Happy Birthday Horatio Hornblower

July 4, 2009 · Filed Under Lore of the Sea, Seastories 

As Americans celebrate our Independence Day this July 4th, perhaps we should raise a glass to that most estimable fictional Naval officer, Horatio Hornblower, born on the same day as this new country, July 4th, 1776, in C.S. Forester’s eleven classic novels. 

Starting in 1937 and continuing through 1967, Cecil Scott Forester (the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith) created his eleven volume series of novels featuring Horatio Hornblower in his rise from midshipman to admiral.  Hornblower is a complicated and worthy character courageous and a skilled seaman troubled by an intense reserve and wracked by self-doubt.

The Hornblower novels have remained in print to this day and have been subject of the 1951 movie, Captain Horatio Hornblower, starring Gregory Peck, as well as the A&E and ITV television series Hornblower (1998-2003) starring Ioan Gruffudd as Hornblower.

Forester’s Hornblower, who was broadly based on Lord Cochrane, is often credited with inspiring several well known writers of nautical fiction, including O’Brien, Pope and Kent.   

The 2009 Horatio Hornblower Convention for fans of the books and the A&E series is being held in Key West from October 15-18,2009. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.”  Horatio Hornblower may indeed be fiction, yet contains more than enough truth to be worthy of warmly wishing a  most happy birthday.

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Comments

One Response to “Happy Birthday Horatio Hornblower”

  1. Chris Watson on July 4th, 2009 8:47 pm

    Hear hear! My father gave me his copy of “Captain Horatio Hornblower” (containing the original three stories) when I was 11 years old and I was hooked immediately. Hornblower became such a compelling character for me that when I read C. Northcote Parkinson’s “Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower”, I could almost convince myself that he’d been a real person. Even though he wasn’t, Forester’s books and Hornblower certainly had a real influence on me, including my choice of academic studies in college and time spent at sea on both a sailing research vessel and as crew and ship’s historian on the replica HMS Rose (now known as the “Surprise” from Master and Commander).

    Thanks for reminding me of HH’s birthday. It may be time for me to crack open that edition of “Captain Horatio Hornblower” again.

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