Recounts the events which took place on the high seas during 1789 in which there was a mutiny on the English ship Bounty and the resulting trial of the participants upon returning to England.

Aboard the Hyperion, Richard Bolitho sets sail with an untrained crew for blockade duty off France. Unfortunately, his superior, Commodore Mathias Pelham-Martin, is an incompetent egotist whose petty hostilities jeopardize the operation of an entire fleet.

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....

It is 1792, over ten years since Britain's defeat by the American colonies, and the bitter humiliation still sticks 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.

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.

Aboard the frigate Destiny, Lt. Richard Bolitho is astounded when he learns of the ship's mission: travel 5000 miles to recover a fabulous treasure for His Majesty. As the swift ship moves into the warm seas of Rio, Bolitho sails into an adventure that will alter his career and his heart.

Cape Colony is proving a tiresome assignment for Thomas Kydds daring commander-in-chief Commodore Popham: South Americas Spanish colonies are in a ferment of popular unrest. Rumors of a treasure hoard of Spanish silver spur him to assemble a makeshift invasion fleet and launch a bold attack on the capital of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate in Buenos Aires. Navigating the treacherous bars and mud flats of the river, the British invasion force wins...

In 1793, Bolitho and the British warship Hyperion are trapped by the French in the Mediterranean.

In the 18th Century, a Royal Navy ship runs aground during a storm while on a mission to harass Spanish vessels off the coast of South America. A mutiny breaks out and the novel follows two young sailors as they battle the elements and fellow sailors to survive. By the author of The Golden Ocean.

In England of 1740, an Irish parson's gentle son signs up as midshipman on Anson's famous expedition to circumnavigate the globe. In the adventures that follow he grows to become a leader of men, rich and famous.