Pictured above is Punta Vaca on Isla Culebra, Puerto Rico. This
is where the survivors of HMS Triton and the merchantman Topaz
made landfall in Governor Ramage, R. N. Ramage’s camp would have
been in what looks like a hotel complex in the inlet at the
upper right. The novel opens in Carlisle Bay, Barbados where
Lieutenant Ramage, commander of the brig HMS Triton, is
receiving orders, along with the masters of 49 merchantmen and
four other escorts, for a convoy to Kingston, Jamaica. Ramage
has again found himself under the command of two of his father’s
enemies, men who contrived Ramage’s court martial on charges of
cowardice when he was in the Mediterannean. He knows the trip
will be fraught with professional danger because of his
commander, but they are departing at the beginning of hurricane
season and the convoy commander, Ramage’s nemesis Admiral
Goddard, alludes to one of the merchantmen carrying a very
valuable cargo but doesn’t specify which ship. Major spoilers
follow. Continue reading William Hoste w