It is 1792, over ten years since Britain's defeat by the American colonies, and the bitter humiliation still sticks in the Admiralty's craw. Now brutal smugglers, many of them naval deserters, occupy the Channel, plying their trade between England and France. Richard Bolitho's mission: to take three speedy topsail cutters and fight the treacherous raiders off the coast of Kent.

Portsmouth, 1782. His Britannic Majesty's frigate, Phalarope, is ordered to assist the hard-pressed squadrons in the Caribbean. Aboard is her new commander-Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the Phalarope is everything a young captain could wish for, but beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship-her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands suspected of cowardice under fire and driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment....

In 1817, every harbor and estuary in Antigua is filled with ghostly ships, superfluous in the aftermath of war. In this uneasy peace, Adam Bolitho is offered the 74-gun Athena, a notoriously "unlucky" ship, and as flag-captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Bethune he once more follows his destiny to the Caribbean.

Spring 1802, and the Peace Treaty of Amiens, signed only a few weeks earlier, is already showing signs of collapse. Britain and France wrangle over the return of colonial possessions won and lost during their long, bloody war and in the little 64-gun Achates, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho sails for America and the Caribbean.

It is April 1797, Falmouth Bay, and returning home after 18 months' continuous service, Flag Captain Richard Bolitho finds himself at the centre of the Great Mutiny crisis.

New York, 1777: As the American revolution rages on the mainland, the British Navy prepares for action at sea. In the turmoil of the battle to maintain a blockade of military supplies to Washington, junior officer Richard Bolitho has to make momentous decisions, decisions which could alter the course of history.

In September 1804, as England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran Hyperion and sets sail with a new squadron for the Caribbean. His orders are to plan and execute a daring dawn raid on the Spanish Main.

After the war with France has ended in 1818, Captain Adam Bolitho is given command of the newly commissioned frigate Onward and sent to North Africa on a diplomatic mission to accompany the French frigate Nautilus in a show of solidarity. He knows he is lucky-the voyage should be easy; but Adam longs for a chance to marry the beautiful Lowenna and settle down on the Bolitho estate in Cornwall. Instead he must deal with the envy and ambition of his...

Soon after taking part in the dramatic capture of Martinique in the Caribbean, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is next dispatched to the African coast to gather a flotilla and stop French attacks on British trade routes. But Bolitho must contend with more than Britain's old enemy-he must also face the hatred of his flag captain and betrayal by a man he once counted on as his friend.

February 1806: Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho carries the news of Trafalgar to southern Africa, where he is to aid British ground forces in any way he can to retake Cape Town from the Dutch. Impatient to be home, Bolitho decides yet again that the boldest measures are best, and proves to the army that brave men do not die in vain.