confines. The Frogs are the French and the Lobsters are the (red-coated) British regiment landed to support them. Není zcela černobílou postavou, ostatně se tu začíná stavy deprese, šikanou a úvahami o sebevraždě čili si k němu čtenář chvilku hledá cestu.