Richard Woodman

While in Hamburg in the 1930s, Jack Clarke has run into some distant relatives. There is Johannes, an enthusiastic Nazi - and his elder brother, Kurt, who is in love with Magda, a wealthy Jewish girl. Jack and Kurt become friends and when Jack is advised to leave Germany as the political situation worsens, Kurt asks him to help Magda escape. Kurt, whose loyalty to his country has been strained, also reveals to Jack that the Germany navy has built a super-U-cruiser for commerce raiding in the event of war. On his return to England, Jack passes on this information. But the moral confusion of Jack and his relatives has begun to extend beyond politics, now that Jack's feelings for Magda have begun to take a treacherous turn.

"Mutiny at sea has always been a looming danger, particularly on long, difficult voyages. The rigid hierarchy and deep social divisions between the crew and their commander, the misery and monotony of sea life, the constant threat of death from shipwreck, disease or enemy action could acquire such frightening proportions as to undermine all normal trust between captain and crew." "The most notorious mutiny was on the Bounty in 1789, an event elevated to iconic status by Hollywood, yet described here as a mere "pup" among mutinies. Captain Bligh was neither tyrant nor sadist - but Pigot of the Hermione was, and the crew were probably justified in throwing him overboard. Richard Woodman brings a unique, seaman's perspective to mutinies across the globe - from Magellan's successful handling of mutiny on his great voyage of discovery and circumnavigation in 1520 to the "sordid crimes" that mutinies had become by the end of World War II."--BOOK JACKET.

Kit Faulkner is a young vagrant orphan, but his life changes forever when two gentlemen spot his potential and he is taken aboard their merchant ship, the Swallow, to be trained for a life at sea. As he rises through the ranks, he risks all in encounters with pirates and French corsairs. Meanwhile, England edges ever closer to civil war, and very soon Kit must chose which side he will fight for.