2nd Lieutenant Bush (Paul McGann) was cast in the title role in contemporary Napoleonic Wars television series, Sharpe (1993) however, two weeks into filming of the first episode in Ukraine, McGann injured his knee playing football and was forced to withdraw. When production started again a month later, Sean Bean took over the role that made him famous.
Live action on the quarterdeck or the gundeck in this and further episodes of Hornblower was shot on HMS Victory. Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known for her role as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Since 1922 she has lain dry dock at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and at 253 years of age is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission.
While sentencing Hornblower to a continuous watch, Captain Sawyer's pupils appear to be mismatched (the right one being wider than the left). This is usually an indicator of brain damage, an early sign of the captain's poor mental health and later breakdown.
Captain Swayer is based around a real Royal Navy officer named Captain Hugh Pigot. When taking command of the Renown, Sawyer gifts an extra ration of rum to his 'loyal' sailors. Captain Pigot did something similar as he was known for treating men that previously served under him with more favoritism than others.
Strikingly similar, both Sawyer and Pigot threatened the last man down from the tops. In their haste men fell to their deaths. Indifferent to their demise both captains commanded, "Throw the lubbers overboard." Lubbers being an insult to sailors. Except in Pigot's case it was three men that he ordered jettisoned.
Like Sawyer, Pigot went out of his way to harass and humiliate a popular junior officer. Both captains accused a subordinate midshipman for dereliction and demanded apologies. For Sawyer he ordered Wellerd beaten to unconsciousness. Pigot had one midshipman, David Casey, flogged when the subordinate refused to fall to his knees and beg for pardon. This enraged Pigot who ordered Casey be stripped of his commission and flogged, both would be illegal under the Articles of War.
Pigot's actions ultimately led to a violent mutiny. Sailors entered his cabin at night, stabbed and clubbed him then threw him overboard where he died. Not done, the mutineers also killed several other officers and crew members. Now in control of the ship, the mutineers sailed the Hermoine into a Spanish port and surrendered. Months later the Royal Navy successfully cut out the Hermoine. Now back in the King's service the Hermoine was renamed HMS Retribution, as is the title for the film's second half.
Strikingly similar, both Sawyer and Pigot threatened the last man down from the tops. In their haste men fell to their deaths. Indifferent to their demise both captains commanded, "Throw the lubbers overboard." Lubbers being an insult to sailors. Except in Pigot's case it was three men that he ordered jettisoned.
Like Sawyer, Pigot went out of his way to harass and humiliate a popular junior officer. Both captains accused a subordinate midshipman for dereliction and demanded apologies. For Sawyer he ordered Wellerd beaten to unconsciousness. Pigot had one midshipman, David Casey, flogged when the subordinate refused to fall to his knees and beg for pardon. This enraged Pigot who ordered Casey be stripped of his commission and flogged, both would be illegal under the Articles of War.
Pigot's actions ultimately led to a violent mutiny. Sailors entered his cabin at night, stabbed and clubbed him then threw him overboard where he died. Not done, the mutineers also killed several other officers and crew members. Now in control of the ship, the mutineers sailed the Hermoine into a Spanish port and surrendered. Months later the Royal Navy successfully cut out the Hermoine. Now back in the King's service the Hermoine was renamed HMS Retribution, as is the title for the film's second half.
A real life aspect of life at sea, which the Hornblower films have consistently omitted, was the occasional presence of women on board Royal Navy ships, especially the larger rated ships such as the 74 gun Renown, in which women, usually the wives of the gunner and carpenter who, unlike the common sailors would probably have had separate sleeping quarters, sometimes accompanied their husbands to sea and filled certain on-board domestic roles. While it was not uncommon, the producers rightfully felt that adding this dynamic to the series would have complicated the plot and confused the viewers.