Afghanistan 1879. Army Captain, Edward Merriman – the Great Grandson of Admiral Sir James Merriman – is fighting for his life. Pinned down by snipers, surrounded by dead and dying men, the chances of surviving the day are looking bleak.

With bayonets fixed they make ready for their last stand. The clash of steel on steel and screams of the dying are interrupted by a bugle call and a volley of rifle fire. Major-General Roberts’ army column heading for Kabul arrives just in time to fend off a massacre.

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Injured and exhausted, Merriman is ordered back to Allahabad where bad news about his family and bride-to-be awaits. With leave to sort his affairs authorised, he heads to Singapore to see his brother and to find a ship bound for Calcutta and onward home to England.​​

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He boards the Eastern Light, an iron-built, three-masted barquentine along with some very dubious passengers. Tempers flare as a drunken bully strikes his wife and a Japanese Samurai threatens to remove his head. Merriman takes control of the situation and hopes for an eventless journey. But as the ship enters Pirate infested waters and a storm brews, Merriman has no idea just how much trouble is ahead.