When Detective Sergeant James Mendick is sent to find the Duke of Mathon's stolen yacht, he soon realises that this is no ordinary case. Trapped aboard a mysterious ship sailing the South Atlantic, he finds himself in a world of cut-throats, criminals and a captain strangely obsessed with Greek mythology. Accompanied only by the likes of Liverpool packet-rats and a spirited fiddle-playing female sailor, Mendick must do his duty and navigate his way to the truth.Who would go to such lengths to steal a steam yacht, and why?