It ha been two years since Thomas Kydd was spirited away in the night to serve his country aboard the old line-of-battle ship
Duke William
. Now, he and the other members of the ill-fated
Artemis
are shipwrecked sailors, back in London waiting to be summoned as court-martial witnesses. Then, in a political act to shield an officer's reputation, they are shipped out in haste to the Caribbean—where sugar is king and yellow jack a fearsome peril.