After two years without a command, Richard Bolitho accepts the thankless task of drumming up recruits and catching smugglers. As revolutionary France lies fuming and threatening war, Bolitho must first deal with a new enemy—the Brotherhood—a brutal gang that holds the Medway towns in a grip of terror. Surround by treachery and deceit, Bolitho and his men sail into danger for the honor of England and a King’s Ransom.