This book recounts the earliest adventures of Parkinson's hero, Richard Delancey. Ranked as a midshipman, when the events of the American Revolution and the ongoing hostilities between France and England send him across the sea, Delancey finds himself instrumental in defending the Isle of Jersey, and later, the Rock of Gibraltar.

The Nore and Spithead mutinies intervene to upset the course of Delancey's career. He devises an original legal defence in the court martial of a fellow officer accused of murder, and acquits himself well, but falls afoul of the naval establishment and is passed over in the general promotion of all in his rank after the victory at Camperdown.

This 1937 book gives a vivid picture of the realities of British trade in Asia around 1800.