Hah, if pineapples suggest a descent into madness for you... *thinks over the various ways I've incorporated pineapples into my Hornblower fic* ...Honestly, I can't say Hornblower wouldn't agree with you. He is very suspicious of having feelings, after all. XD

Re the Portsmouth coda, it may also be that Forester was trying to shove all his thoughts about Bush and Hornblower's first years together in there while he had the chance. After finishing Lieutenant, it was a full decade before Forester came back to that era of Hornblower's life.

btw, do you have any theory of (or even interest for) how Sawyer came to fall?