'Hornblower fired. There was a small cloud of smoke, but no bang. “This is death”, he thought. “My pistol was the unloaded one.' But Horatio Hornblower does not die. He survives the duel with Simpson, learns to overcome his seasickness, and goes on to risk his life many times over. It is 1793, Britain is at war with France, and life on a sailing ship of war is hard and dangerous. But the hardest battles are fought by Hornblower within himself.
有一道煙霧,卻沒有一聲巨響。「我死了,手槍沒子彈了。」他心想著。但是,他並沒有死。與Simpson的決鬥,他活下來,也克服了自己長久以來的毛病─暈船,他開始繼續他的冒險人生。1793年,英國與法國發生戰爭,打一場海戰十分困難也很危險,但最困難的還是對抗自己。