Lieutenant John Pearce is in dangerous waters. He lacks funds, has lost the evidence of perjury he once held against his enemy Captain Ralph Barclay, and is being dogged by Barclay's clerk Gherson, who is as keen as his employer to silence anyone who may cause unwanted revelations. But then a smiling stranger offers Pearce an opportunity he cannot refuse. Reunited with his old friends the Pelicans, he must fetch a ship laden with contraband back from France; an illegal, but very profitable, act. Yet is all as it seems? Are Pearce and his Pelicans sailing into prosperity - or danger?