Horatio Hornblower is the officer every other fictional sea captain is measured against. Created by C.S. Forester in 1937, he rises from seasick midshipman to admiral across eleven novels set during the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
The series has one famous complication: Forester did not write it in order. He began in the middle of Hornblower’s career, carried it to the end, and then went back to the beginning. This guide lists every book in publication order, gives the chronological order beside it, and helps you decide which way to read.
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Quick Series Facts
| Author | C.S. Forester (1899 to 1966) |
| Number of books | 11 novels (10 complete, 1 unfinished), 5 short stories, 1 companion volume |
| First book published | The Happy Return (1937), US title Beat to Quarters |
| Last book published | Hornblower and the Crisis (1967, unfinished) |
| Story covers | 1794 to 1823, with a final short story set in 1848 |
| Setting | The Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars |
| Genre | Naval historical fiction |
| Series status | Complete |
Hornblower Books in Publication Order
1. The Happy Return (1937)
US title: Beat to Quarters Setting: The Pacific coast of Central America, 1808 Hornblower’s rank: Captain
Captain Hornblower has sailed the frigate HMS Lydia for seven months without sight of land, under sealed orders. His mission is to reach the Pacific coast of Spanish Central America and support a local rebel who calls himself El Supremo.
The rebel turns out to be far more dangerous than London imagined, and the political situation shifts under Hornblower’s feet. He also has to take aboard an unexpected passenger: Lady Barbara Wellesley, sister of the future Duke of Wellington.
This is where it all began. Forester introduces Hornblower fully formed, a brilliant captain tormented by private doubt, and the single-ship action at the heart of the book is still a model of the form.
2. A Ship of the Line (1938)
Setting: The Mediterranean coast of Spain, 1810 Hornblower’s rank: Captain
Hornblower is given command of HMS Sutherland, a seventy-four gun ship of the line, and joins a squadron bound for the coast of Catalonia. He is short of men and has to fill his crew however he can.
Once on station, he sets about harassing the French army along the coast, with a run of raids and cutting-out actions that show his imagination at its best. The book builds towards one of the great battles of the series.
Together with Flying Colours, this novel won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938. Many readers consider it the finest book of the eleven.
3. Flying Colours (1938)
Setting: France, 1810 to 1811 Hornblower’s rank: Captain
This novel follows straight on from A Ship of the Line, and the two should be read together. In the aftermath of the previous book, Hornblower finds himself deep inside Napoleon’s France in the middle of winter, along with his first lieutenant, Bush, and his coxswain, Brown.
What follows is a land journey and a river journey, with almost no sea in it until the end. It is the most personal of the early books, and it tests Hornblower in ways a battle never could.
The first three novels form a complete trilogy. They were later published together in one volume as Captain Horatio Hornblower.
4. The Commodore (1945)
US title: Commodore Hornblower Setting: The Baltic, 1812 Hornblower’s rank: Commodore
Now Sir Horatio and living as a country squire, Hornblower is restless ashore. The Admiralty gives him a squadron and sends him to the Baltic, where his task is as much diplomatic as naval: to keep Sweden and Russia from siding with Napoleon.
The year is 1812, and the French emperor is about to invade Russia. Hornblower finds himself at the court of the Tsar and then at the siege of Riga, using his bomb vessels in ways nobody has tried before.
Forester wrote this book during the Second World War, and its picture of Russia holding out against an invader had an obvious echo for readers in 1945.
5. Lord Hornblower (1946)
Setting: The English Channel and France, 1813 to 1815 Hornblower’s rank: Commodore
The crew of the brig HMS Flame has mutinied in the Bay of the Seine and is threatening to hand the ship over to the French. Hornblower is sent to deal with the mutiny, by whatever means he can find.
The mission grows into something much larger as Napoleon’s empire begins to collapse. Hornblower is drawn into the politics of the French coast and the return of the Bourbon kings.
This is the darkest of the novels, with real losses in it. It carries the story through to the summer of 1815 and was, for a time, intended as the end of the series.
6. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (1950)
Setting: The Channel, the Atlantic and Spain, 1794 to 1799 Hornblower’s rank: Midshipman, then acting lieutenant
Having taken Hornblower to the House of Lords, Forester went back to the beginning. This book is a set of ten linked stories about a seventeen-year-old who joins the navy seasick, friendless and miserable.
Under Captain Sir Edward Pellew of the frigate Indefatigable, he gets his first chances: a prize to sail home, a cutting-out expedition, an examination for lieutenant, and a spell in dangerous Spanish waters.
Each chapter is a complete adventure, which makes this the easiest book in the series to pick up. It is the first in the chronology and the usual recommendation for new readers.
7. Lieutenant Hornblower (1952)
Setting: The West Indies and England, 1800 to 1803 Hornblower’s rank: Lieutenant
HMS Renown is bound for the West Indies under Captain Sawyer, a man whose suspicion of his own officers has tipped into something close to madness. The lieutenants have to decide what to do, knowing that the wrong move means a court martial for mutiny.
This is the only novel told from another character’s point of view. We see Hornblower through the eyes of Lieutenant William Bush, the solid, unimaginative officer who becomes his closest friend.
Seeing Hornblower from outside, without his self-doubt, is a revelation. The closing chapters, set in Portsmouth during the brief peace, show a side of naval life that fiction rarely touches.
8. Hornblower and the Atropos (1953)
Setting: England and the Mediterranean, 1805 to 1806 Hornblower’s rank: Captain
Newly promoted and very junior, Hornblower travels by canal boat to London to take command of HMS Atropos, the smallest ship in the navy that rates a captain. His first duty is an unusual one: organising the river procession for the funeral of Lord Nelson.
He is then sent to the Mediterranean on a secret task involving a sunken treasure in Turkish waters, with a team of pearl divers from Ceylon.
It is one of the most varied and unusual books in the series, moving from English canals to royal ceremony to underwater salvage.
9. Hornblower in the West Indies (1958)
US title: Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies Setting: The Caribbean, 1821 to 1823 Hornblower’s rank: Rear admiral
The wars are over. Hornblower is commander-in-chief of the West Indies station, with a handful of small ships and a huge area to police in peacetime.
The book is made of five long episodes. He faces a plot by Napoleon’s old soldiers, a slave ship, pirates, the wars of independence in Spanish America, and finally a hurricane.
This is the last book in the main chronology. It shows an older, calmer Hornblower, and it ends on one of the most quietly moving scenes Forester ever wrote.
10. Hornblower and the Hotspur (1962)
Setting: The coast of Brittany, 1803 to 1805 Hornblower’s rank: Commander
War with France is about to resume, and Hornblower has two new responsibilities: the sloop Hotspur and a wife. He marries Maria, his landlady’s daughter, on the morning he sails.
Hotspur is sent to keep watch on the French fleet in Brest, the most demanding and least glamorous duty in the navy. Through storms and short rations, Hornblower turns a small ship into the eyes of the Channel Fleet.
This is the best account in fiction of the blockade of Brest, the long, grinding watch that really won the war at sea. It fills the gap between Lieutenant Hornblower and Atropos.
11. Hornblower and the Crisis (1967)
US title: Hornblower During the Crisis Setting: England and the coast of Spain, 1805 Hornblower’s rank: Captain
Forester was working on this novel when he died in 1966, and it was published unfinished. It begins as Hornblower leaves Hotspur and becomes involved in a secret scheme to draw the French fleet out to battle in the months before Trafalgar.
The text stops partway through, followed by a short note on how Forester planned to end it. The fragment is polished and promising, which makes its incompleteness all the more frustrating.
The volume also contains two short stories: “Hornblower and the Widow McCool”, about the young lieutenant, and “The Last Encounter”, which shows Hornblower in old age.
The Hornblower Companion
The Hornblower Companion (1964)
This is not a novel but a guide by Forester himself. The first half is an atlas, with thirty maps showing where every action in the series takes place, each with a short note.
The second half is an essay called “Some Personal Notes”, in which Forester explains how he came to invent Hornblower and how he wrote each book. It is one of the best accounts any novelist has given of how a story takes shape.
Read it after the novels. The maps and notes give away the plots.
