Reluctant to fight the Americans in the Naval War of 1812, Captain Sir John Wharton RN opts to accept command of a squadron of the frigates answering the call for help from Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant Governor of the captured Dutch East Indies.
Malay and Chinese pirates are preying on British shipping in the Java Sea and there are fears for the coming autumn’s East India Company China convoy.
Wharton’s ships Defiant and Dauntless sail from Portsmouth to Batavia and discover a host of enemies – European and Asian – on the 8000 mile voyage to the East Indies.
Governor Raffles is keen to bolster the strength of Wharton’s flotilla in the face of the growing number of attacks by privateers and pirates by seconding an East India Company frigate and an old Dutch merchantman to his squadron.