Ramage, finally reunited with his beloved Sarah, hopes to spend at least a few quiet weeks with her. Instead, he is summoned by Admiral Nelson himself. His orders: Ramage is to join Nelson's fleet blockading the combined French and Spanish navies in the port of Cadiz. But Nelson's plan is not merely to blockade the enemy's fleet. He intends to confront it head-on in the biggest naval battle the world has ever seen.

Lord Ramage returns to fight in the most famous of Britain's sea battles. Summoned by Admiral Nelson himself, Ramage is sent to join the British fleet off Cadiz. Finding himself in the front line of battle, Lord Ramage must fight to save his own life as well as for his country.

Ramage and the Calypso are sent to Sicily to track down Barbary Coast pirates—the Saraceni—who are capturing slaves and terrorizing fishing villages along the coast. Ramage is ordered to track the pirates to their home and destroy them before they can devastate another Sicilian town—and in the process, he and his crew must attempt to rescue hundreds of Italian prisoners!

Captain Ramage recklessly attempts to free the Jocasta, a British ship, from the Spanish Main stronghold of Santa Cruz. A vicious mutiny has left the Jocasta open to capture by Spain, but sailing the frigate Calypso, Ramage will stop at nothing to rescue the imprisoned vessel, even if it means inciting another mutiny on board his own ship.

Ramage, finally reunited with his beloved Sarah, hopes to spend at least a few quiet weeks with her. Instead, he is summoned by Admiral Nelson himself. His orders: Ramage is to join Nelson's fleet blockading the combined French and Spanish navies in the port of Cadiz. But Nelson's plan is not merely to blockade the enemy's fleet. He intends to confront it head-on in the biggest naval battle the world has ever seen.

This is a well-researched and highly readable account of naval life, both ashore and at sea, from a respected and admired historian and writer of whom it was written: ‘An author who really knows Nelson’s navy’ (Ramage’s Prize - The Observer) and ‘An expert knowledge of naval history’ (Ramage at Trafalgar - The Guardian).

Admiralty spies are hunting for British officers and allies trapped on the mainland, among them Ramage's first love, Gianna, the Marchesa di Volterra. Ramage returns to the Tuscan coast, where Bonaparte holds a group of hostages for an unknown fate.

The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on October 21, 1805, off Cape Trafalgar on the Spanish coast, between the combined fleets of Spain and France and the Royal Navy. The last great sea action of the period, it established British naval supremacy and ended the threat of French invasion. The Trafalgar Companion not only chronicles the campaign and the battle itself in unprecedented detail, but it also charts Admiral Lord Nelson’s life and career as well as his death at the height of the battle. Providing a wealth of background details on contemporary naval life, seamanship, gunnery, tactics, and much else, the narrative is supplemented by informative sidebars, 200 color illustrations, and stage-by-stage battle diagrams.

With Bonaparte Napoleon at the height of his powers, the Mediterranean can be safely considered exclusive French territory. So when Captain Ramage and his crew are sent alone into Mediterranean waters, they can expect to be outnumbered. But it is the French who discover they have an enemy they had not bargained for.