Fox, up from the gutter and now 25 years in the British Navy yet stuck as a Lieutenant because of his lack of "interest" finds himself facing a dilemma. He's been given a treasure map by a dying French officer at Acre. Does he follow up on that, becoming a renegade and deserter from the Navy, or let the treasure go and pursue his apparently dead-end career?
This book has the usual ups and downs Fox tends to face. For every moment of good fortune, bad luck and disaster faces him. Fox finds his way through most events and situations through cleverness and ingenuity, but some things are simply beyond him.
There are a few events in the book that almost defy belief, but having read the exploits of men such as Lord Cochrane and others, the unbelievable did happen at the time in the Navy, and Fox is such a different character than most sea novels the books race along fresh and interesting.