After the Napoleonic Wars, Adam Bolitho is rewarded with command of his own ship and sets sail for the Caribbean, where he finds adventure aplenty amid these lawlesss islands In 1817 every harbor and estuary in Antigua is filled with ghostly ships, superfluous in the aftermath of war. In this uneasy peace, Adam Bolitho is offered the 74-gun Athena, a notoriously "unlucky" ship, and as flag-captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Bethune he once more follows his destiny to the Caribbean.
