It is two years since Thomas Kydd was spirited away in the night aboard the old ship Duke William. Now, he and the other members of the ill-fated Artemis are shipwrecked sailors, back in London to be summoned as court martial witnesses. Then, in a political act to shield an officer's reputation, they are shipped out in haste to the Caribbean - where sugar is king and yellow jack a fearsome peril.

This book finds Thomas Kydd aboard Tenacious, part of a small squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson. Its mission is to scour the Mediterranean and locate Napoleon and his army. Kydd's newly fired ambition leads him to volunteer for shore service in the capture of Minorca. Later, he faces the great ships-of-the-line at the Battle of the Nile as the British take on the French in a no-holds-barred struggle for supremacy in southern waters....

1803. Tensions are escalating again between England and France. Smugglers, perilous storms and a treacherous coastline all threaten to overcome HMS Teazer as her men fight to gain control of the seas. Meanwhile an unlikely rival is seeking her captain's heart. The beautiful admiral's daughter could be the key to realising all Kydd's career ambitions. But high society, he finds, can be as treacherous as his first mistress - the sea.

Who will steal the greatest prize of Empire? South America's Spanish colonies are in a ferment of popular unrest. Rumors of a treasure hoard of Spanish silver spur Thomas Kydd's commander-in-chief, Commodore Popham, to assemble a makeshift invasion fleet and launch a bold attack on Buenos Aires. The British invasion force wins a battle against improbable odds, but soon finds itself surrounded by a hostile population. Now Kydd's men must face resistance...

Thrilled at his first command, a little brig sloop called Teazer; Thomas Kydd must race to bring his ship to battle readiness in order to defend Malta against Barbary corsairs. But his jubilation does not last long - peace is suddenly declared. Instead he sets sail as captain of a convict transport for the penal colony in New South Wales - and challenges that will test both his seamanship and humanity to the limit.

Napoleon's forces are poised to invade Britain, and Commander Thomas Kydd's ship is at the forefront of the fleet. Then Kydd is abruptly withdrawn from the fleet and sent back to Dover on a secret mission to guard a mysterious American inventor. He is furious to find he will miss his opportunity to prove himself in battle. Yet Kydd's role in the approaching war may be the most crucial part he has ever played.

It is 1797 and Thomas Kydd is now master's mate on Achilles. Kydd sails for England, but his joy at returning home is soon forgotten when he finds himself at the centre of one of the most extraordinary events in English history- the Mutiny at the Nore. Ten thousand men and scores of ships hold the country to ransom. Kydd is faced with a terrible choice. Abandon his friends and shipmates? Or join the rebellion?

Commander Kydd has dragged himself up in the navy from press-ganged seaman to master of his own ship. Now he faces disgrace. After offending an Admiral, Kydd is sent to guard the Channel Islands. When he is brutally betrayed, only his old friend Renzi is willing to stick by him. Then Kydd is given an opportunity to return to the sea as Captain of a privateer. But privateers are hated by the French and the Royal Navy alike. To keep fighting his country's...

November 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd must sail to Lisbon to aid the Portuguese Royal Family's evacuation in the face of Napoleon's ruthless advance through Iberia. In the chaos of the threatened city an old passion is reawakened when he meets Persephone Lockwood, a beautiful and determined admiral's daughter from his past. But the Royal Family's destination is Brazil, Perspehone's England, and it seems Kydd's chance has gone again. Only later he...

1808. With the Peninsula in turmoil, Napoleon Bonaparte signs a treaty to dismember Portugal and put his brother, Joseph, on the throne of Spain. Meanwhile, Nicholas Renzi, the Lord Farndon, undertakes a deadly mission to stir up partisan unrest to disrupt this Napoleonic alliance with Spain. Thrust into the crucible of the uprising, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is dismayed to come up against an old foe from his past - now his superior and commander -...