Publisher's Synopsis
At the time of the French Revolution, one of Britain's most skillful naval officers is young lieutenant Charles Saunders Hayden, the son of an English father and a French mother. His abilities and his loyalty to the king of England are beyond dispute, but his career seems doomed by his "mixed" heritage and lack of political connections. Consequently, Hayden is assigned to an aging frigate, the Themis, under the command of Captain Josiah Hart, a man known throughout the service as "Faint Hart." As the Themis takes to sea, the disaffection of the crew boils over into violence, and the lieutenant is caught between his superior and a crew pushed toward mutiny. A revolution at sea ensues, and Hayden is wrenchingly torn between honor and duty, as the magnificent Royal Navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.
