Isaac Biggs of Marblehead, Massachusetts, sails from Boston as captain of the foretop aboard the bark Anne, bound for St. Barts in the West Indies in the fall of 1810. When the Anne is stopped by a British Royal Navy frigate, Isaac and several shipmates are forcibly pressed into service on the Orpheus, actively engaged in England's long-running war with France.
The young Isaac faces the harsh life of a Royal Navy seaman and a harrowing war at sea. His new life is hard, with strange rules, floggings, and new dangers. Then the United States declares war on England and Isaac finds himself in an untenable position, facing the possibility of fighting his own countrymen