The Short Stories
Forester wrote five Hornblower short stories for magazines. Two are included in Hornblower and the Crisis. The other three were not collected in the main series and are harder to find.
- “Hornblower and the Hand of Destiny” (1940): Hornblower as a young officer in 1796.
- “Hornblower’s Charitable Offering” (1941): an episode from 1810, originally meant as a chapter of A Ship of the Line.
- “Hornblower and His Majesty” (1940): Hornblower commands the royal yacht in 1813.
- “Hornblower and the Widow McCool” (1950): Lieutenant Hornblower and an Irish rebel. Also published as “Hornblower’s Temptation”.
- “The Last Encounter” (1966): Hornblower in retirement in 1848, receiving a strange visitor on a stormy night.
None of the stories is essential, but “The Last Encounter” is a lovely farewell and worth reading after everything else.
Chronological Order vs Publication Order
The two orders are very different, so this is the one series where the question really matters.
Chronological order
| # | Title | Years covered | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mr. Midshipman Hornblower | 1794 to 1799 | Midshipman |
| 2 | Lieutenant Hornblower | 1800 to 1803 | Lieutenant |
| 3 | Hornblower and the Hotspur | 1803 to 1805 | Commander |
| 4 | Hornblower and the Crisis (unfinished) | 1805 | Captain |
| 5 | Hornblower and the Atropos | 1805 to 1806 | Captain |
| 6 | The Happy Return (Beat to Quarters) | 1808 | Captain |
| 7 | A Ship of the Line | 1810 | Captain |
| 8 | Flying Colours | 1810 to 1811 | Captain |
| 9 | The Commodore | 1812 | Commodore |
| 10 | Lord Hornblower | 1813 to 1815 | Commodore |
| 11 | Hornblower in the West Indies | 1821 to 1823 | Rear admiral |
Which order should you read?
Chronological order is the best choice for most new readers. You follow Hornblower’s whole career from boy to admiral, the early books are short and exciting, and most modern editions are numbered this way.
Publication order has real advantages too. You meet Hornblower as Forester first imagined him, and you read the celebrated captain trilogy first. Forester also wrote the later books knowing readers had read the earlier ones, so a few details in the prequels do not quite match.
A sensible compromise is to read chronologically but save the unfinished Hornblower and the Crisis for the very end, so that it does not interrupt the story.
About the Hornblower Series
The series follows one man through the whole of the long war against France. Horatio Hornblower is born in 1776, the son of a country doctor, with no money and no influence. Everything he achieves, he achieves by ability.
What sets him apart from earlier adventure heroes is his inner life. Hornblower is tone-deaf, prone to seasickness, awkward with people, and convinced he is a fraud. He hides all of it behind a mask of calm, and his crews adore him for a confidence he does not feel.
Each novel is built around a different kind of naval problem: a single-ship duel, a coastal raid, a blockade, a mutiny, a diplomatic mission. Forester explains each one so clearly that readers with no knowledge of sailing can follow every move.
What Makes Hornblower Special
- The original. Almost every later naval series, from Aubrey-Maturin to Bolitho and Kydd, exists in its shadow.
- A hero with doubts. Hornblower’s self-criticism makes him far more human than the usual fearless captain.
- Short, tight books. Most of the novels run to around 300 pages, with no padding.
- Clear action. Forester had a gift for making complicated manoeuvres easy to picture.
- A complete life. Few series follow a single character across thirty years of career, marriage and loss.
- Wide influence. Gene Roddenberry drew on Hornblower when he created the captains of Star Trek, and Bernard Cornwell wrote Sharpe because he wanted a Hornblower on land.
Main Characters
Horatio Hornblower. The hero, born in 1776, the son of a doctor. He is a gifted navigator and mathematician, a fine whist player, and a harsh judge of himself. He hates to show emotion and is often lonelier than he needs to be.
William Bush. Hornblower’s most loyal officer and his closest friend. Bush is brave, steady and unimaginative, everything Hornblower is not, and their partnership runs through most of the series.
Brown. Hornblower’s coxswain, a strong and resourceful seaman who later becomes his personal servant. He plays a large part in Flying Colours.
