The Grand Turk,.the first British frigate to be hand-built from wood for more than 140 years, made its screen debut in Horatio Hornblower.in the starring role of the HMS Indefatigable. She is the brainchild of Surrey boatbuilder Michael Turk and his partners, naval architect John Heath and marine engineer Ian MacDougal. Heath designed the ship after months of research in naval records at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The 152-foot, 22-cannon frigate was constructed by a team of forty Turkish boat builders on the beach in the Southern Turkish port of Marmaris, using traditional tools and more than 200 cubic meters of iroko (a wood similar to mahogany). The vessel attracted much attention from tourists in the booming resort, who took special boat trips across the bay to watch the progress of the unique construction. The Grand Turk.was authentically rigged for sailing, but was also fitted with engines to facilitate the film work. This enabled her to travel at ten knots under sail, and more under engine power. She was also built with more headroom between decks than historical accuracy demands to accommodate actors, cameras and lights. For Michael Turk the construction of The Grand Turk.was the realization of a childhood dream. "The Turk family has built ships and boats since the times of the Crusades, so I didn't need to think twice before deciding whether to achieve an ambition and build a large, fully rigged wooden sailing ship. It was a proud moment for me to see The Grand Turk.launched," says Turk.

Cecil Scott Forester was born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in 1899 in Cairo, Egypt, where his father was stationed as a British government official. He studied medicine at Guy's Hospital in London, and after leaving Guy's without a degree, he turned to writing as a career. His first success was Payment Deferred, a novel written at the age of twenty-four and later dramatized and filmed with Charles Laughton in the leading role. In 1932 Forester was offered a Hollywood contract, and from then until 1939 he spent the better part of every year in the United States. On the outbreak of war he entered the Ministry of Information, and later sailed with the Royal Navy to collect material for the nautical book The Ship. He made a voyage to the Bering Sea to gather material for a similar book for the U.S. Navy and it was during this trip that he was stricken with arteriosclerosis, a disease that left him crippled. However, he continued to write and in Horatio Hornblower created the most renowned sailor in contemporary fiction. C. S. Forester died in 1966. All four episodes of Horatio Hornblower are based on Forester's second book, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (1950). The films, with the occasional allowance for dramatic license and with greatly expanded characterization, incorporate all the adventures described in the ten chapters of Mr. Midshipman Hornblower; however, not in the same order. Film One covers the adventures in the first five chapters of the book; Film Two covers chapters seven, eight and nine; Film Three is based on chapter ten; and Film Four covers chapter six. All the books in the Hornblower series are based upon facts presented in The Naval Chronicle, a monthly nautical magazine that was in publication from 1790 to 1820.