C.S.
Forester's Flying Colours
C.S.
Forester's Flying ColoursIntroduction
As one of the earlier novel in the legendary Hornblower series by C.S. Forester (CSF), Flying Colours was first published in 1939, shortly after the Happy Return and Ship of the Line. Flying Colours in my view is the most adventurous of all Hornblower novels, and surprisingly has never been filmed, except as only a small part of the first HH movie: Captain Horatio Hornblower RN (1951). The story line in short, comprises a two part Odyssian journey through continental France in the years 1810/1811, after being taken into captivity at the battle of Rosas, Spain. The hero, together with his companions Bush and Brown, finally rises from death and rejoins the fleet "with Flying Colours" aboard the single-handedly recaptured cutter Witch of Endor.
In earlier work, CSF himself paid some attention to the geography of the sea battles in the Hornblower adventures. In 1970, C. Northcote Parkinson wrote a fictional biography containing details of the locations where HH once traveled and lived, even including a picture of the castle of the Comte de Graçay on the Loire, where he spent the winter months. No details other than the description in the book itself about the journey through France are available. Try to estimate how many pages of the book were devoted to the description of the journey: 20 pages for the Loire trip, only 10% of the book. This description, sometimes quite detailed, makes one wonder, whether CSF researched using maps (but on what scale...?) or with other means: he is known to have traveled continental Europe in the pre-WW2 years. In Some Personal Notes, added to his early autobiography, on the making of the Hornblower series, CSF mentions he did make a trip by motor vessel on the Loire river. The Voyage of the Annie Marble tells the full story of the trip. There can be no doubt whatsoever that this holiday experience in 1927 inspired him a decade later in writing Flying Colours.
The Hornblower escape route |
View Larger Map use mouse to navigate in map map or zoom in on Nevers |
The present essay is an attempt to gain further detail regarding geographical aspects, using various sources currently available, and making use of some of the key ingredients of CSF's talent: imagination, intuitive speculation and logical extrapolation. I will deviate in these respects from what is customary in scientific publications. For once, however, I will try to acknowledge the sources from which I copied (no, sorry, I should say: back-upped) the copyrighted material used. The present study can also be considered as an attempt at "virtual armchair field research", not only because I am lazy, but also in order to probe the present-day possibilities of internet for this purpose. All internet image references were found using the Google search engine. Present-day map details for example, are taken from the Michelin On-Line Maps internet site. The page numbers of italic citations from Flying Colours refer to the 1961 Penguin edition.
Rosas
Rosas Bay in 1727
The prisoners started the first part of their journey in November 1810. On the evening of their first stop-over at Cerbère, it says To-day was wednesday. Only sixteen days ago And Hornblower had been captain of a seventy-four,.......(page 36). According to Northcote Parkinson however, they left on November 17th 1810, but using the Doomsday algorithm, reveals that that day would have been a Saturday. The fictional biography therefore seems to be based not only on intellectual and but also on non-intellectual guesswork.
view of Llança in direction of France
They must be at the top of the hill now, with a long descent before them, which would bring them back to the seashore somewhere near Llanza, where he had stormed the battery under the protection of the tricolour flag (page 26).
After reading the sentence "he had stormed the battery under the protection of the tricolour flag" now for the (approximately) 10th time, only now do I realize the significance and subtlety of the understatement. Or not? No, the tricolour flag would be that of France. Well, a bit of a metaphor really, because this flag was under the protection of the battery, not the other way 'round. No, wait a minute, "he had stormed the battery, while (he was) under the (disguised) protection of the (enemy's) tricolour flag".
Border town of Cerbère, 1st stop
The Spanish-French border was crossed just before reaching the village of Cerbere, their first stop over for the night. ......; they were in France now. Now the horses' hoofs were ringing on cobblestones.....Then abruptly the coach swerved to the right and drew up in the courtyard of an inn. (page 27-28).
