CS Forester/Hornblower Weekend [Archive] - World Naval Ships Forums

INVINCIBLE

14-06-2010, 22:12

There is reference to C S Forester and Hornblower in various threads. Those who are interested in Hornblower may like to be aware that the C S Forester Society is organising a w/e in Portsmouth in September with live cannon firing, harbour tours, talks etc. The Society book of the year is "Midshipman Hornblower". Details below.

MelQuick

14-06-2010, 22:27

Hi

I'd love to go but I'm tied up here in Malta at present. I have read all of CS Forester's books several times.

Mel

INVINCIBLE

15-06-2010, 17:52

Hi

I'd love to go but I'm tied up here in Malta at present. I have read all of CS Forester's books several times.

Mel

Mel,

Thanks - sorry about that. Portsmouth is usually selected because it appears in many of the Hornblower books. Perhaps we should arrange a meeting in Malta, that would be great fun, I have not been back since I was stationed there on the NATO staff working at the HQ in Floriana and thoroughly enjoying it, in the early 1970s, until Mr Mintoff moved us on, but that is another story. Quite a few of the Hornblower books are set in the Med, Gibraltar often features but I don't know if Hornblower ever went to Malta. Do you happen to know if he ever went there?

steve roberts

15-06-2010, 18:01

Hi Invincible.A quick answer without my vast library to hand(They don't like it up 'em in Hospital:D)I do not believe Hornblower ever did make it to Malta.Gib. Numerous times ,but never into the Med.Seemed to spend most of his time in the West Indies.
Many Regards Steve.

MelQuick

15-06-2010, 19:37

Hi

Hornblower did make it to Malta.

In 'Hornblower and the Atropos' he has to pick up a sailing master before proceeding to Marmorice Bay in the Levant to recover some gold and silver from a sunken vessel.

There's a good description of the Atropos rounding Ricasoli Point as she enters Grand Harbour.

Mel

INVINCIBLE

15-06-2010, 19:39

Hi Invincible.A quick answer without my vast library to hand(They don't like it up 'em in Hospital:D)I do not believe Hornblower ever did make it to Malta.Gib. Numerous times ,but never into the Med.Seemed to spend most of his time in the West Indies.
Many Regards Steve.

Steve,

Brilliant to hear from you - so very pleased that you are back in action "firing on all cannons" - keep it up!! We can start now to uncross, fingers, toes and whatever else !! Actually you don't need your vast library as you would appear to have it all up topside anyway.
Thanks by the way for your answer on Hornblower.
Much look forward to seeing the red flag flying when I log on to the site now.

Cheers,

INVINCIBLE

INVINCIBLE

15-06-2010, 19:46

Hi

Hornblower did make it to Malta.

In 'Hornblower and the Atropos' he has to pick up a sailing master before proceeding to Marmorice Bay in the Levant to recover some gold and silver from a sunken vessel.

There's a good description of the Atropos rounding Ricasoli Point as she enters Grand Harbour.

Mel

Mel,
That was "Quick"! and thanks for the info - I will have to get my copy out - I did enjoy Hornblower and the Atropos. What a pity you can't make the CS Forester w/e in Portsmouth, there will be CS Forester's son coming from America and members coming from Germany, Holland, Portugal and several other countries, which seems to show the international appeal of Hornblower and CS Forester. In fact I think the CDs have been sold all over and indeed most of his books have been translated and published world wide (have seen a French edition of "Sink the Bismark", but not yet a German copy, must ask the Chairman why, (he is German!).
Cheers,
INVICIBLE

MelQuick

15-06-2010, 19:51

Mel,
That was "Quick"! and thanks for the info - I will have to get my copy out - I did enjoy Hornblower and the Atropos. What a pity you can't make the CS Forester w/e in Portsmouth, there will be CS Forester's son coming from America and members coming from Germany, Holland, Portugal and several other countries, which seems to show the international appeal of Hornblower and CS Forester. In fact I think the CDs have been sold all over and indeed most of his books have been translated and published world wide (have seen a French edition of "Sink the Bismark", but not yet a German copy, must ask the Chairman why, (he is German!).
Cheers,
INVICIBLE

Your suggestion of a meeting in Malta sounds great. I spent a good proportion of today drinking in 'The Pub' in Valletta with Derek Dicker, who's out here on holiday.

Mel

berry

15-06-2010, 21:10

Morning all,vy sad I won't be able to attend HH's weekend in Portsmouth.Recently re-read for the enth time Hornblower and Atropos,it mentions that he was unable to go sight-seeing in Malta because of the fresh north-easterly wind blowing.He calls the wind 'gregale'- googled it and of course C.S.Forester has his facts right.Any ideas as to what that word actually means?
regards
Sid

astraltrader

16-06-2010, 00:02

Hi I think Gregale is a corruption from the Greek word Grecale which literally means a Greek isle or island and in particular the name was once used for a particular Greek island I think Zakynthos.

In the context used by Forester, Gregale is of course a Mediterranean wind that usually blows to the south of Malta.

INVINCIBLE

16-06-2010, 08:29

Morning all,vy sad I won't be able to attend HH's weekend in Portsmouth.Recently re-read for the enth time Hornblower and Atropos,it mentions that he was unable to go sight-seeing in Malta because of the fresh north-easterly wind blowing.He calls the wind 'gregale'- googled it and of course C.S.Forester has his facts right.Any ideas as to what that word actually means?
regards
Sid

We remember the 'gregale' ("Greek Gale") well from the, fortunately few times it blew, from the northeast during our time in Malta, particularly as it was a very dry and dusty island.

MelQuick

16-06-2010, 10:39

We remember the 'gregale' ("Greek Gale") well from the, fortunately few times it blew, from the northeast during our time in Malta, particularly as it was a very dry and dusty island.

Dusty I agree with but it certainly isn't dry! (are we talking about the same thing?)

Mel

INVINCIBLE

16-06-2010, 15:16

Dusty I agree with but it certainly isn't dry! (are we talking about the same thing?)

Mel

Mel,

It certainly wasn't inthe 70s - I well remember all the empty beer cans rolling down under the seats in the cinema.
Seriously according to Northcote-Parkinson's classic "The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower" compiled from all the books, Hornblower was appointed Governor of Malta 1829-31. Must look at the later books again (the earlier books are the best and even the films and TV series do not seem to portray his later years).

INVINCIBLE

INVINCIBLE

24-09-2010, 15:27

Just a quick reminder that the C S Forester Society will be having a Hornblower weekend in Portsmouth this Saturday & Sunday. Main event on Saturday is a gun firing 1530 at Fort Nelson, two rounds from a Nelson era twelve pounder cannon by gun crew in appropriate rig (period costume). Sunday - harbour tour of the Naval Base.

Details on CS Forester web site, meetings/events page:

http://www.dse.nl/~csforester/

Anyone interested is welcome to contact the Society or me (send me a pm).

Hope to post a picture of the event idc

Jackaroo

03-02-2011, 04:57

One of my all time favourite movies...
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1502872857/

INVINCIBLE

03-02-2011, 12:16

Well done Jackaroo - entirely agree with you!!

If you are interested in Hornblower take a look at the CS Forester Society site - their magazine is available on it - so also is membership, which is free.
Latest edition of the museum gives a debrief of their Portsmouth meeting with cannon firing at Fort Nelson.

http://www.dse.nl/~csforester/reflections/Reflections-17.pdf

INVINCIBLE

03-02-2011, 12:22

I should have given the following for the Hornblower cannon firing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYRc0nm8WQ

davidrn

03-02-2011, 21:23

A great read,
I have them all including the Northcote Parkinson "Life and times of HH". My Ship of the Line is the American Beat to Quarters (part of thier Captain HH set of 1939 2nd issue I think) and it also took me about twenty years to obtain a 1st of the Companion.

Good luck and have a great weekend, hope the rain holds off.
Dave

INVINCIBLE

04-02-2011, 10:57

A great read,
I have them all including the Northcote Parkinson "Life and times of HH". My Ship of the Line is the American Beat to Quarters (part of thier Captain HH set of 1939 2nd issue I think) and it also took me about twenty years to obtain a 1st of the Companion.

Good luck and have a great weekend, hope the rain holds off.
Dave

Dave,

Thanks - we did have a great weekend - the weather in Portsmouth was absolutely superb. We were fortunate to have John Forester, son of CS Forester with us. CS Forester of course wrote much more than just the Hornblower books and many of his other books are just as good as the Hornblowers. Quite a few of his books were made into big classic films (The African Queen, The Pride and the Passion, Sailor of the King, Sink the Bismark, Forever England and of course Captain Hornblower - see Jackaroo's post above)

INVINCIBLE

06-02-2011, 15:45

Further to above post British TV must have read it on this forum and kindly arranged to screen CS Foretser's 'Sink the Bismarck' today at 1710 on Film 4 and CS Forester's 'Sailor of the King' (Brown on Resolution) tomorrow on Channel 4 at 1230. Sailor of the King was filmed with ships of the Med Fleet off Malta and part of the film was shot in Gozo. Some of you will recognise the ship below. Both films are well worth watching. - Sorry doesn't upload.

INVINCIBLE

09-02-2011, 12:59

Sailor of the King the film of CS Forester’s book Brown on Resolution was shown on TV on Monday. It is a great film – good clip below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN7lWnXCDk4

The film was shot in the early 1950s using the Mediterranean Fleet. The Inland Sea in Gozo was used as the film location for Resolution Island. I visited the site in the 1970s when I was stationed in Malta, though sadly by then the Med Fleet had long gone. They used one of the Manxman class fast minelayers to play the role of the three-funnel German Armoured cruiser Ziethen. They also used cruisers to play the role of the battle cruiser Leopard in the book. The film had some good actions scenes with 6-inch cruisers firing broadsides.

Jackaroo

13-02-2011, 01:27

Another classic....Sink The Bismark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuO4BfnlDY8&feature=related

INVINCIBLE

13-02-2011, 11:56

Another classic....Sink The Bismark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuO4BfnlDY8&feature=related

Thanks -GREAT STUFF!! - much of it was filmed onboard HMS VANGUARD in Portsmouth. As she also had 15-inch guns it was very appropriate.

GaryH

14-02-2011, 18:30

I believe Loan Gruffard (the actor who played Hornblower) actually said that he would like to make a Hornblower movie.
The TV series was axed because of the high production costs

INVINCIBLE

14-02-2011, 19:15

I believe Loan Gruffard (the actor who played Hornblower) actually said that he would like to make a Hornblower movie.
The TV series was axed because of the high production costs

Gary,

Thanks for that - wish he would because he would make a very good Hornblower.
As regards a film it would be difficult to better the original great classic by Gregory Peck - as in Jackaroo's post 15 above.
One would have thought that with today's computer graphic facilities a film could be made more cheaply.