Before dawn, sixteen-year-old midshipman John Byron is roused from the Wager’s suffocating orlop deck by boatswain John King’s cries. Despite aristocratic roots, Byron has volunteered for the Navy and is confronting cramped quarters, crude conditions, and the surgeon’s amputation table that doubles as his berth’s centerpiece.

On watch, Byron observes the ship’s hierarchy and machinery: Captain presiding, Lieutenant Robert Baynes enforcing orders, Master Thomas Clark navigating, and specialists and seamen divided by skill. The crew spans society, from free Black sailor John Duck to boys and elderly hands; troublemakers like carpenter’s mate James Mitchell and the abusive King unsettle the uneasy “band of brothers.” Marines under Captain Robert Pemberton and Lieutenant Thomas Hamilton stand ready to quell unrest.

Byron learns the language, discipline, and skills of seamanship—steering, knots, navigation by quadrant and stars—amid relentless bells and punishments. He finds camaraderie with messmates Isaac Morris and Henry Cozens and moments of diversion in games, music, and sea tales. Tested aloft, he climbs the mainmast to the topgallant yard, mastering fear and recognizing how every life depends on others’ workmanship.

On October 25, 1740, the squadron sights Madeira, anchors to take on water, wood, and wine, and realizes they are already far behind schedule, worsening prospects at Cape Horn. On November 3, Gloucester’s Captain Richard Norris resigns, triggering a reshuffle: the Pearl’s captain moves to the Gloucester, Wager’s Captain Dandy Kidd to the Pearl, George Murray assumes the Wager, and First Lieutenant David Cheap is promoted to command the Trial. Murray brings midshipman Alexander Campbell into Byron’s crowded berth, where Campbell’s imperious manner grates.

News from Madeira’s governor reveals a superior Spanish armada, led by Pizarro, lying in wait with full intelligence on Anson’s mission. In response, Anson orders lanterns quenched and the squadron slips away under cover of darkness. No longer covert, they are now the hunted as they push toward the Atlantic crossing and the perilous Horn.