{"product_id":"9781934757420","title":"Horatio Howard Brenton","description":"What were the origins of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels? A good argument can be made that it all began here with Horatio Howard Brenton.\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1800's Sir Edward Belcher was a British Naval officer, surveyor and explorer of the first rank. In his 40 years of service he captained numerous ships and generated a well-deserved reputation as a skilled seaman. His final command was of the unsuccessful expedition to find the missing and ill-fated explorer, Sir John Franklin. In the process of attempting this rescue mission, however, Belcher lost four of his five ships to pack ice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile he was acquitted of negligence in a court martial, he never again served on active duty. Instead, Belcher, a cousin of Frederick Marryat, devoted the rest of his life to writing. Included was this book, Horatio Howard Brenton, originally published in 1856 as a three volume set.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt can be plausibly argued that this novel was the real model for C.S. Forester's character: Horatio Hornblower. Forester's first wife, Kathleen, was a Belcher. Add to that the similarity of the story lines between Brenton and Hornblower, and the use of a common first name-and some reasonable questions might be asked. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt a minimum, it is inconceivable that Forester did not at least know about Belcher's book. Was it the primary model for his work? You will need to read it and decide for yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A Naval Novel of the most genuine and natural kind\" - London Chronicle\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fireship Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47039630803184,"sku":"9781934757420","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781934757420_p0.jpg?v=1763655220","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781934757420","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}