A Ship of the Line
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| Author | C. S. Forester |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Horatio Hornblower series |
| Genre(s) | Fiction |
| Publisher | Back Bay Books |
| Released | September 30, 1985 (Reprint edition) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-316-28936-1 |
| Preceded by | The Happy Return |
| Followed by | Flying Colours |
This historical seafaring novel by C. S. Forester follows his fictional hero Horatio Hornblower during his tour as captain of a ship of the line. By an internal chronology, A Ship of the Line, which follows The Happy Return, is the seventh book in the series (counting the unfinished Hornblower and the Crisis). However, the book, published in 1938, was the second Horatio Hornblower novel completed by Forester.
[edit] Plot summary
Hornblower has recently returned to England in the frigate HMS Lydia, having gained widespread fame (but no financial stability) as a result of sinking the superior ship Natividad in battle. As a reward for his exploits, he is given command of HMS Sutherland, which is, in Hornblower's estimation, the ugliest ship of the line in the Royal Navy. He is assigned to serve under Rear Admiral Leighton, Lady Barbara Wellesley's new husband. Throughout, Hornblower is torn between his love for Lady Barbara and his sense of duty and loyalty to his frumpy wife, Maria. His feelings for his wife are complicated by the previous loss of both of his children to smallpox.
Hornblower's first orders are to escort an East Indian convoy off the Spanish coast. He masterfully defends them from simultaneous attack by two faster, more maneuverable privateers. Since he has been forced to sail with an understrength crew, and had to make do with "lubbers, sheepstealers, and bigamists", he breaks admiralty regulations and impresses twenty men from each vessel in the convoy just before they part ways. With his ship fully manned, Hornblower wreaks havoc on the French-controlled Spanish coast. He captures a French brig by surprise, storms a French fort, takes two more vessels as prizes, repeatedly fires upon several thousand French soldiers marching along a coastal road, and saves his Admiral's ship from certain ruin by towing it away from a French battery during a severe storm.
When he encounters a squadron of four French ships of the line that have broken through the English blockade of Toulouse, he attacks them against overwhelming odds, and manages to disable or heavily damage all of them. However, with many of his men killed or wounded and his ship dismasted, he is forced to strike his colors and surrender.
| Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester |
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Mr. Midshipman Hornblower • Lieutenant Hornblower • Hornblower and the Hotspur • Hornblower and the Crisis • Hornblower and the Atropos • The Happy Return (Beat to Quarters) • A Ship of the Line • Flying Colours • The Commodore • Lord Hornblower • Hornblower in the West Indies |
