The year is 1799, and Richard Sharpe is just beginning his military career. An inexperienced young private in His Majesty's service, Sharpe becomes part of an expedition to India to push the ruthless Tippoo of Mysore from his throne and drive out his French allies. To penetrate the Tippoo's city and make contact with a Scottish spy being held prisoner there, Sharpe has to pose as a deserter. Success will make him a sergeant, but failure will turn...

Captain Richard Bolitho is placed in charge of the flagship of a squadron attempting to force Britain's entry into the Mediterranean during the late eighteenth century.

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....

When he goes undercover in India to overthrow the Tippoo of Mysore, Richard Sharpe is forced to take up arms against his true comrades to protect his false identity.

"October 1789, and war clouds thunder over Europe when Richard Bolitho steers the Tempest into the perilous waters of the Great South Sea. His mission: to protect vulnerable English shipping lanes from her seagoing enemies."--Cover.

Richard Bolitho, British commodore of a small Mediterranean squadron in 1798, faces danger from the weather, the enemy, and his own men as he attempts to discover the intentions and strength of the French armada.