Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ships (1998)

Description

In the dark days of the Napoleanic War: Horatio Hornblower (Titanic's Ioan Gruffudd) and the crew of the Indefatigable are put on half rations. But Hornblower is distracted from his hunger by the prospect of a commission, for Captain Pellew (Robert Lindsay) has nominated the young sailor for the lieutenant's exams. The Indefatigable sails to the African Coast to buy provisions. While ashore, Hornblower and his men and exposed to the Black Plague. He proposes that they serve their three-week quarantine by sailing another ship back to Gibraltar to rendezvous with the fleet. The mission proves that the real test of a sailor's worth comes at sea, not in the examination hall.