The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures. After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended.
