Horatio Hornblower

I started reading the Horatio Hornblower series last week. This is one of those books that many people said that I would enjoy but I never got around to reading. It's about the career of a British Naval officer during the Napoleonic wars. Whoever told me to read it was right. It's a great series. It's inspired quite a few other books as well. Both the Aubrey-Mautrin series and Honor Harrington were inspired by it. There is even a series of TV movies that were made from the books that you can get on DVD. I highly recommend it, though I think I may need a book on British Naval history now or at least one that describes all the parts and pieces of sailing ships. (sternsheets? kedging?)