John Pearce discovers that Madrid plans to desert the British-led coalition and join the enemy. In company with Lord Langholm, he has taken a Spanish treasure ship but is forced into a deep bay overlooked by Spaniards who have a cannon aimed at the entrance. Pearce must take the lead and find a way to get Langholm's frigate and the damaged Santa Leocadia through the bottleneck. His orders take him via Gibraltar, then to Admiral Jervis to warn of Spanish duplicity. Jervis sends him to Bastia in Corsica, where the Viceroy is seeking to hold the island for Britannia in the face of Napoleon's successes in Italy. At night he must fight the Francophile Corsicans, who are arming themselves for an insurrection. Will he succeed, or will John Pearce, HMS Hazard, and the Pelicans pay the ultimate price of failure?