 Call all hands. Beat the quarters. Turn by the starboard battery. One broadside into it, if you please, Captain Bush. Pointes on target. Link stops ready. Aye, aye, sir! Bad C.S. Forester's Indomitable Man of the Sea. Horatio Hornblower. In those days with, with amazement, the island of Haiti was beautiful. The paradise of boots and cockatoos flashed brightly all around us. But I gave them no heed. Standing on the ramparts of that captured fort, my whole attention was centered on the telescope, which Lieutenant Bush held tight to his eye. I yearned to have a chance at it myself, but he was my superior. A man can't trust himself forward, even at such a time as that. Lieutenant Bush. If you're not using the telescope, sir. Huh? Oh, yes. Much good it does. Anything? No. What are the Spaniards across the channel? They can make out no activity, sir. Who's in command there, Hornblower? You speak their lingo? Our prisoners have told you. Well, the captain, uh, general is named... Dylan Weaver, second in command, uh, Colonel Ortega. Oh, a fine kettle of fish. The Dom's holding one side of the entrance to the bay, and we the other. Well, what do we do now? Captain Buckland ought to be here. He's the one to say. Yes, sir. Eh? Oh, yes. Don't say very much, does he? Well, I... Oh, I know what's in your mind as well as mine. He's silly, shall he's. But, sir... Yes? There's a sale. It's the renown, sir. How soon will she make the channel? Well, it's kept it going, apparently, sir. I'd say, uh, for a matter of two hours, possibly. Lieutenant Bush, sir. Mr. Davey sends his compliments. He says the Spanish vessels up there in the bay are growing busier than Antsrander Honeypot. The merchantman? Hornblower. Well, this way, sir. We can get a clear review from over here, sir. He's right. They're going to try to slip past this. Once clear, they'll scatter like sheep. Oh, why doesn't Captain Buckland get here? What do you do, Mr. Davey? They'll range across the channel? All the other four? Not quite. Ah, just as well they can't. There's the dons, and we will be battering each other to bits. Sir? Hornblower, what are you doing here? Sir? No orders were to keep an eye on the shipments. Yes, sir. I detailed Midshipman Brown. Sir, do you think we could use hot-shot? Hot-shot? Heat the cannonballs red-hot. Start fires aboard the Spaniards. Too much more damage that way, don't you think, sir? Well, we'll be fortunate to hit them at all as it is. Well, that's it, exactly. Heat them red-hot. Yes, sir. What, he's never done at sea? Well, too much risk at sea, sir. Wooden ships are the risk of setting yourself on fire. But there's the furnace for it. The dons make it accustomed. Do you see, sir? Special metal baskets to carry the ball in and then transfer it to the gun. Hornblower, do you any idea how to load hot-shot? Well, if one such cannonball touched the powder and will all be blown sky-high. Well, we could use whip wards as well as dry wards, sir. Have you done it before? Well, no, sir, never. What is it, Dawson? Midshipman Brown sent you? Aye, sir. He says to tell you one of them whistles was up-danker. She's heading for the channel now. Oh. Lieutenant Bush, please, sir, let's try this time. Very well, Hornblower. Tell all of the detail to heat the cannonballs, if you please. Not since. Why shouldn't it fit? No, that happened with number four, sir. Hornblower, sir, it's all my fault, sir. Those cursed cannonballs are overheated. Overheated? They're too long in the furnace. They've lost their shape. They won't fit the ball. Lay any more firing. I saw you, sir. I'm sorry, Lieutenant Bush. Oh, are you now? Yes. I overreached myself. Oh, maybe not. Well, what do you mean? Well, stop looking at the guns and you'll see for yourself. See for yourself? The last headway is swung around across the channel. Look, is that smoke? It is. He's on fire, sir. Aye, that is. They go to the sails. Yes, and the others have turned back. They're afraid to enter the channel. Red-hot cannonballs. I shall report this to Captain Buckland. And by the speed they're returning, I should think they'll be here in under an hour. And proper that you do that. I commendations, Hornblower. Thank you, sir. On the Spanish side, use them in the bugle so we won't open fire on them. And why not, Mr. Davies? Sir, if you please, they're flying a white flag. They must want to pile it. I suppose they do. Then they escort and meet whoever