Hornblower Saga

The following chronologies of the Hornblower series were derived from information gathered from a combination of the books, dates given in C.S. Forester's Hornblower Companion as well as clues given in the movies.  I have endeavored to get the dates as accurate as possible based on these sources, but many of them are educated guesses.  Please take them as such.

The Hornblower Novels/Short Stories

The novels and short stories listed below are in order based on the dates in which the stories were set (publication date for the novels is in parentheses).  Keep in mind that C.S. Forester did not publish them in this order, so there are places where dates and events may conflict.

***While the text of Mr. Midshipman Hornblower strongly implies that the action of Chapter 1 takes place in January 1794, Forester references his first map in The Hornblower Companion with "...Hornblower's activities were confined, during the thirty years 1793 to 1823...".  Hornblower himself also refers to 1793 as the year his career started in a conversation with Captain Bolton in Chapter 9 of Ship of the Line.

¹"The Hand of Destiny" (orig. published in Collier's November 23, 1940), "Hornblower's Charitable Offering" (orig. published in Argosy (UK), May 1941), and "Hornblower and His Majesty" (orig. published in Collier's, March 23, 1940, and Argosy (UK), March 1941) are short stories which can be found in Hornblower - One More Time.  That book, however, is rare.  See the What's Out There section of this site for information on where "Hornblower's Charitable Offering" and "Hornblower and His Majesty" can be found.

²According to the Hornblower Companion, Hotspur is concluded in July of 1805, however in Crisis, Forester has the Hotspur aground by mid-May of 1805.  Though Crisis was never finished, it was Forester's intention (as we know through the notes he left behind) to have the book conclude with Hornblower's mission successfully leading to the battle of Trafalgar.

³The short stories "Hornblower's Temptation" and "The Last Encounter" are included in Hornblower During the Crisis

⁴"The Point and the Edge" was outlined in the Hornblower Companion by C.S. Forester, but never written.

⁵ "Hornblower's Charitable Offering" was originally intended to be a chapter of Ship of the Line.

"Cadet" Editions of the Hornblower Novels

In addition to the above books, there were also several junior editions published for the younger reader which were excerpted from the regular Hornblower novels.  They were (with books from which the editions were adapted following):

• Hornblower Goes to Sea  - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower/Lieutenant Hornblower

• Hornblower Takes Command  - Hornblower and the Atropos/Beat to Quarters

• Hornblower in Captivity - Ship of the Line/Flying Colours

• Hornblower's Triumph - Commodore Hornblower/Lord Hornblower

Movie/Book Comparisons

The following is a list of the movies and the closest corresponding book(s) upon which they are based.

A&E Movie Timeline

The following are APPROXIMATE dates for the A&E movies.  There are only three times in which dates are given on the screen during the series--in The Duel, Mutiny, and Loyalty.  The rest is left up to our imaginations.  I've made estimates of the time frames based on a combination of the books with which the individual episodes correspond and any clues I might have gotten from the dialogue, etc.  Except in those few cases where the dates and given to the audience, however, the rest are not hard and fast by any means.  I've given explanations for my 'guesstimates' below.

(By the way, A&E networks has a Hornblower time line up on its web site, but it doesn't mesh easily with what the shows themselves tell us.  Plus, the time line references The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower as its source.  Take that as you will...)

Explanation for Dates:

• The Duel begins with Hornblower's arrival on board the Justinian which is given in the movie as "January 1793"

• Fireships date is based on the delivery of the message by the Spanish captain that Spain has declared her neutrality.  Spain made peace with France in 1795.

• The Duchess and the Devil dates are based on the dialogue in which the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (February 14, 1797) is discussed around Don Massaredo's dinner table.  Forester explains in his books that Hornblower was a prisoner for two years.  The length of his confinement was never specified in the movies, however.

• Although the events of The Wrong War are based on an actual even which occurred in 1795 (and on the chapter in Mr. Midshipman Hornblower which takes place in the same year as the historical invasion), the movie follows The Duchess and the Devil in chronology, therefore it must be set during 1797 or later.  During a tour on the Grand Turk (a.k.a. Indefatigable), several props were on display--among which was the ship's log.  It was turned to page which described the events of the Quiberon invasion and was dated 1797, which leads me to believe that the set dressers at least were working under the assumption that Wrong War was taking place in 1797.

• Mutiny begins, we were told, in Kingston, Jamaica in January 1802, around the time of Hornblower's court martial.  It then flashes back "six months earlier", thus setting the beginning of the movie somewhere around July of 1801.

• Loyalty begins with the declaration of the Peace of Amiens (1802).  I set the ending date at 1805 since that is the approximate date in which Hornblower and the Hotspur (the book on which Loyalty and Duty are based) ends.

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