When Captain Ramage is ordered to Naples, neither he nor his crew of the frigate Calypso expect to meet mostile ships in the Mediterranean so soon after the battle of Trafalgar.
Yet hardly have they cleared the Straits of Gibraltar than they sight two French battleships of the Line.
Arriving eventually in Napels, Ramage reports to Admiral Rudd, expecting to be given the tedious task of escorting merchantmen. Nothing could be further from the truth. The mission he is given is one far better suited to his reputation: he is to sail to Sicily where the Barbary Coast pirates - the Saraceni - have been terrorizing the fishing ports.