A J. Patrick Boyer Book

Things quickly go from bad to worse as Emily, Captain Fly Austen, and young Magpie each find themselves in treacherous waters.

In late September 1813, Fly Austen, now a captain, is ordered back to the American coast as England’s Royal Navy has suffered a series of humiliating defeats. Forced to return to sea with a skeleton crew, Fly persuades a reluctant Leander Braden to accompany him one last time. Emily, realizing the plan is to leave her in Portsmouth with Leander’s aunt, disguises herself as a man and steals aboard Fly’s frigate, where she is tormented by his passengers.

Meanwhile, young Magpie is captured by a press gang and hustled aboard a hostile ship, only to find himself in the dangerous company of Thomas Trevelyan, the English traitor who escaped incarceration on a prison hulk. A shipwreck, a mutiny, and a bloody encounter with American ships on the Atlantic inflict devastating consequences on all.