Lord Hornblower

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox book | name = Lord Hornblower | title_orig = | translator = | image = File:LordHornblower.jpg | caption = First edition | author = [[C. S. Forester]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = [[Horatio Hornblower]] | genre = [[Historical novel]] | publisher = [[Penguin Group|Michael Joseph, London]] | release_date = 1946 | english_release_date = | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]]) | pages = 224 pp | isbn = | oclc = 16481131 | preceded_by = [[The Commodore (Forester novel)|The Commodore]] <br />(Commodore Hornblower) <br />(1945) | followed_by = [[Hornblower in the West Indies]] <br />(1958) | external_url = https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20171204 }} '''''Lord Hornblower''''' (published 1946) is a [[Horatio Hornblower]] novel written by [[C. S. Forester]], originally intended to be the last in the series.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Melvin M. Jr. |date=July–August 1950 |title=Reviewed Work(s): Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by Cecil S. Forester |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45359672 |access-date=2024-05-10 |work=Ordnance |pages=64,66 |volume=35 |issue=181 |jstor=45359672}}</ref>

Hornblower is tasked with suppressing a mutiny on board a Royal Navy ship.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1946 |title=In Brief Review |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/371447 |journal=College English |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=159–162 |jstor=371447}}</ref> He succeeds, and with reinforcements captures Le Havre. There follow several adventures and a disastrous affair in France, with Hornblower's eventual repatriation and reconciliation with his wife.

== Background == Forester wrote the final chapter of the novel while on board a U.S. battleship.<ref name=":0" />

==Plot summary== In 1814, Hornblower is delegated to deal with the ''Flame'', a brig full of mutineers off the French coast, near the mouth of the [[Seine]]. It is a tricky situation because the mutineers' demands cannot be met, but they have threatened that if a [[Royal Navy]] force tries to force their hand, they will slip into a nearby French port.

Hornblower alters the appearance of his own vessel, the ''Porta Coeli'', so it can masquerade as the mutinous vessel. As dusk falls, he follows a valuable [[blockade runner]] into port, pretending to be the ''Flame''. Then, once the two vessels are moored, he captures it and takes it out to sea. He then pursues the ''Flame'', which retreats to the French port. Believing the mutineers responsible, the French send four gunboats to take her. Hornblower manages to exploit the fighting to capture both the ''Flame'' and a gunboat. [[Image:Seine river watershed.png|thumb|left|250px|Seine River]]

Among the French prisoners is Lebrun, the young and ambitious assistant to the mayor of [[Le Havre]]. Lebrun asks to speak with Hornblower privately; he proposes to surrender Le Havre to the English fleet. Hornblower and Lebrun arrange a plan: Lebrun's role is to undermine those parties who would resist a British seizure of the city. Overcoming some tense moments with audacity, Hornblower is able to capture the city with a half battalion of [[Royal Marines]] and finds himself its military governor.

Hornblower finds his new duties different from that of commanding a naval vessel or squadron. He finds his role demanding, in part because he is such a demanding perfectionist. The [[Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême|Duke of Angoulême]], one of the heirs to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] dynasty, is sent to assume control of the civil leadership.

Hornblower hears that Napoleon has been able to amass a strong force, to be transported by barge down the Seine to retake Le Havre. He sends a force, borne by half a dozen large ship's boats, to try to blow up the barges and ammunition. He puts his best friend, Captain William Bush, in command. The raid is a success and the French force is stopped, but an unexpected explosion kills most of the British, including Bush.

Hornblower is raised to the peerage, possibly in part to provide him with more dignity, gravitas, when dealing with the French heir's entourage, as well to reward him for his accomplishments.

During the following peace, Hornblower's wife Barbara accompanies her brother, the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]], to the [[Congress of Vienna]], leaving Hornblower at loose ends. He decides to visit the Comte de Graçay, where he resumes his relationship with the Comte's widowed daughter-in-law, Marie. When [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] escapes from [[Elba]] and [[Hundred Days|raises a new army]], Hornblower, the Comte and Marie lead a guerrilla fight against the Imperial forces. They are eventually defeated, and Marie dies from a leg wound. Hornblower and the Comte are captured and condemned to death, but news of the Emperor's defeat at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] arrives just in time to save their lives.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{FadedPage|id=20171204|name=Lord Hornblower}}

[[Category:1946 British novels]] [[Category:1946 English-language novels]] [[Category:Novels about infidelity]] [[Category:Hornblower books]] [[Category:Novels set in 1814]] [[Category:Michael Joseph books]]