Oh man, they're sappy and shmoopy and I love them. Of course Bush had a woman in Sheerness - if only CSF hadn't been so busy getting Horatio laid, he would have described it just like you did.

Hornblower would find himelf smiling and marveling at a universe that let him have a friend like this as well as a sloop-of-war, a ship of his own.

Aw.