Just Smith is a Captain in the service of the East India Company. When 'The Gnat' opens it is November 1805, Just has been appointed to the command of 'Earl Camden' and as Commodore of the homebound fleet assembling in Bombay.
Back in London River Just discovers Director Bebb of the East India Company is plotting to destroy his career and return him to the gutters of his childhood, while a growing band of merchants and bankers in The City recognise him as a man to watch.
Just is appointed Commodore of the first Bengal and China fleet of 1807 and acquires an armed schooner, 'The Gnat', as tender to the fleet. However there are many twists and surprises on the voyage some lucrative, others amorous, a few valorous before Just's ships lie to their anchors in the Pearl River below the Bocca Tigris and prepare to trade with the Chinese before preparing for the voyage home.