A Ship of the Line was published by Michael Joseph in 1938 (the second Hornblower novel written, though sixth chronologically). Captain Hornblower takes command of HMS Sutherland, a seventy-four-gun ship of the line, and sails for the Mediterranean in 1810 with orders to join the British squadron off the Spanish coast.
The novel follows the Sutherland’s independent cruise: raids on French coastal shipping, bombardment of enemy batteries, the capture of merchant vessels, and the constant tension between Hornblower’s aggressive instincts and his awareness that his ship is undermanned and outgunned. The climax — Hornblower engages four French ships of the line simultaneously to protect a convoy — is one of the great set-pieces of naval fiction. The Sutherland is battered into surrender, but Hornblower’s sacrifice delays the French long enough for a British squadron to arrive and destroy them.
Forester’s technical mastery is at its height: the seamanship, the gunnery, the tactical decisions are rendered with a precision that satisfies naval historians while remaining dramatic for general readers. The novel won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938.
Collecting Ship of the Line
First edition (Michael Joseph, London, 1938): Blue cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition with jacket, fine/fine: $400–$1,200
- Without jacket, very good: $100–$300
- US first (Little, Brown): $200–$600