Here we find Captain Josiah Peabody, the American hero in Forester's book about the war of 1812, cruising the Atlantic and Caribbean wrecking destruction and confounding the British as he disturbs the West Indian trade. Making a difficult passage between keeping his powerful frigate of the Constitution class free from major damage while still forcing the world's most powerful navy to expend ships to try and control him, Captain Peabody works his Yankee ingenuity to aid the British to capture a rapacious pirate. The grasp of Peabody's grim childhood on his character is broken by his discovery of love with the beautiful and understanding daughter of the French Governor of Martinique. As Peabody grows aware of, and warms to, human emotions he previously thought sinful, he becomes a better man, and a better captain, who even looks forward to a world without fighting. In this novel, the reader sees excitement, challenge, and the forces of human nature combine into a good read from Forester's masterful pen.