1667, & the mighty naval war between the English & the Dutch still rages. Sir Francis Courtney & his son Hal, in their fighting caravel, are on patrol off southern Africa, lying in wait for a treasure-laden galleon of the Dutch East India Company returning from the Orient. They have a letter from Charles II sanctioning them to hunt down & capture enemy ships 'beyond the line'. So begins a dramatic quest for adventure & the spoils of war that sweeps the Courtneys from the settlement of good Hope at the southern tip of Africa & on to the Great Horn of Ethiopia far to the north. It was a time when international maritime law permitted acts of piracy, rape & murder otherwise punishable by death. Approx run time is 4 hours.