Nathaniel Drinkwater's life at sea begins with the HMS CYCLOPS' capture of the SANTA TERESA during Admiral Rodney's dramatic Moonlight Battle of 1780. Subsequently, Drinkwater's courage and initiative are put to the test as the CYCLOPS pursues American privateers threatening British trade and is later dispatched to the swamps of South Carolina, where many lives are lost both at sea and ashore.

Gradually, Drinkwater matures into a capable and

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"It is 1814 and Napoleon has abdicated as Emperor of the French. King Louis XVIII is brought out of his English exile and escorted back to France by an Allied squadron commanded by the Duke of Clarence. The "Great War" is at an end and Europe prepares tocelebrate the return of legitimate monarchy. But the victorious Allies are increasingly suspicious of one another. Alexander I, the capricious Tsar of Russia, believes he is the savior of the world,...