it is outside the fort. Aye, sir, if you must fetch him in, be certain he's blindfolded. I have no wish to have the dons know all about us. Offer of surrender, sir. Surrender? My terms are unconditional surrender. Sir, you mistake me. Surrender, yes, but of us? No. I'm here to accept your surrender. Our surrender? Colonel, I've no time for gear. It is not a gesture. Well, nonsense, all the same. Look about you, Colonel. You said yourself two days ago this fortress was yours, and now it's ours. See, the fortunes of war. Exactly. It's in our hands. Your shipping is bottled up. Sir, if the captain will permit, you are not used to this climate, are you? What's that to do with your request? A great deal. Believe me, one must be accustomed to this climate to stay alive in it. What are you driving at? I speak of the dreaded Vomito Negro. What, sir? Vomito Negro. The... oh, how do you say? Lieutenant, if you will be so good, my English fails me. Well, hornblower. Sir, Colonel Ortega means yellow fever. Yellow fever? Yes, sir. Vomito Negro. The Colonel says they are used to the climate, but we are not. Yellow fever, he says, and he says it's bound to strike us. Seem more certain, a more dangerous illness. There is much here among the natives. The Captain General Villanueva suggests that you abandon this fortress at once. We shall make no attempt to stop your withdrawal. But believe me, Captain, if you stay within a very short time, you will all die of yellow fever. I can close my eyes and see it before me again. High noon on that fabulous island. There was no wind, the Spanish flag across the bay hung idle on the flagstaff just as ours did. Colonel Ortega had long since returned across the water, but nothing moved except the birds, the black butcher birds wheeling above us, the brilliant cockatoos and parrots. And they, like us, seem to be panting under the heat, the tremendous noonday heat of the tropics. That model man over beyond the parapet. Looks like one of them has gone berserk. Look, we best get over there. Stop your mouth! What's going on? Yellow fever! That's what will strike us if we stay! Yellow fever! Silence! You should have quieted him before I found it necessary to lose so myself. Have him put under guard. Aye, sir. Mr. Hornbauer, sir. Yes? Who, what he said? Yellow fever. There's no sign of yellow fever. The men say that Spanish colonel said it's bound to hit us, sir. They say... Never mind what they say. You've been given an order, Mr. Davy. British! Turn back old! Take his arms and legs. Lively now. Hornbauer, how do they find out? Rumor like that will lead to panic. How did they find out? How do they always find out? Mr. Bush, this might be serious. Do you think we should inform the captain? I stood by as the captain and Lieutenant Bush talked it over. Their faces grave and worried. Something had to be done. To withdraw would mean defeat. More than defeat. Disgrace. From the narrow barred window that overlooked the bay, I could see the Spanish vessels at anchor. We were on the tip of a narrow peninsula that jutted out to form one horn of the bay. The ships were far back at the base of the headland. Now it's that we're only... Oh, that's perfectly clear to me what we have to do. I know, sir, but if they're... Captain Buckland, hornblower, please do not interrupt. No, but, sir, if you please, Mr. Hornblower. Yes, sir. I'm afraid we're done. Now that the men are aware, there's no hope for us. No, sir. We'll have to do as the Spanish have told us. Will you please make the appropriate signal to them? We shall embark for the renown... Captain Buckland. Hornblower! Well, what is it now? We could move a gun over land. A gun? Yes, sir. Oh, not one of these from the fort. No, I should hope not. Twenty-four pundas. Two and a half tons each. Garries and carriages. Predately moved. No, but we could use one from the renouncer. One of those long nine pundas we've got mounted as bar chasers. They have a range near as good as these. You wait a bit. The renown's up here with us. The Spanish vessels are far in the rear of the bay. It's a good four miles. Sir, we needn't drag it from here, sir. Sir, if I may... Look, I hold up my thumb and forefinger. Now the bay is the space in between. Now here, out where the thumbnail is. No need to tell me what I know full well. A good four miles, sir. But if the renown sails round the headland, around the thumbnail, is that