This book is a compendium of 3 individual novels by Richard Woodman:
- Baltic Mission - first published 1986
- In Distant Waters - first published 1988
- A Private Revenge - first published 1989
'Baltic Mission' - With Napoleon's relentless advance across Europe reaching the very brink of Holy Russia, HMS Antigone is ordered to the Baltic. Nathaniel Drinkwater's mission is to liase with allies reeling in defeat, but a secret agreement is being signed which will place his very life in perilous danger . . . 'In Distant Waters' - Patrician's mission to the Pacific is dogged by ill-luck from the start. And when the temptations of San Francisco prompt the mutinous crew to sabotage, it leaves a helpless prize for the Spanish, and Drinkwater with one thin chance to save his mission, and his life . . . 'A Private Revenge' - A typhoon forces Patrician to take shelter on the China coast. In the midst of the trade war between the Canton moguls and the East India Company, Drinkwater is glad of the strightforward duty of escorting a convoy to Penang. But a mysterious passenger makes the journey anything but routine.