Lord Nelson could beat up your dad
I was recently reading the first book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I loved the book, and I will probably read the rest of the series. But it's clearly just Horatio Hornblower with dragons. In fact, almost all naval fiction is just Horatio Hornblower fanfiction.
Patrick O'Brien's Jack Aubrey - Horatio Hornblower with a loveable nerd sidekick.
