The peace lasts a year and the sailors and officers of the Royal Navy languish on half pay.
Pellew gives Hornblower command of HMS Hotspur with orders to sail to Brest to spy on Napoleon.
In addition, Hornblower is to take a Frenchman, Major Côtard, to a secret rendezvous with a trusted friend in France.
There is no sign of Major Côtard's contact, and Hornblower regards it as suspicious that Loire was at the rendezvous point.
Since all British movements are immediately reported by the semaphore, Pellew assigns Hornblower to destroy it, while Captain Hammond will lead a party of Marines to take the shore battery.
Hornblower and his men escape and blow up the fort, enabling Pellew to countermand his withdrawal and attack the French ships.
Hornblower and his men then run into Wolfe and Hammond, who is revealed to be the senior officer betraying the Royal Navy.
Afterward, Hornblower's report states that Hammond died heroically and honorably for England, to avoid inflaming the many Irishmen serving in the Royal Navy.