Maria Mason. Hornblower’s first wife, the daughter of his Portsmouth landlady. She adores him, and he feels guilty that he cannot love her as she deserves.
Lady Barbara Wellesley. An intelligent, self-possessed aristocrat who first appears in The Happy Return. She is Forester’s invention, a fictional sister of the Duke of Wellington.
Sir Edward Pellew. The captain of the frigate Indefatigable and Hornblower’s first great commander. Pellew was a real officer, later Lord Exmouth, and appears in several of the early books.
Hornblower’s Ships
One pleasure of the series is watching the ships grow with the man. This table lists his main vessels in the order of his career.
| Ship | Type | Book |
|---|---|---|
| HMS Justinian | Ship of the line | Mr. Midshipman Hornblower |
| HMS Indefatigable | Frigate | Mr. Midshipman Hornblower |
| HMS Renown | Ship of the line, 74 guns | Lieutenant Hornblower |
| HMS Hotspur | Sloop of war | Hornblower and the Hotspur |
| HMS Atropos | Sloop, 22 guns | Hornblower and the Atropos |
| HMS Lydia | Frigate, 36 guns | The Happy Return |
| HMS Sutherland | Ship of the line, 74 guns | A Ship of the Line |
| HMS Nonsuch | Ship of the line, flagship | The Commodore |
Omnibus Editions
The Hornblower novels have often been collected in single volumes, which can be the cheapest way to buy them. The best known is Captain Horatio Hornblower, which contains The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours.
Other collections include The Young Hornblower, which gathers the early career, and Admiral Hornblower, which gathers the later books. Contents vary between editions, so check the list of titles before you buy.
Where to Start
New readers: start with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. It is short, episodic and gives you Hornblower from his first day at sea.
If you want the best of the series first: start with The Happy Return and read the captain trilogy. These three books made Hornblower famous.
If you only want to try one book: Lieutenant Hornblower works well on its own, and its outside view of the hero makes it a favourite of many long-time readers.
Can you start anywhere?
Most of the novels stand alone, with one exception. A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours are really one story in two parts and must be read in that order. Lord Hornblower also depends on what came before and should not be read early.
About the Author
C.S. Forester was born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in Cairo in 1899 and grew up in London. He abandoned medical school to write, and had his first success with the crime novel Payment Deferred in 1926.
By the mid 1930s he was working in Hollywood. According to his own account in The Hornblower Companion, the idea for Hornblower came together during a slow sea voyage, helped by some old volumes of the Naval Chronicle, a magazine written by and for officers of Nelson’s navy.
He moved to California during the Second World War and lived there until his death in 1966. Besides Hornblower he wrote The African Queen (1935), filmed with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, and The Gun (1933), a short novel of the Peninsular War.
Historical Context
The Hornblower novels cover the years 1794 to 1815, when Britain was almost continuously at war with France. The Royal Navy was the country’s main defence, and it grew into the largest and most professional fighting force in the world.
Forester is accurate about how that navy worked: the press gang, the prize money, the slow ladder of promotion, the brutal discipline, and the constant shortage of men. Life aboard was hard, and he does not hide it.
Hornblower himself is invented, and so are his ships. But he moves among real people and real events. Sir Edward Pellew, his first great captain, was one of the finest frigate commanders of the age. The blockade of Brest, the funeral of Nelson, the siege of Riga and the fall of Napoleon all happened much as the books describe.
Forester did take liberties. Lady Barbara Wellesley is a fictional sister for the Duke of Wellington, and Hornblower is carefully kept away from Trafalgar so that the real history is not disturbed. For more novels from the period, see our Napoleonic Wars historical fiction hub.
Similar Series You’ll Love
Aubrey-Maturin by Patrick O’Brian. The natural next step. O’Brian’s twenty novels cover the same war with more depth, more humour and a great friendship at their centre. They are slower and richer than Hornblower.
Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell. Cornwell loved Hornblower as a boy and wanted the same thing for the army. Sharpe is the result: the same war, fought on land from India to Waterloo.
Kydd by Julian Stockwin. Starting with Kydd, this series follows a pressed man from the lower deck upwards, written by a former naval officer.
