14th of February - A Date Worth Celebrating?
Today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Cape St Vincent which took place on the 14th of February 1797. It may have been a (more or less) triumphant day for Jervis' British fleet but it was an inauspicious day for Hornblower, as it also happens to be the day he sailed Le Rêve right into the middle of the Spanish fleet. So began Hornblower's period of captivity as a prisoner or war at El Ferrol.
The Spanish boat had hooked on now, and a Spanish lieutenant was awkwardly trying to climb aboard. He arrived on the deck on his hands and knees, and Hornblower stepped over to receive him as he got to his feet. Captor and captive exchange bows. Hornblower could not understand what the Spaniard said, but obviously they were formal sentences that he was using. The Spaniard caught sight of the two women aft and halted in surprise; Hornblower hastily made the presentation in what he hoped was Spanish.
"Señor el tenente Espanol," he said. "Señora la Duquesa de Wharfedale."
The title clearly had its effect; the lieutenant bowed profoundly, and his bow was received with the most lofty aloofness by the duchess. Hornblower could be sure the despatches were safe. That was some alleviation of the misery of standing here on the deck of his water-logged little ship, a Prisoner of the Spaniards. As he waited he heard, from far to leeward, roll upon roll of thunder coming up against the wind. No thunder could endure that long. What he could hear must be the broadsides of ships in action - of fleets in action. Somewhere over there by Cape St Vincent the British fleet must have caught the Spaniards at last. Fiercer and fiercer sounded the roll of the artillery. There was excitement among the Spaniards who had scrambled on to the deck of Le Rêve, while Hornblower stood bareheaded waiting to be taken into captivity.
~ Mr Midshipman Hornblower
Of course it may be the start of Horatio's incarceration but it also marks the beginning of the end of Archie's long lost years as a prisoner of war. That has to be worth celebrating!