Although this book recounts the first years of Hornblower's career in the Royal Navy, it was published in 1950, about 14 years after the publication of Flying Colors, the first of the Captain Hornblower series. I felt kinship and sympathy for Hornblower when he first came on board the ship of the line Justinian, and was taunted for his seasickness. The rest of the book follows him through daring and successful adventures, to prison in Spain, and a pardon for rescuing Spanish sailors in a storm
I think I read this after several other Hornblower books, but still early in 8th grade. I owned the paperback, then a hardcover "Young Hornblower" collection of novels about his early career, now a volume in the Foliio complete collection of the Hornblower saga ( )

Hornblower series

I probably read all the Hornblower books, learning about, sailing ships along the way. ( )

Good start to the series. ( )

This is the first book in the Horatio Hornblower saga, being written as a prequel. It is a series of short stories telling his tale from arriving at his first post through his promotion to Lieutenant.

The author shows his knowledge of tall ships in its handling, manning and in damage. I found it useful to keep a nautical dictionary at hand, but the details are not needed for a full appreciation of the stories.

I found the stories interesting, well-paced, well-told and hard to put down. ( )