Beat to Quarters

The Happy Return (Beat to Quarters) is the first novel written by C. S. Forester and forms part of the 11-novel saga that holds Horatio Hornblower, a courageous captain in the British Royal Navy, as its hero. In 1808, with the Napoleonic Wars raging, Hornblower is dispatched on a secret mission to sail his 36-gun warship the HMS Sutherland to Central America. Once there, he is to provide muskets and powder to a local rebel named Don Julian Alvarado, who is plotting an uprising against Spain, hitherto an ally of France. 

Yet upon arrival, Hornblower finds that the rebel leader is a madman who calls himself "El Supremo". Moreover, he learns that Spain has changed sides in the war and formed a new alliance with England. In Panama City, Hornblower faces further complications when he reluctantly allows Lady Barbara Wellesley aboard the ship for passage back to England. Yet before they can set sail for home, Hornblower has one final task: he must find and sink El Supremo's ship before it captures a Spanish ship carrying vital supplies for the war.