The year is 1805, and the "Calliope," with Richard Sharpe aboard, is captured by a formidable French warship, the "Revenant," which has been terrorizing British nautical traffic in the Indian Ocean. The French warship races toward the safety of its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that could provoke India into a new war against the British -- and render for naught all that Sharpe has bravely fought for till now.
But help comes from an unexpected quarter. An old friend, a captain in the Royal Navy, is on the trail of the "Revenant," and Sharpe comes aboard a 74-gun man-of-war called "Pucelle" in hot pursuit. What results is a breathtaking retelling of one of the most ferocious and one-sided sea battles in European history, in which Nelson -- and Sharpe -- vanquish the combined naval might of France and Spain at Trafalgar.
