Born to an English father and a French mother, lieutenant Charles Saunders Hayden?s career is damned by his ?mixed? heritage. Assigned to the HMS Themis, an aging frigate under the command of a captain reviled by his crew for both his brutality towards his men and his cowardice in battle, Hayden is torn between honor and duty, as the British navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.