Richard Bolitho is a young lieutenant aboard the Trojan, an eighty-gun ship of the line. In 1777, the revolution in America erupts into a full-scale war. The navy's main task is to prevent military supplies from reaching Washington's armies and to destroy the fast-growing fleet of French and American privateers. Under a hard and determined captain, Bolitho has little opportunity for uncertainty, and Trojan faces threats from New York to the Caribbean.