
The first Horatio Hornblower Tale of the Sea 1793 the eve of the Napoleonic Wars & Midshipman Horatio Hornblower receives his first command As a seventeen-year-old with a touch of sea sickness young Horatio Hornblower hardly cuts a dash in His Majesty's navy Yet from the moment he is ordered to board a French merchant ship in the Bay of Biscay & take command of crew & cargo he proves his seafaring mettle on the waves After a character-forming duel several deadly chases & some dramatic captures & escapes the young Hornblower is soon forged into a formidable man of the sea This is the first of eleven books chronicling the nautical adventures of C S Forester's inimitable hero Horatio Hornblower Featuring an exclusive introduction by Bernard Cornwell creator of Sharpe' Absolutely compelling One of the great masters of narrative' San Francisco Chronicle