Is he the best? Of course he is! Unless you don't think so...

As I said, "The Best" is subjective and time-dependant. Forester was my first HNF author, and was my favourite for a while, until I discovered Alexander Kent and Bolitho - he remained at my own personal best for a fair number of years, but I began to find his later novels a little bit repetitive. For a while I had no particular favourites, now I'm just reading Stockwin's Kydd series for the first time, which I am enjoying, but his fourth "Mutiny" is, IMO, not standing up to the quality of the first three and I'm really hoping that it may just be a glitch, as I really like the original idea of developing a character who started out as a pressed-man.

If the idea of an up from the hawse tarpaulin appeals to you, try Adam Hardy's Fox series. G. A. Fox was a pressed man who achieved commission and command.

I read one of the Fox books at least 10 years ago, and didn't really like it, but time moves on and it will definitely be worth starting again.
Thanks for the reminder.

Actually, Donachie's John Pearce series has the same premise: pressed man promoted to officer, but in quite a different way. The series is not riveting, but it does in a pinch.