It is 1793. The thunder of cannon fire echoes across the English Channel chilling the stoutest hearts.. . The opening skirmishes of the French Revolutionary War send ageing frigate HMS Themis into waters swarming with enemy ships of the line. Instructed to survey the French coastline she's soon in the thick of the action: cutlasses slash & bayonets skewer cannons splinter decks & sever limbs. Onto the smoky deck strides young Lieutenant Charles Hayden. With an English father & a French mother the Admiralty are reluctant to give Hayden his first comm&. Instead he is to act as a bulwark between the Themis' tyrannical Captain Hart & a mutinous crew. Steering a course between the cowardly captain & the treacherous crew English common sense & French pride Hayden must first master his wits before challenging the might of the French naval war machine.