Hornblower and the Hotspur — C.S. Forester

The newly promoted Commander Hornblower faces his most trying assignment in this, the third episode in the world- famous Hornblower saga. Ignoring the lure of prize money, he risks death to defend the British Atlantic Fleet from a French warship many times the size of his own sloop, Hotspur.

It is 1803. War with France has resumed, and Napoleon is preparing for a naval conquest of England. Hornblower, attached to the English Channel Fleet, is commissioned with the Hotspur to act as a spy along the French coast, near Brest. He masterminds a daring plan to sabotage a major signaling station on French soil -- a plan that nearly fails before culminating in a spectacularly successful land raid. And then he sails on.

Harried by blizzards and short of supplies, Hornblower--a genius at the helm and an intrepid warrior always--fights his way to brilliant victories and recognition by none other than the Admiral of the Fleet himself.