Commander William Brewer has an opportunity for to settle scores against his pirate adversary once and for all.

Admiral Horatio Hornblower has given Commander Brewer captaincy of the captured pirate sloop El Dorado. Now under sail as the HMS Revenge, its new name suits Brewer's frame of mind, for he lost many of his best men in a previous engagement. His new orders are to hunt down the pirates who have been ravaging the trade routes of the Caribbean sea.

But Brewer will face more than one challenge before he can confront the pirate known as El Diabolito.

His best friend and ship's surgeon, Dr. Spinelli, is taking dangerous solace in alcohol as he wrestles with demons of his own; while the new purser, Mr. Allen, may need a lesson in honest accounting.

Worst of all, Hornblower has requested that Brewer take on a young ne'er-do-well, Noah Simmons, to remove him from a recent scandal at home. At twenty-three, Simmons is old to be a junior midshipman, and as a wealthy man's son he is unaccustomed to working, taking orders, or suffering privations.

William Brewer will need to muster all his resources to ready his crew for their confrontation with the Caribbean's most notorious pirate. In the process, he'll discover the true price of command.