With Bonaparte held to a stalemate in Europe, the race to empire is now resumed. Britain's ambitions turn to the Spice Islands, the Dutch East Indies, where Admiral Pellew has been sent to confront the enemy's vastly rich holdings in these tropical islands. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd joins reinforcements to snatch these for the British Crown. The two colonial masters of India and the East Indies face each other in mortal striving for the region - there...

Kydd is offered a new command but that ship is still under construction, so he decides to look up one of his old naval friends and enjoy some of the pleasures of London. This is cut short when he is summoned to Portsmouth to bear witness at the trial of Sir Home Popham for his actions at Cape Town and Buenos Aires. When his personal feelings about the way his old commander was treated become public, Kydd finds himself in hot water with the Admiralty....

Word has come from the British ambassador Arbuthnot that the neutral Turks are being wooed by the French and if the ancient city of Constantinople falls into their hands, Napoleon's route to India will be completely unfettered and his plans for world domination a reality. Concerned for his safety, Arbuthnot is demanding a large fleet presence to take him off and bring the Turks to their senses. Braving treacherous currents, unreliable winds, and giant...