Hornblower and the Atropos

This story is mostly entertaining, although I remember the episode of Nelson's funeral as rather dreary, and I usually skip over it. Hornblower is then sent to the Mediterranean, where at least the weather is somewhat better, and he has a reasonably successful time as captain of the little Atropos, while allowing Forester to display his research into further unusual aspects of naval life in the Napoleonic Wars.The book was published in 1953, but the next book in the series ([b:The Happy Return 1466310 The Happy Return C.S. Forester https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348626767l/1466310.SY75.jpg 1178411]) was published back in 1937, so Forester had to try to avoid continuity errors between the end of this one and the set-in-stone beginning of the next one. He did it competently but rather inelegantly, by suddenly removing from play any items that aren't present at the start of [b:The Happy Return 1466310 The Happy Return C.S. Forester https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348626767l/1466310.SY75.jpg 1178411]; although these Acts of God cause some distress to his hero.