Hornblower's Charitable Offering
"Hornblower's Charitable Offering" is a short story that C. S. Forester wrote about his fictional character Horatio Hornblower, when he was in command of HMS Sutherland.
Plot
In the story, the Sutherland rescues naked and emaciated Frenchmen from a makeshift raft. The men had been prisoners of war who had been confined to the deserted island of Cabrera. In Forester's story, Cabrera was deserted because it had no ports and no foliage. Spanish authorities had landed 20,000 French prisoners on the island. With no ports, the Spanish authorities had left the prisoners unguarded, and the only care they provided were food shipments. The food they supplied was insufficient for the number of prisoners and bad weather could prevent the landing of the food for weeks at a time.
Spanish authorities provided no clothing or blankets to the prisoners and, after two years' confinement, all of their clothes had worn out.
The prisoners tell Hornblower that some of the more desperate men have resorted to cannibalism.
When Hornblower approaches the island he sees that the Spanish victualling ship has given up trying to land food, because the wind is in the wrong quarter for a landing on the island's single beach.
Through his superior seamanship, Hornblower is able to shoot a line to the prisoners and use it to let them tow to shore a casks of food from his own ship's stores.
Historical context
Cabrera is a real island and Spanish authorities did confine French prisoners there.[1] Over 10,000 French prisoners were confined on there in 1808. In 1814, when the war was over, only 3,700 were left to be repatriated.
References
- Tom Holmberg (2001). "The Prisoners of Cabrera". The Napoleon Series. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
In the end the expedient decision was made—to strand the prisoners on the small island of Cabrera.
- "Cabrera: The mystery of death Island next to Mallorca". Inmobiliaria Mallorca. 9 May 2009. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
- Alexander Mikaberidze, ed. (2018). Behind Barbed Wire: An Encyclopedia of Concentration and Prisoner-of-War Camps. ABC-CLIO. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9781440857621 – via Google Books.
- "Cabrera Prison Camp". Mallorca Days Out. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2023.When Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 arrangements were made to repatriate the survivors and two convoys took 3,700 men to France the following month; another 1,200 who had served in the Spanish army followed. Statistics do not express the misery the prisoners were subjected to but it is reckoned that aound, 11,800 were taken to Cabrera Island. Around 5,000, or 40 percent, died and lie in unmarked graves.