In Northcote Parkinson, it is stated that they halted for the first night in Port Venders. "What is the name of this place?" asked Hornblower of the innkeeper. "Cerbère. Hôtel Iéna, monsieur," answered the inkeeper, fingering his leather apron (page 28). I'd rather believe the innkeeper, fingering though he was. Port Vendres is 16 km further on the winding coastal road.
Cerbère of Port-Vendres...?
The 2nd day
Still in sight of sea and hills - Mount Canigou still dominating in the background - they halted at a posting inn beside the road to change horses (page 44). But was it dominating...? with a height of 2784 m at a distance of 40 km.......well, let's say it was prominently there on the horizon, in the trained eye of a sailor. This first change of horses was probably at Argelès-sur-Mer, as it is about halfway between Cerbère and Perpignan, the next stop.
View on
peak Canigou from the coastal road
A long journey
Long journey...? according to Northcote Parkinson, the journey from Rosas to Nevers lasted from November 17 until December 19, a whole month. This seems a trifle long, even in those days. Hornblowers estimate was the following: "......five or six hundred miles, he fancied. From seventy to ninety hours of travel would bring him to the capital....traveling five to fifteen hours a day......five to twelve days, before they reached Paris (page 44).
Perpignan
There was a town coming - there were ramparts, a frowning citadel, a lofty cathedral...this must be Perpignan, the French base for the invasion of Catalonia.....Hôtel de la Poste et du Perdrix. RN 9. Paris 849 .....Caillard and the gendarmes were snatching a hasty meal.....(page 45).
Sigean, Etang de Lapalme with Cap Leucate on the
horizon
They stopped at nightfall....Hôtel de la Poste de Sigean. RN 9. Paris 805. Perpignan 44 (page 46)
This would mean 44 km after a hasty lunch and 43 km in the morning (starting 1 hour after sunrise), totaling 87 km on the 2nd day, in say 10 hours gives a speed of 8.7 km/h (7 miles/h in Hornblowers mind), we can probably trust him in his estimate of a coach speed under the prevailing conditions. The question that remains was whether he was using Admiralty miles (1853.18 m) or Statute miles (1609.344 m). Probably the latter, because the distance is 890 km, corresponding to 556 Stature miles (...five or six hundred miles, he fancied...). It was a very late lunch then, because the first 10-20 km from Cerbère were pretty rough, being the winding coastal road, now called N114. A final word about the number of hours traveled: sunrise that 2nd day was at 07:00, hours, sunset at 16:00, so they probably averaged 8 hours a day, concluding that Northcote Parkinsons duration of the journey was an overestimated guess.
The posting stations indicated the dwindling distance between them and Paris - Paris 525, Paris 383, Paris 287 (Page 49). The first would have been Clermont Ferrand, the second Issoire and the third Moulins where, after crossing the river, they changed from RN9 to RN7. The distances mentioned so far are correct within a few km, measured along present day roads. Some road numbers have not changed in almost two hundred years.
Issoire, cathedral (This
image is copyrighted by the photographer, Kathie Care)
Escape
A snowstorm on December 19th 1810 caused the party to loose their way just before reaching Nevers. The coach got stuck in the mud, and Hornblower saw a chance to escape. "Mr. Bush," said Hornblower - the formal 'Mr' came naturally again now the action had begun again - "We are going to escape in the boat." "Good luck, sir," said Bush. (page 55). These three word succinctly summarize Bushs' character.
After reading Flying Colour for the 3rd or 4th time, I thought I could pinpoint the location of escape within a few hundred meters, with such presumed precision that I also managed to speculate on which bend of the road the coach went astray. Somehow an image had formed in my memory, where the river Allier was on the left hand side of the coach, and the passengers got out on that side of the coach. They didn't, because Bush was sitting on the left, making it most likely that the door was on the right.
