Continuing in Volume II, John Mason struggles to grasp the Principles of the Mason Key. It's 1778, the American Revolution is raging, while in the Atlantic the British are in battle with the French. John Mason and his friend Schultz are stranded aboard the enemy French ship after it has been abandoned and are forced to sail the massive ship alone. Encountering a hurricane, the ship is destroyed upon a reef. Left to his own ingenuity, along with newly discovered Principles, Mason struggles to survive on a deserted island in the Bahamas.