They check for moisture but find none until it is pointed out that the dried rice will absorb all of it. Hornblower recalls that Marie Galante was struck below the hull's waterline by a cannonball from Indefatigable before her capture.

Sailing is relatively smooth for Hornblower and his four seamen, until one of the crew (Matthews) informs him that the ship is taking on water from somewhere. He is instructed to take the captured French ship and her crew to a British port where he is to report for his next orders. It is Hornblower's first time in command of a ship since joining the Royal Navy. Transferred aboard Indefatigable, Midshipman Hornblower is put in command of the French ship Marie Galante, carrying a cargo of rice from New Orleans, by order of Captain Pellew after it is taken as a prize. The captain later has him transferred to the frigate HMS Indefatigable. The captain secretly frustrates this by having the officers of the duel load neither weapon and claiming a misfire when neither discharges. Hornblower insists on having one of the two pistols loaded and the other not, and to exchange shots at point-blank range, with neither Hornblower nor Simpson knowing which is which. He takes the first opportunity for a way out, one way or another, by challenging Simpson to a duel. He takes out his bitterness and disappointment on his juniors. Simpson, at age thirty-three, had failed his examination for lieutenant too many times to ever expect promotion.

The young Hornblower is particularly despised by a midshipman named Simpson. He immediately earns the contempt of the other midshipmen.

This novel is episodic, with named chapters (US editions begin each chapter title with 'Hornblower') that often focus on a self-contained incident.Ī gawky and seasick Hornblower comes aboard his first ship. People initially thought Hornblower a dullard but later grew to respect him. Through a series of challenges and adventures both in and out of combat, Hornblower discovers he is actually talented in both seamanship and leadership. Horatio Hornblower commences his career in the Royal Navy as an inexperienced midshipman in January 1794. Although it may be considered as the first episode in the Hornblower saga, it was written as a prequel the first Hornblower novel, The Happy Return ('Beat to Quarters' in the U.S.), was published in 1937. Midshipman Hornblower is a 1950 Horatio Hornblower novel written by C.

Midshipman hornblower