You know, the old Gregory Peck movie had one thing that is difficult to find in modern movies. When a cannonball struck the ship it DIDN'T explode. It knocked off bits and pieces, large bits and pieces.

I am rereading the Hornblower books now. Forrester wrote a better adventure story with a more complex hero but O'Brian did a better job of catching the flavor of the times. That, plus his ship actions were real ship actions gleaned from the log bokks, journals and gazzettes of the time. He changed the names to fit the story but they are accurate.