When a first attempt results in failure, Hornblower suggests immediate follow-up action, surmising the enemy would not be expecting it. Urged by Hornblower and the other lieutenants, he reads the captain’s secret orders and sets about completing the seventy-four gun warship’s mission. With the captain injured, incapacitated, and now completely insane, Buckland the first lieutenant takes command. How he fell is never fully addressed, and Hornblower will only say that “he fell.” Warned, they scatter, and in his haste to arrest them, Sawyer falls down an open hatchway. In fact, they are meeting to deal with the captain’s increasing paranoia. Insisting mutiny is afoot Captain Sawyer searches for his lieutenants, hoping to catch them in an incriminating situation. While the junior most commissioned officer aboard, fifth lieutenant to be precise, Hornblower’s exemplary performance saves the day for HMS Renown and her crew. Andrew McChesney A Royal Navy ship-of-the-line bound for the West Indies, captained by a man believing his lieutenants conspire against him, provides the setting for the second tale of Horatio Hornblower.
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