This story is set in the December of 1815. Adam Bolitho's orders are unequivocal. As captain of His Majesty's frigate Unrivalled of forty-six guns, he is required to 'repair in the first instance to Freetown, Sierra Leone, and reasonably assist the senior officer of the patrolling squadron. But all efforts of the British anti-slavery patrols to curb a flourishing trade in human life are hampered by unsuitable ships, by the indifference of a government more concerned with old enemies made distrustful allies, and by the continuing belligerence of the Dey of Algiers, which threatens to ignite a full-scale war. For Adam, also, there is no peace. Lost in grief and loneliness, his uncle's death still unavenged, he is uncertain of all but his identity as a man of war. The sea is his element, the ship his only home, and a reckless, perhaps doomed attack on an impregnable stronghold his only hope of settling the bitterest of debts.
- ISBN10 0434008842
- ISBN13 9780434008841
- Publish Date 6 September 2001
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 27 February 2009
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Cornerstone
- Imprint William Heinemann Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 336
- Language English