Three novels in one! Sixteen-year-old Richard Bolitho joins the British Royal Navy as a young midshipman. Follow his adventures as he undergoes a severe initiation into the dangerous world of the great sailing warships.

1. Richard Bolitho: Midshipman 1772: A young Richard Bolitho joins the 74-gun Gorgon. Naive and untested, Bolitho must learn the ways of the navy quickly if he is to survive.

2. Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger 1773: Bolitho returns home to Cornwall for Christmas, but smuggling, shipwrecking, and witchcraft tear apart his once-peaceful community.

3. Band of Brothers 1774: Bolitho stands on the brink of manhood and takes his examination to begin his true career as a King's Officer. But soon he must test his mettle against vicious smugglers!

In 1774, Richard Bolitho is a newly appointed Third Lieutenant, joining the 28-gun frigate Destiny. Dispatched on a secret mission, Destiny and her company face the hazards of conspiracy, treason, and piracy. It is amidst the broadside battles and clashes of swords that Bolitho learns to accept his new responsibilities as a King's officer.

Portsmouth, 1782. His Britannic Majesty's frigate Phalarope is ordered to assist the hard-pressed squadrons in the Caribbean. Aboard is her new commander—Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the Phalarope is everything a young captain could wish for, but beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship—her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands suspected of cowardice under fire and driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment.

Spithead, 1784. His Majesty's Frigate Undine sets sail for India and the seas beyond. Europe may be at peace—but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy still goes on.

October 1789, and war clouds thunder over Europe when Richard Bolitho steers the Tempest into the perilous waters of the Great South Sea. To protect vulnerable English shipping lanes from her seagoing enemies, he must face the hazards of fickle winds, pirates, and savage islanders.

Aboard the Hyperion, Richard Bolitho sets sail with an untrained crew for blockade duty off France. Unfortunately, his superior, Commodore Mathias Pelham-Martin, is an incompetent egotist whose petty hostilities jeopardize the operation of an entire fleet.

The year is 1798. Napoleon's naval forces are amassing in the Mediterranean, preparing to annex Egypt, and it is there the newly-promoted Commodore Richard Bolitho is sent with a small squadron of ships under his command.

Spring 1802, and the Peace Treaty of Amiens, signed only a few weeks earlier, is already showing signs of collapse. Britain and France wrangle over the return of colonial possessions won and lost during their long, bloody war and in the little 64-gun Achates, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho sails for America and the Caribbean.

Falmouth, September 1803: As Bolitho faces the grim reality of war at close quarters, he will be called upon to anticipate the strategies of the French fleet. But the conflict has also taken on a personal note, reviving his vendetta with the French Admiral, Jobert, who once commanded the Argonaute.

In September 1804, as England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran Hyperion and sets sail with a new squadron for the Caribbean. His orders are to plan and execute a daring dawn raid on the Spanish Main.

Soon after taking part in the dramatic capture of Martinique in the Caribbean, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is next despatched to the African coast to gather a flotilla and stop French attacks on British trade routes. But Bolitho must contend with more than Britain's old enemy—he must also face the hatred of his flag captain and betrayal by a man he once counted on as his friend.