Winston Churchill famously observed to an Admiralty Lord; "Bah, British naval tradition!  Two hundred years of rum, sodomy and the lash."  And, while Churchill was actually a wild romantic, this view seems to capture much of the modern attitude towards this type of patriotic idealistic war narrative.  After the disillusionments of Vietnam, films like Apocalypse Now and Platoon replaced more salutary fare, like Sands of Iwo Jima and Sergeant York.  But in recent years, the wild popularity of Patrick O'Brian's ongoing Aubrey and Maturin series and the excellent A&E miniseries, Horatio Hornblower: The Duel, The Fire Ships, The Duchess and the Devil and The Wrong War (1998), have brought about a welcome revival of the fortunes of one of the most traditional war heroes in all of literature, C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower (A&E has even begun a Hornblower Book Club).

While not the first written, this novel is the first chronologically in the Hornblower series, beginning when he is a 17 year old midshipmen just coming aboard his first ship, The Justinian:

    [Mr. Masters] looked with attention at the approaching figure.  It was that of a skinny young man
    only just leaving boyhood behind, something above middle height, with feet whose adolescent
    proportions to his size were accentuated by the thinness of his legs and his big half-boots.  His
    gawkiness called attention to his hands and elbows.  The newcomer was dressed in a badly
    fitting uniform which was soaked right through by the spray; a skinny neck stuck out of the high
    stock, and above the neck was a white bony face.  A white face was a rarity on the deck of a ship
    of war whose crew soon tanned to a deep mahogany, but this face was not merely white; on the
    hollow cheeks there was a faint shade of green--clearly the newcomer had experienced seasickness
    in his passage out in the shore boat.  Set in the white face were a pair of dark eyes which by
    contrast looked like holes cut in a sheet of paper; Masters noted with a slight stirring of interest that
    the eyes, despite their owner's seasickness were looking about keenly, taking in what were
    obviously new sights; there was a curiosity and interest there which could not be repressed and
    which continued to function notwithstanding either seasickness or shyness, and Mr. Masters
    surmised in his far-fetched fashion that the boy had a vein of caution or foresight in his
    temperament and was already studying his new surroundings with a view to being prepared for his
    next experiences.  So might Daniel have looked about him at the lions when he first entered their
    den.

This description reveals much of the genius of Hornblower's character.  He is an awkward neophyte, both socially and nautically speaking, and is often thrust into situations which threaten to overwhelm him.  But his natural humility, indomitable will, quick mind and willingness to learn from mistakes all stand him in good stead.  His superiors and the reader quickly recognize that this is a man who will accomplish great things.

The novel is packed with action sequences, even unrealistically so.  But Forester handles naval scenes brilliantly, and it is, after all, fiction.  [Anyone who saw the miniseries will be shocked to hear that all four episodes were drawn from the events of just this first book (let us hope they continue to produce more)].    This is old fashioned storytelling in the grand tradition, especially recommended for youngsters.

(Reviewed:08-Aug-99)

Grade: (A)