Newton Forster is a troubled young man who survives impressment into the Navy, imprisonment in France, and a shipwreck in the West Indies before gaining a post on the British East India Company vessel bound for Asia. Forster faces a thrill a chapter-murder, insanity, press gangs, prisons, pirates, treachery, and romance! Marryat's non-stop action and wry wit combine to create an immensely entertaining blend of sea story and farce.