The year is 1794 and Jason Bradley is ordered to join the British Navy on a sloop-of-war to fight the French during the Napoleonic Wars.

Having completed a degree in Military History Jason has been hired by Admiral Blaine, who is in control of the Department of Special Operations within British Naval Intelligence, to gain sea experience so as to research and bring in fresh naval strategic ideas.

Jason joins the warship Sprite as a midshipman, carrying independent orders from Blaine which will not be known to his captain unless he is forced to use them. Soon learning the fatigue of manoeuvring sails and climbing the rigging, Jason is also discovered to have a lethal ability to control the heavy guns carried on the warship.

The crew’s aim is to destroy the merchant shipping around the French Mediterranean coastline; something which, with Jason’s knowledge and ability, they find they are particularly successful in achieving.

Following Lord Hood’s forced withdrawal from Toulon he plans an assault on Corsica. The crew of Sprite are involved in this combined army-navy operation which gains Jason further sea experience, and subsequently Sprite is to operate from a new base at Bastia.

The exceptional success of Sprite’s stealthy raiding stirs the ire of the French Navy and they become determined to search for, and destroy, Sprite.