View Larger Map current satellite image of Nevers
But I had to reconsider the location of escape because on later pages they also passed under the bridge at Nevers on the same night of their escape, and consequently navigated the Bec d'Allier only when they resumed their trip in the following spring. According to the coachman, they must have got off the road 6 km south of Nevers. On modern maps there no indication that there could have formerly been some kind of road, because the area looks a bit swampy. On the above map section, they probably deviated from the road, to the right, where now the freeway splits off, near exit nr. 37.
Nevers
the bridge at
Nevers (built in 1778) as seen from the south
Wintertime
Only two subjects are worth mentioning, regarding their stay with their French hosts. During the winter months the sailors constructed a boat, to be used to resume their escape on the river Loire in spring. Further details on this boat cannot be found, other than that it was painted and successfully tested for leakage by filling it with water from the well. The hero's developing relationship with the Compte's daughter-in-law, is best summarized with a single citation: The affair thus consummated seemed, to Hornblower's mind at least, to clear the air like a thunderstorm. (page 97).
River trip
According to Northcote Parkinson (page 168), the Chateau was between Nevers and Briare. But it must have been very close to Nevers, because when setting for the final stretch on April 17, 1811, they passed the Bec d'Allier, a few minutes of looking back at the château shining in the sun (page 108). Strangely enough, the direction they were looking back was approximately due east, so at the moment of departure, soon after sunrise, they were directly looking into the sun, so one wonders: would the château be shining in the sun? like a fairy castle in the pearly light, a dream castle?
Bec d'Allier after leaving Nevers
After a few minutes they reached the confluence of the Allier, the united stream was majestically wide, a hundred and fifty fathoms at least from bank to bank. As a fathom equals 1.829 m, the width of the river would have been 274 m. This part of the Loire can certainly be as wide as that, probably even wider.
The river channel here was much divided by islands each bordered by a rim of golden gravel
There is a bridge across the Loire at Fourchambault these days, but it probably wasn't there in 1811. The bridge at La Charité-sur-Loire was next.
la
Charité-sur-Loire in the 17th century
Bridge at Cosne-sur-Loire, around 1900
Briaire
The
present-day aquaduct at Briaire View Larger Map
There were two cast black shapes creeping over the surface of the river down there, barges being warped out of the lateral canal on one side and into the canal of Braire on the other by way of a channel across the river dredged for the purpose (page 115).
A channel dredged across the river seems a pretty accurate description for the situation before the canal bridge was built. But then:
A quick examination of the water surface told him which arch of the bridge to select, and he was able to discern the tow-ropes and warps of the barges - there were teams of horses both on the bridge and on the banks, silhouetted clearly against the sky as they tugged at the ropes to drag the bulky barges across the rushing current (page 115-6).
So there was a bridge across the Loire there as well. If there was one once, there is none today, not counting the Canal bridge. Maybe there was a bridge parallel to the canal, otherwise, how could the horses be dragging the barges across (perpendicular to) the current of the river? Makes one wonder if Eiffel used the arches of the existing bridge to support the cast iron aqueduct of the canal bridge.
Canal Bridge at Briare, around 1900
The Briare Canal, opened for navigation in 1642, was initiated by king Henri IV. It facilitates river traffic between the Loise and Seine rivers. As such it was the first canal in Europe, constructed for navigation between two rivers of different origin. The Briare Canal bridge, a cast iron aqueduct, was the first (663 m long) bridge for a canal crossing a river, constructed by the Gustav Eiffel Company, opened to traffic on September 16, 1896. It is 8 m above the level of the Loire river.
There was the pageantry of the Loire - Gien with its château-fortress high on its terraces......(page 120)
Gien,
the old bridge as seen from the South
........Sully with its vast rounded bastions..........(page 120)
Châteauneuf-sur-Loire
Loire banks near Chateauneuf-sur-Loire
Jargeau
Orleans
Then for miles along the river they were in sight of the gaunt square towers of the cathedral of Orleans - Orleans was one of the few towns with an extensive river front, past which they had to drift unobstrusively and with special care at its difficult bridges. (page 121)
The old bridge in Orleans, Pont Royal (renamed Pont George V in 1914), was constructed between 1751 and 1760. The above picture was taken in 1844 by Henry Fox Talbot.
Orleans
bridge, picture from the Voyage of the Annie
Marble (1927)
Orleans was hardly out of sight before they reached Beaugency with its interminable gridges of countless arches and its strange square tower (page 121).
View of the town and castle of Beaugency
in 1905
The Foresters in the Annie Marble under
the bridge at Beaugency (1927)
The rocks above Nevers were succeeded by gravel banks of the middel reaches, and now the gravel gave way to sand, golden sand amid the shimmering blue of the river whose water was a cleard green overside (page 121).
...golden sand amid the shimmering blue...
They passed Blois, its steeply-humped bridge crowned by the pyramid whose inscription proclaimed the bridge to be the first public work of the infant Louis XV (page 121), on which one may remark that our heroes probably didn't stop over to read the insription, but CSF must have.
Bridge at Blois
Blois bridge from the Voyage of the Annie Marble
(1927)
....Chaumont and Amboise, their lovely châteaux towering above the river.... (page 121)
Chaumont castle seen from the right bank
Amboise, part of the old bridge, view from the castle
....Tours - an extensive water front to sidle past here too - Langeais....(page 121)
Main bridge
at Tours, looking in the direction of St. Cyr sur Loire.
Current
bridge at Langeais
The current bridge that links La Chapelle-aux-Naux to Langeais is the fifth. The fist, a flexible wooden bridge, opened on March 4, 1849 was destroyed by a storm ten years later. So in 1811 there was likely no cross-river traffic and our heros must have passed Langeais unnoticed, because the city, even in its present size, is not very close to the waterfront. But CSF did mention Langeais.......
Below Langeais the big placid Vienne entered the river on their left......(page 121)
Kite areal photo of confluence of Vienne (r) and
Loire |
View Larger Map |
Loire waterfront
at Saumur
After Saumur and the innumerable islands of Les Ponts de Cé, the even bigger Maine came in on their right and finally deprived the wild river of all the characteristics which had endeared it to them. (page 121)
Angers at the confluence of Loire and Maine
Nantes
"Begging your pardon, sir," Brown said, " I can smell the sea." They sniffed the breeze, all three of them. (page 122)
They arrived in Nantes harbour on evening of may 3rd 1811, recaptured the Witch of Endor and took off with a gang of prisoners and the harbour pilot.
"I
cannot", he gabbled. "my
professional honour - my duty -"........ "I tell you this, monsieur. The moment this ship
touches ground, I will beat your head into paste with this" (page 133). Illustration
by Robin Jacques.
So is this what a belaying pin looks like.........?? (no, it isn't)
Nantes harbour on 18th
century engraving
They were off Noirmoutier at dawn, with the last dying puff of wind. (page 136) There lay Noirmoutier to port, and the mainland astern.....there was the danger of their being drifted into the Bay of Bourgneuf (page 137)
Why
not heading straight west? They probably had to continue on the port tack and
wanted to steer well south of Belle-Ile (Locmaria). All the same, one would
expect Pointe de St. Gildas to be more of a problem, but this is not mentioned.
Couldn't find a more detailed map to solve this problem. Any suggestions welcome
(jetse@dse.nl)
From meeting the channel fleet ("Cutter ahnoy! What cutter's that?"........."you call me Sir", barked Hornblower, as he had done to midshipmen ever since he became a lieutenant................."Good God, it's Hornblower all right!") up to the court martial's "unexpected" verdict, I read and reread it, but it is outside the scope of this essay. Finally, Hornblower was "most honourably acquitted" (page 177)
From Portsmouth to London in a post chaise
Mr. Hookham Frere, an elegant civilian in buff and blue, with a neat silk cravat, someone deep in cabinet secrets, had a post chaise horsed and waiting for six hours, and was anxious to get Hornblower to London, in order to get the best publicity out of the matter, while all the news of Hornblower's miraculous return, recapture and court martial was still hot.
About the date: Northcote Parkinson mentions two dates. "Hornblower stepped ashore at Portsmouth on June 6th" and "He was acquitted of course (June 14th)". I think it unlikely that he went ashore 8 days before the court martial. If he did, he must have been accompanied by another Officer of equal rank, which Bush still wasn't. No, he didn't go ashore before the 14th. Bush delivers a large amount of mail and newspapers to his superior, confined and fretting in his cabin.
After being cheered by all the ships in the fleet ("I would suggest that you take off your hat, sir, and show how much you appreciate the compliment"), they started their journey. Map: Harrison's Hampshire map of the first stretch of the journey on arrival in England.
"Stop at that Church!" he yelled to the postillion....... "My wife is buried there." snapped Hornblower. (page 178).
The sun shone gloriously over the countryside as they left the town behind them, lighting up the lovely green of the trees and the majestic rolling Downs. Hornblower found himself swallowing hard. This was the England for which he had fought for eighteen long years, and as he breathed its air and gazed round him he felt that England was worth it. (page 179)
the
South Downs
Hornblower and politicians............. All the way to London, Mr. Hookham Frere kept babbling on, much to the annoyance of our hero. "H.R.H. likes a bit of flattery too. If you can make him believe that you owe your successs to the inspiring examples of both H.R.H. and of Mr. Spencer Perceval you will be taking the right line". If HH ever considered a political career, this was not the best way to convince him.
"What's this? Horndean?". The
postillion drew the horses to a halt outside the inn. 60 miles from London,
horses being changed. "Acquitted, sir?" asked the local squire.
"Naturally, sir", replied Frere at once, "most honourably
acquitted"......Hornblower was vaguely irritated and surprised to find that
he neither liked being cheered by tinkers nor flattered by politicians."
(page 180). They halted outside the inn
and the ostlers came running with a fresh pair of horses, the first change after
travelling for 10 miles. Photo: Horndean street scene,
late 19th century.
"Petersfield is just over the hill", said Frere, "I expect there'll be a crowd". Frere was right. There were twenty or thirty people waiting at the Red Lion.....(page 180)
The Red Lion in
Petersfield, 20th century
There was wild cheering and Mr Frere took the opportunity to slip in a good word for the government.....[as a result] even the marvellous beauty of the Devil's Punch Bowl was lost on Hornblower as they drove past it. (page 181)
The
Devil's Punch Bowl, near Hindhead in Surrey, is a huge, natural amphitheatre,
these days often glimpsed from a car window by travellers on the A3 from London
to Portsmouth. The area has dramatic views, a variety of woodland and open
spaces, and a fine history. The road
seen in the ca 1900 photo was built in 1826.
Prior to that, it went higher - probably passing the point from which the photo
was taken. Photo: Portsmouth Road around the Devil's Punch Bowl
near Hindhead.
Devil's
Punch Bowl today
The crowd that cheered him at Guildford - market day was just over - stank of sweat and beer...
Left: Portsmouth road in Guildford in 1903, right: the bridge at Guildford in 1904
It was growing dark when they changed horses again at Esher.....
That is probably the reason that the Admirality
Semaphore house at Esher was not noticed. In 1795 the navy decided to construct an optical
telegraph system using a chain of signaling stations to enable the Admiralty
in Whitehall to communicate with the naval base at Portsmouth on the south
coast. At first a shutter technique devised by Sir George Murray was used but in
1822 the link was upgraded by Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham who chose semaphore
instead. Messages could be sent over the 108km path in about 15 minutes. The
information superhighway of its age was in operation until about 1847 when the
electric telegraph superseded it. There were 15 nodes, Esher was the 5th from Admiralty. According to Richard
A. Clarke, the shutter system operated from 1796 (London to
Portsmouth) and 1806 (Plymouth extension). These worked intermittently until
March 1816 when the Portsmouth line closed permanently. This according to Holmes
who based most of his work on original Admiralty documents.
