C. S. Forester wrote warfare tales of Horatio Hornblower.
Cecil Louis Troughton Smith ( 27 August 1899 -- 2 April 1966 ) , known by his pen name Cecil Scott `` C. S. '' Forester , was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series , depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars . Flying Colours is a Horatio Hornblower novel by C. S. Forester , originally published 1938 as the third in the series , but now eighth by internal chronology . It describes the adventures of Hornblower and his companions escaping from imprisonment in Napoleonic France and returning to England . It is one of three Hornblower novels adapted into the 1951 British-American film Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. .