For Percival Merewether, 1806 would be a year to remember. For in January of that year he was promoted from First Lieutenant and given the command of his first ship - the Rapid.
Armed with its ten 9-pounders, the Rapid was more than a match for any enemy ship that crossed its bows, and in it Captain Merewether was to spend as action-packed and eventful a first year as any ambitious young sea-farer could have wished.
Merewether had quick wits and daring to match his ambition. And with mutinies, diplomatic intrigues and skirmishes with the French to occupy him, he soon found that he needed both qualities as never before...