The Second Lieutenant, Wagstaffe, was given command of the prize frigate, to sail it to Gibraltar,[3] while the Calypso quits the Italian coast for the Gulf of Lion to continue the cruise.

It occurs after the failed French campaign in Egypt and Syria (ending 2 September 1801)[4] but before the Treaty of Amiens (27 March 1802).

The novel commences with the Calypso sailing inshore off the Camargue region and the sighting of an isolated semaphore station.

[6] Signals report a merchant convoy of ships assembled at Barcelona, bound for Marseilles, Genoa and Leghorn.

He lacks the crew to man the merchant ships as prizes, guard the prisoners taken and safely escort them to the British base at Gibraltar.

[9] Ramage mans six of the largest ships with prize-crews and dispatches them in convoy to Gibraltar under overall command of Aitken, the First Lieutenant.

Just as darkness falls, a French ship of the line (later identified as the 74 gun Scipion) is sighted approaching a night anchorage a little further around the coast.

[10] Ramage could "cut and run" to escape the French ship but instead, decides to attack, using two of the gunpowder-ladened merchantmen as floating bombs.

[11] As a final touch and to help ensure the safety of Aitken's convoy of prizes, Ramage returns to the French coast to destroy a signal station near Collioure.