Flag Of Truce

Product Description

John Pearce comes back from Corsica demanding that Captain Barclay of HMS Brilliant the man who originally pressed him & his fellow Pelicans into the Navy be tried at home by a civilian court. Against the background of the ongoing siege of Toulon & with the Revolutionary Army massing to attack no-one in authority sees this as a good time to accede to his requests. Barclay's patron Admiral Hotham contrives a way out of the dilemma. He staffs the ship Pearce captured in Corsica with members of the Revolutionary Navy refusing to serve under the Bourbon flag & gives it to Henry Digby with Pearce & his Pelicans under him so that they may transport the renegade French sailors to an Atlantic port & set them free. Whilst Pearce is gone Hotham fixes a court martial where Barclay is found innocent for lack of evidence a ruse that leads to an open breach with his wife Emily. Pearce eventually returns to the siege having survived conflict on both land & water only to find Barclay acquitted & exempt from further trial under the law of double jeopardy. Despite clear warnings not to do so he begins a romance with Emily Barclay but mayhem surrounds the evacuation of Toulon & the revolutionary forces including Napoleon Bonaparte are closing in to retake the port.