Horatio Hornblower

Captain Horatio Hornblower is a post captain in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars and commands H.M.S. Lydia, a 36-gun frigate, on detached service. His age is given as thirty-seven during 1808 indicating a birth date c. 1771 (this varies somewhat from a birthday of July 4, 1776, given in another novel of the series). He is very educated and joined the naval service fairly late at the age of about twenty-one (again, this varies somewhat from the age of seventeen stated in another novel of the series). He has a term of naval service given as fifteen years. Hornblower is an exceptional navigator, captain, and seaman though he is nervous and constantly plagued by internalized self-doubt. He regards himself as cowardly and dishonest yet all who know him regard him in an opposite way. His powerful drive to unqualified success masks his internal turmoil in icy reserve...