It is 1803 and Napoleon’s armies are Threatening Britain, when fifteen-year-old Septimus Quinn joins the Royal Navy as midshipman on the Althea. At once he is plunged into action, and proves in his clashes with the French that what he may lack in inches he makes up for in courage and inventiveness. Showell Styles, well known for his historical novels, has written a gripping story of adventure on the high seas, with a truly likable hero in Septimus Quinn.