Europe is ablaze with war. The British prime minister is under pressure to intimidate the French and dispatches a Navy squadron to appear off the French coast. To man the ships, ordinary citizens must be press-ganged.
Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized and taken across the country to be part of the crew of the ninety-eight-gun line-of-battle ship Duke William.... (read more)