When British Navy Lieutenant Neville Burton climbed the accommodation ladder of the 74-gun HMS Elephant in June of 1801, his thoughts were of his deceased lover, not of the treachery that would soon ravage the officer cadre of his new ship. Nor were his thoughts of the mission recently assigned him by his mentor in Whitehall; he had no idea how that could be accomplished – 'Something always presents itself'' he was told. Grief surrounds him.
The winds of change soon conspire to send him into enemy France, inshore action in the ports of Spain, and onward to a place he knew well not long before – Jamaica. The relative safety of another 74 – the HMS Vanguard - affords him the opportunity to resume his mentor's mission, now modified to the Caribbean theater, as well as share in the spoils of war: prize ships. When one of those – the American schooner Superieure - becomes his to command, the dreams of a young officer seem to be achieved – at least until he begins to learn who has come aboard...