EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 1

  Bering sea, 1830.

   Darkness enveloped the great Man-O- War as she climbed up into another mountainous wave, and violently lurched on a roll to port. The timbers masts and rigging creaked loudly from bow to stern, as they strained under a wind and sea so powerful that it threatened to break the vessel into a thousand pieces as the waves crashed around and over it. A mighty lightning bolt turned night into day as it forked its way majestically across the dark clouded sky, stretching its powerful talons over the sea, and betraying the condition of the ship below with its ripped and tattered sails that blew like colourless streamers on some faraway grotesque battlefield. Midshipman Roberts stared out from the open hatchway, his eyes widening with fear, mouth opened, as he stared up at the masthead and the scene he was witnessing before him. "Dear Lord, I must tell someone," he cried, as the sky lit up again, and he scurried quickly down below.