Beat to Quarters Author:C. S. Forester It is 1808, and Captain Hornblower, under secret orders, has kept the Lydia seven months at sea without touching land. His destination is the Gulf of Fonseca, where he is to form an alliance in suport of an uprising in the Spanish-American colonies. Faced with outbreaks of disease and possible mutiny, Captain Hornblower is f... more »orced to confront the Natividad--an enemy ship of nearly double the gun force of the Lydia--and ordered to destroy it at all costs.« less