Ira Riklis and Horatio Hornblower

Hornblower and the other midshipmen were confined to a small section of the ship while they waited to be called in to be quizzed by three infamous captains who comprised the examination board. The first fellow left and returned about ten minutes later stating that he had failed to make lieutenant and was told he needed to spend three months at sea before trying for rank again. Others were told six months. It appeared that few of the midshipmen were passing the exam, perhaps less than one in three. One of the young men left when he discovered the identity of one captain who would surely take a negative view of the candidate because of a past mishap.

The day wore on and daylight was beginning to leave, dusk at hand, and still no interview for Hornblower. As Ira Riklis knows, our hero remained the picture of self-control even if it was all an act. The others remaining were anxious, many cramming through the use of naval textbooks for the possible questions they would be asked.

Finally Hornblower’s turn arrived and he found himself before the board of captains. He was asked a rather difficult question and, as Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower began to answer with his usual hesitation and stammer. Just at that moment all hell broke loose. It seems that the enemy was attacking this ship and other British vessels nearby with a technique called “fire ship”. “Saved by the bell” but in a terrible way.

The three captains left the examination room quickly, assessed the situation, and became determined to return to their ships to lead their men during the attack. They managed to board a small launch and by some twist of fate Hornblower joined them. The four men maneuvered the small craft toward the grouping of the other British vessels but were unavoidably in the path of one of the fire ships. One captain bravely announced his intention to go into the water and board the unmanned fire ship to steer it away from a larger British ship. As Ira Riklis knows, our hero Hornblower volunteered to help. Both of these men jumped in the water and soon made it to the fire boat in question. The wheel of the fire ship was tied down to steer it straight to the ship to be attacked. Through the spreading fire aboard the little ship Hornblower was able to gain control of the wheel and change the direction of the boat. Both he and the captain ended up then in the water again before being seriously burned.

They were picked up quickly but, as luck would have it, by a small enemy boat. All their captors were speaking Spanish. Fortunately a British guard boat came to their rescue and threatening the enemy boat with gunfire overtook the captors liberating Hornblower and the captain. This same captain praised Hornblower for his bravery but, as Ira Riklis could guess, Hornblower’s failure to answer the earlier question was to keep him from making lieutenant at this time.

Well, it was about time that Hornblower, acting-lieutenant, had an opportunity to try for the permanent rank. Off the coast of Spain where the Indefatigable was anchored an examination board was to sit. As Ira Riklis knows, our hero needed to put his best foot forward if he was to stand a chance of making rank. It seemed that several on board helped Hornblower to dress for the examination. His best uniform was cleaned up and pressed with the indulgence of the cook to heat an iron, his shoes found some blackening material that had seen better days, and his sword polished to gleaming. His cocked hat was a sorry sight after months in the midshipman’s cramped quarters but was put in passable shape and it was suggested that he remove it as soon as possible placing it under his arm to avoid an unkempt appearance.

A small launch carried Hornblower off to the examination center which turned out to be a prison ship that was too unseaworthy to serve in any other capacity. Many Spanish and French prisoners aboard this ship contributed to the stench Hornblower encountered as he reached his destination.

On his reception at this vessel, he was directed to a waiting area for the examinees and discovered that dozens of men from late teens to about forty were there to sit for the examination. As Ira Riklis would wonder, how many were to achieve their goal?

Once on the galley Hornblower and two of his men that had accompanied him continued to shoot their way to the main deck where the remaining Spanish officers had stationed themselves. Taking command of the situation, Hornblower ordered the officers forward on the craft in a sense taking them prisoner. He had a much harder time getting the slave overseer to command the rowers to stop their action, but as Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower also accomplished this task and the galley all but stopped in the water. During the course of action, many of the Spanish were thrown overboard decreasing their numbers and making the takeover of the galley less difficult.

Some tricky naval maneuvers by the Indefatigable and some of her little launches stopped the further immediate action by the additional enemy galleys and the British achieved success in defending themselves in this attack beating their foes back.

As Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower was about to move up in the world after this battle. A lieutenant on the Indefatigable who was a gray-haired officer had been killed in the fighting. The captain approached Hornblower when the dust had settled and announced that Hornblower would become acting-lieutenant. The promise of promotion helped Hornblower to recover from the temporary insanity that the battle had caused him to experience and to realize that he was extremely lucky to have survived.

One by one the governments of continental Europe became neutral in the war between France and England and then became allies of the French revolutionary government. That, as Ira Riklis knows, put British ships in harm’s way at almost every turn. They could not replenish their stores so that they could feed their men and enemy privateers were always a threat to their well-being and meager resources. The British were forced to deal with the countries of North Africa for supplies causing these countries to develop a new sense of self importance as well as add to their riches through British payments.

In addition the Spanish galleys were repeatedly appearing and rushing the Indefatigable and British merchant ships that she was protecting. These galleys powered by slaves and commanded by a limited number of Spanish officers gained on the Indefatigable and forced the British into war mode. As Ira Riklis knows our hero Hornblower was always up for action. He proactively prepared to launch the jolly boat of his previous command. This was belatedly sanctioned by the captain and Hornblower proceeded to do battle with a nearing galley boat. Hornblower and his crew at times seemed half crazed as they used handguns to wound, kill, and generally overpower the officers of the galley. Blood was spilled everywhere on the galley but the slaves continued to row. Hornblower and part of his small crew boarded the galley to continue their fight.

