Seth Morse hated the English warships patrolling southern New England, menacing daily life, levying taxes, seizing what they want, imposing their will. He signs onto an armed privateer schooner to fight the English occupiers. The schooner is quickly defeated by a vastly superior English frigate. Along with a few other survivors, Seth is tossed into an unlit hold and transported to prison in England. Diamond narrates Seth's harrowing nautical challenges, the utter misery of imprisonment and the profound joy of release. Soon thereafter he experiences the terrifying violence of pitched sea battles, one of which helps to turn the tide of a new nation's fortune. Finally sailing home he unexpectedly falls in love, only to confront a profound risk of losing it as he nears home and family.
