1784: at a time when most of the fleet is laid up, His Majesty's frigate Undine weighs anchor at Spithead to begin a voyage to India and far beyond. As her new captain, Richard Bolitho is glad to go, despite the nature of his orders and the immensity of the voyage - for he is leaving an England still suffering from the aftermath of war. But he is to learn that signatures on proud documents do not necessarily make a lasting peace, and finds himself involved in a conflict as ruthless as the one which had given him his first command during the war with France. In an uneasy peace, the expansion of trade and colonial development in little-known areas of the East Indies soon push aside the pretence and bring the guns' fury into the open. There is no set line of battle or declared cause to rally Undine's small company, but the dangers and the endless demands have to be faced by the man who commands the only King's ship available. Bolitho's adventures continue in Passage to Mutiny.