Hornblower's Ships

Hornblower's Other Ships

Looking for information on the other stars of the Hornblower series?  Included below are the names and "vital stats" on the actual ships (as opposed to the ships that were only models or land-based sets) used in the movies.

Grand Turk ("Indefatigable", "Papillion")

• Owned by Turk Phoenix, LTD. Launched in 1997 and built of 250 cubic meters of iroko.

• Originally commissioned as a 12th century merchant ship for an Arnold Schwarzenegger film that was never made and originally named Phoenix.  She was constructed in the image of the HMS Blandford, a 20-gun sixth rate launched February 13, 1720, after the producers of the Hornblower series found her as nothing more than a keel and a few frames in Marmaris, Turkey.

• Weight: 314 tons

• Length: 119' (152' including bowsprit)

• Beam: 34'

• Mainmast: 117' above water; foremast: 117'; mizzen 90'

• Yards 60' across and 12" thick

• Rigging includes more than 3 miles of rope

• Engine: two 450 horsepower Kelvin diesel

• Crew: 26

• No. of Sails: 22 working sails (made of Duradon rot-proof canvas, authentically rigged)

• Can go up to 10 knots under sail

• Power winch and upper deck fire pump are concealed in the forecastle.  A flag locker conceals her engine controls and navigational equipment.

• Capstan is a mock up and has no function.

• Standing rigging is steel cable with modern synthetic rope for the running rigging.

• Her wheel works, but is not necessary to steer the ship.  The computer controlled steering and navigation system is hidden in her replica 18th-century binnacle.

• She has 10 gunports a side, but is only fitted with the 10 cannons total.

Julia ("Claudette", "Le Reve", "Caroline", "Marie Gallante", "Le Pique")

• Wooden Baltic trader built in the 1930s.

• Julia was actually the Hornblower crew's second choice for her roles, but was "called up" when their first choice was ditched because she was "hogged" (her back was broken).  She had to undergo a thorough conversion to eliminate many of her modern features, including some elementary ones, such as having to fit a barrel over her diesel engine's exhaust pipe which came up through the deck.

Phoenix ("La Gaditana/Retribution")

• Owned by Square Sail Shipyard LTD.

• Originally built by Hjorne & Jakobsen at Frederikshavn, Denmark in 1929 as an Evangelical Mission Schooner, 20 years later she retired from missionary work and carried cargo until her engine room was damaged by fire. She was bought by new owners in 1974 who converted her into a Brigantine before being purchased by Square Sail in 1988. She was overhauled so that she could sail back to the UK to undergo a complete refit.  In 1991, she was converted to the caravel Santa Maria for 1492: The Conquest of Paradise and remained such until 1996, when she was converted into a two-masted brig and reverted to her original name Phoenix of Dell Quay.

• Weight: 79.1 tons

• Length: overall 112'

• Beam: 21.9'

• Engine: Volvo 235 horsepower

• Crew: 10

• No. of Sails: 12 (4000 sq. ft. of sail area)

Earl of Pembroke ("HMS Hotspur")

• Owned by Square Sail Shipyard LTD.

• Originally built in Pukavik, Sweden in 1948 and originally named Orion.  She traded timber in the Baltic and British East Coast until being laid up in Denmark in 1974.  She was purchased by Square Sail in 1979 and restored completely in 1985.  In 1994 she was commissioned as the three-masted 18th century wooden Barque that she is today.

• Weight: 174 tons

• Length: overall 145'

• Beam: 24'

• Engine: MAN 6-cylinder, 300 horsepower single 3-bladed propeller

• Crew: 15

• No. of Sails: 14 (9500 sq. ft. of sail area)