HMS Justinian
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Launched: | 1786 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 1,685 |
| Length: | 170 ft 10 in (52.07 m) on the gun-deck |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 590 |
| Armament: |
GD: twenty-eight 32 lb guns; UD: twenty-eight 18 lb guns; QD: fourteen 9 lb guns; FC: four 9 lb guns. |
HMS Justinian is a fictional ship from C. S. Forester’s novel Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. In the novel, Justinian is Horatio Hornblower’s first ship. He enters service as a Midshipman in the 74-gun ship of the line at the age of seventeen.
The Justinian is described as a third-rate launched on the Thames in 1786 to the design of Sir Thomas Slade. She was an old ship by the time Hornblower came on board and not a happy one. Captain Keene was a sick man and several of her lieutenants were far too old for active service. The midshipman’s mess, Hornblower’s new home, was ruled by a bully named Simpson. Simpson, at age thirty-three, had failed his examination for lieutenant too many times to ever expect promotion and he took out his bitterness and disappointment on his juniors. After he fought a duel with Simpson, Hornblower was transferred to another ship by Captain Keene for his own good. The Justinian was badly damaged by grounding in 1797 and ended as a sheer hulk in Plymouth.
References
- C. S. Forester, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Pinnacle Books, New York 1975.
- C. Northcote Parkinson, The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, Little, Brown & Company, Boston 1970.
