1802: The fragile Peace of Amiens hangs by a thread.
Captain Isaac Donland has given nineteen years to the Royal Navy—and the Navy has cast him aside. With his beloved frigate HMS Wessex stripped away and his crew scattered, he faces a future of half-pay and obscurity while England dismantles the fleet that won the war.
Offered command of a decrepit merchant sloop and the promise of his ship's return, Donland accepts an impossible task: sail to France, gather intelligence on the French fleet, and return alive. With only a handful of loyal men—his steadfast first lieutenant George Maddox, his resourceful coxswain Newman, and his young nephew Timothy—Donland must become what he's never been: a spy.
Posing as wine merchants, Donland and his crew navigate treacherous waters both literal and political. A suspicious French captain watches their every move. A dead guard threatens to expose them. And the intelligence they gather grows more alarming by the hour—Bonaparte is preparing an invasion force of forty thousand men.
Pursued by French warships through a desperate escape from Brest, Donland must deliver his intelligence before the fleet sails. But will the Admiralty listen to an unemployed captain bearing news no one wants to hear? And even if England mobilizes in time, will Donland live to see the command he was promised—or will politics and jealousy deny him once again?