Hornblower and the "Atropos" (1953)

The redoubtable Hornblower saves Nelson's funeral procession, recovers treasure from Turkish waters and captures a Spanish ship of the line all the while Hornblower is castigating himself for not being the perfect officer. An easy and toward the end a tedious read. ( )

I seldom read a book twice. The Hornblower books are an exception. This one is a favorite. Not because it is stellar writing or action packed, but because it is Hornblower, pure and simple. Perfect bedside reading that relaxes the mind and produces lovely dreams. Elegant in its sparse, no-nonsense description and straightforward plot lines. ( )

Hornblower has many simple adventures in this book. This book seems to reflect the wide variety of responsibilities a captain in the Royal Navy could have during the Napoleonic wars: event organizer, detective, and salvage operations manager to name a few. I really enjoyed this book until the last two chapters, which are depressing. I imagine that life for a real captain at the time would be similar, but it was a little too disheartening for me. I also was curious about Hornblower's comtemplation of suicide. I have only read three Hornblower books, and two contain these morbid scenes. This book does not have much along the lines of the great sea battles, but the adventures and diverse and interesting. ( )

Seafaring men with cunning and bravery.: Hornblower is promoted to Captain, a post rank, and quick advancement for a young officer. As the youngest Captain he gets the duty of organizing a funeral parade for Lord Nelson, during which his grand barge springs a leak and disaster is narrowly avoided. He then takes his small ship Atropos to the Mediterranean where he executes a daring and tricky salvage operation under the guns of a suspicious foreign port captain. Hornblower always manages to stir up some action. One of the best part of the whole Hornblower series is the accuracy and detail with which the life aboard vessels is depicted. You can almost feel the deck pitch. Great adventure in a great series.

This episode takes a little while to get up to speed, but once it does, it's as wonderful as the others. ( )