James Nelson

Former pirate and captain of Guardship, Thomas Marlowe, is now a man of property, keeping his prosperous tobacco plantation in Virginia with his wife Elizabeth. Meer

It is 1777, and captain Isaac Biddlecomb, together with his wife and child, is bound for Philadelphia aboard the brig Charlemagne. His orders are to take command of the newly-built frigate Falmouth and take her out to sea before she is taken by General Richard Howe's invading army. Meer

As the War of Independence begins in earnest, American merchant seamen prepare to strike the first blows. None strikes more deftly than Isaac Biddlecomb, captain of the Judea, whose smuggling activities are making a mockery of His Majesty's Royal Navy. Meer

It is the summer of 1776 in the former Crown Colony of New York. A fleet of British transport ships are looming off Staten Island, while on Brooklyn Heights the remnants of General George Washington's army are huddled behind hastily constructed fortifications. Meer