Temeraire by Naomi Novik. A naval captain in the Napoleonic Wars finds himself bonded to a dragon. It is alternate history, written with real affection for Forester and O’Brian.
Poldark by Winston Graham. For the same years seen from the land, in Cornwall. A family saga, not a war story, but with the same sense of a whole life unfolding.
Adaptations
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951). The Hollywood film stars Gregory Peck as Hornblower and Virginia Mayo as Lady Barbara, directed by Raoul Walsh (IMDb). It combines the three novels of the captain trilogy into one story, and Forester worked on the adaptation himself.
Hornblower (1998 to 2003). The ITV and A&E series made a star of Ioan Gruffudd. Its eight feature-length films are based on Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower and Hornblower and the Hotspur, with Robert Lindsay as Pellew and Paul McGann as Bush.
The television series takes some liberties with the books, most notably by expanding the role of Hornblower’s friend Archie Kennedy, who appears only briefly in the novels. It remains one of the best naval dramas ever filmed.
There have also been radio versions, including a 1950s series with Michael Redgrave as Hornblower.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Hornblower books are there?
There are eleven Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester: ten complete novels and one unfinished novel, Hornblower and the Crisis. Forester also wrote five short stories and a guide called The Hornblower Companion.
What order should I read the Hornblower books in?
Most readers should read them in chronological order, starting with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and ending with Hornblower in the West Indies. Publication order, starting with The Happy Return, is also a good choice and shows the series as Forester wrote it.
What is the first Hornblower book?
The first book published was The Happy Return in 1937, known as Beat to Quarters in the United States. The first book in the story’s chronology is Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, published in 1950.
Is Beat to Quarters the same book as The Happy Return?
Yes. The Happy Return is the original British title and Beat to Quarters is the American title of the same novel. Several other books also have different titles in the two countries.
Is Horatio Hornblower based on a real person?
No, Hornblower is a fictional character. Forester drew on the careers of real officers of the period and on the Naval Chronicle, a magazine of the time. Many supporting characters, such as Sir Edward Pellew, were real people.
Are the Hornblower books historically accurate?
The naval background is very accurate, including shipboard life, tactics and the main events of the war. Hornblower’s own ships and missions are invented, and Forester occasionally adjusts dates. Lady Barbara Wellesley is a fictional sister of the Duke of Wellington.
Is Hornblower and the Crisis finished?
No. C.S. Forester died in 1966 while writing it, and the novel was published unfinished with a short note describing how he planned to end it. The book also includes two short stories.
Should I read Hornblower or Aubrey-Maturin?
Both are excellent. Hornblower is faster, shorter and easier to follow, which makes it the better starting point. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels are longer and more literary. Many readers enjoy both, starting with Hornblower.
Are the Hornblower books suitable for younger readers?
Yes, for teenagers and confident younger readers. The books contain battle violence and some hardship but little graphic content, and they have long been popular with young readers. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower is the best starting point.
How long does it take to read the Hornblower series?
The novels are short, mostly around 300 pages each. A regular reader can finish one in a few days and the whole series in two or three months.
Is there a Hornblower TV series?
Yes. Hornblower, made for ITV and A&E between 1998 and 2003, stars Ioan Gruffudd in eight feature-length films. There is also a 1951 film, Captain Horatio Hornblower, starring Gregory Peck.
Did Hornblower inspire Star Trek?
Yes. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, named Hornblower as an influence on Captain Kirk, and later on Captain Picard. The idea of a lone captain far from home making his own decisions comes straight from Forester.
Are the Hornblower books available as audiobooks and ebooks?
Yes. All eleven novels are available in ebook and audiobook editions, as well as in paperback. Several omnibus editions collect three or four novels in one volume.
Conclusion
The Hornblower novels are nearly ninety years old, and they have not dated. They are quick, clear and exciting, and at their centre is one of the most believable heroes in adventure fiction: a man who is brave in spite of himself.
Start with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower if you want the whole life in order, or with The Happy Return if you want to see why the world fell for him in the first place. Either way, you are at the source of every naval series written since.