it, Hornblower? Nine pundas, sway it up to the top of the cliff and across the base of the thumb. I mean the land, you know. And we have the dawn ships under fire, sir. We'd be firing, that's all it says. A question of whether it would do any good. They need those ships, sir. If they see they're going to be destroyed, they'd be frightened. They'd rather surrender to us than be marooned on this island at the mercy of the natives. Possible. That's more than possible, sir. It could be done. Hornblower, don't overreach yourself. Turn the tables, eh? A gun on the headland. Mr. Bush, do you think it might succeed? I suggest we try it, sir. We had to wait till dark, so the Spaniards wouldn't guess what we were up to. The days seemed endless, but finally night came, the sudden black deep night of the tropics. Lieutenant Bush was left in command to capture Fortress. The renown picked up a vagrant breeze, and silently we slipped round the headland until we reached the proper spot. Oh, one more point, sir. One of the men was in a panic this morning, donnerly, I believe. Yes, sir. I understand you took him with you. Well, I meant a particular point of it, sir. You see, he's ashore with Davy now. But why him? The man's in a panic. Well, I thought it best to keep him active, sir. He'd be much too busy to be concerned about yellow fever then, sir. Oh, I see. Well, off you go, hornblower. Good fortune. We needed more than good fortune. Then the darkness, it was hard, cruel work. With flings and ropes, we swayed the gun up from the launch, and the man handled it over toward the bay. There were swarms of gnats and mosquitoes, and every sound and the thick, heavy growth around us made us wary of natives and savage beasts. But we saw none. By dawn, the gun was in position, and we waited. Seven bells, sir. Yes, so it is. They've no idea we're above them, sir. They shall, soon enough. You've sighted that gun yourself, Dawson. Sir, if the first shot don't hit that vessel square, you can flog me a good dozen at the main mass. Sir, I believe we can open fire, Mr. Davy. Aye, sir. Open fire! Check the target, Mr. Davy. Aye! Medjip, sir. Yes, square on board. Proceed, Mr. Davy. Nine more rounds. Aye. The gun crew sweated as they fired. The sound of the shots echoed off the hills, but it was more than an echo below us. On board the Spanish vessels, men struggled fantically to sever anchor cables and get out of range. The ship on which our gun bore became a smoking wreck, a mess of cordage and shattered timbers. The firing went on. Six. Seven. The gun's unbushed, sir. Unbushed! Aye, sir. Oh, the powder blast unseated it. Yes, yes, I see it. Can't fire another round with that. Shall we jettison the gun, sir, and retire back to the ocean side? No. But we haven't got another plug. Mr. Davy, the fort expects us to fire ten rounds. Those were Captain Bucklin's orders. Ten rounds, and all we've done is... It's a home blow, sir! Oh, you're Donnelly, huh? I have a spare plug with me, sir. I can get it fitted in with a bit of time. Good man, you can. No more worry about yellow fever, then, eh, Donnelly? No, sir. I don't need about the gun now, sir. Get it, sir. It may take a little while. I'll have to find it out. Four miles to that page. Don't you, Hornblower? It worked. No sooner had you opened up than Ortega came flying across the channel. You should have seen his bumboats. No Spaniards ever used their oars so fast. Pitchillation. They'll abandon the fort and blow it up. We'll take them as prisoners to Jamaica. There's not enough room aboard the renown. Oh, said the renown. We'll use their own craft as prison ships. What? The ships are included? Don't look so surprised, Hornblower. Your idea to begin with, wasn't it? Aye. The three to the left prizes a war. Prizes? We'll get prize money. Four sunsets. Aye, sir. I'll buckle two. I'll buckle two. I'll push it. It worked. I was... Ah, no, Hornblower. I had my doubts, too. May I say? Yes, what? Well, I'd like to say I've been envious of you before now. Oh, before? Your superior, I... Well, I was sensitive. And I can resent you no longer. You're brilliant, and I'm not, and that's the way it is. You deserve every credit, and I'll not grudge it. Hornblower, I call you Horatio. I'd like to be your friend. Why, I'm flattered. I don't know what to say. I'm... Mr. Bush, do you realize I... I don't even know your first name. Music composed and conducted by Sidney Torch.