The Happy Return

First appearing in 1937, The Happy Return is the first novel of C.S. Forester''s wildly successful Hornblower series.

The story begins in 1808, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars. Royal Navy Captain Horatio Hornblower, the commander of the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia, is sailing across the Pacific on a secret mission for His Majesty''s Government. His task is to give to supplies to the local magnate Don Julian and support him in his revolt against the Spanish.

On arrival, he discovers the man he was sent to help is a megalomaniac who styles himself as El Supremo. While he struggles to placate his new ally, his job is made all the more difficult by the arrival of the 50-gun Spanish ship of war Navidad...