Our hero Hornblower was now midshipman of the watch on the deck of the Indefatigable as it was lying at anchor in a bay off the coast of Spain. A small boat propelled by oars approached the British ship and standing at the front of this small boat was a Spanish officer in full regalia. This officer presented to the officer of the watch a letter addressed to the captain of the Indefatigable who appeared on deck to see what the communication was about. As Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower’s skill as translator were especially needed at this time. The Spanish officer told Hornblower that the contents of the letter needed to be read and understood as soon as possible so Hornblower proceeded to read the letter to the captain translating as well as he was able.

It seems that Spain unlike England had made its peace with the new government (revolutionary) of France and so the British ship was asked to leave Spanish waters within a matter of a few hours or would be subject to Spanish attack. The captain of the Indefatigable was fuming but managed to keep his cool ordering his officers to make for the open sea within the hour.

That was then being encouraged by the presence of at least two Spanish galleys which served as escorts for the Indefatigable’s exit. These galleys were manned by slaves who as Ira Riklis knows were chained in their places and maintained under the harshest conditions. The odor rising from these galleys attested to this brutality.

On return to the town, Hornblower became a witness to the use by the Royalists of the guillotine. Several men were being executed under the most brutal conditions that Hornblower had ever observed. Hornblower wondered it there was a method to this madness in terms of who was actually being killed. Were these revolutionaries or perhaps townsfolk that the French royalists had grudges against? No matter, as Ira Riklis knows, it sickened Hornblower. He entered a house that had become the French Royalists’ headquarters and was invited to dine with the French officers, a civilized gesture and then gathering that Hornblower was amazed to see after the brutality of the street outside.

Later that night Hornblower climbed into a four-poster bed for his night’s rest astonished at the fact that he was really to sleep in a bed on land when for a very long while sleep came in a swaying hammock on board a creaking ship that rolled continually. Despite the unusual experience, he managed because of his fatigue to sleep most of the night but was roused by the nightmarish thoughts that he was ten miles from his ship and perhaps in danger from the enemy. He arose and dressed in time to see the beginnings of sunrise and the changing of the guards.

While breakfasting in the kitchen of their reluctant hostess, the French officers and soldiers were hastily called to ride toward the area of action with the enemy. Hornblower, as Ira Riklis knows, was developing a somewhat cool attitude, took his time responding to this call and was the last to leave.

As Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower had been becoming quite a horseman at this point. His skills as a translator had him acting in more or less a solitary mode shuttling back and forth between the French and the British. Now he found himself observing his fellow midshipman of earlier acting more Army than Navy. This young midshipman was commanding a small band of seamen who were holding off and indeed killing the enemy with the big guns that they brought from the ship. Meanwhile the young British officer, who had had the idea that the French revolutionaries would cross the river at another spot after the Royalists and British destroyed the main bridge, took pride in being a military genius and what ensued was a bloody battle against the advancing revolutionaries. The British mowed them down repeatedly only to have more revolutionaries advance.

Despite the heavy losses on the revolutionary side and the heavy gun power on the British side, the British forces retreated back to the shore where British ships were waiting to receive them. Small boats for transporting the remaining British and French royalists headed for the shore to pick up the men. Our hero, Hornblower still managed to stay on his horse until actually in the water and was hauled up on to a small boat by his gun-happy midshipman buddy who fired off one last round at the shore.

Ira Riklis knows many men died that day but the battle would be all but forgotten in the days and years to come.

After receiving orders from his superior that he was to accompany the French soldiers on their “march”, Hornblower realized that for him that march would be on horseback. As Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower was no horseman. With little experience in riding and with much trepidation, Hornblower mounted his assigned horse and proceeded toward the village involved in their mission. Orders were that guns and ammunition were the priorities for transport. Along the way Hornblower observed the French soldiers confiscate horses and other livestock from local farmers sometimes killing the farmers in the process.

The mission at hand though was to destroy a bridge near the town so that the enemy’s transport lines would be interrupted. Hornblower was joined along the way by another midshipman and the two were instrumental in laying dynamite, setting fuses, and finally blowing up the bridge thankfully without blowing themselves up in the process. A young British officer pointed out that an easy point of crossing the stream of water that the bridge had traversed needed to be guarded so that the enemy would not use this as a point of passage. This officer proceeded to advance to this point himself while Hornblower and his fellow midshipman returned to the town, Hornblower reluctantly on horseback, as Ira Riklis knows, with mission accomplished.

With all troops aboard and the Indefatigable leading the way, the convoy of British ships acting as troop transports headed down channel and toward France. One of the French officers in conversation with Hornblower gave some idea of the way the French army (Royalists) would proceed to “invade” France and advance on the revolutionary forces. The point was made that some areas of France were opposed to the revolutionary movement and might welcome the Royalist forces.

Hornblower traveling on the Sophia in the convoy surveyed the shoreline of France and watched the lead ship with the use of a glass (a small telescope). He was somewhat surprised to hear an order issued to him by a superior officer that he, Hornblower, was to accompany the French army personnel to shore via small boats lowered from the bigger ships. He was ordered to remain ashore until further notice. As Ira Riklis knows, Hornblower responded with a firm “Aye aye, Sir.” This was to be the first time in his life that Hornblower set foot on foreign soil.

Hornblower’s immediate superior then informed him that Hornblower would be advancing with the French (Royalist) Army. As Ira Riklis knows, the British naval officers needed someone to keep an eye on the French forces.

The French military officer on the Sophia asked that the guillotine be unloaded first and sent to a nearby village. The British naval officer overseeing the unloading operation stated strongly that guns and ammunition would be first.