By Patrick F. Cannon

When I was a kid, we had a subscription to the Saturday Evening Post. It came every week, and its contents included non-fiction, fiction, and cartoons. It was famous for its covers, many of which were created by the legendary Norman Rockwell. In its heyday, it was America’s favorite magazine. Over the years, it published fiction by Jack London, Edith Wharton, Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis (these last three all Nobel Prize winners), and Kurt Vonnegut. But my favorite writer was an Englishman named C.S. Forrester.

            Forrester (1899-1966) wrote a series of 11 novels detailing the exploits of Napoleonic era British naval officer Horatio Hornblower (I kid you not). Several of them were serialized in the Post and were illustrated with full color battle scenes (the illustrator’s art flourished in those days).  Hornblower was a quirky character, but a master seaman and brave as a Lion! The books are pure adventure, entirely accurate in naval detail, and still readable. As far as I can tell, they’re all in print.

Only one Hollywood movie was made, starring Gregory Peck as Hornblower (1951). A later British TV series starred Ioan Gruffudd as our hero (1998-2003). There were seven episodes based on several of the novels. I believe all of them are available on screening services. As I recall, they’re reasonably good in production quality.

Covering roughly the same historic period, but on an entirely different level of literary distinction, are the novels that have come to be called the Aubry/Maturin series by the late English writer Patrick O’Brien. In 20 novels, O’Brien not only tells exciting stories of naval warfare, but manages at the same time to make vivid the reality of  living in that time of radical social, political, and scientific change. We see all of this through the lives of naval officer Jack Aubrey and his friend Steven Maturin. They couldn’t be more different – the bluff, hearty, physical Aubry, and the introspective medical doctor, naturalist (and spy!) Maturin.

The supporting cast of characters includes Jack’s long-suffering wife, Sophie (Jack is known to stray and is at sea for months and even years at a time); and Steven’s wife, the “dashing” but wayward Diana. Actual historical figures like Joseph Banks, King George III and his son and heir, the Duke of Clarance, occasionally appear and many others are mentioned, most notably Horatio Nelson, Jack’s hero.

While there are 20 books in the series, taken together they are really one novel of 6,451 pages! I know that because my son gave me a boxed set of five beautifully printed and bound volumes that include all the finished novels and one that was unfinished at O’Brien’s death. The pages are numbered as if it really is one long novel. But believe me, each of the 20 can be read separately with pleasure. It somehow doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as reading War and Peace, which has a mere 1,136 pages in the edition I own.

Only one movie has been made from the novels, Master and Commander, directed by Peter Weir and starring Russel Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany of Maturin. Crowe was perfect, but I thought Bettany a bit too good looking. I always thought the Irish actor Steven Rea would have been a better choice. The plot is a combination of elements from the title novel and The Far Side of the World. Great pains were taken to provide an accurate portrayal of shipboard life, and the battle scenes are terrific.

If you’re interested in taking on this magnificent work, start with Master and Commander. If you’re hooked, you’ll have begun a voyage through a great work of history and literature.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon