In the final instalment of the Horatio Hornblower series we visit some lesser known adventures across our hero's long career, including Napoleon's plans to invade England . . .

1805 and Horatio Hornblower is in possession of confidential dispatches from Bonaparte after a vicious hand-to-hand encounter with a French brig. The admiralty rewards Hornblower by sending him on a dangerous espionage mission that will light the powder trail leading to the battle of Trafalgar . . .

Hornblower and the Crisis was unfinished at the time of Forester's death, but the author left notes - included here - telling us how the tale would end. Also included are two further stories - Hornblower and the Widow McCool and The Last Encounter - that tell of Hornblower as a very young and very old man, respectively.

This is the eleventh and final book chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester's inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.