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.