SEAN THOMAS RUSSELL

As the streets of Paris are overrun with revolutionary fervour, England prepares for the inevitable war with France. Along the south coast, the Royal Navy readies its fleet and its most capable officers. Lieutenant Charles Hayden is a man of undeniable ability. The son of an Englishman, his allegiance to the English Crown is beyond dispute. But, with a French mother, and without any influence in the Admiralty, he is seemingly overlooked for his first commission as Master and Commander. Instead, he is posted to an aging frigate, the Themis, under the command of Captain Josiah Hart, a man known throughout the service as 'Faint Hart'. When the Themis takes to sea to hunt the enemy, Lieutenant Hayden is immediately caught between a tyrannical captain and a crew pushed to the verge of mutiny. Disaffection turns to violence, and Hayden is wrenchingly torn between honour and duty, as the magnificent Royal Navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.

1793: the thunder of cannon fire echoes across the English Channel, chilling the stoutest hearts . . . The opening skirmishes of the French Revolutionary War send ageing frigate HMS Themis into waters swarming with enemy ships of the line. Instructed to survey the French coastline, she's soon in the thick of the action: cutlasses slash and bayonets skewer, cannons splinter decks and sever limbs. Onto the smoky deck strides young Lieutenant Charles Hayden. With an English father and a French mother, the Admiralty are reluctant to give Hayden his first command. Instead, he is to act as a bulwark between the Themis's tyrannical Captain Hart and a mutinous crew. Steering a course between the cowardly captain and the treacherous crew, English common sense and French pride, Hayden must first master his wits before challenging the might of the French naval war machine.

Para todo oficial de la Armada Real británica, defender un orden jerárquico basado en la disciplina suponía la mejor forma de alcanzar una elevada posición social. Así que, cuando los ecos subversivos de las revoluciones francesa y americana llegaron a las islas, los capitanes al mando de los barcos de Su Majestad tuvieron que enfrentarse a un nuevo desafío que amenazaba los cimientos de una institución clave para mantener el poder inglés. Con sus amplios conocimientos de la historia naval y de las artes de la navegación, el autor narra el dilema de un joven marino atrapado entre su absoluta lealtad a la corona y la inclinación hacia las nuevas ideas que defendían la igualdad de las personas. Corre el año 1793 y los primeros compases de las guerras napoleónicas inauguran la época más gloriosa de la Armada británica. El mar se ha convertido en el principal campo de batalla entre Gran Bretaña y Francia, en una contienda en la que está en juego la vigencia del viejo orden establecido frente a las nuevas ideas revolucionarias. Sin perspectivas de ascenso, el joven oficial Charles Saunders Hayden, de madre francesa, se ve obligado a aceptar una complicada misión a bordo de la fragata H.M.S. Themis, cuyo capitán, sospechoso de pusilanimidad a la hora de hostigar a los buques franceses, resulta ser un déspota aficionado al ron y al látigo. Así pues, a bordo de una nave descuidada, con una tripulación resentida y al borde del amotinamiento, Hayden tendrá que demostrar mucho más que sus grandes dotes de marino para no verse arrastrado por las circunstancias.«Una novela maravillosamente amena para los fans de Patrick O'Brian, impecablemente documentada.» The Bookseller.

It is 1793. The thunder of cannon fire echoes across the English Channel, chilling the stoutest hearts ...The opening skirmishes of the French Revolutionary War send ageing frigate HMS Themis into waters swarming with enemy ships of the line. Instructed to survey the French coastline, she's soon in the thick of the action: cutlasses slash and bayonets skewer, cannons splinter decks and sever limbs. Onto the smoky deck strides young Lieutenant Charles Hayden. With an English father and a French mother, the Admiralty are reluctant to give Hayden his first command. Instead, he is to act as a bulwark between the Themis' tyrannical Captain Hart and a mutinous crew. Steering a course between the cowardly captain and the treacherous crew, English common sense and French pride, Hayden must first master his wits before challenging the might of the French naval war machine.