Ship of the Line — C.S. Forester

It is 1810, and Wellington has yet to crush Bonaparte. The Peninsular Campaign rages on, with Spain in Napoleon's bloody clutches. Sailing his ship of the line to join the blockade off the Spanish coast, Hornblower sets the Mediterranean abroil in a series of cannon-cracking battles on land and at sea and earns the respect of his brutish crew of untrained landsmen.

After surviving an incredible series of broadside battles and the worst storm that the sea could inflict on a vessel, Hornblower finally sails into Rosas Bay with hopes of victory holding his ragged and splintered ship afloat ... only to face yet another desperate French attack. It is a day when saltwater and blood run freely from the decks ...