One wonders if the news of Hornblower's honorable acquittal had preceded him by means of this semaphore system. Possibly CSF's research on this subject was not as thorough as could be. In Hornblower's novels naval and shore communication is always an essential ingredient, and semaphore systems are explicitly mentioned in several of them. Photo: the Esher semaphore house
The crossed the river at Putney and drove on past the more frequent houses and along the dark streets.
New (1886)
bridge at Putney
An impressive granite structure also built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in 1886. It has 5 arches with the center arch being 43.9m (144'0")wide and 5.5m (18'0") high. It replaced the earlier wooden toll bridge of 1729 which was damaged in 1870 and, as a consequence, had its center arches replaced by a 70 foot long iron girder. This was the first river crossing over the tidal Thames west of London Bridge.
Their first call is upon Number 10 Downing Street for a chat with the PM. Hornblower formed no very favourable impression either of his ability or of his personal charm. (page 181).
"Pall Mall and the War Office next", said Frere, "God, how we have to work!".
The former citation is not clear. The War Office is on Whitehall, quite walking distance from Downing street. Probably Frere meant "first War Office, then Pall Mall". Just maybe they went on foot for this short distance. London smelt of horses, it always did, remembered Hornblower, to men fresh from the sea. (page 181)
The
War Office, Whitehall in 1922
After the interview with the Under Secretary of State Palmerston, a Royal coach takes them to the Prince Regent in Pall Mall, probably in St. James Palace. After being knighted, Mr. Hookham Frere is anxious to get away before the cards are dealt for the first game of rubber. I think Hornblower would even have declined an invitation to a game of whist. When outside, Frere suggests a visit to Fladong's, the naval coffee house, but Hornblower prefers to retire to a Hotel, after a strenuous day with hardly a regular meal.
Fladong's was a famous inn, mainly frequented by Naval officers. The owner was Frederic Fladong, a wine merchant at the time. Fladong's was located at 144 Oxford Street. It was featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's "Rodney Stone", a compilation of various phases of life and character in England at the beginning of the 19th century. Chapter XII is entitled "the Coffee-room of Fladong's". Lord Cochrane, Admiral Collingwood, Lord St. Vincent, Admiral Nelson and Admiral Cornwallis are all mentioned in this chapter. The novel was written in 1897.
So off they go again along the length of Pall Mall, where Hornblower is taken to the Golden Cross Inn on Charing Cross.
Golden Cross Inn, Charing Cross is seen on the left in this 1791 hand-coloured copper engraving
Finally, on the morning of june 15th 1811, Hornblower reports at the residence of Lady Barbara at 129 Bond Street, to meet his old "firm friend" and his newly born son Richard.
Conclusions
Up to the time this conclusion is written, this essay took me a year and a day. So there must always be conclusions. These are threefold. First of all I conclude that Cecil Scott Forester researched this novel quite extensively, and seems only in error or omission in some minor details, whereas other details originate from own experience. Secondly, C. Northcote Parkinson, in his effort to elaborate on and extrapolate some of the details, in several instances has made obvious mistakes. Thirdly, there is the point of armchair field research; this essay amply proves the power of Google and Internet for these purposes. The search domain of internet is inherently limited, but so are dead-tree libraries. Despite the chaos of information in the internet domain, Google finds the most unexpected minute details. Time will no doubt prove the volatility of http- and @-references (but I received e-mails from two web-owners, pointing out a change in http address!), but isn't it the same with paper, on a hopefully longer time-scale. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.References
the author 
and his tool 
started on: 01 December 2001, last edited on: 31 December, 2008 11:46
the 
