September 1815. In this, the newest novel in Alexander Kent's Bolitho series, Captain Adam Bolitho carries on the Royal Navy tradition of his seafaring family. Summoned to the Admiralty by Sir Edward Pellew, Adam is ordered to sail his 46-gun frigate Unrivalled into African waters to aid His Majesty's campaign against slave-runners. Preoccupied with avenging his uncle Richard's death while confronting an entrenched adversary and the aggressive opposition of the Algerian overlord, he fears he may be setting his crew on a course of doom.