The first volume of the famous Hornblower cycle reports on the tough maritime training of the very young aspiring sea hero Hornblower, on his first commands and the adventurous tasks that he had to carry out as commander of a sloop in the naval war against Napoleon. 

When the tall seventeen-year-old ensign, pale and seasick, reported for duty on board the English ship of the line Justinian, there was initially no reason to suspect him of a future sea hero. 

But Hornblower proves to be as ambitious as he is bright, and soon, as an ensign on the frigate “Indefatigable,” he is given the adventurous command to bring a captured French brig with four men to an English port.