Roger Burnage

Publishers note: Updated and re-edited 6th edition - April 2024. The year is 1793 and Captain James Abel Merriman has been sent to the West Indies as Captain of His Majesty’s sloop Aphrodite. Once again seconded to Mr. Grahame of the Revenue Service and under orders of Lord Stevenage of the Treasury Service, they are to discover French and Spanish activities across the islands which will decide their future actions. England's oldest enemy France - now under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte - is in the throes of the revolution and also is at war with Austria and the Netherlands. At this point in history - February 1793 - France declares war on England. In the West Indies, many of the islands had been fought over by the British, the French and the Spanish. The principal islands of St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe are still in French hands although this may be about to change.

The Year 1792. With French Revolutionary agents travelling freely but secretly between Ireland and England and war with France inevitable, the English government of Mr. Pitt is desperately anxious to uncover any plots between Irish rebels and the French. Lieutenant James Merriman with his ship, the sloop Aphrodite, is ordered to the Irish Sea to assist the principal Treasury agent Mr. Grahame in this work. Merriman is plunged headlong into the world of espionage and when Grahame is seriously wounded it falls to Merriman to carry on the investigation. Young James Merriman must keep all his wits about him to foil these plans especially when his adversary is revealed to be an exceptional French agent Henri Moreau who hopes that by helping the Irish to throw off the English yoke, France will be able to use Irish ports from which to attack England.